The kneading, twisting and pinching in Widayanto's life

JAKARTA (JP): In his gifted hands and fingers, ceramic artist F. Widayanto starts squeezing, tapping, kneading, caressing, twisting and pinching a chunk of wet clay supported by wood and a bamboo stick.

Gradually, the clay takes shape. A cheek, nose, chin and slender neck appear. Then, the artist takes up a knife and a sharp wire incision tool, or sqrafitto, to carve orifices for the eyes and nose.

A comb, a used toothbrush and a rag, are used to create patterns and added texture.

From a chunk of clay, the sculpture emerges as a 50-centimeter statue. It is hollow with a thickness between one and one-and- half centimeters.

The sculpture is one of Widayanto's prospective Golekan, a series of three dimensional male and female statues.

With the work yet to be finished, Widayanto, better known as Yanto, wraps the sculpture in a wet cloth.

"I'll continue some other day," he said. "Stoneware must be partly dry for other parts to be shaped, especially the details to be incised or the decorations to be affixed."

The work is then placed on a drying shelf for a couple of weeks. During this period it must not be exposed to direct sunlight, as this could crack it.

When bone dry, the statue -- along with others -- is put into a kiln for the first firing of four to five hours, then it reaches the bisque (biscuit) stage.

After the firing, the half-finished work is left inside the kiln for another four to five hours to cool.

The artist then brushes on the glaze -- blues, browns and other colors -- and returns the statue to the kiln for the final firing, which lasts for 12 hours and is at the high temperature of 1,250 degrees Celsius.

With the fire extinguished, the statue is left to cool inside the kiln. After 12 more hours, the statue can be retrieved. It is now worthy of the name ceramic.

"The essence of creating Golekan," said Yanto, "is the skill in choosing and mixing materials. If the mixture lacks plasticity, it is difficult to form, or it will easily crack during the firing."

Several of them have in fact failed during the firing.

Because of the complicated process involved in creating each Golekan, the artist has produced only 61 statues in two years.

"Making these works of art is a very long and high-risk process," he said.

As a guarantee of the originality of his Golekan, Yanto inscribes each with his signature, the serial number and the name of the statue.

All his works are accompanied by certificates imprinted with the year of production, the serial number and the name of the product. (ste)