John Balistreri works big.His rough-hewed ceramic vessels are as tall as him.His newest work
towers over those, the elegant, coiled clay rising 12 feet or more in the air.The potter’s new ceramic
artwork is made possible by his collaboration with master artist Jun Kaneko.That collaboration has required
the Bowling Green State University professor to shift his base of operations from campus to a massive
facility in Omaha, that Kaneko is developing both as a studio and as the center for wide-ranging study and
projects linking art, science and philosophy."Jun’s my hero," Balistreri said. "He’s beyond
ceramics."Balistreri went to Omaha, Neb., in the summer of 2011, to supervise the completion of the
sprawling 100,000-square-foot former industrial site. Balistreri expected that would be a year-long research
leave.That was extended when Kaneko agreed to pay the university hire someone to teach his classes for the
year. Now in his third year at Kaneko, Balistreri is on sabbatical finishing a body of a dozen or
sculptures, and continuing developing the 3D printing technology he’s been working on at the university
since 2009.A talk Balistreri gave early in his stay in Omaha has generated interest among those who are
interested in the printer’s myriad uses as well as those interested in investing in it.Joining Balistreri in
Omaha is BGSU graduate Greg Pugh, who has been working on the 3D project since the beginning, using the
printer to create his own ceramic artwork that demonstrates its ability to produce fine and intricate
forms.Balistreri said negotiations involving the university about the possibilities of commercializing the
technology are underway. Two patents have been obtained and another has been applied for.The printer could
have many uses from "trinkets sold on the internet" to major medical breakthroughs.He is working
with researchers at the University of Nebraska about developing replacement bone.Using ash from cow bones,
hydroxy apitite, the researchers are trying to construct a material that will replace thin bone structures
such as those in the skull and face. Researchers envision a material that will take the place of bone and
allow new bone to grow into the replacement.For potters to be involved is not unusual. Balistreri pointed
out that hydroxy apitite is used in some fine pottery, hence the name bone China.Balistreri’s career has
always been a mix of art and technology, fostered by a keen business sense. When he first arrived at BGSU in
1996, he went about building a large traditional wood-fired kiln, soliciting donations from local
companies.A Colorado native, Balistreri grew up in his family’s cut-flower business. That’s what he heard
around the kitchen table.Before he came to BGSU to teach he worked for a brickyard in Colorado. That
company, he said, offered him a better salary than he’d earn as a professor to entice him to stay. "But
then I knew I’d never do art," he said.Now his work has been the focus of numerous solo exhibitions and
he has work in permanent collections throughout the United States and in China.The newest incarnations of
his work are made possible by the massive kilns at Kaneko."I’ve never been able to make a piece that
large in one piece," he said. "Now I’m making more elegant forms that are continuous."The
actual technique used to create them is basic. Long coils of stoneware clay worked "with a couple
sticks and my hands."The structures that weigh 4,500 take a month to fire in kilns that have temps
going up to 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit. Then they will be removed, and it’ll take two months to apply and fire
the glaze.In May Balistreri will haul the finished work to Kansas City, Mo., for a solo show. The sculptures
will be brought to the show in a low-boy trailer, and traditional tractor trailer would be too small to haul
them.By next fall Balistreri plans to be back in Bowling Green. Back teaching, and he hopes building a new
3D printing lab on campus.