Ok... so this doesn't look so bad... but if you look close you can see the hand pump by the stairs. Well over 800 gallons of water moved 5 gallons at a time over the course of a week can tire a body out. If you are over 40 and do the math you'll know why I'm feeling it.
You show your age a bit if that title makes you hungry for a hamburger… No explanation though, just snickers… but this post isn’t about thoughts of another missed lunch… this is about opening the kiln on a rushed load of bowls and finding the telltale signs of… well a rushed load of bowls pushed through the bisque kiln. We all know what happens, but after a while, some of us begin to wonder whether the work needs to actually be completely bone dry or how dry does the work actually need to be to survive a bisque… even a slow bisque.As we pull into the last week and a half of finishing this years contribution of bowls for the TideWater's yearly Souper Supper, I feel the need for one last nod to last years' contributing ceramic artists. They produced over 200 works specifically for this event.
I wish everyone had a link that I could link to, but alas... it's a new age we live in.
Contributing ceramic artists for 2009's event last February were...
Bruce Cadman
Frank Sheldon
Glenda Burns
Helen Dollahite
Zygote
John Lechner
Linda Osborne
Steve Pate
Viva 2010!
See you there!
I know I’ve said this before… nearly all of what I do in the studio is analogous with “singing in the shower”… I do it for mostly my own amusement and, from where I’m standing, I usually enjoy the results. This strategy is loosely based on the idea that if I can’t sell what I’m making, it better be something I can live with because... well… I’ll be living with it. So with that in mind, I put my head down and I keep busy. I think a whole lot of us approach what we do in the studio this way.
My studio blog was originally started with the same thoughts in mind. It was simply a studio diary that gave anyone that might be interested a bit of insight into the studio life of a niche ceramic artist in Northern California. The blog had a purpose… it was simple… it was to show people that I wasn’t simply pooping out studio ceramics. (Some artists may actually do this… not me… I joyously sweat mine out.)
The blog has changed and grown since then. It wouldn’t have gone very much further if it wasn’t so much fun… so it’s back to that “singing in the shower” analogy… (I really do enjoy myself).
Now I’m still in this shower (just to keep the analogy going), but now I’m finding a whole lot more people in here singing away too! A whole lot more! Most everyone seems to be enjoying themselves grandly while singing a different tune.
A golden moment happened a few weeks ago…Meredith from WhyNotPottery asked me if I’d be interested in stepping out of the shower and show what I got… (just keeping with the a fore mentioned analogy going so to speak).
It was an inventation to show at the “Clay and Blogs; Telling a Story” exhibition in Seagrove, North Carolina along with 32 other fellow ceramic artists. It’s a group of artists and writers that I am very, very honored to be asked to stand up with.
Just as a special note, the behind the scenes on this show has been a big hoot so far, so stay tuned on this one… the chorus from the shower could get REAL good!
I guess it was just a matter of time before one of us broke out in a Fuzz. DJMermaid (she made the letter “M” one of my all time favorite letters in the alphabet) and her crew out in Oakland decided to take matters in their own hands and do something about it. If you Love’em … Fuzz ‘em!
This stuff is Great!
After hearing how darn cold it is everywhere else right now, I thought I'd go ahead and brave the balmy 43 degrees out in the studio. It still feels like a icebox to me though.
A nearly finished teapot with the strainer lutted into place, and the spout and handle firmly attached.
This is posting is a bit of a moot point now that Hyla pointed out that stairs + adult arts center + clay = not well thought out.
Ok… for all of you that thought it'd be a good idea and lots of fun to encourage a little man to keep "Dreaming Big"… here's site number two for a proposed adult arts center.
It's a bit dilapidated, (note the fence on the sidewalk to keep the curious from getting their heads caved in by souvenirs from the buildings crumbling façade… Cool).
Admittedly it has issues. Being a bit of a fixer-upper is top on the list. The Spooky neighborhood is a close second…
Cool huh?
Everything dries r-e-a-l-l-y s-l-o-w-l-y this time of year here in Northern California's San Joaquin Delta. It's a good time to get an early jump on throwing and assembling a load of teapots. At least I don't have to worry about them drying too quickly.
Well this must have started with a wish… I had been feeling a bit burnt at the edges the past few weeks. I’m not sure why exactly. I have suspicions… but hey… my for the record answer is that, “Over the years, I’ve become a sun child and, seasonally, the weeks of overcast skies doesn’t do me (or anyone around me), a bit of good. “ That’s for the record.
I haven’t played much in the way of video games since the kids were old enough to effectively monopolize the controllers, (honestly I really haven’t had the time to blow anyway), but…. This is where the wish comes in… I got the flu!
It really worked though… I’m feeling much better now and it’s back to filling spring orders.
space, were asked to find the exit door (budget cuts…) In the explosion of grumbling rage that ensued, someone started a whisper campaign running around about creating an adult arts center to serve this community. It would be centered on providing individual studio spaces, classrooms for painting, ceramics, and drawing, (gonn’a plop ceramics right in the middle of traditional “Arts” disciplines), adequate space for an onsite gallery, and a specialized photo studio for art work, a basic computer lab, and a “general store” for needed supplies.
