Looking Back... Happy New Year!

 

For all the ups and downs that this year held, I'm so happy to still be dancing!

I can barely see the other side!

Here we come 2012!!!

Interview with Maurice Sendak

I was sitting in the studio earlier this week working alone and caught Terri Gross's interview with Maurice Sendak.
It was a sad interview with a cherished writer and illustrator. He was brave enough to speak plainly and bluntly about the humanity of aging,  it left me moist eyed but feeling oddly happy.
Well worth the 20 minutes listening time.

Jason Burnett Workshop

Odyssey Center for the Ceramic Arts summer 2012 workshop with Jason Burnett

Graphic Clay: Cut, Copy And Paste, July 23- 27

Using two simple materials: slip and newsprint paper, we will introduce layers of information and texture onto our clay surfaces. Through silkscreen printing, cutting, copying and pasting we will dissect, transform, and manipulate our drawings, patterns, and images while creating exciting new exteriors. But there's no stopping us there! We'll use simple digital techniques to make decals and photocopy transfers. Computers NOT required, but one can come in handy! Jason is a very generous teacher who will guide and inspire you to carry your work to new levels you have not imagined.

Intermediate/ Advanced
Monday-Friday, 9am-4pm
$495 Tuition ($55 Lab)

It's on my wish list...

Clay Pop!

This has to be one of the coolest representations I've run across of one of my contemporary heroes ...

Cynthia Bringle

Shannon Bueker

It's exciting to see figurative work handled so raw. I've been finding myself attracted to work that touches on the concept that memory is an emotional based system...

we fail to connect with people and experiences that don't stir something inside us.

I feel connected to Shannon's work as I look at it...

it feels like a rustling forgotten memory.

Check out Shannon Bueker's Blog

8 Fluid Oz 2012

 Sending off a piece for this year's 2012  Fluid Oz. exhibition at the Glassell Gallery at Louisiana State University, 

Getting an opportunity to put work along side of 89 noted ceramic artists, educators, and craftsmen from all across the country feels good... really good.

Kenyon Hanson

 I love just finding...

 smart and brilliant work...

 it's what redefines what happens next...

 Form follows function, but sometimes

... WoW!!

  

 Kenyon's work is a triumph of craftsmanship and vision...

He provides a beautiful dance of technique, atmosphere, and form fused into his studio functional ware.

His work has Hips

Kenyon Hanson's  Artist statment from Archie Bray

“I believe that finely crafted, thoughtfully made pottery can contribute to a renaissance of tradition and habit. My hope is that the pots I make can play a role and be a factor in a renewal of ritual. Clay allows me to play with a physical language. When I throw or hand build, I’m engaged in the conversation, curiosity often pushes the dialog, while the desire to find something new guides me forward. I strive to create pottery that is both considered and balanced containing a healthy dose of spirit and care. “

His work was featured in 2010 on Ceramic Arts Daily

and is found at the Crimson & Laurel Gallery

Don't forget FaceBook

Merry Christmas everyone!!!

Great vintage find Michael!

Off the Shelf

Potters are habitual problem solvers... 

My experience leads me to think that we more often than not, choose too build upon our failures rather than our successes.

This is another piece that should have been smashed long ago. 

It's from 2008 as I was starting up my studio...

It was way too thick and out of balance, but it was my first attempt at using paper stencils and at stacking thrown rings.

I kept it next to the wheel, enthralled with the possibilities for over year and now I literally use it as a door stop.

I kept it because I loved the potential it represented. 

A path that has since explored shape, surface, technique, and texture...

It's a piece that's been more valuable to me as a failure than as a sellable success.

I love my job!

Off the Shelf

Pulling pieces for this year's Smash Pot Day. I'm going through the boxes and shelves of finished ware that's accumulated and thinning the herd.

Each still has it's story...

This was one of my favorites from 2008. 

This was the example peice that took a perch in the studio for a few seasons.

It was a simple chawan, but it was a racer!

I loved it's foot, I loved it's propotions, I loved it's balance, but it was the incredible optic surface that did it for me.

The success of the surface was a test glaze combo that turned out to be a freak occurrence. I threw a whole bunch of work at trying over and over to duplicate the results, and it only worked a few times, the rest was hammer fodder. 

Happy Solstice Everyone!

This was defiantly a year to remember and I'm dead positive that 2012 will be even that much more memorable!

Don't forget to dance every single day you can...

KaBoom!

 

Working on my Red Rocket 

Collaboration is a lot more fun than playing by myself...

5 HandMade Minutes Dec 2011

Life has gotten so busy lately that there's only just so much time available every day for pushing any one piece along. The amount of work getting finished has been throttled way back to a pleasantly constant dribble...

I finally thought ahead enough to be able to press record. It's a 5 minute look at a compressed 15 minutes of process.

Palimpsest

 Jessica Fong kindly donated some of her fired work to the test pile. We are in the middle of pushing through work, testing decals on the UOP studio's  cone 10 glazes.

Some people use test tiles, we habitually use yunommi. You get real world results... and more often than not, get real world failures.

I'm using the opportunity to see a few ideas and projects escape the sketchbooks, some are up for debate whether they are going to be seen even if they are successful.

Fun!!!

View From the Corner Office

It's been a pleasantly busy weekend. I needed to unwind and get the last series of work for the 2011 started. There's just enough time to get in 2 or 3 more firings pushed through.

Just gotta get the work done! 

A dozen canisters and 2 dozen lids working in both cone 6 and cone 10 clays.

Even a few 14 pounders are stiffening up, just waiting to be flipped over, trimmed, and slipped. The piece directly above is slated for a whole lot of abuse over the next 3 days. Curios...

Luckily I'm not filling kilns alone this season. Working with Jessica Fong. The Studio tech for UOP.

I love watching enthusiastic youth dive into this medium.

She's definitely a talent to watch.

GO JESS!!!

Morning Fog

Sideways drips always remind me of the wind pushing the morning fog through the delta. Just gotta play...

Testing a black stain under a shino.

I had seen my studio mate Jess doing some pretty darn cool stuff using this combo on bisque and I had to give it a quick run to see how well the stain would punch through layers of glaze.

I'm formulating a new Evil Plan for the new year...

Feel the Rush.... Sail

1986

photo Nikki Mo

Hurry up! We're still dreaming!

Volumetric Image Transfer with Forrest Lesch-Middelton

I've been wanting a good look at how Forrest pulls this off. He definitely doesn't disappoint with this video. Fantastic!



Visit his website to checkout his gallery of work. Make sure to swing by Forrest's Etsy on the 17th for his holiday sale.
This is a studio potter to watch...

addendum... Ceramics Monthly printed an in depth look at Forrest's process.

Malcolm Davis

So few shoulders have carried so many...

Say the words "carbon trap shino" and Malcolm Davis pops up. It's safe to say, Malcolm Davis has directly influenced so many of us clay geeks by providing a tail that we've been more than happy to chase, (and if all your efforts resulted in fruits anything like mine, I never even came close to catching the damn thing, but boy did I learn a whole bunch!)
Malcolm, I was hoping to get to talk to you before you left the stage and I'm sad to see you go.
Thank you so much for leading the way...