Hands in Clay Exhibition

When times look blue what do you do?

Throw a party!

That’s exactly what the local San Joaquin Potter’s is doing this summer at the TideWater Art Gallery in Stockton California. During the month of July, they will be hosting a juried regional exhibition of Northern California ceramic artists. This is from the same group that created the wildly successful “Visions in Clay” exhibitions so it’s looking to be another fantastic show. This time around, the guild has voted to go back to the basics and accept only hand delivered submissions for this exhibition. Works need to be delivered Friday June 26th from 5pm to 9 pm or Saturday June 27th from 10am to 5pm. The entry fee is $18 per entry for non guild members and $15 per entry for members. All entrants are invited to join. The submissions will then be juried Sunday by guest artists Bruno Kark and Tom Collins. These two amazing talents will return on August 1st for the closing of the exhibition party and to host a daylong 2 man workshop. This will feature demonstrations of some of their studio techniques and promises to be a fun addition the festivities. Cash awards will be presented at the closing.

To read the show prospectus and get more information, go to SJPottersGuild.org

Slipped Rim

This project spun out of this winter’s bowl marathon for the Tidewater Gallery’s annual soup feed. I throw about 7 batches total, 10 to 17 bowls at a time and break these down into smaller separate groups for handling the surface decoration. This is how I generally prefer to create my work. I enjoy working in series of 5 -15 pieces at a time, this lets me explore any new idea or technique a little before drawing any initial conclusions and making any changes in my approach.
This started with a big 3 gallon bucket of white slip I made using the trimmings from my standard white clay body. The trimmings were added to the water and allowed to soak overnight. After a night of soaking I mixed it up with my trusty paint mixer on a drill and added a tablespoon of deflocculate (sodium silicate) and more water until the slip reached the consistency of a thick heavy cream. The sodium silicate lets the clay platelets to slide over each other easier so I don’t have to add so much water to the mix to get the slip to the consistency I want.
Next, I had an idea of what I wanted to try… might work, might not. Going to find out though. So I made some thumbnail sketches to keep me pointed in a direction. I’ll usually have 2 or 3 experiments going on at any one time and I have a tendency to become easily distracted. I’ve learned it’s a good idea to leave a trail of bread crumbs leading back to the project at hand.

With this idea, I’m using a contrasting red

stoneware clay for the body and I’ve applied a simple paper stenciled sponged cobalt slip design around the lower half of the belly.
After the stenciled design has dried sufficiently to gently handle, I invert the bowl and pour the slip over the upper half.

I really like the effect and I’m excited about trying a dynamic gaze combination I’ve been thinking about…

stay tuned...

Click below to view the process.