Fondue and Olives

Community: Haven't been out in the community of clay as much in the past couple of weeks. I did NOT make it to Smith College to see Emily Eveleth, although I still hope to (I am heading back to VT tonight to finish up the treehouse so perhaps on my way home on Wednesday?). I have been trying to keep up with what's going in the digital information sharing world, however. On the weekend that I got reacquainted with a form I have been fond of (produced by D. Lasser ceramics in Vermont), Jim Gottuso posted on his blog, Sofia's Dad's Pots, a form that was kind of similiar, although more baroque and elegant and beautiful:

I wrote to him about the coincidence and promised to get him some images from the original source. Alas, I can not seem to negotiate D. Lasser's website to find the original form. Wanted to give proper notation (no modern-day high school plagiarist am I...)

So...

Studio: Here are some photos, then, of my interpretation of said form:

These forms are the closest - smooth transition from top form to bottom form. D. Lasser is a little psychedelic with glaze treatments and so likes really pristine surfaces for glaze spatters...

I like texture, myself, so I started to experiment with creating a zone of texture - almost like a handle - with a smooth bowl area. These are closest to what I think of as my aesthetic. I think these might be good for olives...

The next ones are a direct result of looking at Jim's work. I would never usually go as detailed as he does, but it was fun to work on these. I think of them as fondue pots - the opening nice and deep, with rests on the side for the forks. If I keep working on this form, I'll probably tone them down a bit, but who knows...?

Harlequin Milk Jugs

Been playing with pattern lately - gridding out the bottles, texturing in very specific places. I like that the staid form of the milk jug is livened up by the harlequin design. Harlequin was one of the old world jesters and seems a fitting way of giving these vessels some personality.

Now the trick will be to figure out how to glaze these puppies - leaving some skin available for the wood firing, of course.

Meet The Potters

Meet The Potters in Brattleboro was a very fun event. Not quite sales worthy, at least for me, but it was worth it to go up and connect with all the local potters. It was held in the River Garden, a great place to show - right downtown, with skylights and plenty of room for all. We had two local acoustic bands play during the afternoon and coffee was always right there.

Here's my little setup:

I did get to trade a piece with one of my favorite Brattleboro artists: Natalie Blake. She was able to set up her stuff but had to leave to catch a plane. Her mom Mary sat the entire show. I traded one of the tokkuri's for one of her carved wall tiles - spectacular!

Also, it is always great to talk to Eric and Noelle of ZPots - so cool and hip and Vermonty...

One of my other favorite potters was there as well: Maya Zelkin. She woodfires some beautiful pots - clean lines, perfect proportions, sturdy yet loveable...

Open Studio Weekend

The weekend Open Studio is over and it is time to get back to the wheel. We had a nice flow of people throughout the weekend although Celia's First Communion took priority on Saturday. Here's a couple of shots of the new display areas:

Next up is Meet The Potters, in Brattleboro - this Saturday I will head up there with a carload of the work and see how Vermont reacts to the stuff...

Japan Trip

We are back from our amazing trip to Japan. It was an incredible trip, full of tasty food, friendly people, beautifully wrapped everythings, on-time public transportation, and something new and different around every corner.

I published a bit more images on my Facebook page - 15 or so. We took a ton of pictures - over 500! Of course, digital cameras are a great way to keep kids occupied on long train rides so not every image is Pulitzer worthy. I think the images there give a good taste of what we experienced.

Kusakabe-san was the main reason for the visit and he was very generous opening up his studio to our family. He will be coming back to the Boston area in July to fire GreenFire again and we look forward to seeing him again!

There was so much good take-away: I loved how ceramics could be found in department stores, seeing posters for ceramics postered all over the cities, trying new foods, discovering how mountainous the country is, marveling at the precision of the trains and subways, being blown-away by the generousity of the Japanese people. Of course, it was incredible to be exposed to the clay history of the work I so admire. Hopefully, it won't be my last trip to this wonderful country.

Pots in Action!

The kiln is still a little wet so that even though it is not raining today, it feels like the proper thing to do is give it the day to dry out completely and fire tomorrow. It HAS to happen tomorrow as Friday I leave for a whirlwind tour of the Philly area: woodfiring in southern NJ with Bruce Dehnert, then a two-day conference entitled Making Through Living - Living Through Making: Studio Pottery in 2010. Finally, on to NCECA for Wed, Thu, Fri - my first conference!

I was making dinner for the family last night and had just shown Trish the new plates I purchased from Sam Taylor and Mary Barringer (see earlier posts on the show). Decided to put them to use for the meal and thought it might be fun to see Pots in Action. So I issue this challenge, to all three of you out there, put up some images of pots you have collected that you use on a regular basis. It would be great to see some wonderful pieces being used as they were meant to be used:

Here is our morning coffee set-up: Todd Wahlstrom for Trish on the right (half and half, no sugar), Jennifer Allen for me (everything in it), Barbara Knutson sugar bowl...

The aforementioned Mary dish, Sam plate, and old friend Makoto Yabe for the kids...

Unloading, Cleaning, Reloading

Today, we unloaded GreenFire. I will post our notes from the unloading on the GreenFire blog tomorrow. Suffice to say, we are pretty happy with our results, especially considering how easy it was to fire. We cleaned the kiln, rewashed the interior and the shelves, and reloaded. I will fire it by myself on either Monday or Tuesday. Nora will be in South Carolina.

This is the firing capacity of the kiln: about two tables worth...

Will post studio photos soon, hopefully before the end of the week...

St. Earth and GreenFire

Did anyone else read St. Earth's blog about bilateral and trilateral symmetry? Jeepers, it was a good post. First, Three Is A Magic Number is definitely my favorite School House Rock song. Second (or should I make this the third point?), I am a big fan of trilateral symmetry and often think about numbers when determining how many I should make of something. Third, I love the discussion of history, culture, science, and mathematics that permeated the blog. It was invigorating to read and the only bummer I could find is that I couldn't easily leave a comment. Anyone see how to do this?

Yesterday, we fired GreenFire. 14 hours total. I write a little bit more technical stuff on the GreenFire blog. It was a beautiful day to fire and the first that Nora and I did on our own. It was a little nerve racking in the beginning to get the thing off the ground - the last time we fired, we had a huge crew on hand, everyone fighting for time at the stoking area, or time to ask Kusakabe a question, or cooking, or eating, or whatever. It was exciting and crazy and energizing. This time it was super quiet, with just the two of us firing. We brought it up slow (worried about dampness from the winter) but it climbed beautifully and reached temp in about 11 hours. We side stoked for two hours and then monitored cooling for another hour before shutting it down. We'll unload tomorrow. If the work turns out well, it will be so exciting to have dialed in this part of the process. Now, just to make some interesting work...

Teapots and Houses

Back in the studio after almost a week away. Was able to finish up these teapots, which I had stashed away in my "Sam Chung" box (large plastic box with a poured plaster floor about 1" thick - acts as a great greenhouse for greenware).

Trying to fight off feelings of stupidity - a part time potter trying to compete with full-timers? Luckily, I got the Conchords and everything sort of fades into absurdity. Just need to keep making stuff and let it all sort itself later.

Found a great new blog this weekend: My friends Reed and Anne recently moved to Chicago from Seattle and Anne is working on a blog that is exploring the architectural history of lakes area. She and Reed bought a 1957 house and are renovating it. She writes an excellent blog - unlike me, she has command of the English language. Great drawings, photos, history, thoughts and ruminations.

Touch Fire

Just back from some time spent up in Vermont. Kids vacation week and we took them up to Brattleboro. Snow is really minimal up there and we did not get in any sledding. Did manage to in some time at the Montshire Science Museum, a great place to take the kids, right outside of Dartmouth. Liam got some great ideas for his forthcoming science project - thinking of building an "air cannon" - basically a drum turned on its side so that when struck, the air contained on the side of the drum comes shooting out - we'll see how far away we can get and still be able to blow out a candle.

One of the artists I sought out while I was up there was Natalie Blake. She makes gorgeous vessels, carved with intricate drawings of foliage or patterns or shrubbery. She shows her work at Gallery In The Woods. She had a great piece of tile work that was a collaboration withCynthia Houghton. It was intriguing and beautiful. I loved seeing the collaboration between a couple of Vermont's finest!

On the way back home, we detoured to Northampton and went to Smith College to see Touch Fire. Gorgeous work! Exhilarating to see clay used in such different ways. My two favorite artists of the show were Hoshino Kayoko and Kishi Eiko.

Kishi Eiko

Hoshino Kayoko

Both women had such a powerful way of moving the clay about to create these dynamic sculptures. As an added treat, there was a 10 minute movie on Eiko that did a great job of explaining her process. The show doesn't have too much time left at Smith but if it travels, I highly recommend going to see it!

Thursday Afternoon, the Opening, and the Saints

Saturday night saw the opening of the Raku show here at Gorse Mills. Place was packed - although that may be easy within our tight quarters. Had a great talk with Eduardo Lazo, whose beautiful piece is one of the highlights of the show. He is such a nice man and very generous with information. His website does a great job of explaining his vapor firing technique.

One of the other pieces that we liked was Don Ellis' vessel. Celia kept referring to it as the "big peach pit" which at first I couldn't understand. Then I realized her point of view and that she was primarily looking at it from the underside, it being on a pedestal and all...

Don Ellis:
Eduardo Lazo:The show is open until March 19.

Thursday after school, I had the kids back to the studio and they were excited to get on the wheels. Guess which child is the one who loves to focus and stay on task and which child is a bit of a more free spirit, the "creative type"?

Love the image of Liam throwing with a tie on - so Bernardish...

As to the Saints - my friend Reed probably put it best:

Maybe the most satisfying emotional sports moment since 1980 us hockey team win in the olympics.

12 by 12

Michael Kline published a challenge on his blog: create 12 pieces by noon. I took on the challenge and thought it would be a good opportunity to put some images up of actual work that is going on in the studio. The day before the challenge, I had actually thrown a bunch of cups and bottles (whiskey and tokkuri). So during the challenge, I finished them - trimming, paddling, incising, stamping, etc.

Finally took some photos...

Spent the last couple of days getting another part of the studio set up - the business side. Yesterday waded through the aisles of Staples and got myself a printer (its wireless but am using the USB - makes me feel safer). Then, today, went to Newtonville Camera and purchased a tripod and lighting setup. Trying to get my act together to submit to a couple of shows. Cup show and another raku show. Figuring out lighting is no easy task...

I'm going to put some of these on the website...

Lights and Fire

Back home

after a whirlwind day. Glazed pots this morning for raku firing tomorrow. Stopped by Nobles to drop off library books, see friends, pick up mail. Went to Foster Gallery to see the latest iteration: Awesome!

Tony Kudner's

installation was so cool. A black box was created inside the gallery. The space changed over the course of many minutes. Grids, columns, walls

were created out of light and mist. I loved it!

Then I went

to Portland Pottery to pick up supplies and decided to hop over to Thayer Academy to see my friend Steven Branfman and the show he had going on at their gallery: John Baymore.

Really beautiful wood-fired pots. Lovely proportions, luscious glazes, pretty true to Japanese traditional work. John studied for some time in Japan and has built his own naborigama in New Hampshire. He will be doing a workshop at Thayer next Thursday, so I'll get a chance to meet him! So cool!