Category Archives: learning

updated statement.

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it’s always such a struggle, but it feels so good when, for a little while anyway, you can feel confident in your artist’s statement.  g.m. told me the other day, “no one writes there artist’s statement alone.” what a relief!  he helped me out fundamentally, providing primary guidance, as well as other friends and artists, all of whom i respect a great deal.  getting feedback from a variety of people really helped A LOT. when i saw people’s responses i really got an idea of what was actually coming across in my words.

thanks SO MUCH to everyone who provided me with their feedback.

and if you haven’t read it yet, check it out here and let me know what you think.

notes from the studio.

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sorry for the rough pics.  they are from my phone.  anyway, i’m still plugging away in the studio.  the trip to florida, and working quite a bit has been keeping me away more than i would like, but that’s the way it goes. in addition to my regular job i’ve been doing something really fun and educational assisting a local artist.  so far we’ve installed a piece at the nceca invitiational and pulled some stuff out of storage, organized and packed up work.  it’s a really wonderful experience.  i’m learning a lot just seeing how she does things.

i’ve got some aps in the works, and a few deadlines coming up.  like every other  ceramic artist at the moment, i’m scurrying to finish up aps and wondering what i’ll be doing next fall.

in the studio i’ve been amassing some work, but i’m still really struggling with how to finish it.  i haven’t even bisqued any large sculptures yet.  i’m waiting for them to get super bone dry, but i’ve been keeping plastic on them for weeks.  i’m afraid to keep them uncovered and risk cracking.  and since i don’t know exactly how i’ll finish them i need them to be perfectly smooth.  ehhhhh, finished work…..sometime….eventually…….:-)

new sculpture in progress….

studio mate e. with her giant math mold……

anatomy of an installation.

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fauna installation.

this week i was honored to be part of a four person show curated by kara walker tome in west palm beach.  the show took place at the whitebox at the whitespace, the personal collection of west palm beach couple elayne and marvin mordes.

the space was mind blowing.  you enter from the back and walk into a beautiful, labyrinth of a museum-like space.  white walls and gray floors act as a backdrop to the fanciful and exciting collection of cutting edge contemporary 2D and 3D art including gilbert and george, frank gehry and gelatin (among many, many others).  one of the back walls actually turns on an axis point and allows access to the mordes’ home.  it’s totally wild.  a portion of the space has been used this season for a series of exhibitions featuring regional artists.  the last of the series, “approaching nature” opened on friday.

the very good company i was in consisted of ryan toth, rick newton and bethany krull.

on a warm and fuzzy note, i really could not have pulled off this installation with out tons of help from my friends (and a lot of cooperation and understanding from the curator.)  i flew in on wednesday, then second day of installation for the show.  a.w. my bestie, was in philly with me so we flew down together.  we got picked up by m.m. just in time for surprise brunch for 4 other friends who were in town.  the brunch graciously swelled to include us and we got to breakfast on home made eggs, greens, plantains, potatoes, tortilla’s and beans (yummmmm).

after that we headed to AAA sod and supply, my “sponsors” who helped me out with my crushed shell needs.  the owner there is such a cool guy.  he totally remembered me and asked after j.w. my partner in crime during the 2008 10 x 10 show (during which he gifted a van full of crushed shell and garden stones).  we then loaded up and headed to the whitespace.

installation went pretty well, we ran into a few snags but a.w. and j.g. were there helping out with heavy lifting and strategies.  i don’t think i could install a show with out a.w. lending her good eye and moral support.

of course all this running around was done in the car m.m. so lovingly lent.  a lot of other people where involved behind the scenes to make that happen (c.j., w.) and s.s. came out the day before the deliver my work to the space and i’ve been crashing on her super comfortable couch all week.  all this not even including everyone who came out to the show, or my new friend l.a. who i’ve been hanging with all week.

basically, i didn’t realize just how much would go into making this installation happen.  somewhere else i would have had to rent a car or truck, run around, hire an assistant (or something??)  but it feels really good to have so much support and encouragment from my friends.  it was highly tight, budget wise, for me to make it down here, and i really appreciate everyone who helped make it happen.  :- ) love love….

today.

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i put some finishing touches on my first sculpture.  coiled a bit on a second larger sculpture.   last week i mixed up a batch of porcelain and stirred in a blue mason stain to a portion of it.  today i made a couple of wall peices out of it.  i also sprayed some test tiles.  just testing some raw materials: custer feldspar, nepheline syenite and gerstley borate in the baby kiln.

i’m excited to see what they look like and to put some tests of the blue porcelain in but tomorrow is shaping up to be another snow day.  ehhhh…..all this snow.

well, i’ll post some more pictures later this week or next.:-)

what i learned from iman.

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what do i love more than project runway?  project runway canada.

i would love to have iman come into my studio and give me a critique.  she doesn’t care if you’ve never sewn a suit before, she doesn’t care what your client wanted.  you’ve got to step up and deliver or get going.

here’s what i learned from project runway canada:

1. you succeed or don’t.  don’t be a baby.

2.  be a gracious winner.  be a gracious loser.

3.  stay focused.

4.  be flexible, but don’t lose your aesthetic voice.

5.  manage your time well.

talking about working

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well, the big challenge of my new studio life is all this talking.  for me, talking, speculation, thinking out loud, comes naturally.  but i usually just try to keep my mouth shut when it comes to my work.  on the one hand, i’m not so confident talking about my work.  on the other, i do think there is a bit of fantasy in my work and i don’t want to give people words to hinge their interpretation on.

it’s about nature, and the nature of things.  ehhhhhh, blehh.

maybe this is something i should continue writing about.  we’ll see.  anyway, here are some shots red sent me of the shot glasses i made for the anagama firing before leaving florida.  hopefully soon i’ll get to post shots of all the lovely shot glasses i receive!

thanks red, for the sweet shots!

getting shit done.

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it’s true, getting adjusted to a new space kind of sucks.  you don’t know where anything is, perhaps like me you didn’t get to bring all your favorite blue plastic and chunks of old foam mattresses.  anyway, the point is i feel all awkward in a studio at the beginning.  oh, and the clay situation is different (as it turns out better) BUT then i finally just dig in and make something.  something that i’m excited about and then i remember why i’m there.

i mean, nothing beats that feeling of satisfaction.  i don’t know if it’s just having brought to fruition this image from inside of you or the point when you start to get totally warmed up and loose and the clay and your hands kind of start to do their own thing but it’s good stuff.

anyway, here’s a pic from my phone.  i’ll post some later today when it’s finished.

ice cold.

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adjusting to northern temperatures.  and being a sort-of student.

got warmed up making some small wall pieces.

during our studio meeting g.m. decided it would be fun to cut them up and stick them together.  it was kind of bizarre to see someone esle making stuff out of my work.

cell division.

northern studio, check out the boots on the bottom and the pile of winter clothes up top.

anagama shift.

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my last night at the clay company was spent doing the 8-midnight shift with j.  at midnight matt said we might have as little as 45 minutes left so i decided to stay until the end.  approximately 5 hours later we shut the anagama down.  it made for a pretty delirious day at work, but it was worth it!  here are a couple of pics i snapped between side stokes.

"i'm hot to burn this sonovabitch" (paulina, what up!)

rearranging.

super hot and bright.

basically freezing except when stoking.

i found it really amazing to watch matt and don work.  they seemed to know what was happening inside the kiln at every moment.  or they would open up a peep hole and glean a ton of information.  when i fire the little soda, i’m never FULLY confident that i know what is happening.  in the anagama with multiple stoke points and all kinds of dynamics going on inside i was totally blown away by their extreme knowledge, confidence and control.  amazing!

the move is on…

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the above picture is of some tiny sculptures i call the saskunei seeds.  saskunei means “no worries” in the fukushima dialect of japanese.  in late 2007 i attended a sweet kiln workshop in mashiko, japan.  it was my first time to fire woodkilns and we fired 4 kilns in 4 days.  one of those kilns was the saskunei smokeless kiln built by kusakabe masakazu.  months later i would get to visit him at his studio in fukushima, two times and spend a couple of weeks there total.  while i was visiting his studio, i made the sculptures above.    pretty soon after that i returned to the united states for good.  on the way back i had a layover in atlanta, which i extended so i could visit my good friend and potter kelly sullivan.  she works over at an awesome studio/gallery mudfire and during the visit, i got to do some work there.  i made some monster sculptures and more of these little seeds, which she fired and glazed after i headed back to florida.  over one year later, on a trip up to bowling green, ohio, a friend and i stop in on her and after all this time i get to see the finished peices.  when i returned to my studio in st. pete, i decided to make a some more of these little guys, as favors for the folks who purchased work from my exhibition.  i’ve given a lot of them out as little gifts, but kept at least a few from each batch, and i’ll keep making them. 

which brings me to the next stop on this train line, philadelphia, pa.  i’ve “graduated” from my residency in st. pete and in january i’ll be moving up to philly.  i started this blog to write about the good times, struggles and process of the clay life and hopefully the next year will bring more to write about.