Tag Archives: ceramics

great day.

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it’s really weird not living 8 blocks from the studio.  i start my job (reproductive health clinic) tomorrow and my schedule is going to be something like thurs-sat.  so once i finished up some wall pieces and the sculpture i posted a pic of yesterday, i realized there wasn’t much point in starting anything else.  once i get accustomed to these train schedules (and it’s not so death-by-hypothermia cold) i might be able to swing nightly visits to the studio but for the time being i think my best bet might be to work on pieces start-to-finish sunday through wednesday.

today i went with new friend m.d. to visit a very well known local sculptor.  i’ll be working with her a few days in the next months prepping/installing work before and after NCECA.  her studio was beautiful.  seeing her work in person (in the gallery) and in different stages of completion (in the studio) was breathtaking.  her husband is also a well established sculptor and it was really inspiring to meet them both.  they were super friendly and chatty and asked lots of questions, which of course i kind of geeked out while answering.  (i.e. way too long description of the japanese alphabets…….) when i really would have like to hear more about them and their journey to where they are now.  hmmmm, well moving forward, i hope to get a little more insight.

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.

new home

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i may have a snuggee for a curtain at the moment but i’m pretty much totally unpacked and moved into my sweet west philly apartment.  bg,  my new roommate met me at the train station and we squeezed all of my possessions into her spacious hatchback.

this is what i was working with.  sweet windows and nice floors.

everything is unpacked but some stuff still needs a place.  and i definitely need some sweet curtains for these tall windows.  in the meantime a few glimpses of my space…

shadow boxes with work and tchotchkes from all over.

bowl and saucer by sarah tancred, octopus rattle by kelly sullivan

mini wall piece by jamie bardsley

wall button by kelly sullivan

another wall button and one of my first art purchases, plate by lisa orr

boneyard.

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when i move i purge.  but it’s hard for me to let go of work sometimes, even if it’s suffered some damage and can’t be shown again or sold.  sometimes pieces are transitional work which will lead to something else, and sometimes, it’s JUST too soon.  these works go to the boneyard of art which is my parents beautiful overgrown gardens.  they both love to garden and grow fruits and vegetables and succulents.  here are some snaps of work i left behind before heading up here to PHILADELPHIA!

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!

first work of 2010

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am i turning over a new leaf?  no, not really, but i did delve into the new year making some functional work.  the residents at st. pete clay (and a few others) are doing a shot glass exchange.  i’m running around with a chicken with my head cut off with moving preparation and working as much as possible but i took a few hours on jan. 3rd to make some shot glasses.  you can’t really tell from the images but they are just a little bigger than a large shot glass.  i had to bring my operation inside to the kitchen counter because it was absolutely TOO cold to work outside.

the cups are currently roasting away in the annual anagama firing at the clay company.  visiting artists don reitz, matt long and john ballisteri are captaining the firing.  i was disappointed to have to be so much less involved than last year, but thems the breaks.  i signed up for a stoking shift on saturday with some of my favorite girls (wilson, marlena) and we were kicking it old skool around the anagama.  i have no idea what the p10 porcelain will look like wood fired, but hopfully it will be nice.  i even lined them with shop clear.  i felt like a real potter!

actually the kiln won’t be opened until after my departure for philadlephia, but i’ll happily await my first mail in philadlephia: a package of shot glasses from every resident 🙂

i have another shift coming up tuesday night which promises to busy and HOT and side-stoke-tastic.

it’s a bit of a bummer to be on the periphery of this exciting event, but what a nice way to say good bye!

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.

atomic

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ok, i literally took one picture the whole day.  i snapped this quick pic with the intention of going back for more but you know how it goes sometimes.

oh, wait no, there were two, liz and sarah aka femme covert’s fabulous wares.

we were crammed together pretty tight between the tables.  luckily robin from neckeds didn’t really mind when i touched her butt on accident.  speaking of butts, i think the best story of the day was when robin’s friend pointed out the sign i’d put on the group of these little sculptures:

the sign said “butt” seeds 3 for $15.  they were all like, “are those really for your butt?”  which totally shocked me.  because they are, you know, seeds WITH butts, not seeds FOR butts.

bottom line–aesthetically speaking i’m more about poop than sex so i changed the sign.  haha.

hot out of the kiln.

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last post before atomic.  i’ll definitely post remotely from the bazaar with pics of everything going on. come on down and get a group of these little guys for your home.  i’ll also have some of the large wall peices and an assortment of rattles and tiny sculptures.