Tag Archives: community

get to work!

Posted on by
nicjam

gallery BEFORE

tomorrow is jamie and sarah’s show, can’t wait.  i’m sad to see them go but very happy to see how much they’ve accomplished in their time here.  jamie and i will do one more personal firing before she leaves, so need to get to cracking on more work for that.  then fill the kiln at least once in august.  maybe a second time in september? this summer has been so crazy and busy and it won’t settle down for at least awhile longer.  in a couple of weeks the three of us will head out for bowling green.  i’m looking forward to a couple of days of FREEDOM!

all the fireworks in the air must of put the good stuff in.

Posted on by

soda fire 2 004

soda fire 2 012

soda fire 2 013

soda fire 2 017

soda fire 2 023

soda fire 2 026

this little guy was refired.

this little guy was refired.

refire!

refire!

i had some cracks come up along the coil lines.  don’t know why since they aren’t going all the way through and i smoosh on both sides of my coils.  i don’t mind because they only come out after an atmospheric firing and i feel they are in line with the anphibian like skin.  the stress of the enviroment causing crackles and ruptures.  and they aren’t structural, i don’t think.  i’m going to experiment with bisquing a little higher and see if that helps.  one of the chicken butts had a long crack across it.  again it didn’t go through, but i didn’t like how wide it got.  too distracting.  the same peice had a big ol’ dry spot on the whole back side, so i refired it this week, again getting lots of juicy soda and carbon trapping and filling in that crack a little so it looks like a healing froggy scar.

it’s so fun firing this kiln up.  we’ve gotten the results we were after but it’s all a total learning experience and experiment to an extent.  were we firing this for the members we would have to back way off on the carbon trapping and the body reduction and also do a proper glaze reduction.  and though i was happy with the results from this load i found areas of the kiln i particularly loved so i’m going to have to work on refining the technique we’ve been using.

again, chistmas mentality took over (and the fact that j- is heading out in a few weeks) and we started scheming how we could fire it again before she leaves.  having someone to share the kiln with is good, make a little work, fire, fire, fire.  once she leaves i’ll have to put my nose to the grindstone to fill it.

j- is moving up to bowling green, ohio for grad school, which is were s- just got her bfa from, so in early august the three of us are going to head out on a short roadtrip to move j- up.  i have no connection to the area, just an extreme urge to TRAVEL.   we’re going to stop in on my friend k- in atlanta and mudfire.  from there we’ll stop in asheville, nc in hopes of checking out the highwater factory, odyssy center and maybe some local artists.

soda firing with fireworks.

Posted on by

friday.  my day was made complex by the fact that the minivan had a minor melt down on thursday.  conking out on 22nd st. literally in front of a automotive shop which burned down about three months ago was funny, having n- from the clay co behind me at the light was lucky. she was kind enough to lend me her aaa service and found a car shop.  s- came by and helped us move the car out of traffic.  we had some fun mosquito infested converstaion while we waited by the  burned out auto shop for the tow truck to arrive.  i had to commute the next day to sarasota so my parents came and got me and i so i could drive their car to work the next day.  my luck seemed to continue because the problem was minimal, fixed on friday and i was able to get out of work early to go and pick it up.  definitely best case scenario.  with a little help from friends and family what could have been a real mess was made bearable.

friday night loading with j- ended up taking a little longer than originally planned.  when we finished up at 2:30 am we decided NOT to start at 6 am.  first turn up was at 9 am.  s- and r-sensei were firing rudy inside.  they had started at  6.  we had taken good notes during the last firing and this time everything seemed to stay on a similiar schedule.  around 6 pm s- and r- headed out.  it started to get dark.  i knew that we were looking at an estimated soda time of 1 am and though i was looking forward to the fireworks we would see after the sun went down i was starting to feel a little clausterphobic.  i’ve never been a big fan of dusk.  day is great, night is awesome.  dusk is clasuterphobic.  but once the sun fell i started to get my second wind.

once the fireworks started going we climbed out a second story window to the roof where i could see fireworks going off for 360 degrees.  the best show in my line of sight was coming from down town st. petersburg.  seeing fireworks definitely makes me nostalgic for tokyo.  there’s no fourth there of course, fireworks are a summer long thing with different areas hosting shows.  most are free, some you can pay a fee for good seating (ash and debris falling on your head good) and some you have to brave psychotic crowds to see.  in the event listings each event has a number next to it, so and so thousand for example.  knowing that the sumida river event was the biggest of the year i incorrectly thought that the number was the amount of folks in attendence.  i felt very silly when i finally realized the number was the amount of fireworks being fired off.  sumida river, the last time i went boasted 20,000 fireworks.  crazy.  regardless of the numbers thoug there is something about all that sparkly light in the night sky.  it’s breath taking.  j- said she’d considered becoming a pyrotechnician.  that would have been awesome.  just like judy chicago.

around 12:30 am we got everything ready to soda.  shot in some soda/sawdust chalupas, sprayed and then added some wood for good measure, let it burn and then shut her down.  i finally made it home around 2.

just as the exhaustion threatens to settle in, it’s time to soda and just as you think you’re going to drop from the heat, and dehydration you’re done and it’s time to start wondering what’s going to come out.

christmas or halloween??

07-04-09_1445

can you see the cones? rough, since it was taken with my cell phone.

can you see the cones? rough, since it was taken with my cell phone.

hello weekend.

Posted on by

first saturday a.i.r. day.  artists in residence are required to put in 1 work day per week and my day is now saturday.  everyday is different, depending on the flow of the week.  i thought i had a pretty busy day before (tuesday) but today was rough!  after cleaning toliets, dumping overflowing garbage, setting up a classroom area and loading two kilns we tore down a clay pit/structure?? made from cinder blocks and full of peter king clay.  here’s a “sculpture” i built with the blocks and the pile next to it is the clay we hauled over.  everything was heavy.  jr, the regular saturday guy was leaving me in the dust when it came to to shoveling clay but whatever, we got everything done and cleared up.

cinder block pyramid

cinder block pyramid

lazy lazy but thinking…

Posted on by

this has been a month of gathering.  i’ve continued work on my wall pieces at a snail’s pace, but taken time a few evenings each week to flip through books and websites, researching for my next body of work.  i selected a few books from my shelf: college biology text, microscopic photography, louise bourgios exhibition catalogue as well as the global feminisms catologue and a contemporary art text, also from college.  i learned a few things.  almost every page of the global feminisms catalogue features figuritive art.  robert arneson was a pop artists working directly with clay in the 60’s.  jason briggs’ work is freaking amazing and i wish i could see him demonstrate.  i remembered how very attractive eva hesse’s forms and materials are.  reading the abc’s of louise bourgeios presents art about you familial obsessions as rather favorable, i mean, since i’m obsessed with it anyway.

i guess in a way family is biological.  the way we are tied to people genetically is disturbing and uncomfortable.  the way we are tied to people who do not share dna with us is biological as well.  maybe this is why the figure factors so prominently in feminist work, or, you know, art in general, because people are obsessed with other people, the way they shape up, nurture us (which could be a good thing or a bad thing), mess with us, etc.

it’s like you spend the first half of your life figuring out why things are the way they are and then the second half realizing that it doesn’t matter because you just have to play the hand your dealt regardless of why…

but i’m not sure where this leaves me.  there is a lot going on in my brain but it hasn’t puked itself out yet into images to be assembled.

a problem i had with the garden path was that it was too pretty.  working in such a rapid way allowed the process to become more important than the concept.  i’m not very prolific generally and maybe that’s why.  the process is important, it’s the fun and the flow of the peice but the process is not the point.  the process is a tool which allows the peice to make it’s point.

i could make a sign that says “the world is fucked up” or “i’ll vacuum my uterus if i want to” or “racists are so lame and boring” but that wouldn’t be very much fun would it?

anagama loading

Posted on by

this week don reitz and john ballisteri are firing spcc’s anagama with us.  what an honor to work with and learn from such respected potters.

yesterday i rushed home from work and to the studio.  the studio was full of people glazing.  wonky bottles and tea bowls covered the glaze room counters (ballisteri’s work).  things seemed to be wrapping up.  the studio emptied out, i stayed and worked for a few hours, but didn’t get much done.  i headed home for some dinner and then to j and j’s to drink some beer.

yesterday was kind of uneventful, but today more than made up for it.  got to the studio by 9:30 am, people are still glazing, slicing up soft brick, bringing out boards of ware. we all gather round to get the run down, chunky, delicate, 5 inch, 9 inch, etc.  wad with glue (not saliva?) and slightly in, in case glaze runs.

we are like ants (someone says) buzzing back and forth with more work for the kiln.  j, k and i bring out some large relief tiles of don’s and when i tell them where they are he says “thanks for bringing them out, thanks, thanks so much.”  he is so sweet.

kiln shelves need wash, r tells me how to make it and i start measuring out alumina oxide and epk, j from bowling green helps me mix it up into a slurry.  we bring it out and start rolling it on.  i love community activities like this.  while we are inside mixing the wash, other folks have laid out all the kiln shelves on 2 x 4s and started chipping off any previous glaze runs.  so we’re all chipping, and rolling and j is going behind us, wiping off drips from the sides of shelves.

the loading starts, wadding rolled into balls, dipped in elmer’s glue, stuck to pots, small station are set up, folks are in the kiln, others are spread out finding the right size.  j, j and i make cone packs, though our high temp cone packs get shot down by ballisteri for not being slanted enough, so i remake those with help from k.  it’s great fun to learn and repeating things just helps this along. spent awhile in the kiln as part of the human chain moving work in.

i tried to float around as much as i could today, doing a little bit of everything.  around 4:30pm things wrapped up and around then m stopped by and i got to show her around the studio and my apartment.  it was fun to share a little of my st. pete life with her.

to add some kick ass frosting this 3 cake of a day k invited everyone to a meal at her house.  k has an utterly amazing ceramic art collection in her house and she hosted a lovely evening for us.  we all got to enjoy some conversation with each other and relax.  i felt very lucky to be part of this day.  hard work, awesome artists, awesome art, learning tons of shit, speaking japanese with don reitz…it was really super great!

sorry, no pictures, but i’ll work on that.

tired and inspired.

Posted on by

i’m super tired.  i loaded 3 bushes into bisque kilns today.  bisque fires with 2 long ass 24 hour holds.  i have this schedule i’m working with and i’m being superstitious with it now.  like it worked the first time so i’m sticking to it.  i need to do more inquiring and refine it to make it my own.

i did the math yesterday and i made all five bushes in 22 days.  while working THAT fast isn’t really my ideal, it feels good to have had a goal and worked my tail off to make it happen.  barring any complications, i think my installation at 10 x 10 will be a success.

for me not getting intimidated is a big problem.  i’m easily discouraged.  i’m trying to take my work horse kind of nature and turn it in a more positive direction.  i think i am always kind of searching for somewhere to stop.  somewhere to settle in and do something for the rest of eternity.  finish, rewind, repeat.  of course then i get massively bored and try something else, always lurching off in some kind of awesome direction, but not really being able to pull it together at the end of the day.  i don’t know where i picked up that habit, but i’m working on getting rid of it.  a is really good at moving forward (maybe too good at times, girl).  i’m always amazed at her ability to intuitively know how to move toward her next better goal and really do amazing shit.  she is on her way to being an art star, mark my words.

right now feels really right.  for the last few years, in the back of my mind, i have been thinking “i wish i was doing this…” and now i am doing it.  i am trying to keep options on the horizon so that what i do today makes a bridge to what i want to do next year, or in five years.  i suspect this is the way to live life.

anyway, my studio mates have been enormously generous this week, helping with heavy lifting, kiln firing, spray gun lending, and ass loads of other shit (like the pillow case-tea towel-raw glaze-lashing strap maneuver into kiln no. 8).  i don’t know this studio very well yet, my shit is majorly heavy and as previously discussed i get discouraged easily, so i could not have done it with out them.  seriously.