June...

Wow. It is the beginning of June already...wow again. Please pay no attention to my simple amazement of this change of months. June means a couple things for me...numero uno being I will be heading down to Fla. to visit my family and stay on the beach for a week. That means sunning my buns and eating a mess of good, fresh seafood. Numero dos is that I will be starting my summer job just as soon as I return. This means I will pack up my laptop, clay tools, and a bunch of studio clothes and head further up north to Chautauqua, NY.

I will be taking on the position of ...get this...KILNMASTER...honestly, that is what they are calling this job title. In reality I am more like the studio manager for the ceramic department...The place there is the Chautauqua Institute...it is a resort like arts community on Lake Chautauqua that has been there for like 120 years. They offer professional quality dance, theatre, music and visual arts classes, performances, and exhibitions for all who are lucky enough to be inside the gate. No cars anywhere on the premises...looking forward to it.

My gig there is setting up the studio for the new season and making sure all is going well, but most importantly, making sure everybody gets their work fired. I have 4 work study students and 1 full time assistant that will help me in maintaining the studio. I will be there until the third week in August...8 weeks of classes rolling through the studio. I hope to make a whole lotta new work while I am there...they are providing me with a semi-private studio space and I aim to make use of it.

This is the new wing to the visual arts building that was recently added and the fancy orange and brown building is the kiln palace.

The walls are all on overhead rollers and completely open up on all four sides...too cool.

They have this super special German or something kiln there. The Blaauw. It is a fully programmable digital gas kiln...super insulated...looks like it came from IKEA...That should be interesting...verrrry in-ter-est-ing

(Is that a Col. Klink or Shultz quote? How well do you know your Hogan's Heroes trivia). Anyways, I have allot of work ahead of me...there was construction during the off season and the studio looks like a bomb went off inside...

But, you know what? That is a couple weeks down the road yet and I still have Fla. in front of it. Sun on my buns first. And since I most likely will not post another for a couple weeks I am packing this one in...Here are a few new pictures from the on going kiln building that Nancy and I are doing ...its getting there!

Looks like we are not going to be finished before I leave but I will come back for the firing and have my pieces already glazed and ready to be loaded. I wish there was more time for me to stick around and finish the kiln off but alas, it is not to be...yes, "alas" I said!

While I am at this verbage filled frenzy let me send a big shout out to the hardest working man in the etsy clay business...thats right, the James Brown of the etsy mud team...Keith Phillips. He recently posted a long clay convo that we had about atmospheric firing...thanks for putting that out there, very cool. If you do not know his work, whats wrong with you? Mudstuffing, his shop on etsy is a very popular place and a good place to check for recent additions to the inventory...Keith's blog is on my side bar so you and I can visit frequently.

I will enjoy reading my emails and other blogs and posting new work and images of Chautauqua, NY this summer...new surroundings, new people, new climate (well sorta). Heres to the begining of a good summer gentle reader, heres to June.