Monday, February 27, 2012

Pushing on Through...

Just a short bit...
I'm off to work tomorrow...its my weekly commute back to where I work and once lived...and sort of still live a few days a week. The trips have been long and with gas soaring up with no apparent ceiling I am not thrilled about the travel. But right now there is a silver lining...I'm firing those mugs I showed you a few posts back. Well, I am not personally firing them...my buddy Dan Kuhn is firing them for me. It is certainly great to have F.W.K....that's "friends with kilns". Dan has been very generous with his kiln and I greatly appreciate this...I also like breaking up my trip and having a beer and shooting the shit for a while. Above is a mug I recently acquired from Dan...its now "mah Picksburgh" mug. I love it...nice glamour shot in the morning light...steam coming up from my freshly brewed java. Never underestimate the power of the black and gold.

Pictured below are the gaggle of fancy mugs all glazed and just in need of a little clean up through the waxed lines. They will be an earthy hay color and the feet will remain mostly unglazed and, showing off the dark, dark brown clay body. The interior a cream-ish color that pours some and breaks blue. Just imagine. Then will come the decals and a couple hits of 04 glaze here and there...and then will come more decals...and maybe a little bling.

So I'm pushing through, getting back in the groove...git'n-r-dun. Next thing you know, Winter will be over. Its already starting to look a little bit like Spring. Keep your fingers crossed.



Friday, February 17, 2012

Never too soon...

A portion of my garden last summer...

"Who can estimate the elevating and refining influences and moral value of flowers with all their graceful forms, bewitching shades and combinations of colors and exquisitely varied perfumes?  These silent influences are unconsciously felt even by those who do not appreciate them consciously and thus with better and still better fruits, nuts, grains, vegetables and flowers, will the earth be transformed, man's thought refined, and turned from the base destructive forces into nobler production.  One which will lift him to high planes of action toward the happy day when the Creator of all this beautiful work is more acknowledged and loved, and where man shall offer his brother man, not bullets and bayonets, but richer grains, better fruit and fairer flowers from the bounty of this earth."
-  Father George Schoener (1864 -1941)  
   The Importance and Fundamental Principles of Plant Breeding   




...I'm passing the remaining days of Winter flipping through seed and garden starter catalogs...planning the new garden and looking forward to some color in my landscape...it can't come soon enough. 
How about you?
Crimson Nasturtium after a shower...my garden last summer.

"With a few flowers in my garden, half a dozen pictures and some books, I live without envy."   
-  Lope de Vega  

Sunday, February 12, 2012

Multiversity : Faculty Artists

Hanging on right, Kevin Turner's porcelain piece, table in front by Alphonse  Mattia, me on  plinth, Maura Keeny painting, Ivan Fortushniak on far wall of front room.

Opening last night to a cold and snowy February evening on the campus of  Indiana University of Pennsylvania was the first art department faculty exhibition in fourteen years. The exhibition is being shown at the University Museum located in Sutton Hall in the heart of the IUP campus. The show features all the current faculty including the art historians(exhibiting a catalog for another show where a fwd. was written and an art history text book...really?...really.) and our visiting artist in the wood department. This being said, as much as they were trying to include everyone, they left out both our techs for the department. In particular, one Michael Stadler who has a large piece hanging in our Performing Arts Center and another at one of our branch campuses. It should also be noted that a couple years back Mr. Stadler received and completed a public commission that was larger(physically and monetarily) than what I would bet 98% of the exhibiting faculty have ever received or will ever receive in their life. Oh well, it is what it is I guess and minus that and a couple things, the museum folks, who are 99% volunteers, did a nice job of wrangling the faculty and putting together an exhibition that should have happened long before now.

I believe it important to be critical of exhibitions and this blog is a rather safe format for me to be a bit snarky, especially when I am talking about work by my colleagues and administration. I am not bad mouthing this show...in fact I believe it to be a really good exhibition with strong work by people I respect. Where my criticism lays is in the details...I never received a postcard for this exhibition, not one...the catalog, although great to have, looks from the cover to be a slick instructional manual for a new H.D. T.V and suffers from a extraneous use of an odd font while the Dean's forward says less about the exhibiting group of "faculty artists" than his dedication to a couple of early University Museum pioneers. Again, it should be noted that out of the 16 people featured in the catalog 6 are considered temporary, on semester to semester or yearly contracts...like myself... and another guy(doing a great job as our temp.sculpture prof.) was left out completely...so make that number 7...chalk this up to the state of educational funding today. I also did not attend the private reception or the public reception...I was opening our big exhibition in Kipp Gallery by artist Joelle Dietrick on the one night...my dates for the opening in Kipp Gallery had been set for almost a year and the public reception was held on a Saturday night and would have meant a great deal of travel for me in dicey weather. Honestly, I am nitpicking and was a little peeved about the dates, but it is this same attention to schedule that I am held to as the Director for the art department's gallery...I check calendars, look for conflicts.

Ok, other than my own bitching and moaning, it is a really good show and I wanted to highlight work from me (of course) and some of my colleagues. I am pleased to be a part of this exhibition and to be considered as one of the faculty. The importance of showcasing the personal work of the professors within our department is eye opening to students and other campus folk alike. If you happen to be in the area...check it out. Pictures tell the story that my words are only nipping at the heels of... criticism is for the critics...lets enjoy the work....click on the images to view bigger.
Older pieces in new configurations were what I was about...
detail of Poppy Field/Window Box







Yes...Seasonal...once again...I know, make some new work Kyle!
Bob Sweeny

detail of blob-ject and wall painting.
Sean Derry...motion activated too!
Ivan Fortushniak
Sue Palmisano
My Poppy Field/Window Box on right...Fuyoko Matsubara' digital weaving.


Sunday, February 5, 2012

I've got a "heart on" for you...

This month...all month...I am having a "cleaning house" sale in my etsy shop...just click that link!!!

If you have been interested in a nice wood fired mug or vase to put those roses in...now is the time to buy!!!

I will take 5.00 dollars off each item...every item in the store...even items already on sale!!!

Send me a "convo" message before you buy and I will adjust the price for you!!!