homefry sketchbook

Never too soon...

2012-02-17T14:38:00.000-05:00

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

Multiversity : Faculty Artists

2012-02-12T13:32:00.000-05:00

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.

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

2012-02-05T11:05:00.000-05:00

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!!!

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO

Exposed in Ceramics Monthly

2012-01-28T18:56:00.001-05:00

Hello gentle readers and happy Saturday,

I would just like to toot my horn here a moment and let everyone know that the exhibition I co-curated with Jill Foote Hutton, Gallery Coordinator from Red lodge Clay Center, made it to the "Exposure" section of Ceramics Monthly. It appears in the February edition... hey, its not much but there is a picture and caption and it seems like its in good company. The exhibition "The Lowdown: Tales from the Margin" will be showing at the Red Lodge Clay Center the month of February as well.

As thrilled as I am that we were mentioned, let me add the names that were left out of the caption...Julie Guyot, Jason Bige Burnett, Carole Epp and Max Lehman...these names are in addition to those that appeared in the magazine...Nick Ramey, Alex Kraft and Melissa Mytty.

Also included in February's edition is a full article on Lowdown exhibiting artist Jason Bige Burnett...included in the article are pieces that are currently on view in our exhibition..."Static Platter" and "Bang -O-Rang Bowls".

It was actually my first look at Ceramics Monthly since they changed their format...for shame Mr. homefry...I know. But as chocked full of cool stuff as this edition was I didn't think it was all that different from the previous format. It seemed to me that CM changed up their direction sometime in the mid-2000's to better reflect a more academic pursuit of ceramics instead of the sort of "technical heavy" path they had been on. I, for one, was happy about this. I was writing my thesis for my M.F.A. about that time and was in need of philosophical/theoretical back up to better support my graduate school pursuits and I was happy to find it in my friendly and familiar CM. Now, I know that the articles were not always the best but they had gotten better and the good writing was not just limited to Glen R. Brown. My return to CM at a glance finds a fancy new semi-gloss/matte cover, new graphics but an abbreviated "Call for Entries" page as well as shorter classifieds...less pottery studio real estate to dream about. Maybe that's not such a big deal but the tightly packed text from the "Exposure" section left me wanting to go back to the days where there was a little more content that explained what the image was about...although more visually modern, it is a bit of a cluster-fuck of a design. Also, in the meat of the magazine, I read what I thought was an article on Justin Rothshank which turned out to be a not altogether favorable review of a recent exhibition...going as far as saying "the handling of the material seemed awkward". I don't fault the alliteration loving author as much as the editor here but perhaps a "review" of this nature would be better suited in a separate section of the magazine...like the "Exposure" section... Exhibition + Pictures + Review... now that = "Exposure".

Anyways, I mean it when I say I am thrilled that "The Lowdown: Tales from the Margin" found its way on to the CM radar...it deserves to....the wonderful work from these seven artists surpassed my expectations and I hope they gain even greater exposure at the next showing in Red Lodge. And even with my nit-pickings about CM, I am debating about re-upping my subscription. Go figure.

Proof...

2012-01-18T10:54:00.006-05:00

Here ya' go...

I have to say, it is good to be able to just post some new pieces that are currently "in process". Check'em out...I have a dozen of these guys in a variety of sizes and shapes that also sport a variety of stamps, line quality and application of slip.

Once finished and fired to cone 5, the clay body will be a rich deep brown and I am currently debating glaze color right now....so, tell me what you think...its your chance to stop being just a lurker(I know you are out there)...Do you like the smaller ones, the more cone shaped, the bigger one, the large decorative foot, suggestion for color choice? Thanks for looking and all comments are appreciated...even yours.

Its High Time...

2012-01-14T08:48:00.006-05:00

And no, I'm not talking about your favorite magazine. Its high time I got back to getting dirty...and no, I'm not talking about your other favorite magazine...I'm talking about getting back to making art...making pottery...making something in my new space.

I have successfully set up a fairly decent work space in the basement of our new, old place here in Beaver Falls. I am not showing full pics of it quite yet...but here is a teaser...dig my fancy throwing stool!

It is not the rustic, picturesque setting of Little Mahoning Creek Pottery...I can not swing open the big barn style doors on the side of the studio space and let the outdoors in, but it is an OK space and there are basement windows(that do not open) that let a little light through...it may be a bit leaky on one side...but that's the other side of the basement and the little river doesn't run through my stuff. There is plenty of room for me to make work and also to store work...and to photograph the work. Besides, every time I move stuff around in the basement I find cool things...like my new stool, these super cool Star Wars balls(below) and vintage "lounge" items like funky 70's style beer glasses and an array of ash trays from all over the place. The kiln will be coming but first I need to plug that leak in the wall...small waterfall where the down spouts run into the ground. In the meantime I will be a kiln mooch. Hi Dan! Hi Nance! ...like this is anything new?!

And recently, after reading others blogs, I do not feel so alone in the struggle to get back into making work. I do not know why its such a battle, but it is. Maybe its the new place or the wintry weather, maybe its the rust that has gath

ered on my brain after not making anything since October. I'm betting on the latter. But TODAY gentle reader, is the day...its high time I got back to making some work!

...OK ...did it just feel like I should have stopped tapping away here and got down to my wheel? I agree it definitely did...I should have segued to the end but I do have a few updates to tack on...(maybe this is part of my problem)

After my last post about a generation of young people called "Millennial" and their addiction-like dependence on their electronic devices, I received a nice email from a person connected to a website called onlinecollege.org . It felt real and not just generated by some program. I'm always a little wary about this...but she provided me with a positive flip side for Generation Y and here it is...click it baby. Hey, its only fair.(I can hear Jim Gottuso groaning from here...see his comments on last post))

I also posted 5 new items in my Etsy shop...ON SALE...that's right homies...I came across some pieces I had stuck away for a variety of reasons and decided why not just put them out there...I'm calling this my "WONKY SALE". All 5 pieces have a bit of an unevenness to the bottoms...they are a bit wonky. BUT they are also pretty cheap too...this mug pictured below is one.

Finally I will end with a bit of sad news...The Philly Street Cafe in Indiana, PA has gone the way of the Do-do. They gave it a good try and had a fair run but its tough out there for the small business. The cafe is where The Self Serve Pottery Kiosk was located...it is now back in Beaver Falls searching for a new home. Click the link to learn more about the kiosk.

Now I'm heading down to my wheel to make some mugs...stay warm.

Are you a...Millennial?

2012-01-06T15:45:00.010-05:00

...Better yet... am I?

Happy New Year internet. Here it is the end of the first week of the new year and it feels like Spring. Honest. Today it felt like Winter had completely passed over us in favor of an early vacation. The temperature cracked the 50 degree mark and although it did take a while to melt most of our recent snow, the sun did its best to make you think it was warmer. I wish it were true and Winter had indeed forgotten to rest its grey, heavy ass upon our shoulders until March, but I know better.

Although the day was pristine, I did have to spend part of that time inside...grading papers. I am just finishing teaching two online courses of Art History 101 in what is a very brief and intensive "Winter Term". Its an interesting thing teaching a fully online course. Its actual my 4th year doing the Winter Term and I have used components of online learning as part of my regular "face to face" classes. I started involving the online component to my 101 classes out of convenience. I made all the quizzes and exams available online and the students could take the test at anytime on a given day. This also was helpful in freeing up extra time...instead of wasting time sitting in class taking the test that time could be used doing something else...plus the test online automatically grades it's self and adds the grade to my class list...more time saved by not grading papers! Besides those, there are a number of other reasons for the online thing but I'm not interested in really making a case for it right here. I'm interested in talking about the person, the student who readily signs up for these courses...who does not hesitate, even if they have never taken an online course before.

I recently learned the term "Millennial". I think I'm a little slow on the uptake with this. Anyway, the term Millennial refers to a generation of people..."There are about 80 million of them, born between 1980 and 1995,"... "They multitask, talk, walk, listen and type, and text. And their priorities are simple: they come first."...They were raised by doting parents who told them they are special, played in little leagues with no winners or losers, or all winners. They are laden with trophies just for participating and they think your business-as-usual ethic is for the birds. And if you persist in the belief you can, take your job and shove it."..."Characteristics of the generation vary by region, depending on social and economic conditions. However, it is generally marked by an increased use and familiarity with communications, media, and digital technologies."

Now, with this clearly defined, I understand why its often difficult to fully engage the college students. It is downright difficult to shock them as well...it often takes a story about Vito Acconci masturbating in his performance piece "Seedbed" to shake them from their devices...and even then its a brief glance up from a deep, back and forth text conversation. But, honestly I cannot sit here and point fingers. Better yet, I'm asking myself...have I become a Millennial? Am I one through cultural assimilation? Can I be one even though I'm a Generation Xer with a healthy DIY mentality? ...Dear God what have I become!!!

Ehhh, maybe not. I mean, I have Facebook, but who doesn't. I do involve a good deal of technology in my daily life. I do not use a "smart phone" nor do I desire to use one...I do not want to be attached to my online world every waking second. However, I do write on this blog...have done it for a while now. The blog is pretty much a one sided conversation...its me shouting about me out in the cold, virtual, blackness of the internet. In many ways, I think writing a blog post is like putting out a new status on your Facebook page...just with pictures and a good deal more content.

And as Facebook changes its format once again in an attempt to stay fresh, my boredom grows and I smell the rotting corpse of MySpace still out there...somewhere in the online elephant graveyard...and I feel the need to get my hands dirty with clay. So maybe I'm not a "Millennial"...maybe I am just adapting to survive and exhibiting passive "Millennial" traits. I also wonder how those traits effect the work I make...more about this later.

Please take a few minutes away from your smart phones to watch the Pharaoh, a.k.a. Hen - Rock,a.k.a, Mr. Hennesy Youngman give a very funny and informative talk at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago on the subject "To Catch a Millennial".

Please silence all devices...and BTW(Millennial speak), if your wondering what that home cooked goodness is at the top of this screen might be...its my New Year's Day meal...A mixture of some down home southern good luck traditions...Hoppin' John Stew over Smoked Gouda Cheese Grits, drop biscuits and collard greens.

OK...now you can go tweet about it...

Its the End of the Year As We Know It...Music 2011

2011-12-28T16:05:00.008-05:00

Yeah, its that time of year again...the end...and time for everybody's "best of" lists.

If your like me and never really fought the "War on Christmas" and just tried to keep the "mas" in Christmas, chances are your pretty tuckered out. You know what I mean...mas...like mas y mas, c'mon my Spanish language speakers...more and more...like more food, more decorations, more lights, more presents, and just one more beer. So while I am recovering from Christmas's war on my wallet lets get down to it...

First let me say, "man can not live on clay alone". So, what is the next best thing you ask? That's easy kids...MUSIC. Now, a countdown of the year's best in order... its just not possible... ranking my picks in a certain order would drive me crazy so Im going to toss these out there and let them fall where they may. These are full records or songs that I went back to again and again this year...they found themselves in heavy rotation on my Ipod and became my studio companions and later my traveling companions.

Abigail Washburne/City of Refuge....Back in the early(really early) Spring of this year I was listening to this record over and over. She is an acomplshed banjo player with a lovely voice who writes and sings really good songs. I still go back to this record...folky, bluegrass with a hint of India.

Gillian Welch/The Harrow and The Harvest...sticking with the ladies here, this is a fantastic record all the way through. Mostly mellow acoustic folk with dark and gritty undercurrents...shes is a great writer and she and her guitar playing partner make a great twosome.

J.Mascis/Several Shades of Why...Dinosaur Jr. frontman J. Mascis finally made a mostly acoustic solo record...Dinosaur Jr was always capable of poping out a really good mellow song in between fat slices of guitar rock but here J. has done it with the whole record. These songs wedged themselves deep into my ears and the disc did not leave my car for months. Its like your really into Neil Young and you love him with Crazy Horse but you really love those brief nuggets of broken down, solo, mellow goodness and wish he would do an album of just that(before he gets too "Adult Contemporary")...well, thats wat I mean here.

Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks/Mirror Traffic...ex- Pavement frontman Stephen Malkmus and his rocking band bust out another winner...produced by Beck no less. Great tunes, odd/funny lyrics sung in his deadpan style and a slightly more necked in approach make this a fun studio record...heck its just a solid record for anytime. Dig the single "No One Is (As I Are Be)", then jump into the rest.

Jeff the Brotherhood/We Are The Champions...speaking of rocking out...this is the record. I was slow to warm to these guys but something kept catching my interest. This is balls out, riffing, stoner rock. If your looking for intellectual and deep song lyrics, look somewhere else. If you want to jump up and down...bang your unwashed curly mane back and forth...play ferocious air guitar all over the living room...or need something to keep you going on the treadmill...now we are talking.

Fleet Foxes/ Helplessness Blues...A great record...and I say that beacuse I own the vinyl...but it is great no matter what media you have it on. Sprawling and expansive, varied and bright, good lyrics and great music...I like this one better than the first record, and thats saying something.

Black Keys/ El Camino...yeah sure, jump on the bandwagon... it seems like the Black Keys have made it baby!...these guys are good and this record is a hell of a lot of bluesy, soulful, rockin' fun with a dash of Led Zepplin and a smidge of ZZ Top...these guys made my list last year too!

Real Estate/Days...Beach Fossils/What A Pleasure...I am smashing these two into one grouping because I feel there is such a similar vibe here. Both are young bands and for both these are their second records. Both have a lazy vibe, like laying around the house all day while it snows like the dickens outside. Both have a sort of detached vocal and great guitar sound but Real Estate is a little more pollished and produced...really making their overall sound lush. I have been listening to Beach Fossils for a while now, including some of their earlier songs, and have recently purchased Days by Real Estate but it was quick to sink itself under my skin. Im not sure if its the weather right now, but Days was perfect music to stare out the window with this morning while I watched the snow flurries. Real Estate has somewhat of a lazier Shins feel to me and I am sure I will enjoy it long past it stops snowing.

Noteworthy:
Wilco/The Whole Love...best Wilco album since "Sky Blue Sky"...maybe better.
Tom Waits/ As Bad As Me...best Tom Waits album since "Real Gone"...maybe better.
Beastie Boys/Hot Sauce Committee pt.2...best B-Boys album since "Ill Communication"...don't be a hater.

Scott H. Biram/Bad Ingredients...Poor Boy's Soul/Burn Down... I am lumpin' these two guitar slingin' blues men together. Both are a one man band of damn fine, ferocious, stompin' blues. I even put Biram's video up on the "Whatcha' watchin'"...I needed an excuse to sex up my blog...mmm,hmmm.

And although Im kind of an album guy, I have decided to toss in some noteworthy songs. I admit to downloading just songs sometimes and also wishing I had downloaded just songs after purchasing entire discs....sometimes. So here are songs that were on my hitlist this year.

Low/Especially Me...love the band...liked the newest record but LOVED this song...maybe my favorite song of the year...I don't know...maybe.

Yuck/Get Away...an instant classic...familiar but new at the same time...great hooks, great riffage...whole album is pretty good too.

Ty Segall/ My Sunshine...ass kicking, grungy but catchy, garage rock from the west coast...from an album called Melted...ahh hell, just buy the whole record.

Boston Spaceships/ Freedom Rings...This is Robert Pollard from GBV with yet another one of his side project bands. Good record but this song is superb with a really cool video to go with it. Brand new Guided By Voices comes out in mid January!

The Head and the Heart/ Lost In My Mind...good record too...great sung harmonies and super uplifting folky vibe...can listen to this song again and again...ahh hell again, buy the record.

Well there you have it...my musical faves and raves from 2011. Feel free to chime in on the comment space and tell me some of yours...always love to find new music. Now go find these tunes...download them or better yet walk away from your computer and go find a record store and spend your Christmas money.

Thanks for tuning in to my rantings and shameless self promotions throughout the year...I hope you continue to stop by and read...I hope you even tell a few friends to do the same...hell, the more the merrier. Speaking of making merry, I hope you will be doing just that over the weekend.

homefry wishes you all a productive and prosperous New Year!!!

Wishing you and yours a happy ho-ho...

2011-12-21T11:19:00.004-05:00

Narrator: Every Who down in Who-ville, the tall and the small,
Was singing! Without any presents at all!
He HADN'T stopped Christmas from coming! IT CAME!
Somehow or other, it came just the same!
And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling:
Grinch: How could it be so?
It came without ribbons! It came without tags!
It came without packages, boxes, or bags!
Narrator: And he puzzled and puzzed, till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!
"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store.
Maybe Christmas… perhaps… means a little bit more."

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays...whatever you do, I hope you enjoy doing it with family and friends...cheers!

Much more to come!!!

hugs and kisses...

homefry sketchbook.

Saving your soul...

2011-12-11T18:32:00.006-05:00

"We're kicking off our fun old fashioned family Christmas by heading out into the country in the old front-wheel drive sleigh to embrace the frosty majesty of the winter landscape and select that most important of Christmas symbols."

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

...That's right, I went to Home Depot to get my tree this year...elves with orange aprons...tightly bound trees...I'm trying to reconcile this.

You can to.

There is redemption for your hungry, consumer soul if you shop independents as much(or more) as you shop the big boys...instead try: etsy, local artists/craftsmen, friends' studios, pottery tours, holiday craft sales, locally owned record shops...My goodness man, there is still time!

Flying Cat Mug by Nancy Smeltzer and GIMMIE mug by yours truly...just sayin'.

The Lowdown, Beyond Black Friday...

2011-11-26T08:10:00.010-05:00

Temperatures are in the 70's and the sunshine is warm on my skin. Nope, I'm not in western PA but spending Thanksgiving with my family down here in the lovely Florida panhandle. I have successfully escaped a week off from work in the dreary gray of Pittsburgh at this time of year to be eating and drinking my way up and down the sugary white beaches on 30A. Its great to get away and after a few days of being "out of the fray" of my life I'm able to gain a little clarity and reflect objectively on things ... so here I am pecking away at 7:00 am.

Yesterday I spent the madness of Black Friday free from pepper spraying freaks who were dying to get a highly discounted electronic device. Instead of braving the wall to wall crowds at the big box stores we quickly breezed through a couple of outlets, just buying some Christmas presents and a few winter items for my daughter that we had scouted out a couple days before. I started my day with Black Friday Record Store Day...8 am at my favorite locally owned and operated independent record store in all of the panhandle...maybe all of Florida, Central Square Records in Seaside(click for a previous post about this place). No pushing and shoving, no pepper spray. I had a free cup of coffee and browsed until I settled on the new Black Keys single...on vinyl, with a reverse groove so that it plays from the inside out...cool stuff. Then I had to fuel up for the day with some very fine Crab Cake Eggs Benedict and way more coffee...afterward, I was sufficiently ready to meet what the day had in store. The livin' is much easier down here...a bit more expensive, but definitely easier.

As I was cruising around yesterday, I visited shops and galleries in between stops at the bars and restaurants. I made note of what I saw of interest as far as art went and what I was amazed at that passed for Art. I do believe they could use a whole lot more ceramics down this way. Now, wood fired ceramics...I do not think so but low/mid fired ceramics with brighter colors, decals, and bling...oh yes, it would fly. I guess that's what we do as artists a lot of times...imagine how and where our work can fit into the scheme of things...I certainly do this quite a bit, I just figured others must too. When thinking about this, it brought me back to my show I opened a couple weeks back in Kipp Gallery...The Lowdown:Tales from the Margin.

Like I said, as artists we often imagine our work in new spaces and admittedly I'm pretty selfish in my reasons for visiting spaces or new places as I am often thinking about how I can get my work into them. Not only am I thinking about getting my work out there, but simultaneously thinking about making new work or in the case of being a gallery director...putting together a show that I love or one that I know will look great in the gallery space...in both cases, "The Lowdown" fits this bill. Working with Jill Foote Hutton to put "The Lowdown" together was a very pleasurable collaboration and seeing the actual work in my gallery space is very exciting. Also knowing that this exhibition will have another showing at Red Lodge Clay Center in February is really cool too. All the pieces surpassed the build up of their images and when they all came together in the space, they created a more harmonious visual than I had expected. I did hear that comment from several colleagues...remarking on the overall look of the show. The show has been well attended since the opening and we even hosted a nice size group of 36 on a Saturday. We have reached more of the community outside the university with this show than with previous exhibitions...I think this is due to it being "ceramics". Clay seems to have a broader appeal and we see a bit of a different crowd. What has been consistent from both the community viewers as well as the university viewers is their surprise in the works. Its a little different from expectations...vivid color, complex surfaces and comic-book coolness. Another colleague of mine marveled at the pieces and quipped, "its like painting"...and to myself I thought, "yeah, but better".

That's what the gallery is about however...education. This show in particular is about teaching... teaching what can be done at lower temps...with just an electric kiln. Its about communicating personal narratives in such ways that the viewer responds and make their own associations creating bridges for their own experiences within the works. These pieces do just that and its a great opportunity for teachers/professors to use the show as a research topic. I mean...even from the title..."Tales from the Margin"...what do we mean by "margin" in this context? The works can be viewed both as technically masterful and also as objects that are about far more than just their formal qualities. As somebody who is keenly aware of the number of visitors and perhaps where they are being directed from, I wonder if this opportunity is actually being taken advantage of by my colleagues. I also wonder if it is enough to simply have a student turn in a sheet of paper signed by the gallery monitor saying they were there...after having breezed through the exhibition while texting friends and without even picking up as much as a postcard. The shows ARE a little more thought provoking than glancing at seashell inspired artworks intended for second and third vacation homes, but I guess you can lead a horse to water but you can't make him think...without the correct app. I have very limited direct contact with the students so from my position I question, wonder and often worry if there has been much of a dialogue going on about the title, or the fact that all the work was electric kiln fired, or about who these seven exemplary clay artists are. People love the show...what's there not to love...but I'm interested in this exhibition sparking further discussion. This is an ongoing fight and its not specific to this exhibition, I would imagine its an ongoing issue for many gallery directors...but for me, I'm just more attached to this show than I have been to most others. Like any teacher, the exhibitions in the galleries are my assignments...they are meant to provoke, excite, stimulate and challenge...but in my position, I'm only the middleman.

So maybe the clarity and objective reflection brought on by the warm Gulf breezes is good... in short bursts. Its also helped me think about making new work in the new space of my soon to be basement studio now in Beaver Falls. My wheel has moved from Little Mahoning Creek Pottery for the first time in 5 years and I will be purchasing a new electric kiln. Like my temporary weather switch up, I will be switching up work...now flipping back to some more sculptural pieces and also new mid range functional ware...more to come on this idea later. Its time to shower, toss on shorts, t-shirt and sandals and bar hop to a couple good places to watch a little football, listen to local music and consume a few beers. I will soon be returning to the winter but with sand in my shoes, feeling a little refreshed and full of fresh seafood... see ya back in the blah.

The Lowdown:Tales from the Margin...

2011-11-03T15:40:00.012-04:00

"The Lowdown: Tales from the Margin"...that's the title of the new exhibition that I am opening in Kipp Gallery here at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. I am really excited about this particular exhibition because I curated it with the Gallery Coordinator from Red Lodge Clay Center in Montana. My collaborator's name is Jill Foote-Hutton and she and I have been working on this show since the early Spring...the link on her name will take you to her blog where she writes about various ceramic art related issues and also the going-ons out there in Red Lodge. The show will open next week and Jill is flying in from Montana to give a little talk prior to our public reception on Thursday November 10...at 5:00 pm...just in case your in the area and want to stop by!

Jill(who was a pleasure to work with) and I tossed names back and forth for a while until we settled on the current group. We felt that these seven artists best represented our concept for the exhibition. All seven work with the idea of a narrative, however loose or abstract, and these seven also consistently generate objects that toy with definitions and tease visual, historical and/or technical boundaries. Our other parameter for the exhibition was that all involved had to produce work in a mid-to low temperature range as well. I specifically wanted this aspect to be in the forefront to act as a symbol of individual studio sustainability..."have electric kiln, can make work".

Visually the works are vibrant and highly varied...from Melissa Mytty's delicate pinched porcelain cup and saucer explorations all the way to Max Lehman's two and and a half foot high grinning skeletons. Like I said, the exhibition is varied yes, but it is also an interesting and connected grouping. I believe its the hyper-attention to detail of the surfaces that unite this group... all belonging in the "fetish finish" category. The highly patterned and brightly glazed exteriors of Alex Kraft's abstract forms seem to fit right in with Jason Bige Burnett's graphic design inspired bowls and platters. This exhibition is at once rich, decadent and a little dark but remains open and accessible to a wide range of viewer. The Low Down: Tales from the Margin is a celebration of the creative exploitation possible with electric coils and eutectic compositions.

So dear homefry friends, enjoy a sneak peek at some of the work in the exhibition right here on the ol' blog... and if you are anywhere near the IUP campus, please stop by and check out the show. The exhibition runs from 11/8 - 12-9...gallery hours are noon to 4pm Tuesday through Friday. Jill Foote Hutton will give a short talk prior to the public reception on Thursday, November 10 and Max Lehman will be in from New Mexico to speak to our ceramic and sculpture classes. The exhibition will then be packed and shipped up to the Red Lodge Clay Center to be shown from February 3 - 24. You can search out Kipp Gallery on facebook to see images from the opening and more pics of the work... also, the link at the very top will take you to my calendar of exhibitions for Fall and Spring and there are links to each of the exhibiting clay artists' websites...Jason Bige Burnett, Carole Epp, Julie Guyot, Alex Kraft, Max Lehman, Melissa Mytty, and Nick Ramey.

Details of work by Max Lehman, Nick Ramey, Jason Bige Burnett, Julie Guyot and Carole Epp...

A Double Shamless Plug...

2011-10-28T14:25:00.005-04:00

Hi.

I just want to use and abuse the ol' blog today for a wonderful but shameless double plug for my own goings-on. So, let me start by saying thank you if your one of those people who have already been visiting my online shop...homefry:eclectic ceramic ...and if your not one of those people, let me just gently ask, what the hell are you waiting for? I have been stocking the shelves and selling a number of pieces in the past week...c'mon, there is still plenty of good stuff.

As for my second toot of the horn today, let me give you the lowdown...

You might know that in my other life, I am a gallery director for a small to medium sized university here in western PA...IUP. At this job, I often get to do really cool things like direct events related to the gallery spaces, bring in visiting artists and shows and once in a while I get to curate really cool exhibitions. That's the toot of the horn I am referring to today...my new exhibition opening on November 8. I collaborated in the curation of this traveling ceramic exhibition with the wonderful Gallery Coordinator from Red Lodge Clay Center in Red Lodge, Montana, Ms. Jill Foote- Hutton. She and I have been working on this exhibition via email and phone since the early Spring. And, its just been this past week that I have been cracking open all the pieces out of their boxes and placing them in my gallery space at IUP. I am very excited about this show and even more thrilled with the work that I have been setting up. Jill and I whittled down a larger group and arrived at these seven contemporary clay artists and asked them if they were interested in creating new work to be exhibited in the show. The exhibition will show with me(Kipp Gallery, IUP) through the middle of December and then I will pack it up and send it all to Montana to show in Red Lodge in February 2013.

Exhibiting artists are: Jason Bige Burnett, Carole Epp, Julie Guyot, Alex Kraft, Max Lehman, Melissa Mytty, and Nick Ramey.

The work is spectacular and I promise to post a little preview...in the mean time here is the card below...if you are in the area, stop by...I will post more details about this exhibition soon...

The Blow by Blow...

2011-10-18T15:24:00.015-04:00

This past weekend the tatters of red and yellow that fluttered in the wind were in glowing contrast to the deep, blue-grey clouds that rolled across the sky. But the blustery weather did not seem to deter the crowds that drove the Indiana County back roads on the Potters Tour. We had a great weekend in the new, 100 year old barn board gallery space at Little Mahoning Creek Pottery. A big thanks to all who stopped by just to say hello or to buy a new piece for the cupboard! Below is another potter friend, Christy Culp with Nancy and I, who stopped and bought new mugs...also an image of a very friendly motorcycle riding Giant Schnauzer who was out enjoying the day.

The morning started a little slow probably due to the lousy weather but this gave Nancy and I a little extra time to unload our still warm kiln. By early Saturday afternoon we had it empty and quickly sold pieces as we got them into the gallery. Amanda Wolf, from Pittsburgh, was with us for the first time and she was a very welcome addition to the tour. Amanda just built a bourry box wood kiln, very similar to Nancy's, and was displaying fresh new work from its inaugural firing along with a lot of nice looking, earthy mid range work. Here's Amanda...hello!..and also my sweet new mug that I chose in our trade! Click on the link and check out more of her work.

Please enjoy the rest of my pictorial posting from the past Potters' Tour weekend...pics of my pots set up in the gallery space...people shopping inside and out...Amanda and Debbie(Nancy's sister who came up from GA to help..Hi Debbie!)...the original stone sidewalk of Smicksburg that Debbie and Nancy uncovered and how it perfectly runs in front of the studio...click to enlarge.

P.S. I will be updating my Etsy shop...homefry : eclectic ceramics...I will be adding wood fired and salt fired mugs, berry bowls, serving dishes, and sweet mixing bowls...keep an eye out and help me get my shop back on the radar!

Indiana County Potters' Tour Time

2011-10-12T11:46:00.007-04:00

The hillsides have turned to rust and gold and up until recently we have been enjoying a bit of Indian summer here in western PA...must be time for the Potters' Tour! That's right kids, pack your snacks and hop in the car for a tour of this county's beautiful back roads and the warm and rustic ceramic studios that inhabit them! Here's the link for the website complete with maps...just click here.

Nancy Smeltzer and I at Little Mahoning Creek Pottery will be ready and waiting for you with "still warm" pots fresh from the wood kiln. I'm not kidding, we are firing another kiln load on Thursday!

Here's a few samples of some of my brand spankin' new work(and some yet to be fired)above and below...hope to see you this weekend...October 15-16!

Engine Engine Number 9...ehhhh.

2011-10-03T15:24:00.013-04:00

Putting your pieces, work that you have spent time making just right, into a very hot kiln for a rather lengthy amount of time and trying to reach a specific temperature is by definition, ceramics. However, opening those kilns can be full of elation and disappointment. I often say that glazing and firing is as much about acceptance as anything. So I am reminding myself of this as I approach writing this post.

We fired the train kiln last week and opened it on Saturday to a little of both, elation and disappointment. After a short but brutal 19 and a half hour firing the work is a real mixed bag. The front of the kiln reached temperature pretty early on and the work in that part of the kiln looks good...plenty of ash and the shino's were juicy due to the sustained high heat. The middle was hit and miss...some good, some not so good...and the back...well, eeehhh. The back of the kiln is still failing to reach temperature and the work back there will have to be re-fired. My vote is to just fire pieces in the front of the kiln, taper off work towards the middle and use the back as a pizza oven. We could get some really good pizzas out of the back...pots, I don't think so...but pizzas, there's an idea!

Here are a few images from the firing above and below: I did get a nice large oval serving dish and a small pumpkin shaped jar... the other lidded jar pictured ended up with a big green jewel on the bottom from the ash running down the side. Also, here are a few pieces from Nancy that came out pretty good.

In another week we will be firing either the bourry box kiln or the salt kiln or maybe both before the upcoming studio tour...more work, less pizza.

I hear my train a comin'

2011-09-30T16:41:00.008-04:00

I have been wood firing in the western PA region since 2004 and every time I have fired, it has always been an event...sort of a cross between a community art happening and a potluck. This past firing of the train kiln was no different.

We loaded the kiln on Tuesday evening with the help of travelling raku artist Andy Wender and another local ceramist Janet Runyan, who is also on the upcoming studio tour...click her name to see more about her. Here is an image of me inside the coffin shaped ware chamber loading some of Nancy's mugs...Im looking a little buzzed here but I swear I only had one beer...maybe two.

Nancy started the kiln at 7am on Wednesday...I got there about 4:30...Janet came around 8:00 and Andy helped out most of the day before he had to get ready to head back down south for another festival in Louisville, KY. and then back home to FLA. As usual everybody brought food and Nancy had the beer chilling in the fridge. I hit the wall around midnight and Nancy got back up to finish the firing with Janet until about 2:30am. Nineteen and a half hours was the shortest amount of time that train kiln has ever been fired. Its a hard kiln to fire, there is no sit down time and its sensitive to any move of a brick, passive damper or the chimney damper. It still may have issues as the front was super heated and we worked, and I mean worked, to get the temperature up in the back. Regardless, I am excited to see the results. I know there will be some pieces that will be in need of a re-fire but in the past, even when it did not fire as well, we have had some real gems from the kiln. Because of the extreme "one way" direction the flame takes the pieces always have two distinct sides and usually a great deal of ash...runny, gooey, and sometimes crusty. I had a handful or so of bigger pieces(lidded jars, serving dish, platter) in there and Janet had a small herd of hand built sheep along with a couple of her bigger sculptural pieces. Check out the image below as we all had a hand in the final bits of loading.

It often does take a small village to fire a wood kiln or at least it takes a small village to stop by and have a beer and a bite to eat while firing the kiln. Opening on Saturday night...stay tuned, will post results next week!

New season, new surroundings...

2011-09-25T14:29:00.005-04:00

Happy Autumn everybody...another season and another year older for me. My birthday was the 22nd and it always marks the beginning of the Fall season, but this year it feels like a much bigger placeholder. My B-Day this year ushers me and my family into the first Fall in our new old house.

As I prepare for the upcoming Indiana County Potters Tour on the weekend of October 15-16, I am also busy renovating our new home. The tough part about this is that Little Mahoning Creek Pottery, where I share a studio with my friend Nancy Smeltzer, is about two long hours away from me now. Where in the past I could cut out of the house and head up to the studio for the day, now I can only make and fire on the days I also commute to work...bummer. Today is one of those days where I sure feel like throwing and the time for wet work to end is growing very near. Oh well, this Tuesday Nancy and I will be firing the Train Kiln with whatever work I have ready... remember the Train?...its been a long time since we fired it because the results were always quite varied. Nancy has done some modifications on the interior and we changed the configuration of the chimney as well as its height. Keep your fingers crossed for us...and speaking of wood...have a gander at my recently re-finished wood floors! These are original to the house which was built in the 20's...2 inch oak planks. Just imagine if I had some furniture in here...its

coming soon just like some freshly fired pots!

Little by little...

As promised...

2011-09-16T16:31:00.011-04:00

At the end of my last post/tirade, I promised I would post more pots...and so I am. In between moving and packing and commuting to work, I have been able to eek out some work. But first I would like to thank all those who responded to my "up on my soapbox" post. Obviously I am passionate about the subject but now I am personally involved. I appreciate your comments, input and kind words as I believe these are issues that effect so many people...I received a handful of comments on the ol' blog but also emails and facebook messages regarding the post. Hey, what's a blog for if not to blast one out here and there.

So, the images above and below are glamour shots from the wood firing last week...Nancy had most of the kiln as she was preparing for a big festival in the Pittsburgh area but I did have 15 mugs and few other miscellaneous pieces inside the kiln. As usual the bourry box kiln delivered another solid firing in about 20 hours give or take. Nancy and I added a mixture of salt and soda for a little extra shine. We will be firing the wood kiln one more time and most likely the salt kiln too all in preparation of the upcoming Indiana County Potters Tour. The tour takes place on the weekend of October 15-16...its always a very well attended event for us and we are looking forward to seeing your smiling faces. This year at Little Mahoning Creek Pottery, Nancy will be hosting not only me but also another potter named Amanda Wolf. Come on out to the studio...2 wood kilns, 1 salt kiln, and the new gallery space that is made from re-purposed 100 year old barn board that Nancy salvaged. There's a little something for everybody to check out while toolin' around in the autumnal countryside.

Now that I have given the infomercial for the tour...have a sneak peak at just some of the of the work you you will see, mugs and basket from me and "corndalabras" and ewer from Nancy.

Cone of Uncertainty...

2011-08-24T17:26:00.011-04:00

You might be asking, "where ya been homey?"...well, let me tell you folks...I am living and operating in a "cone of uncertainty"...this is a new term for me. I discovered it the other morning while watching the projections of hurricane Irene. The term "cone of uncertainty" is used for different things, one being to determine the path of a big ass hurricane. Here is my Wikipedia definition that better describes other applications for this term: The term Cone of Uncertainty is used in software development where the technical and business environments change very rapidly. However, the concept, under different names, is a well established basic principle of Cost Engineering.

Now, instead of a business model or hurricane projection, I think this term can be applied to my own personal life...but its not just about me(this time), I believe it has much broader implications. As I was watching the tropical update on the weather channel, and this term was tossed out there, it hit me like a ton of bricks and I have been thinking about it since then. The "cone of uncertainty" is what our current society seems to be living under these days. Uncertain of the economy...uncertain of our leadership...uncertain of the direction our nation seems to be headed...uncertain of the housing market...uncertain about everything. I bring these broad topics up because they are the life blood of our doom preaching media and each morning while I have my coffee I am bombarded with statistics from random polls about our struggling economy, doubts about recovery, and the consistent unemployment rates. After a while this continued coverage of our nation's current failings has started to sink into my brain deeper and deeper. Many of you might say, "don't watch the news", but that's not going to happen and sticking my head in the sand is not really me. Like some of you maybe, I feel as if I'm flailing about in a sea of uncertainty...little did I know that we are all in this vast and dark "cone of uncertainty".

Prolonged periods of uncertainty can be a really tough thing for your mental well being and can also stem other issues related to that sinking feeling. "Fear and loathing" was my going to be my title for this post before I watched the weather channel that morning. I'm not talking about the self induced gonzo paranoia from Hunter S. Thompson but a true deep seated fear for the welfare of yourself and your loved ones and a very unhealthy sense of failure and self loathing. I think these feelings are in great abundance within the cone of uncertainty and act like jagged rocks where you can easily be dashed upon. But in this bleak "cone of uncertainty" how do you steer clear of those rocks and how do you keep the wind in your sails?

Lets come back to that one while I back track a bit...

Admittedly, I am a little obsessed about our current economic floundering. I am profoundly disturbed by the lack of direction and vision our leadership, both at the federal government level as well as my own personal work based administration level, seems to to display. I understand that there is "no money" but what are we going to do about that issue and what might be a reasonable alternative to this problem that will help sustain people and programs that have been working. It seems that the only answer that I have been hearing here in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania is...to cut programs. "Programs" namely being education.

We are now feeling the squeeze across the state. I am the gallery director and adjunct "go to guy" for a small state university here in PA...and I am fortunate to still have a job...even at part time. The state budget for higher education was slashed by what amounted for us to be, 18.9%. That's a whole lot. The art department was asked to find 550,000 dollars in savings...that means people lost their jobs and programs were put on the chopping block. What was once a thriving studio based department is now taking on water and it looks like the lifeboats are going to be lowered. Where are the defenders of our programs?! Is everyone simply "thankful" to still have a job and are now laying low? The big difference in my sinking ship metaphor is that the captain will not be going down...crew and passengers will however.

Not only is this happening in higher ed. but primary and secondary schools statewide too. I understand that we are not the only state where education is the first thing to be pillaged as I hail from Florida and know how bungled their education system is from first hand experience. I taught middle and high school for close to nine years there and was required to fight for my art program on a regular basis. Currently here in PA, I am seeing the same thing happen that happened in Florida ten years ago. The tactics are eerily similar...huge cuts to education, head start programs, and the arts. More emphasis on testing, standardization, and an implementation of a business model placed on the students. Because of course, there will be "no child left behind"...all children learn the same...right? I feel like I am back in the sunshine state under the bucket head'ed government of Jeb Bush...brother of W.

I have seen counties near by that have just recently removed art from their curriculums...that's right, elementary schools with no art programs...county wide. I know people who have been working in good schools that have undergone major restructuring in how and to whom they will be teaching art. And most recently, my wife became one of these statistics that I have been watching on CNN. My wife's job was eliminated from her cyber charter school after 8 years due to educational cutbacks...and she is not even in the arts. The cyber charters are public schools and are also funded like any other brick and mortar school. So now I am feeling the squeeze on my wallet personally. So yes, the arts have always been the first on the chopping block but now it looks as though all of education has its neck stretched out tightly. What is it with cutting funding for education...in this time of recession and turmoil, couldn't we use some smarter, creative, more inventive people? Why is it that our government is continually devaluing education?

Speaking of our crop of inventive people that would like to take up the reigns...conservative republicans like Rick Perry from Texas need a serious wake up call. Prayer is all good and well but I do not think Jesus is going to balance our nation's deficit or create jobs for people. Maybe the big guy might reduce our defense spending and start taxing some of these high profit corporations though...in that case, he's got my vote. Our governor here in PA, Tom Corbett, is one of these republicans...proposing educational cuts at every level...keep the people stupid and keep the gas and oil companies sheltered from taxes. Heck, with no education people won't know better and then maybe he can have a big statewide prayer rally to celebrate new fracking technologies. On the far right, its a wacky bunch and I do not want to get too far in to that cuckoo's nest. Unfortunately, our democratic party seems to also be sailing along in this cone of uncertainty too. This is not what I was thinking about when Obama was talking about "change". He inherited a serious quagmire that has done nothing but continue to suck everything and everybody down.

So what's a guy to do. How do you go on making art and teaching folks? Its a tough boat to sail on such rough waters but there are ways to navigate the cone of uncertainty. First let me explain that my own personal cone has become a little more challenging. Like I said, my wife was let go from her job which directly effects us, but I have also moved...sort of. My family which includes my wife, daughter, dog and cat have very recently shifted our sleeping and eating places to a location that is almost 2 hours away. We are pre-inheriting my wife's childhood home as her elderly father has now moved into a much lower maintenance condo. This is good...its just that I still work for the university until next June as well as own a home in the borough here and share a studio space still with my good friend Nancy Smeltzer at Little Mahoning Creek Pottery. So as we begin renovating our new home(in desperate need of an update) and start my daughter in a new school and commute to work and spend the night in my sleeping bag in what is now the shell of our old home, I must hold tight to the rudder and be very aware of those underlying jagged rocks of fear and self doubt. Which brings me back to the beginning...here are a few tips.

1. I manage by having a small group of friends that help keep me afloat. Without friends like Nancy, who I have fired and worked with for the last few years, I would surely have sunk. Her continued generousity and sincerity over the years has not only provided me with a place to work but also a better understanding of a love of making utilitarian work and an inspiration to keep making. Recently, another friend, Jim McDowell, generously gave me an older kiln for bisque firing my work. This is what I'm talking about...replacing the swarms of harpies with a good community that keeps you pumping along. Look for others who may be in a similar boat and think about how you can help each other...lash your vessels together and think collaboration. Instead of assigning blame and pointing fingers more can be gained by being proactive...let's hope Washington catches on.

2. Focus on family...when you are in distress, your crew might be too. Get out and do stuff together.

3. Health without wealth is still good. Exercise is my favorite de-stresser. I became more active with a regular gym schedule during the winter months and have been able to keep going at it even during my move and 2 hour commute to work. I feel great both physically and mentally after working out.

4. KEEP MAKING WORK...I'm working on this one as I type. While I am back in the greater metropolitan of Indiana, I am making time to go up to Nancy's after work at the university. There I am continuing to throw and fire the wood kiln. In fact we are firing the kiln today. Nancy started this morning and when I leave here (because I'm actually "at work") I'm heading up to take my shift. I understand that making work is very imporatnt to my mental well being...as an artist and educator it is also important to my carreer. No matter what, I will find a way to make work.

As our country sails into the murky waters, I have to remind myself and others out there in my same situation, that there are ways to navigate the cone of uncertainty, its not an endless void. Doing it just requires a new skill set sometimes and a great deal of perseverance. Right now I'm just trying to not end up with that cone of uncertainty rolled up tightly on top of my head while I sit alone on a stool in the corner.

I promise more pots next time.

Turn down the lights...

2011-08-10T19:36:00.011-04:00

Turn down the lights and lock the door... I've got some sexy pictures I want you to see.

We unloaded a very fine looking kiln yesterday. I fired it in 12 hours after an overnight of candling. Nancy came and helped me introduce about a 6.5-7 pound mixture of soda/soda ash and salt into the kiln on thin wooden planks. Honestly, that's all we could get in before cone 11 was bending... but I'm glad we stopped there, it looks like the perfect amount especially after a fairly heavy reduction.

It has felt very satisfying to be making strictly utilitarian pieces lately. I made my pieces from 3 different clay bodies...you can see the difference in most of the images...porcelain(where the glazes are bright and body white), a darker stoneware(dark body,iron spots, slight orange peel on surface), and a sandy stoneware that responds really well in atmospheric kilns(highly pebbled surface). Each clay body yields a specific look in the soda/salt ...hey, there's something for everybody here. And as nice as these clay bodies look, I will be making new work from a very white stoneware for our upcoming wood kiln firing. But that's enough of the chit chat...lets get down to looking at some of the highlights. The images that follow are from us unloading...tumbler set by Nancy Smeltzer...slip cast porcelain tumblers by undergrad art student Talon Smith...and heads by my friend Sarah(the one who came and helped us raku) and the rest of mine I shot at home. Light some candles, put on something more comfortable and look it over.

Dirty, Stanky, and Wet...

2011-08-06T11:03:00.009-04:00

Now that's a post title...I will probably be getting some new visitors that might have been Google searching for something very different... but the title is very appropriate for the content of this particular post.

I'm waiting for the rain to taper off this morning so I can go and load the soda kiln over at the university. Nancy is meeting me around 3:00 to lend a hand, hopefully by then the rain will have stopped. I'm firing a bunch of larger space eaters of mine, a couple dozen cups and more of Nancy's, and a handful of student work too. I plan on candling the kiln overnight and firing it off tomorrow. The work will be a nice addition to my growing pile that I will be showing up at Little Mahoning Creek Pottery during our October studio tour. Mark your calendars now...its never too early to plan ahead to buy some nice pottery...maybe the guy who does the website for the tour will even put my pics and info back on the site(since he has had all the info for the last couple months almost)...maybe.

So while I wait for the weather to change, here's some shots of our raku firing I did with my beginning students this past Thursday night. My friend Sarah came out to lend us a hand and we had a double barrel firing...two kilns going at once...after we unloaded one the other was ready to go too. Raku is indeed dirty, smokey, and stinky but it is a true hook for many beginning students. It was originally what got my juices flowing for ceramics back in the late 80's. In the mid to late 90's, raku was all I did. I taught secondary art full time but also kept a studio in the small downtown area of Ocala, Florida. I tried to do at least 5 festivals per season...Fall and Spring ...as Florida during this time had no shortage of pretty decent art festivals. I would teach all week and then pack up the van and head out to some town(hopefully near the ocean) and set up the booth and run my mouth all weekend. But these days I only do raku for others...I think I have huffed enough toxic green smoke in my life and I have moved on to making my own work in other ways...just not as immediate.

Enjoy seeing the pics from the raku firing and not having to smell like a raku firing...salt fired pieces unloading next week!

Stanky raku smoke fills the air...trust me its better from where you're sitting.

Getting a groove on...

2011-07-31T20:17:00.014-04:00

Its just been in the past few weeks that I felt like I was getting in a groove as far as making work goes. Its taken a while and now my situation will be changing again.

I'm finishing both classes that I am currently teaching...ceramics and online 101. Its been a busy summer and the final week is ending with a bang. I have a mass raku firing planned for Thursday evening with my ceramic students and then Nancy and I are firing the salt kiln over the weekend. I thought this was a good chance to fire all my space eaters...bowls, oval serving dishes, more bowls, and bigger bowls. We will be firing the salt kiln at the university...nothing like a little "free" gas.

I promise to post more potter porno ...I kind of like that right now. Sometimes even I get a little tired of all the verbal explorations and would rather just make work and deal with the jibber-jabber of flapping lips and blistered typing fingers later. So lately I have been letting the pictures do the talking and today is no different.

Here's my quick preface: In between trips to the studio and back home, I tend to get caught in my garden like a fly in a spider's web. Its the heat of summer and the dahlias and zinnias are tall, the sunflowers are opening and the tomatoes are beginning to ripen. Its past the peak for most of my perennials and there is a bit of un-choreographed overgrowth happening here and there. Please enjoy some images from the tangled late summer symphony happening in my yard until I can post more sexy ceramics.

C'mon, lets linger a little longer...

Porno for pyros...

2011-07-24T12:21:00.017-04:00

That's right...potter porn. That's what is on the menu for homefry today...

We un-bricked the kiln late yesterday afternoon after about a 16 hour or so firing that we snuck in under the less humid and hot comfort of darkness. Nancy started the kiln in the evening and we fired it through the night until around 11:00 am the next day...in this heat, it was the best way to "git-r-done". Nancy and I were both very pleased with the rich and juicy results of the firing...and I am finally happy with some work this year. There will be decals down the line for me on some pieces, and for others...they will stay just the way they are now. But its back to work making more pieces because we are planning another firing in a short two weeks from now in the salt kiln over at the university...before I finish teaching my class. So I'm going to let my pictures do the talking today, here are mugs and pitchers and bowls and even a detail of one of Nancy's big baskets and a pair of her tumblers...enjoy the images...mmmm,hmmmm.

Back at it...

2011-07-21T16:18:00.005-04:00

Just a brief post...

#1) I'm dead tired...got home this morning from firing the wood kiln up at Little Mahoning Creek Pottery with Nancy. I have only had a few hours sleep in the past couple days...I pulled the late night shift from 2 to around about 10 or so...and I am looking forward to the un-bricking on Saturday already! It feels good to be making new wood fired pieces. I promise to post the results this weekend.

#2) I still have not finished off any of my mid range work...too busy firing student work and making high fire pieces for the wood kiln... but I am sure going to make the time to fit them in next week...(how long have I been saying this?!)

#3) I'm escaping this oppressive heat wave and the un-air-conditioned studios by hiding out at home under the cool vents and fan.

#4) By the way, did I say I was dead tired... I'm going back to bed, new wood fired work coming soon...

Dramarama ding dong...

2011-07-08T12:53:00.009-04:00

Sorry for the long pause but I have been busy being a grump. I am really good at it actually. In my own defense, there has been a few doses of drama that have kept me busy. OK, here come all the other excuses too: work, goddammit I'm teaching...in the studio with clay and online art 101...Im being a Dad and Husband, it aint too bad being around the house and my daughter has been going to theater camp 5 days a week...I gotta power-wash and re-stain my deck...somebody's gotta pull weeds from the garden...yeah, yeah, yeah. You know how it is, and I admit to knowing very well how it is sometimes. And right now, I just wanna go on a vacation.

But back to reality, if you remember from my last post, I alluded to the fact that there was some crappy ceramics happening in my life. This is true and it really put my motivation on the back burner. I made a couple dozen or more small pieces with this really dark body clay and it was bleeding through all my glazes. It is so full of iron, it also blisters the glaze. As of the other day, I re-bisqued all those pieces(after doing all the wax resist work) up to 04. Hopefully this will burn out more impurities and allow for a better glazed surface. In the mean time I found a recipe for a white crackle slip for bisque and applied it to 5-6 pieces.... I thought I would approach my failure to produce these dark body mid-range pieces from a different direction. I am swapping the laser transfer decal image for a paper stencil, Tahitian, floral motif. I will fire these guys to cone 5 and then later an 018 for something fancy. I will also glaze the remainder and keep my fingers crossed...I guess we will see...

In between everything else, I have also been making pieces for an upcoming wood fire with Nancy Smeltzer. It felt good to switch gears back to wood fire work. I'm not sure if it was more comfortable or what, but I'm enjoying making these mugs and pitchers and jugs. Im using a clay body from Standard Ceramics that Nancy suggested...#119...very sandy stuff but I like it. Here's a couple of high drama black and white pics of some of those pieces in the high drama ceramic studio there at IUP. Nancy is planning on firing the 20/21st...something like that, so I have plenty of time to make more work...this has got me thinking about firing the salt kiln here at the university's studio now too. I have seen a lot of good work come out of that kiln and I am teaching until August 5. Time to make, make, make.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes...

2011-06-25T20:14:00.016-04:00

Summers up north are so much different than mine ever were growing up in Florida. We have an ebb and flow of summer heat here in the foothills of western PA and the further north you go it feels less and less like the summers I knew. The past few days we have been having a bit of a dip in temperatures and it seems to slow life down even more than the season has already done. The cool evening breezes remind me of the oncoming of Autumn but I know its way to soon and all it ends up doing is conjuring a strange sense of nostalgia and melancholy more associated to the Fall season. Speaking of nostalgia, I just returned from a short visit to Chautauqua, NY. The weather up there...even cooler and really,really wet...kinda typical early Chautauqua weather.

If you have been reading the homefry blog for the last few years you would know that about this time of the year I am posting from the art school there within the Chautauqua Institution. At the end of the season last summer I opted out of the summer long gig there to teach here at home. But I did visit for a couple of days to enlighten the new "Kilnmaster"about some of the intricacies of running the program there ... in fact I just returned. The new "me" there is a good guy named Frederick Bartolovic and he seems to have everything ready to rock. Frederick has a very competent new tech and after a week or two they should have everything down pat. It is a unique program with plenty of unique personalities and some rather unique quirks that do take some getting used to. Enjoy boys...

It was nice to see a few familiar faces in the art school but for the most part it felt like a totally different place. It was always different year to year...although the art school and the Institution are highly resistant to change, there was always new faces hanging out for the season. This year, visiting and not being covered in clay, I just felt like I was one of those many people coming for a sequestered and damp holiday on the lake. It was a little bit of a nostalgic trip for me...and how could it not have been, Chautauqua is a 120 year old Victorian community that calls itself an "American Utopia"...it revels in nostalgia. After haunting the grounds some like a good tourist, I hit a couple of my favorite breakfast spots(Steadman's and Bo'Nars) and eventually did what I think I did best while living up there for the last three summers...drink beer and eat wings! We escaped the rain by hunkering down over in Bemus Point at the Village Casino...which is not really a casino, but a marina bar and restaurant. I was joined by John Moses Girdler, whom I met last year(and has returned for a repeat performance to bust out a load of work), and Frank and Polly Martin. Frank and Polly are old hands at the Chautauqua business and were very helpful to me when I started working there. I have a great deal of respect for both and admire each of their work, and it was great to hang out with them, John, and the kids. Here's my souvenir picture below. That's my daughter, Frank, John, me, Polly, and the Martin kids.

Before I hit the highway and headed back to PA, I got a chance to check out the galleries and see the exhibition that Nancy has work in. The show was carefully curated by my friend and Director of Galleries, Judy Barie. The exhibition is an animal themed show that showcases ceramics, pristine large format black and white taxidermy animal photos, and a host of mixed media critters.

Here are a couple pics of big pots by Christian Kuharik and a few crazy clay birds by ...somebody whose name I forgot...sorry, but those birds were pretty cool. Outside in the piazza between the two large galleries, the new large "pedestal toppers" by Kuharik were recently installed...here's a pic of two and there are two more at the other end not pictured here.

Below are a few shots of Nancy's wood fired works sporting different birds...Kingfishers, Herons, and Cowbirds on the floating shelves right next to Wesley Anderegg's fierce little dogs. As usual, its a great looking show in a great looking space. Click to enlarge.

So ends my nostalgic Chautauqua wandering and its time to check back in to my very real life here in PA this summer...back to my failed pots and crappy clay body(more on that next time), back to teaching and tending my garden.

nos·tal·gia - a wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happinessof a former place or time.

Working towards...

2011-06-17T15:20:00.015-04:00

...a sustainable practice.

Sustainability is the capacity to endure. In ecology, the word describes how biological systems remain diverse and productive over time. For humans, sustainability is the potential for long-term maintenance of well being, which has environmental, economic, and social dimensions.

sus·tain

- to keep up or keep going, as an action or process.

This is a word that is thrown around quite a bit these days. We apply it to a lot of things like agriculture, energy and communities, but what does it mean when applied to your own studio practices? Now, I do not mean the "green" implications to this word as it relates to your studio, but more so an approach to being able to create and to continue to create your own body of work by making a small investment and having modest space.

I have been mulling this question over while I have been teaching beginning ceramics this summer here at IUP. The question in my head is, "how is what I am teaching applicable to my students' needs?". Can I develop a course that will sustain them throughout their collegiate career and even possibly beyond? Because in my mind, that's what a beginning level course should do...lay a solid foundation on which to build. And while I focus on the physical aspects of ceramics, I also plant the seed for critical thought to happen and hopefully continue to happen by presenting current discussions and trends from contemporary ceramics and pit form against surface and function against sculpture.

Before teaching this class I brushed up on all my old clay tricks...reviewing hand building techniques and a wide variety of surface decoration techniques. I know that I learned these things at one time but these days, I rarely employ some of this highly effective,tried and true techniques when working on my own pieces. I think people get used to the way they do things and simply stick with methods that work well for them. I admit it, I'm guilty of this. But, what I'm teaching is forcing me to revisit my own beginnings and maybe even getting me to add a new trick or two to my own repertoire.

I went on to consider that not only should the techniques being taught be applicable to the students continuing on to an intermediate or advanced level but also to those that might go on to want to work in clay later as a hobbyist or art educator. This is also why we are only firing at the low fire level, completing all the work in electric kilns. Most people after their college experience will only have access to electric kilns unless they work at art/community centers or residencies that support different types of facilities and kilns. Besides, these days with the digital setter, you can tailor your firings pretty nicely and achieve effects at a mid range that before was only seen in a high fire gas kiln. For a broader definition of creating a sustainable studio practice check out a brief but loaded article by then graduate student Brian Kluge in the March 2010 issue of Ceramics Monthly.

Hand building; including coil and slab, a basic introduction to wheel throwing, intro to slips and glaze, basic understanding of electric kilns and cones, all topped off with a continued emphasis on surface design or decoration...this is my idea of teaching a sustainable practice in clay. Make your plaster molds in another class with another teacher...strictly nuts and bolts here.

I'm also applying this idea of sustainable practice to my own work...finishing more pieces like the ones in this post, above and below, in the electric kiln. Keeping the level of equipment usage down doesn't diminish the work by any means. I will post images of these mugs, at least, before the end of the week(hopefully)...cone 5, wax resist lines revealing what will be the rich brown clay body, laser printed decals and maybe some lovely kitsch and bling to round it all out. The sculptural piece however might take me a little longer to finish... what I am jokingly calling my "loving balls" piece(pictured below). Work like this often makes me obsess for a while over the permanency of the possible imagery. I think I have my glazes set, but now for the images...hmmmm...critical thought is my mental stir stick. Tune in later for the results.

Keep it real.

LMCP Gallery and Volunteer Foxgloves...

2011-06-01T17:34:00.013-04:00

As I mentioned in the post just before this...recently I spent a little time up at Little Mahoning Creek Pottery aka. Nancy Smeltzer's aka. studio where I'm generously allowed to squat pot. While up visiting, Nancy showed me her new gallery addition...almost finished! I did post some pics of this place back in January but here it is pictured above and below almost ready to go! That's Nancy there peering up at the 10 x 24 foot new gallery space. This is a really great new space completely made from re-purposed materials. Nancy hauled all the old barn board that was used in this building from a barn that was being torn down near her home. The windows and door are also on their second life, now reincarnated in the service of this rustic and lovely pottery gallery. I can certainly see a whole lot of wood fired pots in that space. MMMMMM.
Speaking of wood fired, I am getting busy on two sets of work...throwing a nice sandy high fire clay for the bourry box kiln up at Nancy's and making mid range brown ware pieces for the electric kiln. The second group being similar to the pieces in the slide show in the previous post.

In between time I am home...teaching at IUP for the summer and enjoying the quiet life here in the greater metropolitan area of Indiana, PA. This also means I get to kick around in my yard and garden all summer. You have to understand, I'm a serious garden geek and for the last 3 summers I have been leaving to live and work in the Chautauqua Institution up in Chautauqua, N.Y. Well, I felt it was time for a change of scenery for me at the end of last summer and I now feel like I made the right decision. Now I can be like normal people(whatever that is)and not have my life stretched out in two states and I can really tend to my garden. I have enlarged my veggie garden to include onions and asparagus as well as a couple rows of zinnias. My 3 story high "rhodo-zilla" is in full bloom and looks like a giant purple blob swallowing my back deck. All of my bulbs and perennials are jamming right now and there is still so much more to come. However, I have to say that my very favorite thing out in my garden would have to be the foxgloves. I inherited them along with a few other backyard gems when I bought this old coal miner house. Each year they reseed in different places, sometimes not so much and sometimes a whole lot. This year I have bunches...tall spires of speckled slippers in shades of pink. Not only do I have them in almost every flower bed, but they are in big clumps and there are loads of this new creamy white color.

And in keeping with my wood fire talk, here are a couple gems that I gave a final firing of gold luster and commercial decals. These two babies turned out pretty sweet.

The Chinese menu mug is a nice big cup with a lot of flash and ash that add to the layered band around the top. The other is another "double flamingo homage to FLA." mug that I added the bling to...and I'm happy I did...look for more flamingos in my upcoming work.

How does your garden grow?

Flamingos, Flowers, and Cocks...

2011-05-25T20:56:00.008-04:00

Finally...I'm posting new work that I have recently finished. This is all mid range stuff...cone 5 and then fired a couple more times to incorporate the laser decal images (04)and then the commercial decals and gold luster(018).

Its a very funky bunch, full of pattern collisions and assorted imagery combining together to create a sort of painterly surface. 9 of the best of the bunch have already headed to The Chautauqua Institution to be sold in the Strohl Art Center Gallery Store. You will be able to find the rest in my Etsy shop soon and in a Self Serve Pottery Kiosk near ...me. Speaking of Chautauqua, I was up at Little Mahoning Creek Pottery today with Nancy to meet with Judy Barie, the Gallery Director for Chautauqua. Judy was stopping by to pick up work for an exhibition that Nancy has been curated into there... in the "new as of last year" Fowler-Kellog Gallery. It was really good to see Judy again, she is a hard working gallery lady that does such a wonderful job putting together exhibitions and coordinating so many of the events that take place within the galleries. Seeing her today made me a bit nostalgic for my last few summers and I will miss some of the familiar faces that I have come to know over the last three years up in CHQ. as I will not be returning this summer to be KILN MASTER!...click here for my farewell post. It looks like my beginning ceramics class will make here at IUP for the summer and there's an online 101 class that I also hope to be teaching second session too. Anyways, it was great to gab about our past adventures with Judy and I'm sure I will see her down the line.

Check out the slide show of my snazzy new pieces...I hope to be posting more new work all summer!

Kizoa slideshow: New Mid Range Work 2011 - Slideshow

Crackers and Sincerity Revisited...

2011-05-20T09:35:00.005-04:00

I'm back in grey, overcast western PA after almost a week down in sunny FLA visiting my family. Its great to have family who live at the beach. I'm tanned and recharged full of Bloody Marys and fresh seafood ready to start making new work and teaching classes. I will stop "rubbing in" my sun filled beach lounging right after I tell you about an extra bonus that happened while I was there.

The long strip of beach living along 30A there in between Panama City and Destin is teeming with restaurants and bars and lots of young, good looking, hip folk who really appreciate good music. I saw a couple of good local bands while there but the highlight came from a place called Central Square Records(who apparently do not have a website) in Seaside. This is a great record store...a record store among record stores...a long surviving example of "back in the day" located directly across from the ocean. Its always a destination for me, not because I can get great food and Bloody Marys "to walk around with" at the restaurant next door but because I can go and hang out...talk new music and really geek out. They never disappoint ...here's a pic of the place above from my cell phone...the record store is upstairs and there is an equally great indie book store downstairs. Below are a couple pics also from my handy cell phone of the in store event. David Lowery formerly of Cracker formerly of Camper Van Beethoven played a short but sweet mini gig right in the middle of the store. It was packed with beer toting, beach going hipsters from all over...Patrick Carney from the Black Keys even stopped by.

On another note, while I was baking in the sun I got a cool email from a potter who writes a blog that I have recently been checking out. Carter Gillies wrote a response to my sincerity rant/post. He emailed because he had a well thought out, "too long for the comment box", response...so I decided to post it here. Its great to get some real dialogue happening once in a while. I often try and often just hear crickets. That's the blog world though...it seems like a one way street sometimes, so I was thrilled to have some new content based on issues I have been scratching my head about. You should also check out his blog...good solid content(more consistent than me) and really nice looking pots...there is a link on his name here and he is also on my blog roll on the sidebar. So thanks Carter...nice to meet you online and its too bad your not closer because I think you would make a nice edition to our 7 dollar import pitcher night! Below is Carter's perspective on the issue of "sincere" and how it relates to him as a potter. Please chime in on the ol' comment box to add your own view...or bring a few beers and come sit on my back deck.

Kyle, I just tried to post this comment to your "sincerity" entry, but it was too long. I thought you' maybe enjoy my flailing about on this issue since we seem to be kindred spirits in a lot of ways. Here is what I tried to post:

Hey Kyle, I just found your blog today (which only means I need to get out into the internet stream more!). I love what you have to say. I know this post is a few weeks old but I've been wrestling with some of the same issues and I'd love to hear your further thoughts.

I think you are absolutely on target that these days art is so many things, only one of which is sincere. In my mind art is just one more form of human communication and as such it expresses an artist's take on things, events, and the culture's pervasive idioms. So sometimes art aims at being sincere. But with the establishment emphasis on 'content' quite often we are treated to commentary by artists whose agendas include everything from challenging the viewer to expressing abstract or mundane notions. And more. Sincerity seems to be more about a person's intent to communicate honestly than something that can be trapped once and for all.

For instance, two people can say the exact same thing but one person can be sincere and another not, or the same person mean it differently at different times. So sincerity also seems difficult to pin down, and can float through our fingers as soon as we try to grasp it. This especially seems to be an issue if we pretend our sincerity has been permanently placed inside some fixed material object. Whatever truth it has died the moment we change our minds and move on to new interests. Sincerity is like looking at a stop watch after a race: It embraces a mere moment in time.

And the reason potters are having such a hard time of it is that we don't do these other 'content' things very well. The idea of beauty and function is less important in the new art domain than it was in years past. Or maybe I'm making that up. But it seems like potters have sought refuge from the batterings of the establishment in ideas such as 'sincere', 'authentic', and 'original'. It seems as if we can't walk the walk in the other conceptual avenues very well, so we at least pretend to talk the talk with soul searching vocabulary like this. It gives us the idea that we are at least still clinging to the foot of the pedestal that contemporary art is occupying.

But it also seems like we are playing games with poorly understood words when we fixate on ideas like 'original', 'authentic' and 'sincere'. And because they are the new $10 words we potters often feel the need to apply them to our own work as well. The problem as I see it is that we also face a huge and incompatible pressure from our need to satisfy the demands of a marketplace. Customer's don't really want our authentically disgorged 'who I am at this very moment'. They don't want the sincere expression of how we are feeling at the moment. They would much rather have a stock answer of "I'm fine and this is the kind of pot I make". All that sincerity, authenticity, and originality is supposed to refer back to is really only a shifting target that grows as we experience new things, contradicts itself from one moment to the next, and is polluted by everything it sees, does, and experiences. But through this straightjacketing of commerce we force all those little inconsistencies aside and pretend to a relatively unchanging ideal of 'self' that hides behind the mask.

Sometimes our work as artists seems more habitual than anything else. We don't allow ourselves to break free of our momentum and this becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. The ruts of our habits become so deep that we can't change our art no matter how many different new things are going on in our lives, no matter how much what we like and don't like changes, and no matter how we have actually outgrown the tiny seedling that started the ball rolling in that one direction.

So I would say that if we really wanted to be honest about our sincerity we wouldn't put it in such tight little boxes. It might be something one day and something different the next, kind of like what I'm going to have for dinner this week. I sincerely like more than one thing, and only eating Mexican food for the rest of my life would be sincerely disappointing. We just aren't simple creatures. Except in how we express ourselves through art. Doesn't that seem strange?

I hope you had a good laugh reading this! You seem like a thinker and you obviously care about issues like these. I hope you take all my noise as the floundering it really is. I'm just trying to figure this stuff out myself. I wish I could have been there at the bar with you guys when you were discussing this. Maybe you can still talk some sense into me. I will read your blog with interest!

sincerely,

Carter

And the livin' is easy...

2011-05-07T09:57:00.004-04:00

The best things in life are nearest: Breath in your nostrils, light in your eyes, flowers at your feet, duties at your hand, the path of right just before you. Then do not grasp at the stars, but do life's plain, common work as it comes, certain that daily duties and daily bread are the sweetest things in life. ~Robert Louis Stevenson

This was time well spent.

Space is the place...

2011-04-30T09:25:00.005-04:00

Everybody needs a little space. Space to do what ever it is that you do. Space away from the other things that you have to do. Space is not always that easy to come by however. I have mentioned the phrase "squatter potter" when describing myself on this ol' blog in the past...and it still fits pretty well. I am currently uprooted and spread all over this county it seems right now. I left Little Mahoning Creek Pottery in the winter to work at Stoke Hole Pottery which I left in March and have since been working out of a couple rubber maid tubs. I do need to get back out to LMCP and start firing the wood kilns with Nancy Smeltzer. Its been slow going due to our weather, (IUP)work, and gas prices. And also I have been holding out because I am possibly teaching beginning ceramics here at IUP...if my class makes that is. I need a few more students and it will fly for both sessions...keeping my fingers crossed. I was really hoping to use and abuse the school studio for the summer while I teach. So now I have some of my stuff in the back of my car, some stuff still over at Stoke Hole(sorry!), my wheel and other stuff at Nancy's and tubs of unfinished mugs and cups and other random pieces now on my front porch. They were all on my dining room table up until Easter, then I had to make room for our small feast. Honestly, its not a great feeling but I understand its temporary until all the cards fall where they may. If my class does not make I am hoping that Nancy will welcome me back and we can start cranking out some wood fired work. I would like to wood fire some new mugs and cups with Nance either way...

As for my new space...the one since Easter...its pretty comfy. Its not a space to throw work or really do any wet work but its a good space to finish stuff. Now that the temps have crossed over to steady 60's and once in a while a random 70's my 3 season front porch is back in season! Here's a couple pics of my "late spring decal and gold luster studio"...like I said, comfy. Its littered with a collection of pieces from friends and older, experimental things and wood fired keepers from me. The Buddha bunny slab piece on the top of this post was when I was starting to get into a more graphic ceramic practice...hippity hoppity karma is on its way. My goal is to finish these pieces and give them their final 018 firing within the next two weeks.

Finally, speaking of "space" I ran across a great little article titled "Forty-one Glorious Square Feet" by Jennifer Barbe in the back of a Ceramics Monthly. It appears in the November 2010 issue and documents the trials and tribulations of claiming a space to make work. She moved from one place to another and traded large studio space for virtually no studio space but learns to make it work for herself...flooding floor, encroaching domestic appliances and all. That's what it is about for me, I have to work and I will work where ever I have to. Believe me I have made work in odd places and trucked it around to farther away places to fire the pieces. I have faith that one day soon I will be able to have my stuff in one place and be able to almost roll out of bed and hit the studio for a while...but until then, I know how bad I want to make work...so I make it work.

How bad do you want to make work?

Sincerly Yours...

2011-04-21T14:26:00.014-04:00

So as I continue to pretend that NCECA just didn't happen(I couldn't go=sucks=pretend it did not happen), let me start a new conversation with you...

I was having beers with a friend a couple weeks back at our local watering hole where on Wednesday nights they have 7.00 dollar import and specialty pitchers. We usually get a pitcher of Dog Fish Head IPA and for 7 bucks, that's right sister...7 bucks! Anyways, my beer buddy works in the art department here and his area of expertise is in Art Ed with an emphasis in Visual Culture. We talked about the challenges he faced when teaching a graduate art class where almost half the students were rooted in a craft based medium. Like usual, our chat rambled on about other art related stuff ...Hennesy Youngman was among the topics that night, and I made the comment later on about how I was currently more interested in simple objects including utilitarian pieces than I was "high art". I said that the work felt more "sincere". Was this a couple pints of Dog Fish Head talking?! I am not so sure, but ever since then I have been thinking about this position. Sincere. What does it mean to make art that is perceived by the viewer to not only be interesting but also...sincere.

My dictionary.com definition of it is:
Sincere - free of deceit, hypocrisy, or falseness; earnest. genuine or real.

So after thinking about this for a couple of weeks now I still have no sure answers. In fact, this concept can sound kind of cornball but, I mean, isn't "art" in general supposed to be sincere? If I were to look back on my undergrad art school days(if I can remember that far) and even to my fairly- sorta -recent grad school days...I would say...nope, not all art is sincere. Students especially are often guided down theoretical avenues that hold little to no meaning when applied to their art work. It is great that students are exposed to these filters of thought but more than often I do not believe it helps to develop a more"sincere" body of work. Its like trying on cool new hats.

Further, I wondered if in fact, this is just a medium specific issue. So that is where I am now. I have stopped applying this term as a blanket statement to all art and just decided to explore it when applied to ceramics. I have mentioned this idea to a couple different people and its possible they are still scratching their heads at me but still I soldier on.

I apply this idea to my own work and also others. I ask myself if I feel that I am making work that is meaningful to me other than the thought that I "sincerely" want to make a few bucks. Now there is nothing wrong with being a full time potter and making work that people will love and use on a daily basis...but what I am digging for is closer to the heart of the matter. I certainly do love making mugs and I put a lot of time into the surfaces and finishing of each one. My thought is to elevate the object...to have the viewer consider it as a drinking vessel, yes, but also something more. A gallery director once told me that I made "sculptures of cups"...which I liked.

But are all mugs sincere? Is all handmade pottery sincere? Does it have to be?...no,no,no...sometimes things just are what they are. Objects have the ability to transcend their utility, but its not always the artist's intent. That's fine...but I want more.

Lets try it from another angle...What makes a sincere ceramist? Is it the artist that uses traditional materials and tools that have been associated with a particular style of ceramics for the last 5 gazillion years? I'm not so sure. I do personally know ceramists that do this, but their work is such a genuine extension of who they are in every mark and thoughtfully tweaked shape that there is no question of the sincerity or honesty of the work. I also see ceramic works and ceramists that are just the opposite. So, is this concept of sincerity consistently inherit to edgy new ceramists that push the boundaries of the medium? I will say no again...edgy and boundary pushing can often leave out a sense of the sincere in favor of other things.

With that being said lets then ask ourselves...What conjures up the feeling that a piece of work is sincere? I can help with this one...for me its something that provides a connection to the human condition. The human condition and "Art" have not always been best buds however. Modernism sought to separate itself from outside associations related to being human or the "everyday". That all ended in the 60's and in the early 70's different factions of art were at play and all of a sudden we had Post Modernism. But this too has passed and we said there was now a state of po-po-mo...post-post-modernism. Are we still involved in this or is there something new? Does anyone want to talk about Supermodernity...me either...just trying to wrap my head around it still. Now that's an art history lesson in a very small nutshell, but lets come back to ceramics and ask ourselves...how does "craft" factor into this mess? Craft being the art ghetto where ceramics, glass, wood, and their kind mingle with other lower forms like wood burner art ...did we in clay feel those changes? Sure we did, maybe not as deeply as high art but definitely. Should we be aware of these changes?...hell yes. It is from these changes that ceramics has shed some weighty chains. I'm not talking about a revolution here, just a little elbow room to stretch your brain. This is what I think constitutes sincere work. It's the evidence of this new found freedom...artists working within their field...working from the familiar but not forgetting to add in the updates...the newest and latest versions that make that particular work honest and real...sincere even. I'm not interested in the avant garde because to me it lacks that human connection, I'm more interested in what the salt fire potter Walter Keeler said..."Rather trying to stretch the boundaries of craft, far more is to be gained by working in the middle of our field. For ceramics, useful pottery is at the middle, yet it seems increasingly marginalized". That sounds like a challenge to me... making the marginal(and I don't just mean pots) meet and fully exceed the expectations of a certain medium and/or viewing audience.

Recently I have been talking to the Gallery Coordinator for the Red Lodge Clay Center, Jill Foote-Hutton and have been also enjoying her perspectives from her blog...on my side bar(whistle pig studio)...She has a great statement in her bio that refers to her taking her new position there and also reflects what I'm rambling on about here..."excited to be present in a time and location where traditional techniques and methods come together with contemporary ideals to create a new creature, more wholly reflective of our world"...(thanks Jill), check out her blog for more talk of this.

Now whats a blog post without some visual illustration of what I'm talking about...the images below and at the top are examples of work that I consider meeting the criteria stated above...are you feeling me? I'm not sure If I have answered any questions of mine or yours...maybe like all art criticism, I have just continued the line of questioning and possibly created more questions...I'm fine with that...that just means there is more to come. The images are as follows, top of post then just below this(in order): Beth Katleman, Melissa Mytty, Nick Ramey,and Julie Goyot. Thoughts?

Sincerely,

homefry sketchbook

Vinyl fever...

2011-04-16T13:47:00.005-04:00

Happy Record Store Day to you all.

That's right, its national Record Store Day and I'm home celebrating with some of my favorite old records during a very miserable Saturday afternoon. We have had crazy high winds and rain since I woke up this morning but that did not stop me from heading out to my locally owned and operated record store. It was hustling and bustling with folks clamoring for record store deals and limited edition issues of vinyl put out just for this occasion. Very cool indeed.

Records, actual vinyl records, have been on the come back as of late. I am thrilled about this because I love vinyl...heck as you probably know, I love music. Music has been a life long addiction for me and I have a nice little collection. I started really collecting music in the mid-80s when I began working at a regional chain store in the mall. I scored bunches of promos and abused my employee discount, giving back large chunks of my paycheck. The mall store was my gateway drug to much hipper independent record stores that I began to hang out in and peruse music by the hour. I eventually ended up working for an Atlanta based record store chain called Turtle's. I believe they were only located in the southeast, possibly just Florida and Georgia. I worked for them in two different towns while I put myself though my undergraduate at FSU.

I logged many an hour inside record stores. I was around when CD's first made their appearance...it was like the second coming of Christ in 1985...everybody talking about the fidelity of the Disk. We had one very small rack that showcased the very few artists that were available on CD at at the time. Then a couple of years later, I remember the day that we had to box up and send back all of the records in the store. All the vinyl was being recalled and shipped back to the home warehouse. No more records...just CD's...and tapes. Then tapes fell by the wayside too and eventually went the way of the 8 track. Now we just magically download music to all of our gadgets. No more great cover art, liner notes, bonus stickers or posters, just a whole lotta "convenience" I guess.

Me, I'm happy to play records from my past(Husker Du, Minutemen, The Cure, Galaxie 500) but I have been buying new vinyl to listen to as well(Tom Waits, Iron and Wine, Black Keys, Blakroc). The cool thing is a lot of the new records include digital downloads or even a copy of the CD within the jacket. I'm not adverse to a little of this generation's "convenience"...can't play records in a clay studio...or at least not for very long. So I am happy that the vinyl record is having a resurgence and that there are people who want something a little more tangible. Speaking of tangible...I promise more clay next time.

PS. Check out the picture at the bottom of this post...that's me and my two co-workers in Gainesville, FLA...Turtle's circa 1987-88. The tall guy is Paul Tatara(writes a blog on pop culture,check my sidebar) and Brian Jones. I'm the guy in the black shirt on the right. So very 80's.

Hope your weather is better than mine.

Sage words...

2011-04-04T09:52:00.002-04:00

I found some sage words of advice in one of the most unlikely places yesterday...facebook. A couple friends of mine shared this and I did what it suggested...stole it and shared it some more. I think there is something for everybody in this post/article. It is well written, direct and easy to get your head around. In my mind, this is the basis of teaching a professional practices class at the college level, but I doubt that this type of a shining and succinct nugget of wisdom is being handed down on a regular basis... Having an issue related to your creative well being? Concerned about running out of ideas? Need motivation? Feeling alone in your struggles?

Please read here...How to Steal Like an Artist.

"Art that only comes from the head isn’t any good. Watch any good musician and you’ll see what I mean."

The quote above comes from that post and before people start screaming "anti-intellectualism"...be the intellectual...or at least continue to pretend to be and read the article. And speaking of watching some good music...you may have noticed I added yet another "thingy" on the sidebar. I think I am going to leave it there too. I know that it clutters up my space some and competes with my lead off image, but I think I can deal with that. I plan on posting new music or music related to my post or just something that I happen to be digging at the moment. You can check it out ...or not. Today I have featured a young band I am really into right now...Beach Fossils. They have a slightly retro dreamy sound that still manages to get off the ground too. Look at these guys...I love this video...that's how I wish I was dancing around in the studio. Maybe soon.

One Moody S.O.B....

2011-03-27T16:26:00.015-04:00

How quickly things change...the weather, gas prices...my moods. I have been a little disgruntled about my pieces and the trials and troubles I have been having with them. The root of the problem was that they never got a really good cone 5 firing. I think that some did and some didn't...just depends where they were in the kiln and which load they were in too. This is just like I said last post..."that's ceramics" and for those of you who doubt the number of issues related to electric kiln oxidation firing...I'm here to tell ya brothers...there's plenty. I have refired and refired to really not much avail. I have a handful of pieces that at the moment will be fine and maybe even more than fine. But, and this is a big but, I will lose the majority of the work. Whatever. I have already planned to use them in the border around the new expansion project of the garden. I also never got around to making the larger hand built stuff I wanted to make due to extra work at IUP and my troubles with this grouping of work. Smell that...that's frustration...and as I type this I getting a little bummed again...BUT, I will be teaching beginning ceramics for 10 weeks at IUP this summer along with another course or two within the art department and I will have ample time(at least I think)to abuse the studio and the kilns there. So I guess that's the brighter side but honestly my overall rating for my winter ceramic endeavors would be a ..."D-".

That's about enough of that ..today however, while in my favorite reading spot(bathroom) I ran across an article on Leopold Foulem(both images above) in an old Ceramics Monthly...October 1999 to be exact. I haven't thought about him in a while. He was(and still is) pretty big for me when I started getting into the work that I have been doing for the last five years or more now. The article was just OK and it lacked any real meaningful content about the varied surface patterns created by the decals. Unbelievably there was no talk of why he was creating these varied surfaces but in good "old" Ceramics Monthly form it did give a play by play on how the decals are applied...heavy stuff(not)...mostly though, it was all about negating the function of the form by the introduction of a stand or base. Foulem believes he was divorcing the form from its ordinary existence by elevating it on a "base". He did have some interesting talk about being caught "in between" the ceramics world and the fine art world. I quote, "People who collect craft don't really go for this because its not craft and the people who collect art don't really go for it, so there is a grey zone, I work within the grey zone." Funny thing is, I think his work has everything to do with craft. I believe the audience he is attempting to create a dialog with is one that is more craft based and also interested in a very specific niche. His work communicates histories of form and surface, culled together from the objects that have inhabited our homes for generations. Simply by creating an object, one does not transcend a medium or for that matter a little thing called craft. I'm not sure but after reading his "artist statement"(below)

"Ceramics is an independent and autonomous art form with its own laws and specific vocabulary. It is within that context that I intentionally locate and construct the propositions for most of my formal explorations. In order to achieve a correct understanding and accurate interpretation of the true meaning and significance of my ceramics, these facts must be acknowledged and pondered seriously.

I believe that genuine art is about concepts and indisputably neither about medium nor style, nor even about making. My ceramics are about ideas. My artistic output is never about self-expression or the pursuit of beauty. I consider myself some kind of composer and theoretician instead of a virtuoso."

...it felt as though he was hoping that his team would trade him or that he was telling everybody that he was getting a call to play in the "big show". I do not disagree with some of his remarks but I do believe that simply because you erase your "hand" in the work, your not erasing self-expression and that he does strive for formal ideas of beauty in his work and they become a key factor in the visual seduction of the viewer. Hey, whats wrong with a little self expression anyways?! Sometimes reading artist statements leaves me scratching my head and wondering about the disconnect between the actual work and what the artist's own intentions really are about.

These days, I think the boundaries of what is termed "craft" has been gloriously stretched and all good art and craft, fine, high or lowbrow engages more than just the aesthetic or formal sensibilities of the viewer. Ceramics and the ceramic object have grown since this article and fine art and fine craft have moved beyond being just flirtatious. Leopold's personal dilemma/confusion may be one that many of us have gone through in the last ten years, myself included. Call it growing pains or whatever but there is a lot more people swimming in the "grey zone" of the pool. I'm not offering up answers here but I am forever interested in talking about fine art or fine craft or anything for that matter...bottom line...communication comes in all forms. SO, let me lighten the mood here... if you are interested in art theory or interested in catching up and slapping a little theory on your own work, please view the video below...everybody should view the video...I love this guy, he kills me...if you have an aversion to curse words, then maybe you should skip it...but its soooo good.

Anyways, here's a sneaky peek at some of the pieces that will be getting an 018 firing (below) ...they should look pretty similar after the firing...I hope. Right now they look pretty damn nice...I am really happy with the commercial decals I recently purchased...that and a little bling bling gold luster goes a long way baby. See you later Internet.

Spring maybe...MAYBE...maybe,maybe,maybe.

2011-03-19T11:37:00.007-04:00

Well it sure felt like Spring yesterday. Whether(weather) or not this is true still remains to be seen. I was so excited by the 60 degree temperatures and little flowers rearing up through the dead and composting leaves that I went out and started clearing the beds and cutting things back in preparation of new growth. Chances are we will still see some more snow, but nothing very significant. And I am keeping my fingers crossed that all the freezing and frost are just about done too. I snapped a few pics of my Crocus now in bloom and my favorite, tiny Snowdrops, that are scattered here and there. This morning I noticed that after yesterday's warmth that the Daffodils grew about double from where they were! My perennial beds are full of new growth and random nubs breaking the surface. I'm excited to see all the new Allium that I planted last year. I think there were 20 bulbs of a smaller variety of Allium and something else, that I cant seem to remember...I already have two other really large Alliums that come up each year. That's part of the fun of bulbs...suuuur-prizzzze...because you plant'em and forget'em until they are popping up.

I have even begun to plan out a little growth project of my own...enlarging the veggie garden so I can add asparagus and enlarging one of my flower beds to accommodate some cone flowers from another bed that are in much need of being thinned out...maybe some Dahlia bulbs too. Click to enlarge image.

On a separate note, the tally is in from our recent Empty Bowls fundraiser...drum roll please...3,020.00 dollars!!! All money went to our local Indiana County Foodbank. Here is a picture of the organizers with IUP grad student helper Emmaneulle Wambach..Josh Floyd, Emmanuelle, Nancy Smeltzer and Harmony Ritchie. These guys do a great job organizing the soups, PR, participants and even getting a lot of the bowls made and fired. Here's a pic of the whole spread along with it...

As far as my pots go...lets just say...I'm working on it. Having lunch with Dan Kuhn the other day he said this true statement to me..."you should listen to your own words", "that's ceramics"...indeed sir...and shit does happen...I should understand this by now, and it hasn't been a total big fat fail...so word to you and all ya'll's mothas. Just you wait.

Rememberance and exploration...

2011-03-12T09:42:00.012-05:00

An Interview with Toshiko Takaezu from D.B.Long on Vimeo.

On March 9th another big clay influence in my life passed away. This year has taken Paul Soldner from us and now Toshiko Takaezu. If you see my work, it may be hard to draw parallels from me to her or even Soldner for that matter. But it isn't their physical work that I draw from, its their sense of exploration and personal philosophies. I do love their work and have admired it since I got into clay in the late eighties. It was people like these two and Volkous and Arneson that got my juices flowing back then. I came to ceramics searching for expression and a more tactile approach to art making than painting was giving me. Toshiko's large voluminous forms were very attractive to me and I felt they held a lot of quiet strength. The idea that these were essentially 3-d canvases to be glazed in an abstract painterly way further hit home for me. The surface of the work has always been one of my main concerns...wanting to be a painter in ceramics. The marks and colors of glaze and how they change in different atmospheres or in direct reaction to flames still holds great interest for me but these days so does the use of fragmented images. It is this kind of pairing that I am still seeking in the utilitarian work I have been doing this winter.

It is great to hear Toshiko talk in this video of "finding her own identity" and exploration. It is just those things that I am drawn to and continue to struggle with in my own work. Not "knowing" is frustrating but it keeps you looking for the answers. Right now I am not sure about some of these pots I have been making and I am continuing to push the surfaces further. But, I am suffering kiln issues at the moment...the electric kiln at Stoke Hole is firing a solid cone under and I need to now re-fire a load...urgh. Somebody needs Santa to bring some new elements. I will be schlepping my stuff from there over to the university's ceramic studio today to fire a good 04 in one of their electric kilns. While there, I will say hello to Nancy Smeltzer while she is firing the soda kiln there with everybody's bowls(including my dozen) for the Empty Bowls event scheduled for this coming Tuesday, 3/15, from 11 - 2 ...lobby in front of the Common Place Coffee Shop...Indiana, PA...if your around, please stop by.

So below are some shots of a few pieces that I am now re-firing...and then these and the rest will be getting another firing...018. I have wavered back and forth on the finish for these guys...that tends to happen to me after seeing the glaze. Does this happen to you ever? Seduced by the silky glaze, I wonder if I should fire again and again. It sure would be easy to just stop now and

say...done, here's a nice mug...but that's not what I am after. Then I wondered if, after the 04 decal firing with the addition of accent glazes, I was done...and I still say ...no, not yet. I have recently purchased an obscene amount of 018 super-cheese kitschy bling...commercial decals. They will be my finishing touch...and maybe a little luster too. Well then, with some trepidation, forward I go...risking it...maybe it will work out...maybe it won't...listening to those that made remarkable work, like Toshiko Takaezu, and knowing that the world will miss her.

Taking a break...sorta...

2011-03-10T12:26:00.012-05:00

Howdy.

For the last week I have been on Spring Break. The funny thing is that the phrase "spring break" still conjures visions of the past...time off school...sunshine and partying...yes, still...I'm an early 20 something 40 something... even as a teacher /adjunct professor sucking the higher ed teet. C'mon...everybody loves Spring Break! I am definitely one of those people, its just that to be technical...my break still happens in the Winter. Having an early spring break(2nd week in March) in the foothills of western PA kinda sucks. I made no plans to scamper off anywhere as my wife and daughter both have breaks later on and also not at the same times. So I stayed home and made it studio time...day and night. I did get a lot of my work mostly finished and I am popping open the electric kiln later this afternoon. So in the mean time, I thought I would stretch my jammie time this morning/afternoon by telling you about my week and showing off some of Birch Frew's and Cathy Bizousky's gorgeous wood fired pots from the recent firing.

That's one of Cathy's at the top of this post.

So let me start at the top...this past weekend came in with rain and wind...not too bad temperatures and then...the snow. I started the weekend checking out all the new growth happening in my garden beds...see below.

Then it was over and this happened.

Now we are back to just the rain and wind again but pardon me...this sure don't feel like the Spring Break of yor. Whatever...at least I wasn't running back and forth from my office this week and a little down time from some faces is probably a good thing. So in the free time this week I also did a fun workshop/presentation on decals for Christy Culp's high school art class. Christy is a potter friend from the area, she makes great majolica work, click here for the link to her blog. She teaches at a nice school near Pittsburgh with the best high school ceramic studio I have ever seen. It was a little extra dough and she gave me a great mug too! Check it out below...
Today, I was shooting images for the good folks at Stoke Hole Pottery and thought I would toss a few images out on my ol' blog because the work looks so damn good! The link above will take you to their etsy shop and you can click here for their facebook site. Here are some images of a few Birch Frew mugs...

The other images are of a couple bowl sets and a small squared off vase by Cathy Bizousky. Be looking for these sweeties soon on their etsy shop.

Speaking of bowls...Nancy Smeltzer and Harmony Ritchie have organized another "Empty Bowls" event that will happen March 15. I will be donating a meager dozen that will be soda fired by Nancy at IUP's ceramic studio and I have volunteered to serve up soup for that afternoon at one of the stations...come and say hi! I have been very happy to be involved with this event for the past several years. Each year we raise several thousand dollars for our local food bank by doing this nationally recognized event. Nancy and Harmony always do a great job getting great tasting soups and great looking bowls to eat from! If your in the area, I hope to see you...11-2 in the lobby area in front of The Common Place Coffee House...Grant Street...same as the last few years! But for now, I need to go out and trudge around in my lovely "Spring".

A little bit of sunshine...

2011-03-02T16:07:00.004-05:00

I just wanted to share a little ray of sunshine with everybody today...

If you know me you know I'm a chatty person and love meeting and talking with art folk or "interested in" art folk. I used to love doing festivals back in the late nineties because I got to gab about my work all day. These days however, there is a strange sense of anonymity with selling my work online as well as blogging about it. This can be a good thing, but honestly, it can be pretty non-personal too. I miss the chit-chat and actually seeing the person with whom I'm dealing with so I make a point to be open and communicative to all who want to communicate with me. Selling my work online does have its advatages, like being able to collapse the space between us all and reach so many people in so many places...its why I continue to blog. Although sometimes the blog seems like a real one way road but the stats tell me different. So it sure brightens my day to get a note like the one below instead of simply the invoice from an anonymous buyer(which I don't really mind either)...but thanks Kelly...hope you dont mind but Im just spreadin' the love! Wishing you a speedy recovery!

Dear Kyle,

Just a short note to catch up a little. I purchased your tray and pu pu bottle just before Christmas and want you to know that I just couldn't be happier with either purchase. I enjoyed our communication so very much and regret that I have not been around etsy, or even on line for that matter as I had been suffering badly with my back, and have just recently been recovering from long needed spinal surgery. Somehow sitting at my computer chair seems to be one of the most painful things I can do at this point!

I really do love your work, however and happened to find your excellent menu mug. Adored the blue button tankard when I saw it previously, and now, absolutely love them together. I look very much forward to receiving additional pieces of your work and keeping in touch with you in the near future. Keeping my eyes open for the yellow electric kiln work you previously mentioned.

I hope all is well in your no doubt snowy world, and that you and your family are all well and warm.

Warmest blessings from your fan,

:^) Kelly"

LOVED it, send more people like that my way...and by the way, I almost forgot to tell you guys...I got juried into the Red Lodge Clay Center's National Juried Exhibition, "Craftsmanship:Concept:Innovation"...it will be in May 6 - May 29. I am very pleased to have a piece accepted into this exhibition. I heard there was a whole lot of submissions. Its the pic on the top of this post..."Seasonal"

Hope all this puts a warm feeling in your tummies.

Show and Tell...

2011-02-26T11:58:00.007-05:00

Winter is still kicking around up my way. It gets really interesting this time of year...a lot of ups and downs in the weather. Last week all of our snow melted and we could see the grass for the first time in a real long time...the temps climbed up to the 50's and one might have thought Spring was in sight. Then a few days later we got a wild and windy snowstorm that dumped just about 10 inches of wet snow on us again. Now we are back to temps above freezing and just crappy rain. Here Winter dies like a really bad actor...coughing and sputtering and just when you think its done...he's back...and then gone again...and then back...urgh.

In better news, I have finished off a handful of pieces and have come to the realization that this is and has been a great learning experience. I fully plan to continue this mid-range line of work through the Spring and Summer. I have been diligent about working out my ideas with these pieces and pushing myself to try new things. Continued research into surface techniques has become a real interest and will be the basis for my course that I am teaching here at IUP...10 weeks of beginning ceramics. I have had successes and disappointments with this batch of work and I will show you both here today.(not so thrilled about my red decal spots, age issue with the gold) I am very happy with the glazes and understand that I need an additional color to break up the surface. I have been mostly disappointed with the Hazelnut brown clay body that I bought from Standard here in Pittsburgh. Although I love working with it...it does not reach a darker brown color until it really hits cone 6. I am firing very close to that but the temperature difference for the clay body needs to be higher. This being said, Standard happily swapped me out a 100 pounds for one of their darker brown bodies...even at cone 4 its darker than the hazelnut body. Julie, their tech was helpful, cool and highly informative. So all in all, I'm treating the 50 mugs and cups and various other forms as experiments. That took me a while to get through my thick skull but now I accept it and feel good about the growth I am seeing while exploring this range of firing. I have a lot more pieces that will be fired in the next few days. I spent 5 and half hours doing the decal dance yesterday and will be adding extra glazes for this 04 firing. That was the "tell" part and below is the "show" part...pics can be clicked on to enlarge. Feel free to comment on these pieces...feedback is always appreciated and often needed.

Sweet Eats and Sneak Peeks...

2011-02-18T19:28:00.008-05:00

So I thought I would combine two of my favorite things together in one post...pots and food...and also give you a sneaky little peek at some of the work I just fired. Now, the work is not finished and right now I don't want to show the pieces completely. I intended for them to all have decals and 04 glaze accents too, but they do look kinda purty right now. These are the cone 5 electric fired pieces that I have been working on this winter. The clay body didn't get as brown as I would have liked at cone 5 but the glazes sure look good. So check them out below and above...

Now while your looking at these few pieces(especially the mugs) start thinking red accents here and there...maybe a purple-ish/maroon...and even a semi transparent brown. While your visualizing those colors appearing on a mug or two...think very ornate vintage wall paper. There you go. Now we are talkin'! Come tomorrow morning, I will be sitting in the studio at Stoke Hole Pottery snipping away and applying my 20 new sheets of images and patterns to the work...and keepin' an eye out for that bear. He's still there, hunkered down under some old hay bails about 50 yards from the studio.

Here's the other part of my post tonight. Good grub. This winter I have been very diligent and disciplined not only with getting work made while dealing with other demands on my time but for once, eating better. Right now I'm emerging from this winter 5-6 pounds lighter and feeling a good deal healthier. Here in the Houser household we committed to simply eating healthier foods, cutting out bad stuff and adding mucho more leafy greens and veggies. I have discovered so many really good recipes. I'm the primary grocery shopper and cook so it was up to me to keep the "diet" interesting. I am very fond of curry and Asian cuisine so there has been a lot of variations on those for sure, but I would love to share a couple faves of late. The first one is a take on a hearty winter chicken soup.

Curried Chicken and Rice Soup with Edamame...here's the link, I found it on the food network site. I also used fat free/low sodium chicken broth...margarine instead of butter...and I added the edamame near the end when I add the herbs. I pre-cooked the edamame so that they just needed a bit of a simmer. This was damn good too. Thick and rich with a nice hint of curry...and packed with protein. Here it is in one of my own wood fired bowls.

My other treat came about because of a gift we received at Christmas. We were given a very attractive grouping of stacked boxes...inside were an assortment of English muffins. These were some serious English muffins...big, thick, soft...and an assortment of flavors. They can be ordered from a site called Wolferman's. I saw this egg and muffin creation on the main page and instantly fell in love...or lust more honestly. I made mine with a sweet harvest wheat muffin. You spoon out a pocket in the center...not all the way through...cook the bacon so that its not crisp...wrap it around the divet and crack an egg in the middle. Then cook the sexy beast in the oven at 400 for 15-17 minutes. I couldn't help but sprinkle a little bit of cheese over it as it was coming out of the oven. Bacon can be substituted with Canadian bacon...either way its absolutely delicious and really nice looking too. I suggest the Wolferman's English muffins because they were the thickest, softest and tastiest English muffins I ever saw...and you need the thickness to nest the egg in. Here it is below with a hot cup of Sumatra in a good looking wood fired mug by my friend Dan Kuhn. Someday soon I will have to tell you about my Fiesta ware collection...but thats another story.

The next thing I'm cooking up is a kiln full of finished pots...stay tuned and bon appetite!

Pretty pictures...

2011-02-12T17:03:00.008-05:00

Here we go folks...pictures. Whats the ol' blog without pictures?! Wordy word words...

So, I finally finished glazing and loaded the kiln today. Its now firing to cone 5 with a hold programed at the end. I am very eager to see the results but I also know that they will need at least one more firing to cone 04 once they are out. So bring it on...I'm ready baby...that image at the beginning of the last post was a sample of some of my new pattern decals. Here is a couple shots of my glaze scheme before I popped them in today...dig the scalloped edge over the belly...I highlighted that as well as the waxed lines with a black overglaze. Click to enlarge.

Also, while I was busy filling the electric kiln today, Birch Frew was busy firing the wood kiln. The studio at Stoke Hole Pottery has been buzzing all week with all the preparations for firing: glazing, grinding, wadding, loading, and minor adjustments to the kiln itself. But the big news at the studio today was that there was a large black bear hanging out in the meadow in front of the pottery compound last night. Guess what... he never left. Birch said it looks as though he burrowed in under some old hay bails about 50 yards or less from the kiln shed. We are all hoping that he went back to a very deep hibernating sleep for the duration of the winter. I hope Lucy, Birch's great dane, will be hanging out with them while they fire the kiln through the night. Below are images of Birch and Cathy Bizousky from this morning's snowy start.

Speaking of Stoke Hole Pottery, you can now find them on etsy as well as their own page on everybody's favorite social media site...click those links!!! LIKE, LIKE! Hopefully I will have some more pretty pictures for you all next week...

Trepidation, Frustration and the J-O-B.

2011-02-07T20:30:00.008-05:00

Like I said in my previous post, I'm making a bunch of new work. The problem is I have yet to fire any of it out. Not even a decent glaze test, thanks to a lame test kiln over at the university's ceramic studio. The cone setter dropped too early, barely bending any of the cone 6 at all. My clay body didn't get as brown as it was supposed to get and the glazes are not quite what they should be either. It is the clay body that freaks me out the most. I even went and double checked my boxes to make sure I got what I ordered. I bought a nice hazelnut brown clay from Standard Ceramic Supply here in Pittsburgh. It is really nice to throw and visually looks like a close 2nd or so to the deep brown clay I was making in the Bluebird mixer this summer...or so I thought. Now I'm nervous about its color and unwilling to throw any more until I fire my first load... and to add insult to injury my Pittsburgh Steelers failed to climb the stairway to seven.

Currently I have 50 mugs, cups, and tumblers, a few vases, a handful of batter bowls, and a couple pitchers waiting in the wings and I am desperate to fire them. BUT, I have been hit hard recently with other demands on my time. You see gentle reader, I also lead a second life...not really a secret life, but definitely a second. I have made comment about it in the past and even posted about some cool stuff regarding my J-O-B. Now don't get me wrong, I have it pretty good as the gallery director for a small state university's art department. I direct almost all aspects of both of our galleries as well as get to curate exhibitions and work with really interesting artists. I teach 101 courses here and there and also work in art ed. when they are in need...like right now. Hey, Im even teaching beginning ceramics this summer here. Sounds great right...well...it is to an extant. Some might say Im stuck in adjunct hell and I might agree...depending on the day.

Admittedly I'm a crack monkey for my higher ed. life. It provides pretty good money(although that can fluctuate)and offers a very stimulating, often challenging, creative environment...but the best part about it is the schedule. I can work part time for the university and have time(usually) to get into the studio and make work. Unfortunately, I am a little overrun with university work at the moment and frustrated about not getting in to the studio to get my pieces glaze fired.

But these are the choices that I made for myself. Having a J-O-B allowed me to pursue a more active studio life. Although it made me become very measured with my time and forces me to work double time mostly but the steady paychecks come in and allow me to buy the materials and tools I need to make what I want. On the other hand, sales of my work are very helpful too and are a great supplement to my income. And at this point in my life I do understand that if I could make more work I could certainly sell more work. So there's the crux. Will I be forever working to transition from one thing to another...I dunno...and do I want to? I have never committed to the life of a full time artist and I admire those that have and understand the dedication and sacrifice that goes along with that life, but there is a certain duality to my path that challenges me and makes me keep pushing.

Mentally though I am always in the studio, and even when Im home after work at the university Im tapping away on the keys of my laptop...keeping my head in the game...posting on my blog...working on images for new decals...and checking out other folk's work(lets call it research). So in the mean time while Im struggling to eek out some time to finish glazing and loading a kiln, let me paint you a typed out picture of what Im thinking:: Abstraction over image... Lines...from wax resist showing the (hopefully) brown body, layered with black over glaze lines mimicking those, a new orange speckled glaze(that also didn't fire out right in the test kiln) for accent color here and there. The second firing will be for 04 decals and a rich 04 red accent. These pieces are strictly about fragmented pattern, decoration, utility and a tweaked out sophistication.

I'm not sure if you, my readers...my peeps, are in similar situations...work four jobs?...or maybe just feels like it...pump out the work non-stop?...or are you lucky to get something done in a month's time? I know I'm a freakish extrovert that enjoys this blog broadcast, but feel free to chime in here and let folks know how you get by...how you squeeze out the work from your brains and studio spaces where ever they may be.

Thanks for listening and I promise pictures soon!

1 down and 11 more to go...

2011-01-26T15:46:00.012-05:00

As January is coming to a close I have to say, I hope the rest of the year goes as well as this month did...minus all the snow. That's what this post is all about kids...its the wrap -up show for month numero uno of 2011. So lets run it down...

Early on in the new year I received an email from some nice folks down under in Australia. This person Esa writes a great blog there called The Ridou Report . He has a wonderful art collection which happens to include a lot of really nice ceramics. At the beginning of the year he posted a pretty cool list of his wood fired pots and it just so happens that I'm included. Not only am I included in this group of wood fire potters but also a couple friends too...Justin Lambert and Josh Floyd...as well as another internet friend(we have never actually met in person, but still...), Keith "Mudstuffing" Phillips and also a blogger potter whom I read regularly, Michael Kline. Justin Lambert is down in Florida and Josh lives about 15 minutes from me here in PA. I am thrilled to be in such good company and love the fact that there might be people on the other side of this little planet admiring my clay work. Speaking of being in good company, I was also invited to be part of a great pre-NCECA exhibition down in Florida. The show is "Atmosphere: A Ceramics Invitational Exhibition" at The Lighthouse Art Center, Museum and Art School located "in a much warmer place than where I live", FLA. The show is curated by my friend Justin Lambert,whom I just mentioned, and includes some stellar names in the world of atmospheric firing. Again, I am so pleased to be included in this roster of names. I plan on sending a few recent pieces down to the sunshine state...one below, you might have seen not too long ago posted back in December.

I also want to update everybody on the Self Serve Pottery Kiosk...the first month went pretty good...not gangbusters mind you but still pretty good for a "small, snow bound, college town over the X-mas break" kind of way. There was also a nice write up in an online thingy called Virginia Living about my buddy Adam Paulek regarding the kiosks. Click and read!

On a much sadder note, the beginning of the year brought about the end for a clay hero of mine... Paul Soldner. I was heavily influenced by Mr. Soldner early in my clay life as I fired sculptural and decorative Raku work solely for years before moving up north. I did have the opportunity to meet him once. I was attending a talk in Pittsburgh by Nancy Selvin and he was there...sarong and all. I introduced myself and told him about his influence on me...he asked if I was a student, and I responded that I was a graduate student at the time. His response was, "my condolences".

True dat my clay lovin' brother.

But, probably the best part of this month was getting to crank out a bunch of new work at my temporary winter home, Stoke Hole Pottery. The first image on this post was shot from the front door of the studio during one of our recent snow storms. Below are images of the work in progress. I plan on firing a glaze kiln in the next couple weeks but in the mean time...check these out, click to enlarge.

Stay warm out there and I hope your having a good beginning too!

What do lonely potters do...

2011-01-18T16:46:00.006-05:00

Working alone in a studio can get...well, lonesome sometimes. Or, if you are like me, it can get down right productive and can lead to other things like..."the works going good and I'm all by myself so I think I will dance" happenings. Yes, gentle reader...I admit it, I like to have "in studio private boogie sessions". Now its not like a full on dance party, its just a moment or two of jumping around or a little booty shakin'. This all comes from a good place ...things need to be going well in the studio and or in combination with things happening on the outside too. And what you may be asking yourself right now is..."what is this idiot dancing to"..."the sound of his wheel spinning round ?" That would be a negatory...I am a music junkie. Music is my drug of choice and I search it out all over the place. I work best with some tunes on...I'm not a radio fan and I'm rarely ever plugged in to headphones when I'm in the studio. I love my Ipod Touch and its home on the studio docking station...its 16 gigs are almost all full of music and I am actively looking for more.

The above picture is me just before breaking out into a combination jig/pogo/hustle.

After several emails with a friend about best music from 2010 and also checking out Ben Carter's list on his blog, I thought...I should post my faves from the previous year too! I stumbled upon Ben's list as I was checking out his adventures in China and I'm glad I did because I got turned onto a band called "Have Gun Will Travel"...and I love them...went out and downloaded their last album and have been listening to it for days now. So here goes...in no particular order...these were studio faves of mine from 2010, they were my dance partners and friends I listened carefully to while working alone.

The XX...quiet, stripped down slightly retro and kinda sexy...which actually came out late 09 but ehh, whatever.

Trampled by Turtles, Palomino...great new bluegrass/Americana, sometimes played like speed metal. Good songwriting too...for fans of Wilco,Old Crow ...or Have Gun Will Travel!

Black Keys,Brothers...deeply dug this record with its old soul/R&B leanings while not forgetting to rock it out too.

Grinderman,2...gotta love Nick Cave and his howling...this record is a tense and down and dirty trip ...could use a a shower and a shave.

Sleigh Bells, Treats...OK this is when I put on my boogie shoes...shake my butt...you know what I mean...its like M.I.A. gets some crunchy ass guitars and gets down.

Justin Townes Earle, Harlem River Blues...that's right, son of Steve Earle. This is a solid record...great listening that I go back to time and again.

The National, High Violet...Love these guys and been a fan since "Alligator"(which you should check out too)...this one took a while to sink into my head but when it did, I couldn't get it out. Great songwriting ..."I was afraid I'd eat your brains","because I'm evilllll"...I mean c'mon, great stuff!...deep voice, good music...sort of like contemporary Leonard Choen...hmm...maybe.

OK, so that's my lucky seven of 2010...I hope you go and check out some of these great records and would love it if you shared your faves of last year with me...love to hear what you listen to! In the mean time, I hope you enjoy a dance or two while your alone in the studio, bedroom or where ever you feel uninhibited and happy. More to come from this Clay Train boogie-ing alone in the quiet winter landscape.

Can You Handle It...

2011-01-12T11:36:00.008-05:00

The snow is falling and I'm drinking coffee in my bathrobe still and its going on 11:30 in the lovely winter swept AM. Its a snow day up here in the greater metropolitan area of Indiana, PA., 27 degrees for the high and windy...yikes. My daughter has the day off from school and the chaotic sounds of SpongeBob Squarepants are blaring from the living room. Ive got a big pork roast with taters, carrots and onions in the slow cooker filling the house with a great aroma while it cooks for dinner tonight. And it is a perfect time to knock out this new post...

Last post, I told you about my big changes...studio and work. Today I want to update you on my path to change. I ran into a little bit of a snag...I felt like these pieces were looking a lot like my pieces that were intended for the wood kiln. So what would be the big change other than the type of firing and color of the clay? Maybe that would be enough, but I felt like I needed to change more than that.

Handles can tell you a lot about a mug and the original intention of the maker. So this is where I thought I would start. I am sort of fanatical about handles and choose mugs based on how they feel when I hold them. I have often poo-pooed the occasional wild handle and thought that it might be way too difficult to drink my coffee from...but I have been so wrong. Before Christmas I bought myself a present from Mr. Jim Gottusso who writes a blog I read on a regular basis...Sofia's Dad's Pots. Here it is below:

I was drawn to this wild handle and how much extra time it must have taken to put together. I knew his other work and how nice it was so I took a shot...and I love it. It fits my hand really well and I can hold it like a regular handle... PLUS its just so damn cool. Here are a couple other really cool handles that I like from my collection...The white one is Ayumi Hori and the green one is an older cup I got from Ashley Lynn Dodge back in the summer of 2008 when she was the tech in the land of Chautauqua. All three of these mugs have been an inspiration to me as I have been looking for ways to give my work a new shot in the arm.

It also took some slowing down. Now if you know me, you know that I work slow and my output of functional pottery is not by the boatload. But I have even slowed it down some more...I'm not a production potter and I have very little interest in that sort of thing. But when I was wood firing work I would try and bang out a bunch of pieces and all would have very similar handles and rarely a trimmed foot. Those pieces are nice and don't get me wrong, I love the look of those pieces, but as I said to a friend in the studio the other day..."I'm trying to up the ante". So check out my shots below of the new, brown clay, cone 5, electric fired, footed, and fancy handled mugs that are getting ready for the bisque kiln. Click to enlarge:

Granted, they are not what I would call "wild" but they are a departure from the same for me...I'm sure there will be more changes down the line. I am getting ready for a kiln load of glazed pieces in the next couple weeks and I can't wait. Well, its back to lounging in my jammies and maybe a Wii game or two with my daughter...stay warm folks!

The New Year

2011-01-04T19:51:00.007-05:00

Happy New Year to you all...

The beginning of 2011 is already shaping up to bring about some new changes for this here ol' homefry guy. Change is something that I have become very accustomed to and these days I feel like its part of what I do and who I am. I'm talking about change because I have made a shift for the frigid winter months. My shift is two fold, a shift in studio spaces and a shift in the work itself.

Let me just tell you, its been pretty darn cold up here in PA since the beginning of December and it doesn't look like its going to be changing anytime soon. That means that the studio with Nancy at Little Mahoning Creek Pottery will be in a deep freeze until the spring. Its awfully hard to keep the studio warm there with both of us working part time in other places. The wood kilns will hibernate until the thaw comes. So in the mean time, I will be working from another studio in my area...one that I have worked at before, and if you have been reading me for several years, you might remember...Stoke Hole Pottery. Deb English Frew and husband Birch Frew have a great place and they are generously allowing me work space this winter. Please click the link and revisit their studio, gallery, and general potter compound. I actually got started today...throwing tumblers and tankards with my new hazelnut brown stoneware. That's the other part of my shift...I will be firing nothing but cone 5/6 in the electric kiln for my time at Stoke Hole. I am hoping to make a large body of mid fire work with this chocolaty brown clay. This summer I felt like I had really hit on something with this combination of clay, glazes, and decals....here is an image of a bunch of pieces I made at Chautauqua below...pre-decals.

The clay body I have now is very similar and I will be using these same two glazes to finish the work. I got the Haystack glaze(exterior) from my buddy Dan Kuhn. He has modified it somewhat from its original recipe and its just what the doctor ordered...mostly opaque and warm and buttery in color. The interior glaze was a Chautauqua clay studio staple...Cream...not very exciting by itself but as you can see from the image, when it has some overlapping, it does some nice things. Best of all, both glazes stay pretty glossy when fired back to 04 and any change is for the positive. All this and cool decals AND some serious wax resist line work to boot!

As I focus on this new body of work, I am sure that in the back corner of my brain I will be thinking about returning to Little Mahoning Creek Pottery to chuck some wood into a firebox. More wood fired work to come, but not until its warmer. Speaking of Nancy...take a look at what she sprouted. This is the new gallery building! Its pretty awesome and bigger than either of us thought it might be. Nancy reclaimed all the old barn board that covers the place from an old shed/barn that was torn down there in the greater metropolitan area of Smicksburg. She hauled all the wood up and stacked it neatly in the yard this past Fall. Then she hired a three man team of Amish workers and they have done a real bang up job! They are almost done...just gotta put the jacuzzi tub in and...OK, not really, no jacuzzi...but they are almost done. Click to enlarge.

So thanks for tuning back into homefry sketchbook in 2011. I will keep you posted on the new work and updates regarding the Self Serve Pottery Kiosk's world domination plan and a myriad of other clay things.

Wishing you a prosperous and successful new year!

Warm Wishes...

2010-12-18T14:26:00.008-05:00

T'was a week before Christmas and all through the house

Im buzzing around like a scurrying mouse.

Packing pots into boxes along with toys and such,

while wondering if we have shopped for too little or too much.

When what to my wondering eyes did appear

but a frosty cold pint glass full of dark beer.

I was a little tired, not so lively or quick,

all I wanted to do was drink 'till I'm sick.

More rapid than eagles this Christmas did come,

we've been buying and selling, immersed in the scrum.

Ive fired a few kilns and set up some shows

now I wanna stay in my PJs while outside it snows.

Down in my basement I taped up the very last box,

the final orders from my etsy, which I think really rocks.

And I thank all of you for reading and buying,

its folks like you that keep my homefry sleigh flying.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Warmest wishes from me to you...so much more to come in the new year!

ITS HERE!!

2010-12-13T16:59:00.005-05:00

The "Self Serve Pottery Kiosk" is now installed within its very first Pennsylvania location...The Philly Street Cafe in Indiana, PA. YAAA-HOOOOO!

Adam Paulek drove up from Virginia at the end of last week and we spent a couple days hanging out and getting the ol' Self Serve Pottery Kiosk ready for business. He showed me the ins and outs of running the kiosks and we also got another ready to head out into the Steel City. Pictured above is Adam "the brains behind the kiosk" Paulek inside the Cafe after we finished with the install. Below are a few images of the lovely proprietors of the Cafe...Leslie Swentosky and her husband and daughter...quite the family affair! Also, here's a real glamour shot of the outside of this wonderful Cafe. Our downtown has been experiencing a bit of a renaissance and The Philly Street Cafe is one of several locally owned and operated businesses to open recently.

So come on over and warm up in this spacious but cozy cafe...enjoy their delicious coffee, bagels and lunch sandwiches...I know I have already, and I'm planning to continue!

....and if your there, check out that darn cool Self Serve Pottery Kiosk!

Stay warm folks and buy hand made for the holidays!!!

"Self Serving" Just In Time for Christmas...

2010-12-09T15:46:00.007-05:00

Have I ever told you guys about a buddy of mine down in Virginia...I feel almost certain I have. His name is Adam Paulek he and I had a two person show together there in Virginia this past spring, and when he is not making pots, he is making other cool things. Adam is the creator of a little something called "The Self Serve Pottery Kiosk" which is pictured above. He has 4 of these babies in operation in the Richmond Virgina area and guess what kids...he wants to expand into the greater Pittsburgh area! And yes, you guessed it again, that means I'm involved now! Click here to read more about the Kiosks down in VA. You can also go to Adam's blog here to check out other adventures, namely his very cool...shipping container studio. Below is some of Adam's work that can be purchased either through the kiosks or from his etsy shop.

So, let me get back to the Kiosk...the idea is that we place these things filled with mugs, cups, small bowls, etc. in coffee shops and cafes and people simply purchase work from the kiosk... sort of like a vending machine. They all operate on the honor system and 20% of all the money from the kiosk goes to a local art based charity. Adam has a charity down in Virginia called Art180 and the kiosk we are opening tomorrow at The Philly Street Cafe here in Indiana PA, will give back to the Indiana Arts Council's special project RUMPUS. RUMPUS helps to provide donated items and materials to art students, art teachers,and other needy creative folk for a real bargain!

I am thrilled to be the Pittsburgh connection for Adam's Kiosk project and also happy that he would ask me to be involved. I still want to open up 2 more in the burgh so if you are reading this and know of a coffee shop...cafe...or generally cool place that this might work, please let me know. Below I have added a few images of some of my new mugs and cups that can be purchased from the Self Serve Pottery Kiosk. Click to enlarge and if you are in the Indiana, PA area stop over at The Philly Street Cafe...have some hot coffee, a yummy bagel and maybe a new mug!

Fresh...

2010-12-01T18:48:00.008-05:00

I trust you all had a great Thanksgiving. I'm fresh back from a vacation down in Florida...seeing the family and seeing the Mouse and I'm ready to start breaking out some new stuff. Nancy and I fired the bourry box kiln the week before Thanksgiving and I have yet to see all my goodies. I was gone the day she unbricked and have yet to make it up to the studio due to some fresh snow and work at the university.

We fired the kiln in about 17 - 18 hours once again. She just kept on rising and rising and at the end we put a little more soda in the firebox than we did previously...about 4 pounds or so this time. The picture above is from the beginning of the firing...the kiln was cold and a little damp from all rain we had been having and she steamed and smoked like a bus load of old ladies sitting in front of the slot machines over at the casino. In the end I think it all turned out pretty darn nice...well, from what I have seen at least. Here's a few pics of pieces that will not be getting decals...a really sweet fat belly mug and a nice tall tankard. The tankard is just over 5 inches tall and has a generous 4 finger handle...but also nice and light weight too.

I also have a bunch of these slick little trays...relish tray...butter tray...cheese...whatever...they sure are cool... rectangles and squares all with fancy handles. Here are a few pics of those...I hope to make it up to the studio on Friday to start putting on some new decal images for all the cups, mugs, and trays. By Monday most of these will be hitting the virtual shelves of my online shop. The rest will be rolling into a new project with a friend of mine down in Virginia...Adam Paulek. I will post more about that later but I will give you a little preview to check out...click here. In the mean time, enjoy the pics, do some Christmas shopping (online and with my shop preferably),and walk off those extra pounds from Thanksgiving so you can make room for all the holiday cheer still to come.

Chicken Chow Mein...

2010-11-14T11:11:00.011-05:00

I told Nancy I would stop being such a crank and post some pictures....

Brand spankin' new work...wood fired and fired again in an electric kiln to integrate the graphics...nothin' but Chinese menu baby!

New forms, old forms, really good take - out.

By the way, I have more new work in my Etsy shop...just click and shop.

Loading the wood kiln today and firing tomorrow morning...Ive got about 60-70 mugs, cups, and trays and more just waiting to be fired! I love the late Fall firings...the weather is cool and crisp, overcast with a chance of drizzle...the usual western PA weather. But I don't worry about that while I chuck wood into the firebox as it reaches flat cone 11 temperatures.

Stay tuned.

Constipation and the Reflective Nostalgic...

2010-10-24T10:22:00.011-04:00

I am finally putting my two cents in to an interesting discussion that has been happening on a number of blogs out there recently; mainly, two blogs that I read on a regular basis, Sawdust and Dirt and Mudstuffing. Sawdust and Dirt is Michael Kline's blog and and he has stirred up a bit of controversy in the last month or so regarding his guest blogger, Don Pilcher who banged out several posts including this post as well as this one titled "Criticism". I want to also refer to a post on Keith Phillips's blog, titled,"Gluten Free Pottery"(sorry Keith, can not link directly to the post) that also responds to all the hoop-la that has been floating around out there in the blog-o-sphere for the last few months.

Why you ask?...Why not I say.

I am a terminally degreed guy who has spent the majority of his adult life in education, either receiving one or giving one. I have worked adjunct in art history and art ed. for the last four years at a small state university as well as serving as gallery director/curator for the same university for what is now going on 3 years. For the past 3 summers, I ran a fast paced, community based ceramics program within Chautauqua Institution's Art School and worked with a bunch of super folks. And, since the early 90's I have devoted my spare, and not so spare, time to making and showing art. AND, I have been tapping away at this keyboard filling these blank templates with text and images related to my ceramic life since the tail end of 2007. So, in our digital world where everybody, and I mean EVERYBODY, is getting their 15 minutes, I just may be over qualified to state an opinion.

so yeah, why not.

But first an announcement!...I almost quit on you. That's right, I fell under a great grey cloud of self doubt and blog loath. It wasn't really from the articles I have mentioned above, it was from the weight of the outside world bearing down on my noggin. The articles mentioned above sparked more interest in me to write...but every time I did I felt hugely disingenuous on espousing my ceramic manifesto as it were. Who am I to tell you the need and importance for: continuous critical analysis, self reflection and the understanding of why you employ a certain method of finishing to your own ceramic wares?! Disregard my rattling off of the resume above, I just don't feel right about it. What I do know is, why I make certain objects, why I finish a piece the way I do...that everything is considered almost to the point of creative constipation. That's right kids, constipation. And personally, I have been backed up for a while now.

So between my creative grunts and pushes, I read blogs, look at magazines, and generally spend too much time online. And it has been recently that I have felt the need for change in my own personal work. Do I want to continue making predominately atmospheric fired utilitarian ware? I posted a brief musing concerning this back in early October, "Reacquainted"...this was a couple quotes that supported my writing on the necessity of a hybrid form. This also brought me back to the idea of "reflective nostalgia". All my sculptural work is based in this concept and I can talk about the utilitarian wares that I am making with the fired on decals through this same filter. But lets revisit the idea of a hybrid...in my mind, objects can be a hybrid even though they do not appear to have another function other than what is initially apparent. Let's take a mug for instance...coupled with the technique of firing images on the surface, creating a composition of sorts that allows the viewer/user a bridge to a separate association. This is a hybrid...a multi-contextual hybrid.

"This type of hybrid object aims to create a new and previously unintended use of a familiar object. By relegating a new chore and a new responsibility to the ordinary object, multi- contextual things embellish its functional resume and broaden the context of its use. … a thing that performs a particular function in a way that enlarges its context (Akhtar, 122).”

What I am proposing is that an object can have function other than its implied or intended use. This has been my interest in utilitarian ceramics and my need for the images within the surface decoration. It has been only in the last 6 years or so that I have been making work that has actually been intended for utilitarian use and not simply using pottery as a point of reference. This practice is based within a theory called reflective nostalgia...

“Reflective nostalgia can be ironic and humorous. It reveals that longing and critical thinking are not opposed to one another (Boym, 49).” Consider this too from Boym. “Reflective nostalgia does not pretend to rebuild the mythical place called home; ‘it is enamored with distance, not of the referent itself.’ This type of nostalgic narrative is ironic, inconclusive, and fragmentary. Nostalgics of this kind are aware of the gap between identity and resemblance; the home is in ruins or, the contrary, has been just renovated and gentrified beyond recognition. This defamiliarization and sense of distance drives them to tell their story, to narrate the relationship between past, present, and future. Through such longing these nostalgics discover that the past is not merely that which doesn’t exist anymore, but, to quote Henri Bergson, the past ‘might act and will act by inserting itself into a present sensation from which it borrows the vitality.’ The past is not made in the image of the present or seen as foreboding of some present disaster; rather, the past opens up a multitude of potentialities, nontelelogical possibilities of historic development. We don’t need a computer to get access to the virtualities of our imagination: reflective nostalgia has a capacity to awaken multiple-planes of consciousness (50).”

Which leads me back to the earlier mentioned blog posts that got me fired up about writing this post as well as adding to my cheese packed constipation. I enjoy reading other blogs. I also will admit that I enjoy just "looking" at blogs mostly however. My blog time is usually a brief experience while I drink coffee in the mornings or when I relax in the evenings. I often just peruse the pics and do not dwell long on the text. (By the way, this is the most text heavy post I have ever written) In one of Pilcher's posts on Sawdust and Dirt he rails against the blog crowd and the plethora of seemingly mundane chit-chat...the lack of a critical dialog. OK sure, I get it. Others might agree with Mr. Pilcher or surely disagree and continue to communicate nothing except what new mug they posted to their Etsy shop. I am guilty of this at times,(thats my next post!) but I also believe the blog format is still interesting and like a hybrid object can be multi-contextual. I can revisit it at different times and it meets my varied needs, technical talk, conceptual wrestling, and wanting to see your new puppy in a Halloween costume. That's "theory" to me.

People have been throwing around this term "theory", as in "ceramic theory" or a need to develop more "craft based theory". Whatever. Does ceramics have to have its own private "clay talk"? After a while(and I believe that "a while" has been up for some time now)don't you think we will be talking to the same people over and over and a lot of that talk might be based, and also end, mired in the technical or stuck forever in limbo watching demonstrations by folks "making a better pot" on Youtube. With such a rich and ancient history, ceramics can be viewed and referenced from a myriad of points, why get stuck in one or two ruts? Ceramics as a medium, has often, and in the most conventional sense, been thought of and understood as pottery. This label functions as an accepted period to the end of many ceramists’ sentences. And consider this statement from Garth Clark,

“What began life as a movement to return pottery to its classical roots soon became an overbearing, regressive force that today retains just enough power in the schools and journals to defeat a more contemporary vision of functional pottery (Pagliaro, 390).”

So if if the hairs on the back of your neck began to raise and tingle after reading some of the before mentioned posts, then good...keep thinking.

My own research led me to ideas and issues that were below the surface when my main concern was finishing the surfaces of my own work, and I have rarely looked back. By "back", I mean strictly to "craft" or "ceramics" to help define what it is that I do. In fact it has mainly been theories of "collective memory" or "shared memory" that has fueled my work...whether the work is a sculpture/object or simply a cup. It is this understanding of shared experiences that propels me to believe that when certain images and forms are viewed, what comes to the viewer’s mind are recollections based on human experience that is derived from interactions with people and things from a domestic or intimate setting. These recalled experiences have many similarities even among the great diversity of the people who are actively involved with this nostalgic phenomenon. The images or objects that trigger the concept of cultural myth or collective memory are the only tangible artifacts of a recollected past.

I could certainly go on about these ideas and how these theories led me to re-examine all the objects that populate my immediate and intimate domestic landscape, how people determine or place value on objects regardless of their inherent worth or how the medium of ceramics could be the very hip great granddaddy of the art world, but I think this beast has roared long enough. I'm relieved...but not cured. It was time to shit or get off the pot.

Works Cited:

Akhtar, Salman. Objects of Our Desires. New York: Harmony Books. 2005

Boym, Svetlana. The Future Of Nostalgia. New York: Basic Books. 2001

Pagliaro, John. Ed. Shards: Garth Clark on Ceramic Art. New York: Distributed Art Publications. 2003

Potters Tour Weekend

2010-10-16T19:38:00.007-04:00

...another satisfied customer...she's no fool!

If you have never come out for the Indiana County Regional Potters Tour...this is the weekend to do it...and there is still one more day left in the weekend...so what are you waiting for!

The weather is perfect all weekend...low 60's with abundant sunshine and the leaves are at their peak. There were bunches of folks out and about today...I hope to see even more on Sunday!Here are some pics from inside and around the studio today. Click to enlarge.

And here is an example of some of the traffic you may encounter on your trip out to Little Mahoning Creek pottery...I think you can handle it.

New post coming up this week...

Leaf Peepin' and Pot Shoppin'

2010-10-03T10:26:00.008-04:00

I left the studio yesterday around 5:15 for my twenty five minute drive back to my house. The light was golden across the rolling hills of the Amish farmlands and the corn fields were weathered and spent but fitting for this time of year. Storm clouds filtered in between the bright afternoon light and added a blue grey drama to the scene. I could have stopped my car a dozen times and shot a dozen perfect images. Autumn is really on top of us now.

Nancy and I have been busy getting ready to see you, and you, and you.

The Potters Studio Tour takes place October 16 & 17 and is always a big event for us out here in the foothills. We will be showing a whole bunch of new work...mugs, cups, bowls, teapots, platters, pots, and plenty more. All either fired in the salt kiln here or in one of the two wood kilns at the studio. As I said above, the setting is picturesque too...all this together makes for a great weekend to go leaf peepin' and pot shoppin'!

Here is a little taste of what we are cooking up in the studio...my small army of relish trays and batter/beater bowls...below are large platters with shore birds and Ibises by Nancy, and the studio in the golden Autumn sunshine ...enjoy the images and I hope to see your bright smilin' face soon.

That's Ceramics...

2010-09-26T09:45:00.010-04:00

"That's ceramics"...loosely translated means...shit happens. This is a phrase I have said to umpteen dozen people throughout the years. "It sure ain't painting"...a whitewash of fresh gesso clearing the mistakes and preparing for another go round...no, it is not. Once things are fired they are pretty much that way...I will refire and refire if needed but somethings just can't be fixed with another firing. And that's how our last salt firing went...in one word...awry. The image above is not the floor of the kiln you are looking at but the wall...my mug stuck firmly, defying gravity. Oh well...let me repeat my mantra..."that's ceramics, that's ceramics, that's ceramics".

BUT, I am back at it, bakers dozen of tankards made yesterday with larger pieces drying. After the Steeler game I will be out there again making more for the trimming on Monday. I am working hard for our upcoming wood fire in the bourry box kiln. The Potters Studio Tour will take place October 16,17...click for the link to the website...I am featured as "guest potter" with Nancy...Little Mahoning Creek Pottery...but disregard much of my info on the site as it is over two years old...whatever. I did not send any new info when they needed it this summer. I was sort of out of the loop up there in Chautauqua...besides, that old crank who runs the site failed to update me last year when I did send new info. I will be posting a map here soon...its a really great tour and the work is wonderful. Featured on the tour besides Nancy and I ...Don Hedman, Betty Hedman, Josh Floyd, Birch Frew, and a host of other "guest potters". I have been doing the tour for the last 3 years and it always brings the folks out...so many people from the Burgh coming out to the foothills to enjoy the beautiful Fall colors and slightly rustic studios tucked away on the backroards. I have always felt fortunate to be a part of such a clay rich community...well, its back to work...stretch my back for a while and get cranking. Above are a few images of some new pieces pre-decals...there will be plenty of new images along with plenty of farting do-dos...did you know do-do birds fart florals?

Reacquainted...

2010-09-15T16:21:00.007-04:00

I am currently re-evaluating and re-visiting writings from a few years back...with the thoughts of possibly re-investing more time in to these ideas. Although, I am very involved in the utilitarian side of ceramics right now...I am wondering if I have let my other clay dreams wander too long in the corners of my dusty brain. I am feeling a need for something a little different right now...just not sure what it is...ever get like that...is this a little pre-mid-life crisis?

The above image is a piece I finished this summer...I thought I had finished it before, in fact you can see it in my blog archives back in March ...but now, I am sure it is finished. Below is a paragraph that I wrote several years ago...it seems to fit this piece "utt(dd)erly" well. The quotes are from my exploration into the possibility of new sculptural work. Above are a few details too...click to enlarge.

The Necessity of a hybrid object that spans the gap between reality and concept as well as between pottery and sculpture becomes clear. Because it is from this "in between" space that mends the existing disparity within the medium of ceramics and eliminates any hierarchy. It is also important to understand that the term "function" means more than just an object's utilitarian aspects and that there is value in more than just an object's "usefulness". I believe this understanding of ceramics is not one that shirks its traditions and histories in favor of trends, but rather, re-imagines the past much like we as humans do, fragmentary and incomplete, leaving room for new interpretations that expand the medium.

"...it is obvious that our dependence upon things has something more than their utilitarian value at its base. From birth to death, we draw all sorts of emotional sustenance from them ."

- Salman Akhtar, "Objects of Our Desires"

"Even to begin to represent the past, we must recreate a collage of recollections, which overlap and collide with each other."

- Janelle Wilson, "Nostalgia: Sanctuary of Meaning"

...more to come?

A Bunch of Random Chizzz...

2010-09-09T16:09:00.011-04:00

That's right, this is one of, if not possibly, the MOST random conglomeration of things strung together to create a single blog post I think I have ever done. I'm almost proud of that fact.

So, let me start with a couple pics from the Saxonburg show...The opening was well attended and Christy Culp, the person who put the whole show together, had a local winery involved in the catering, so they had a large variety of wines on hand...that never hurts. It was a really beautiful evening and my 8 year old daughter Kate and I, hitched a ride with fellow clay exhibitor Josh Floyd. Kate shot most of the pics ...Thanks for putting together a nice little show Christy! Here is a couple pics from the show as well as the one above...that's me trying out some of Christy's mugs(wine in one hand) and that's Josh Floyd giving the thumbs up to some of his own work in the show!

The next day I enjoyed using my cool new mug I bought at the show the night before from Christy. I also made a damn good batch of very fresh and slightly "diablo" spaghetti sauce. Speaking of mugs, I bought an O-riginal Michael Kline mug too. I purchased it online through his etsy shop...from his etsy kiln opening the Friday before our show opened. I should be getting it in the mail any time now. Having been a long time(relatively)reader of his blog, I felt it was about damn time I at least get something from him...I am anxious to see and handle the work in person...dorky clay guy...I know.

And totally not related to any of the above, I would like to direct your attention to some new blogs on my blog roll. There are a couple new clay blogs as well as some non-clay blogs...hey, its good to look at other things besides clay...I swear. "Wall of Paul" is written by a friend of mine, Paul Tatara, with whom I worked with at a record store down in Gainesville, Florida during the late 80's. He went on to write screenplays and movie reviews for CNN...his blog covers various themes in Pop Culture...very funny writer and so worth checking out. I have also recently been in touch with an old friend whose blog, "Oinky Pig" is now featured in my roll and even better, I have a video clip to post of that same friend, artist, singer/songwriter, attorney at law, political activist, mystic, and folk hero...another fellow Gainesvillian, Mr. James Cerveny. Please enjoy the unofficial official video for James's own "Buy Bobby a Fresca"...his quiver is chocked full of funny, disturbing, powerful homemade folk songs. The bonus here is, I think all he is wearing is that towel...and once again I am wondering about the connection between ceramics and soft core porn.

AND to add to my post of unrelated items...Fall is just around the corner in my neck of the woods, I can see it and feel it these days. Before I know it the Potter's Studio Tour will be on me...October 16 and 17...I will be spending my days that I'm not at IUP up in the studio. More to come about that soon...until then, check out some new work I am posting in my etsy store!

PS.(yet another disconnected piece) That's Max, my dog, sitting out in my yard by a bed of nasturtium and morning glory in the top pic...thought he deserved the exposure. What the hell...it is my blog.

Setting the Table...

2010-08-30T16:05:00.005-04:00

"Setting the Table: Contemporary Ceramics Dines In"

September 4 - October 2

Saxonburg Area Artists CO-OP

215 West Main Street, Saxonburg,PA

Wine and Cheese Opening Reception: Saturday, September 4, 6-9:00pm

Christy Culp put this great little show together...please check out the article about the exhibition by clicking on the link below.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/valleynewsdispatch/living/s_696993.html

I have 6 smaller pieces in this show...check'em out, here are 3 vases forms...salt fired then re-fired with gold luster, also two blue celadon mugs from the post below this and the fudge brown stoneware mug on the top of this post...Hope you can make the opening if you are in the area!

Big stuff coming soon...check back.

The Midas Touch and Booty...

2010-08-27T11:49:00.006-04:00

Ok...get your mind outta the gutter already! NOT that kind of booty...booty like pirate treasure booty. Just a quick post to show off some bling that I just fired and also some of my goods that I brought back from Chautauqua...wait a minute...is there a market for a mixture of ceramics and soft core porn?!?! HMMMMMM....

First let me blab about an exhibition I am involved with in a small gallery show outside the Pittsburgh area coming up next week. I am dropping off pieces from Me, Nancy, and Josh Floyd over at the co-op gallery on Sunday. The show was put together by our friend and regional majolica potter, Christy Culp, and features 25 potters from the area in and around Pittsburgh. The show is called..."Contemporary Ceramics Dine In" and opens on September 4. I will get more details on Sunday and post pics along with them.

I will be showing four smaller vases that were fired in the salt kiln back in the bubble. Each are partially glazed in a beautiful blue celadon and now have gold luster fired onto the indented stamp marks. They look pretty fancy if I do say so myself. I will post images of these pieces when I have all the details for the show. For now however, check out these images of some other new pieces that received a little bling.(above and below) I will be posting these along with more new work on my etsy site. Sorry for ignoring and neglecting you, oh my dear etsy.

I also want to brag about this great painting done for me by the very talented Jenny Wu. Jenny was a student in residence for the past two summers at the Chautauqua Art School. During the summers our mugs and cups would disappear for days at a time...Dan and I often thought we just left them sitting out in the kiln palace or wherever the last place we were when we finished that cup. Well, Jenny would sneak them away and use them in her paintings...the mugs(and teapots) were often featured in her compositions. That was all well and good, but they always sold and we never saw them again. This year I commissioned Ms. Wu to make a "portrait" of my mugs...one that I could keep. This is it below...I love it! Its 10x20 inches and the mugs are a wood fired one and also one that I was making there in Chautauqua. I am going to get a frame this week and have a place already picked out in my house for the piece. I enjoyed meeting Jenny Wu and knowing her the past two summers...she is a great young painter and also a very cool person. Thanks again Jenny!

Did I say this was a quick post...anyways, here is another memento from the summer. This is a sorta collaboration piece I did with resident student Tim Peters. Tim was making all these really massive, kind of Ab.Ex. tiles that were about a foot square and a 2-3 inches thick. He was willing to part with this one and I fired decals and chartreuse glaze spots in to the surface. Below is how it turned out. I do LIKE! Shout out to Tim Peters!... Enjoyed working with you this summer and I wish you all the best up at Alfred.

stay tuned for more clay dork adventures...

And so it goes...

2010-08-21T08:26:00.005-04:00

The Chautauqua ceramic studio is officially locked down and closed until next season. The floors have been mopped, the glaze room cleaned and the kilns wrapped and locked within the "palace". Let me just say this... HALLELUJAH! It is nice to be home sitting in my favorite chair and typing this post out. Its not that I hated it, it is just good to be back home picking up where I left off back in June. The garden was really overgrown and needed serious tending and my deck was neglected and needed serious grilling and lounging. Anyways, I still have a whole lot of unpacking to do. I came home and just dumped everything out of the vehicle into various spots around the house. The fun unpacking comes when I begin to sort out all the art related goodies that I acquired over the last two months. I think I do this post each season I return....mugs from so and so, etc...but this will be the last of those kinds of posts, at least from Chautauqua. The big news for me is that I have officially resigned my job as Kilnmaster/studio manager/faculty/whatever I was there within the bubble that is the Chautauqua Art School. Its been a good run...3 seasons in a row, I just need to move on. It is really that simple, my summers need a change of scenery. It was a wonderful gig where I met wonderful artists of all walks. I was able to make good work and work with good people closely in the ceramic studio. Not only am I talking about our visiting faculty but also the students. I am still in touch with most of the resident students through the miracle of the Internet and I have met folks there with whom I have become really close friends. Like I said, it was a good run.

So here is a shout out to all of you guys and gals I met and worked with from the King and Queen of all that is art within the bubble, Don Kimes and Lois Jubeck...thank you for everything...all the gallery peeps over the years and especially the Gallery Director Judy Barie...Paul Houth with whom I worked with the last 3 years and Arjan Zazueta, both these guys round out the studio staff and keep the place working like it should. A retro shout out to my first tech, the very wonderful, Ms. Ashley Dodge...she helped get me on track with everything when I came in fresh. A major thank you shout out to my tech for the last two years, Dan Kuhn...dude, I could not have done it without your dedication, hard work and lightness of being. (and congrats because I am attending Dan's wedding today) A big shout out to all the visiting faculty that I met and became friends with and see and do things with outside of the bubble...Justin Lambert, Adam Paulek, Frank and Polly Martin, and Jim McDowell ...another shout out to all the other faculty with whom I met and worked with like: Jeff Greenham, Alec Karros, and Christian Kuharik....and cheers to those visiting faculty that I hope to run into again down the line like our Canadian friend Neil Forrest. Also, as I prepare to make pecan pancakes this morning, I have to give a big shout out to my favorite breakfast joints...Rowdy Rooster, BoNar's and Steadman's and a very special shout out to my two favorite beer and wing joints which without them I would have gone crazy...Larry's and The Village Casino! This post wouldn't be complete without a final good bye and good riddance to all the complaining community class ladies affectionately known to us as "the pinhole biddies"...you know who you are.(and will probably never see this post because nobody will help them log on to the Internet.)

Thanks for putting up with me...and I wish you all the best of what life has in store.

Finally, I look forward to the fall and getting back in the saddle with IUP and Nancy Smeltzer of Little Mahoning Creek Pottery. Speaking of Nancy, we will be firing the wood kiln soon I am betting. We also have the studio tour coming up in mid October, which is always a big event. More to come about that as well as pics of all my great pieces from other folks and some images of the last of my firings in the Cha that I haven't yet shown on this ol' blog....turn the page and start a new chapter.

Ahhhhh, its good to be home.

Holy Salt Chautauqua Man!

2010-08-08T16:41:00.013-04:00

Great news on this lovely Sunday afternoon folks! As I sit here and swill down the last of my cold brewed iced coffee and listening to a very smooth Chet Baker Pandora station with my ear buds wedged in deep, I can't help but keep reflecting on the very sexy kiln load we emptied out this morning. We had a solid firing, a good salting , and a nice slow cooled reduction thanks to our visiting faculty member and sausage grilling compadre Justin Lambert. (Justin's haul below with some of my own and students' in the back ground.)

The down firing created fantastic, almost metallic like sheens on the shinos as well as satin smooth surfaces. Needless to say everybody was very pleased. All the students involved had some real beauties come out of the firing and I was especially stoked with several of my pieces. I was hoping to snap a few pics of the students work but I guess that will have to happen later because they all scarfed up their work and squirreled it away. Some was bound for the craft fair happening down in one of the parks here in Chautauqua and some was just squirreled away.Pictured above are John Moses Girdler from Maryville College in Tenn., Justin Lambert, Tim Peters from Alfred, Dan Kuhn, and our other visiting ceramic faculty, Neil Forrest all unloading and inspecting the booty(that doesn't sound right)... Anyways, I traded for a great tumbler from Dan and a mug and bottle from Justin...I will post those images down the line. Anyways again, here are images from the unloading and then some of my pieces from the firing too.

I will post again before I leave the bubble, I am still planning to fire at least one more cone 10 reduction in the Blaauw. That baby blue celedon that Dan whipped up is way to seductive not too try and get at least a half a kiln full. Good night and good luck.

So close now...

2010-08-07T16:15:00.006-04:00

We are planning to un-brick the salt kiln tomorrow. Like kids before Christmas morning, we are all anxious to see if we got what we wanted. Me, Dan Kuhn, Justin Lambert, and the 5 resident students that are with us here in the Chautauqua bubble loaded it on Wednesday afternoon. Dan then candled it until 3 am, woke up, and started giving her a little more gas. We started putting a little more than 10 pounds of salt in around 10-ish Thursday night. After salting for a while Justin then began a reduction cooling until he finally shut off everything around 3:30 am. Here are a few shots of the firing complete with our sweet salt shovel made by the sculptor Lee Tribe back in 2008. I will post shots of the opening and the work very soon! In the images below: Marissa Pullins from Maryville College in Tenn. gets the smores going(very important while firing)...John Moses Girdler(also from Maryville shovels in a snoot full of salt while Dan pulls the plugs...Miranda Ott(completing the Maryville holy trinity) loads me up for more salty fun.

On another note, this Monday marks the final week of our art school summer season...it felt like it went by so fast and it felt like it went by so slow...all at the same time. Soon enough I will be back sitting on my deck, cooking out, and wrangling in the pumpkins from my garden.

Enjoy the images and stay tuned for more.

Week 6...

2010-07-31T18:53:00.007-04:00

Say it aint so Jim! The end is near. I am now entering Week 6 here inside the Chautauqua Institution. I have survived past the midway point and am now entering what looks to be like the homestretch. There are 2 more weeks of classes left and my 5 resident students will have a pretty aggressive critique with a group of faculty in front of all their peers. They only have next week to get their work finished and to be prepared for the onslaught. It looks like I will be firing my ass off for them as well as for our classes. Speaking of our classes, we have new incoming faculty that will stay with us for the last 2 weeks...Justin Lambert and Neil Forrest. I'm looking forward to both of these guys...I met Justin last year here and also got to hear his wood firing talk at NCECA in the Spring. I know there will be some serious grilling and quite possibly a few cold ones consumed during his visit. I have never met Neil but I have seen his work in the ceramic mags here and there and I am very excited to meet and work with him.

This weekend we say goodbye to our buddy and morale booster Jim McDowell and also to Jim Connell and his lovely wife Paula Smith. I thought Paula did a great job teaching hand building for the week. I often think we should offer specific classes and hand building should be one. This is a great place for 97% of the folks who come to take the clay classes should start. They can learn how to properly join clay and learn a more sensitive touch, these skills can then be carried over to throwing. Often students in the week long throwing class are frustrated...lets be honest here, its hard to learn how to throw on the wheel and expect a glazed little something in that amount of time. Anyways, we also had a great time with Frank and Polly Martin for the first few weeks. They are always easy going and wonderful folks to work with... Polly hung out for 4 weeks and Frank took off to teach a couple weeks worth of workshops at Anderson Ranch. While Frank was gone Christian Kuharik filled in...he was great and we all enjoyed working together.

As this summer season begins to wane, I am finishing up the surface work on a group of fudge brown stoneware pots and wall pieces, loading and firing the salt kiln this week as well as breaking out some gold luster for the final firings. Oh yeah, and I am firing a cone 10 reduction in the Blaauw kiln as I type this out...sometimes I really like that kiln. I am also looking forward to getting back home...back to my own space. I am missing my garden and dinners on my back deck. I am also ready to get back into making working for the wood kiln...can ya' hear me Nancy!

Soon enough it will be time to batten down the hatches but in the mean time I'm concentrating on a strong finish...check back for the salty goodness post soon to come.