Home...

The season has come to a close and I am finally home. It has been a long summer working as the kilnmaster/studio manager up there in the Chautauqua Institute. The job was grueling sometimes and I was always at work 24/7 there but I met some great people and managed to squeak out a small bit of interesting work. I'm sending a shout out to my right hand man Ms. Ashley Dodge and her significant other Kevin...two very cool people that made my life there much easier to deal with. Another shout out to Tim, Caroline, Devon, and Paul with whom I shared the upstairs of the lodge as well as the rooftop on occasion. I was also fortunate enough to have a good group of dedicated students from several different universities that worked for me as work study...here's to them too...Sam, Sara, Dwain, Sami and our adopted ceramic student Yuan. I wish them all luck in their endeavors. It was a breakneck but productive summer and I hope that everybody got something out of it besides just being tired in the end...I know I did. But now, I'm home. Being at home means a lot to me and I look forward to doing nothing but sitting on the couch and catching up on some DVDS for the next couple of days. I will start my fall job back with IUP soon and I hope to get settled back in the studio in Smicksburg by the weekend. So in the meantime, I want to post some images of my cone 6 work from the Cha. I sold the majority of what I am showing here, but I am pleased to be able to share them as an image with all of you gentle readers out there. I will post a couple more Chautauqua related things next time and talk about my collaboration with visiting faculty Adam Paulek (a shout out to you sir, as well)...so enjoy the mugs and cups as I welcome myself back....click on the images for a larger view.

Ceramics Retrospective in the Bubble...

The recently opened exhibition, The Chautauqua Ceramics Retrospective, is a great looking clay show. The exhibition opened this past Tuesday at the new gallery here in the Cha, and it looks like it might be a sell out...not surprising though because the work is superb and really shines in the space...also, who doesn't like the tactile quality of ceramics whether for utilitarian purposes or not. The show was put together by visiting faculty and long term Chautauquan Jeff Greenham. Jeff is the man who is responsible for the strength of the ceramics department. He has been putting his sweat into the program for many years now. It is from his lengthy tenure here, that Jeff was able to put this 20 year retrospective together. I took a bunch of images but only a few came out that are good...so here are some highlights and lucky shots from the show...below is Ron Meyers, Kris Lyons, Val Cushing and another Cushing. I also got to meet Ron Meyers and his wife when they dropped off a couple pieces for the show. Very nice and he seems a lot like his work.

The next few images are Jeff Greenham & Julia Galloway in the foreground, then Alec Karros with his dirt clay and last, Matt West. Click on the images to enlarge. The show is representative of the people who have been visiting faculty in the past 20 years. Some of the other people in the exhibition included Frank and Polly Martin, Ed Eberle, and Scott Cornish. The show was initially shown in a smaller version in a crappy space for NCECA in the 'Burgh. It really deserved the type of space that it has now...I just wish more people might see it other than the small dedicated group within the bubble here...ahh, but that is the way it is here.

Jeff Greeham leaves this week and a new guy will come in on Monday...and I am sorry but I do not know the new guy's name...he is a replacement for Scott Cornish who could not make it. The above picture is the other current visiting clay faculty, Alec Karros, vigorously wedging his top soil infused clay with Greenham over his shoulder talking to a student...

As for me, I am a little worn out...but I am still able to produce a little bit of work. I have been firing an insane number of times and if I am not firing a kiln, I am working on a kiln. So as I finish pieces up, I will post images of some of my new mugs and things next time...until then, beware of the Giant Chautauquan Lake Squid!!!

Smoke and Fire

Greetings from the "Cha", gentle reader! My postings have been sparce this summer as my kilnmaster duties have consumed so much of my time. Stay tuned as I will be making a larger post soon. Until then, I would like to share with you an article that was written recently in the local newspaper, "The Chautauqua Daily", about one of our recent raku firings. You will need to scroll through to page 11 for the photo spread.

CLICK HERE: http://www.ciweb.org/Chautauquan%20Daily/2008%20Newspapers/24-July18_2008.pdf

CHOO CHOOOOO!

Hello again gentle readers. I had to post again soon once I received this last batch of images from Nancy back at the studio in Smicksburg! If you have been following along with me for the last month or so, you might know that Nancy and I have been building a new wood kiln. It is a train style based on a Robert Sanderson design. Long story short, I ran out of time and had to come to my summer job here in the Cha.... I did not get to finish the kiln...but she and the guy who is filling my space in the studio for the summer Mike Mintzer(spelling?) knocked it out and actually fired it off on the

first. Here are a couple of images of it finished...

Nancy said the firing had a few glitches, but that could be expected for the first firing. There might be some things we need to do before the next firing...when I return in August...but all in all she says the results were pretty good and thinks that this will be a good kiln. Nancy was also super enough to send me a few pictures of some my pieces that came out...

Hey Nance, if your reading this...Thank You. I really wanted to finish the kiln and was a little down about not being able to be there to fire it, but being able to see some of the results and to have a friend that will take the time to email me stuff, sure means a lot. My body may be working overtime here in Chautauqua but my heart is still in a little town nestled in an Amish community called Smicksburg. I miss the slower pace and working with the big side doors to the studio open...breeze blowing through the space...I look forward to being back for the Fall and I often picture the big mature Oaks and their yellow leaves drifting everywhere. I leave you gentle reader, with a great picture Nancy sent me of the train kiln blowing its stack...enjoy, and think Autumn thoughts with me.

Hello form Chautauqua, NY...

Greetings gentle reader...I am now posting from Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, NY right on the shore of Lake Chautauqua...it seems to me they(whoever named this area) was at a loss for other clever titles...maybe something shorter would have been a good idea...I am going to go out on a limb here and refer to this place as the Cha., who knows maybe that will catch on with other lazy typers like myself. Anywho, the above piece is a recent installation in the new sculpture garden here within the bubble. The Chautauqua Institution has been in existence for well over one hundred years and is a summer haven for those looking to immerse themselves in the arts as well as some serious lake time. It is truly a beautiful community that blossoms in the summer months. Oh yeah...the big hand was made by Joe Molino...ceramics professor at Carnegie Mellon.

The above image is the side entrance to the ceramics studio located in the fine arts quad. The orange and brown panels are rolling doors to the kiln palace...my personal kingdom, since I am KILNMASTER!...do you here the echo too? Everyday I spend the majority of daylight and a good portion of the evening hours here. I have a great crew to work with and everybody pitches in to help keep the studio up and running...stocked with clay and glazes...and answering millions of questions from the Chatauquans taking morning and afternoon classes with the visiting artists/instructors. Speaking of, for the first 3 weeks we are graced with a wonderful couple who both teach at universities in Tenn. Frank and Polly Martin. They have been patient and easy going and a pleasure to work with. Polly's interest is in making beautiful functional pottery to be used in the home and Frank creates assembled objects based in pottery finished with vividly colored glazes. They also gave a lecture together...great work and interesting talks... Both are so worth the google...

But let me acknowledge somebody who has been indispensable here in the studio...without whom I could not keep things rolling along. She is the studio tech and my right hand here...Ladies and Gentlemen...Ms. Ashley Dodge!

Ashley is a recent graduate of WVU...she earned her BFA in ceramics. She is a very nice person with a great attitude...knowledgeable and best of all...somebody I can count on. She has been busting her butt for the studio as well as trying to find her own time in her studio to make new work. Below are featured a few of her cups and stem ware...her pieces are cone 6 porcelain with flowing sumptuous glazes...my favorite part of her stem ware is that they all jingle! You can shake them like a bell after you finish your libations...such a cool idea...I hope to come home with a few of her pieces at the end of the season.

Ashley has great things in her future...as for me...I have been working hard and also trying to get some me time in my studio too...I have been working on some big super wonky mugs...over sized and made from a porcelainious stoneware...working on some super funky decal images to finish them off with...and thinking that they will be in my first cone 6 soda fire here. This is them, with a couple other pieces drying in my studio window...all possibilities for the soda firing.

So ends my first post from the Cha...stay tuned for more from within the bubble.

Bursting before Chautauqua...

The garden that is...bursting.... just before I leave for NY and just as I have returned from Fla. on the worst plane ride of my life. A great vacation with the family in a beautiful location in the panhandle right smack on the beach. We ate good seafood and all browned our buns on the beach. But the ride home from the Pensacola Airport to Atlanta and supposedly to Pittsburgh...was a much different story. The AirTran flight was late...one hour from the jump at Pensacola. Then 25 minutes late in Atlanta and another 30-45 minutes because they could not get the door closed...it was jammed with the jet ramp that people use to de-plane. That alone should have been a warning to me...let somebody else have your seats. Finally after circling the Pittsburgh airport in a holding pattern due to the zero visibility caused by heavy fog, the captain says we are flying to the Akron/Canton airport in Ohio. After much deliberation from the captain and crew after landing at this tiny airport that was closed for the night...yes...CLOSED...nobody there until the morning, we all spent the wee hours in a very uncomfortable air terminal. There were not enough pillows or blankets...really nothing was provided to all of us. Finally at 9 am another crew came and we flew the brief 20 minutes to Pittsburgh...Kelli and I had been awake for more than 24 hours and stranded in Ohio since 3 Am. We finally made it home at 12:30 Sunday afternoon. YOW!

After all that I need something to meditate on, and my flower beds are really starting to rev up. So enjoy the slide show posted above and check out my new bird feeder from Nancy...you can find more stuff by her on her etsy shop, the link is on the side bar...also, does anybody know what type of allium I have in the images? I planted two types and cant remember either...I would like to get more bulbs...hmmmm. Well, anyways, breathe deep buckaroos and enjoy my flowers...next post from NY.

June...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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