Summer Sample...

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Jim's Jugs...

As the season here in Chautauqua is coming to a close I want to reflect on one of our more recent "first time" visiting faculty members...Jim McDowell. Jim's energy came at a good time for us all...near the end we were all wearing down and he was just the shot in the arm that we all needed. The above image is of one of his big face jugs that he is known for making. We fired this one in the Blaauw kiln in a cone 10 reduction. The below image is a few of his others speed drying under the heat lamps...that's how we squeeze in the week long classes here in the bubble.

Mr. McDowell did a great morning class exercise that I want to share with all of you gentle readers out there. He took his whole class out into the grass outside the studio...each student was instructed to get a a palm size ball of clay for each hand. He led the class in a very active pinch pot making exercise that resulted in each student making a funny little potato head face jug sort of thing. He had the class out there shaking their butts and getting loose and ready to get back into the studio to throw. A quiet morning it was not, and with Jim around there were no "quiet" mornings...you just got down to it and hit the ground running just like he did. Click on the images below to see the bigger picture...

Jim was a lot of fun and a great addition to our visiting faculty. I hope to be seeing him in the future since he is from my neck of the woods...Pittsburgh that is. We had a couple other super additions to the ceramic faculty this season as well...Chris Miller just off from being the Teaching Fellow at Alfred and Justin Lambert who makes great wood fired pottery and teaches down in Florida. We were also very pleased to have back Frank and Polly Martin, Jeff Greenham, Alec Karros, and my new old buddy Adam Paulik. Thanks to all those visiting faculty and to the hard work and diligence of our tech Dan Kuhn for a smooth and successful 09 season...here's one last Jim McDowell shot for the road...all praise...the season is over!

Results are in...

Good News!... We unloaded the salt kiln yesterday morning and were very pleasantly surprised. For the most part we all agreed that it was a successful firing and everyone got some nice work. I got a handful of real nice mugs and some cups, a few vases, a beaked pitcher,bowls...the usual fare I guess, but boy they do look nice.
As we obsessively examined all our work we all decided to fire the kiln again and quickly made new clay. Great flashing throughout the whole kiln and a nice salt sheen all around. For a number of the pieces we threw a salt body recipe that was given to us by visiting faculty Frank Martin and I was really pleased with the fired look ...oh and by the way, Frank , your big pot turned out real nice... a little blush and a pebbled surface around the large leaf areas! In the above picture from left to right: Sam Howell from Maryville in Tennessee, Dan Kuhn from IUP, just north of Pittsburgh, and Bobby Tso from Hong Kong via Missouri.

Above are a few images I shot informally of some of my own work that came out of the kiln and also a couple pieces of Bobby Tso's.

Here's another couple of "ify" shots but I think you can get the idea of what the firing looked like from this. Well, gentle reader, I have allot of stuff to post in the upcoming weeks. We are in high gear here and I am getting a good bit of my own work done too. I am also posting a bunch of pictures on facebook.com, so if you use facebook, search me out and check out the rest of the images...until next time, happy firing.

Almost famous...

Here in the bubble of the Chautauqua Institution at the art quadrangle, we have marathon "Raku Fridays". They can be long and grueling starting around 9:00 am and going on until well after lunch most of the time. We fire the class work as well as visiting faculty and resident students' work too. Mostly its small things but once in a while we get some whoppers...I'm always up for a challenge and a new burn. This past week we did our little Raku circus for the benefit of a film crew that was here making a documentary on the history of the visual arts at Chautauqua. It was a blast and thanks to Maria Mangano, who serves as the print studio tech, we got a whole lotta great images as they shot their own of us. (She also has a great blog that you should check out too.) The ceramics studio tech Dan Kuhn and I have both done plenty of raku in our lives and we have the firing/pulling and holding of the breathe down to a science.

We went through the motions with the film crew so that they could get their set up for the shots over and over and then we went for it! They were an easy going crew led by producer John Grant. They are from a PBS station called WNED out of Buffalo, NY. and the entire program will air a year from this coming Fall. The above shots are of Dan and I rolling back the handy dandy raku kiln and then us being as dramatic as we could be while handling the hot pots. The below is of me being a ham for the camera...grrrrr, be a fire tiger...rowrrr...much more Cha to come...

A garden interlude...

I fled the Chautauquan bubble this weekend to get home and whip my garden back into shape and also whip up a fresh batch of pesto. The Echinacea was thick and in full bloom with the Black Eyed Susans hot on their heels. I am overrun with Nasturtium but I imagine there are worse things to be taken over by...I have several varieties of Nasturtium, its one of my very favorite things in the garden. Enjoy the photos as I enjoyed being home to commune with my outdoor space. Monday morning its back to the bubble where I am as busy as these bees buzzing through the cone flowers. We are loading the big salt kiln on Saturday...stay tuned.

Big Pots/ Big Hedge...

OK...hey, it may not look like much, but I call it my Chautauqua summer studio. Its not big, but its cozy and it works for me. There is not any water out there and I have to haul two five gallon buckets from the main studio for clean and dirty water usage... But...it is removed from the hustle of the community studio and I really do like that idea...I don't care about hauling a little water. Recently in my space, I threw a bunch of large vases to hold some of the great flowers that are still in bloom up here around Lake Chautauqua...three for the upcoming salt firing that we will be doing next weekend! Speaking of the upcoming salt firing, the above piece is a big pot made by one of our last visiting faculty members, Frank Martin, that will be going in the kiln. Its already slipped and ready...we are hoping to fire it off next Sunday...Thats my studio space outside the window...see, not such a long haul. We also had a recent visitor in the art quad... Porta Hedge - Mobile Observation Lab. This rolling art piece is the brainchild of artist and Chautauqua summer art school alum Justin Shull. I am hoping to have Justin stop by the IUP area in the Fall with his mobile installation. He is currently hauling it and parking it across the country and will be back my way in November. Please see more about this very cool piece and all its secrets at portahedge.com.

The Porta hedge was an interesting addition to the art quad. The interior was outfitted with spy holes, observation cameras and swinging seats. ...I am looking forward to seeing him again in the future. I leave you now gentle reader with an image of Dan Kuhn, our dedicated studio tech learnin' them dedicated work study students some...Sam Howell, Heather Couch, and Heather Kopek(right to Left)...more Cha to come later.

Chautauqua again...

I am back in the bubble that is the Chautauqua Institution. I have resumed my role as KILNMASTER!!!!!...did you here the echo? That is the title...I fire all the kilns along with maintaining them...and I manage the ceramic facility for the season. I have five dedicated work study students that help keep the studio chugging along and my full time assistant Dan Kuhn. Dan is finishing his MFA in ceramics at IUP where I work and has had several experiences in residencies and community oriented pottery studios. That's Dan in the above picture...below are a couple images of the throwing room and the hand building room before the onslaught tomorrow. Classes start in the morning...not only do we in the ceramics dept. service the students that have come from all over the country, but we also allow for the Chautauquans, who are here spending their vacation time in the Institution, to sign up for classes. It makes for a busy, busy summer.

The art department is celebrating its 100th year birthday this year! The Institution itself has been around for more like 120-130 years. For those of you who do not know, its a very interesting place that houses schools of visual arts, dance, theatre and music along with absolutely every kind of religious denomination in an open and all embracing community.

The images below are of the faculty studios(my space is in the first one ) and the other is of the wondrous kiln palace...their both in that groovy, retro, Dwell magazine, brown and orange Brady Bunch color scheme. That's my best buddy for the season peaking out of the kiln palace doors...the Blauuw Kiln. Its a fully programmable digital gas kiln...fancy shmancy.

Frank and Polly Martin are here to teach for the first couple weeks and then Alec Karros, Jeff Greenham, Chris Miller, Adam Paulek, and Jim McDowell are all coming in for a couple weeks at a time until the last week in August. All really good people with a little something different to offer the students.

In the down time of the last weekend before classes start I wandered down to Strohl Art Center, which is the department's "new as of last year gallery" to check out the opening...Roberly Bell's bright, blobject pieces were installed in the sculpture garden and there were 3 other exhibitions happening inside. One exhibition I really liked was Anne Lamanski's sculptures...very cool stuff.

Roberly Bell's work in the sculpture garden...

Anne Lemanski's very cool work...

This weekend has certainly been an easy way to ease on into the awaiting season. Monday morning there will be people beating down the doors and we will be making and firing all week. The upcoming weekend will be packed here for the 4th and I will be giving my talk on Sunday the 5th...Sometimes hectic, sometimes frustrating, all the time interesting...stay tuned for more updates from inside the bubble. Let the season begin!