And so it goes...

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!

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...

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...

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.

Taking A Break...

Its nice to go places but its always nice to come back home too. I am taking a breather from the Chautauqua bubble right now and I am back home in PA this weekend. There are many things that need my attention here...mainly my garden. There is a whole lot of weedin' to be done throughout the veggie patch and all the flower beds. My garden is in need of a good deal of TLC...the tomato plants are falling over, the basil needs cut back, and I need to wrangle in these crazy pumpkin vines somehow. As I type this post out however, I am watching a nice summer storm pour down on everything so even my favorite chores will have to wait... But first things first this morning...I got to use my new majolica batter bowl from Christy Culp to whip up a batch of pancakes for me and the girls...and whats the morning without a whole lot of fresh ground Sumatra beans to go with the fluffy and savory goodness that is breakfast. I have missed drinking from my Ayumi Horie mug, so it was an easy pick for my morning java. Thanks for the great looking & functioning bowl Christy!
I will be returning to CHQ tomorrow...back to the ceramic studio. Our visiting faculty for this week will be Jim Connell from North Carolina and Jim McDowell from the steel city...Pittsburgh for those of you who don't know. We are also firing the salt kiln this week now that we have new blowers and Dan has repaired the pilot on one of the burners. Be watching for more pics and posts.

One Million Big Ones...

This week here at The Chautauqua School of Art we received a huge gift. Joan R. Lincoln and her husband David, gave the art school a million dollar endowment to be used to fund the The Joan R. Lincoln Ceramic Studio. See above picture...(thats Joan and her husband with the symbolic gift of a great Frank Martin teapot and in between them smiling real big is Don Kimes, the Artistic Director for the school). The endowment ensures that the ceramic program will be in place for many, many years to come. This extremely generous gift is not the first we have received from the Lincolns. They are also responsible for funding the renovations of the 100 and some odd year old building that is the ceramic studio. Joan was trained as a potter when she went to college and has had a great passion for ceramics ever since. I have gotten to know Joan some in the last couple years ...she comes to the studio and throws just about everyday still and we often have conversations about her awesome collection back in Phoenix, Arizona.

We here working through the summers, dealing with the community classes as well as the resident students, often bitch and moan about the bitching and moaning from the Chautauquan crowd. But this gift by the Lincoln's is such an example of generosity and commitment to a place and medium that it might just shut my smart ass mouth up for the rest of the summer...or for a week or so...or...maybe I will just keep that feeling in the back of my head and pull it out when I need an attitude adjustment.

On another note, I have some mugs glazed and waiting and some firing now as I type...new work soon to come...will post again soon...goodnight from a strange and special place.

Back in the Chautauqua saddle...

Man, when I say I'm taking a break, I mean it! Sorry for the extended pause but I am back and I have all sorts of great stuff to blog about. After my little hiatus I am now back up in Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua, NY. Dan Kuhn and I have spent the last week getting the studio ready for the upcoming season...making clay, making glazes, sweeping up bat poop. This past Saturday was the opening weekend for the 2010 season and yesterday was the first big opening of the galleries here. Its always quite the event and this year was no different except that it was bigger and better. The art school is celebrating its one hundred and first and this year opened yet another really exceptional gallery.This is a newly renovated old Victorian that now sports large wide open gallery spaces instead of honeycombed rooms... Brazilian teak flooring and a wrap around porch with a small cafe on the end. The Fowler-Kellog Art Center sits directly in front of Strohl Art Center, that only opened 2 years ago, and is connected by a large brick paver plaza of sorts. Check out the pics below ...the pics above are from one of the exhibitions that opened on Sunday..."Teapots, Teapots, Teapots"...that's a Jim Connell piece next to a teapot by Frank Martin.

There were several really great exhibitions in the gallery spaces but I am partial to the teapot show...well, because I am in it...and much to my surprise I sold one of my nicest teapots during the opening. Below are more sweet teapots ...the tall solo one is by Dan Kuhn who serves as our ever helpful and dedicated ceramic tech here in the bubble...the green one is by Jennifer Allen...the black one is by Emily Reason with another great teapot by Jim Connell and the image with three teapots is again, Jim Connell, me, and Scott Cornish. Click to enlarge...

So many great pieces by many great people...so much to see...so many kiln loads to fire...so much music to hear...so many bottle rockets to launch...so many Bellinger cafeteria meals to choke down...so many mixer loads of clay to make...so many people's groundless gripes to ignore...so many beers and wings to consume at the Village Casino over at Bemus point...so many more blog posts to come.

Stay Tuned!