Anagama-orama

NCECA 2011/Tampa bay is officially here. So what did I do? I unloaded a couple of kilns with some super awesome clay artists while busloads of people stopped by. Just another day at St. Pete Clay! Seriously though, we just concluded our pre-conference workshop (Blast-Off) and planned the big unloading especially for the first day of NCECA. First thing today, I helped unload the Train kiln that Tara Wilson lead with a bunch of helpful folk from Ole Miss. Great kiln! It was hands down the best firing we've ever had. I had a couple of killer baskets and vases.

Then we moved onto the Anagama. It was overall a great firing, although the rear was dull and gray. Beautiful results on my porcelain teabowls and again with killer baskets.      I'll take better pics and write about the rest of NCECA week when I've a some time.

Graduate Schools

I am dizzy with information about graduate schools, finally weeding my list down to seven programs. Thank god I can pretty much apply to all of them online which should be a breeze ( yeah, not really).  Is it bad that I'm still making work for my portfolio? In truth, I have enough images but I'm right in the middle of a good creative burst and I'm trying new forms: teapots, sugar creamer sets, awesome flasks--- well awesome bisqued flasks at any rate. So yeah, no pressure here, just what I've been working towards the past two years. 

In other news, the Black Friday Ceramic Sale and Brunch was a huge success! I mostly sold ornaments, but they sure added up. Our big Holiday sale is this weekend and my fingers are crossed for a great outcome. 

A Done Deal.

  

Potters and ceramic artists have a long history of trading pieces with each other. It's great when it is an even trade; a cup for a cup, a bowl for a bowl etc. It has been nearly a year since I fell in love with a Yungbluth watering can. I must have told him a dozen times how great it was before he gave it to me in an open ended trade. What that means is that whenever I made something that he liked, he need only to ask for it and the trade would be complete. So, fast forward to Friday, Oct 1st. I'm gross from working my A.I.R-day and prepping for the big Octoberfest sale the next day. I am impatiently waiting for my ^6 kiln to cool (a watched kiln never cools) down to 120 before I decide to push it, put on some gloves and pull it all out with just a brief melody of pings on a few pieces of thickly glazed member pieces. I was so happy to find that all my tumblers came out exactly as planned. It's weird to go back and forth between soda/wood/gas and electric. You get used to good surprises and painful disappointments. Take the last wood fire for example. I had maybe 10 pieces in the train. Three cups were warped, another two were under fired and the most beautiful mug was stuck to someone else's jug, a third person's cross and the shelf. The rest of my work ranged from good to great. So I was pleasantly surprised to have 11 perfect tumblers. While they were still hot, I brought them upstairs to the slide room and snapped away, then downstairs for pricing. That's when Yungbluth showed up and saw my bounty. I said something like. " take your pick " and surprise, surprise, surprise. He did! Our trade is finally done. He selected a tumbler with a sweet robot/fish/submarine design. Yeah. Now I just owe something to his better half, Miss M.Lee.

Saving for a rainy day. . . .

There has been an unusual amount of drama at the studio over the past week. Quite frankly, it is nearly impossible to get any work done faster than the slowest snails pace. So this seems like a perfect time to add new images of my recent ceramic endeavors. Last month I taught a small workshop on making coin banks from slabs. I had a lot of fun building and painting these two and I'm very pleased with the result. I did have them priced for a while, but I've since removed the tags because I don't want them to leave just yet!

 

goblet follow up

The two on the left were the winnersThere is something gratifying about chucking the disappointments into a dumpster. With pottery there is a very satisfying smash as the piece explodes ( or the dreaded thunk when a thick piece hits bottom ). I gave one goblet away after my friend picked out hers, and I tossed two of them. There is one gem of a goblet with a hideous soda drip hanging out in my studio that I've yet to let go -- waiting for the right moment of stress for that one.