Get Rid of Curves!

In looking back at my work over the last year or so I realize that many of my pieces include curves, lots of curves. In attempting to do something new - to get a more contemporary, edgy look, with more bold, abstract designs I feel I need to discard the curves. My first series of plates for the Dec mentorship ended up again pretty curved, - discarding and attempting something new is not that easy.. We tend to fall back into the familiar. So small steps.
I also decided to use slips and print them on the pots using newspaper to get a more abstract design. This way in the transfer from paper to pot you get random events such as parts skipping, the paper wrinkling - giving a more spontaneous effect than if it was painted on.
The big problem however has been the glazing. Slips in electric I am familiar with but trying the same at cone 10 just does not work. The last pieces for the mentorship ended up a disaster once they were glazed. I tried 3 different blue slips, 2 rutile lips and three white glazes - unfortunately I did not write down which ones were used on what pot.

Paper printed slips for the blue. I also used a reticulated glaze for the white applique but had to brush it on so the reticulation did not work somehow.I don't know why pouring over brushing should make a difference in terms of reticulation as the glaze had worked when poured on other projects. The base was a shino glaze around mostly the edges and then a white glaze (probably magnesia matt) was sprayed over. Again I forgot to write down which white I used on this plate. Plate also cracked - it was made once the heating was on in the house - I was used to drying stuff during the damper summer weather.

 Other plates I a tried a more squared off rim - adding clay strips in a more abstract pattern.  I'm not a graphic designer so not sure what step I need to take to go abstract - will be thinking about this a lot.

In order to get a more edgy look and get rid of the curves I decided to use strips of clay - and to reference our "farm" join them with "rivets" and showing a "repair" on the right bottom corner - just like homemade repairs on farm equipment. The slips - blue and bluegreen backgroud - were topped with a rutile slip representing jumbled stone fences from our "farm". Again - don't know which slips were used or which white glaze. Also again it cracked - again the drying was too fast as the central heating had come on. I feel this has possibilities and so should follow up with more, but it is hard for me to go completly abstract which I would love to do.

A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss - New Mentorship with Dan Hill

Well no sooner had I "graduated" from the Fusion mentorship than I rolled myself over into another one - with Wilno area potter Dan Hill http://www.hillpottery.com/DanHill/index.html.

Cone 6 soda fired urn by Dan Hill

Dan makes cone 6 soda fired work and he has given several great workshops for the Deep River Potters Guild. I've always admired his work. His insight and analysis of his work as demonstrated during his workshops has always been invaluable.

There are 7 of us apart from Dan who will also work along with us. Three are from Deep River, two from the Maynooth area and two from Madonna House - a lay religious community in Combermere. So a very diverse group from diverse backgrounds, experience and ages - which should make for an exciting journey.

Our first meeting was in mid November. In the morning we examined and discussed examples of our work as well as work that we admire - either pictures or actual pieces. I feel that I want to make more contemporary edgy work - I feel that many of my pieces end up being "cutsy". This has been a goal of mine ever since the mentorship with Steven Hill  5 years ago. At that time Steven felt that a more contemporary palette would help - but it is so hard for me to resist the yellow, beige and browns that I love.

We were supposed to bring an example of work that we admire or work that points in the direction that we wish to go. I had brought John Ikeda's cup that he had given me at my summer group woodfiring. I have always thought John's decoration style not only superb but very contemporary.
http://www.ikedastudios.com/www.ikedastudios.com/John_Ikeda_Contemporary_Ceramics.html

Underglaze decorated tumbler by John Ikeda

 John has a strong, forceful, abstract design - nothing cutsy about it. I can look at it for hours - each time seeing something different.

After lunch we discussed what we would hope to achieve with the mentorship - whether it is a generalization - to make better pots - better rims, feet, bowls, etc or to make pots with more movement, or with more elegance, better  design. I plan to continue with the 4 themes that I had with the Fusion mentorship - the nuclear theme, the forest theme, the Bottom Billion, and the dancing girls/women series. With inspiration and guidance from Dan and a mental image of John Ikeda's tumbler I hope to give my designs a more contemporary edge.

Graduation! - An Odyssey in Clay

Mainly because of the Four Friends exhibit in September I was totally ready for the Fusion Mentorship exhibit in October that marked the end of our mentorship with Keith Campbell.  By marking three pieces NFS in the "Friends" exhibit I was able to reserved them for the Fusion exhibit.
Fusion sponsored three mentorships in 2012 -2013. One in Ottawa, a glass one in southern Ontario and then one in North Bay that I participated in titled "An Odyssey in Clay".

The Kennedy Gallery in North Bay is a great space - a small area for intimate shows, along with a gift shop and then a larger area for large exhibits where one can also host a reception. All this is part of the Capitol Center which also has an auditorium, so people can visit the gallery before a show and during intermissions.

Everyone had outdone themselves - I was really impressed. The work was very imaginative, well executed and displayed to show its best. Unfortunately the pictures that I had taken were not very good - my camera did not like the lighting so I do not have any good pictures of the work. Keith was able to make it to the opening - he had finally had his heart surgery just a few weeks before so it was great to see him up and about. His daughter Alex  is the curator at the gallery and she and Keith put together the exhibit.
Thank you Keith for a great mentorship experience and a great show. We are to meet for our final meeting in January to see where we all go from here. I highly recommend a mentorship experience -especially a group one as you not only learn from your mentor but from all the other mentees as well.  It makes for a great group dynamic!
And thank you to Fusion - the Ontario Clay and Glass Association for getting the ball rolling on these mentorships! I hope that many of you will get the opportunity to participate.

Four Friends, Four Perspectives - Part II

Apart from the "nuclear theme" I had several other themes for the exhibit. I had sort of abandoned for a while some of my themes that I had started in the mentorship program but then returned with "the bottom billion" and the "forest theme"which morphed into the "Ottawa River series". In early April I had attended a talk at a local museum on the Ottawa River and aboriginal archaeology. It really inspired me to think about what it must have been like here over 10,000 years ago at the end of the last Ice Age.

The Ottawa River levels fluctuated rapidly and widely back then, even reversing flow at one time and flowing into Hudson's Bay. I tried to imagine what this very landscape must have been like back then, a cold, white towering world, with rocks, boulders and ice chunks littering the ground. It is now thought that people inhabited this area much earlier than thought, even maybe as long ago as 14,000 years, living and hunting at the base of the glaciers. 

This inspired me to do an Ottawa River series of platters - again over the garbage can type. They were fun to do! I always remember Tony Clennel admonishing potters to reference thier location. I have always wanted to make rocky mountain type scenery, sort of what Les Manning does, but there are no glaciers here! But after that talk on the Ottawa River I realize that I can use glacier images even though I do not live out west - just include an a short write up on what inspired me and voila! The Ottawa River Series with glaciers is born! All cone 10 redux with MD shino over Dan Hill lithium ship (blue areas) or over white crackle slip. Some overspray with magnesia matt (white areas) and edged in Temmoku.

I added black sand stripes to the design, sort of indicating erosion, rocks etc.
However it is hard to apply with a brush and I find my brush stokes rather inept,
detracting from the design - otherwise I was pleased with the overall effect - MD shino over
Dan's lithium slip (top right), then white crackle slip (which did not crackle) for the ice
and then some overspray with magnesia mat.

Same problem with the black sand. Also whole design is a bit Disney like - just too
cutesy - expect Bambi to appear at anytime.

This is the first one of the series that I did. The crackle slip on the ice portions was close to flaking
off so I reglazed with  a cone 6 electric white glaze to stabilize the surface - those are the white
dots which unfortunately are rather distracting in the design.

The theme still needs more work and the glazing effects are not that cohesive, but I am looking forward to exploring this theme more.

Four Friends, Four Perspectives - Part I

When a friend of mine asked me last spring if I wanted to get together with her and 2 other friends and do a show in the local library in September I said yes. I thought that it probably would not entail that much more work as I would have to have work ready for the mentorship exhibit later in October in North Bay. However the mentorship exhibit requires just three works from each of us - for the library I had a 30 foot long wall to fill. But I like deadlines. In fact I need a deadline to get things done, otherwise I fritter the day  away on various inconsequential tasks. 

The show was a great success - with amazing work by the other three artists (sun dyed fabrics, fused glass, found art and paintings) and lots of great comments and sales. And now that's it over I've been able to catch up on my blogging.
Since Deep River is the home of Canada's nuclear pioneers, I thought I had better do something with my nuclear theme. I would do the cups with various pro-nuclear slogans. I had no idea how I would put them together into a display. I was stumped. Then on waking one morning just a few days before I had a true insight! (Thanks Johan Lehrer!) I would use my GAIA "bricks" that I had wood fired for another project and put them together with various bricks and soaps from my wood kiln and build as "industrial" wall to stand them on. Good thing the table was sturdy as it sure ended up heavy. Not sure if when they were all together like that that the cooling tower concept came through.

Nuclear cooling tower cups for the 45% - % of people worldwide that support nuclear energy

In the front Candu reactor cups for the 36% - % of Canadians that
support nuclear energy. Candu reactors are Canada'system of reactors and they do not have cooling towers.

I added a fat lady holding a Candu fuel bundle with the caption "It's Not Over Until the Fat Lady Sings." However I don't think that anyone got it - i.e. the nuclear option is not over yet.
The display was accompanied by this write up and challenge:

It’s pretty hard to beat a great slogan!

For decades “No Nukes” has carried the environmental movement against not only nuclear weapons but nuclear energy. Nuclear energy in the 1950’s and 60’s was heralded in by its own great slogan, “Energy Too Cheap to Meter”.

But today the fuel rods and bundles have all been put on the back burner by governments around the world and the future of the industry is no longer glowing brightly. I challenge all that support the nuclear option to come up with a new slogan that can fight back and help achieve a sustainable future for our planet.

Sculpture Workshop with Darryl Frost

When Darryl Frost, a New Zealand anagama potter and sculptor, emailed the Ottawa Guild of Potters that he was staying in Ottawa for a few months and would be interested in helping out with a wood firing and perhaps do a workshop as well, the Deep River Potters Guild took him up on his offer of a one day sculpture workshop for the end of August. We started off the evening before with the usual great potluck supper, followed by Darryl's slide show showcasing his wide range of sculptural work and his anagama kiln in New Zealand.  http://playingwithfire.co.nz/about/my-anagama/  This got us all inspired to think in terms of more sculptural pieces. The next day was hands on, and we continued well into the evening- working on our own sculpture, from small abstract pieces to life-sized herons! He also enthusiastically demoed several of his special throwing techniques. Especially interesting to me were his "tea bowls" - made of a very rough groggy clay that he partially opened and then he inserted a ball of smooth porcelain clay and continued opening and throwing so he ended up with a very rough tactile exterior and smooth functional interior. They were fantastic! He is a very loose thrower and it was a great contrast to most of us who are very tight! Everyone agreed the workshop was a great success - that it was great to get thinking more than just "round pots" and several were even inspired to continue to make more sculptures!

Darryl Frost, helped by Jessica Brabant, holds up his series of rough outside, smooth inside
 "tea bowls".
Thanks Darryl -  for a great workshop and have a safe return to New Zealand!