Pictures from the Studio

I took some pictures while working in the studio today. I thought some of you may enjoy seeing things in progress as well as some shots of the studio interior. I realized while loading these that I didn't get too many of the latter so check back as the week goes on and I'll try to put some up.

These two little birds got slipped today. They will be blue when fired. The last thing I made today was some squared mugs. These will get turned over tomorrow and the bottoms will get pushed on and squared. They will get handles then too.
Here is my handy pug mill. I love this machine. When I first set up my studio Tom Gray told me I should get a pug mill as soon as I could. I saved up some money and bought a brand new Bluebird 440. It saves me from wedging most of my clay. It's also great for reclaiming scrap by mixing it in with new clay. It is by far one of the best investments I've made.

Cups

A few more images from the studio today. Below are handle blanks ready to be attached to cups.

Here are the cups. They were made yesterday and have been drying. I usually turn them upside down as soon as I can to help even out the drying. They are ready for their handles.

And here they are. I love to make cups. It took me along time to really like them. Seven years. I remember when it all came together for me and my cups. Learning to make a good handle was a big part of it, and paying attention to the volume and gesture. I still make some not so great ones but I strive to be a good cup maker. Hopefully the rest of my pots are following suit.

Circle Spring Sale

We had a great day for our Circle of Eight Sale on Saturday. The turnout was good and we all sold some pots. It was good to hang out with the pottery crew. Our guest artist, Kelly O'Briant brought a nice selection of pots and we all enjoyed having her there. She fit right in with all of us and I enjoyed getting to know more about her and her work.

Below is a shot of my booth.Here is a partial shot of all the booths, I didn't get Jen Mecca and Sandy Singletary's booth in this picture. (Sorry girls).
Greg Scott, below with customers.
I wish I would have gotten more shots of everyone's work. Here is a quick shot of Kelly's work. For more images visit Jen Mecca's blog.
I'll be back to work in the shop tomorrow. I have another show this weekend here in Shelby. Check back this week for more.

Pots. Show.

I am getting all my things together and will be leaving shortly for Charlotte to set up for the Circle of Eight show which is tomorrow. See post below. I have all the pots and my display loaded in the truck.

I finished up a few pots this morning. Below are a few spouted mixers. I really like these pots a lot; we have two in our kitchen. They are great for scrambling eggs or mixing up dressings.

Here are some cups with incised star pattern. I haven't done this in awhile. Sarah's mother has a cup like this and I was looking at it when I was over there recently. It was so nice I decided to make a few more. These have the yellow slip so the contrast should be good.And here are a few honey jars. These are good sellers, I use ours every day.

I'll have some images from the Sale going up later in the weekend. If you are in the area please come by. Lots of great pots to choose from.

Process

Today I'll be finishing up the pots that I made on Tuesday and some plates that were made earlier that have finally decided to dry to the point of turning. I want to get all my pots boxed up to take to the Circle of Eight Sale also. We are setting up on Friday afternoon. I am excited about our Sale, we should have a good turnout and the weather looks like it will be nice.

My clay is drying in the racks and will be ready to come in in a few days. As it dries I will cut it into blocks. This allows me to bring in the blocks that dry sooner (the ones closer to the edge of the rack). I will store the soft clay in large, lidded trash bins. When I am ready to use it I will run the clay through the pug mill.

I am challenging myself to think of ways to change some of my more generic pots to give them some character. I think this will mainly involve paying attention to parts of pots like feet and rims and details like handles and maybe some little add ons. I could make some bowls with taller feet, or bottles and vases composed of parts. It's hard to put into words but I'm doing some sketches. I noticed in my last kiln load that I had some baskets that were really boring, not even worth firing really, and I had some small jars I felt the same way about. I guess I learned from that. It's easy just to 'make stuff ' , making interesting pots is harder. I think also for me it's learning to cut out certain things and go deeper with others. That's what I think I should do, 'go deeper' , explore, have fun, and see where that takes me.

Heaven

Last night I made a couple pizzas. This one was made with the Italian sausage that Tom gave me. Boy was it delicious. I made another with spinach, goat cheese and onions for Sarah. It was tasty too. Pizza is my favorite food by far and I can pretty much make a better pizza than any chain resturant. We do have a good pizzeria in Shelby, Doc's. They make a great pie.

I am feeling very off schedule this month. I am getting pots made but it seems I should be firing already. I will fire on the 30th probably. The thing that is throwing me off is that I have 2 shows this month and another in early May. I feel like I need to be firing before each show. That can't happen...well it could but it isn't. So things are on schedule after all. I have a load almost made except for some cups and a few other things I'd like to get in.

Circle of Eight Spring Sale

The Circle of Eight Spring Sale is this Saturday from 10 am until 4pm. The location is 1225 Dade St. in Charlotte. We will all have a good selection of work to choose from. We have invited Kelly O'Briant from the Raleigh area to show with us. If you need any information or directions call Amy at 704 650 5662.

Lunch with Randy

Today I had lunch with the potter Randy Johnston. Well, I had lunch while Randy made pots and talked on this dvd that I got called The Nourishable Accident. I just got it today. I have seen Randy make pots in person years ago at a conference, but it was good to see his methods again. It really reminded me that I needed to slow down. Really, slow down my wheel. I throw on a treadle wheel and it doesn't go very fast to begin with. The video shows RJ throwing on a Korean kickwheel and a treadle. The slow wheels and soft, sandy clay give his pots a beauty that cannot be had with any other methods.
After lunch I went out and made some 2 lb jars with lids and mixing bowls. Nice and slow. It's hard for me to remember to go slow. My 'monkey mind' gets going and before I know it I'm kicking up a storm. Maybe I'll put up a sign on my wheel or something. What could it say? 'Go Slow, Pots Ahead'?
Anyhow that was a good lesson for my day. Once my clay is out of the racks...my favorite body, the one with sand, and grog, and fireclay...I'll be sure to slow down and enjoy it. It is my hope that the pots will reflect this enjoyment.

Technical difficulties

I tried scanning in a drawing this morning but I am having problems getting it to post. Maybe later I'll figure it out.
Not too much to say just yet, I think my brain is on vacation and I am on automatic at the moment. The pots I left uncovered in the studio last night are still too wet to cut feet on or to handle. I'll be making some pots today including jars to take into class tonight to demo for my students. Covered pots are the focus this session.
It is sunny out today and not so windy so I'll take the tin off the racks so my clay can dry. It was too windy to do so yesterday, I'd have had bits of everything blowing in.
Okay, so that's a pretty lame post for now, I'll get something better up soon. Thanks for checking in.

Monday. Work.

Here is the pot I bought at Will and Douglass'. I love this tall foot.

I had a productive day back in the studio after playing all weekend. I got 2 boards of luncheon plates made, some mugs, and some shallow dishes that will get birds attached to them tomorrow. Also a few yunomi and shot glasses from my test clay. I am looking forward to my clay coming out of the racks next week. It will be a good change from the very smooth body I have been using for the past while.

It's incredibly windy here today. Gusts up around 50 mph. The sun is out and it's warm. I am ready for the weather to level out around here.

Circle of Eight is having our Spring Pottery Sale this Saturday in Charlotte. I am very excited. We are hoping for a good turnout. We have invited a guest potter to join us this time, her name is Kelly O'briant and she lives near Raleigh. I'll post more info. soon.

Weekend

I had a great weekend. Sarah and I went to see David Sedaris on Saturday. This was the first time I had seen him in person. We have all his books and I catch him on NPR from time to time. All of the material on Saturday was new as far as I could tell. He had the whole place laughing out loud only minutes after taking the stage. He talked about living in Normandy, and about a 3 month stay in Japan. The language barrier and cultural differences both present good material for him. He also told stories about his family, mainly his brother, and read a few passages from his diary. At the end he fielded some questions from the audience and then went to lobby to sign books. There's no new book out at this time but I hope for one soon. We'll definitely go see him again if the opportunity arises.

Sunday was a full blown pottery day. Julie and Adrienne from Clayworks were heading up to the Penland area to pick up some donated pots for Clayworks' upcoming fundraising event. We all knew that Will and Douglass at Rock Creek had recently fired their kiln so we worked it into the schedule that we would go there first and get some pots and hopefully have a visit. I was disappointed that we didn't get an earlier start and we didn't arrive until lunchtime. Will and Douglass had some guests visiting from Virgina, Warren Fredrick and Catherine White. I was really excited about meeting them. What was even better was that they had brought some of their pots down so we got to see them too. The highlight for me though was getting to see some of Catherine's journals, drawings, and collages. I could have stayed for several more hours and asked her questions but we needed to move on to our next stop. We did all get some great pots from Will and Douglass' showroom in the barn. I choose a nice tall footed jar.

Our next stop was at Suze Lindsey's and Kent Mclaughlin's pottery and home. Suze had us lunch ready but I was jacked up from having two cups of strong green tea at Rock Creek. This combined with all the pots in Suze and Kent's house had me very over stimulated. I get really distracted visually anyhow, especially with pots. So Suze told me to go look around. There were pots everywhere, many of theirs, but mostly of other potters from all over the country, many of my favorites. After I settled down a bit we all had lunch and a good visit. It was getting on in the day and starting to snow. Adrienne needed to get back home as she had lined up the babysitter for a certain time and we were already behind schedule. We made two more quick stops to get pots and by that time the snow was coming down in big flakes and accumulating on the ground.

We made it off the mountain and they dropped me off at my truck where we had met earlier in the day. Adrienne and Julie still had over an hour to get home, where as I only had about 40 minutes. It was an awesome day. Seeing everyone was great, the thing that is sticking with me right now are Catherine's journals. I told Sarah just the other night that I need to be spending my free time more creatively. I get my pottery time in every day just fine. What I'd like to do is take more time to draw and play in some medium other than clay. Seeing Catherine's work has made that desire more strong and I feel like I'll act on it, as a matter of fact I did a drawing this morning.

It smells funny around here.

I have had a good day of doing things around the house. I just had a nice shower and I think I'll call it a day. I got my pots slipped and the yard mowed and 2 racks of clay mixed. I also made a much needed trip to the landfill. It's been nice to be outside today...with one drawback. The man who rents the pastureland behind our house is putting out fertlizer today. Not just any fertilizer but 100% chicken manure. He's been at it all day. I guess someone cleaned out their chicken houses and he got the manure. So there's a wonderful smell enveloping my surroundings. It's fine indoors. I have the windows all shut up. Anyhow, it's not so bad, just part of living out in the country. I grew up on a farm so I am used to cow manure and the like. (Chicken s*#t is the worse smelling stuff there is though). I am glad that he is using something natural, he could be spreading chemical fertilizer instead which would definitely run off into our creek.

Tomorrow I have to teach a beginner class at Clayworks and then Sarah and I are going to see David Sedaris!!!!! Yea!!! I can't wait. Sarah got the tickets for me for my birthday. I am totally excited.

Thursday Mixing

I spent yesterday finishing up these jars and getting them slipped and I also cut the feet on 6 plates and two 16 inch bowls. I got them slipped later in the day and will put some pours on them today. I also mixed up a new bucket of white slip and my blue/black slip. I have been putting that off for months. My big 20 gallon buckets of slip needed screening too because little dry flakes have been falling off the sides into the mix. So getting all of that sieved and taken care of should do me for a while. Today I am going to mix two racks of clay. I am not committing to more than that right now because I want to test this clay with some silica added to it or a combination of silica and sand. I mixed up a 5 lb test batch yesterday with silica added. I'll get that test in the next kiln load.

It is amazing how much time is taken up doing things other than making pots. Lots of things have to happen before a pot can actually be finished. Glazes and slips have to be weighed out, mixed and sieved, clay mixed or pugged or wedged, shelves scraped. Making pots is a small part of what we potters do. I bet many people think we just sit around and throw pots all day. Wouldn't that be nice.

Working. Playing.

I finished my taxes yesterday. I always wait until the last week. It's not that it's really complicated, it's just the dread of it. I am glad it's finished, they will go in the mail today. We'll be getting a bit of a refund which is nice.

I have made very little work this week. I have a good stock for now. I am planning on firing towards the end of the month. I do need to mix up some slip and mix clay. It was very rainy yesterday. I may mix tomorrow or over the weekend.

I liked reading about how Michael approached getting in the studio to work. All the information is in there, you just have to make yourself go in there and work, go in and get it. He said he'd set a goal to make a dozen pots, then finish them the next day. If he wanted to make more than 12 he would, but 12 was the goal. For someone more production oriented it may be more, or less for someone else. I think having that discipline is great, and it's okay to know you can't meet it sometimes. I usually have a 'make list' for each kiln load. I work from it, adding or subtracting as I go. I would like to set aside some time each week or a month each year to just play or experiment. I try to pay attention as I work on my standard ware for anything new that will come up. If something does I'll set it aside or do a drawing so I can pursue it later. I realize that play is important, but I don't do it nearly enough. This past weekend I played with Sarah's niece for about an hour or more making things out of Play Dough. We had a blast and I felt creatively charged when we finished, and lighthearted.

I know another potter who says she makes 4 cups everyday. That's her start, it's a warm up and a place to play and try some new ideas on a pot that only takes a few minutes to make.

I want to spend some time really looking at what my strengths are and what it is I really enjoy doing. I like to make pots on the wheel. I like soft clay and the gesture I get from working on my treadle wheel. I like movement and volume. I want to pots to come out of the kiln looking wet, covered in the thin salt and soda glaze. Sometimes it's nice for them to be a bit dryer too though, with variations in color of the slip. I like handles and feet and torn clay and rough edges. I like the character of the clay to be there. I want to think about this stuff and really start to own it, push it, exploit it, move it around and play with it. It's all out there waiting for me in my studio.

Pots,Pattern

Early on I was drawn to a certain kind of pot. Strongly thrown, simple forms, functional, easily accessible, neutral colors, I think are the attributes that I would give the pots. Tom Gray was one of the first potters I met whose pots I got to handle and understand. Then there was Rock Creek Pottery, Michael Simon, Mark Hewitt, Warren Mackenzie and a few others. My pottery beginning is a pretty good story and I like to recount it, but I'll save that for another time. For now I'd like to talk more about Michael's pots and how they influenced me early on.

For one thing they were salt glazed and this is something I had been introduced to through Rock Creek's pots. I loved that surface and the color. I also loved the decoration of Michael's pots, and Rock Creek's.

Here's a quote from the Michael Simon Studio Potter article. "From the beginning, I was attracted to pots that had painting on them. I would look at Hamada's pots, where he had made just two or three movements with a brush and made the bamboo pattern and the grass pattern, and I just loved it, I wanted to do that really badly. I thought it really took me to the pot, it had a lot of power."

I felt this too early on when I was getting introduced to pottery. And I feel it even now. It is amazing how powerful the image on the pot is. I do feel that the pot, not the image is the most important thing over all. I think a strong a pot has great power, but it takes most people (who aren't potters or artists) longer to learn that or see it. They don't see it immediately. Look at Svend Bayer's pots. They are very powerful pots, amazing in form.

I have struggled with wanting to put images on pots from the beginning. At first I copied Michael and Rock Creek and a few others. My forms weren't very strong and the patterns weren't mine, so really those pots weren't mine. But they did help me learn, and hopefully to see. I eventually gave up trying to put a pattern on most of my work. I felt I could never reach that level that I had seen. Maybe I gave up too soon, or didn't explore enough. I still have that longing to make pots with some kind of pattern or image. I think it is just taking me a while to get there. I think that by reading this article and hearing how Michael describes it opened me up alittle to more possibilities. I like that he uses the word 'pattern'. This can mean lots of things and it doesn't have to be something literal, like a fish or bird or a bicycle. Even someone's pots like Ruthanne Tudball has a pattern. It's not a painted surface, instead it's texture.

So right now this is one thing I'm thinking about. Pattern, and what it means to me and my pots. I am glad I gave up struggling with it for a while because it let me focus on my forms (which I still hope to continue to improve). I want my forms to come first, but I do hope that at some point I am able to incorporate some elements that 'pull at the eyeball'.

More to come.

Inspiration

My friend Niel called Friday afternoon. Niel and I always have a good pottery talk when we call each other. We met at Penland several years ago and have kept in some sort of random contact. As we talked on Friday, Michael Simon's name came up. We both like Michael's pots a lot and both of us own quite a few. Michael (who lives near Athens, Georgia) was diagnosed with leukemia a few years ago and his output of pottery has dwindled. I am not sure what the state of his health is at this time and I don't want to speculate.

Niel mentioned that there was a good article in Studio Potter (June 2006) about Michael and also an interview online, from which the article was written.

As luck would have it I was meeting my friend Julie for supper that evening and she had a copy of the Studio Potter. When I got home that night I sat on the couch and read it. I was very moved by the article. It reconnected me with my passion for pottery that I think has become a little diluted over the years as I have had more things added to my life, and as the worries and concerns of marketing my work or finding my personal 'style' have sort of occupied much of my thought.

There were several things said by Michael in the article that surprised me, and some good insights too. I will be writing more about those later.

If you get a chance I hope you will read the interview online. It's rather long and I took it in a couple sittings. Michael's work is really some of the best pots I have ever seen and used. His sense of volume and form are amazing. Also the marriage of pattern to pot is unmatched I think. The Studio Potter article has a nice portfolio of his work included and I guess you can do a Google image search of 'Michael Simon Pottery' and see some good examples too if you are unfamiliar with his pots.

Anyhow I do want to write more about what I personally took from this. So if you are interested check back in. For now I have to get started on my workday.

A Few Pots

Here are the two teapots I said I made last week. I didn't think I was going to like them too much but as it turns out, I do. I have been wanting to make some teapots with longer spouts and bigger, fuller bodies, and this is what I got. I was sort of unsure about what to do about the handles but I think this worked out for now. I like back handles on teapots, but these seemed to call for over the top handles. They were going to be plain and undecorated, but I have decided to explore the Toyko pattern in this next load of pots. So they got the slip pours and I am happy with that. I also made some yunomi to do some pours on. Here they are.
I am feeling really inspired lately. I actually worked in the studio last night for a while. I hardly ever work at night and never on Saturday nights. So that was fun. I made a couple of jars and some 16 lb. platters. I'll talk a little more about why I am feeling inspired in my next post.

Dogwood Trees

The dogwood trees are blooming down by the creek in our back yard. I love these trees, they are probably the first tree I knew by name as a child. The dogwood flower is the state flower of North Carolina, and I remember my mom telling me the story of the dogwood flower and the crucifixion.
Yesterday I was looking at Diana's blog and saw a dogwood flower there.

Sarah is off work today so we slept in a bit. I am getting ready to head out to the studio for a while. Tonight I am going to Charlotte to meet with the Circle of Eight. We have our Spring Sale coming up on April 21.

Thanks

I want to thank Douglas Fitch for putting me up on his blog this week. I can tell I have generated some hits from it. I haven't mentioned it to Douglas yet, but my mother's maiden name is Fitch. I think that's pretty awesome. I don't know much about my family history but this has gotten me interested to find out more. Anyhow check out the website to see his slipware. Doug makes some fine pitchers or jugs as they call them over in the UK, as well as many other pots.

Quick post

I drove up to Asheville this morning and picked up my dry materials so I can mix clay next week. It was a beautiful day, the mountains were greening up with the trees budding out, the sun was shining, and the sky blue with a few high white clouds. I didn't hang out in Asheville long although it was tempting, it's such a 'happening' place. I needed to get back home and unload all this stuff and get the pickup truck back to Roy.
I finished up a few pots from yesterday including some teapots I made earlier in the week. They aren't really me I don't think but it was good to make them. It informs of what I like to do and don't like to do. These pots were a little too finished or tight or something. I'll post a pic tomorrow after I get them slipped. I think I'll make a few more teapots for this kiln load, probably more like the ones on my website.
The weather is tricking us. After some days in the 80's we are now only in the 50's and are expecting lows down around 30 for the weekend. I guess we'll have to wait another few days for the warmth to return. Sarah and I have to take Karma to doggie school this evening, I'm going to make Sarah wear her longjohns, she about froze last week.
I'll try and get something a little more interesting up in the next day or so. Until then.