We noticed the dogs acting odd around the post holes Ryan dug for me…I took a peek over the edge and, and it took a moment to process the fact that this very white critter was a skunk! The photo is foreshortened, as the poor guy is 3 feet deep. Luckily they won’t spray in close quarters, but still, how to get him/her out? What would you do? A rain storm was coming. Anytime we went near it just tucked its pointy nose under its belly. My solution was to build a little skunk ladder , stick it down the hole and hope for the best. I’m happy to report that all was clear when I returned this morning. Have you ever seen such a white skunk? I’m going to ask Gerry Hersh. He’s my skunk expert, going back more than 30 years.
I have been nominated and seconded for membership in The American Ceramic Circle, which is a non-profit educational organization committed to the study and appreciation of post-medieval pottery and porcelain in Europe, Asian ceramics from all periods and anything ceramic in North America. The 400 strong membership is made up of museum curators, collectors, institutions and dealers. And hopefully one potter.
As I reported earlier, the conference in Williamsburg was wonderful and two of the many folks I met there have put my name forward. I feel very honored and I hope that I can be a bit of a bridge between those of us who make pots and those that study them. My university education taught almost no pottery history and it is a subject I’ve pursued on my own for a long time. I’m excited to have access to all these great scholars!
The Food Show is our longest running competitive exhibition and continues to be a big hit with our visitors. The gallery show includes 45 entries and Ariel Freeman won first place for her fantastic watercolor full of apples.
On opening night we also have a competition for the best artwork made from food which is judged and eaten by our guests. It is a whole lot of fun.
We also provide a space for the local Food Bank to raise funds and they were VERY pleased to raise more than $700.00! Well done, friends…
This piece could have been entered in either show!
These pears of Carol Josefek’s are juicy!
This is not the first time that Kathy Harrigan has honored me in baked goods! The ultimate compliment from our dear friend.
Ariel can also create in three dimensions!
This was the “People’s Choice”! Way to go, Sharon!
These are cupcake owls made by our intern from UMW…a giant hit with the 7 year old set.
Over the last few weeks I have been slowly revealing to the world that LibertyTown is for sale! I could write a million words about why, but for now I will just say that it is time for me to return to my studio full-time and time for me to figure out the best way for the Art Center to go forward. More than 50 artists work and exhibit here. Hundreds of students take classes every year. Thousands enjoy rambling through the maze of studios and galleries. It has quickly become an important place in our community and I think that there is still a great deal of room for growth.
I seldom make commissioned pots anymore, but ‘The Littlefield Project’ was impossible to refuse. While I was making it I was thinking of Edan Schwartz, a student of mine at Penland years ago, who made very expressive face mugs by pinching and folding thrown pot. Since taking this photo I’ve made a few changes…eliminating the uni-brow for one. If you roll back a few blogs you’ll see Michael’s drawing.
I planted a couple of fig trees in front of the studio yesterday. Already dreaming of fresh juicy fruit…
A long time ago one of my art teachers suggested turning something I was working on upside down to look at it with fresh eyes. That lesson stuck and I often turn things this way and that to see if there is a new idea there. I attended a workshop with Paul Soldner way back when (1977!) and he was throwing these large closed forms then flipping them over and tearing an opening in what had been the foot! And Byron Temple often made his famous boxes in a similar fashion…turning an opening and a gallery in the bottom and then adding a thrown lid. Ideas stored up like that become part of a personal encyclopedia…
This group of vases have a foot thrown on them inspired by Khymer pottery that I have long admired. I like them up or down.
This is a bit of a ‘classic’ for me. Nice fat form with lobes and a strong but understated rim. A great form for a bunch of flowers.
I made a quick ‘sketch’ in clay, trying to figure out how to make ‘the Littlefield Crock’. I threw a bigger version today.
Speaking of that encyclopedia of ideas, this bird is inspired by a Cyclidic pot from the 7th. century B.C. I’ve been looking at for years. My bird-mania has no bounds!
This is a drawing I did to help that memory…I like this rather dense sgrafitto decoration. It doesn’t have to be feathers to suggest ‘bird’.
And finally, A nice shot of my stamp…my mark…my chop. Not to be confused with Doug Fitch!
A Littlefield Production….I’m using Michael’s drawing to guide me as I attempt to make a pot for his twin brother, Keith. One day if your extra good I’ll tell you the story.
With the gentle prompting of Pam Gallant I had a session with Steve Chin, a highly regarded practitioner of Chinese medicine. He gave me an intense acupressure treatment, focusing on my abdomen and the scar tissue that remain from my surgery (if your new to my blog, check back in November’s posts). It was a positive experience and I’ll return next week for another session. (the hands belong to Ellie Bird and me)
Once again, the skies opened up last night. The endless rain keeps falling. I hate to complain, but between feet of snow and inches of rain, I’m weary of the mud. As the water poured over the road a blue heron stood in the middle fishing a very shallow patch. I’ve seen this happen for years and I imagine it to be the same bird. It is as close to cheating as nature comes.
On one side of the road were these two whirlpools…the suction sound was amazing!
On the other are these two outlets. Coincidence???
I’ve been waiting for a year for the perfect day to set fire to my burn pile. I was smart enough to cover it with a tarp and after all this rain it couldn’t be a safer time to enjoy a little pyromania. My great redneck indulgence (and an homage to my father) is to pour a little gasoline on the pile to get it going. I love the wh-o-o-o-m-p-h it gives off when it catches. You can feel it’s percussive force!
A cool and rainy day…perfect for spending in the studio.
This is the scene out my kitchen window.
Andrew asked about my sprigs, so here’s a photo. All but one are carved into bone dry, very fine, white stoneware and are then biscuit fired. The little seed pod, bottom left, is an impression of something Emily brought to the studio one day. Applying these takes a little care, and paper clay would make it much easier.
Gratuitous wet slip (slightly blurred) photo.
Slipped and decorated and inscribed on the bottom. I can’t wait to fire this one!
A ten pound vase. I am making this size in two pieces…capping as MK would say…I wish I could throw a 10 pound pot in one shot. Cardew thought nothing of throwing 25 – 40 pound jars!!!
A 12 pound storage jar…I’ll slip and comb this one soon. I’m combing more than ever.
A scene from the drive home. And check out the fantastic Wally Bird that Hannah has posted from her visit to the V & A!
I spent the first half of the day at Shiloh Baptist Church (Old Site) celebrating the life of Mrs. Mary (IB) Bridgewater, an extraordinary woman of 85 who touched a huge cross-section of our community. She led an amazing life of service to anyone that crossed her path. I feel fortunate to have known her just a little bit. Her only daughter, Pamela, was the U.S. Ambassador to Benin and Ghana and Mrs. B. traveled the world with her, making friends with heads of state, royalty and common folk where ever she went.
I got to the studio mid-day to work on a few things.
Every year the lady bugs return and it can feel like working in a war zone full of kamikazes. They are on the pots, the windows, the throwing water…they’ve even invaded my cup of tea. This character was walking along the coil that I applied as if it was a lady bug highway.
I put a handle on the bottle from yesterday and then went to work turning it into my version of a ‘Bartman’. The handle is a little undernourished…I’m still finding a comfort level with this scale. I over did the next bottle I handled, leaving more clay than it required. Sometimes the ‘pendulum’ effect prevails.
I couldn’t avoid adding my version of a pulled strap handle. I then finished it off like the German pot from yesterday’s post and I’m not too sure that the transition is as graceful as it might be. Still, I’m always willing to try and be wrong. In fact, I’ve built a career on that very idea!
I also have this big fat vase going…like the bottle above, it’s made from 12 lbs. of clay. I don’t often make a vase out of this form (by that I mean such a minimal neck as wide as this)…it always seems to ask for a lid but I’m glad that I resisted. It’s like an old crock ready for a cheesecloth cover tied around the rim. M-m-m-m pickles
This next one really cracks me up. I love that the potter that applied this sprig had his/her thumb slip and ‘erase’ the top of the face. Better yet, they left it as it was and passed it on to be fired. It suggests a certain casualness to the process Sorry this is blurry, all of these were taken through glass. Some of the Bartmanns were refined, some simpler like this one. Most of the master molds were carved by professional carvers.
I’m still digesting all the information packed into the wonderful conference on saltglaze at Colonial Williamsburg (Anna will say she told me so…). Most of the lectures were fascinating, a couple a bit dry, but it was a real pleasure altogether to be amidst such passionate and bright scholars and collectors. The exhibition is fantastic and I’ve included a bunch of photographs.
The subject was saltglaze stoneware from Germany, England and the US prior to 1800. Of course, salt glaze started in Germany and my friend Gerd Kessler gave a great paper about the developments in medieval days that led to the great wave of export to the colonies….before the British swiped the technique and then the trade.
This is part of the gallery.
These are all ‘made in the U.S.A.’ Lots of mention of the famous ‘watchspring’ decoration being a uniquely American motif. Of course, there is little to distinguish an American aesthetic at this time with pots coming from all over. One of the lectures discussed the use of hi tech imaging that allows scientists to determine the chemical analysis ofa fired pot without harming it in any way. When you know that British clays contain hematite and German and US clays do not, you can determine where a pot comes from with more certainty.
I’ll probable babble on about the conference for a few more days. I met lots of great people and I’m more excited than ever to learn more about the history of high fire ceramics.
I got home Saturday evening and Sunday morning I was back in the studio, throwing a few extra robust bottles while the ‘spirit’ is moving so strongly in me.
I spent some time torn between two very cool conferences coming up this March….NCECA is coming to Philadelphia, which is sort of local to me, and is the big annual celebration of contemporary ceramics with an emphasis on education. I visited the one in Kentucky a few years back and left with mixed feelings… dozens and dozens of great exhibitions all over Louisville. But the actual conference really wasn’t very relevant to my pottery world. And so instead I’ve chosen to head down to Colonial Williamsburg’sDeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum to attend the conference with the very long winded title of: “Pottery with a Past: A New Look at Salt Glazed Stoneware Collections, Research and Archeology”! Scholars will be lecturing on the production and distribution of salt glaze from Great Britain, Germany and the US in the early days of America.
One of the presenters is Gerd Kessler, whose family made salt glaze pots in the Westerwald area of Germany for generations. Westerwald was a major exporter to the US in the 18th and 19thc. Most of the pots arrived full of foodstuffs. I stayed with Gerd and his wife Rosemary years ago on a trip I took with Toff . I should tell you about that trip one day. (we bought 100 bottles of Sancerre and some of the stinkiest cheese known to man while in France)
The conference coincides with an exhibition and a book signing for this new book, which Michael Kline recently featured on his blog.
I think I made the right choice, and I’ll give you a full report when I return. I still have the chance of blasting up to Philly for a day or so if the spirit moves me. It’s just hard to leave the studio.
I made a couple of bigger pots again today after finishing up all the slipping and glazing of porcelain. Ryan Olsen has been helping harvest some of the wood that came down in the heavy snows…I’m planning a firing in a year or more using all the pine and cedar branches that have come down. Everything is sodden and we spent a little time getting the Jeep and trailer unstuck from the mud.
I made a really tall one (over 30″) but it got away from me and drifted off its axis. I had to put it out of its misery. It’s been a while since I’ve included a photo of Ellie…she loves her pink…and purple!
I made this planter in England last summer for my dear friend Jill Rushbrooke but never got to see it fired. It’s a beauty if I do say so myself. It sits next to a sweet old Winchcombe redware pot. Thanks to Will Hall for the photo.
I’ve grown comfortable making pots this size, using a 4lb. piece as the base and 3lb. piece on top before adding the collar that you see here. I use a small soldering torch to firm things up, something I avoided for a long time for reasons inexplicable. The collar or ‘cap’ is made from a little more than a pound. I love the challenge of making these classic shapes with a seamless lines. I’ll put a hefty handle on this bottle in a couple of days.
Everything I make is an homage to someone or something or other and this is no exception. Ray Finch made the most wonderful and robust cider jars, some as tall as 4 feet!. I aspire to make pots that great height one day. These really should have a spigot attached at the base to properly serve cider.
I made this vase before the bottle above. It’s widest point is a bit low for my tastes, but by the time I add handles at the top I think it will change the visual balance enough to pass muster. I dropped that little porcelain cup in front for scale, and the bird head is there because it cracks me up as it rises through the table…
A week of mild weather and few outside distractions allowed me to get a lot done in the studio this week. I don’t make many jugs/pitchers these days… there was a time that I made 100’s of little individual creamers. It’s a form that I don’t always get right….the round bellied one in front pleases me…the taller one on the left seems top heavy.
I threw some 3 lb. storage jars at the same time as the jugs and I can’t help but think of Doug now when I apply these vines and sprigs. I’m bound and determined to make a real tall one and cover it with thousands of bits and pieces just like the man himself.
Combing: To be horizontal or vertical, that is the question?
I made a few more combs today and thought they’d be easier to find if I highlighted the tips. Future CM tip o’ the month?!
I can’t stop with these Martin Bros. birds. This is the 4th and the biggest so far. I have an idea now for a crazy big piece using some of these elements, but I might wait until the next making cycle to do it. I’ve got a studio half full of wild and crazy things already.
More Porcelain for the People…I say ‘clam’ they said ‘calm’ others call ’em ‘oyster’. I threw more of it today and it really does throw and turn beautifully.
More lidded pots… I make them with the lid dropped in…and not. I like both styles.
And, finally I started carving these stamps years ago and then ran out of steam. I just recently finished the last few letters so I can now write F.R.E.D.E.R.I.C.K.S.B.U.R.G in tile.
It only takes a couple of warmish days for these little guys to begin their mating calls…and today the chorus was in full throat. It’s a wonderful sound. According to the internet, they are from a group called chorus frogs and range from Florida to Canada along the east coast. They are called ‘pinkletinks’ on Martha’s Vineyard (Hollis can confirm or refute this) and ‘tinkletoes’ in New Brunswick. Another name is ‘the bells of springtime’. After all of the lovely snow, even I am tired of the cold and mud and I’m pleased to know that spring is close by.
One of the best things about being in charge of LibertyTown is presenting artists from unlooked for corners of the community. Last September Lynn Ackerman introduced me to Kevin McKluskey and suggested that I should see the dolls he made. Well, some of my best ideas are other people’s, and this is no exception. Kevin makes the costumes for all the theater productions at the University of Mary Washington and also teaches there. By night he makes these fabulous and fantastical sewn and stuffed dolls. They are his chance to work more intuitively rather than following a design. This is the first time he’s ever shown them and they have been a big hit with more than half of them sold already!
Scarlett held a birthday party in the pottery school Sunday. It’s always great to see the little ones with their hands in clay. They made masks and it was interesting to here how the volume in the room changed with each task. Lots of noise while shaping and pounding the clay, dead silence when the underglazes come out for decorating.
Ron’s blog about one-piece boxes certainly stirred up a lot of interest a couple of weeks ago. I remember seeing a version of that idea in college (more than 30 years ago!) and not having the skill to pull it off at the time. These boxes here are made in two pieces, but they are my contribution to this idea of form. It comes by way of one I have by Ray Finch and a bunch I’ve seen by David Leach. I’m testing some porcelain from Matt and Dave and this is a pure and simple shape to show it off. And they make a perfect canvas for Susan’s overglaze decoration. You should check out Matt and Dave’s website…they are the first people I’ve heard of in the US that make clay using a filter press. I’m anxious to see what it’s like.
Here’s a small lidded pot that’s combed within an inch of it’s life. I seldom make a straight sided pot, but it makes for easy combing!
The temperature cleared 50 today and the lady bugs (that’s lady birds for you British speakers) are already coming out.
While the idea that a blogger would have ‘followers’ makes it sound a bit too much like a cult, I am always flattered when someone else adds me to their own list. And now that magic number has crept over 100! and I wanted to say thanks for watching and reading and admitting it! So here’s a toast to all of you out there in blogger-nation….I love a good smokey single malt scotch whiskey and Ardbeg is an excellent one. Andrew Coombs made the shot glass. I made the next 50, prompted by Aline and a perfect vehicle to continue slip tests on.
I’ve got a bunch of crocks underway as well and I spent part of today putting handles and sprigs on them.
I’ve been thinking about rhythm today…a question in my morning crossword sparked it. We potters talk about rhythm all the time.
Right now for me that means a series of steps as I progress through my day in the studio that includes:
Turn on the heater
Take off any plastic that’s been covering pots.
Fill kettle and turn on camp stove.
Put batteries in boom box for satellite radio.
Put out bird seed.
Then the real fun begins…when I’m in a groove there are pots at several different stages:
-First come the pots ready for a glaze liner. I’m using a mix of old shino glazes these days for most things.
-Next I move to slipping pots that were glazed the day before.
-Some pots receive another layer of ‘accents’ … brushed and poured slips and glazes.
-Then I will finish pots that I threw a day or two before…trimming or ‘thumbing’ the bottoms of pots.
-I usually throw for the last couple of hours of the day. It takes a long time to finish pots anymore so I don’t spend a whole lot of time on the wheel. Today I threw 50 shot glasses, first time I’ve ever made a serious batch and just about the only time you’ll catch me throwing off the hump.
Then, come back the next day and repeat.
This red bellied woodpecker is shy but persistent. It wants my birdseed, but doesn’t want it’s photo taken and forever has it’s eye on me in the studio.
Bowls are all turned now…or is that trimmed?! Let’s just say that they are ‘footed’.
I slipped and combed about two dozen bowls. I’m not alone in combing these days!
‘Mr Fatstuff’ all slipped and glazed and ready to face the fire!
It’s been a rare snow-free week and now the big melt is underway. In the city, everything is turning black and mushy, while out at the studio it is turning brown and slushy. We’ve all grown a bit tired of it.
Just the same, I’m still grooving in the studio and really enjoying it. Bowls are being trimmed and slipped and more birds and trees are lurking.
The first three photos show some of my tiles in use at LibertyTown…filling in gaps, calling attention to a step and surrounding some utility sinks.
Here are some of the ovals after they’ve been slipped, glazed and decorated. I’m doing a number of line blends with decorating slips this time around.
And here’s a rather atmospheric photo of a bowl after turning/trimming. I like these thin foam pads…very kind to rims.
Michael was thinking out loud in a recent blog about handles and bowls and I promised a photo of a Winchcombe pot with a nice solution to that question. Shaped a bit like a beavertail it is applied to a lidded soup pot (sorry I didn’t shoot the lid). This is one of Sid Tustin’s. There happen to be a bunch for sale on Ebay right now.
