First Day

On September 14, 2009 I put my son on the school bus and spent the whole day in the studio.  We're both exhausted by 3 o'clock but oh so happy.  So Abel isn't actually getting on the bus. We did drop him off the first day of school but in my rush to get to the studio I forgot to take a picture. This will have to make up for my selfish ways. I have to pinch myself sometimes as I roll a slab, stir a glaze, or slice off another hunk of clay. My dream has come true. I'm a working artist!

Well, almost.

I feel exceptionally fortunate to have been able to stay home the past eight years (who's counting?) with my utterly adorable and perfect children. And while I enjoyed witnessing every milestone I had to stay connected to my creativity. My hands stayed relatively dirty as I continued to work on a few figure sculptures then less sculptures and more pots over the years. Cute little pinch pots with pink elephants for snacking on Cheerios. Actually our bunny uses that bowl now, since the kids make their own dishes. My life has taken me far from where I left off modeling hollow clay figures. Even after unpacking 20 sculptures this summer to make room in the basement for a studio. I haven't given much thought to what I will be making next.

For now I would like to claim a space of my own. I am fixated on getting a kiln and then I'll have a long think about what to put in it.

2nd Annual Street Painting Festival

I had a great weekend playing Michelangelo and making "good painting the kind that looks like sculpture." Pictured here with two of my three apprentices, Wesline and Kyra.
Bottega di Michelangelo crafted an 18 foot tall David using homemade pastels and a little marble dust. David's real size is 14 feet. However, he needed the extra length to recreate his true to life presence horizontally.

He's holding up well even after Monday morning traffic. If you're in Elmira, take the Main Street bridge from the North across the Chemung River.

Pop-a-Daisy

Today flowers popped out of the clay. I'm not sure where I am going with this motif. I honestly make it up as I go along. Flowers are great for exploring color. There is also something very simple and naive about the act of making flowers. In contrast to my life-size nude ceramic torsos there is really no comparison.

Because I am working on vases and boxes (less functional forms) I am allowed be more liberal about the size, scale and dimension of my decorative elements. They will not interfere with the function of the piece. Yet, my plan was to make simple bud vases, lots of them and quickly for the upcoming holiday sales. The form is an extruded oval about 7 inches tall. I made a template to efficiently cut out and join a base to the tube. Then I began layering on the porcelain slip in the areas I wanted to decorate.

At first, I just made thick white circles maybe two or three per vase. These would become flowers almost instantaneously with a swipe of red or yellow. Next, I add leaves to unify the grouping of buds. When one circle accidentally extended to the lip of the vase I added a set of clay leaves on the edge of the rim. I tried this on another vase bringing the clay out horizontally adding leaf lumps to the sides of the vase. Sometimes the wad of clay would take the form of a flower breaking the plane of the vase. After a dozen or more such varied revelations I created my favorite motif.

The daffodil has petals subtracted from the surface. The flower cup is added so as to expand the dimension of the motif. The stem and leaf are painted flat to the surface and deeply outlined to allow the dipping glaze to pool. Finally, a design worth repeating if only to then dip into a variety of different glaze colors...

Shortly after I ran out of vases to decorate, I eyed two oval shaped casseroles long forgotten under plastic. An assortment of roses and daisies soon sprung from the narrow curves to create lush handles. Their leaves to be drawn in wax on the once fired surface.

Elmira Open Studio Tour

Despite not having a studio of my own yet, I made it my goal to participate in the Elmira Open Studio Tour this year. It was well worth it. I had about 100 visitors over the weekend. The weather was amazing so I was able to set up some works in progress on the front porch. I essentially brought all my work home, a couple thrown vases, leatherhard lucky dishes, mugs in need of handles, jars of underglazes, tools, brushes as well as a fish looking for a few scaly details. In the end I did a lot more talking than demonstrating. Bringing it all together in one place took a lot of effort. Normally, when I shuttle work between studios and home again it is over a month or two as I commute to teach at the arts center or take my daughter to dance class. Preparing for the tour gave me a glimpse of how luxurious it would be to set up shop in one location. Another outcome of the tour was meeting up with a handy (construction-wise) colleague. I was on the fence about converting the garage into a studio especially with energy costs on the rise. We both agreed the basement was my best bet in the short term. I've got a year to level the floor, lay down linoleum, put up a few walls,replace the windows, install a dust barrier and wire a kiln in. My goal for the 2009 open studio tour is to have an actual studio to tour!

Virtual Perceptions

My postcards arrived. I ordered them Monday and received them Friday. Quite impressive! However, the color is not true. I've been working very hard to use vibrant colors on a rich chocolate brown clay. I generously slather on layers of porcelain slip to prevent the clay from obscuring the brightness of the colored underglaze and then I pick and choose where to reveal the clay again.

There is clearly a visual barrier when using the internet to make color specific choices. My postcard pot looks like gray stoneware. I was hoping for something a little more intriguing, seductive if you dare. The dish on the left is actually blue. It appears true on my computer. Maybe I should have known better. I once ordered a purple bedspread online and was terribly disappointed how dull the actual color was. I can't fathom buying art online and being satisfied unless I had previous knowledge of the artist's work in person.

Besides color I also wonder how one adapts to sensing the work physically in its pixilated form. Clay is inherently a tactile medium. It requires physical contact to assess craftsmanship. What is the scale and heft of this dish? Aesthetically and functionally, it is my favorite serving dish for steamed broccoli. Holding four ample servings it is the perfect size for my family.

Over the next week I will post more images of my work. For those of you who can visit during the open studio tour please share with me how your virtual perceptions wage in as you see and touch the actual thing. Your comments can be posted directly on location for those folks who haven't met my pottery yet.

Kiln Opening

Abel and I unloaded the top layer of the kiln Friday while Olive was at tap dance. The temperature was nice and toasty. Everything so far has worked out surprisingly well. Ann's cake stand didn't resist well on the chip and dip side but I think she will like it anyway. I was hoping for precise pink polka dots in a sea of boo boo blue. It's shown here in the center of the photograph cake side up. Sized to fit the small carrot cakes at Wegman's for which Ann has a weakness. Maybe she'll test drive it this weekend when she hosts knitting. The wheat vase is a keeper. Inspired by a set of wheat tiles made by my high school clay teacher Greg Brantman. I'm really happy with the way the mottled straw glaze plays over these rich textures. Coming soon... the bottom of the kiln!

Abel in the Studio

It is very rare that I work with my children in the studio. Occasionally, we have to stop by and unload a kiln or check on a drying pot.

Both Olive and Abel are fluent in clay speak and really good about letting me make my work alone. My husband also has a "studio" as the kids call it. He's a college professor and often retreats to his office to write.

I don't know if I would be able to keep a home studio. For now I like the separation.