Sunday, June 2, 2013
Brown Bag - Tues. 6/4
More Bill van Gilder project videos, courtesy of Brenda. Join us. Bill presents how to create functional ware in clay from start to finish.
June Perry
One of the blogs I follow is June Perry's, Shambala Pottery, Over the years she has done extensive glaze testing and shared her results with us on her website. She has also recently dealt with adversity, but has done so with wit and wisdom Her most recent blog entry gives us an idea of how she does it and may be a model for all of us who choose clay and have this common experience.
Finding ones voice
http://www.annvanhoey-ceramics.be/content.aspx?PageId=602
I love, love, love, Ann Van Hoeys work. Ann is a Belgian potter who after years on and off as a hobby potter, at one stage decided to make it her life's work and boy, did she make the right decision. Her large forms are simple and so elegant, and her porcelain mugs are exquisite. You can check out her work at the link above and watch her process on some videos on you tube.
Finding ones voice was on my mind this morning as I was loading my tiny test kiln. Life's circumstances which caused us to move cross country and give up my big studio and soda firing, after finally finding my voice in ceramics, has been huge. Choosing to still work with clay, albeit in a retirement schedule, and opting for earthenware and electric firing out of necessity, it has me wondering if I will live long enough to find my voice again in this new direction.
The test kiln is filled with the final slip tests, which are just tweaks of the many tests I've done in recent months. Tomorrow the tile I dipped this morning should be dry and that little kiln will have the last of these tests only firings. Then I will have to decide on a narrow range to work with.
Right now all the pots I'm in the middle of decorating, only have a white slip. Some pots have simple sgraffito decoration, and some just the slip with some under glazes. Decorating these is agonizing. Lack of confidence in using new materials with no idea of the outcome has me almost frozen at times. I know I could just leave it simple, pick some colored glazes, and that may be a choice at some point if I come up with forms that can stand on their own; but for now I just want to be able to sit down, put those under glazes in front of me, take a brush in a hand that has no experience or talent for drawing and some how find a way to put dabs, dots, and swaths of color on these pots and see what happens. Whatever the outcome, I will continue on this road with its unknown destination, but maybe I will meander a bit slowly and settle for picking up some speed as I go along.
I love, love, love, Ann Van Hoeys work. Ann is a Belgian potter who after years on and off as a hobby potter, at one stage decided to make it her life's work and boy, did she make the right decision. Her large forms are simple and so elegant, and her porcelain mugs are exquisite. You can check out her work at the link above and watch her process on some videos on you tube.
Finding ones voice was on my mind this morning as I was loading my tiny test kiln. Life's circumstances which caused us to move cross country and give up my big studio and soda firing, after finally finding my voice in ceramics, has been huge. Choosing to still work with clay, albeit in a retirement schedule, and opting for earthenware and electric firing out of necessity, it has me wondering if I will live long enough to find my voice again in this new direction.
The test kiln is filled with the final slip tests, which are just tweaks of the many tests I've done in recent months. Tomorrow the tile I dipped this morning should be dry and that little kiln will have the last of these tests only firings. Then I will have to decide on a narrow range to work with.
Right now all the pots I'm in the middle of decorating, only have a white slip. Some pots have simple sgraffito decoration, and some just the slip with some under glazes. Decorating these is agonizing. Lack of confidence in using new materials with no idea of the outcome has me almost frozen at times. I know I could just leave it simple, pick some colored glazes, and that may be a choice at some point if I come up with forms that can stand on their own; but for now I just want to be able to sit down, put those under glazes in front of me, take a brush in a hand that has no experience or talent for drawing and some how find a way to put dabs, dots, and swaths of color on these pots and see what happens. Whatever the outcome, I will continue on this road with its unknown destination, but maybe I will meander a bit slowly and settle for picking up some speed as I go along.
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