Decorating

It's been a busy winter, and I've been slowly creating a new body of work. For the past two months I've been facilitating an artist residency with Yoko Sekino-Bové at Manchester Craftsmen's Guild.

Her work is amazing, and it's inspired me to focus on decoration. I've definitely become more confident in my use of the paintbrush in the past few weeks, as evidenced by this photo of a current work in progress.

Visit my Facebook page to see more works in progress.

Latest Wood Firing Results

And the results... I'm happy.

With wood firing, the highs and lows are quite dramatic, though. I lost a few pieces that I really had high hopes for. And a number just didn't come out terribly well. But the good pieces—wow! I'm so particularly pleased with some of these pieces that I might not put them up for sale. Or at least not yet.

Check out more photos of my latest work in this photo album.

The Vagaries of the Soda Kiln

A long time ago my friend and mentor, Jim, advised me against trusting one of my heavily carved pieces to "the vagaries of the soda kiln". As it worked out, that piece came out fine, but I've since experienced almost equally good and bad results from the behemoth behind MCG. In this most recent firing, I was fortunate enough to pull this gem of a mug (pictured) from the shelves, unscathed and perfectly toasted. Some of the other pieces were downright beautiful, but some came out questionable. Whether it was just such a heavy ash buildup that they dripped onto the shelf, necessitating grinding, or that they collected fragments blown around in the kiln. Worst of all, however, was the feeling I got from pulling out the piece that I had the most work invested in. Before I could even see the crack I could tell that the piece had suffered the dreaded dunting. There must be something about the draft that runs through the kiln as it cools that randomly causes pieces to crack in this manner. Whatever the cause, I just have to accept the bad along with the good. And remember the adage that I often tell my students—if you're making something important, make more than one.

Click here to view my latest soda-fired work.

October Soda Firing

Wow, it seems like it's been forever since the last soda firing. The truth is, our kiln shelves were getting really bad, and the next firing could have caused one to crack or warp bad enough to collapse and ruin a large quantity of pottery.

Thankfully, the budget finally allowed us to buy some new shelves, and The Wolf fired up the "behemoth out back" aka the MCG soda kiln.

I've posted some of my best pieces on Flickr, and I'll post a few more once the subsequent decal firing is completed. Then later this week, we'll open and unload the gas reduction kiln...

Throwing A Bowl

I found myself doing a video demo for work, and edited this little clip for the intra-web. Mind you, this is by no means the best bowl I've ever thrown... Or even a good one, for that matter. I smashed all of the demo pieces as soon as the camera stopped rolling. Making pottery on film was surprisingly nerve-racking.

Guinomi Party!

This recent gas firing was one of the most anticipated of my pottery career. Not only did I have several dozen pieces in the kiln, most were glazed with recipes that I had mixed from scratch. Traditionally, it's a good idea to test glaze recipes on tiles before applying them to actual work, but since we fire Big Al so seldom, I went ahead and glazed nearly all of my work with un-tested shino, wood ash and fake nuka glazes.

The results? Some good, some not so good. On the whole, I'm really happy with the shino pots. 

The wood ash provided both exciting successes and rather heartbreaking failures. This is to be expected, though. I learned a valuable lesson with this recipe—respect the fluxing powers of iron oxide!

The fake nuka was rather disappointing with the exception of one pot. I am going to give it another shot, though, as I suspect it might look and feel better in the soda kiln.

Anyhow, have a look for yourself over at my Flickr photostream.

Fish Bowl @ Art All Night

This Saturday is the annual Art All Night show. A celebration of art in Pittsburgh's Lawrenceville neighborhood, the event is free and open to everyone. There is no jury and no censorship.

I'll be entering this decal fired, porcelain "fish bowl" with a price tag of $50.

Table of Elements 2010

This weekend, The Manchester Craftsmen's Guild will be hosting a fundraiser featuring ceramic art by local and national artists (and some two dimensional works, as well).

I'll be donating a 20-piece bicycle-themed dinnerware set (5 pieces for 4 settings). I didn't actually get a chance to properly photograph the pieces, but you can see the ones I didn't choose on my Flickr page. Rest assured, the actual pieces in the set are similar, but tacitly superior. If you happen to be interested in something on my Flickr page, just drop me an email and I'll let you know if it's available.

Click here for more information on Table of Elements 2010.

Empty Bowls Decal Workshop

This afternoon I led a ceramic decal workshop at the Winchester Thurston School in Pittsburgh. Organized by Mary Martin, I was one of four visiting ceramic artists working to help community members produce functional pieces for Pittsburgh's annual Empty Bowls dinner.

       

I created about 24 sheets of decals using Adobe Photoshop and images found online. Participants in the workshop, who ranged from grade school to senior citizens, applied them to pre-made pottery. I encouraged them to be creative with the decals, and I was truly impressed at the level of ingenuity they displayed.

If you would like to know more about ceramic decals, visit Justin Rothshank's website.

Hakeme Bamboo Tumbler

Hakeme is a Korean technique of painting white slip onto stoneware with a rough brush. The technique came about as a response to problems that arose from dipping dark clay forms in white slip. The dipped ware often became saturated and either deformed or fell apart, or the thick slip cracked upon drying. So the Korean potters began painting their slip on. Some Japanese potters, Hamada for example, took to this style and used it as an expressive means of decoration.

I actually made this tumbler a while back with no knowledge of the technique, only thinking that the white slip with obvious brush strokes might make for a nice contrast for my carved decoration. And much like the Korean and Japanese potters, I intuitively chose a translucent celadon glaze. The result is simple, yet beautiful.

Raku Chawan

I've been learning quite a bit about Japanese pottery, and it's interesting that although I've known about raku firing ever since I became a ceramist, I knew nothing of Raku ware, or Raku-yaki (楽焼). You can read more in-depth articles about the history of the Raku family, and the origins of the tea ceremony for which the chawan (tea bowl) is designed for elsewhere, but I'll give a brief explanation...

During the late 1500's the Japanese elite highly prized unique and rustic ceramic forms for their tea ceremony. The great tea-master Sen no Rikyu collaborated with a potter named Chojiro, whose work was so admired by the emperor that he was awarded the name Raku, which means pleasure. Chojiro's method was to create his work by hand-modeling the clay without the use of a potter's wheel. And the firing method employed (which is the basis of western "raku" firing) involved a rapid heating of the pottery, culminating with the glowing hot pots being removed from a fiery kiln and rapidly cooled.

Over the winter holiday I hand-molded about 20 tea bowls (they are essentially pinch pots) and last week I fired the first batch of 10. I wanted to try to do things fairly traditionally, allowing the pots to air-cool, but my friend Junji ultimately convinced me to experiment with post-firing reduction for some of them. Although placing raku-fired pots in combustable materials like sawdust is a western technique, the results would likely appeal to eastern aesthetic, as the dark unglazed areas highlight the crackle of the glaze.

While some of these bowls will be given to friends and coworkers (my boss already claimed the one pictured above) the majority will be used and then given to students in my Manga Madness class when Junji and I teach them about the Japanese tea ceremony.

Gifts from the Guild - 2009 Holiday Arts Sale

Please come down to the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild the weekend of December 18th through 20th, where I'll be selling pottery as part of the annual holiday arts sale. A portion of the proceeds benefit youth arts education. And in addition to my work, you'll find a lot of great pieces from our students and my very talented coworkers.

Click here for directions.

Decal Pottery - Round Two

This weekend I fired up the electric kiln for another round of decals. This time around all the pottery was gas-fired in a reduction kiln, so there were less surprises. Save for the happy accidents, that is.

With a little more knowledge of which glazes look good with reddish-brown decal designs, I was considerably more successful. One of my favorites from this batch is a tumbler with Hokusai's famous erotic woodcut, The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife. Hokusai is best known for The Great Wave off Kanagawa which he created as part of a series of Mt. Fuji landscapes in the 1820's.

One of the pieces that's special to me is this tumbler which features a drawing by one of my students, Lu Lu. He's a great kid, but he doesn't speak much English—hardly any at all. We often communicate with facial expressions and hand gestures. You see, Lu Lu is from Burma, and he's from a tribe that speaks the Karen language, which is obviously not too popular here in America. The drawing is of his home, and it says a thousand things he can't put into words I understand.

Check out the whole batch on Flickr.

Serving Bowls

I love making serving bowls. They're not really that difficult to make, but the results are rewarding. They're sizable, decorative and functional. I made a small series of bowls with rich red and brown glazes a while back, and just got around to posting some photos on Flickr and listing them on Etsy.

Junji Miyazawa Teapot

I recently posted about this teapot on my other blog, Urban Velo. It was a gift from my friend, coworker and pottery mentor, Junji Miyazawa. This past week I was really sad because his contract expired. Then just this weekend I learned that he's been re-hired as the new ceramics studio tech.

I'm ecstatic. Quite selfishly, it's in part because Junji's the only person at MCG who consistently wants to get Asian food for lunch, and definitely the only person who can truly appreciate Korea Garden, or who's ready to visit Lucy for bánh mì at the drop of a hat.

Click here to read more about the teapot.

Teapots

Many people regard teapots as the highest form of pottery. After making my first three teapots, I can certainly appreciate that notion. They're difficult to make and easy to screw up. Not only are they labor intensive, they demand meticulous attention to detail. And they still may not pour well (mine all dribble a bit).

But for all their trouble, teapots are beautiful. I made these for a fellow artist who donated the use of a wonderful photograph for the cover of my magazine. Just like in the Karate Kid, he now gets to pick which one he likes best.

The Wolf

It's about high time I posted something about Amanda on this blog. She's one of my favorite people in the world, and someone who's taught me a great deal about pottery, teaching and life in general. Wise beyond her years, The Wolf is dedicated to her pottery, her students, her fiancé and her two Boston terriers, Molly and Tucker—not necessarily in that order.

She's also involved in virtually every piece of pottery I make, since she fires the kilns at MCG.

Go see her at the Three Rivers Arts Festival this weekend, where she'll be selling some wonderful pieces of functional pottery, as well as some decorative ceramic art and jewelry.

UPDATE: The Wolf now has her very own blog!

I Made It! Cozy Crafts Market - June 7th @ the JCC

Yes, I know the Arts Festival is going on, and there's a yard sale bonanza in Highland Park, but that's no reason not to come out to the I Made It! Market at the Jewish Community Center in Pittsburgh's Squirrel Hill neighborhood.

Interestingly, while I've never been to a synagogue, according to the rules of Judaism, I'm 100% Jewish. That's because my mother, her mother, and every woman in my family going back to the beginning of time was Jewish. Who knew it could be so easy?

Perhaps even more interestingly, my father's mother was Jewish, but as an adult he became a born-again atheist. My mother, on the other hand, became a born-again Christian.

But on the subject of ceramics, I'll have some new pieces fresh from the kiln. Some are soda-fired, some are reduction fired. Most are drinking vessels, but I've got a few really sweet large bowls and plates.

I hope to see you there!

Wabi-sabi Tea Bowl

A friend of mine asked me to make him a Hagi-style tea bowl, which led me to do a good bit of research on Hagi ware. Used in the Japanese tea ceremony, the rough forms and notched foot pay homage to the Korean pottery they're styled after. They celebrate the wabi-sabi aesthetic which is to say they're deemed beautiful because of their imperfections.

I sought knowledge and guidance from my coworker Junji, and created numerous tea bowls. I was attempting to recreate the look and feel of traditional Hagi ware, but I didn't really come close. Never the less, it was a lot of fun learning about the techniques and materials used.

Guerrero/Pham Collaboration

To me, artist collaborations are truly incredible. When successful, they reflect the collaborators' mutual appreciation and respect. They typically require flexibility and perseverance, and challenge the artists to cooperate. The best results show the synergistic effect of artists working together, and express both artists' creative vision.

I recently collaborated with a very talented MCG ceramics student, Nancy Pham, to create a series of Asian-inspired tumblers and goblets. While I'm keeping a few for myself, several are available for sale on Etsy.

Mind you, Nancy is very excited to see these cups sell. She loves money, and can't wait to get paid. So support youth arts in Pittsburgh!