An Unconventional Potter

Three small bowls, 2008

     Throwing again today for an upcoming Empty Bowls event in Richmond, Ky later this month. Despite the stormy weather and power outage in the early morning, I was able to start on making some bowls towards my total of 50. As I was centering my fifth or sixth or seventh ball of clay, I heard the voices of people I know asking, "Why don't you teach? How about offering lessons?" It's something I wish to avoid, quite frankly, but as I was making my bowls and stacking them on my tables next to me, I realized why. I'm a shitty thrower. I don't follow the basic rules of throwing and could never demonstrate because every example would be different than the next pot thrown. I have no consistency. And I don't care, either. I'm not in this because I have an obsession with the craft of being a potter and the historical connection to the past, blah, blah, blah. I have no romantic notions of the utilitarian and how noble it is, even if I do appreciate a good solid pot when I see one. I throw because I love working in clay and when you work in clay, it's something you learn to do. Someone trying to learn to throw from me would be instructed in what not to do.
I still have trouble centering.
If it isn't centered, I'll pull the form anyway until it becomes a disaster. And then I'll throw a fit.
I use clay that's too wet.
I use clay that's too dry.
I use the wrong ergonomic technique.
I use inefficient techniques.
I use the wrong tools.
I trim too much.
I trim too little.
I don't trim at all.
I don't use my chamois to soften my edges.
I don't clean up enough.
I overwork the clay.
I'm sloppy and clumsy.
My hands are in the wrong position.
My head is in the wrong position.
I don't open up enough.
My bowl bottoms are too shallow, too narrow, too flat.
My cups are too light. Or too heavy.
I don't throw tall enough.
My handles still suck.
     I am inconsistent to the end and so if you want lesson in how to throw, don't watch me. But if you want to know what it's like for a lot of people, feel free to watch me destroy a ball of clay, throw a fit and laugh at me in my insanity.

Tea Horse Studio

Green Bubble Stoneware Cup

Some new items up on Etsy including the drinking cup above. I love these pinch pots and the shape they create, the narrow bottom. They promote a sense of dignity and delicacy in a vessel made with the crudest of physical interaction with the clay. The motif is derived from textures I use in my fine art sculpture and makes me think of frog eggs clustered in a river, very organic, very life-oriented. I like drinking wine out of these cups. Makes me feel rustic!

Progress report

I'm busy putting together some applications for shows and submissions. I'm wrapping up four gourd pieces. I have finished with an inventory of gourd badges that I will roll out on my Etsy site. Here's is an image of the direction my clay sculpture is taking. I am trying to morph the seed references into animal-like things. I would like to see the simple structures evolve into things that move so I've added the most basic things I can think of that differentiate animal from plant: an entrance hole and an exit hole and a way to become mobile. This is part of the progress:

Enlighten: Lori Phillips, Ceramic Artist

Adaptation Show, Richmond, KY -  2010 (Lori Phillips, artist)

It's all well and good to update what's going on around these parts and how work is progressing but sometimes it's more interesting to me and more fun to look at other people's work and some significant influences in the world around me. First up on the agenda is my fellow ceramic artist, Lori Phillips.

Lori Phillips is a warm, quirky, inquisitive, loving, talented and inspirational artist based in the Richmond, KY area. She also graduated from EKU with me from the Ceramics BFA program under Joe Molinaro, a semester ahead of me. We share a similar sensibility and source of inspiration from the world around us and you can see how our work feeds off of, and influences us. She has a beautiful feel for color and is adventurous with it and with the many textures she uses in her functional work and her sculptural work.

She and I collaborated on a group show we put together at the Irvinton House Museum in 2010 called Adaptation which I'll post about at a later date.

Lori has her own blog and her own Esty shop and I say to you: GO THERE NOW!

My "Enlighten:" moments are things or people that I think you should know about. Because their work is good, because their cause is good, because their influence is good.