In the last weeks I’ve been busy preparing for and conducting three events.

First, my first dirty firing at Lillstreet - so called for the extra reduction and serious carbon trapping. Jayson Lawfer had done a few, and I’m aiming to get the process well-documented and fine-tune it. The firing was full and had several enthusiasts - heartening for my first run! And we were not disappointed; the results were outstanding. I swung for the fences with a couple of new projects, and got really exciting, I-have-to-continue-this results. To tide you and me over, some pretty rims.

New cups. 2008. Handbuilt of Tile6 over stoneware FCSI. Temoku glaze. Soda fired to c.10, reduction cooled. 0h, 0w, 0l each.

Second, my first fair of the year, NSUC. Hours were spent photographing pieces, packing up work and grinding off stray bits of wadding, when necessary. Seeing my work together provided an encouraging perspectivew: I have a very strong aesthetic, and my pieces hang together well as a body of work. Here’s a section of one table: it doesn’t have a little bit of everything, but it’s close.

Third, a wood+salt firing in Galena. It began on a rainy day, poured the first night, went below freezing the second night, and was beautiful on the last day. The process may be a post in itself. I haven’t yet photographed my pieces from the first one - but soon will, along with the pieces below. One new form made its debut. Another upcoming post will contain lots of images and a lengthy discussion of the results.

The studio is pretty quiet for me right now. In the last week I’ve been catching up with life - bills, cleaning, and recovering from all the new work created by events #1 and #3. I need more display space at home, so I can spend more time living with and contemplating my own work. This will entail a major shuffle. I’m also planning to start a shop at Nancy and Andy have been encouraging me to do so for the last year.

Meanwhile, many experiments are forthcoming. A clay experiment has been underway, successful, and needs to be fine-tuned. A few beauties below; a little distortion from being behind glass. I’ve been researching flashing slips, have a dozen to try. And glazes - likewise, a big handful. A couple of us will be mixing up several recipes for carbon trapping glazes for general use in the next dirty firing. Any of these may fly or flop: experimentation keeps things fresh, challenges boundaries, keeps my eyes open to possibilities.

Pods/Apertures. 2008. Handbuilt of porcelain with additives. Unglazed. Soda fired in reduction to c.10, reduction cooled. To 4″ in length each.

I draw images on my work to create spaces of refuge, built of experience and imagination. I particularly enjoy nighttime solitude with nature - walking in the woods, kayaking on the lake, watching the shadows of tree branches dance on a surface, letting my mind imbibe what I see with a secret life of its own. Creating the surface and drawing is as much a salvation as contemplating the subtleties added by the firing process, letting my imagination wander to a sweeter place, or experiencing those spaces myself.

In my last post I mentioned entering work for a show at Womanmade Gallery, themed “Drawing on Experience”. The paragraph above accompanied my submitted images, and the piece pictured below (and, I’ve realized, above, as my blog banner) was the one accepted: word arrived this week.

The sky swirled all night around me; I lost track of who I was. 2007. Handbuilt of Tile6 over stoneware FCSI with incised drawing. Unglazed. Soda fired to c.10, reduction cooled. 1h, 14w, 10l

Drawing on Experience runs June 27 through July 24, 2008. Womanmade Gallery is located at 685 N Milwaukee. The opening reception is on June 24, from 6-9pm.

Seven houses. 2008. Handbuilt of FCSISi. Unglazed clay. Soda fired to c.10, reduction cooled. To 5.5″h, set 15″w, 4.5″l.

It’s time for me to apply for shows again. I’ll be headed to NSUC and Bucktown once again, and trying for a couple other shows, to be determined. The house project continues; I’m excited to keep making them. This will be a fun year!

I went a different route with setup this time. Since I have so many different sorts of things, I just had a few of each type out, spread around a bit. Then with the cups and bowls, I sorted by color. I think next time I’ll put out a variety of sizes rather than several of the same size.

I had a weird but good spot with a lot of traffic. The downside was that people would sometimes walk behind the shelves or table or try to sit down in my space to eat. That was uncool. I hope to have the same spot next year, and would add some shelving to be more aggressive about claiming my space.

Behind the tall shelves on Saturday. Note the snazzy crate storage (and bargain shelf at the bottom; I was glad to sell some old pieces). This shelf took about 45 minutes to ratchet together solo - not bad! Unfortunately, the manufacturer is making them a bit more flimsy now; I can’t buy more, but may find more, used.

This is the table I designed and fabricated. The only power tool involved was a drill. Staining was a pain - stay away from the gel stuff. Dowels are a dream; the whole thing would have been easier with a bit of a workbench. Fortunately my drilling skills held up; I messed up only 1 of 40 holes. It assembles in less than 5 minutes, with no tools. My preferred material for this would be plywood, because it’s dimensionally stable and has a pretty edge; however, I don’t have the facilities to work with large sheet goods.

As you can see, I had some really lovely sun and dappled shade. By noon I was almost entirely in the shade, with only a little sun coming through here and there. Perfect for the warm weather; I stayed nice and cool.

I may remake the table next year with clear polyeurethane instead of the stain. It would be nice to have more continuity in my furnitures, but I don’t much care for tablecloths, nor is my car very large. In fact, this stuff filled it to the brim! The perfect winter project…

Further thoughts, and photos, are to follow. (I hope!) There are quite a few posts in my queue, written but awaiting the addition of photos. Until then, here’s an update:

Last weekend was the wood+salt firing. Wood firing is a ritual for the patient faithful. It takes both those, and then some, to fire a kiln to 2300+ degrees, starting from campfire embers shoveled onto a pile of kindling.

The Bucktown Arts Fest was two weekends ago, now, and I’ve been busy. This was my first outdoor show. Crates and boxes of work, along with shelves and table, got packed into my little Saturn. Setup was quick and easy (yay for good planning) and I sold some work!

Former gallery/shop owner Roadside Scholar picked my work for her best of post. How exciting!

These are the images that I used when applying for my first shows earlier this spring. I’d intended to sell these pieces, but in the end will probably keep them. However, I have other pieces in the same vein. It’s just these particular ones that I’ll keep.

Nesting bowls. First warped bowls I ever did.

I selected geodes from my collection based upon which ones looked good together. I tried lots of ways of arranging various numbers, trying to find a view that described them. In the end, the four-square was really strong from a graphic standpoint; this was the pair that photographed well together.

The most time consuming tumblers of all time. It takes about two hours to carve away all that surface. Per piece. A good friend has one of them, I’m keeping these, and have a couple more (I think) packed away and for sale.

This happens to be the first house that I made. I was going to sell it, but realized that I really like it for a napkin holder. If you would like a napkin holder shaped like a house, let me know.

This is a general description of my work. When an art show application only has three lines, and I make all kinds of amusing/beautiful/useful things, it’s a challenge to find the common threads, describe what I care about in design, and make every word count. I think this skims the surface:

Soda fired handbuilt stoneware and porcelain characterized by a looseness of form. Surfaces use materials and techniques - flashing slips, oxides, carving, glazes - that are enhanced by atmospheric firing. Visually engaging pieces from everyday tableware to optionally functional sculpture.

Thought goes into design, and design evolves throughout the process of fabrication, further evolving during repetition. A design studio professor once commented that my process resembled that of Sol LeWitt, while the results bore more resemblance to Andy Goldsworthy’s. There’s an idea in everything.