Carved Jars and Cups...birds

Carved jars and cups for the upcoming group show at Clement Gallery...

Carving designs into cups using underglazes...

I am addicted to clay...especially carving and drawing designs onto the surface while the clay is almost leather hard..

I get into 'the zone' when I am carving..its a visual stream of consciousness, and I become one with the clay...

But it takes a long time to  complete any work...
So I am trying a variation on carving...an old technique that satisfies my need to carve designs but takes half the time...and its outcome is working for me.

My pieces are nearly bone dry, then I paint underglaze onto the surface..and carve...
Firing with interior glazes this weekend.

This is the first one ...if it turns out..I will use it in the upcoming group show: "for the birds"..at Clement Gallery in Troy, NY

Coyote Celadons over Carved Surfaces...shot glasses and tea cups

More Samples of Color Glazes

These cups are a part of my experiments with underglazes and celadons...all commercial glazes, used in combination with eachother to hopefully achieve some unique colors and textures. In the process of layering underglazes, I discovered that I could carve through the layers to reveal the colors that were underneath...much like the old style of scratchboards we made and drew on as kids...more experiments with layering, scraping away, incising, and sanding..are in the works.
The other cups here were made using ceramic underglaze pencil, and then layered with various colors of Coyote brand celadons...these colors are great to  work with and there are several colors to choose from..the pencil line ran, unexpectedly...so planning to continue to  explore this method as well.

Experimenting with Underglaze

Saratoga Big Shots

Finished and delivered the Shot Glasses

I've been working on a set of shot glasses with a tray for weeks, and finally finished it.  I am entering the piece into a small, local, juried show called "Saratoga Inside Out" at the Saratoga Arts Center. The art is supposed to be based on the icons, landscapes, events, or ideas about Saratoga, but done in a new and creative way. In my piece, each of the 16 shot glasses represents the bars of Caroline Street...which is the center of night life in this town. Funny, because I dont do shots and I dont drink...but this town does...it likes to advertise itself as a community deeply rooted in "health, history, and horses"..but there is another side.

Making the piece was great fun...each cup is thrown, some are altered...then the designs were incised into the surface...after bisquing, underglazes were painted in layers...and transparent  glaze was applied over everything...fired to cone 5/oxidation.

 Saratoga Big Shots

Saratoga shot glasses

Onto more recent news..I am preparing a piece for a juried, local show at the Saratoga Arts Center called "Saratoga Inside Out". The artist is encouraged to examine the icons, symbols, landscape and events of Saratoga, and do something creative, different, and new with the image...

Most people focus on horses...or the landscape surrounding Saratoga..but after dark, Saratoga is all  about the bars..and Caroline Street.  Anyone who  comes out to Saratoga after dark cant help but notice how huge the crowds are and how much drinking is encouraged and used as a big part of our economy..so I decided to use Caroline Street and drinking as a focus for my piece...I made a group of shot glasses, each one representing a bar on Caroline Street...and a tray to  hold them all. As a non-drinker, its kind of a sarcastic approach to the theme...I dont encourage drinking...but I believe its a huge part of what this town is about...so its fitting for the theme...we shall see what the juror thinks..

10th Annual National Juried Cup Show

I entered my first juried cup  show back in March 2010...it was at my undergrad school, Kent State University in Ohio, where I got my BFA in...1975 (where did these years go?).... decided this show would be a good starting point.  I didnt expect to have my cup accepted...but it did! Went to  the opening..it was the first time I had been back to Kent in 15 years...and just enjoyed being there, and seeing all the amazing cups.
Mine had a red dot before the show opened..the first one they sold..really happy about that..

Coyote Celadons

Coyote Celadons are soft and sweet...like sherbet colors...the carvings show through well, with or without black glaze inlaid into the carving.
And the colors are unusual for celadons...the Sampler set includes 8 of their most used color choices.

Some new work for the upcoming shows

This is one of my carved jars, for a show themed on birds...I was inspired by Islamic tile art design as I carved the patterns into this...birds are part of it, but not the main focus.
This was fired at cone 5, in oxidation..electric kiln.

Making the Commitment

..I have been absent from my blog for months...but thats going to  change. I am making the commitment to stay current...to post photos...and to bring my thoughts here.
Having been absent from posting my news and photos in a timely way has created a huge back-up of things I will add over time...

Top Updates:
1. I retired from teaching.
2. I'm making pots full-time.
3. Working with color...finally.
4. Going to find a path to marketing my work.
5. I have a gallery in Woodstock, NY, representing my work..The Bearsville Graphics Studio and Gallery..and a new gallery in Troy, NY, called  "Art!"

Love opening the kiln!! The work in this photo just came out of the kiln last night at my studio at the Beekman Street Artists' Co-op in Saratoga Springs, NY...some of it is carved, black and white, others have colored celadon glazes from Coyote...they are for a upcoming group show at Clement Gallery in Troy, NY, on the theme of birds...
The other color work deeper in the kiln is going to be part of an entry into a local show at the Arts Center in Saratoga, entitled: 'Saratoga Inside Out'. I've made a tray full of colorful, carved shot glasses. I'll post photos when its done...

Experimenting with Underglaze

I've begun some new work...calling it my Fake Math Series...using underglazes. I haven't used underglazes much and so this work has opened a new direction for me. I have so many ideas of how I want to use these on my pots, and so I have begun with my first three...there just isnt enough time in the day.

New Work ...Ready for Glaze

...did an overnight bisque firing, of new work...my newest series of cups and pots featuring my obsession with drawing lines, squares, circles, dots, radial patterns, stylized floral designs, graph paper, letters, words, etc....after NCECA, I will glaze these.

Started to experiment with underglazes too..

Trying to Keep Up

Since I last posted anything on my blog, I have been to Italy, made lots of cups and bowls, jars and vases...had a show opening...sent out images for 2 shows in other states...taught school 5 days a week...and now I am preparing to go to NCECA in Phillie this Wednesday...its just been much more difficult to record updates here than I expected.
Coming soon...a few photos of Tuscany...Florence...Siena...

...and..images of some recent work.

This is a photo of one of three cups I have entered into the Kansas City Tea Cup National.
I don't expect..but hope. As a newcomer to the juried show scene..I am guessing there will be lots of rejections..but that won't stop  the drive to make work.

New Carved Designs on New Cups

Since returning from Italy, I have been carving cups, combining lines, dots, shapes, symbols, geometric forms, numbers, letters...and floral designs...in new compositions. These are fired to cone 05, ready to be glazed...trying different colors for these...

New Jars

I bisque-fired 2 carved,  taller jars this week...ready to glaze them. I am playing around with new forms but always return to the taller, narrower form..squaring up the base after trimming..

New Work

My latest carved cups...I am combining my carved, stylized flowers, vines, and leaves...with my obsession with carving lines, squares, circles, dots, letters, symbols, spirals, hidden messages, numbers, etc. Glazing and firing tomorrow...oxidation, cone 5/6. Can't wait to see how they turn out...trying some new colors in glazes and underglazes.

Accepted: the 10th Annual National Juried Cup Show at Kent State University

Rome 2009

..an elephant sculpture in a piazza in Rome, discovered by accident, walking along the narrow streets, somewhere on the way to the Pantheon..

The Amalfi Coast

...The cliff towns, views, and roads along the Amalfi Coast are spectacular...

Naples 2009

..a street scene in Naples...half my ancestory...

Ancient Rome 2009

...walking in and around the Ancient Roman ruins was the most awesome experience ever...

Rome 2009

...walking on a side street, near the Pantheon in Rome..

...travelling to Italy tomorrow....

Tonight...I'm finally packed and ready to leave upstate NY for a week in Tuscany and Florence. Last year, at this time, we travelled to Rome, Naples and the Amalfi Coast...our first trip to Italy...fell in love with Rome..thats when I realized it felt right, familiar, somehow, like home. This year, we are returning, but to Florence...to see the land, the art, the architecture, the countryside..the street scenes, the food, the cafes, the cappucino...and the ceramics..
At this time tomorrow night, I will be somewhere over the huge Atlantic...
Ciao.

....work for the "Art from the Heart for Haiti" Show at Mimosa Gallery

Today, I brought these pieces to Mimosa Gallery on Beekman Street in the Artists' District in Saratoga Springs for the upcoming show, Art from the Heart for Haiti, a fundraiser that will benefit the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund.
The opening reception is February 19th. Hope everyone is in a buying mood.

 

Starting..

Well...I've decided to start a blog..its a place where I can post my work, and offer my thoughts to an invisible world.