Saturday, June 21, 2008

prickly pear

I decided to stay. a few factors weighed in- not so much formal obligations but more like self-perceived nebulous ones. basically, I can't stand to be quite that irresponsible. I know beauty is in the eye of the beholder and so is whether or not I am irresponsible, but since it's my life and my perception, I'll just blame my lutheran roots and carry on working...
really, no-one would have missed me at the special exhibit of woodfire work that brought together all the local characters with some international flavor, but it was great to see people that I love and like to fire with... it's an excellent community I've fallen into here- it's great to be home. that's what it comes down to- it's great to be home- I actually would much rather be here now, learning how to fire my kiln, this summer, than anywhere else in the world. grease fire in portland beats out flame trees in Fiji. my heart is here. ...not to mention that pop wouldn't have been captaining her- I'll gamble for the day that I can make such a remarkable passage with him.

And SO! I have been insulating the kiln. have I mentioned that I am in love with my kiln? god, I hope i did a good job designing it and that I don't gett shut down via some mishap with a neighbor. I'm famous for mishaps, so I'm nervous. but as much as i can comply with city code, I am, so there's little to complain about. other than the plumes of smoke that smell like fish and chips, perhaps. my landlady is amazing. and so is stephen mickey for giving me all those awesome bricks.

more free materials came my way in the form of many random scraps of insulation- so random and so valuable. I used to do thousand-piece jigsaw puzzles when I was a kid, so this was nothing. just itchy like fingers on a chalkboard. it all worked out to a solid four inches on the dome roof:

and a layer around the walls, backed by about two inches of mineral board ripped into lenghts on a slight bevel so they'd make a relatively seamless curve. chicken wire to hold it all in place:

Lady Linda has most graciously agreed to let me borrow her burners while i wait for mine, so I am in bizness!!! I am aiming for a firing in two weeks time. but there is much to do including final inspections by the city. (chief dude knows me- he saw the kiln walls but no roof)

I like Jack's comment: looks like an engineer did the front and a boy scout did the back.

much love from the great northwest-
C

prickle fish


Sunday, June 15, 2008

I don't know what to do. I flew home to portland three days ago. Today Pop tells me that the Seamester program that is now running aboard the Argo is only half-full and would I like to join for the trans-pacific crossing? Tahiti, Rarotonga, Fiji, Australia. leaving in three days, back home in two months. I know I'm not staff, since I'm not qualified to teach anything. And of course I'm not a paying shipmate- I'm dead weight. Live weight- I'm eating food and taking up space. But this is almost exactly the kind of voyage I was trying to join two years ago that didn't happen. I busted my butt to leave grad school a term early so that I could join this exact ship on a beautiful sailing voyage from Bangkok to France. she stayed in Thailand the whole time. Not that I'm complaining about also being stuck in Thailand, but it did turn out to be kind of a strange trip.
it doesn't seem like much of a debate except that here I am doing just about everything I can to be a professional potter and the last thing I need to be doing is running off to the south pacific! I feel like I'm in such a precarious position, trying to establish myself in this town or get a small teaching job, or at least some kind of income, as a carpenter, if need be. I've been accepted to the Portland Open Studios and I have obligations there, I have work in a gallery downtown, I'm trying to get this kiln up and running (but irony of ironies- I still don't have any burners that were ordered in Taiwan six months ago!) so that I can get some pots out into other galleries... am I being impatient or paranoid that I'm losing a toehold on something that hasn't even happened yet? do you think I'm just insane for seriously considering not taking advantage of this amazing opportunity?

Friday, June 6, 2008

jack troy and other forms of art

after Detroit, I spent a few days in Pittsburgh with a college friend of mine, Joanna Orr, who married an Elsas, and thought to change her name to Joanna Orr- Elsas. She didn't quite , but that gives you an idea of her sense of humor. She is the mother of two little boys- she writes a blog too- thejojos@ blogspot. she made pots for a couple years too!



and then, by lucky chance, I got to meet Jack Troy.

I would guess that it's fair to say that every young, determined, and clueless potter eventually reaches a point at which they seek a reference book. Jack's book became mine, ten years ago, when I was first starting out in the ramshackle farmhouse in Minnesota. I would look at those centerfolds in Jack's book and get all tingly. Oh, right, and I read it. I could understand it- he's writing about the beauty of a stack of wood. yes! the silica and the what? clay is actually what? you mean I can't just mix colors and get purple? I can't say I memorized it- my poor teachers in grad school were remarkably patient with me- anyway, it was a start. I needed lots of help, and found it from lots of wonderful people... I remember on the drawing of his kiln, he had a little brick for a tea kettle above the firebox.

well, I got to see that kiln:
you are sitting at the firemouth. loading door to the right side. pretty curvy... you know what I like the best? just past the exit flue is a big open spot in the horizontal section leading towards the chimney. a window in the ground that the river of fire rushes through... that's hot.

and I got to see his pixiegama- that article in the Log Book has excellent photos of it, but here's the counterweight for the door:

To see the kilns and give props to the man was all I had hoped for. As it happened, he was so genereous with his time and his thoughts that I enjoyed a very sweet visit.

Next up, the Freer Gallery of the Smithsonian. I don't have much to say beyond amazing wow wonderful and thank you very much mister Freer for putting such high priority on public accessability of the archives. I did my homework and knew what I wanted to see- the Longquan celadons, of course. and the Ding ware. and those eight century chinese jars with the low handles that Neely showed me a picture of when someone told me my handles were too low... and the Iznic plates with calligraphy, and the old zoomorphic pots. and a few of the oldest pots I could see, including one from china that I got to touch! that was 4000! years old! and then I still had time! I was already floating from having been able to look up close and touch such dreamy pots, and then Tim Kirk who was my guide for the day also showed me his favorite pots- the big 'ol Shigaraki jar, and some luscious shino teabowl. good heaven. and Jack told me to check out the pots stuck in saggers. so I did that. it was a great day.

He also told me to visit the Visionary Arts Museum in Baltimore:



it's a little contrasty, but there's a giant bird in the background there, with a nest that that egg fell out of. here's a closeup:

it is the most excellent egg I have ever seen in my entire life.

So I'm basically in love with that entire museum. It is dedicated entirely to artists who NEED to make art as an expression of their spirituality. Ranging in expression from a single haunting sculpture carved at an asylum with a blunt screwdriver to an eight-foot model of the titanic composed of toothpicks, to the drawings made in a trance by a gentleman somewhere in appalacia- so gorgeous and minute that the museum provides a magnifiying glass... and then next door is a space in which they have little mechanical toys made decades ago- dragons that fly and fishes that jump. AND every spring there's a race in the harbor of the craziest amphibious vehicles powered by foot. the winner this year (came in "middle") was a twelve-foot tall pink poodle. so go there if you can!

I lingered there, and then zoomed up to Philadelphia to see the work of Frieda Khalo. except I had some engine trouble on the way, nothing like what happened in the grease truck outside Amarillo so many years ago- some of you may rememeber that story. this was a simple fuel problem. I made it in time. Another deeply inspiring women. oh my goodness. how is it possible to be so deeply honest, naked to the world, as she was, with such subject matter... it was an extremely moving exhibit. And I am compelled to say something here about the brief explanation provided by the museum at the beginning of the show. I know that it is a very touchy subject, but given the nature of her work, I chide the museum for not being more direct in explaining the exact nature of the accident that she suffered. I think that to give a medical context for her difficulty in carrying a child would have been appropriate. I think it would have helped put her work into context. Perhaps they were more detailed in the docent tapes...

From there, it would have made sense to go to New York for the night, just surprise Leana by tapping on her door. But my buddy Dianne was waiting in Duram. So, through rush hour and through Baltimore I go, past a police blockade on an interstate and around DC I go, awed by those who must have some kind of i-will-never-be-arrested government position that allowed them to blithely go fourty over the limit instead of everyone else just twenty over. madness, I say. after a few hours of this, I slide into the dark lanes of Virginia, put on some platinum breaks, and flip on the blacklight....

Monday, June 2, 2008

Toto, we are not in Kansas anymore

Adventure part II:
So Penland is nothing fancy. Penland has my heart. I drove straight north from there to Cranbrook INSTITUTE of the ARTS, where the most luscious Madeline Stillwell has just completed her Studies in the Finer Arts.



So I met Madskills at Penland six years ago, in the class with Silvie Granatelli and Leah Leitson. She was making cups like flippy little skirts, lips with undulations, and full curves split open by the mons and it's hidden treasures. her constant audacity is an inspiration to me, and I have followed her graduate work over the years at her website: http://madelinestillwell.com/splash.html .
I had the great pleasure and occasional amusement to observe her in her environs. What a contrast, to come from the little craft school that could to the columns and fountains of the art institute. Partywise, with all due respect, our bonfires and our mojitos were better by an order of magnitude.
I was able to attend a lecture and subsequent critiques by her mentor and visiting artist Neil Forrest. (from Nova Scotia) Fascinating. He has a particular love for Iznic tilework among other things, and gave us a beautiful presentation of how the design and layout of the tiles dissolves the stone walls and arches onto which it is arranged. Gave lucid vocabulary to those tricks evolved in their artistry of illusion. carried the concepts that he clarified into his own work, which is to my eye like a body pieced apart and examined in detail. Brilliant man. what a treat. critiques were interesting too- the languaging has crossovers to the crits I remember, the interaction of idea and object is equally relevant, the notions of material use, scale, balance, etc.. were all pertinent.. but somehow, I can't put my finger on it- I grew sleepy there in the marbled museum. I followed the talk the way I would follow a butterfly. It has color, it has substance, it has trajectory. It is beautiful. But what is it's meaning? My friend says "it takes all kinds"... I left, had some chocolate, and fell asleep in the sun.

show and tell


"show and tell" at Penland- a car and some pots, some boxes by the amazing Kai, who is a glass-blower and was the assistant to David Chatt leading a class on beadworking:


this little gizmo has a pen for a plumb line, and it draws in the breeze...
and this piece was installed by my dear Rebekka-

I also badly wanted to include an excellent video that I have of Michael Hunt throwing a slab for the formation of an Onggi jar. unfortunately, at 200 mb, it will not upload. I did a little research and discovered that I could put it on google video, and create a link to this site, but I only asked him for permission to post it to this place, not the relatively less private alternative. So if anyone reading would like to see it, just email me, and I'll send it along on a cd. it's only abotu ten minutes but shows him handling the clay from the first few throws , stretching, flipping it in the air, creating the curve, and then placing it on the lower half of the jar. expert.