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I’m delighted to be included in Schaller Gallery‘s online invitational exhibition Forms I. Thirteen makers from all over the country were each invited to send a teapot, jar, pitcher, and vase. (My grouping of four is pictured above.) It’s always wonderful to see how different potters approach the same form, and this show highlights those delightful variations. The show is live with all work for sale, so click on over right here.
This last month has been about allowing (maybe giving) myself time to play. YAY! It’s a rare thing for me because of deadlines and requests; my inherently deliberate pace (‘fast’ and ‘detailed’ are mutually exclusive it seems); and currently, perennials are calling to me like Sirens to abandon my studio and toil away my afternoons with them. I chose to play by re-visiting forms from the past, so it has been Retro Month for me here in the studio. Perhaps I felt a bit guilty for sidelining other responsibilities, or I’m just a masochist, but I apparently chose to re-visit some of the most complicated forms I’ve ever made. Go figure.
The first things I made were six Corset vessels (above). This is a form that is the most distinctive in my reperatoire I think, but is actually not a form I make often. In fact, I haven’t made the size pictured (+/- 9″ h) since 2005 when I was still firing cone 10 soda. For some reason when I moved to mid-range electric-firing in ’06, I scaled them up to 15-18″ and made only a couple every so often. So, it was fun to work on a smaller scale with patterns and polka dots I’ve developed in the last years. Indeed, a big part of the point of Retro Month was to bring my new palette (color and pattern) and accumulated experience to familiar, loved forms.
Next, I made Double-walled Baskets (only three; the one pictured above is my fave). I made these the latter part of graduate school at Ohio University over 10 years ago. I LOVE this form—pouffy walls, upholstered-looking surface, voluminous shape, elegant yet jovial attitude—but it is truly a technical nightmare, basically everything that clay doesn’t like or want to do, particularly in porcelain. While this image was the most “liked” pic I’ve ever posted on Facebook, and part of my style has always been to partially ignore the personality of clay, these lovelies may not be coming to an online shop of mine near you soon. They may have mostly served as a wistful reminder of why I stopped making them last time. We’ll see, but I’m not holding my breath as much as they appear to be.
Lastly, I made sets of Screen vases, which haven’t happened for a handful of years for no particular reason, not since my stripy/dotty phase began anyway. I love how these zig zag together in pairs and trios, pattern flowing from one to the other. These were supposed to be the less laborious end to my month…which made my hubby laugh (with love, of course).
My Show & Workshop schedule thru early Spring ’09. The pots pictured below for the shows at Santa Fe Clay, the Bray, the Ohio Craft Museum and NCECA will actually be in those exhibitions.
Flora Exhibition Invitational with Megan Bogonovich, Kim Dickey, Maria Dondero, Molly Hatch, Tim Ludwig & me at Santa Fe Clay in Santa Fe, NM thru January 17. (Each artist is exhibiting approximately 15-20 pieces in a range of sizes and price points; for me: cups to corset.)
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Beyond the Brickyard exhibition juried by Patti Warashina at the Archie Bray Foundation in Helena, Montana January 31 – March 15.
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The Infinite Teapot at the Ohio Craft Museum in Columbus, OH 2/1 – 3/29; and Teapots: Functional, Formal and Narrative curated by Susan O’Brien and Margaret Bohls at the U. of Wisconsin Foster Gallery in Eau Claire, WI 2/26 – 3/29.
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Workshop with me presented by the Jackson Pottery & Clay Guild at The Ella Sharp Museum of Art & History in Jackson, MI March 13 – 15.
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NCECA 2009 Clay National Biennial Exhibition juried by Ceramic artists Chris Staley and Jeanne Quinn, and AMOCA Director Christy Johnson at Arizona State University Art Museum Ceramics Research Center in Phoenix, AZ March 22 – May 23.
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Paradise City Arts Festival, a juried retail craft show in Marlborough, MA March 20 – 22.
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Yunomi Invitational at AKAR Design both online and in Iowa City, IA March 27 – July.
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Made In Clay Invitational Exhibition at Greenwich House Pottery in NYC April 2 – 30.
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Functional Ceramics Workshop 2009 with Dick Lehman, Karl Borgeson and me at the Wayne Center for the Arts in Wooster, OH April 16 – 18.
I finished this grouping of Screen vases last week. This is a series I began last summer. The individual form (a flat edge bisecting an ellipse) came out of a workshop I taught about using paper templates as a basis for sketching in three-dimensions. I was working alongside the participants folding paper, and kept some of the ideas around my studio.
While comparatively spare, I enjoy both these and the Hourglass forms (also begun last summer) because they appeal to my encompassing interest in line defining form. (Finished —glazed— versions of these are on my Sculptural Vessels page.)
The name came from how one related to the next once there were multiples. As the flat sides lined up or “accordioned”, they seemed reminiscent of folding, Chinese screens.
They look particularly striking with white tulips arching out from their tops. I will have to post a picture of that once this grouping is glazed!
