Clay Time

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art, ceramics, Lenawee, Siena Heights University

Clay Time

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Blue Lake Raku and Reflection

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art, Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, Pottery, Raku

Blue Lake no. 3 Raku, a photo by Goyo P on Flickr.

The sun was merciless. Students walked into my class like soldiers marching through the desert in search of some distant oasis. But instead of heading to the water cooler they picked up their tools and went to work….carving, printing, sweating, seeking, learning. For two weeks they came, they made art, they lit a creative fire and battled the heat. I taught them printmaking. They gave me happiness. Some people can live without art. I cannot. For two weeks I lived and breathed art 24/7 at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. There were no time clocks. Time was irrelevant. Passion was our fuel. As sweat dripped from our bodies we trudged on. As I reflect on the past two weeks I need some sort of symbol to remember Blue Lake. I need something to remind me of the best two weeks I’ve had in a long time. It had to be something that reminded me of the art, heat, kids, instructors and sitting on the Lake Michigan beach watching the stars and full moon. I found it in this raku pot. I’ve always wanted to learn how to throw pottery. My friends taught me. Thank you Ron, Kim, Jesse, Sandia and Chip. It’s my most prized possession.

Hendrico

Tags

Fly Fishing Artists, Pottery

This is also collaborative piece.  The title for this comes from Hendrickson, which is the name of a Mayfly.  It was fun trying the scraffitto technique but I am moving on to other methods of decoration.  I did one slim pot using a cuerda seca technique but it didnt turn out.  I used too much glaze in some areas and not enough in others.  I’m going back this weekend to give it another shot.    

Golondrina

This is a collaborative piece which has been in the works for a few months.  James Freeman has graciously allowed me to use his studio to play around with pottery decoration.  I used a scraffitto technique for this swallow design.  After researching New Mexican pottery and speaking with New Mexican potters it occurred to me that their motifs basically come from things reflecting local landscape, animals or religion.  Since I dont know their landscape, animals or religion as well as they do, I decided to add my own personal Michigan motif for this particular pot.  The birds are Swallows/Golondrinas.  The band design comes from the wing of a nymphal Mayfly.