my nceca trip.

Finally, here they are. Some pictures from my trip to Philadelphia for the NCECA conference.

At the clay studio - we found a floor to ceiling mosaic mural in the stairway done by local artist Isaiah Zagar.

Walking around Fishtown, the neighborhood we stayed in.

It was Spring there! 70 degrees!

This is a piece by one of the resident artists at The Clay Studio. Her name is Myung Jin Choi, and we had the opportunity to meet her that day. Each little piece is about the thickness of a bandaid. The clay is colored, avoiding the need to glaze the final piece.

A close up of one of her pieces.

Another resident artist, Ryan Kelly.

This street is right behind the clay studio, and is my new dream street. Its complete with a chair maker!

That's the apartment that I'm going to move to one day... Only $1500 for 2 bedrooms. Anyone want to chip in for the first month's rent?

Opening Ceremony with keynote speaker Terry Gross from NPR's Fresh Air. She was super tiny and really silly. I'd highly recommend her program as well.

A shot of the Expo. The outsides had tables and tables of grad schools and the inner rows were filled with everything a potter could ever need in their studio. Glazes, ribs, trimming tools, etc.

INSANE.

For two days of the conference, there were simultaneous demos given. Above is Kari Radasch and Richard Shaw, probably talking about decals. They took audience questions while doing the demos, and for some reason people enjoyed asking the same question about decals every 30 minutes. I know the saying goes, "There is no stupid question," but sitting in that room really made me question it. I did learn quite a few tips about handbuilding though. She uses an "applique" method where she adds a thin piece of clay to a leatherhard piece, and inspired me to add on some molecule appliques to my new work.

Here's Kari's work at the La Mesa show.

Anna Metcaffe! She was my professor for a summer class, in which she taught me how to silkscreen decals similar to what are on these pieces.

Urusla Hargens can be given full credit for teaching me how to properly throw. I love love love her work - it completely compliments her personality as well, which is part of the reason why its so great.

Later on we went to the NCECA Invitational, Earth Matters. Above is a piece by Roxanne Jackson, a Minneapolis artist.

Another one of Anna's pieces.

Nan Smith

I can't remember the artist's name, but this room was insane. The entire room was filled with this bug motif. In the center of the room stood a table which held a dinner set covered in the same design, sitting upon a hand-embroidered table cloth that matched the walls. To top it all off, we had to wear booties so our shoes wouldn't scuff up the floor. Insane.

Grabbing some lunch outside the Reading Market.

An exciting thing Philadelphia does to keep the art community thriving is First Fridays. On the first Friday of every month, studios and galleries in Old City stay open late to show off their new exhibition. Though you can't really tell from this picture, the streets were super packed with street performers, artists, and collectors alike.

The Wexler Gallery was hosting two shows. Downstairs was Adelaide Paul's A Peaceable Queendom. She once used ceramic forms to cover with leather, but now I believe she uses taxidermy models.

Upstairs, The Hermaphrodites was showing. From the website: The Hermaphrodites: Living In Two Worlds will focus on figural sculpture that both embodies the literal definition of hermaphrodites (encompassing both genders) and the conceptual nature of the term as it applies to sculpture that can be categorized equally as contemporary fine art sculpture or decorative art. The exhibition will concentrate on contemporary artists working with ceramics, who also adopt other processes, materials, and techniques commonly found outside of their discipline.

Above is a piece by Dana Major Kanovitz. If you could get past how terribly creepy this sculpture was, the realism blew you away. I swear she must have taken real fingernails off of some cadaver somewhere to use on her hands.

Gerit Grimm's work.

Beth Cavener Stichtner's Tipping Point #7

At the Alfred Show.

Adrian Arleo's Dormant Honey Comb Horse. This is made of clay and wax encaustic. I'd love to see one of her demos...

More images from the remainder of NCECA and some sightseeing in Philly to come!

nceca.

I'm off to Philly to schmooze and peruse. Expect an abundance of pictures when I return!

foot in the door 4.

I finally made it to Foot in the Door 4! The amount of work they had was insane. There were three rooms full, all with a large pedestal in the center of each. It was really exciting seeing how all of the work was installed, and was fun looking for my piece!

Just an idea of the amount of work.

I found my piece!

A little closer...

One of my favorite pieces there. I can't imagine where you would even start with this.

I had a meeting with two girls that I'm going to NCECA with at Hardtimes today. This was in the corner of our booth and gave me a giggle.

newer work.

A quick update of some of the things that have been happening at the studio...

One of the pieces that I'm working on for the second half of the semester came out of the kiln today. Its a highfire porcelain body, but unfortunately the slip dots couldn't hold up in the extreme heat, so I tried a lowfire Duncan clear and it worked perfectly! The bodies aren't as white as I would like, so I might try and experiment with a midrange glaze as well.

Another version of the chromosome bowls. I think I'm going to try and experiment with different forms to put the slip dots on, as well as larger sizes.

What they look like pre-firing. The glaze is a pretty mint green before it goes into the kiln, I almost want to see if I can replicate that for a few of these pieces.

I also got a few things out of the glaze kiln today. I've been trying to play around with handles, even though they are my least favorite part of functional pottery. I didn't think these to were that bad though.

A detail shot of the inside of the midnight blue mug.

Easter mug! The color is much prettier in person. A lovely pastel green, right in time for Easter.

And finally, I've been working on chalices for my old church. I'm pretty happy with the way thy look now. The foot still needs a bit more work. I think I might try and carve even deeper, making little holes throughout the stem. As long as its still functional for communion!

spring break.

It was our spring break this past week at the U of M and I accomplished... nothing. But that's alright, its supposed to be about relaxation, right?

A picture of what I was doing last year around this time:

Versus this year:

Hmmm in the studio. No surprises there.

Here are a few new things I'm working on to compliment the ring bowls.

Ooooo shadows!

I think I unknowingly was inspired by some corral I saw while snorkeling in Hawaii. They kind of look like chromosomes having a dance party to me, what do you think?

final piece.

It's done! It's finally done! The pictures aren't as quality as I was hoping, and I still need to figure out a better way to hang the plates, but overall I'm excited and glad that they're complete.

The project started with the idea of creating a 4x4 grid and filling it with some sort of imagery that created movement. It wasn't until I came across a documentary on the Large Hadron Collider before I decided what that imagery would be. The "scribbles" on the back of the plates are representative of a particle collision. I found a few pictures from a bubble chamber and tried to make a semi-accurate depiction of the events that occur. Then the issue became glazing - should I leave them white or add color? I decided to take some of the lines that were created by the particle collision and employ a "paint-by-numbers" sort of thing.

At that point, the plates could have been complete. They were fully functional and fit together like I had hoped. But something was missing for me. That's when I came across a manganese based overglaze decal that my professor could print out. All I needed to do was give him a pdf with the imagery I wanted. I found some really beautiful script in some of Einstein's old notebooks to have printed and then cut and pasted them to fit into some of the negative space created by the color blocks.

The completed set. Each plate is 10 inches across.

Detail of the notebook decals.

Another view.

Close up shot.

Overall I'm pleased. I feel that some plates stand stronger individually than looking at them as a whole. It's a completely different experience seeing one alone and then viewing them as a unit. I might try and tackle another set of plates with similar imagery, but maybe make the color blocks a little more solid. Or not including them at all? Or take more advantage of the negative space that's created with the lines? Lots of things to think about with little time to execute.

critique.

The day has finally come to install and critique my plate project. Pictures soon to follow...