Recalibrate

After loading a small test batch of work into the newly repaired kiln I punched in the firing cycle and waited to see how the freshly refinished Kiln Gods would treat me.

The outcome is a mixed bag of over exposed and passable results. The kiln's programed cycles all were wiped durring the repair, and I must not have quite gotten the down fire temperatures right for this firing. Some adjustments are in order, but we'll get it sorted.

I'm particularly happy with the sculptural form I'd been working on for some time. It's one of the biggest peices I've ever done.



These little ochoko were really fun. At the end of the day, I'm jus texstatic to be back in buisness. The kiln is finally filled with the tiles from the workshop I ran back in October. As the weather turns my mind shifts to how to keep my hands warm in the studio, and what forms I most want to work on for the comming months. In January over half the school goes on class trips for about 3 weeks, and I will have more than ample time to get my hands really muddy.

If you just can't get enough of pottery and people talking about pottery, and you'd really like to see some fantastic surface treatments check out fetishghost (a fellow blogger user and great potter). Until next time keep creating! 

From Last Week

This station is non operational

This piece still needs a tittle. Now accepting ideas! Please post them in the comments section! 

One and a half days more of work, a night bus which promises to be far longer than I care to think on, and a good bit of line standing and I'll be ready for three days of mountains and rock my face off music.  I am headed for Fuji Rock which will  culminate with me seeing a band I have loved since I was at Hamilton Jr. High, but thought I would never have a chance to see because they broke up, BUT THEY'RE back and I can't wait to see them, and all the other bands. 

See ya'll next Thursday! 

Chaos Season and Restock

Well it's that time of year again folks. That chaotic time when school is in full swing, work requirments have me prepping for up comming orientations and Tokyo trips, and I'm constantly pushing for more time to dedicate to those fine friends who have decided to exit the JET Program. All of that busy translates to less time for the studio. All excuses aside, the news I meant to share last Thursday was that my new shipment of clay arrived, and that I had been working on a sculpture that warped significatly in the drying process, but I, surprisingly, liked the results enought to keep it as it is. I have to go to Tokyo for the end of this week, and won't be getting any studio time. So considder this your ration for this week.

My father always talked about how his attitude would change when he got closer to a show. How he would just want the world to drop its pressures and allow him to focus on his work. My trouble is I have two works. I lead a rather stressless life, and am happier than a canned peach with my position at Susaki High School, but it is a very different kind of satisfaction when compared to the satisfaction gained from a day at the wheel with hands in mud. Speaking of satisfaction, I spent the weekend with some of the best guys I've ever known, some of whom are about to face the next step, and speaking with them, after some whitewater rafting, beers, and general great times, I can't help but think on what my next step will be whenever I take it.  But, we musnt be hasty now. Mustn't we?

Cabin's view from the weekend with the lads. 

Everything is just another rotation of the wheel. All anyone can do is continue to hone in on the shape their mind pictures in that moment.

We'll be back next Monday after I've returned from Tokyo. Have a great week everyone.

Tower

New clay and glazes came today, had a great weekend, and am really busy because classes have kicked fully back into gear. Gotta go map out some more English lessons. Hope to be doing some sculptural work this week (time permitting). Don't think ya'll have ever seen the white and red piece called "Tower". Have a great week. 

City of the Night

Time, as it tends to do, has slipped away from me! Classes resumed at school, studio time was limited but focused and fruitful, and my ability to remember my camera to photograph my new work was . . . nonexistant. So, here is something both new and older. A deviation from the norm, and a total expirament.

I love the relationship between potter, piece, and owner. The notion of use completing a piece is such a different way of looking at artistic expression and appritiation. The feel of it in the hands, its weight, its textures, and all the other details (down to the way your lips might rest on the lip of the piece) are a new level of dialoge between artist and owner. I can't say it in any other way, I just love functional pottery. BUT, I grew up with a father who's work focused on taking an extreemly utilitarian form beyond function. My father chose the shape of a spoon (perhaps he would say the spoon chose him) to be his life's calling. His work , and the work of the other artists he meets has a huge impact on my ideas of art and expression.

My first year in Japan I spent a lot of time working singularly on the wheel. I wanted (STILL WANT!) my basics to improve through continued practice with classic functional forms. It was satisfying, playful, frustrating, and empowering. In the beginning of my second year I found and reworked a large amount of incredibly course black clay. I tried throwing it on the wheel once, and it ripped my hands, the sponge, and a wooden rib to peices. So, for the first time I attempted a purly sculptural project. About a month later these were the results:

I have other sculptural projects in the works, and will always continue to produce with the wheel. Thursday will come, and, I promiss, this time I will return to the normal bloging.
Have a wonderful week folks.