The Bears, Kiln Magic & The Best News Ever!!!

Though I meant to get these posted in December- time seriously got away from me! It was crazy busy at the end of the semester... getting things fired, photographing work, critiques, moving out of the studio & then driving home to spend time w/ family for the holidays & then right back to work & starting up new classes... whew! A whirlwind of activity, but finally here they are- the 8 salt fired bears from last semester's continuing Polar Series.

(posted from lighter to darker rather than in numerical order of how I built them)

#1 below is one of my faves.

 Polar Bear # 1
H: 14"  W: 11"  D: 21.5"
Ann's Soda Cone 10 Clay Body- Salt Fired to Cone 11

Alternate View

 Polar Bear # 2
H: 15"  W: 17.5" D: 16"
Ann's Soda Cone 10 Clay Body- Salt Fired to Cone 11

Alternate View- my fave angle :)

Polar Bear # 3
H: 15"  W: 13"  D 18 "
Ann's Soda Cone 10 Clay Body- Salt Fired to Cone 11

Alternate View 1

Alternate View 2

Polar Bear # 5
H: 16.5"  W:16" D 15"
Laguna Sculpture Cone 10 Clay Body- Salt Fired to Cone 9 Oxidation

Alternate View 1

Alternate View 2

Alternate View 3

# 6 below quickly outranked #1 as my all time fave when it came out of the kiln. This glaze + this clay body + salt firing, in my humble opinion, produces the most amazing results! Click twice on any image to enlarge to see the effects of this Kiln Magic in greater detail.

:)

Polar Bear # 6
H: 14.5"  W: 16"  D: 21.5"
Death Valley Red Cone 10 Clay Body- Salt Fired to Cone 11

Detail~head/neck

Detail~foot

Polar Bear # 4
H: 16.5"  W: 16"  D: 19"
Laguna Dark Brown Cone 10 Clay Body- Salt Fired to Cone 11

Alternate View

Polar Bear # 7
H: 15"  W: 13.5"  D: 23.5"
Laguna Dark Brown Cone 10 Clay Body- Salt Fired Cone 10

Alternate View

Polar Bear # 8
H: 15.5"  W:13" D: 26"
Death Valley Red Cone 10 Clay Body- Salt fired to Cone 11

glaze detail 1

glaze detail 2

The glaze detail on # 6 above only goes to show you... if you love a glaze enough, it truly will love you back!! 

:)

Below is my studio at the end of the semester... all cleaned up & turned into an impromptu photo studio using natural light, as my apartment is far too dark to photograph in.

And below, the bears out of the studio & in the classroom during critiques.

"The Last Great Migration" (Prototype)

My reflections on this past semester are mostly positive. While I am not crazy about every single piece, I am crazy about at least half of them, which is good!

 (I used the same glaze & firing methods on each piece above, changing only the clay bodies to move in gradation from variations of white/gray to black to symbolize the Polar Bear as a messenger for the environmental challenges we face.)

 I love this glaze, I love hand building these forms & I love salt/soda firing!!! Though I did get a little clay obsessed between the bears & the micaceous pottery... quite frankly, I would have done much, much more if I didn't have to do things like sleep & work! I think the obsession comes in part from not having my own studio... I feel like when I am taking classes, I need to squeeze in as much studio time as I possibly can, in order to maximize my learning & growth in the wild world of ceramics!

:)

On that note, I am super excited about sharing

THE Best News Ever!!!

One of my pieces has been accepted into

The 6th Annual Juried Exhibition

"Beyond the Brickyard"

at the Archie Bray Foundation for the Ceramic Arts in Helena, Montana!

I am totally honored to have my work included in such an amazing exhibit, at such an amazing place, with such an amazing group of ceramic artists.

The show opens next weekend, so if you're in the area... go!

If you cannot make it, the exhibit will also be online Feb 3rd, so be sure to check it out!

:)

Micaceous Pots/ Ceramics Sale & Wrapping up the end of the Semester

Just a quick post! These are some of the Micaceous Pots that I completed this semester in round 2 of my Studio Practice Class. While my emphasis this semester was obviously on completing the bear series, I also really wanted to finish these pots so that I could participate in our annual student ceramics sale. Most of these I had started earlier this year but they were placed on the back burner so to speak. Each pot is oven & stovetop safe and built using clay that is hand dug clay from the mountains of northern NM and is not commercially processed. They're built coil by coil, and once bone dry, are meticulously water scraped, hand sanded (earlier this semester when it was much warmer- you could find me outside of the studio sanding for hours!) & polished/stone burnished after application of a fine micaceous slip. While it is a very laborious process, I have to admit, once they are fired, it makes the entire process  quite worthwhile.

:)

Bean Pot 1: Collaboration

Bean Pot 2

Wavy Rim Casserole: 3.5 Quart & Small Wavy Rim Dish 3/4 Quart

Closer view of Small Dish

3.5 Quart Casserole/Serving Dish

3/4 Quart Bowl

Small Bowl

Raku/Reduction Fired Bean Pot: 2.5 Quart

Raku/ Reduction Fired 1.5 Quart Fluted Bowl

2 Quart Lidded pot

View from the Top

Raku Fired 3/4 Quart Wavy Rim Bowl

In addition to the Micaceous Pots, I had a series of the little bears ("the smalls") out on the table.The first day of our sale on wednesday was quite successful and it was fun to be out there with all my fellow students/clay people. 

The second day we got snowed out! Yup, you heard right... by Thursday morning we had 4-6 inches of snow... that, along with weather advisories was enough to shut the school down for the day. Bummer! But so it goes. Unfortunately it also delayed the last firing of the Soda Kiln, but with any luck, it'll fire during finals in the upcoming week. I've now photographed 6 out 8 of the bears from this Semester &  I'll photograph # 7 this week if the lighting is good. Number 8 has been in the kiln almost a week in freezing temps awaiting firing, so if it makes it out o.k. I'll try to get it photo'd as well so I can post them all at once. So that's it for now- a very busy and productive semester!

:)

Alternative Firing Workshop, Reglazing, Student Art Show & lots of Great News!!

Pardon my lack of blogging lately... life has been busy as usual & I've placed the blog on the back burner, but I just wanted to get in a "catch up" post before taking a little break for the summer. Below are a few images from the Saggar Fire Workshop I took at the Community College in May. Our clay club brought in Lee Akins, a wonderfully talented local ceramicist to do a full day workshop on Alternative Firing techniques. (click on his name above to see his amazing work!) We all brought in a few bisqued pieces to work with & fire. With this technique, you take bisqueware brush on Iron Chloride, along with various combustibles such as coffee grounds, wood chips, banana peels, dried tea bags, copper wire salt & so forth.

I had never done anything like this, so I tried a combo of the above ingredients on 1 medium & 2 smaller bears.

All the ingredients are held close to the pieces by wrapping them in aluminum foil, which are then placed in the Raku Kiln for firing.

The pieces are then brought up to a temp of roughly 1360 degrees & left overnight to cool.

Excited classmates pulling pieces from Raku Kiln

Below are the 2 small bears after firing, which I quite liked.

The results on the medium bear I was not so crazy about... I just didn't feel the technique fit the form... it felt too harsh to me.

So, always up for a little experimentation, I reglazed the piece using the Satin Mint Modified glaze & it was Salt Fired to Cone 11 in the Soda Kiln.

I thought the results were much more pleasing the 2nd time around. It retained some of the effects from the Saggar Fire, but added a less harsh tonal variations, as well as gaining the crystallization effects around the face of the piece.

But the BIG NEWS of the Semester is this!! I had entered the piece below (you may remember this piece from this post, or this post) in the Annual Student Art Show. It's a juried show, so I was pleased of course, just to get in. 

"The Guardian"

 The Best News, however, was that not only did I get in, but I won Best in Show for Ceramics (which means I also got a gift certificate to New Mexico Clay- Yay!) AND I was this years recipient of the Dean's Purchase Award!!! 

This means that the College not only bought my piece, but it will become part of the permanent art collection at Santa Fe Community College! I could not have asked for a better end to wonderful semester! This semester was full of "firsts" for me... my first ceramic sale at the Red Dot Gallery, (I still don't know who purchased that piece, but if they should stumble upon my blog I am sending out a huge thank you for your interest in my work!!) my first group show, and, needless to say, my first Dean's Purchase Award! 

(This also gave me the encouragement & positive feedback I needed to keep going with the clay. I have to say, it hard sometimes to be a middle aged art student! I have often wondered what the heck I am doing... while other's my age are working for retirement, during the semester I am essentially working just enough to pay the rent & support my clay endeavors!) 

Anyhow, here are a few more shots from the Visual Arts Gallery at SFCC~ the show will be up through summer, so if you get a chance, stop on by.

:)

I'm also pleased to announce that the piece below (my first of the Semester) has also been selected to be in the Summer show at the Red Dot Gallery on Canyon Road. The show will open at the beginning of July & run through August... 

"Waiting on the World to Change"

so if you're in town & find yourself wandering up Canyon Road, stop on by as well!

:)

*On a side note, it is likely that I won't be blogging much this summer as I try to work as much as possible to save up for the Fall Semester, as well as spend time with family... so I wish you all a VERY HAPPY SUMMER SEASON!!

:)