Follow Me on Facebook!

Hello there! I hope you all had a fabulous 2014 & I wish you all the best in the upcoming year! Since I am no longer posting on this site, I just wanted to invite you to follow along on Facebook! I've just started a page there for the new year, where I'll be posting ceramic updates, including ongoing/finished work, links to shows & exhibitions & other links to sites I find interesting. Click on the link below & "like" my page if you'd like to follow along~

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Becky-Pinnick-Ceramics/304142806462256 

Thanks again & Have a Super 2015!

xoxo,

Becky

Updates!

Just a quick update! I have long neglected this blog I know! In between making the work, firing the work, photographing the work, entering the work in various shows, and then working my "real job," to keep the proverbial roof over my head, it seems I have precious little time left for much else!  But I just wanted to put up a quick post & let you all know what's been up.

Firstly, I got into another juried show in Colorado- The Contemporary Clay 5th Biennial Exhibit at the Art Center in Grand Junction, which was absolutely fabulous, AND, I actually got to go to the opening, which was great fun!

Secondly, I have been working hard & spending a lot of time learning to fire the Soda Kiln as you can see!

I also wanted to learn some new things, so I took another class which was primarily low fire techniques (in contrast to my love of high fire salt/soda firing!)

We learned how to make molds, & slip cast in addition to making bailing wire sculptures & dipping those in low fire slip as well. Here are a few pics~

While it was fun to learn something new, it only reconfirmed my love of handbuilding & coiling techniques, and the atmospheric results of salt/soda firing & my dedication to the ongoing Polar Series.

Below are the Bears that I have completed in the last 6 months since my last post!

These bears are truly where my heart lies in terms of creating. I love the whole process... the building, glazing, firing & the day of kiln opening to see the results.

:)

I am also very pleased & excited to announce the culmination of the past few years of dedication to this project in an upcoming show entitled "Ursus Adaptation" with the amazingly talented local artist Carol Rose Brown here in Santa Fe, NM. The opening/artists reception is this Friday, July 25th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Wheelhouse Art.

(The Show will run from July 25th through August 24th- Click on either link above for details.)

Come on out if you can~ I'd love to see you there! I think it will be a fabulous event!

:)

On a side note, this will likely be my last post here, so I just wanted to thank everyone who has stopped by or followed my blog over the past 4- 5 years of this creative journey! Thank you all for your comments, kind support, emails, and friendship. Special thanks to those of you who have expressed interest in my ceramic work and who have contacted me and/or purchased work... just at the time when I've needed the incentive keep at it when I've questioned the pursuance of my artistic dreams.

Though I won't be blogging here any longer, I plan on keeping the blog up & archived, so that when I do get a website up & running at some point in the next few months- I'll be back to post the link. In the meantime, feel free to email me anytime... just click on the link "view my complete profile" on the sidebar... the link to my email is listed there under "Contact."

Thanks again for spending some time with me in the blogosphere...

I wish you all every happiness & enjoyment of this wonderful life!!!

xoxo,

Becky

♡♡♡

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!

:)