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!

:)

Well, Hello There!

It's been a long time & I've been busy as heck, but I finally had a day with no work or clay class/studio obligations, so I thought I'd head on down to Starbucks to treat myself to an overpriced seasonal Salted Caramel Mocha (and an internet connections as slow as molasses in winter) & update the ol' blog.

It's a long (but fascinating!) post, ha ha ha!

:)

So what have I been up to this semester? Why continuing with the Polar Series of course! As you may recall, last semester in Studio Practice Class, I was essentially building 50 # test tiles in the form of Polar Bears... testing various different clay bodies & seeing how they react with the same glaze in the Soda Kiln and working out the issues in terms of drying/cracking, and finding out which clay bodies yielded results that were pleasing to me.  Some worked well, and some not so much, but it gave me a great idea of where I wanted to go this semester. 

My goal for this semester was to continue with the series, creating a total of 8 bears, ranging in Color from Whitish/off White & changing in gradation to Reddish/Brown/Black to symbolize on a conceptual level the degradation of the environment & habitat for all things wild, and emphasize the Polar Bear as messenger of these changes. The working title for this series is 

"The Last Great Migration."

In reality, I'd like to create 25- 30 of them.... enough to fill a large room or Gallery Space... I can visualize the whole thing in my head, but alas, due to work obligations (gotta pay the bills & keep that roof over my head) and the simple fact that our Soda Kiln is small & there are many production pottery students vying for space... 8 was about all I could manage. Not to mention I wanted to finish some of the Micaceous Pots I had started last semester so I could participate in the Clay Club Sale (which, incidentally is next week!)

So, without further ado, here's what I've been up to! 

Ann's Soda Cone 10 Clay

Above is  # 1 in the green state (unfired.) And Below, # 2.

Below, # 2 from different angles.

Ann's Soda Cone 10 Clay

Below, # 3. This one is a little more abstract...

Ann's Soda Cone 10 Clay

especially from this angle, which is my favorite angle by the way.

:)

Below- 1, 2, 3, & a headless # 4 on the right.

Bird's eye view on # 4. I love that it forms a heart.

:)

# 4- finished/drying.

Laguna Dark Brown Cone 10 Clay

# 5  In progress...

and # 5 finished/drying... various angles.

Laguna Sculpture Cone 10 Clay

# 6... Now this part would always drive me crazy..... when I'd get up to the head, the clay was too wet to continue, the studio would close & I'd have to go to work the next day!

Arrgh! So I'd have to wrap it really well, prop up the neck so it wouldn't drop & wait impatiently until I could get back to it!

I started this project at the end of August, and below is where I was at mid October.

6 bears in various stages: greenware, bisqued, glazed, but none had gone through the final firing. People would come by my studio at this point & comment on how I was "cranking them out..." these glib comments would drive me a bit crazy as I was spending 40+ hours a week in the studio (and 25-30 hours a week at my 'real job') to get to this point!! 

Anyhow! Below, 2 angles of # 6 finished & drying.

Death Valley Red

# 7, below, gave me some issues. I still have not figured out why some come easy & some give me such a hard time... but so it goes.

I wasn't happy with the neck angle on this one, so I had to cut it open & do a surgery of sorts.

And, of course I ran out of time, had to put it under wraps & go to work!

(It is times like these when I wish, wish, wish I had my own studio and didn't have to worry about things like actually supporting myself!)

But, eventually, things get finished! Below is # 7, finished & drying.

Laguna Dark Brown Cone 10

On my last one, # 8,  I didn't want to limit myself to 50 #, so I bought 3 bags, so I could go a little larger. I ended up using about 60 # or so. 

Here's a little of the process~

Death Valley Red Cone 10 Clay

My friend took this pic of me w/ the last one... it gives a good sense of scale. Not thinking about length limitations, I almost made it too big to fit in the bisque kiln! But thankfully it fit, with about a 1/2" on either side to spare. 

7 out of 8 bears have made it out of the Soda Kiln intact & with quite nice results! (Number 8 is bisqued, glazed, and with any luck will go in the next firing.) I'm in the process of photographing them & editing the photographs.... but in the meantime, I thought I'd show you a little of the process & what it takes in order to get them loaded. As you know, our soda kiln is fairly small, my pieces fairly large, and it takes a fair amount of effort, strength & a little assistance to get them in!

Also, while we started the semester loading & unloading the kiln in shorts & T-shirts, we are now loading & unloading in freezing temps! These are pics taken during the last unloading.

"The Keeper of the Kilnyard"

Brrrrr! Even one of the bears, fresh out of the Kiln needed a little something to keep warm!

:)

So that brings us up to date on the Polar Project! 

So, you can see I've been busy... below are also the Micaceous Pots (various stages- sanded, polished/ready to fire) I was working on earlier this semester... all but 2 that I started are now finished & I'll try to get the final pics posted early next week before the sale.

And of course, the little bears- "the smalls" as my brother calls them. I made somewhere around 50 of these... some I lost in the firing, some I gave away, and some will be Christmas gifts, which will leave me with around 30 of them for the Clay Club Sale.

It was fun experimenting not only with different clay bodies on these, but also with placing them in different areas in the Soda Kiln to see which yielded the coolest results.

As soon as I get all the large bears photo'd & edited, I promise to post 'em, too!

Until then~

 Wishing you all a warm, happy & peaceful winter season!!

:)