I'm a Wooster Booster

Sometimes weeks go by with nothing that is interesting enough to share with everyone, then there are weeks like this last one. Last summer I got wind that Dan Finnegan and Gay Smith were both presenting at the Functional Ceramics Workshop in Wooster, Ohio. I have known each of them for several years and though their pots are very different they are both inspirational in their approach to the material and the impeccable quality of their work.  Ronan Kyle Peterson was also presenting and although I had heard the name, I was not that familiar with his work. I think I may have been the first to register.  Thursday  I drove to Wooster, checked into the Best Western and went over to the Wayne Art Center for a look around and an opening reception. The WAC is in an old school building and it offers a broad spectrum of classes but this weekend it was clay all over there was a classroom for the reception and for the participant sale the next day. There was another for registration and the presenters sale. A third held an exhibit that included the presenters and others who had been juried in. I was very impressed with the work by Mike Frasca. He is in Harrodsburg Ky. now but trained in Cincinnati. I know a lot of his clay friends from those days and had heard the name but not seen the pots. WOW!

At the reception I caught up with Gay and Dan, met Ronan, and found up n comer Didem Mert who is a facebook friend who recently had work in Ceramics monthly. It was a nice start to a great event.

Friday dawned early for me. Luckily, the motel starts serving a hot breakfast at 6 AM so I had time to linger before heading out. For a motel breakfast bar, I thought it was very good and there were a couple of women making sure everyone was happy. The workshop got underway in the old auditorium of the school and easily accommodated 200 people. Dan Finnegan led off by moaning about not being a morning person but you never would have known it. He went for two hours straight and never missed a beat. He demonstrated techniques, told stories of his days at Winchcombe, and shared his warmth and good nature.

 

We had a quick lunch with box lunches from Jimmy Johns. The food was fine and it was so much faster than trying to go through a line where people make their own sandwiches and select which sides to dish up. Turkey sub, Italian sub or Vegan if you preordered one. Grab a drink and move on. 200 people served in about 5 minutes.

Gay Smith led off the afternoon. I had spent a week at Odyssey in Asheville for a workshop with her several years ago. Even though I had seen her techniques before, it is always inspirational to hear her presentation and be reminded of her attention to detail.She approaches the material with great respect and is very smooth and fluid in how she works. She covered Faceting, Fluting, Willow Leaf Ovalizing, oval lids, and detail detail detail !

 

 

 

 

Finishing the first day was Ronan Kyle Peterson. He was a very entertaining presenter and an excellent choice for the last slot of the day. Ronan ( Ron an) works in earthen ware and showed us how he applies handbuilding techniques like darting to wheel thrown work. He then slips, textures, and decorates to create layers of interest.

 

 

Friday night, we went to a place called Quailcreek Farm for a grilled chicken dinner. They have a very nice nursery and garden store that we roamed in with wine and nibbles while dinner was being assembled. Dinner was very good and sharing a table with old and new friends made it even better.

 

 

Presentations continued Saturday but unfortunately, I had to leave by noon to get back to Cincinnati in time to hang the street banners for our spring pottery fair. I hated to leave but this job was timed to go along with the community council taking down their banners for another event  and them helping us hang ours. If you ever get the chance to see any of these presenters, do it. You'll be glad you did. A big thanks should also go out to everyone from WAC for all the hard work it takes to make an event this size look effortless. I hope to be there again next year.

 

 

One final note was I did my first official open mic appearance last night with the Queen City Balladeers. I have jammed with them for a couple of years but had not done a solo on stage performance before. I did George Jones' "She Thinks I Still Care" and Bob Wills' " Faded Love". It was well received and I received a lot of nice comments afterwards. My intro included.. Like many first times it will be over before you know it and there many be some kind of clap at the end. Here is a previous video of Faded Love. Thanks for stopping and try to plan on coming to Spring Pottery Fair on May 2 Madison and Woodburn in Cincinnati.

 

 

                         

 

 

Short Post

Last time I posted a shot of some wine glasses as greenware. Smartcat asked to see them finished. OK Here they are.

 

I'm happy with how they came out. We'll see if they sell before making them by the dozen.

 

 

I am still moving slowly toward Springfair which is approaching quickly on May 2. I am pretty much done making and may just glaze a light load so I can run a few refires through the kiln. I have been compartmenting more case for stuff and really wanted to come up with a way to put all my cereal bowls in one box. I figured I needed 12 stacks 4 high and could not find a bin to suit me anywhere so I built one. It is 1/2 inch birch plywood with reinforced finger jointed corners. There is a top that slides in. The only problem is that loaded with 48 bowls, this thing weighs about 60 lbs. I can manage it but I don't want a van full like this. I'm wondering if it would work to just display them like this instead of unpacking. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

April Commeth

As we enter the last day of March, I want to remind you that like New Years, April Fools Day is for amateurs Be careful with your comedy and try not to hurt anyone who doesn't deserve it. Feel free to make Indiana jokes. I know plenty of good people in Indiana but they have a Governor who has some of the biggest Gay bashers in the country surround him at a signing ceremony then claims the bill he signed doesn't do what it says it does. Now he says they need to clarify things. He should have waited until tomorrow to announce that one! In this country, you can form a church based on Aliens, one based on tablets buried on a farm, one based on predicting doomsday, one based on hating everyone who does not look and think like you. Hypothetically, I am free to believe women should not vote. I am not free to stop them from voting.If you think about the lunch counters of the 50's you can just substitute the Gay Population for the African American s to see what will be legal in Indiana. Thankfully, the backlash is very strong and is affecting economics of the state. When you get into someones pocket, they pay attention. Enough soapbox. Moving on....

Not too much excitement in the studio this week. I have been trying to make some footed wine glasses but am hesitant to make a bunch until I have fired some successfully.

I like where these are going and hopefully by next week I'll have some finished ones to show you. I am taking about 20 oz of clay and throwing a cup with a large ring of clay left at the foot. I then heat gun the top of the cup, flip it over and stick it to the wheel with a little water and throw the foot. If I need to make the curve a little more fair, I can also do a little trimming. If I decide to make a run of them, I'll skip the heat gun and let them air dry with the foot covered so that part stays soft. There are other ways to make these but I like the smooth curve that this one gives. We'll have to see how they finish out.

Other than that, I have been trying to get some pots to dry in a cold studio for bisque firing. I have a load crammed full so I have been cleaning up to get ready for glazing later this week. It is cooling now so I took a few minutes for an old murder ballad. Although it is set on the Ohio River, I like to think that it probably happened in some God forsaken place like Indiana. Ohioans have too much respect for the rights of others to act this way.

Packing It In

 Last week I shipped some canisters to St. Louis. Monday they sent me a note that they had a safe trip and are happy and well loved in their new home. They even included a picture of them in situ. It was so nice of the buyer to take time to write and let me know everything was ok. I don't like to sell sight unseen and ship stuff but the buyer made this one very easy. Here is a shot of them before they left.

Other than that, I have been getting tax stuff together and trying to get more organized. I have been told that my big show in May wants us off the street by 6:30. I made it last year but it was close. I'm trying to make box dividers that will allow me to just drop mugs in place without wrapping each one. Once I made templates, cutting them out went really fast. I used scrap plywood and Masonite since it was cheap sturdy and handy.  It does put fewer in a box but I hope it will speed things up by 10 or 15 minutes since I will probably bring several boxes. A similar plan should help with cereal bowls. The picture shows some bubble wrap that is stuffed in the slot and just folded over some of the mugs. I will probably trim that down so I can just leave it in place. Note the blue mugs are not that intense in real life, more like the canisters. My plates go 8 to a laundry soap bucket on edge with a piece of foam in between. They load just like plopping them in a file cabinet. Big bowls nest, Baking dishes have slots in a big Rubbermaid tub. Any other ideas out there to streamline things?

Ten Years In

I retired from teaching the last week of February in 2005. 30 years of combined state employee and teaching credits 54 years old. I was a teacher of students with multiple disabilities and many abilities. I was dept chair and had great support from my students, their parents, and my employer but it was time to go. I have seen way too many people work until they die or until their bodies are so broken they cannot enjoy their retirement. I had vowed long ago that I would take a different path. I also had developed diabetes, sleep apnea, and had a couple of transient but scary episodes of Atrial Fibrillation I took our new ( first ) camper on a trip down the Blue Ridge, I put new windows in the house. I bought a boat and went fishing. I went to Yosemite and the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival while visiting our son in San Francisco. I visited our daughter in Charlotte. I had a year to spend with my Mom before she passed away. There was time to get her groceries, time to cut the grass, time to take her to the doctor. She passed away in 2006  It was a year well spent. Then I took a clay class.

I had harbored an interest in making pottery for a long time but had never done anything about it. My wife had retired by this time and she was signing up for a jewelry class at the Middletown Art Center.  I asked her to see if they had pottery classes. They did. I started and 8 weeks later, I could center clay effectively and had made a few pots. I was hooked. I was spending a couple of days a week playing in the mud. Had we bombed Afganistan with those pots we would have been out of there years earlier. The pots got better and I kept making. I joined the Clay Alliance and became active in the local clay community. I took workshops and actually stayed in touch with people afterwards. I volunteered for stuff. I started blogging. I didn't see the blog as a way to sell pots but as a social connection and I have met many, many wonderful people both virtually and in person.

The inevitable happened and I started doing shows. There went the free time but it also brought the adventure of a new challenge. Making pots and selling pots are two different skills. You really can't sell crap at any price but even nice work at fair prices takes skills you only learn from experience and being a sponge around friends and mentors.

The other thing that is different is that after being told just to move my lips in music class as a kid I have recently gained the confidence to actually sing out loud and play guitar in front of people that usually takes up most of my non-show Sundays.

OK, enough about me for now. Here are some pictures of current work. Thanks for stopping by.