BGSU Ceramics Symposium Day 2

In hindsight, there is much lost in traveling from symposium to conference. I really wanted to wrap up the Bowling Green gig while all of the juices were flowing and the memory as crisp as the Detroit winds, but I guess I didn't spend enough time in the airport! [hallelujah!!] But here are a few pictures from the second day of the Ceramic Symposium at BGSU last week.

"let's stop talking for a moment and try to finish these!"

Gerit's girl on a horse finished

foot detail

photo: Gerit Grimm

practically finished

There's never enough time to do all the things I want to do in two days, but Gerit and I had some amazing convo and made some cool stuff. 

Bill B prepping for his lecture.  Ahh, Heisenberg!

One of my all time favorite potters, Bill Brouillard, came on Friday top show some of his pots and lectured on his long and diverse career as a potter and teacher. 

Here is the gang at the end of the line.

Zimra Beiner, moi, Gerit, Bill, Clay Leonard

Thanks to Clay Leonard (@ClayCeramics on Twitter) and Zimra Beiner for organizing the symposium and everyone who came to the event, and especially those that helped wedge the clay and mix the slips! 

BGSU Ceramics Symposium Day 1

We had a amazing day making and talking.

Day 2 tomorrow, wrap up and back on a plane to the NC Pottery Conference!
Maybe I'll get someone to take pictures of me working! ;-)

Mad Dash

I'm heading out of town and getting ready for my gig in Bowling Green Ohio with Gerit Grimm at BGSU. But first some slip combing and a pottery bloggery summit with Cooper, Phillips, Philbeck, and Carpenter.

Now, where did I put that trimming tool?

DIY Shoji Wheel

It's purely coincidental that I discover this video completely randomly today. It has nothing to do with my visit to Bandana Pottery last week or does it? Is Google or the NSA monitoring the blog?

My recommendations :

• Raise your axle so your not so bent over like Mr. Bergman.
• Use a safer turning stick like maybe wood! The tire iron is ironic, but a little hazardous (if you accidentally lose your grip on it and it's coming at you or any onlookers!)

Enjoy! (but don't hurt yourself)

Oh, and here's a nice video of the one and only, Shoji Hamada throwing on a similar wheel.

Today's Sawdust

Milan and his "new" truck brought 3 huge bundles of poplar from his sawmill in Buladean. It was great to hear him trucking up the steep hill to the kiln. Let the sawdust fly.

What's Comes Around Goes Round

Time for those six 5 gallon buckets of red dirt reclaim to be brought back to a working consistency. I'll also reclaim that space in my studio where the buckets have been stacked. Turning mud into pots. It's good to have a stack of new plaster bats!

Now back to making more plates. People need to eat off of something nice!

Pugging

I'm sure there will be the usual scatological comments (oh, come on, don't be shy on my account), but I see a really nice line in this pugged clay.

Wordplay

My dearest Evvy,
Thanks for showing me Wordle. I used the text from my recent article in the journal, The Logbook, and this is what it came up with! Pretty cool!

Here's my artist statement in Wordle.

OK,  got to get back to work!

 For all you pottery bloggery readers who want to see these Wordles full size, click here.

Plaster, Videos, and Ireland

This week has flown by, as it does. Wednesday Kenny Sedberry and I went out with the video cam and filmed four of our  POTR guild. We started out at Bandana Pottery, where Naomi Dalglish made a cake plate, and Michael Hunt deco'd some plates and threw cups off the hump.

Kenny and I tried our hands on Michael's stick propelled wheel.

Next we headed over Stan Andersen's studio on Water Street. Stan had many great stories which we captured on video, but we had to scramble to charge the batteries during our lunch break! One of the videos is Stan outlining the fascinating history of majolica-ware! I may post that one here next week. 

After lunch we went to David Ross's place over on Snow Creek Rd. where David made a huge slab platter. We're making the videos to document our guild and will begin releasing them in April on our Facebook page.

I made new reclaim bats this week. They are 22" x 22" x 2". Of the 4 I made in 1998, 2 are left and are chipping and flaking. Besides I need 4 to reclaim my barrel. I am well aware of the economics debate that I've had before about whether or not to reclaim. But its not always about economics for me, although my bank account would beg to differ.

One more thing: Don't miss my buddy, Shawn Ireland's show at AKAR that went live this morning!
He's got some beautiful pots there! Get them while they are still available!

Shawn Ireland, carousel candlestick, courtesy:AKAR design

In Praise of Liking Mistakes

Chris Staley and Cody Goddard have made some incredibly compelling videos.  This is one of my favorites. Thanks to Laura and  Lori for posting this video in the last couple of days on their blogs.

I am posting it here today in hopes that tomorrow another potter blogger will post it on their blog. Keep it going!