2018 Yunomi at CLAYAKAR

Here is a behind the scenes look at just a small fraction this year’s stellar collection of yunomi at CLAYAKAR.COM 👉@clayakar👈Do you recognize any of the potters? I made a pilgrimage to Iowa City, Iowa after the St. Croix Pottery Tour last weekend, to visit Sanjay and Jigna Jani, the folks who brought you the gold standard of online pottery exhibition, AKAR Design. Their annual Yunomi Invitational has been wildly successful and this year’s collection will be splendidly available at 10 a.m. CST. Some of the pieces can be seen in 360°! Because of several scheduling conflicts, this will be the first year i will be absent from the show. 😔 (but I guarantee i will be there clicking through hundreds of cups by 180 potters) 

A post shared by Michael Kline (@klineola) on May 18, 2018 at 6:16am PDT

2018 ST. CROIX POTTERY TOUR

Today I added one more credential to my wall, my St Croix Valley Pottery Tour name tag. It has been a real blast and a true honor to be part of this renown pottery event! I had always wanted to do the tour and 3 years ago Guillermo Cuellar made that dream a reality by inviting me to join his studio for the tour. I have fond memories of spending the tour weekend with some real giants in our pottery field and making lifelong friends. Thanks to S C Rolf @scrolf.potter1, Wayne Branum @waynebranum, Sue Tirrell @suetirrell, Amanda Dobbratz @adobbratz, Mike Norman, Dick Cooter, and Jim Lorio. And, of course, a great big THANK YOU go to @guillermopottery and @laurita_maccuellar for taking a chance on me. Their generosity and hospitality are boundless and Stacey and I will always be grateful! . . #stcroixpotterytour #stcroixpotterytour2018 #theroadtostcroix #guillermocuellarhost #potterydreams #hellomynameis #mingeisota #minnesotapottery #guillermocuellarpottery

A post shared by Michael Kline (@klineola) on May 17, 2018 at 1:00pm PDT

Video-eo-eo

Here are a few videos from my Instagram feed showing some of the work I've been doing lately. Hover over or click the image to get the video rolling!

Click here or on the instagram logo below any of the videos to go to my Instagram page to see other images of studio life!

Will Ruggles of Rock Creek Pottery demonstrated this rope impression technique in a workshop at the Penland School in 1989. I wasn't officially in the class, I was a freeloader. I had legitimately taken the previous workshop with Michael Simon and decided to loiter for a few days and peek in on the Ruggles/Rankin workshop. I slept on the couch at the Pines dining hall and sat in on demos for a few days. Different times back then. The rope is a short section of clothesline that is dampened and rolled with as even pressure as you can finesse from rim to center of the pot. Every couple rows there is a need to do a short row because rthe overlap that occurs. The overlapping forms an overall spiral.

A video posted by Michael Kline (@klineola) on Jan 17, 2016 at 1:57pm PST

A little movie about a little pot! This snippet was taken from a recent live stream on Periscope. I have been playing around with it and another streaming app called Meerkat. If you would like to see more let me know. Follow me on periscope (@klineola) and on meerkat my username is michaelkline. There is a growing number of potters doing their thing on these streams, @timseeclay @shinygbird @redfoxpottery @artbyfuzzy @corisandlerpottery among them. If you stream, leave a comment here with which service you use as well as your username. Now just jam ON it!

A video posted by Michael Kline (@klineola) on Jan 23, 2016 at 3:40pm PST

Trying to capture the fun I'm having with this wonderful inlay technique. Thanks to my daughter Evelyn for doing the camera work! Enjoy.

A video posted by Michael Kline (@klineola) on Jan 26, 2016 at 3:48pm PST

More Hyper-lapse Than You Can (quickly) Shake A Stick At

Sometimes I lapse. Do you? Do lapse? Laps? Lately I've really been loving the time-lapse feature of ye olde iPhone.

Making mugs today for my "New Work, New Kiln" funders and for my debut at the Old Church Cultural Center Pottery Invitational in Demarest, NJ #newworknewkiln #theroadtodemarest #video #timelapse #hyperlapse #mug

A video posted by Michael Kline (@klineola) on Nov 5, 2015 at 11:48am PST

Part 1 of plate trimming #wnc #ncpottery #video #hyperlapsevideo #potteryvideo

A video posted by Michael Kline (@klineola) on Oct 25, 2015 at 11:33am PDT

There's more at my Instagram.

Mason Hill Clay Studio

I just wanted to share with you Jackie Sedlock's exciting new clay project. I hope you can support it!

New Kiln a Go-Go

I've launched an IndieGoGo campaign to fund the construction of a new soda kiln.

Here's what I wrote to introduce the project: As a potter, the kiln is a critical tool, and an enormous investment and commitment. The wood kiln I built in 2002 has served me well, and will still be fired several times a year. I have been working with master kiln builder, William Baker, to design the new propane fired soda kiln. The kiln will be smaller in scale than my wood kiln, and will be less labor intensive to fire. The smaller size will allow for a shorter turnaround as I experiment with surfaces and glazes. The new pots are time and labor intensive to make, so the scale of the kiln is important. I hired William for his design expertise as well as his meticulous attention to detail and skill as a builder. I will work alongside him to build the kiln, and I couldn't be more excited.

  To contribute to the project click here!

Thank you so much!

Are You A Solopreneur?

I listen to every one of Gary Vaynerchuk's #AskGaryVee shows/podcasts and he ALWAYS has great advice on social marketing, biz, etc. Every so often I find myself saying, "yes, that's what I want to know." Skip and FF to the question.

When The Mud Meets The Bat

I listened to The Potters Cast #116 with Connee Mayeron and heard the most wonderful way of describing the excitement of throwing.

At 49:10 Connee explains,

I don't want to measure what I'm throwing with a caliper, because I want the tension of when the form is kind of at it's most significant moment, when it's the most alive. I want to stop throwing at that point. So whether it's an inch in or an inch out, I don't really care. I'm always looking for that vibrancy.

Connee also has great answers to a couple of Paul Blais's slightly canned "mud meets the bat" questions, at times taking him by surprise with her directness! Paul has a great sense of humor and laughs with pleasant surprise to her fresh attitude. It made for a lively convo!

It's a great episode and I totally recommend it and all of Paul's shows. If you don't already, you should subscribe [here], whether you are a potter, a sculptor, or someone who loves to get insights into the creative process.

I look forward to meeting Connee next year at the Minnesota Pottery Tour. [and talking to Paul on his podcast! ;-)]

What's Next?

Making is done, on to the deco and glazing and firing #52. 

Focus

12 by 12 (not including the little gem in the left foreground) 

This week has been a confluence of so many deadlines and I have made the mistake of "whack-a-moling" these projects and getting consumed in the process. 

Meanwhile, the BIG deadline is my upcoming firing. So this morning I committed myself to a simple 12 x12. I've been meaning to throw some salsa bowls and finally got to that place on my making list. 

It seems like such a simple task to make twelve pots by 12 noon, but life is full of hurdles between my morning coffee and the making of pots. 

In the beginning, innovators invent out of some kind of personal need. I developed the idea of 12x12 based on methods that two of my pottery heroes employed. Michael Simon limits the the number of pots he makes each day and varies the forms, so that  the focus and variety produces the results/pots he wants. Linda Christianson starts her day by making a half dozen smallish pots before anything else gets in the way. 

My desire and need to get  simple focus led me to combine Simon's and Christianson's methods and come up with 12x12. 

After a scattered week of making I sought to push everything out of my mind and clear the path to my wheel to make just these pots quiet the noise of my deadlines. A construct like 12x12 is just the answer for a Friday morning!