Clay Times Magazine Volume 19 • Issue 96

CERAMIC

ART

TRENDS,

TOOLS,

AND

®

TIMES

Clay

TECHNIQUES

Volume 19 • Issue 96 SUMMER 2013

Carol Long Essence of Fluidity Are You Making What You Really Want?

Calculating Your Kiln Footprint A Modified Tile Press Bruce Beasley: 50-Year Sculptor The Spirit of Ceramic Design

$8.95 U.S./$10.95 CAN

Boat Vessels from Bowl Extrusions PLUS: New Pictograms for Material Safety Labels Keeping It Real • Great Glazes for Cone 6 Oxidation

eQuad-Pro The eQuad-Pro sets the new standard in Production Kilns.

12-Key DynaTrol with Dynamic Zone Control • 3” brick • Quad element system (four rows of super heavy gauge elements per 9” high section) • Extra power with branch fusing for high production work • Type K 8 gauge thermocouples with ceramic protection tubes • Full support 14 gauge aluminized steel stand • Solid peephole plugs with full 1” view (no tapering) • Hard ceramic element holders • Proprietary reflective brick coating that protects brick and keeps dusting down • “Easy-Lift, Easy-Load” stainless steel spring hinge system with full-support when door is up and tilted back (there are no support bars to get in the way of loading) • Mercury-free relays • Direct wired • Three-year Limited Warranty

The Quad element system has been proven to extend element life dramatically in over a year of field work in crystalline glaze firing in our JH Series kilns.

eQUAD-PRO PRODUCTION KILNS WITH DYNAMIC ZONE CONTROL

Model Model

Number Number

Number of Number of Shelves Shelves

Inside Inside Diam Diam

Inside Inside Cubic Cubic Height Height Feet Feet

Exterior Exterior Dimensions Dimensions

KW KW

240/1 240/1

240/3 240/3

208/1 208/1

208/3 208/3

Amp~Fuse Amp~Fuse

Amp~Fuse Amp~Fuse

Amp~Fuse Amp~Fuse

Amp~Fuse Amp~Fuse

eQ2327-3 eQ2327-3

20” 20” (2 (2 full full && 44 half half shelves) shelves)

22-1/2” 22-1/2”

27” 27”

6.8 6.8

31W 31W xx 42H 42H xx 42D 42D

13.4 13.4 (240V), (240V), 11.6 11.6 (208V) (208V)

56 56 ~70 ~70

32.4~50 32.4~50

56.0~70 56.0~70

32.4~50 32.4~50

eQ2827-3 eQ2827-3

25-1/2” 25-1/2” (8 (8 half half shelves) shelves)

28” 28”

27” 27”

10.2 10.2

37W 37W xx 42H 42H xx 48D 48D

14.6 14.6

62.3~80 62.3~80

35.0~50 35.0~50

71.9~90 71.9~90

41.5~60 41.5~60

eQ2836-3 eQ2836-3

25-1/2” 25-1/2” (10 (10 half half shelves) shelves)

28” 28”

36” 36”

13.6 13.6

37W 37W xx 51H 51H xx 48D 48D

19.0* 19.0*

79.2~100 79.2~100

68.7~70 68.7~70

91.3~125* 91.3~125*

79.8~80 79.8~80

*Note: *Note: Special Special model model eQ2836-X-208-1P eQ2836-X-208-1P is is available available with with 16.6 16.6 K.W., K.W., 208 208 Volt/1 Volt/1 Phase, Phase, 80 80 amps amps for for aa 100 100 amp amp fuse. fuse. Furniture Furniture Kit: Kit: includes includes the the shelves shelves listed listed above above plus plus six six (6) (6) each each of of 1/2”, 1/2”, 1”, 1”, 2”, 2”, 4”, 4”, 6” 6” and and 8” 8” high high square square posts, posts, plus plus insulated insulated gloves gloves for for unloading, unloading, and and 55 lbs lbs of of Cone Cone 10 10 kiln kiln wash. wash. Cone Cone Rating: Rating: Cone Cone 10 10 More: More: See See hotkilns.com/equad-pro-kilns hotkilns.com/equad-pro-kilns for for more more information. information. See See hotkilns.com/dynatrol hotkilns.com/dynatrol and and hotkilns.com/zone-control hotkilns.com/zone-control for for information information about about the the control control system. system.

Toll Free: 888.684.3232 Swedesboro, NJ 08085

L&L Kiln’s patented hard ceramic element holders protect your kiln.

Simple

Safe

Effective

GlazeEraser is a unique, slow speed grinding tool designed to work with your potter’s wheel to quickly remove glaze drips and other unwanted kiln debris from pot bottoms. Ideal for quickly smoothing foot rings and rough glaze edges.

Order online at GlazeEraser.com

View demo at GlazeEraser.com/video

Manufactured by:

Call Toll Free: 1.866.545.6743 Visit www.GlazeEraser.com

Spectrum Glazes Introduces three new lead-free metallic finishes for Cone 5; Gold, Gold Rain, and Mirror. In addition to our popular Pewter and Oil Spot, we think you’ll be impressed by the newest metallic additions to our Stoneware Glaze line when you give them a try.

1112 Gold

1114 Gold Rain

1116 Mirror

SPECTRUM GLAZES INC. CONCORD, ONT. PH: (800) 970-1970 FAX: (416) 747-8320 www.spectrumglazes.com info@spectrumglazes.com

1188 Pewter

1198 Oil Spot

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CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

Cover photo: Bubble Gum Tree Bottle

by Carol Long of St. John, Kansas. 7" x 8".

Wheel-thrown stoneware with clay additions, slip-trailed decoration, and commercial glazes.

Fired to cone 5 in an electric kiln.

®

contents

TIMES

Clay

Summer 2013 Volume 19 • Issue 96

Cover inset photo: Detail of slip trailing by cover artist Carol Long, who also made the Caterpillar Vase pictured below.

features 14 Carol Long: Essence of Fluidity Original, organic, and mesmerizing, the ceramic works of Midwestern clay artist Carol Long offer refreshing reassurance that maybe it hasn’t all been done before.

30 Making A Simple Tile Press After years of putting up with with a tile press that left much to be desired, potter Linda Stauffer found she could easily modify a commercial arbor press to make tile production a breeze.

The first step is removal of the disk it’s supplied with (pictured on the commercial press above) ...

32 The Self-Serve Pottery Kiosk

41 From Bowls to Boats William Shinn shows how extruder dies can be used to create model boats that actually float.

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Adam Paulek takes the home studio practice of “serve-yourself pottery” to a new level — in local retail establishments.

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®

contents

TIMES

Clay SUMMER 2013 • Volume 19 • Issue 96

departments

22

21 AS FAR AS I KNOW

9 EDITOR’S DESK Inspiration: Where Do You Find It?

“Imagine This”

by Pete Pinnell

11 WHAT’S HOT

25 BENEATH THE SURFACE

Clay world news, events, and calls for entries

“Bruce Beasley: 50 Years” Part 1 of an interview

by Lana Wilson

33 GREAT GLAZES Karin Givon shares a few favorite formulas

29 KILNS & FIRING “Calculating Your Kiln Footprint”

by Marc Ward

34 THE GALLERY A selection of unique works by CT readers

37 TOOL TIMES

40 SLURRY BUCKET Studio-tested tips to save you time and money

“New Tool Finds”

by Vince Pitelka

45 POTTERY CLASSES

43 STUDIO HEALTH AND SAFETY

Where you can learn claywork in your community

“New Pictograms for Materials Safety Labeling”

by Monona Rossol

48 CLASSIFIED MARKETPLACE Goods and services offered especially for clay artists

47 BOOKS & VIDEOS “The Spirit of Ceramic Design” review by Steve Branfman

50 ADVERTISER INDEX Find your favorite ceramics suppliers in this issue (please tell them you found them in Clay Times!)

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columns

Pictured on this page, from top to bottom: Spider Mum Jardiniere, Sunflower Longbird Canteen, and Longbird in a Bubblegum Tree by cover artist Carol Long.

49 AROUND THE FIREBOX “Keeping it Real”

by Kelly Savino

THERE’S A FINE LINE BETWEEN PRICELESS AND WORTHLESS.

Artist Hiroshi Ogawa’s Oregon studio — destroyed by fire, 2003

What would you do if you lost your work, your tools, your images, and a lot more to a fire? Oregon potter Hiroshi Ogawa had always thought of fire as an ally, until his studio burned to the ground. CERF+ can help you learn how to protect your career from crossing that fine line.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

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CERAMIC ART TRENDS, TOOLS & TECHNIQUES

®

magazine

TIMES

Clay Editor & Publisher: Polly Beach

Regular Columnists:

“My Flex Slider is here and my students are loving it.

Thanks for taking the time to get it right.”

Charlotte Greenblatt Canyon Pottery Malibu

Steve Branfman, Books & Videos David Hendley, Around the Firebox Pete Pinnell, As Far as I Know Vince Pitelka, Tool Times Monona Rossol, Health & Safety Kelly Savino, Around the Firebox Marc Ward, Kilns & Firing Lana Wilson, Beneath the Surface Proofreader: Jon Singer Contributing Writers: Mark Cole • Karin Givon • Carol Long William Shinn • Linda P. Stauffer ✦ Printed on 100% FSC-certified and 75% post-consumer recycled paper ✦ Published by: CLAY TIMES INC. Post Office Box 100 • Hamilton, VA 20159 TEL 800-356-2529 • FAX 540-338-1765

Toll-free subscription line: 800.356.2529 Clay Times® (ISSN 1087-7614) is published quarterly, four issues per year. Periodicals Postage Paid at Hamilton, VA, and at additional mailing offices.

Annual subscriptions are available for $33 in the U.S.; $40 in Canada; $60 elsewhere (must be payable in US$). Digital subscriptions are just $20 worldwide. To subscribe, call toll-free 1-800.356.2529, or visit www.claytimes.com.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

Freelance editorial and photographic submissions are welcome: Please contact Clay Times or visit our Website at www.claytimes.com for writer’s and photographer’s guidelines.

8

The Flex Slider III™ For off-centered, asymmetrical, and plain old wonkey pots.

calls for entry at

All rights reserved. The material contained herein is derived from various sources and does not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher. All technical material is offered as general information only and should not be acted upon without expert supervision. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the publisher.

Questions? Comments?

Please e-mail us!

Editorial: claytimes@gmail.com Advertising: clayaccounts@gmail.com Circulation: ctcirculation@gmail.com Website: www.claytimes.com

Where Do You Find Yours?

S

ummer’s here and it’s beach time! What a great chance to soak up inspiration from the seashore, with its endless variety of textures, shapes, and colors.

beauty of marine life. From fish, birds, and plants to everchanging cloud formations and fluorescent colors of the sunset, the offerings of the seashore continue to impress, inspire, and amaze me long after my beach trip has ended.

Spouting Off I Editor’s Desk

Inspiration:

In This Issue

From the foamy bubbles of the tide to the coarse granules of sand, each texture and pattern leaves me hungry for a hunk of clay to play with. I find myself yearning to impress seashells, fossils, and seaweed into that wonderful, malleable material, to see how I might discover new ideas for surface decoration.

I love to photograph and capture the impressions made by patterns of the wind along the ocean sand, the fluidity of the ocean waves as they continuously morph and lap against the shoreline, and the

While cover artist Carol Long lives nowhere near the seashore, she’s been impressed and inspired by nature in her native Kansas habitat. Her unique and diverse body of work pictured throughout this issue is strikingly original, derived almost solely from her own personal experience, imagination, and inspiration.

Her story begins on page 14.

Speaking of inspiration, Pete Pinnell covers it well in his “Imagine This” column on pages 21-22, and Lana Wilson’s interview with 50-year sculptor Bruce Beasley offers his own insights as to what has made his career as a clay artist so successful. See pages 24-27.

Wish I could preview the rest of the great stuff in this issue, but I’ve run out of space. Suffice it to say you will be inspired, informed, and intrigued. Enjoy!

— Polly Beach, Editor [

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

Sand dollars and starfish are among my favorites. Oceantumbled rocks serve as excellent tools for burnishing. Pieces of sea glass can be embedded into clay forms for beautiful, colorful accents to the fired surface. A seemingly infinite selection of seashells offers stamps for surface decoration, as well as wadding for pots in salt, soda, and wood firings.

Ever made a boat out of clay?

Turn to pages 41-42 to see how Bill Shinn uses various shapes of extruder dies to yield the parts for handbuilt boat vessels. (Yes, some of them actually float ...)

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WEEKEND, ONE-WEEK AND TWO-WEEK WORKSHOPS

CLAY 2013

A Tile and A Vessel

A Juried Exhibit

2013 INSTRUCTORS: LINDA ARBUCKLE • CURTIS BENZLE • NICHOLAS BIVINS • MARGARET BOHLS & SUZE LINDSAY • SUNSHINE COBB • ANDRÉA KEYS CONNELL • SUSAN FILLEY & LEAH LEITSON • DEBRA FRITTS • MEAGAN CHANEY GUMPERT • JASON HESS • NAN JACOBSOHN • SARAH JAEGER • KATHY KING • JENNY MENDES • BRIAN NETTLES • RONAN KYLE PETERSON • ANGELICA POZO • JUSTIN ROTHSHANK • PAUL ANDREW WANDLESS

Juror:

Christy Johnson Director of American Museum of Ceramic Art Visit our web site for information

GATLINBURG, TN • 865.436.5860 Funded by Silver City Lodgers’ tax

August 2–4, 2013 • ClayFestival.com

WWW.ARROWMONT.ORG

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

Olympic FL12E Inside dimensions 24” x 24” x 36”, 12 cu. ft., fires to 2350°F – Cone 10, 12 key controller with cone fire & ramp hold programming, 240-208 volt, single phase. $5710

10

Olympic DD9 with Vent Hood* – Inside dimensions 30” x 25” x 25”, inside volume 15 cu. ft., setting area 23” x 23” x 30”, 9.2 cu. ft., fires to 2350°F – Cone 10, propane or natural gas $5870 * Pictured with optional stainless steel vent hood

For less than $6,000, you could be firing a 12 cubic foot, cone 10 gas or electric kiln.

More value for your dollar, more bang for your buck!

Contact an Olympic Kilns Distributor to purchase an Olympic Gas or Electric Kiln

www.greatkilns.com

Phone 800.241.4400 or 770.967.4009 Fax 770.967.1196



• ceramic art world news • events • • calls for entries •

Conferences

‰ The Silver City CLAY Festival takes place August 2-4 in Silver City, New Mexico. This annual celebration of clay, its history, and its cultural impact offers locals and visitors the chance to experience artist workshops and sales, lectures, demonstrations, films, archaeological tours, and various social activities.

The festival intends to foster an entrepreneurial spirit that engages businesses, artists, and the global community in a unified enthusiasm for clay, leading to rural economic sustainability. For complete event details, visit www. clayfestival.com

‰ Join more than 100 potters from the mid-Atlantic region for The 10th Biennial Mid-Atlantic Clay Conference, to take place Oct. 3-6 at the scenic 4-H Conference Center in Front Royal, Virginia. Programming will include demonstrations

by Nick Joerling, Joy Tanner, and Jim Sankowski, plus a new array of hands-on workshops and demos.

To learn more about the event, e-mail: conference@theclayconnection. org, or log onto the Website at www. theclayconnection.org ‰ “Material World,” the 48th Annual Conference of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts, takes place March 19-22, 2014 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Conference activities will be held at Milwaukee’s Delta Center at 400 W. Wisconsin Ave.,

and co-headquarters hotels include the Hilton Milwaukee City Center at 509 W. Wisconsin Ave. and the Hyatt Regency Milwaukee at 333 West Kilbourn Ave. According to NCECA, “Material World” will be dedicated to “the investigation of the complex ways that materials acquire meaning through the things that we make and those that surround us in our daily lives. Exhibitions and programs will expand on traditional definitions of fine and decorative arts, craft and design in the context of the 21st century.” For up-to-date info on developing details and conference programming, visit www.nceca.net

Calls for Entries ‰ The Kiln Studio and Gallery of Fairhope, Alabama is accepting digital submissions through August 1 of cups and saucers no larger than 6" in any dimension for “The Demitasse: A Cup and Saucer” to take place Oct. 4-31, 2013. Fee: $20 for two entries.

For details, e-mail thekilnstudio@ yahoo.com, visit www.thekiln studio.com, or call 251.517.5460. ‰ Shine On Brightly of Asheville, North Carolina is accepting digital submissions of ceramic cremation containers through August 2 by artists from AL, AR, FL, GA, LA, MD, MS, NC, SC, TN, TX, VA, and WV for “Remains to be Seen: An Out of the Box continued on next page

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

‰ Demonstrating clay artists including Bede Clarke, Israel Davis, Margaret Bohls, and TJ Erdahl will converge in Cedar Rapids, Iowa September 20-22 for the second biannual Iowa Clay Conference.

The event will be opened with a keynote address by Clay Times columnist Pete Pinnell, who will also participate in break-out discussions with many of the presenters and additional guest artists. Also slated for the event are wood firing pre-conference workshops, a bus tour of several area ceramic exhibits, vendor tables, participant mug exchange, and more. For full details, visit http://www.theceramics center.org/ICC_register.htm

‰ “HANDBUILT”: Demonstration, Inspiration, Conversation — A Handbuilding Conference to Benefit the Craft Emergency Relief Fund (CERF+) takes place Sept. 20-22 at the Montgomery County Community College in suburban Philadelphia, PA. This event will feature demonstrations by guest artists including Clay Times columnists Lana Wilson and Vince Pitelka as well as Chandra DeBuse, Mitch Lyons, and conference organizer Sandi Pierantozzi.

For complete conference information and registration details, visit: www.sandiandneil.com

Hot Stuff I News & Events



What’s Hot

11

Hot Stuff I News & Events

What’s Hot (continued from previous page) Look at Cremation Containers.”

The show will take place Oct. 3-Nov. 12, 2013. Entry fee: $20. To learn more, e-mail info@shineon brightly.com; log onto www.shineon brightly.com; or call 828.348.0455. ‰ The Firehouse Art Center of Norman, Oklahoma is accepting digital submissions through

August 9 of work made of at least 75% clay for “Clay,” to take place Sept. 13-Oct. 21, 2013. Fee: $25 for one entry; $10 for each additional entry (up to 3 total). For more information, e-mail info@ normanfirehouse.com; log onto www.normanfirehouse.com; or call 405.329.4523.

NCECA Seeks K-12 Program Proposals for 48th Annual Conference in Milwaukee, WI • March 19-22, 2014 Proposal Deadline: October 2, 2013 THEME: “Material World”

ELIGIBILITY

NCECA seeks a diverse group of presenters that will appeal to conference attendees involved in K-12 education. Proposals for NCECA’s K-12 programming strand may incorporate content and discussion on best practices, arts integration, curriculum or program design, and/or other contemporary issues in K-12 education.

Students (Undergraduate, Post-Bac, Graduate), Studio Artists, Educators (K-12, Community College, University), Gallerists, Curators, etc. are all encouraged to apply!

Everyone is eligible EXCEPT for those who participated in the program in Houston, Texas during NCECA 2013. Participation is generally limited to only one presentation.

PURPOSE AND FORMAT OF PRESENTATIONS The purpose of NCECA’s K-12 programming room is to share, promote, and discuss ideas, techniques, and practices for those involved or interested in K-12 education.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

The presentation format is open to the presenter’s discretion (i.e. lecture, discussion, short demonstration, etc.), and should fit within a 30-, 60-, or 90-minute time slot. Proposed topics and discussions should utilize the full time requested.

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The K-12 room will be have a laptop, LCD projector, and screen. In addition to lecture, panel, and discussion-based presentation formats, hands-on demonstrations and practice may be possible to accommodate. The room will not be outfitted with ceramics equipment or materials unless arranged for by the presenter.

Accepted presenters are eligible to receive a complimentary conference pass provided they are or become NCECA members at the time of acceptance. No other compensation is available for K-12 presenters. Presenters must understand that they are providing content as a service to the field. By accepting the invitation to present, presenters’ acknowledge NCECA’s rights to document their presentations and make available for publication presentation and written materials presented during the conference.

APPLICATION PROCESS Presenters should prepare a thorough description of what the presentation entails (200 to 400 words) that includes the names of all presenters, the format for the presentation, and a very brief and thought-provoking description of 50 words for possible use in the Conference Program Guide.

Topics should be developed to appeal to K-12 educators in private schools, public schools, community centers, home school, and/or other educational frameworks. Presenters should expect to take questions from the attendees, and plan for a 5-15 minute reflection time at the conclusion of their presentation.

Apply online at:

http://nceca.net/app/applications/k12_entry

‰ Cape Fear Studios of Fayetteville, North Carolina, is accepting digital submissions through August 23 of functional ceramics for its “19th Annual Nellie Allen Smith Juried Pottery Competition,” to take place Sept.

27-Oct. 22, 2013. For details, e-mail brooksel@mind spring.com; log onto www. capefearstudios.com; or call 910.433.2986. ‰ Studio 550: Community Art Center of Manchester, New Hampshire is accepting digital submissions of functional ceramics through August 28 for its “1st Annual Cup Show and Sale,” to take place Nov. 8-Dec. 30, 2013. Fee: $30 for three entries. To learn more, e-mail gallery@550arts. com; log onto www.550arts. com/opportunities; or call 603.232.5597. ‰ The Art Students League of Denver is accepting applications from Aug. 30Nov. 27, 2013 for “TABLE: The Fine Art of Dining,” a national juried exhibition dedicated to the presentation of functional ceramic art, focusing on the fine art of dining. Julia Galloway will jury the show, slated for February 8-9, 2014. Featured will be place settings, serving vessels and platters, and dinner table décor. To apply, log onto www.CallforEntry.org; or e-mail Shelley Schreiber at s.schreiber@asld.org for more information. ‰ The Local of Goshen, Indiana is accepting digital submissions through Sept.

1 of functional and sculptural ceramic cups for “The Cup: An Interpreted Object,” to take place Nov.

‰ The Ceramics Annual of America in San Francisco, California is accepting digital submissions of ceramic work through Sept. 1 for its “4th Ceramics Annual of America,” to take place October 18-20, 2013.

For details, e-mail ceramics annual@gmail.com; log onto www.ceramicsannual.org; or call 530.756.3938. ‰ The Wayne Art Center of Wayne, Pennsylvania is accepting digital submissions of clay, fiber, glass, metal, wood, and mixed media through Sept. 12 for “Craft Forms 2013,” to take place Dec. 6-Jan. 25, 2014. Fee: $40. For details, e-mail karen louise@wayneart.org; log onto www.craftforms.org; or call 610.688.3553. ‰ Digital submissions of functional and sculptural ceramics are being accepted through Sept. 13 for “The 4th International Ceramics Biennial — Reflection,” to take place Oct. 4-25, 2013 at the Halcyon Art Gallery of the Swope Art Museum in Terra Haute, Indiana. Fee: $30 for 3 entries.

For details, log onto: www. halcyonartgallery.com; e-mail raychenhalcyon@gmail.com; or call 207.807.8799.

‰ “Craft Hilton Head 2013” is accepting slide submissions of 2D and 3D fine art through Sept.

15 for its upcoming annual exhibition, to take place in Hilton Head, South Carolina from Dec. 5, 2013-Jan. 18, 2014. Entry Fee: $40. To learn more, log onto www.naturaledgeart.com; e-mail: curt@naturaledgeart.com; or call 770.480.9574.

Hot Stuff I News & Events

1-Dec. 2, 2013. Fee: $20 for two entries; $25 for three entries To learn more, e-mail thecup. interp@gmail.com; visit www. localgoshen.com; or call 989.330.4072.

‰ Bradley University of Peoria, Illinois is accepting digital submissions through Nov. 15 for its “4th Biennial Central Time Ceramics” show, to take place Feb. 27-Mar. 28, 2014. Eligible applicants include Central time zone residents age 18 and older of AL, AR, FL, IL, IN, IA, KS, LA, MO, MS, MN, NB, ND, SD, OK, TN, or TX. Artists who live in Central time zone regions of Canada or Mexico are also eligible. Fee: $30 for 3 entries; $50 for 5 entries. To learn more, visit: art.bradley.edu/bug; e-mail ezellefrow@bradley.edu; or call 309.677.2989 ‰ The Ceramics Guild of the Arts and Crafts Society of Lexington, Massachusetts is accepting digital submissions through Jan. 10, 2014 from current or former residents of Massachusetts for its next annual State of Clay Exhibition, to take place May 3-June 1, 2014. Entry fee is $35 for three entries. For further details, log onto www.stateofclay. com; e-mail thestateofclay@gmail. com; or call 781.862.9696. [ CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

To list your events, clay conferences, calls for entries, exhibitions, or ceramic news items in Clay Times®, please e-mail complete details to: claytimes@gmail.com, or click the events link at www.claytimes.com to fill out an online submission form.

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CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

Essence of F luidity

14

Large Vase with Longbirds and Wisteria.

22" x 15".

Carol Long draws inspiration for her intricate claywork from botanical life, art noveau, and life outside her Kansas studio.

BY CAROL LONG

I

have been working as a ceramic artist for more than 30 years. I maintain a studio and gallery on my farm in central Kansas. I am very passionate about clay, and feel that it is important for me to focus all my energy in my studio. Consequently, I spend countless hours there to keep from having to get behind the wheel of a tractor.

CLAYTIMES¡COM n SUMMER 2013

I am constantly captivated by the fluidity of clay. I draw inspiration from a variety of places: botanical life, art nouveau, life outside my studio window. When I am seeking inspiration I try not to look to

Pink Flower Box. 5" x 5".

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CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

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Carol Long achieves her delicate designs by the use of metal-tipped bottles filled with slip. Each piece is brushed with an iron wash after bisque firing to achieve a “toasty warmth,” and is then decorated with colored glazes and a clear glaze overspray.

other ceramic artists. Rather than remaking someone else’s work, I try to keep my inspirations pure.

I typically look to birds, insects, plants, trees, flowers, and things of that nature. Of course there is nothing new under the sun, but I feel that my creative process flows better if I don’t set boundaries. My forms are always based on the vessel. As I form a vessel I have an idea of what the subject matter will be and alter the vessel in ways to accentuate the vividness of that subject.

I use a mid-range, lightcolored cone 5 clay body to make my forms through a variety of methods. Vessels are often a combination of thrown, extruded, altered, and pulled forms. Once each piece is formed, I sliptrail detailed images on the surface of the piece. The piece is then allowed to dry so I can bisque fire.

Upholstered Lidded Jar with Claw Feet. 6½" x 8½".

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

Once the vessel is at the bisque stage, I stain its surface with an iron oxide wash to create a look of depth and toasty warmth.

I carefully glaze all the tiny details. All my glazes are commercial mid-range Laguna, Coyote, and Amaco Glazes. Once the details are glazed in color, I over-spray the entire piece with various white to beige glazes, then oxidation fire each piece to cone 5 in an electric kiln.

Carol Long maintains a clay studio in St. John, Kansas. She may be reached via e-mail at: clongpottery@gmail.com

Upholstered Pink Bottle with Claw Feet. 6½" x 6".

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CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

About the Artist: Carol Long draws influence from plant and animal life and is fascinated by the small complexities of the micro aspects of nature.

Her work continues to evolve as she experiments with new ways of expressing the tiny beautiful and intrinsic qualities of nature that we often take for granted.

Carol’s work has been featured at the Strecker-Nelson Gallery in Manhattan, Kansas. Her work can also be found at Bella Luz in Wichita, Kansas, as well as the Courtyard Gallery in Lindsborg, Kansas. She has a booth each year at the Outdoor Living Show (formerly known as the Wichita Garden Show) in Wichita. Her most recent work is always available on her Website at http:// longpottery.com Born in 1965, Carol was raised on a farm in Stafford County, Kansas. The farm having been homesteaded in the 1880s had, by the time of her childhood, matured with enormous trees and a thick shelter belt.

In these wooded areas she explored and found a connection with nature, developing a full appreciation of plant and animal life.

Her mother also had an interest in art, and often took Carol to art museums.

Upholstered Bottle with Daisies. 5" x 5".

Carol often felt a need to express herself by bringing her imagination to life. She remembers as a child using one of her father’s cattle syringes filled with mud to draw structures in the driveway. In high school, she excelled in art. She credits her teacher, prominent Raku artist Sheldon Ganstrom, for helping to spark her interest in ceramics. After high school she attended Barton County Community College, where she was always drawn to the ceramics lab. She has studied under Glenda Taylor, Linda Ganstrom, and Steve Dudek.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

Carol has now taken on two studio apprentices, Mark Freeman and Bambi Freeman.

She is thrilled with the new energy in her studio and looks forward to new venues and future expansion. [ Pictured, opposite page: Top: Poppy Book. 3" x 4".

Bottom: Black Envelope Vase. 11" x 23".

Poppy Box. 5" x 5".

19

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

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20

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Imagine This “Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn’t the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment ...”

W

ith your permission I’d like to take your imagination for a walk. In modern parlance this might be called an envisioning exercise, but I would tend to just call it daydreaming. Please bear with me.

Imagine it’s ten years from now. You have a good place to make your work, your artwork has been developing well, and you’re very happy with how your career has been building.

One day you get an e-mail from the owner of a major gallery — your dream gallery — asking you to have a one-person show.

“Yes, of course,” you answer.

You spend the better part of a year preparing work for the show. This is, after all, the most important exhibition of your career. You’re ready when the deadline arrives, and all of the work is shipped to the gallery.

When it arrives at the gallery, the owner excitedly calls to tell you that the work is incredible — even nicer than she had expected.

So, here are my questions.

What did you see there — what artwork did you just see in that imaginary gallery? Did it look like what you’re making now, or was it an improved version of your current work? What does it mean if you saw a work that’s completely unlike what you’re making now?

These may be irrelevant questions: perhaps your work doesn’t even belong in a gallery.

Still, I get the sense that many artists are holding back a secret dream; a body of work that they wish they were making rather than the work they’re actually making. It may have nothing to do with working hard enough.

There may be any number of reasons why they’re not making (or even attempting to make) their dream artwork.

In 1932, the humorist Robert Benchley wrote a short essay entitled, “How to Get Things Done.”1 It’s a funny little piece (you can easily find it online) in which Benchley makes a very insightful observation: “Anyone can do any amount of work, provided it isn’t the work he is supposed to be doing at that moment.” Benchley

then describes how he assigns himself a task that he must get done (writing a newspaper column) and leverages that to successfully answer some letters, put up a bookshelf, clip some articles, and get a haircut. The only thing that he doesn’t actually do is write the newspaper column.

I regularly see this trait among my students — even my better students. I call it the Benchley Syndrome. They work hard, but not in a way that addresses the issues that they should really be working on. As a teacher, I’m very hesitant to interrupt someone who is working hard.

I figure that if they’re working that hard, then they must be onto something. But that isn’t always the case.

The avoidance can take many forms, and all look like real work.

Some students struggle with endless technical questions: forever tweaking clay bodies, testing glazes, and searching for the perfect firing cycle.

Some focus on skill building: developing amazing capabilities and amassing a wide range of techniques. Others skip between different kinds of artwork, exploring one idea for a while, then merrily skipping on to another idea as soon as they run into difficulty. Some put off exploring a new idea because they need to stay focused on continued on page 22

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

On the day before the opening you fly to the exhibition city and the gallery owner picks you up at the airport. “Would you like to see the installation?” she asks. Of course! She drives you to the gallery and you enter the building through a back door, walking into a large, dark room. With a click she turns on

the lights and you look around the gallery. It’s beautiful — it’s exactly what you had been hoping for. In fact, it’s the show that you always dreamed you would have.

BY PETE PINNELL

Perspectives I As Far As I Know

Are You Making What You Really Want?

21

Perspectives I As Far As I Know

Imagine This (from page 21) meeting the next deadline. Still others will suddenly remember an overdue Art History paper, or throw themselves into repairing equipment or preparing for their teaching. All of these things are valid kinds of work and all can be valuable, if not essential, to being a successful ceramic artist. Yes, even skipping around a bit between different kinds of work can help you compare ideas or just keep fresh. That said, none of this work is helpful if it’s preventing you from developing the work that you secretly wish you were making.

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Fear probably plays a part, of course. Sometimes ideas are just too important, too sacred, or simply too private to chance showing to other people. And sometimes you may just want to develop an idea without having to think about how you’re going to explain it in a critique. There are any number of reasons why we might not try to make the work that we really want to make.

would never have dreamt of if you were just sitting around looking for a great ‘art idea.’” 2 I completely agree with Chuck.

There’s no replacement for hard work and consistent effort. Being a successful artist requires the same kind of bluecollar dedication as the person who clicks into work with a time clock and is paid by the hour. Yes, most of the time we need to pay attention to the details and thoughtfully make those countless small decisions that occur when we’re working hard and being productive.

This process is the backbone of creativity. However, we also need to take time to dream and to pay attention to those dreams. Dreaming is important for artists because it can tell us more about the real destinations we’re trying to reach — even the destinations that we may not be admitting to ourselves. Once we discover our true destination, then all that hard work can help us get there, rather than getting in the way.

Every successful artist has a voice — an identity. Most artists don’t decide this — they discover it. We find our identities in bits and pieces. We don’t make one big decision, but instead make countless small decisions ... and it’s the sum of these numerous decisions that leads each of us to the realization of who we are as an artist.

So, when the light goes on in that gallery — the gallery of your dreams — what do you hope to see there?

In an interview with painter Joe Fig, the artist Chuck Close said, “Inspiration is for amateurs — the rest of us just show up and get to work. And the belief that things will grow out of the activity itself and that you will — through work — bump into other possibilities and kick open other doors that you

2. Inside the Painter’s Studio by Joe Fig; Princeton Architectural Press, 2009. [

Footnotes: 1. “How to Get Things Done: One Week in the Life of a Writing Man”

by Robert Benchley, published in the Chicago Tribune on February 2, 1930.

Peter Pinnell is Hixson-Lied Professor of Art at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. You can reach him at ppinnell1@unl.edu or through his Facebook page at www.facebook. com.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

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Bruce Beasley:

50-Year Sculptor — AN INTERVIEW BY LANA WILSON —

An extremely successful sculptor is interviewed in this column on Bruce Beasley’s 50-year career.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

Beasley, born 1939, started at Dartmouth College and then transferred to the University of California at Berkeley. In 1961, while in his last year of art school at Berkeley, he was in a show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. Just one year later, the museum acquired a sculpture of his for their permanent collection, making Beasley the youngest artist with work in the museum’s collection. He also worked for Peter Voulkos doing casting and welding. In 1963, Beasley’s sculpture Prometheus LL was bought by the Guggenheim Museum in New York, and his work Daedalus was acquired by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Beasley was chosen as one of eleven sculptors to represent the U.S. at the Biennale de Paris; his piece Icarus won the Purchase Prize, and became part of the French National Collection. In 1964, at age 25, he had his first New York solo show. In 1968, after exhaustive research, he was able to make acrylic castings up to four inches thick. Later he was approached by prominent oceanographers to cast an all-transparent bathysphere, which he was able to make. The impressive list goes on.

Look at www.brucebeasley.com for pictures and more info.

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In a 1993 interview with Marlena Donohue, Beasley stated, “I feel my process has a life of its own. I discover the piece as I create it. I find it as I work rather than having a preconceived notion in my head. In this I feel close to the spontaneity of abstract expressionism. When I speak of ‘evolving out of the process,’ I am not speaking about the process of casting or welding bronze. I am speaking about the process of arranging and manipulating the shapes and space.” Later in the interview he said, “I want my work to create the sense of space as a palpable entity through which masses and volumes cut, reside, and move. I see space not as dead air but as an entity that actually responds to the forces being placed on it by shape. I see shape and space as holding each other, avoiding each other, pressing on each other. These evocations have a very rich array of expressive and emotional possibilities. If a sculptural protuberance simply extends in space, you produce one kind of experience in the viewer. There is a very different emotional and kinesthetic effect if that same huge extension conveys the sense that it invades or grabs or contracts the space around and in it. This feeling can only be created if I am seeing space as a dynamic entity and not empty air, and if I am really asking myself what volume, mass, and gravity really mean both logically and emotionally.”

Perspectives I Beneath the Surface

Oceanus by Bruce Beasley. Opposite page: Spokesman.

outside of class. I don’t know what got into me, but I asked if I could do five three-dimensional pieces instead. It was a revelation. Doing those five pieces made me realize there was a way to use my hands, eyes, and spirit all at the same time. So I decided to be a sculptor. If you saw those pieces today you would not say they showed any great talent, but I had found my path in life.

UC Berkeley and Cranbrook were the only two schools at that time that had more than one sculptor on the faculty. My parents, quite reasonably, wanted me to finish at Dartmouth and then go to grad school at UC Berkeley. But I was in a hurry and instead I just transferred to Berkeley. I didn’t feel I was majoring in sculpture; I felt I was a sculptor.

Sculpture was the only thing that had ever felt completely right for me. There was no question that it was the path I would take. Sculpture was like being introduced to a language that I didn’t realize I already knew. The visual language of shape expressing human emotions was completely natural to me. continued on next page

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

Wilson: What drew you to art in the beginning?

Beasley: As a teenager I made pretty serious hot rods. I went to a big city high school that had both trade and college tracks. I confused everybody by taking shop classes as well as the college track. That was a time when the world was pretty much divided between the people who used their brains and the people who used their hands. If you used your brains you weren’t supposed to get your hands dirty and if you used your hands you weren’t supposed to be using your brains. I thought that was a lousy world view. I wanted to find a way to use my hands and my brains.

I went off to Dartmouth College, following the advice of counselors, to study rocket engineering since that seemed like a professional extrapolation of hot rodding. I quickly realized that rocket engineers spent their time in cubby holes with slide rules and did not really get to make things.

It was an exciting time. I was discovering life, love, literature, and art. I took a drawing class for which the final exam was 20 drawings

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Perspectives I Beneath the Surface CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

Upthrust by Bruce Beasley.

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Wilson: What was your experience at Berkeley?

Beasley: I had two teachers who influenced me a great deal: Sid Gordon and Peter Voulkos.

They were very different as men and as artists.

I was greatly influenced by Sid Gordon’s art and work ethic. He was an example of a deeply involved and serious artist. If Sid was a river, then Pete Voulkos was a volcano, very exciting to be around, but dangerous and distracting. The most important thing I learned in working for Pete is that I was not Pete and that I had to find my own path. Pay attention to yourself. What works for you is your path.

Wilson: You had high success before you even finished art school at Berkeley.

Beasley: Success in art school is not a predictor of how you will do in your career

after art school. I realized right away that Steven DeStabler and I were the most serious students. In the 1960s the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art had a series of open competitive exhibitions. In 1961 the juror was Dorothy Miller, Chief Curator of Painting and Sculpture at the NY Museum of Modern Art. She gave me a prize in the show and then saw my work in a gallery in Los Angeles and acquired one for their permanent collection.

Then the next year I was included in their seminal exhibition, “The Art of Assemblage.”

Wilson: With this sterling success I am wondering if you have had any fallow periods?

Beasley: Of course I’ve had fallow periods.

The question is not whether you have fallow periods but how you deal with them when they happen. In art school you have teachers who are there and constantly encouraging you, but young artists need to expect to be alone in

a studio without anyone giving encouragement.

When I can’t make good sculptures I make bad sculptures. I don’t finish or show them, but I keep working. New ideas come out of working. Bad work can eventually yield good work. When work is not going well some people stop because they can’t deal with failure, so they get scared and stop. So if I make shitty pieces I just keep working, with the faith that there will be eventually be good pieces.

I find there are two kinds of fallow periods. The first is when pieces are not turning out well but I am still interested in the visual ideas. When it is

not going well in this kind of time I look inward.

The second kind of fallow period is when I am not quite as interested in the work itself, and then I look outward.

Wilson: You encompass the Chinese saying that “Creativity is perseverance through to completion” and what the painter Alice Neel said, “You know what it takes to be an artist? Hypersensitivity and the will of the devil. To never give up.” [ Lana Wilson may be reached at lana@lanawilson. com. Her Website for workshop info and images is www.lanawilson.com.

Raptor by Bruce Beasley.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

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“ ”

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“My Paragon kiln practically fires itself, giving me more time to make pots” —David Hendley

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The Paragon kiln was already ancient when David and Karen Hendley bought it in 1995. Since then David has fired about 20,000 pieces of bisque in his electric Paragon.

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“For the last 20 years I have been glaze-firing all my work in a wood-fired kiln,” said David. “I enjoy the excitement of the firings, and my friends and customers like the random fire flashings and ash deposits.

“What they don’t know is that every piece is first fired in my Paragon electric kiln. While accidental and chance effects can enhance a wood firing, consistency is the key to successful bisque firings.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

“For those firings, my Paragon has delivered reliable and consistent results year after year. It practically fires itself, giving me more time to make more pots.”

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The Paragons of today are even better than the early ones.

The digital 12-sided TnF-27-3 shown at right is only 22 ¼” deep for easier loading. Lift the lid effortlessly with the spring counter-balance. Enjoy the accuracy

Subscribe Subscribe now now at at www.claytimes.com www.claytimes.com or or call call toll-free toll-free 1-800-356-2529 1-800-356-2529

CHARLOTTE NC

David and Karen Hendley with their ancient Paragon A-28B. It has fired about 20,000 pieces of bisque. The Hendleys run Old Farmhouse Pottery in Maydelle, Texas.

and convenience of the Orton controller.

To learn more, call us or visit our website for a free catalog and the name of the Paragon dealer near you. Sign up for the Kiln Pointers newsletter.

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Shop Talk I Firing

It might not be what you’d expect ...

Calculating Your

Kiln Footprint OK

... it’s going to be a numbers kind of article. No heavy math, though. When I work with folks to determine burner requirements, one of the primary factors I consider is the cubic footage of the kiln — not stacking space, but the total interior volume. (After all, the whole kiln does need to get fired!)

A more precise way would be to measure the weight of the fired ware and furniture, and use that number to compute heat loss through various kiln materials. But the vast majority of my customers don’t have those types of figures, and I find it easier to just use cubic footage of the kiln. Then, depending on the end temperature, length of firing time, and what kind of kiln materials, I come up with a BTU-perhour-per-cubic-foot number. It’s pretty straightforward.

Unfortunately, there is one problem I always need to watch out for in this collection of information: GIGO. (That’s the ole acronym that stands for “Garbage In, Garbage Out.”) If you have the wrong numbers going into the formulas, you will always end up with wrong numbers for the answers.

The wrong numbers I hear most frequently involve kiln dimensions.

So, I’m asking my questions and I come to the ones about the total interior measurements. I know the kiln is made from hard brick and the customer wants to fire to cone 10 in 12 hours. I ask, “How wide is the kiln?’’

“It’s about 30 inches,” they respond. To a math guy like me, the word “about” always gets my attention.

Now we get to the goal of this wandering article: to provide you with an easy way to determine the footprint of your kiln.

Here’s a list of numbers that would normally be found as the interior dimensions of your kiln in inches: 18, 22.5, 27,

31.5, 36, 40.5, 45, 49.5, 54, 58.5, 63 ... you get the idea.

Now, the above measurements need to correspond to something. That something is your shelves. The kiln is built and designed around the shelf layout. So, if you have (2) 12" x 24" shelves, you know your kiln will be 27" deep. The shelves won’t fit in a 22.5" space, and a 31.5" space just adds extra bricks and space to the kiln.

The width of the kiln is not as clear-cut. But, if you are using bag walls and firing from the side, back, or front, just add 15 inches to your shelf footprint for the width. Where does that number come from? There is 4.5" on either side for your flame troughs (9" total). Then you have your bag walls that are probably 2.5" each (5" total). Add a half-inch between the shelf and bag wall on either side, and you come up with 15 inches. Our 24-in. shelf plus 15 inches totals 39 inches. The closest [multiple of 2.5"] number we have is 40.5". So now we’ve calculated our footprint: in this example, it would be 40.5" x 27".

I’ve thrown a lot of numbers at you, but they are important.

Remember our GIGO reference above. If you size your combustion system around guessed at or incorrect numbers, you’re setting yourself up for the “Garbage Out” [GO] part of GIGO. Take your time devising your plan, then stick to it. Remember, your combustion system is going to be sized to your kiln dimensions. Over the past few decades, I’ve received phone calls complaining about slow-firing kilns that were designed to fire faster. After some questions and answers, I hear the explanation: “Oh, we had some extra bricks, so we made the kiln a little bigger.” What might appear as “a little bigger” can actually be a significantly larger change, on a cubic foot basis, than one might think.

The number 36 is 20% larger than the number 30, but a 36" cube is more than 70% bigger than a 30" cube.

Again, take your time coming up with your kiln plan ... and then stick to it. [

Marc Ward is owner and operator of Ward Burner Systems, PO Box 1086, Dandridge, Tennessee 37725. He invites you to sign up for his free newsletter, and can be reached by phone at 865.397.2914 or through the online catalog and Website at: www. wardburner.com.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

“So, you cut bricks on every corner?’’ is my next question.

This is because, to me, 30 inches is not a viable number.

This says to me that the kiln is not yet built and our potter has just started drawing out some basic ideas and does not have an accurate plan. If you are using standard bricks, the footprint of your kiln (the width and length) will be in increments divisible by 4.5 inches, which is half a brick (9" x 4.5" x 2.5" [or 3"]). Thirty inches is not evenly divisible by 4.5". That means this potter plans to cut bricks, or has funky bricks, or really just hasn’t thought this through. It’s almost always the latter.

BY MARC WARD

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Making a Simple Tile Press

BY LINDA P. STAUFFER

For several years, I used a tile press that my husband had built from the plans in a tile book.

It was large, took up a lot of space, and required much effort to press a tile. There had to be a better solution!

Arbor press following removal of circular metal base plate.

So I searched the Internet for presses. Hydraulic presses, automotive presses, bumper jack presses ... then finally, I discovered an arbor press. The arbor press seemed to meet the qualifications needed for a tile press: the height of the open area was 5½", and the distance between the back of the press and the center post was 4". So I ordered an arbor press online. (They can also be purchased at Harbor Freight for under $100.

Several sizes are available.)

Here’s how I modified the arbor press for successful use as a tile press with my own tile molds:

Wood of base thickness is cut to serve as extended base.

1. Remove the circular metal plate that comes with the press.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

2. Use a piece of wood to create an area level with the bottom of the press.

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3. Place an 8" square of Corian® on top of the extended base. Use another 8" square of Corian as the top plate. To keep the plate centered, glue a cut-out square of Corian as a guide for the post of the press.

4. Bolt or clamp the press to your work table to keep it secure.

8" square of Corian will serve as final base for contact with canvas.

Orange rubber band serves as “stop” to gauge tile thickness.

Canvas, clay, and mold are layered above Corian.

Second piece of Corian is held secure by a post guide cut-out from a smaller piece of glued-on Corian.

Now you can crank out your own custom tiles in multiple quantities — time to start making some molds! Molds can be cast in plaster from original tiles, or carved into clay and bisque fired (you’ll want to bisque to at least cone 04 to be durable enough for pressing. If you’re doing this for the first time, be sure to test and experiment with different clay bodies bisqued at different temperatures to see what works best for you).

Here’s how to use the modified tile press:

Bottom of tile, “notched” after pressing to accommodate a nail or hook for wall hanging.

2. The thickness of the tile can be regulated by placing a rubber band on top of the post at the point where it touches the body of the press when the desired thickness is reached. Subsequent tiles will be an identical thickness. [

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

1. Place a piece of canvas on top of the Corian base, then layer your clay slab for the tile, followed by your plaster mold and the top Corian plate.

31

The Self-Serve Pottery Kiosk STORY BY MARK COLE • ART & IDEAS BY ADAM PAULEK

I

n recent years, the pottery marketplace has expanded from the home sales gallery, wholesale exhibitions, art and craft fairs, and retail storefront galleries to include online retail galleries, artist-run Etsy stores, and sales generated from personal Websites.

Still, earning financial security as a potter remains difficult, and maintains the humble social status where ‘success’ places you firmly within the hard-working middle class.

Perhaps the trade-off for this humility lies in loving the work that encompasses each day, in spite of its difficulties. Thankfully, most potters are creative, detail-driven, crafty self-starters who are willing to work hard to make a living. Adam Paulek is one such potter, who applies his creativity and personality to his claywork as well as the way he positions himself in the general marketplace. He presents to us, “The Self-Serve Pottery Kiosk.”

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

Taking cues from many sources is nothing new to potters. Paulek notes that many potters have on their property a small gallery which houses their wares, with instructions to customers to pack their purchases themselves and leave cash or checks in a basket for collection. “Think of it as a farmer’s stand for pottery,” says Paulek. His creative twist to this concept combines a sleek presentation with placement at locations where a customer would not usually expect to buy pottery.

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For a small initial investment, Paulek buys commercially made glass shelving units, and outfits each one with a collection box. Recently, he has moved from his own custom-made wooden boxes to vintage lunch boxes that are attached to the bottom of the kiosk. Included in the display are printed materials explaining what the kiosk is, simple instructions for purchasing, and information promoting a local charity to which 10-20 percent of the proceeds will be donated.

“All of this is the easy part,” Paulek notes. “The real challenge is convincing local business owners to allow me to install the kiosks in their shops.”

Clockwise, from left: A commercially purchased cabinet is used as a ‘kiosk’ to feature Adam Paulek’s pottery for sale in establishments that don’t usually offer clay art. Self-serve instructions and a few words about the artist appear at top.

Top: Paulek says local coffee shops serve as good kiosk locations because they draw regular ‘hip’ clientele who tend to appreciate handmade art.

Bottom: Each kiosk is equipped with a tethered vintage lunch box, where pottery customers may deposit their payments.

To facilitate this, Paulek first seeks locations that seem like they’ll be a ‘good fit.’ He has focused mainly on the popular local coffee shops located in areas he often visits anyway. Certainly he wants to utilize places where both his work and the kiosk will be well received.

These are typically non-corporate, owner-operated coffee houses in communities where ‘hip’ locals are frequent customers because of each shop’s unique atmosphere and good coffee.

Tracking down the owner for a personto-person meeting for pitching his idea often proves to be a challenge.

Yet once he has their attention, Paulek shows them photos, a few of his pieces, and his promotional brochures, and enthusiastically describes his vision for that particular location.

Paulek assures the owner that he or she is in no way responsible for theft, damage, or maintenance. He offers them the option of receiving 10 percent of all sales, or donating this portion along with the 10 percent Paulek gives to a local charity.

Each kiosk is installed in whatever way he feels it will best serve as a unique addition to the shop’s décor.

The pottery is quietly visible to potential customers not necessarily expecting to encounter this type of marketing. The goal is to offer an organic experience where people see the work with each visit, and recollect its existence and concept.

Kiosks are maintained every one to two months as needed. Driving to

Paulek successfully maintains ten kiosks thus far: three in Richmond, VA; two in Charlottesville, VA; two in Asheville, NC; and two in Knoxville, TN. The one furthest from his studio is located in Indiana, Pennsylvania, shared with potter Kyle Houser. Paulek doesn’t consider the maintenance a burden, as he knows through experience the lengths that go into setting up at a craft fair or shipping work off to a retail gallery.

Paulek’s kiosks each average a few sales per month, generating about $100/month over the course of a year.

With careful placement and the best of intentions, Paulek has successfully covered the initial start-up costs for each kiosk within the first few months of placement. He also maintains that after the kiosk pays for itself initially, the lack of rent, booth fees, or shipping costs — and especially the 80 percent profit margin — easily offset the cost of the travel fuel for kiosk maintenance.

Overall, these mini sales galleries work for Adam Paulek in many ways.

They allow him the freedom to make the work he enjoys, and offer a means to reach people he wouldn’t otherwise reach. Functioning as practical sales and marketing tools, the kiosks are used to test new ideas, creating customer intrigue and expanding the way the audience interacts with his work — yielding fulfillment beyond the financial reward. [

Great Glazes

each is for Cone 6 Oxidation & furnished by Karin Givon

Cone 6 Transparent Plus a beautiful, clear glaze (test first: — it can run a bit!)

Nepheline Syenite 44% Barium Carbonate 8 Colemanite 21 Wollastonite 14 Ball Clay 8 Zinc Oxide 5 TOTAL 100% • for medium-green variation: add Copper Carbonate 3.00%* *for blue-green variation also add Cobalt Carbonate .25%

Cone 6 Richter Glaze Gerstley Borate EPK Silica TOTAL

50% 20 30 100%

• add 5% Rutile for a rich, mottled effect; OR • add 10% fireclay for a mottled character with green tinge; OR • add 10% Talc for a traditional Asian glaze quality

IMPORTANT CORRECTION! The “ITO RED” Glaze that appeared in the Spring 2013 CT Great Glazes column should be fired to cone 10 in a reduction atmosphere — NOT cone 6 oxidation!

Please make a note of it.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

Paulek uses the honor system, relying on customer willingness to follow the posted instructions of sale. There are no price breaks or haggling. The customer has the option of making a purchase through PayPal, cash, checks, or by calling him with their credit card number, which he processes at home.

sometimes five locations in a day, Paulek replenishes work, cleans the glass, and collects the money from each location. He talks to the store employees and owners to be sure there are no problems, and to make sure they wish to continue with the arrangement. He enjoys these conversations, as most merchants are usually very positive about the kiosks.

(Incidentally, Paulek also enjoys this opportunity to get out of the studio, as he has placed each kiosk in a location where he is able to recreate with friends, kayak, fly fish, etc.)

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Readers Share I Art Works

The Gallery

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

Tuscan Platter. 19½" x 12" x 2½". Handbuilt terra cotta clay decorated with slips and stains; clear-glazed and fired to cone 05 in an electric kiln.

Jan Edwards, Portland, Oregon. E-mail: clayjan@mac.com; Website: www.clayjan.com

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Five Flower Vase. 13" x 6½". Thrown and extruded porcelain fired to cone 6 in oxidation. Matthew Mitros, Kennesaw State University, 1000 Chastain Rd., Kennesaw, GA 30144. E-mail: mmitros@kennesaw.edu

Point of View. 19" tall. Seattle Pottery Seamix Brown Clay and Maple Valley Clay, oil paint, sculpture attached to thrown base, fired to cone 5 in electric kiln.

Pamela Mummy, 1506 10th Pl. N., Edmonds, WA 98020.

E-mail: pamturzel1212@hotmail.com; Website: www.pmummy.com

Readers Share I Art Works

The Gallery

Three Vases. 5" to 6" tall. Wheel-thrown Audrey Blackman porcelain. On the outside: resist technique lines with dark matte glaze (high in metal oxides).

On the inside: glossy colored glazes. Fired to 1260°C in an electric kiln. Katharina Klug, 550 Coldhams Lane, CB1 3JL Cambridge, England.

E-mail: katharina@klugart.com; Website: www.katharina.klugart.com

Submit images of your claywork to The Gallery! Send your high-quality color print, slide, or 1050-x-1500-pixel (minimum) digital image to: The Gallery, Clay Times, P.O. Box 100, Hamilton, VA 20159. Be sure to include your name, address, telephone number, Website and/or e-mail address, type of clay and glaze, firing method, and dimensions of the work. (Enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope for photo/slide return.)

CLAYTIMES··COM COM n n SUMMER SUMMER 2013 2013 CLAYTIMES

Barrel Decanter 2. 12" x 14" x 16". Decanter and cups are wheel-thrown and altered stoneware with interior white slip and glaze and exterior commercial glazes, fired to cone 6 in oxidation. Stand is pine and poplar finished with wood stains and polyurethane. Nigel Rudolph, 824 NW 16th Ave., Gainesville, FL 32601.

E-mail: nigel@rudolphclaystudios.com; Website: http://www.rudolphclaystudios.com/nigel/

35

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BY VINCE PITELKA

E

very year I devote at least one column to new tools on the market. NCECA in Houston was a good time with so many things to do and see, and as usual there were new tools on display in the Resource Hall. In all cases below, you can Google® the individual toolmakers or products to get more information. Some are available directly from the makers, while others are being sold by ceramic suppliers.

Modeling Tools

Segers “Barracuda” and “Hammerhead”

Pamela Segers of Segers Pottery Tools has created a line of handformed and finished wood modeling tools and ribs that look great and fit the hand wonderfully. The wood is so beautiful that it almost seems a shame to get it dirty, but then you rediscover the surface upon cleaning it. I especially like the “Barracuda with Small Bowl Rib,” and the “Trumpet” modeling tools. Google “Segers Pottery Tools” to see images; the tools are available from Atlanta Clay.

Stainless Steel Ribs

Christina Gallahue of WiziWig Tools has some nice stainless steel profile ribs for finalizing curvature on thrown forms. As pictured at lower left, each of her ribs includes two curved sides suitable for profiles on a variety of forms, plus several notches along the end of the rib intended to create uniform rims. The latter address an often neglected area: I frequently see sets of mugs or bowls with too much variation in rim thickness from one piece to the next. The notches in these ribs make it a simple matter to ensure uniform rims in a set.

Mudtools Sherrill Mudtools has introduced a stainless steel #8 bowl rib, and a larger wood paddle. In my experience, wood paddles are among the most useful and underused studio tools. Last year I was pleased when Mudtools came out with their “Small Mud Paddle,” and now they have added the “Big Paddle.”

As was the case with the small paddle, it comes with a removable cloth sock cover for easy release from the clay, and additional socks are available for use with different clay bodies.

Several years ago Mudtools created their Mudsponge as sensible, durable, and sustainable alternatives to natural sea sponges or run-ofthe-mill poly sponges.

Mudtools #8 Bowl Rib

Mudtools Big Paddle with Sleeve

Dirty Girls Ribs With the popularity of their “Foot Fetish Rib,” Kentucky Mudworks’ Dirty Girls Pottery Tools has introduced a number of new ribs for continued on next page

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

The shape is ideal for use in throwing and handbuilding, and the initial blue Mudsponge features a fairly coarse tooth similar to a poly sponge. Last year they introduced a white finishing sponge with a very fine soft texture that works like a chamois, and this year they have added a new orange sponge with a texture between the two. I have been using these sponges and like the feel and function of all three. They are superior sponges.

WiziWig “Lucille” Rib

Shop Talk I Tool Times

New Tool Finds

37

Shop Talk I Tool Times

Dirty Girls Spanker Paddles

The Fulwood

Measure

The perfect tool for same-size production pottery. Unique hinged pointer measures height and diameter of the pot and moves out of the way when not in use. With the Fulwood Measure, you can get it right every time. Handcrafted in beautiful hardwood and made in the USA.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

Kissimmee River Pottery

38

Dirty Girls Specialty Ribs

TM

Stangl Factory 12 Mine Street Flemington, NJ 08822 908.237.0671 riverpots @ earthlink.net www.riverpots.com

producing profiles or molded edges at the bottoms (or rims) of thrown pots, including the “Rump-Shaper Ribs” and the “Big Foot Rib.” Keep in mind that profile ribs of this type are also very useful on handbuilt work.

Lubricate a strip of slab or the edge of a larger slab with water and drag the profile rib along the outer edge of the upper surface, running one finger along the vertical edge of the slab as a guide. Try it a few times and you’ll get the hang of it.

Domestic toolmakers are finally catching on that paddles as forming tools are a very good thing in the clay studio. Last year I wrote about the plain and rope-wound paddles from Stanley Hurst at Mecca Pottery Tools, and above I mention the offerings from Mudtools. Dirty Girls has recently introduced their own version referred to as “Spanker Paddles,” available in a variety of sizes and shapes. (I do love their titles!)

Rick McKinney at MKM Pottery Tools is always prolific in coming up with new tools. For a surface design workshop in Fairhope, Alabama in May I brought along a variety of his rollers and stamps, and the new “HandRollers” were especially popular.

As pictured below, they have an elongated barrel shape that produces a wide band of vivid pattern with soft outer edges, enabling overlapping parallel bands of pattern that cover a broad area with little or no visible seam. There is such promise and possibility in a fresh slab of clay impressed overall with an interesting repeat pattern, like a length of beautiful fabric. As with all of the other MKM stamps and rollers, the HandRollers are available in a wide range of patterns.

While in Fairhope I saw an interesting product in the studio of Maria Spies, a potter of great versatility and long experience who runs the clay studio at the Eastern Shore Art Center. Mounted on her wheel was a rigid silicon carbide grinding disc for cleaning and leveling the bottoms of fired pots. I am familiar with the flexible stick-on potbottom grinding discs normally mounted

MKM HandRoller

On the Webpage for the Glaze Eraser there’s a link to Smith Sharpe’s “Glaze Eraser Hand Tool,” which looks a little like a silicon carbide kiln post. It’s available for a very reasonable price in two sizes for hand-abrading small accumulations of glaze or accessing places where the disc Glaze Eraser will not reach.

Kevin Nguyen at Xiem Studio Tools recently introduced a clever retractable scoring tool featuring six sharp tines that retract into the handle when not in use. I’ll add the caveat that I prefer scoring tools with teeth rather than needles, producing wider, shallower score marks less likely to trap bubbles along the joint, but needle-sharp scoring tools work fine as long as you maintain a very light touch and avoid scoring deeply. All you want to do is disrupt the platelets right on the clay surface.

Shop Talk I Tool Times

on an extra bat. They work well, but wear out quickly when used on salt, soda, or wood-fired ware, and at nine bucks a shot the cost mounts up quickly. The disc on Maria’s wheel is called the “Glaze Eraser,” available from SmithSharpe Firebrick Supply. Google “Glaze Eraser” to get to their Website. The tool is basically like a 14"-diameter silicon carbide kiln shelf a little less than ½" thick, and comes with a matching disc of soft natural rubber that temporarily affixes the grinding disc to any wheelhead without adhesives. The rubber pad has holes to accommodate bat pins, but it works equally well on a wheelhead without pins. $175 might seem pricey, but with almost a half-inch of solid silicon carbide, it will last indefinitely. If leveling and smoothing the bottoms of your ware involves removal of fairly significant glaze runs and other debris, this is the best solution I have seen for the money invested. It can be used wet or dry, and when used with a simple improvised water feed, all dust is eliminated and the grindings accumulate in your splash pan.

Maria confirmed that the Glaze Eraser works very well, and after use can simply be rinsed off in the sink.

PSH Burnishing Tools

Pottery Supply House now offers a very nice set of stainless steel burnishing tools unlike any I have seen before. If you ever need to compress clay in hard-to-reach areas, either while joining or repairing clay or while burnishing to achieve a shiny surface, you’ll appreciate the six options offered by this set of three double-ended tools. We’ve all seen the silicon carbide grinding blocks used for cleaning kiln shelves, but PSH has come out with an “abrading stone” featuring a tapered silicon carbide “file” mounted on a wood handle, useful for grinding glaze flaws and accumulations in situations where a larger disk or block would not work.

Vince Pitelka is professor of clay at Tennessee Technological University’s Appalachian Center for Craft, an active participant on the Clayart Internet discussion group, and author of Clay: A Studio Handbook. Feel free to suggest topics for this column or contact Vince through his Web site at http://iweb.tntech. edu/wpitelka.

What have I overlooked? I always worry that I might be missing some domestic toolmakers and encourage you to contact me if you know of a toolmaker not mentioned in my column.

Please e-mail me with contact information or have them get in touch with me. [

Larger Custom Available – Inquire New Prices: OrderYardage before 4/1/05 to SAVE ≈ 10%

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Order from retail distributors, or contact us Herring Designs, LLC www.HerringDesigns.com PO Box 3009 888-391-1615 970-547-4835 Breckenridge CO 80424 pjh.mae@aya.yale.edu

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

The Smooooooooth Alternative to Canvas!

SlabRolling mats HandBuilding mats 30”x50” $33 16”x22” $9 22”x50” $20 14”x16” $6 14”x50” $16 NEW! Ideal for small slabrollers

39

The Slurry Bucket Double-Duty When using silica sand beneath pieces of clay sculpture and pottery, I pour sand on the kiln shelf and spread it out quickly and evenly with a coarse comb.

I also use rattail files to cut half-round notches on the upper ege of the comb for finishing the lip on handbuilt pots.

— Norman Holen, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Wiggle Wires & Signatures Those good ole “clickable” ball-point pens are great resources for handy applications in the clay studio:

e, fire — t a r o c e d , , throw here!

Hand-buildkground you need is

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

c all the ba

40

Encourage your students to discover their unique styles with Experience Clay. Highlights include a range of hand-building and wheel-throwing techniques as well as a history of traditions and innovations.

For more information, visit DavisArt.com.

800.533.2847 | ContactUs@DavisArt.com

1) Make your own “wiggle wire” by removing the spring from the pen housing, stretching it out to your desired level of “kinkiness,” and looping thick rubber bands at each end to serve as handles. (The bands that hold bunches of broccoli together work great.)

2) Use the ball-point tip of the pen to sign your leather-hard pots ... but be sure to place a thin piece of plastic wrap between the pot and the pen for a nice, clean signature. [ Submit your clever studio tip to The Slurry Bucket and you could earn a free T-shirt if it’s published! E-mail your tip, photo (if you have one), contact information, and T-shirt size to: claytimes@gmail.com, or send to PO Box 100, Hamilton, VA 20159.

Evolution of an Extruder Die Pattern

From Bowls to Boats

BY WILLIAM SHINN

M

ost extruders come with an assortment of dies, mostly various sizes of solid and tubular circles and squares. The manufacturers of the larger extruders — those that are able to produce complete finished forms — also include some interesting variations.

The Bailey extruder dies includes a hexagram, a fluted shape, and other variations of round forms. A very simple yet practical die is a C shape that, because of its off-set placement on the die, produces an excellent bowl-shaped form resulting from the uneven pressure from the barrel.

The popular vessel above is easy to shape by pinching upward the bow and stern.

Minus the shields, it will actually float!

For making my own dies, I prefer high-grade marine plywood because of its ease in cutting. I use a scroll or saber saw, although a hand coping saw will do the job — it just takes a little longer.

Often a new form will suggest even more new shapes. The images and illustrations on these pages offer some of the extruder die patterns and resulting forms made with the extruded bowl

shapes. Although these patterns may be copied and used, I still encourage students to undertake the ultimate creative experience of making their own dies. For many, the experience can open continued on next page

CLAYTIMES··COM COM n n SUMMER CLAYTIMES SUMMER 2013 2013

Some extruders have a center support built in.

Also, you can create a wide assortment of other forms by slightly altering the basic C shape.

41

From Bowls to Boats (continued from previous page) the door to the wide variety of possibilities using this (not new, but neglected) tool.

Oh, yes — some of these will actually float! [

The die producing small boats: row, kayak, and sabot. First-time users (and my grandchildren) have fun with this one.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

A simple C-shaped die and resulting bowl.

42

Variation of the die yields a wave-like form.

An advanced version of this sailboat die includes all of the interior furniture. All of the unwanted parts are cut away — a contrast with other media when one constructs a model.

Studio I Health & Safety

BY MONONA ROSSOL

My column in the previous issue of Clay Times covered the new globally harmonized system (GHS) of safety data sheets (SDSs) that will be required by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to replace our old material safety data sheets by 2016. This column will discuss the new pictogram label system that will be required on products and containers shipped after December 1, 2015. I have already begun to see these new labels on products such as the laboratory chemicals and acids used in art printmaking classes.

U

nfortunately for artists, most common art materials are considered consumer products whose labels do not fall under OSHA regulation. Instead, they are under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission; and this agency is not requiring changes to the current labeling system.

This means that products such as pre-mixed glazes, paints, and other consumer art materials do not need to change their labels. But these products can only be sold and used in the United States, because Europe and a good portion of the rest of the world have adopted the GHS system and will require it on imports by December 1, 2015.

THE PICTOGRAM SYMBOLS. The new industrial product labels will include one or more of the following nine symbols which warn of the basic health, safety, physical, and environmental hazards.

tograms on their labels as well.)

organic peroxides (which can become shock-sensitive explosives when they age and form crystals).

Holding these chemicals may also require reporting to the Department of Homeland Security.

FLAMMABLES (& combustibles). This label applies to most solvents and solventcontaining products such as oilbased paints, aerosol spray can products, solvent cleaners, and the like. It also applies to self-reactives (chemicals that become flammable without adding any other chemical), pyrophorics (chemicals that catch on fire when exposed to air), self heating chemicals, substances that emit flammable gases, and organic peroxides.

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600px-GHS-pictogram-flamme.svg.png (600×600)

GASES UNDER PRESSURE. This includes all types of compressed gases including inert gases such as nitrogen, carbon dioxide, or argon.

Cylinders of flammable gases such as acetylene, butane, or propane would require pictograms for both gas under pressure and for flammable chemicals. Toxic gases such as pesticide fumigants would have a third pictogram indicating the type of toxicity.

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upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6d/GHS-pictogram-flamme.svg/600px-GHS-pictogram-flamme.svg.png

OXIDIZERS. These are chemicals that evolve oxygen, which renders them either highly reactive when mixed with many other chemicals, or which are difficult to extinguish when on fire because they supply their own oxygen to the flame. Common examples are nitric acid (reactive with solvents, bases, most other acids, etc.), silver nitrate, and organic peroxides such as those used to cure polyester resins. (Organic peroxides also will carry the following two pic6/20/13

600px-GHS-pictogram-rondflam.svg.png (600×600)

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e5/GHS-pictogram-rondflam.svg/600px-GHS-pictogram-rondflam.svg.png

EXPLOSIVES. These are easily triggered and powerfully reactive chemicals (such as firework chemicals or the ammonium nitrate that caused the West Fertilizer plant to explode), or they are chemicals that can become highly reactive over time, such as

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upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6a/GHS-pictogram-bottle.svg/600px-GHS-pictogram-bottle.svg.png

600px-GHS-pictogram-explos.svg.png (600×600)

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4a/GHS-pictogram-explos.svg/600px-GHS-pictogram-explos.svg.png

600px-GHS-pictogram-bottle.svg.png (600×600)

ENVIRONMENTAL TOXICITY. Substances that are persistent in the environment and toxic 6/20/13

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600px-GHS-pictogram-pollu.svg.png (600×600)

continued on next page

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CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

Ceramic raw materials, however, are industrial products and their labels do come under OSHA. Potters should soon begin to see the labels change on their glaze chemicals and clays. I know of one company, Laguna Clay Company, that has the label pictograms on a few of their safety data sheets already. This company, however, was the only one I could find. If readers know of others, please let

me know. I tend to recommend products from companies that are up-to-date on safety and regulatory information.

43 1/1

Studio I Health & Safety

New Material Safety Label Pictograms (from page 43) to aquatic life are included. This label does not directly relate to human exposure and the label is not mandatory in the U.S., since environmental regulations are under the EPA’s jurisdiction, not OSHA’s.

Several metal-containing ceramic chemicals can harm aquatic life and warrant this label.

6/20/13

CORROSIVES. These are primarily acids, alkalis, and other chemicals that dissolve or erode animal tissue such as eyes and skin.

Most ceramic chemicals are not corrosive. A few, such as soda ash, are irritating to skin and eyes (see the exclamation point pictogram).

Products such as glass and glaze etching creams, lye, or bleach may require this pictogram.

600px-GHS-pictogram-acid.svg.png (600×600)

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a1/GHS-pictogram-acid.svg/600px-GHS-pictogram-acid.svg.png

6/20/13

ACUTE TOXICITY (severe).

This is the first of three different types of toxicity indicated by the pictograms. This skull and crossbones pictogram is reserved for substances that can cause severe or even fatal toxicity at low doses or in a single exposure.

Examples that could conceivably be in a pottery studio would include soluble metal compounds such as barium nitrate, barium chloride, or 600px-GHS-pictogram-skull.svg.png (600×600)

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/58/GHS-pictogram-skull.svg/600px-GHS-pictogram-skull.svg.png

44

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cyanide metal-plating chemicals. Potters rarely use such chemicals.

ACUTE TOXICITY. These are irritants to the skin and eyes, can cause skin allergies, acute toxic effects at higher doses than those carrying the previous pictogram, cause narcotic effects, and/or are respiratory tract irritants. Examples would include barium carbonate (less soluble than the chloride), and the carbonates of lithium, cobalt, nickel, and copper, and many other glaze chemicals containing toxic or allergy-causing metals.

CHRONIC TOXICITY. These chemicals include carcinogens, respiratory sensitizers, reproductive toxins, chemicals that damage specific (target) organs in the body such as the liver and brain, cause cell mutations, and/ or are aspiration hazards (cause physical damage if inhaled).

This would include all silica-containing clays and glaze chemicals.

Cobalt compounds would carry both the acute label above and this one for chronic toxicity because it causes allergies and asthma, and is a suspected carcinogen. Nickel compounds also warrant

both labels. Nickel is a confirmed carcinogen.

TRANSPORT PICTOGRAMS. There also are pictograms that will be required on shipping containers of chemical products. These labels can be confusing because they combine pictograms with numbers and/or background colors to help fire fighters and hazardous materials personnel respond to emergencies such as spills or fires involving shipped materials.

Ceramicists and potters do not need to know much about these labels.

It is the pictograms on the product labels that are most important for them.

Transport labels in the U.S. include the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) diamond with the four divisions in yellow, blue, red, and white. These will either be phased out or radically changed. To keep them as they are would be confusing. For example, the NFPA rating for toxicity is from zero (0) to four (4), with the number four indicating the highest toxicity. The new GHS rating numbers are reversed with one (1) being the most flammable or toxic.

Ceasing to rely on the NFPA diamond will be important for those schools that mistakenly have used this diamond transport rating system as a substitute label on bins and bags of chemicals. This label was never intended for that purpose, and now I hope to see it disappear.

ADVANTAGES OF THE PICTOGRAMS. We will benefit from these graphics because they provide basic information without our having to read labels — something that we rarely did anyway!

However, there will be words on the GHS label as well, because each pictogram requires the particular reason or reasons this product rated each symbol to be stated in a standardized warning phrase. The new law intends to replace the very ambiguous label terminology we currently see.

For example, cobalt carbonate would be labeled with two toxicity pictograms. The chronic toxicity pictogram would be next to the phrases: • May cause allergy or asthma symptoms or breathing difficulties if inhaled.

• Suspected of causing cancer.

The phrases next to the exclamation point toxicity pictogram would be: • Harmful if swallowed.

• May cause an allergic skin reaction.

TRAINING. If you are an employed teacher or ceramic worker, or if you are an employer yourself, be aware that OSHA requires all workers exposed to chemicals have formal training in this new pictogram system of labels and SDSs before December 1, 2013. I hope that this column and the previous one will be a helpful handout to provide with this training. [ Monona Rossol is an industrial hygienist/chemist with an M.F.A. in ceramics/class. E-mail her at: ACTSNYC@cs.com

Check out these listings to find local programs for wheel-throwing, handbuilding, sculptural techniques, & more …

Classes are listed alphabetically by state

ARIZONA

FLORIDA, cont.

MAINE

Tucson Clay Co-op — 3326 North Dodge Blvd., Tucson, AZ 85711; 520.792.6263; www. tucsonclayco-op.com; tucsonclaycoop@yahoo.com. Fully equipped, sunny studio offering all level classes, rentals, clay gallery, parties, specialty workshops and more. Wheelthrowing, handbuilding, electric firing, gas firing, raku firing, sculpture, mosaics, classes for adults and children. Friday night clay parties for adults, teen parties on Saturdays.

St. Petersburg Clay Company — 420 22nd St. South, St. Petersburg, FL 33712; 727.8962529; www.stpeteclay.com; stpeteclay@stpeteclay.com.

Electric firing, gas firing, raku firing, wood firing, guest artist workshops, soda firing and salt firing. Please call or e-mail us to ask about membership availability and gallery openings.

The Red Door Pottery Studio — 44 Government St., Kittery, ME 03904; 207.439.5671; exfpottery@yahoo.com; www.reddoorpottery.com.

Year-round classes, all skill levels, monthly workshops, private lessons, retail gallery, shows. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, guest artist workshops, classes for adults and children.

COLORADO

Callanwolde Fine Arts Center — 980 Briarcliff Rd., Atlanta, GA 30306; 404.874.9351; www. callanwolde.org; gdair@callanwolde.org. Located in Midtown Atlanta, Callanwolde offers basic and intermediate wheel and handbuilding classes for adults, as well as electric, gas, raku, and soda firing, plus guest artist workshops.

Spinning Star Studio — 427 East Colorado Ave., Studio 129, Colorado Springs, CO 80903; http:// www.spinningstarstudio.com; jennifer@spinningstarstudio. com. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, raku firing, classes for adults; wheelchair accessible wheel available. Open studio is available as well as electric kiln rental for firing up to cone 6.

FLORIDA Craft Gallery & Dixie Art Loft — 5911 South Dixie Hwy., West Palm Beach, FL 33405; 561.585.7744; www.thecraftgallery.net; potteryme@ comcast.net. Gallery, studio & kiln rental. Glazes, clay, glass, tools, books, equipment, and art. Classes in glass fusion, enameling, silver clay, wheel-throwing, handbuilding, and architectural sculpture. Workshops by guest artists.

LIST YOUR CLASSES HERE ...

A full one-year listing of community pottery classes in ,CT's print & online magazines + FLORIDA cont.

Website is available at just $129! For details, visit www.claytimes.com/classes.html

GEORGIA

Hudgens Center for the Arts — 6400 Sugarloaf Pkwy, Bldg. 300, Duluth, GA 30097; 770.623.6002; Fax 770.623.3555; info@thehudgens. org; www.thehudgens.org. The Hudgens is located north of Atlanta and offers year-round fine art classes. Wheelthrowing, handbuilding, electric firing, gas firing, raku firing, classes for adults and children, open studio for students.

Johns Creek Arts Center — 6290 Abbotts Bridge Rd., Building 700, Johns Creek, GA 30097; 770.623.8448; Fax 770.623.6995; jcacinfo@bellsouth. net; http://www.johnscreekarts.org. Located in Johns Creek, GA, the Johns Creek Art Center provides ceramics instruction for adults and youth with wheel-throwing, handbuilding, summer camps, cone 06-6 electric firing, and guest artist workshops.

MARYLAND Renaissance Art Center — 9250 Gaither Rd., Gaithersburg, MD 20877; 301.987.0377; www.rcarts.com; info@rcarts.com. Pottery classes for all ages, teaching wheel throwing, handbuilding, and glazing techniques. Electric firing. Our new studio features 12 wheels and over 2000 s.f. of studio space!

MASSACHUSETTS Truro Center for the Arts at Castle Hill — 10 Meetinghouse Road, Truro, MA 02666, 508.349.7511; www.castlehill.org; info@castlehill.org.

Throwing & handbuilding by some of the best potters in the country: Jim Brunelle, Linda Christianson, Kevin Crowe, Marty Fielding, Silvie Granatelli, Linden Gray, Randy Johnston, Matt Katz, Hannah Niswonger, Mark Shapiro, Gay Smith, Kayla Stein, Guy Wolff, Joe Woodford, Mikhail Zakin – something for everyone.

MISSISSIPPI LOUISIANA Martha’s Chapel School of Pottery — 147 Hwy. 1206, Deville, LA 71328; 318.466.5308; www.schoolofpottery.com; judahsgate@gmail.com. Wheelthrowing, electric firing, gas firing, raku firing, classes for adults and children, guest artist workshops, summer day camps. Free potters wheel classes: “We give back to the community.”

Bodine Pottery & Art Studio — New location: 432 West Frontage Dr., Wiggins, MS 39577; 601.928.4718; www.bodinepottery.com; hukmut@ bodinepottery.com. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, kiln building, PMC (precious metal clay), week-long clay camps for adults and summer clay camps for kids. Also a clay supplier and gallery, featuring the work of ten Mississippi artists. continued on next page

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

Morean Center for Clay — 420 22nd St. South, St. Petersburg, FL 33712; 727.821.0516; www.MoreanArtsCenter.org; valerie.scott.knaust@ moreanartscenter.org. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, gas firing, raku firing, wood firing, guest artist workshops, classes for adults and children.

Children summer camps and week-long adult camps.

Resources I Classes

Community Pottery Classes

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Resources I Classes

MISSOURI

NEW YORK, cont.

VIRGINIA, cont.

323 Clay — 323 West Maple Avenue, Independence, MO 64068; 816.254.7552; http://www.323Clay.com; kimberly@323clay.com. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, gas firing, raku firing, guest artist workshops, classes for adults, classes for children.

Upper West Side’s community ceramics center with classes for everyone at every level! Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, guest artist workshops, classes for adults and children. We also offer classes for children with Special Needs, private lessons, birthday parties, and bench time for registered students.

NEW JERSEY

The Painted Pot — 339 Smith Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231; 718.222.0334; www.paintedpot.com; mail@paintedpot.com; wheel-throwing, handbuilding, sculpture.

Mainly Clay — 217 N. Main, Farmville, VA 23901 (beside Green Front Furniture). Pottery wheel and handbuilding classes, open studio, supplies, gifts, and jewelry; 434.315.5715; butlerp@mainlyclay.com; www.mainlyclay. com. Amaco & Standard dealer, Brent wheels, Shimpo slab roller, and Skutt electric kilns. Located in beautifully renovated historic building with upstairs rental space available for events and workshops.

Laplaca Pottery Works — 1002A Trenton Ave., Point Pleasant, NJ 08742; 732.861.2276; www.laplacapottery.com; greglaplaca@aol.com.

Large, modern studio with great lighting and all-new equipment. Wheel-throwing, electric firing, guest artist workshops, classes for adults and children.

NEW YORK Artworks at West Side YMCA — 5 West 63rd St., New York, NY 10023; 212.912.2368; ymcanyc. org/westside; kmissett@ymcanyc.org We are a friendly, supportive studio on Manhattan’s Upper West Side offering classes and open studio time in the visual arts. Wheelthrowing, handbuilding, electric firing, wood firing, guest artist workshops, stained glass, watercolor, drawing, and beading. Classes for adults and children.

Banner Hill School of Fine Arts & Woodworking — 741 Mill St., P.O. Box 607, Windham, NY 12423; 518.929.7821; bannerhillwindham@ mac.com; www.bannerhillLLC.com; wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric & raku firing, guest artist workshops, classes for adults & children; intensive one-day to twoweek courses in ceramics for beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels.

BrickHouse Ceramic Art Center — 10-34 44th Drive 1st Floor, Long Island City, NY 11101; 718.784.4907; ellen.day@brickhouseny.com; http://www. brickhouseny.com. Spacious, fully-equipped studio, yearround adult classes, ceramic artist rental shelves, pottery for sale.Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, guest artist workshops, private parties.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

Clay Art Center — 40 Beech Street, Port Chester, NY 10573; 914.937.2047; www.clayartcenter.org; leigh@ clayartcenter.org. Clay Art Center kindles a passion for the ceramic arts and provides a community for that passion to flourish. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, gas firing, raku firing, guest artist workshops, classes for adults and children, community arts programming.

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Clayworks on Columbia Inc. — 195 Columbia St., Brooklyn, NY 11231; 917.428.3128; ddmcdermott@rcn.com; www.clayworksoncolumbia.org.

A not-for-profit clay studio now in its 16th year. Classes for adults & children in wheel-throwing, handbuilding, and sculpture; featuring electric firing plus rental space and gallery for students and members.

The JCC in Manhattan — 334 Amsterdam Ave., 76th St., Brooklyn, NY 10023; 646.505.5715; sorr@ jccmanhattan.org; www.jccmanhattan.org/artstudios. The

NORTH CAROLINA Dan Finch Pottery — 5526 Nursery Lane, Bailey, NC 27807-9492; 252.235.4664; http://www.danfinch. com; dan.finch@earthlink.net. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, gas firing, raku firing, wood firing, guest artist workshops, classes for adults. Demonstrations and workshops for groups (school, church, civic). Quarterly day and evening classes available in a collaborative and nurturing environment at Finch Farm.

Rising Sun Pottery — 209 South Academy Street, Lincolnton, NC 28092-2714; 704.735.5820; http://www.RisingSunPottery.com; RisingSunPottery@ Bellsouth.net. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, gas firing, raku firing, guest artist workshops, classes for adults, special summer-only children’s classes.

TEXAS Eric Orr Clay — 22 Blackjack Lane, Lewisville,TX 75077; 940.241.1242; ericorrclay.com; ericmuddorr@ yahoo.com. A complete teaching studio for lovers of clay and glass. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, gas firing, raku firing, glass fusing and slumping, classes for adults and children. I work with you individually and endeavor to take you where you want to go on your clay/glass journey!

SUNIN Clay Studio — 13473 Wetmore Road, San Antonio, TX 78247; 210.494.9100; suninpottery@ sbcglobal.net; suninclaystudio.com. A teaching and working pottery studio offering classes, equipment, supplies, gallery/ shows and creative encouragement. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, raku firing, guest artist workshops, classes for adults and children, sculpting classes and retail products.

Manassas Clay & Tin Barn Pottery Supply — 9122 Center Street, Manassas, VA 20110; 703.330.1040; www.manassasclay.com; manassasclay@aol.com; wheelthrowing, handbuilding, sculpture, glazing, raku.

Nan Rothwell Studio Pottery — 221 Pottery Lane, Faber, VA 22938 (near Wintergreen); 434.263.4023; www.nanrothwellpottery.com; wheel-throwing, handbuilding, glazing, firing for ages 16 & up.

PFAC — 101 Museum Drive, Newport News, VA 23606; 757.596.8175; mpreble@pfac-va.org; www.pfac-va.org; wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, raku firing, guest artist workshops, classes for adults and children. PFAC offers the opportunity to explore clay with a variety of techniques and processes.

Round Hill Arts Center — 35246 Harry Byrd Highway, Round Hill, VA 20142; 540.338.5022; info@ roundhillartscenter.org; www.roundhillartscenter.org; wheelthrowing, handbuilding, electric firing, classes for adults and children, summer camps, also classes for all art mediums.

Mention Clay Times for a 10% discount on your first class!

Open studios for students.

Workhouse Arts Center Ceramics Program — 9504 Workhouse Way, Bldg. 8, Lorton, VA 22079; 703.584.2982; www.workhousearts.org or www.workhouseceramicsarts.org; dalemarhanka@lortonarts. org. A collective and highly dynamic environment with the goal of promoting ceramic art through research, education, and outreach. Resident artist program and classes for adults (ages 16 & up) and children (5-15 years old) in wheel-throwing, handbuilding, ceramic sculpture, tile making, electric firing, gas firing, raku firing, visiting artist workshops, corporate retreats, and workshops for Girl /Cub Scout troops.

WISCONSIN VIRGINIA Art Pottery Studio — 4810 Tabard Pl., Annandale, VA 22003; 703.978.1480; artpottery@earthlink.net; www. potteryart.biz. Year-round classes, Summer Clay Camp, Group, Private. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, classes for adults and children. Scouts, Cancer Survivors, Special Needs. Sculpture, Specialty workshops: "Wine, Cheese, Pottery!"; "Parent & Child!" ALL LEVELS.

Adamah Clay Studios of Bethel Horizons — 4651 County Highway ZZ, Dodgeville, WI 53533; 608.574.8100; e-mail: artventures@bethelhorizons.org; www.bethelhorizons-artventures.org. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, wood firing, classes for adults and children.

Weekly pottery classes, affordable summer intensive weeklong workshops, beautiful views, & university credits. [ LIST YOUR POTTERY CLASSES IN PRINT AND ONLINE AT: WWW.CLAYTIMES.COM/ CLASSES.HTML

Resources I Books & Videos

The Spirit of Ceramic Design REVIEW BY STEVEN BRANFMAN

The Spirit of Ceramic Design: Cultivating Creativity with Clay Robert Piepenburg • Pebble Press Paperback • $35

L

et me start by saying that despite my writing of books, my writing about books, my long history as a book seller, and my overall love of books, I am not an avid reader. This is partially because I don’t have time to read all the books that I would like to. Not only that, but reading — that is, the process of reading — is a bit of a chore for me. I’m a slow reader and I always find myself re-reading paragraphs and sometimes whole pages, because the words have gone by in a blur or have floated past me like a wispy cloud. You can imagine the challenges that this posed to me as an art history major in college! No matter; I also love reading books. So when this new book by Robert Piepenburg came to my attention, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it and start my challenged reading engine.

Having described my reading style, I hope that you’ll take my first accolade for The Spirit of Ceramic Design to heart. I began reading it as soon as my flight from Boston to Houston hit 30,000 feet. In the blink of an eye, I heard the flight attendant announce “Please return to your seats, shut off all electronic devices, and prepare for landing.” Luckily for that flight attendant, I was on the last page.

Although its title may lead you to believe that The Spirit of Ceramic Design is yet another in a long line of books on aesthetics, you can put that notion away. This is a book about the manner, means, and process of designing. It is about the manifestation

The Spirit of Ceramic Design is a handsome book. Its 253 pages rest in your hands with a presence. The heavy, smooth, bright white paper allows the text to stand out and the color photos to be appreciated as though you were viewing them in a gallery.

The book is organized into three parts. In The Essence of Design, the author offers a definition of design that transcends the mere placement and juxtaposition of line, shape, and color. It is here, in the first two sentences, that the unique journey the reader is about to embark upon is laid out: “Everything is design. And the design within everything is an exemplification of mankind’s identifiable unity with life — his creative gratitude and personal engagement with living.” I hesitate to quote from the book as I don’t want you to feel disengaged by words that might come across to some as unnecessary and convoluted. Trust me when I say that rather than being turned off you, will be engaged and captivated by Piepenburg’s perception, astuteness, knowledge, and wisdom. He presents design as a language and concept that embodies and is powered by underlying spirit.

Part II is the heart and soul of the author’s presentation. In Cultivating Your Design Aesthetics, Piepenburg, with conviction and purpose, helps you to identify your personal artistic motivations and inspirations, and that which influences you as a creative maker of things. Piepenburg digs deeply into the humanity of being and one’s innermost consciousness, selfidentity, intimacy, and personality. Most provocatively, he unfurls and exposes the spirituality that we all possess yet often do not recognize in ourselves.

If there is a more technical or academic section of the book, Part III, Organizational Principles of 3-D Design, is it. Here Piepenburg lays out the material aspects of design: balance, movement, unity, variety, emphasis, placement, and the bonus category — mystery. He analyzes each of

these essential design components in a methodical yet personal and humanistic manner emerging from his personal and spiritual connection to, and expression of, creativity. It is in this part that all of the individual aspects of the author’s philosophy and practice of design coalesce into that which is the spirit of ceramic design.

One of the lovely conventions that Piepenburg offers at the opening of each section of the book is the use of quotations from artists and other individuals. Also interspaced throughout the text, these remarks are by a diverse roster including Chagall, Einstein, Bacon, Stravinsky, Goethe, Paul Rand, Frank Lloyd Wright, Twain, Saint-Expurery, Wyeth, Klee, LaoTzu, Lincoln, Emerson, Kesey, and others.

As I was reading The Spirit of Ceramic Design, I couldn’t help but be reminded of The Art Spirit by Robert Henri. I recalled how reading it as a young art student opened my eyes and those of my classmates and generations of artists to creativity, inspiration, and the character, reason, and courage of being a maker of objects. As I now ponder how to best sum up my impressions and recommendation to you of The Spirit of Ceramic Design, perhaps the most positive endorsement I can make is that when it’s not in your hands, this book belongs right next to Henri’s classic on your bookshelf.

For some, Piepenburg’s treatise will be an enlightenment; for others, a suggestive introduction; and for yet another group, a re-affirmation of philosophy, attitude, knowledge, and practice. For me, it was all three. What will it be for you? [ Steven Branfman is a an accomplished potter and teacher of pottery and ceramics at Thayer Academy in Braintree, Massachusetts, and proprietor of The Potters Shop and School. He may be reached by phone at 781.449.7687 or via e-mail at sbranfpots@ aol.com.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

If you don’t know Robert Piepenburg, he is a preeminent American potter and of the generation of early potters to discover and demystify the Raku firing method. He has written five books. His first book, Raku Pottery, was an inspiration to many and was one of the books that I turned to in 1974 when I first became interested in the technique.

Piepenburg is an outstanding teacher. This comes through clearly in all of his writing and in his workshop presentations. I would be remiss (and I know that many of my readers know this) if I didn’t also divulge the fact that we’re friends.

and expression of creativity. At its core, The Spirit of Ceramic Design is about what happens when human spirituality meets well-founded principles of design and aesthetics. The arrow is aimed directly at those of us who work in clay.

47

Resources I Classified Marketplace

Classified Marketplace Classes

For Sale, cont.

Tools for Potters

• Elizabeth GLz Designs presents: A Creative Journey with Ceramics and Mixed Media — Online Course. Two modules with step-by-step instructions and videos.

Module 1 has 12+ ceramic projects made with clay slabs. Learn to reproduce in less time with less cost, and sell them to stores. Information: http://elizabethglz.com/register

• POTTERY and HOUSE FOR SALE — Established pottery (37 years) on a major highway, 12 miles from Chapel Hill, NC. Eight acres on a major river, studio (24' x 36'), kiln building (20' x 30'), sales building (two-story restored log cabin (16' x 18'). The house is 1500-1700 sq. ft., master suite, two generous baths, Jacuzzi, French country kitchen, all natural gas. New heater, air and hot water heater. Large studio is well-equipped w/gas kiln (aged Bailey), large Skutt electric kiln, small updraft gas kiln, wheels, slab roller, damp boxes, work tables, shelves, chemicals, and much more. Large customer base. Must see to believe! E-mail: joycethepotter@embarqmail.com

• GREAT NEW HANDBUILDING TEMPLATES! A set of 24 durable, flexible, laminated templates to create circular & conical forms. Developed over many years by potter & teacher, Sandi Pierantozzi. Perfect for potters or teachers.

Start having fun creating new forms with CircleMatic Form Finder! www.CircleMatic.com

• Summer Day Camp 2013 — The Pottery and Creative Center in Clermont, Florida.

Country location. Morning pottery, afternoon art projects for children ages 8 to 12. Contact Katie.Roser@yahoo.com, tel. 321.947.7667.

• It’s Elemental: Creating with Clay, Fire, & Sunshine — Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, NM, July 29-August 4. Participants will learn to prospect for clay, form it to your will, and fire it in a way that can be done in your own backyard. $375 + lodging and meals. www.ghostranch.org • Southwest Traditions — Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, NM, August 5-11. Basic handbuilding techniques of pinch, coil, and slab will be covered. Intimate focus on polishing techniques.

Individual interests will be supported. Class will conclude with outdoor primitive firing. $375 + lodging and meals. www.ghostranch.org

For Sale

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

• Two-story 3-bedroom home with large 3-level concrete and steel construction SCULPTURE AND CERAMICS STUDIO. Large gas-fired kiln in basement. Large moving hoist on top level. Two fireplaces. Previous home to professor emeritus of sculpture and ceramics, Bert Keeney. One residential lot.

One block from Pittsburg State University (enrollment 7,000), in Pittsburg, Kansas. $100,000. Two-bedroom cottage next door on two residential lots. $50,000. Prefer selling together. Jones Realty; tel. 620.231.6800.

48

To place your classified ad, call 800.356.2529 or log onto: www.claytimes. com/classifieds.html

• Retired potter selling equipment — 30-ton Press, 24 Molds & Masters training included, Mold Lift, Slab Roller, Gas Car Kiln, fifty 12" x 24" Shelves, hundreds of Kiln Furniture pieces, Oxyprobe, Olympic Kiln with Electronic Controller, Show Equipment, much more. Call 305.664.0013 or e-mail: johnk1110@hotmail.com

Opportunities • The PrattMWP SOA Gallery enriches the educational programs of the MunsonWilliams-Proctor Arts Institute — The easily accessible space directly on campus, awards exhibitions to highly qualified artists in a range of different media. Six shows per academic year support the School and provide cultural enrichment to the surrounding community. Artists are given the opportunity to offer a gallery talk/and/or presentation to PrattMWP students and community members.

To submit, the deadline for next year is March 15th, 2014 (postmark date). For more info, visit: http://www.mwpai.org/school-of-art/schoolof-art-gallery/ • Baltimore Clayworks seeks an ED who is a passionate advocate of ceramic art to lead our organization. You can read more about this position here: www.transitionguides. com/bcw. Requirements include 5-7 years’ leadership experience and a Bachelor’s degree (Master’s degree preferred. To apply, e-mail cover letter, resume, and salary requirements to Clayworks@TransitionGuides.com.

865.397-2914 info@wardburner.com

www.wardburner.com

• WIZIWIG PROFILE RIBS — Shape consistent profiles into your clay. Throw a cylinder, use a WiziWig Rib, and “instantly” have a mug, beer stein, wine goblet, and more!

Great for sets! WIZIWIG CAVITY STICKS go into unimaginable places at many different angles.

WiziWig Sticks provide tools with small points and unique shapes. WiziWig Sticks allow potters to get into the “nooks and crannies” and shape the clay where their fingers can’t reach. See www.WiziWigTools.com • Strong Arm Centering and Opening Tool — Potters, stop causing injury to your wrists, thumbs, and shoulders. Center and open clay in seconds! This is the greatest tool for production potters, studio potters, and schools.

Get past the drudgery of centering and opening clay so you can focus on the real art and craft of making better pots! Watch the video at www. marcspotterytools.com • Check out our expanded selection of tools, T-shirts, & more when you renew your Clay Times subscription online! Log onto www. claytimes.com/store.html or call 800.356.2529

Services • WEB SITES FOR POTTERS — We specialize in custom-designed sites for artists, craftspeople.

New sites, redesigns, maintenance. Visit www. webkazoo.com or call 860.664.9593.

Workshops • WORKSHOPS at Baltimore Clayworks.

GERIT GRIMM, Sat./Sun. Oct. 10-11, 2013; JACK TROY, Sat./Sun. Nov 9-10, 2013. Please visit www.baltimoreclayworks.org or call 410.578.1919, ext. 10. [

BY KELLY SAVINO

I

t has taken me years, living in this town, but I have finally found my “tribe” — artisans, artists, and craftspeople of all sorts, who come to my studio with coffee and stories and projects to work on while we chat. Local pals include jewelers and sculptors, painters and glass artists, papermakers and fiber artists.

One felter in particular has been a friend for years. Ever since our kids were small we have spent many an evening talking chickens, bees, and canning, often while she works at her portable spinning wheel, working strands into yarn as we weave ideas into stories — mindlessly, but with skill and intention.

I have long sighed after her medium. One day I confessed it: “The more I work with clay, the more my hands feel like driftwood. The more you work with wool, the more lanolin makes your skin soft.”

“I’m always smeared with clay, chunks of it in my hair. My

“It’s just not fair. I wrestle this wet, sticky, dusty, heavy mud while you make beauty out of fluff.”

Valerie smiled, her wheel spinning effortlessly with the tap of her toe, as she pulled another tuft of hand-dyed Icelandic wool.

“In March,” she said, “You need to stop by my farm.

Maybe around 3 am. I’ll be out in the barn, on my knees, up to my elbow in a birthing ewe, covered in mud and blood.”

“Or come by when it’s time to unload bales … or when my huge, mean, stinky ram decides he doesn’t want to go where I am leading him and crushes me against the wall of the pen. Then, you help muck out stalls …”

I had to laugh. It seems the grass is always greener, or the wool fluff brighter, from the other side of the fence.

The same can be true for the public when it comes to potters. I know some who won’t do throwing demos at street fairs, lest potential customers think we ‘have fun for a living.’

“Hey, I’d pay money to make pots on a wheel! Why should I pay you to do the fun stuff?

You should just give those pots away — making art is payment enough!”

That’s one reason I appreciate potters who have work space and retail space in the same building. Folks who wander in hoping to see us doing magic tricks on the wheel are more likely to find us pugging, mopping, emailing, bookkeeping, mixing glazes, or emptying clay traps.

One project that keeps me hopping lately involves “keeping it real” for troops of Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts who come to Hands On Studio at Toledo Botanical Garden to earn a pottery badge. Girl Scout badgework, in particular, includes requirements like “Interview a woman who runs

continued on next page

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

“I wreck my back hauling 50-pound boxes of clay, and your big bag of wool fluff weighs less than a pillow.”

shoes have to be hose-able, and the grocery cashier thinks I’m a drywaller. I fire a kiln and my hair gets singed, my nails are grimy, my face is smeared with black like a Chilean coal miner. Your biggest concern is a little bright colored lint on your shirt. Sure, wisps of loose wool might make a rainbow dust bunny in a corner of your kitchen — but have you seen my studio when it needs cleaning?”

Opinion I Around the Firebox

Keeping it REAL

49

Opinion I Around the Firebox CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2013

50

Index to Advertisers Arrowmont School........................... 10 Artistic Line Resist........................... 40 Brackers’ Good Earth Clays............ 13 Carolina Clay Connection................ 28 Craft Emergency Relief Fund............. 7 Clay Times Products.................. 22, 28 Clayworks Supplies......................... 48 Continental Clay............................... 36 Davis Publications........................... 40 Dolan Tools...................................... 38 Euclid’s Elements............................. 51 Evenheat Kilns................................. 22 Fulwood Measure............................ 38 Giffin Tec............................................ 8 Great Lakes Clay & Supply Co........ 28 Herring Designs............................... 39 Japan Pottery Tools......................... 39 K-12 Call for Proposals.................... 12 L & L Kilns.......................................... 2 Laguna Clay Co................................. 4 Larkin Refractory Solutions............. 36 MKM Pottery Tools.......................... 36 Muddy Elbow Mfg./Soldner Mixers.20 Olympic Kilns .................................. 10 Paragon Industries........................... 28 PCF Studios..................................... 28 Peter Pugger.................................... 23 Silver City Arts Festival.................... 10 Skutt Ceramic Products.................. 52 Smith-Sharpe Fire Brick Supply........ 3 Spectrum Glazes............................... 3 Ward Burner Systems...................... 48 To advertise your product in Clay Times, log onto www.claytimes.com/ advertise.html or call 800-356-2529.

Keeping it Real

(from page 49)

her own business” or “Meet a potter and ask questions.”

I’m in an ideal spot for this — two doors down from the Toledo Potters Guild, where I can give scouts a walk-through tour of three kinds of kilns, while observing potters in their natural habitat. We pass through the Artisan Village, past the glassblowers and Lithophane museum, to the shadowy grove where Laurie Spencer’s Phoenix Cairn squats in the grass like a giant ceramic bee skep.

Girl scouts climb inside — a dozen at a time — and we look at how the coils were made and thumbed together, and talk about how the piece is both a pot and a kiln, fired in place. Then we head back to my studio to coil a toad house, Spencer style.

I love working with little kids, because within minutes of arrival they are excited and waving their hands to say “Oh! Oh! Oh! I found some clay once! I made a pot before, at camp!” They get swept up in the starry-eyed teacher-crush we all had on our childhood art teachers. (This also extends to my daughter/helper Molly, a senior scout in counselor training who knows how to do “cool stuff” and thus finds herself mobbed by chattering Brownies.)

For that brief portion of an afternoon, I am officially a role model. So, like the astronauts of my childhood who told us to eat our vegetables, I feel like I have to take advantage of the moment.

“Guess what classes I took in school that made me a better

potter?” Actually…

Math. Before I sell a pot, I need to know how much I paid for clay, for glazes, for the firing, and what my time is worth. I need to figure sales tax, weigh and measure, chart firing ramps, and keep books for my business.

Chemistry! I need to know about glazes, melters, and fluxes to fix a problematic glaze.

And computers — business — marketing — health and safety — electronics — power tools — basic carpentry. Writing.

Teaching. The truth is, I spend as much time doing computer/ paperwork as I do on the wheel. And this summer I am learning welding, because we are never done learning, right?

I don’t know whether the kids retain this bit of information (though they never seem to forget my revelation that they have a giant, kiln-fired piece of porcelain pottery in their bathroom). Hopefully the ever-present moms, dads, and adult leaders will factor in what they’ve learned when wondering why the art fair mug costs more than the one from Wal-Mart.

Regardless, I’m grateful and proud when potters move beyond “look at me being a potter!” to spelling out the details of our job. A lot went into those bright-and-shiny coffee mugs I pulled out of the kiln this morning!

I think I’ll take one to my friend Valerie — with coffee.

It’s lambing season. [ Kelly Savino teaches college, guild, and community ceramics classes. She may be reached via her Website at: http://www.primalmommy.com/

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