Pottery?

I know it's been some time since I've posted anything.  I've been working on glaze development and forms for some pottery…yes, pottery.  I know it's not something I do all the time, but with teaching, I find it necessary to become well rounded in another spectrum of the ceramic medium.  I haven't stopped creating sculptural work, but have taken some time to revisit an old acquaintance…the pottery wheel.

I'm always looking at ways to mimic natural materials in life and came across an article by Steven Hill, a master potter, who creates glazes to mimic effects of high fire glazes (reduction), in an electric kiln.  I find this really interesting, since I myself don't own a high fire kiln.  I have been looking into glazes specifically for pottery and continue doing tests, until I can come up with a color palette and form I like.  I know this is all subjective, but it's nice to explore new areas that cause me to think differently about the work being created.  I can understand better the difficulties one encounters when creating pottery, which in turn is better for my teaching.

The images below are of some recent work and glazes that I created recently.  The pieces were all wheel thrown, and multiple glazes were used (3 glazes on each cup).  I fired the work in an electric kiln (oxidation), and fired it to cone 6.

New Work-2013 ("Possibilities", Circular Hand Saw)

I finished up another piece and photographed it with the other new work recently.  This piece is titled, "Possibilities".  It is hand made using slabs of earthenware as well as press molded additions.  I fired the piece to cone 6 and used glazes, tool dip, as well as enamel paints for the surface.  I'm interested in exhibiting this piece, but haven't decided which exhibition I should try to enter it yet.

New Work-2013 (Remnant)

This piece is titled "Remnant" and is hand built using earthenware slabs, with press molded additions as well.  I fired the piece to cone six and used glazes as well as enamel paints.  I'm glad it's done so I can update my portfolio on my web page as well as concentrate on new work I'm creating at the moment.  I fired this particular piece multiple times.

Summer Work for the Nephews-Using my skills as an artist

I know I didn't post much over the summer, but the summer for me is a time when I'm not teaching and time I have for myself and family...catching up.  My nephews are very young and are into cartoons, as I  once was.  I remember wanting to learn to read because of the comic books dad would buy me from time to time and how amazed I was at an early age with the illustrations in those books.  I know I used to doodle...a lot as a kid, creating my own version of those comic books I loved.  I was given a good opportunity of the use of my artistic skills over the summer to create an inviting environment for my nephews bathroom.  So I took a break from creating the art I do, to use my years of learning my craft for the next generation.  The pictures posted are of the large scale Spiderman I did in their bathroom over the summer.  It was a blast to create outside of my current medium and get back to what got me excited about art at an early age.  I know they enjoy it, so it was a great time for all of us!  They helped paint in some of the areas as well, so it was a collaboration between just us.  It's great being an uncle.

The images posted are of the progress of the bathroom wall, of Spiderman, which they asked me to do for them. It was a nice break from the norm, and a lot of fun!