teapots! 9th Invitational at Morgan Contemporary Glass Gallery

I was invited to be a part of a teapot exhibition at the Morgan Contemporary Glass Gallery in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  The exhibit runs from April 10-June 13, 2015.
I was honored to be asked to participate in the exhibit and those who know me, know I don't usually create pottery, or much functional work.  So, I had to sit down and create a teapot for the show.

It took me some time to figure out what type of form and then how the surface would later be developed.  I wanted it to be functional, although that was not necessary.

If you are in the area (Pittsburgh), you should stop by the Gallery to check out the show.  Here is the website for the gallery:  Morgan Glass Gallery

Below are some images of the teapot that I sent to the gallery.

SouthWorks 2015, 20th National Juried Exhibition

I had a piece recently accepted into the SouthWorks 2015 exhibition.  The show was juried by Will South (Chief Curator for the Columbia Museum of Art, Columbia, South Carolina and Chief Curator at the Dayton Art Institute, Dayton, Ohio).  The exhibition takes place April 10-May 8, with the opening on April 10 from 6-9PM at the Oconee Cultural Arts Foundation, in Watkinsville, Georgia.

There were 425 entries for which Mr. South had to choose from, for the exhibit.
Pictured below is the piece selected, "Fossil Fuel".

For more information about the exhibition:  www.ocaf.com

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.

Figurative work in progress

With classes winding down, it's been pretty busy.  I'll be doing a wood firing next week with the students, so a glazing frenzy has been taking place this week.  My time to work on my work has taken a back seat this semester, with being at a new school and all, I hope to get more work done hopefully this weekend.  Pictured below is an update of what I've done to add "more", to create a figurative piece that follows my sketches for this piece.  I'll continue to add more pictures as the progress continues.

20th San Angelo National Ceramic Competition

I found out recently that I had a piece accepted into the 20th San Angelo National Ceramic Competition.  I mailed out the piece a couple of days ago and it arrived yesterday.  The Juror for the exhibition is Leopold Foulum, from Montreal, Canada.  There was a total of 764 pieces of art submitted for jurying and a total of 123 works were chosen for the exhibition.

The exhibit will take place from April 11- June 26, 2014, at the San Angelo Museum of Fine Art, San Angelo, Texas.  For more information you can check out the website link posted here:  www.samfa.org 

Posted below is a picture of the piece accepted for the exhibit.  The title for the piece is, "Technological Dependence".

Figurative piece in progress

Currently I'm working on multiple pieces in different stages.  From soft clay to finishing surfaces on fired work, I find myself not finding it too hard to deal with the winter weather creeping back in Indiana.

This piece pictured is in it's early stages.  I say early stages because I started it as a bust, but now find myself wanting more.  I plan on adding on more clay, but because of my decision, I am working backwards.  Here's why.  Normally a sculpture is created from the ground up, but because I want more of the torso and body, I'm working backwards.  I don't plan on creating a life size body to go along with the head…I have other ideas in mind.  I've done sketches, but I won't post them, so you can see the actual work being made and the progress along the way.  I'll keep adding new images as I make progress.

Pictured are some images of the "bust" and a form I made, to help adjust the height I need for the shoulder areas and to start the torso to be added around later.

Creating glazes for the Ceramic Studio at University of Saint Francis

This semester I have been teaching at University of Saint Francis and have been creating new glazes for the ceramic department.  I extruded and made some test tiles, with white slip applied to one side of the tile and numbered them accordingly.  I made up 43 cone 10 glazes varying in color.  I also tried to have an even amount of gloss, satin, and matt surfaces for the glaze tests as well.  I also included a couple of textural glazes for those wanting a different look.  I fired two sets of glazes for a total of 86 test tiles.  One set was fired in a oxidation atmosphere (electric kiln), and the other set was fired in a reduction atmosphere (gas kiln).

The students have been really receptive to the amount of options they have now.  I have also made up 21 different Raku glazes, which I have recently fired.  Those glazes really turned out nice and should be a hit with the students as well.  Pictured are the tiles I made and the tests I have done so far…minus the new Raku glazes.  The bottom row of tiles are some of the previous test tiles they had before I started my endeavor.