Lititz Springs Art Show

Come visit Nick and I at the art show on Saturday July 25th 9am - 5pm (aka tomorrow). Pots for sale include work from high school, alfred summer '08, and kent blossom summer '09 (very recent!).

Examples...







Love from Lititz, PA.

The Official Summer Photos

Blossom work... I had 8 days to do wet work, and these are some of the best pieces (or selected favorites) of the 2 weeks; fired, finished, and even sanded on the bottoms. PS. I got a Dremel tool, and it is the best thing that ever happened to ceramics since the Lockerbie Kickwheel.


Of all of my salt fired pieces, this came out of the kiln absolutely flawless. It was on a shelf near the bottom of the kiln which tends to get a lighter salting than the top half. Unlike most of my other bowls and flower thingys, the celadon on this didn't run for it's life down to the base. (or like one other bowl, to the kiln shelf and of course completely fused) The celadon responded beautifully with a tonal variation, and there was little bare clay exposed due to decent glazing on my part. (though i really like the grayish bare porcelain in the salt kiln)


Pitcher with cups and tray. Oxblood in oxidation to cone 6. Trays are a new thing, as is the darting. The darting idea came from a demo by Josh Deweese. I can't shake the thought of Nick Joerling's work when I look at them though, so we'll see where that goes.

Cups with tray. I am intrigued with this idea of cups being held inside a tray, which is why I will definitely be playing around with this in some way in the future.

Another pitcher with cups and tray. A glaze I got from one of the guys in the studio fired in reduction to cone 6. The pitcher is darted a different way than the last one I posted, and not molded any other way besides the darting. I'm also playing with the little lip or extension on the bottom of the pots. I'm having issues with chipping them from knocking them together since they're bare clay and therefore a bit more fragile than the glazed areas. Obvious simple solution: avoid knocking them together.

Flower thingy. This idea is an extension of ewers I made last summer. The spodumene glaze looks gorgeous, as half of it melted completely to translucency and the other half is still quite opaque. This was salt fired to cone 6 and reduced lightly. The way the very bright white glaze is in direct contact with the natural, darker surface of the bare stoneware with salt heightens the beauty of the spod, I think. Plus, this flower thingy only warped a tiny, tiny bit compared to other flower thingys that came out of the salt kiln.

Any questions, comments, suggestions, hate mail... give me some feedback!!!!!!
please and thank you!



Love, from the Ceramics Lab on the campus of Kent State University.

In a Nutshell

The Kent State ceramics department can be summed up in one photo...


And the Lord sayeth unto Mangus... The sins of the potter shall not be placed upon the cup.

Love from Buffalo, NY.

Week Two

Lots of demos, firings, and work made.


Eva demoing on the wheel. She's getting ready for a show at the Ingenuity Festival in Cleveland in July.


Josh Deweese paddling his to-be very large jar.



Josh talking about the wonders of ceramics and throwing another (smaller) lidless jar.


Josh's teapot... complete with faceted and puffed belly courtesy of Fred (the Ohio clay we use). But still so perfect.


My pots... little and dainty vs big and bulky. First attempt at faceting and playing around with the same-ish shape on different pots.

Four Days In

Just a quick look from the first four days of Blossom.


Teamwork moving the big (and heavy) pot


A gentlemanly lobster, worm pipe, and fish bud vase. Obviously Kirk's work.


Kirk Mangus. Enough said.


Bowls thrown today. Eight of um in total. Suggestions?

Blossom

Tomorrow morning starts my two week workshop at Kent. I am a nervous nelly tonight wondering what will happen. Hopefully I'll be back to the wheel and back to my old hard-working self. Hopefully unemployed, uneventful summer life in Kent hasn't taken too much of a toll on me. More updates to come throughout Blossom.

Congrats again on graduating Ethan! Here is a taste of what you unfortunately don't get to experience this summer. This was my work area last summer at Alfred.




Love from 309 S DePeyster, Kent, OH.

Cruel Sun

Remembering the Rusted Root concert at the Kent Stage earlier this year... If you have the chance, you should go see them. ASAP.