Pots off today to "Clay and Blogs" show

It is very difficult to choose a half-dozen pots to represent the things that happen inside the potter's head and inside his or her studio. There is no way to spread out the show entries to encompass mugs, teabowls, soup bowls, vases, big serving platters, condiment dishes ... and on and on and on. That's what I was doing over the past couple of days. (That and unloading Wednesday's firing. More about that later ... )

So instead of representing everything that goes on - intentionally or accidentally - in this crowded and untidy studio, I went with six pots that I really like, all from the upstairs gallery. I'll be shipping three small bowls and three teabowls. I photographed them this morning and I'll wrap them after I post this to the blog.

The part of my work that is still speaking to me in every firing is the layered Shino on brown stoneware that I started making last winter. I've got the temmokus, I've got the copper red (God help us ... ), I've got a recalcitrant and runny blue ash glaze (still needs work) and I've got some nice ash glazes and a few others. But the landscape that I most love in my own work right now is created in the accidental things that happen when Shinos cross each other, sometimes with a tributary stream of green ash glaze. So that's what's coming to "Clay and Blogs: Telling a Story" at the Campbell House Gallery in Southern Pines, N.C. this week. Hope you like it.

The show opens Oct. 1 and runs through the end of the month. If you're in the area, you should definitely come see it. Or make a special trip. There will likely be more than 200 pots from 50 potters from around the planet. A remarkable thing.

Go to http://www.mooreart.org/calendar/october-2010/ for times and details.