I fired a new load of pots yesterday, making progress toward both summer inventory and a good selection of work for "The Potter and the Painter," in late April at the Stove Factory Gallery in Charlestown. (First mandatory publicity reference ... ) Many of the pieces in this firing were my usual stoneware clay with ground granite or pond sand wedged in.
For some reason, my work is getting rougher and rougher. I'm trying to get inclusions in the clay that will pop out or melt out. Easy enough to do if you're digging clay from the ground, but I don't have ready access to a natural stoneware clay, and thought I would wedge in some foreign matter. I also will need some rough clay body for Doug Fitch, when he and Hannah McAndrew come to Cape Cod for their workshop April 9-10. (Second mandatory publicity reference ... ) Doug digs his own clay in Devon, but gave up on the idea of shipping it to the US for this workshop, so I'm trying to come up with something rugged enough for him to feel comfortable throwing. Some of this stuff might work for him.
Both the sand and the pulverized granite (sold in feed stores as "chicken grit") roughen up the throwing and the surface of the fired pot. And they beat up the Shino a bit, as well. They make for rough pots, but I like them.
More new pots tomorrow.
The photos: Top, the two pots to the left are from this firing, thrown from unwedged trimming scrap; next, small dishes influenced by the Karatsu work of Takashi Nakazato; next, pair of Shino vases; next, three Shino vases; bottom, ash-glazed vase.
6 comments:
Great stuff, Hollis. Curious about the small dishes. How big are the pieces of wood they are on? 4x4? Looking for the size/scale. Really like them.
Hey Hollis,
It's easy to see my influence in this newest work! (not!) I'm going to send you some of my local clay that I think will suit Doug...it'll give you more options. I think it's close to what he uses!?
Hi, Barry. Yes, 4x4s. The dishes are useful for ... small things, I guess. Candies, peanuts, wasabi, that kind of thing.
OK, Dan. Send up the clay. I've got some Miller 850 sculpture clay that is pretty groggy, too. And addition of sand and/or the granite will work as well, I think. And yes, this newer stuff does look like yours, doesn't it?
Dang, you are a making machine these days! I need to get busy. You are the shino master Hollis! I like those little dishes. Tonight Wesley and I had a curry soup and all of our bowls were clean and on the shelf. Usually it's not too hard to decide what to grab to eat out of, you grab the two or three clean ones. Tonight there was more to choose from. Wes took the bowl you gave me and I took one of Brandon's that I bought in Southern Pines. It's so much fun to have all of these cool bowls:)
Thanks, Tracey. Still working on it. But I do like making work that people use.
Looking Great Hollis. I love the depth of the glazes.
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