Chris Gustin kiln-opening today

I love seeing new pots come from a warm kiln. Pretty much any kiln, actually. But I really love seeing something like 2,000 pots come from Chris Gustin's three-chamber kiln in South Dartmouth, not far from here on the mainland.
Chris's large front anagama chamber and the two noborigama chambers behind it take about six days to fire to temperature. So it's a big crew that fires it just a few times a year. I've fired it, but not for some years. It's work, but there are great rewards.
And there is usually a crowd at the opening, given how many potters participate and given the chance for lovers of woodfired pottery to see new pots coming out. Kim Medeiros and I drove down this morning for a couple of hours to see the first pots.
Here are some photos: After the firebox door and grate are disassembled and the area swept, Chris gets in to inspect the pots in the front of the anagama chamber; the front stack, on the edge of the firebox; Steve Murphy, handing out pots; Arnie Zimmerman emerges with one of his sculptures; Chris's large jar from the front stack, in the adjacent field; Zimmerman with two of his sculptures; one of the back chambers before unloading; Chris's teabowls in his gallery.

New pots from the kiln this morning

This business of making pots can kick you in the ass sometimes. That happened to me this morning, when I realized that something blew up some time during yesterday's glaze firing. I knew it as soon as I opened the kiln door and began to look closely at the pots on the upper shelves. Teeny tiny shards of clay shrapnel embedded in the glaze at the bottom of small cups were the giveaway. Shit.
Looking around the burner ports on the bottom, I could see larger shards of Temmoku-glazed clay that didn't belong there. As firing partner Kim Medeiros and I worked our way down through the stack, I knew something bad was waiting at the bottom. There were ten mugs down there, among other pots, mugs in a color combination that two weeks ago became very popular due to a random Facebook photo I posted. I had several people from the UK to Maryland waiting for one or more of those mugs. They'll have to wait longer. When we got to the bottom shelf, it was clear that every last mug had been hit by a shower of small bits of clay when a small vase blew up. These things happen, though rarely in the glaze firing. Shit ... again.
OK, enough about that. There were good pots in the kiln, in addition to the shrapneled mugs. (Did you know the word "shrapnel" came from the British General Henry Shrapnel, who invented a kind of fragmenting artillery shell in the early 19th century? I didn't ... ) I've been making cut-sided pinched cups lately and there were many of them that survived the clay artillery. And there were many good bowls and pitchers and vases and a couple of terrific pots from the ongoing collaboration between Kim and me. I'll attach a few photos for you, though none will be of the ill-fated mugs.
Here you go. Top: One of our collaborative pots, thrown by me at Kim's studio and then altered and decorated by Kim; a mug, pither and cut-sided cup glazed in Temmoku and then dipped in Michael Coffee's Nuka glaze; a group of small vases; a dozen of the 30 small pinched cups that were in this firing.

"Concepts in Clay" opens Friday

Gail Turner, of Mill Stone Pottery in Dennis, and I talked with a group of docents today at the Cape Cod Museum of Art, answering as many questions as we could about the work now on display there. "Concepts in Clay" is a show of work by members of Cape Cod Potters, a very loosely organized group of clay people here on the Cape. The show was juried by Ellen Shankin, of Floyd, Va.
The show was designed to challenge clayworkers to think about their process and their ideas, and then put those thoughts into words and into clay. That's the way I understood it, anyway.
The result is a fine show of work, from functional to sculptural. Each entrant's work is mounted separately on a pedestal or pedestals, allowing separation from the other pots or sculptures in the show.
And on one wall are eight large photographs, shot by this photographer, showing steps in the clayworking process. Images of Kim Medeiros, Dan Finnegan, Sarah Caruso, Tessa Morgan, and myself make up the wall display. Firing is represented by my loaded kiln and flame protruding from the noborigama of Robert Compton, in Bristol, VT. You can see the photos in one of the overall shots here.
The show opens this week, with a formal reception (that means free beer and wine, people) this Friday, from 5 to 7 p.m. Come one, come all.
Photos, top to bottom: bottles by Toni Levin, Oribe work by Linda Riehl, big serving bowls by Kevin Nolan, coil-built and wood-fired vases from Frances Johnson.

Waiting for Sandy and its wind ...

The wind is still rising here on Cape Cod, though Hurricane Sandy is still hundreds of miles south of us. It's a big storm, winds apparently reaching out more than 500 miles. It's gusting into the 30s here right now and the wind has driven the water south of Falmouth into rollers and whitecaps. High tide drove water up over some docks and low-lying beach roads, but that will no doubt get much worse in another seven or eight hours, as the winds rise and high tide returns.
These photos are from near the entrance to Falmouth's inner harbor, right on Vineyard Sound. No doubt by high tide tonight, I'd be good and wet standing in the same place.

I'm ignoring the storm for the moment and going to the studio to make room for Kim Medeiros and me to glaze pots tomorrow for next weekend's woodfiring in Truro.

The first Falmouth potter's market

This past weekend, the Falmouth Art Center hosted not only the opening of "Art of Clay: Function and Beyond," but also a two-day pottery market on the green lawn behind the center. Eight potters, most of us from the Upper Cape, set up our tents and tables, sold pots and demonstrated throwing and handbuilding. We were joined also by students from the pottery program at Falmouth High School. It would not be accurate to say that "crowds" turned out, but we had a steady flow of local folks who often bought pots. 

The rain didn't come until nearly closing time on Sunday, so we were lucky with the weather. 

The weekend's pottery activity is a kind of subtle kickoff for the art center's proposed ceramics program, tentatively scheduled to get going by next summer. The five-year-old building is about to get an elevator, which will allow classroom and studio space to be established in the spacious basement (where the potters will live) and the extensive second floor. I think we Falmouth potters are excited for both the teaching opportunities in the clay program and the chance to continue to build a clay-literate community here. I am, anyway.

Much of the credit for the success of this weekend's lobby show as well as the pottery market goes to Falmouth potter Sue Wadoski and her potter daughter Sarah Caruso. Each was a cheerful and persistent worker from the first concept of the show last winter. We all benefited from their effort.

Next up for me is the OysterFest in Wellfleet, this coming weekend. The crazy and crowded event happens every year just after Columbus Day. This year, I have a Studio Potter magazine meeting scheduled for Saturday in Boston, the same as the first day of the OysterFest. A friend, Dafney Shufelt, has offered to tent-sit for me Saturday, so I won't actually be on the Wellfleet premises until Sunday. It's going to be an early and looonnnnggg Saturday, since I have to set up the tent and pots around dawn and then hit the highway for the Boston meeting. Not looking forward to it.

OK, here are some photos from the weekend: Top, Kim Medeiros of The Barn Pottery in Pocasset at work during her demo session at the wheel; next, Denny Howard of Howard Pottery in Sagamore deep into his pot; the view to the west from my booth.

New pots from Thursday's firing

It's always startling for me to see Kim Medeiros's pots in my kiln, next to the rough, cut teabowls I've been making the past several months. Kim, who owns The Barn Pottery in Pocasset, spends a lot of time on slip-trailing, sgraffito and very particular glazing of her pots. It shows in her work's color and precision, whereas I dip and pour and spatter on my pots. And she loves those jewel colors, which are so not carbon-trap Shino and ash. So when I open the kiln after firing, as I did this morning, there's always a contrast between her work and mine, as you can see in the top photos. I love that.

She was happy with her pots this morning, and I was happy with most of mine. I've still got problems to work out. More about that in another post, I guess.

Meanwhile, another dozen or so big teabowls came out of this firing, layered in Shinos, ash celadon, copper red and Oribe. The faceting of the pots early in the throwing process, then the pushing out of the bowl shape torques the walls, thins them, sometimes breaks them mid-wall or at the rim. I patch these pots and get on with it. They're going to remain rough and imprecise right through the glaze firing, so I'm not concerned with symmetry or exactitude. Good thing.

There were also, as you can see, some simple squared vases with added lugs, glazed more or less as I glaze the teabowls.

Visiting Kim Medeiros in Pocasset

The Cape Cod Potters have a show coming up next month at the Cape Cod Museum of Art and I got the assignment to shoot some photos of working potters for the walls of the room we'll be in. So today I drove over to Pocasset - about 20 minutes from our place - to shoot photos of my friend Kim Medeiros.
Kim's business is The Barn Pottery. She's just off a "major" intersection in downtown Pocasset. (I put quotes around "major" because in that part of Cape Cod some pretty small business districts qualify for that adjective. Pocasset is one of them.) UK potters Hannah McAndrew and Doug Fitch will remember her place; that's where we went to borrow the torch for Doug's flaming pot-making last year.
Kim put on a good pot-throwing and decorating show for the camera, and served fresh coffee and banana bread in addition. Not a bad way to spend an hour away from the studio.
I thought I'd post a few photos of Kim at work in her highly decorative studio.

There will be new pots in Boston Saturday

Just finished loading the glaze kiln with teabowls, vases, many mugs, a few other odds and ends.
Somehow, I always think I need new pots for a show, in this case Art in the Park by the Artists Group of Charlestown, in Boston. Never mind that there are hundreds in the shed gallery and another hundred or more in the upstairs gallery. And I just packed up about seven clay boxes with "seconds" for the Cape Cod Potters' seconds sale next month ... and the shed hardly looks any different.
And I've been excited about big teabowls the past month or so, so there are several in this firing. Faceted and expanded and torqued, then glazed usually in a base Shino glaze with pours of Shino, ash and other glazes over that. You can see some in the photos. I wanted a wider choice in picking out four chawan or yunomi for the Durango show next month. There might be a good one in there somewhere.
There are also a couple of Kim Medeiros pots in there, as well as a few refires by one of her students. Kim's pots like my kiln for some reason.
Oh, and a woman was in the gallery Sunday and asked, "Are your prices fixed?" I paused, then said, "Well, they're glued to the side of each pot, if that's what you mean."
I hate that question. How do you all handle it?

Two very different styles of pottery ...

I wanted to fire this week to get more inventory for the three-day Chatham Creative Arts Center show down at the elbow of the Cape. And Kim Medeiros of The Barn Pottery in Pocasset had some pots she wanted to get in, so we shared space in the gas kiln yesterday.
Two more different styles of pot would be hard to find in one firing.
I often kid Kim that she makes "girly pots" - non-Shino non-Temmoku colors (Wow! Color!) and slips and drawings of women. She takes it well. But she does in fact make lovely pots that work very well with what for me would be scary reds and blues. It taxes my color-avoidance attitude to sneak in a splash of copper red or Oribe onto a layered Shino. I do it, but it's frightening.
So, while my Shinos and ash glazes were layered randomly on top of each other - occasional glaze spitting out onto the shelf, ash glaze running off the pot, darkness vying with darkness on extremely rough faceted teabowls - Kim's blues and reds were starting to sparkle on the back shelf. The glazes may say something about my occasionally dark disposition and her own indomitable sunny nature.
In any case, I think we're both happy with the firing. Amazing that pots so different from each other can work well together at Cone 10.

A happy Saturday selling pots and coffee

Saturday's "Among Friends" kiln-opening and pottery sale was a wonderful one-day event. Not only because everyone seemed happy with their sales, but because it was just a good time. The trick to enjoying this occasionally iffy business of staging an event in the summer on Cape Cod is to have a group of people that like each other and are fully capable of having fun, no matter how many pots go out the driveway.

But quite a few did. The joint firing was successful, Mike Race brought good coffee, Tammy Race made scones, Jo Ann Muramoto made a tomato tart, we had dozens of bagels and many, many chile dogs. What could be wrong with that? I suspect we'll do it again next year and give people a reason to come to Hatchville. Now ... if we can figure out how to plan cloudy, non-beach weather like yesterday's.

Photos: Top, Denny Howard sets up, with Kim Medeiros behind him and Angela Rose in the background; three of my pots from this firing - an oversize Shino teabowl; a low, ragged-edged teabow and a small vase with overlapped Shinos.

Loading the kiln for "Among Friends" firing

I shot the top picture earlier today, about halfway through loading my kiln with my work and work by Kim Medeiros, Denny Howard, Anne Halpin and Angela Rose. All five of us have pots in here, to be fired Friday and opened Saturday morning for ourselves and whoever responds to the newspaper ads, posters and e-mail blasts we all (and coffee roaster Mike Race) have sent out.
The event begins at 10 a.m. Saturday the 28th, here at Hatchville Pottery in East Falmouth, on Cape Cod. We open the kiln at 11, but before and after the opening all of us will have other pots on tables and under tents here at the pottery. Angela Rose, a landscaper in her other life, had her crew in here Monday to mow, trim and weed the property to within an inch of its life. Thanks to her - and to Dee's gardens, which are now so well-displayed - the place looks great. We're hoping for no rain or thunderstorms. Ideally, the weather will be cloudy enough to discourage people from going to the beach but not horrible enough to make them stay home and play Monopoly. This business of selling pots in a summer resort community is like that ...
We'll have Mike Race's freshly-roasted coffee, pastries of several kinds to go with it, chile dogs with genuine New Mexico red chile at lunch. Call 508-563-1948 for more information, or e-mail me at hatchvillepottery@comcast.net.

And in other art-related news, the Cahoon Museum on Route 28 in nearby Cotuit opens "Come East at Our Table" tomorrow evening. I have yet to see the show, but there are several of my pots in it, as well as pots by several other Cape potters. Included in the show are the Nuka/copper red bowls at the bottom of this post.