During the two-day Walter Keeler/Tip Toland workshop in one of the Seattle convention center ballrooms at NCECA, Keeler worked fairly delicately as he assembled previously thrown parts into complete, functional stoneware pieces. Toland, a slender but strong woman, was at the other side of the stage, pummeling her clay as she built the big head - pushing it onto the piece, slamming her fist into it, dragging a rib through it, only occasionally caressing it.
I loved the way she used her well-worn hands to push around the clay, to make it what she saw in her mind. So here are a few images of Toland at work, in no particular order. Lots of finished work is at tiptoland.com. Look it up.
