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Here's my studio.  I occupy half of a two-car garage.  When the wife leaves for "work" I push the glaze tables out and go to it.  Yes, it has a TV, but I do need some background noise or music.

LOVE your dropped down glaze buckets. i have seen them previously in an old CA magazine, envious of those being a small person. Maybe on the xmas list.

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I'm not posting mine, it would be a health hazard just to view it...

Also don't let anyone in my space except for dog, to ease my guilt. ( and keep it sacred!!, and keep the borrowed, freed items in that state!) 

I'm working on the clean up as I age, partner stating not responsible for shed if I go intergalactic before him. Lots of found objects and pos. texture sources draping from pegs.

All chemicals sealed and labelled though.

Have a daughter ,chemistry her major, environment her love, who knows about all things toxic so giving her instructions...

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I won't say that my studio is a disaster at the moment.  It has become temporary storage for stuff from another room that is being remodelled.  How bad is it, you ask? Well, the narrow path cut through all of the junk is so narrow that I made it through, but it wasn't wide enough for me plus the camera. *pah-dum, ching*.

-Paul

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Here's my studio.  I occupy half of a two-car garage.  When the wife leaves for "work" I push the glaze tables out and go to it.  Yes, it has a TV, but I do need some background noise or music.

can you explain the tubs recessed in your tables?  do the tubs hold dry materials, wet glaze for dipping, or are they simply catch basins for pouring?  other?

i like the flip-up work surface you have on them, at first glance i thought they were plaster slabs that you can flip over (like if you worked with different colored clay bodies) but then realized they're painted wood.

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i'll share a few...sorry for big pics, it won't let me upload from the file sizes i have.

i'm very privileged with the studio that i get to run and maintain.  not really sure how i'm going to deal with the change when it comes time to pass the torch...

 

originally build as an army barracks in 1947

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typical clay run, i do 2-3/year

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a few days worth of clay, esp. at beginning of quarter like in this photo.  (each beginning ceramics student uses close to this much at their personal work space during 10 week quarter.  forget that tabletop sculpture nonsense - we like to throw them in the deep end from the beginning!)  most work is large-scale sculpture, once-fired at ^04 and a little bit of midrange as well.  beginning student who pays attention should be able to teach ceramics camp somewhere, since they mix their own clay, mix their own glazes, build large scale, load their own work, facilitate kiln firing, and critique; all in 10 weeks.

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glaze room. all glaze is mixed on per-batch basis, no communal buckets.  most tests you see is ^04 and ONCE FIRED.  

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kiln room.  8 electrics, 3 downdrafts.  smallest is 1 cu. ft.  largest is 135 cu. ft. with 2 mobile beds

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about half of the studio. (i think this was a "multiples" class)  students setup individual work spaces for the quarter that nobody else works in.  maximum 35 total studio users per 10wk quarter (undergrad, grad, staff and faculty)

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:( sadly, this is how 50% ends up at the end of each quarter (x2 dumpsters!)  wish i had some sort of crushing/milling setup to reclaim some of this for grog.

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sorry to do that to you all, but that's what i'm currently using...

 

before anyone comments on "it's too clean!"...we have full-studio cleanup 3-4x/year, most furniture is on wheels and everything goes outside for hose/scrub, while we hose/scrub/squeegee the inside of the building.  you could only imagine what it'd look like if we didn't do this ("familiar"? haha)

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:( sadly, this is how 50% ends up at the end of each quarter (x2 dumpsters!)  wish i had some sort of crushing/milling setup to reclaim some of this for grog.

 

 

sorry to do that to you all, but that's what i'm currently using...

 

before anyone comments on "it's too clean!"...we have full-studio cleanup 3-4x/year, most furniture is on wheels and everything goes outside for hose/scrub, while we hose/scrub/squeegee the inside of the building.  you could only imagine what it'd look like if we didn't do this ("familiar"? haha)

Why is there so much throw away? That is mind shattering.

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Just shot these today. I am madly working to finish the last of the pieces for a big solo show in a large gallery in Brownsville.  It is pretty messy. I have been here for 8 years but some of my stuff has been with me for 45 or more years. I have a lot of stuff. and I downsized before I moved in 2006.

 

 

My Studio, marciaselsorstudio.com

 

Marcia

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As we all know, ceramics is heavy already, and when you make it life size, you have more complications with transport and storage (unless you build in sections like we encourage many to do). Also many undergrads aren't art majors, many move housing yearly, don't have vehicles, or maybe don't have space in their shared living situation that can accommodate a 6ft 200lb sculpture. We do keep some work for our sculpture garden every year if it's presentable to the public, but for the most part is up to students what happens with their artwork. Of course we encourage everyone to hold on to their work as long as possible, so you at least give it time to sink in and really gather personal thought and feedback, or if you even just keep a small piece that represents what you wanted from your failed attempt.

 

When it comes time to dispose of it, we encourage it gets broken up so that you will not find your own work included or claimed in somebody else's work, or so that if/when you become successful as an artist, you had a choice regarding what past work exists (ex: in case someone dumpster dove your work 20yrs ago when you were an undergrad and it now has value). I'm sure many people here regret giving away old junky pottery that doesn't represent you very well, but that's what they and the people they show it off to know you by...

 

I know it's a shame to toss so much beautiful (hopefully it wasn't) artwork every year, but in reality you can always make more. It's similar to when I do throwing demos in HS classes and they gasp when I chop up a freshly thrown pot (that would have taken them all class period to make) just so I can show them a cross section of what/how I just did...because you can make more :) Usually when you do continue working, your work improves as you progress.

 

To a certain degree it is better to make unsuccessful art and be unhappy when you open up a kiln - this is because if you're truly interested in the material, then you will have more desire to improve and take steps to not repeat, hence you learn exponentially faster. When you open your kiln and everything is successful, you have a tendency to stop forward progression because you're already getting what you wanted.

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marcia, good luck with the gallery show!

 

of course your studio is perfect, what else could we expect?  traveling to a new place you probably were drawing it out in your head as you drove.  looks like a very well organized working space.  

 

what water do we see in the background with palm trees, no less?

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Well, since no one else has posted their community work space, here is mine. The first two shots are of "my" cubby space, about 10 x 12 give or take. There isn't room, as you can see, to let much hang around, although there is a bunch of stuff I'm trying to work through and get out of there. Absolutely no room for inventory, and I envy those of you who can look at what you have to sell--just a concept at this point.

 

To get one of these (5) cubby spaces, you pay extra money, and now one of us is going to have to die before another becomes available to someone else. The advantages are huge, in that you furnish your own wheel/tools, but no one else (is supposed to) come in and muck around with your stuff, and you have control over shelving for wet vs. bisque, etc. The major disadvantage is that we have had a thief among us, so things do get lifted. My "lifted" bill continues to climb, even though I lock most of the pricey stuff up.

 

Last pic is of the portion of the main studio where I glaze. Buckets are the community glazes, which have advantages and dis. No control over contents, etc. Most craze on almost all bodies, which drives me batty (battier?). The green buckets are my own. No capacity to mix glazes in this facility, but I beg my supplier to weigh out formulas, then slake and mix them here. (Don't know how long that is going to be possible.)

 

Pretty amazing what they've pulled off here, as there are very few places like this that last for more than a year or so--super hard for the financials to work out, as I'm sure you all know.

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Guest JBaymore

My "lifted" bill continues to climb, even though I lock most of the pricey stuff up.

 

Invest in a small digital security camera and leave it running. You'll do yourself and the other studio members (except for one ;) ) a big favor. 

 

"Accidently" leave something good out.  Sting!

 

best,

 

........................john

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Old Lady,

The water is a Resaca, an old channel of the Rio Grande..used now for flood control..and thankful because yesterday we had 2.5-4" in an hour. The rescue rose over a foot. All critters seem to be enjoying the new water.

This is the best studio I ever had. The view is great. The solitude is wonderful even though I have neighbors, no one is home during the day except me and the birds, my cats and dogs.If I hear a strange brd call I stop working and go in search of the source. It is lovely except for the heat. Today a cold front came through. It was wonderfully dry, cool breeze in the lower 80s.

Good day in the studio and morning running errands.

Marcia

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I have enjoyed looking at everyone's spaces.  Here is mine, fairly neat after an Open Studio weekend. It is a one car garage. I took a pic of each of the 4 sides. One of the best things about it is the level cement floor. I dry most things on it. In the left corner by the garage door is a "rain" barrel full of clean water from the hose. In addition I collect rain in the 5 gallon found buckets.

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Very nice set up Marcia.  I'm guessing the Texas summers are still thawing you out, from the Montana winters.

 

perkolator, great pictures of the studio.  The wide angle shots, really give me a feel for the space.  The fact it used to be Army barracks is excellent.  I love it when a structure has a history.  

 

It is indeed sad, to see so many projects discarded.  I understand the reason(s), but it's still unfortunate.  Only one of my college projects, ever met the hammer.  Now it's serving as erosion prevention, for a creek in my parent's backyard.  The upper level students, at my college, almost always smashed their rejected wares.  They didn't want anyone dumpster diving, and pulling them out.  And believe you me, there were Art students looking through dumpster, for any type of free materials!

 

Why go so large though?  Can't they learn the same processes and techniques, on a smaller scale?  They'd be less likely to to their works, if they were more portable perhaps.  

I makes my high school students take everything home, or at least out of the school.  I don't let them throw anything.  I tell them, if I see it in the trash, anywhere in the school, they will receive a zero.  Because they are telling me, that it wasn't worth their time, my time and the department's materials.  If they don't care, why should I?  Once they have them home, they can do what they want.  Many times, their parents see a project, and snag it, before anything "accidentally" happens to it.

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Karen, Yes that top shelf is about 7ft  high.  I am tall so I am able to reach what is in front.  I purposely put things on the top shelf that are lighter, and not used as often. Smaller buckets  And I have a small step stool.   It looks like all of us figure out how to make things work, doesn't it?  :)  As potters we have stuff.  Our stuff can be heavy.  We don't always have a dedicated space.  But we make our spaces work somehow.  Garages, basements, greenhouses, sheds, shops, small bedrooms, barns, whatever we have!  It has been fun seeing the pictures!

 

Roberta

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congrats, Karen on winning the gift certificate from Bailey!   they appear surprised that anyone recognized Alan Caiger-Smith's work.

 

i cannot imagine any serious potter NOT recognizing it!

 

Ha ha, you surprised me by connecting that to me. Thanks! His work is gorgeous.

Another view of my studio on Baileys.

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Here's my studio.  I occupy half of a two-car garage.  When the wife leaves for "work" I push the glaze tables out and go to it.  Yes, it has a TV, but I do need some background noise or music.

can you explain the tubs recessed in your tables?  do the tubs hold dry materials, wet glaze for dipping, or are they simply catch basins for pouring?  other?

i like the flip-up work surface you have on them, at first glance i thought they were plaster slabs that you can flip over (like if you worked with different colored clay bodies) but then realized they're painted wood.

 

The tubs are for glazes - I used to use 20 gallon trash cans as I HATE five gallon buckets.  They are recessed into the table and the flip up covers double as work/temporary space.  I store dry materials under each table.  The tubs are wide enough to pour glazes on my 24+" platters and dip other smaller pieces.  No exposed plaster surfaces in my studio as I have a phobia about plaster in my clay. 

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