Gabby
-
Posts
357 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Gallery
Posts posted by Gabby
-
-
5 hours ago, GEP said:
I used to tell my students “if it works for you, it’s not wrong.”
My “bad habit” is to skip foot rings on all pots that I am producing in high volumes. Foot rings are very time consuming. I still like to trim them on things I make in lower volumes. But for mugs and small bowls, no way!
I actually prefer pots without foot rings.
-
My work often has unplanned asymmetry that has become part of my rustic style,
-
1 minute ago, LeeU said:
The lower left above is a small tray just stacked on top of a business card holder laying on it's back LOL--both for a pending raku fire. The vessels in the attached pic are for the anagama firing in the spring (I missed the fall fire.) The one on the left is a smoker, for Amazonian wood used in meditation; the one on the right is a box with a "fluid" lid. Both are quite tactile. I have high hopes for the wood fire effects!
Those were the two I was asking about- not the stacked pieces at bottom left in the original photo.
I will look forward to seeing the results!
I am waiting for my raku opportunity. A place nearby offers the chance to put three medium pieces in the first Saturday of every month. The first one of those I don't have a conflict is January 5. So it may be the first New Years resolution I fulfill.
-
16 hours ago, LeeU said:
The significance of this worktable is that it is a second one (someone has been busy/finally)-the main one is inside, this is on the porch-the "spill over" items are a bisqued mix for raku this weekend, a mid fire electric later, and a future angama wood fire.
This looks like some new kinds of shapes for you, right? The tall squared vessel in the bottom left looks different from things on your website, and I am trying to figure out what that middle item with the lid is.
-
I prefer matte or nearly matte glazes on red clay.
-
3 hours ago, oldlady said:
am i the only one who cannot see any of the photos in all the posts above? i get a little symbol of a photo, some numbers and nothing else. clicking on them does no good. what am i doing wrong or what happened to everything on page 7?
I see them using Chrome as my browser.
Often when I cannot see something it is because I am using a browser that doesn't work as well for things on some sites. Sometimes Internet Explorer or Firefox works better.
-
Because craft is aimed at practical use, workmanship may be more important there than in art. Art typically appeals to the senses and can without particularly fine workmanship or durability or even intention.
Art tends to embody an aesthetic idea or interpretation.
-
12 hours ago, liambesaw said:
Put a space heater in the shed overnight and things firmed up enough to trim for the most part. Got 8 of them trimmed up, probably gonna toss a few where the lids weren't quite matched up.
Tomorrow I'll be wedging and throwing, don't know what yet, something will strike me!
I love your results here, particularly the front left.
-
I usually use my own things at breakfast and at dinner time. I have one tall handle-less mug for tea and another for cold, only because I like to see them side by side near my computer. I have a stocky little bowl I use for dried fruit and nuts and many just like it, only glazed differently.
At dinner time I strongly prefer a large bowl to a plate, and I always use my own, choosing from among four or so..
-
Yappy, I do not think you are an upstart. I responded because my observation about who usually raises this topic across the many venues where I have seen it raised is inconsistent with your conjecture that it is elites reassuring themselves of the value of their credentials. I thought sharing my observation, indeed the sharing of different observations and experiences, is exactly what I forum like this is for. Offering an alternative observation is not, I think, disrespectful. No disrespect was intended.
I am sorry your teacher is absent. Unless she had an excellent reason, it is very irresponsible. The only time I was absent in my many years of teaching was when my father died. And I am sorry that whoever handled the firing in her place mistook your wet vessel for kiln ready.
-
4 hours ago, yappystudent said:
I'm starting to wonder if this topic keeps resurfacing because those who have a piece of paper want to reassure themselves they're safely in the elite and everyone else is not. It must be a very warm, secure place to be. I wonder what that's like?
I don't know if you offered this speculation is jest, but my observation is actually opposite. I think the desire to learn, in whatever area, is universal, and therefore considering how best to learn is interesting to people.
Those interested in an area often ask those already competent in an area what are the best or viable possible routes to gaining competency.
I have heard actually quite heated discussion of this outside of the arts, with the most strident, typically, those whose education in a subject was not classroom-based. I have heard this question discussed in the most heated way among those interested in advanced sciences (say, quantum physics) whose knowledge of those subjects comes from the internet and are disappointed that their theories are not more seriously examined by those in academia or invited to the TED stage.
-
There are many people who worry that learning common ways of doing things, or other people's ways of doing things, will keep them from discovering uncommon ways of doing things or a unique personal style.
These are often the same people who believe that small children have better judgment and instincts than people who have been exposed to a range of other people's ideas.
I don't think there is any evidence that exposure to a range of ideas or techniques is stifling. More likely it is stimulating.
There are others who loathe formal education because they were either bored or humiliated by the particular education they received and generalize that to all formal education.
I have also encountered people who are convinced that formally educated people are less disposed to becoming life-long learners than people without formal education. I don't think there is any validity to this assumption.
The question of how much it is reasonable to go into debt or how much time it is reasonable to devote is entirely legitimate. There will also be people who have an exceptional alternative resource available to them that is uncommon, someone who is willing to devote all the time it takes to teach them privately. Most people will not have this option.
I have taken two ceramics classes. One was an open studio sort of thing with lots of studio access but little instruction. The other involved formal instruction but no access other than during class time to practice space or equipment.
I learned much more from the second than from the first, but these experiences made me wish I had had an opportunity to take a class from a teacher over the course of a three or four month term in which I also had access to the studio to practice. At this point I am unlikely to be able to do that.
-
I am attempting to hand build something simple but pretty large for me, using the advice I have gathered here in the last couple of days.
Usually when I have hand-built I have done things with the clay pretty wet, so this is my first attempt to attach parts at leather hard.
-
On 9/16/2018 at 8:02 PM, LeeU said:
The Potters' Guild has a wood kiln located over an hour away from me, but so far they have been unwilling to accomodate my (physically invisible) disabilites and I can't physically participate in the required pre-during-post firing work...several 8 hr. shifts over a 2 week period. I have suggested (requested) that they consider having a policy like the NHIA community education program that gets me into the anagama firings. I am allowed to pay (a premium!) for the shelf space and then am not required to work shifts. So far the board has not added my request for discussion (& hopfully resolution) to any of the meeting agendas. I'm not interested in getting into the legalisms of a public non-profit not making a reasonable accomodation (i.e. in this case, pay to play) for someone with a disability, but I'm about ready to withdraw from the organization. I'll again bring up the issue of having a policy on disability accomodations at the next meeting, but that's probably the end of it for me. I don't care for the feeling of being discriminated against, in effect, even when I know that is the furthest thing from people's conscious minds when they just don't "get it" if they don't see a wheelchair!
If they were to see a wheelchair, do you think they would make accommodations?
You are right that most of the time organizations just don't get it. Even organizations specifically charged with providing services for the disabled have procedures that make no sense.
I hope in your case that the organization puts the subject of disability accommodations on the agenda. I think the fact that the NHIA has a rule the Potter's Guild could copy is important. Drafting new rules can seem scary for people not used to doing it, but adapting existing rules requires way less effort.
If I lived nearby, I would do the eight hour shifts for you.
-
When I participated in a barrel fire, I used banana, dried mushroom, copper scrubby, coffee grounds, horse hair, and a feather.
Yesterday I opened a previously unopened bag of red clay I have had since March and was surprised to smell and see some mold on the outside. So that's in a couple of things I threw yesterday. Is that safe? What will mold do in firing? My unintentional organic addition.
-
These are really beautiful, Pres. I will look forward to seeing them featured on the Savannah Bee website.
-
1 hour ago, LeeU said:
I'd gladly submit some potential questions but I can never find the place to post them!! Was looking for it the other night (& the search feature yields nothing). I know I've been told where to find it before but I didn't write it down. I wish it was right "out there" somewhere.
And now, I've forgotten my question 
Handles....nope. I know how to pull & attach 'em pretty well, actually, but I hate making mugs so I just don't.
Look in this forum at the second thread. It is called QofW: Participants Questions...
-
5 minutes ago, Chilly said:
Nothing, it's in the kiln ready to be fired on Wednesday.
Bought 5 pieces of greenware home from Potter's Camp.
- a couple of plates using a jigger/jolly machine, slip decorated and screen printed on, just daubed slip on the other,
- a couple of pressed trinket trays - rolled out clay, rolled again with icing rolling pins, cut into a curvy rectangle and pressed by wood blocks into thick foam,
- and a paper-resist slipped, waxed, incised, cobalt-washed slab that I don't think I'll like when it's finished, but I brought it home to show others the techniques. No point learning something new if you don't pass it on.
Similar here. Three large-ish hand-built pieces are kiln bound. I would like to do some hand-building today, but my studio adjoins my husband's wood shop, sharing the air, and he is staining and using his table saw today. So no clay for me until he is out of there. I can plan, though.
-
I am naturally messy and so have to clean up as I go. I wipe down with paper towels or sponges, depending on what it is, and I wash my hands and tools right after use.
My studio is in the basement, so I go straight to my utility sinks.
-
Yappy, I always like seeing your experiments.
I have never seen a nude on a baking dish.
Maybe a year ago I did a sculpture of my deceased bulldog which looked so cute after bisque firing, perfectly red/white/black (her authentic colors) and then disappointed me after glaze firing. Somehow I missed that the terracotta underglaze would no longer be terracotta colored once fired at cone 5. Live and learn.
Tomorrow on my workbench will be the first piece I will have done with many colors of underglaze. Usually I just do black ad white or dark blue and white or green. The clay is red, so I expect to be surprised but hope not to be too surprised.
- Rae Reich and yappystudent
-
2
-
QotW: So there is my question. Recognizing that some days are obviously different from others, and some here have studios that are available only in warmer weather or not in really hot weather, what is the typical day, hour block by hour block, during a t
in Int'l Ceramic Artists Network (ICAN) Operations and Benefits
I am a very early riser, typically 5:30. I check email and do yoga or something on most days. If I have something drying in the basement I will go check it and tidy it up at 6:30 but I wouldn't start anything then. If I don't have an out-of-house obligation like my teaching the summer term (8AM start time) or my weekly volunteering (8AM start time), I start in at work after the dog's morning walk. If I am going to work in clay, or work at anything else that involves excellent attention, it will be between ten and two. I might read/write/take notes between two and five. Five and later is family time- no time to myself.
If you turn the clock back to when I was working full time, I sometimes started my job at 6, or when it was a teaching job at 7 15. It was all about being home for the kids after school. I never had any time for projects of my own in those days, between my work, the part of work that inevitably came home with me, and the demands of raising three children.
-
1 hour ago, LeeU said:
I asked the question because I get such support and inspiration from other people's journeys, learning about how they navigate difficulty, and how they keep their spirits up, or get through the hard times when spirit-lifting just isn't happening. I was frustrated with the strength needed (and some pain involved) to go through the whole physical process of cleaning kiln shelves, doing new kiln wash, loading them to fire it on, unloading to prep for a pending fire, needing to reload this weekend, etc. I am now saving every penny I can to buy lighter weight shelves, even tho I am a hobbyist with low volume and probably not needing to look too far down the road, either. I also hit a wall of mental paralysis and stayed out of the studio too long, which came back to bite me, of course. And I completly neglected my website and lost what little traffic I was beginning to get. Worse, in terms of "acceptance" and developing "work-arounds" is the minor (relatively speaking) TBI that trips me up cognitively. It's getting worse (relatively speaking) by the minute. It's affecting my speech now, leaving me searching for words that I know, but half the time can't cough up. I end up substituting "thingee" for nouns when I come up empty and people look at me funny as the dead air goes on and on, which is, at the very least, a tad annoying for all ocncerned!! Oh-and I am not dyslexic, but now find this letter reversal happening when I write--at least I can catch and correct that. Whine whine, moan, moan.
Is there a local kid who could help with the physical stuff related to heavy shelves?
-
10 hours ago, LeeU said:
Mostly grateful, tho not always, 'bout sums it up for me. I fought against making my first "Gratitude List" so hard, it took weeks before I was even willing to acknowledge the positive presence of having all my fingers and toes. I am glad those days are gone, and I have some grasp of the imperative necessity of gratitude, which for me generates hope, whether here and now or in reserve for somewhere in the great beyond, after the "tunnel of light". I am amazed at the array of difficulties others have shared. Amazed at people being so forthcoming (and glad there was a place to put it on the Forum--thx Pres). There is so much distress that periodically accompanies my own physical and/or mental challenges, that I must take strength from the resiliency of others, and try to take caution from the actions of some who lost their battle, such as Anthony Bourdain--that one hit me hard. I don't know if it is factual that--as some suggest--creative people have more than their share of deep suffering and bedevilments, but it does seem to me that artistic beings bring an especially tenacious spirit to the game, and seem to express a heightened tenacity to overcome, and to do so with grace. In terms of altering how I work in clay, just doing it tends to be feast or famine, so the striving for balance is the primary requisite if I want to keep on truckin'. Among the tools in my tool box is this community, which is so generous & so supportive, way past simply sharing knowledge and expertise.
Lee, in reference to your speculation that creative people may suffer more than their share of bedevilments, you might find interesting the book Touched with Fire, by Kay Renfield Jamison. She is a scholar, clinician, and master storyteller whose own bipolar disorder brought her to study the relationship of mental disorders and creativity. She also looks at the predisposition to the abuse of alcohol and other substances.
There is a strong correlation between great creativity and some mental disorders as well as alcoholism. In bipolar disorder it is the hypomanic state, the transition state, rather than the poles that connects closely to creative achievement.
I don't think research suggests that creativity and physical illness or creativity and more general suffering are strongly correlated though. Said differently, people with physical illness who are highly creative would likely have been just as creative had they stayed well. Life hardships in general can cut either way in terms of creativity and creative productivity, sometimes enhancing and sometimes stifling.
( I was a teaching fellow for a course on this subject some years ago when I was doing research in this area).
-
1 hour ago, yappystudent said:
As I mentioned before somewhere I have leukemia. When I was diagnosed I promised myself a few things. One, I would do what I wanted the way I wanted as much as possible from then on with the time I have left. Working with clay to some extent gives me a focus and relieves my depression to a large extent, helps me to handle my fear, and though I don't really believe in 'legacies' it's sort of nice to know that a few things I made will be around a long time after I'm gone. Right now I actually feel physically pretty good and thought I was doing well in remission. A visit about a week ago with my oncologist cleared my hopes up when he said it's time for me to get in line for a bone marrow transplant. Hm, yes, well.
Anyway, on the bright side I got to quit my job (after not being able to finish a shift at work due to having pain from a swollen spleen, a health care provider with no health care, thanks to the heartless health care system in the US) three years ago when I finally walked into an ER and got diagnosed. I'd been managing and working through horrible symptoms undiagnosed for at least two years not knowing what I had. The ER doc suddenly got excited saying my white cell counts were off the scale and I was rushed over to another hospital in the middle of the night, put into all sorts of contraptions, IV's inserted, etc. The oncologist assured me I didn't have long if it was one type, about 25 yrs if another. My only thought was "Christ I can finally quit my job!" -that's how much I hated it. After recovering and getting social security and medicaid worked out, I sold my wee house in Idaho, (also hated Idaho, I'm from CA originally, seriously a fish out of water) and used the money to move to a place I love on the Oregon coast. Anyway I'm cramming as much of what I want, that I can afford on next to nothing, into what's left. Not everyone gets the news they better get their affairs in order and have such and such time left to do it. Most of the time, I'm grateful, not always.
It sounds like you are handling a difficult situation brilliantly. I am not ill but a young one I love beyond measure is seriously, permanently ill, and I am glad for medicaid.
- Pres and yappystudent
-
2
And now, I've forgotten my question 
QotW: How do you feel about culture theft?
in Int'l Ceramic Artists Network (ICAN) Operations and Benefits
Posted
If I remember correctly, in some Native american tribes, a family owns a dance or song or cultural element the way in the US you might own your home. To use their material in your own production on the basis of some argument that cultural elements cannot be owned would be like for someone to make camp at your house on the theory that land cannot be owned. I have seen the work of several artists who got explicit permission from families to use their symbols in their art.
If I remember, within aboriginal cultures, the meaning of the symbols they use is largely secret. Some symbols are not secret but some are.
I think it is respectful for people to generate their own symbols or symbolic languages rather than to appropriate from a culture they admire. Many people will overlap in the images they use, but people should attach their own meanings and avoid other people's particularly sacred images if they mean to be respectful.
Obviously there is a great deal of art that specifically means to be disrespectful. The standards for that sort of work will be different.