yappystudent

Working  on found object texture tiles to be raku fired and assembled for a wall hanging.

making a combination of things.  big pieces with leaves and birds and small, about 3 inches across lace impressed bowl shaped "containers".  the small items will sell if i can get a nice glaze in several colors.  the bigger ones also sell, depending on the venue.  but the small stuff is my version of mark's sponge holder bread and butter item.  not that they hold sponges, just that they sell quickly and bring in cash.


got to make some glazes!

Thanks for posting my question Pres. 
hanging planters for succulents

 

Elephants!

Here are a few possible questions (I didn't read all the other suggestions, so it is possible that one or the other is already mentioned):
are you doing archetypal or traditional forms? have you ever been inspired by Ikebana to do vases? is "history" important in/to your work? what art qualifications do you have? is there a person in your life (doesn't have to be a potter) who influenced you or your work? what does success mean to you? what are the most important design elements? are you using 3-D printers? is your work related to your environments? which of your works gives you the most pleasure when you look at it? are you a member of a ceramics community in your neighborhood/region/country etc.? are there restrictions to the size of your work?

LeeU posted this question in another strand under Chemistry: Maybe a topic for a future question of the week....is "it" (like the spodumene effect) a problem (as in the science/craft sense it may well be) or is it a blessing (in the sense of the  aesthetic/philosophy of the ceramicist)?  I love cracks and "flaws" in my pieces (go out of my way to introduce them)  but it does set me up for "having" to explain to the guy/gal  whispering to the person with them that "This gal isn't very good-look at all the cracks and pinholes." that actually, I know what I am doing, I just choose a different path.  Kinda like life! aaarrrggghhh
 
best, Pres

Several years ago, Gail Sheehy wrote a book titled "Passages: Predictable Crises of Adult Life" (I just discovered another book by Gail, New Passages that is also available on Amazon).  I believe that the veterans here on the forum have likely witnessed Patterns: Predictable Crises of the Clay Artist and I wonder what identifiable stages we can identify in our own journeys into clay/pottery/ceramics?...and what are the indicators of where we are (individually) along those paths?
 
Maybe we identify just one predictable crisis and then have the forum describe the symptoms and how they moved forward?
 
Peace,
-Paul

Q's:
 
Is it Craft or is it Art?
You and I may have one idea about a piece of ceramic, while trust me, the oil painters in the gallery/art school/art faire may have another. (Personally, if it's non-utilitarian IMO it's art. But some utilitarian work is so artistic it crosses the line into Art as well. Also, it's a bit like defining God, I feel a bit full of myself just trying. Your opinion may differ.)
 
Is there a genre of ceramics that you hate?
Hopefully no one will get offended. You'll notice I didn't give an opinion.
 
Do you tend to end up using the same general color schemes in your glaze work intentionally or unintentionally? (I do. It's various whites over dark clays, usually with the speckles coming through.)
 
(I'm sure I can come up with a few more questions of the noobish sort, just can't think of them right now.)