New site established to save Arrowmont

There is now a place to go for news and updates on the situation at Arrowmont as they unfold.

From their About Us page:

The Save Arrowmont! blog was started to raise awareness and share information about the Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts (AKA: The Pi Beta Phi Settlement School, founded in 1912) and their struggle for preservation.

The blog is run by a loose-knit conglomeration of concerned citizens, community leaders, former staff, artists, writers, reporters, grandmothers, teachers, you, whoever has an affinity and concern for Arrowmont and its future in the arts & crafts community.

http://savearrowmont.wordpress.com/

Light red/pink swirl vase

Here's one of the experiments that turned out.


When it was bone dry greenware, I first put a layer of white terra sig on it, then a couple layers of red. I originally intended for it to be much more red, and more of a solid coat, but the clay had other plans. Turns out the red sig streaked as the pot spun on the wheel, I'm guessing because it was still too thin/watery. I think it's far nicer than what I was going for.

One of my favorites

I really like the way this one came out. The dark grass-like line left by a copper wire couldn't be better if I'd planned it that way.

Arrowmont Update

There is now an e-petition available to help save Arrowmont.
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/savearrowmont

Arrowmont is a unique and valuable institution for the arts. If it is lost, it won't be as easily replaced as yet another tract of generic high rent condos.

http://www.arrowmont.org/arrowmontnews.html

Pi Beta Phi's side of the story:
http://www.pibetaphi.org/pibetaphi/

Meagan Chaney also has listed contact info for Pi Beta Phi's Grand Council

Natural finish

Here's two views of one that wasn't burnished or terra sig'ed. It has a natural raw clay surface.

It's possible to seal it with an acrylic resin type product, but I think I prefer the softer colors. But it could bring out the lavendar/purples a little more...
What do you think?

World gone mad?

So, having been following the saga of the NC legislature pulling funding for the NC Pottery Center, threatening it's very existence, Meagan brings my attention to the story that Arrowmont is also being threatened with having their land sold to developers for likely another golf/condo/resort complex.

Has the world gone mad??

It's stunning how short-sighted some people can be in pursuit of a few bucks, neglecting or outright selling our cultural resources and heritage. What kind of world are we leaving to the next generation, devoid of art and beauty?

I'm just hoping this trend of bad news doesn't come in threes this time.

Another one waxed and polished

I got another pot finished --

Results

Overall, the results were very good. There were five of us total, and everyone was happy with their pots. It was cool seeing everyone else's forms. Some small, some large, some handbuilt from textured slabs wrapped into vases.

Unlike glazeware, after the firing the work has only started. We had to unwrap and the scour the pots to remove the ash and residue from firing. Today I began the process of waxing the burnished / terra sig'ed ones. Kinda like waxing my Dad's van as a kid, only smaller.

Here is today's effort, after mowing the yard in between raindrops and other weekend chores.

What do you listen to?

Meagan Chaney's recent technical difficulties got me thinking, I know what I like to listen to when I'm in the studio, I wonder what other people listen to? Do you need music?

For throwing and general working around in the studio, I prefer more instrumental stuff. Usually classical, but depending on my mood it could be anything from Alan Parsons to Kodo. Bach is an old standby, especially the Brandenburg Concertos.

What about podcasts? I find I can't concentrate on them and do pottery at the same time, but outside the studio I have a few I like to listen to. The Firing Log is interesting to me, not being even remotely capable of building my own anagama kiln, just to hear how other people work. I like the people he finds to interview.
Robert Briggs at www.corvusmoon.com does the Pottery Pod, with short videos of different techniques. NCECA has also done a podcast series of the conference the last two years. None of these are very heavily updated, so it's easy to keep up to date on them. For lighter non-pottery listening, NPR has most if not all of their regular shows available through podcast too. All of these podcasts can be found by searching the iTunes site. And you don't have to have a Mac or an iPod to use iTunes. I have a MuVo TX from Creative Labs that I love. It's tiny, holds plenty of music, can do double duty as a USB thumb drive, and has an FM tuner and voice recorder as well.

I have a feeling I'll be listening to something a bit up-tempo as I clean, scrub, wax a buff my pots from the saggar fire yesterday. Stay tuned for pictures!

NC Pottery Center

There's been a lot circulating in the blogospere recently about the financial plight of the North Carolina Pottery Center. If by chance you're not up to speed on the situation, their plea for support can be found here.


In addition to preserving and exhibiting the history of North Carolina pottery, and holding exhibitions, classes and workshops, they are also responsible for giving me my first real taste of how wonderful and creative this art form can be.

There are many ways you can help.

Mark Hewitt is raffling off a salt-glazed jar on August 31 for $20 a ticket here.

AKAR Design is putting 100% of the profit from the sale of pieces marked with the NCPC logo toward the fundraising effort.

Or you can donate directly to the NCPC, or become a member here.

Saggar firing prep

I finished prep work for the saggar firing this weekend. I wrapped these at home Wednesday night. They're experimental test pieces, so I hope some useful information come from them.


Then last night I wrapped the rest where we'll be doing the actual firing on Saturday. Some are unburnished, some are only burnished, some have terra sig. I really don't know what I'll get, but I'm hoping for some interesting surfaces I can develop further.

For some reason I'm craving a baked potato....

Getting Things Done

Do you ever feel overwhelmed by all the 'stuff' that needs to be done? I know I do. Sometimes the stress of it all leaves me drained and not able to access the inspired, creative side when I finally get some studio time.
Do you ever have all these fantastic ideas and new things to try streaming through your brain.... when you're in the middle of something else, headed out the door, or otherwise occupied? Then when you get to the studio sit there trying to figure out what they were? Me too.
Do you own a day planning calendar, and use it (or not), but still have the feeling of 'there's GOT to be a better way?'

Since I have a full-time job and do pottery in between, it's a challenge both finding the time and making the most of it when I do. But time management isn't the end of it, otherwise we'd all have a calendar and everything would be perfect.

About a year ago I found a different way of looking at the problem, called Getting Things Done, or GTD. Pioneered by David Allen, it picks up where Stephen Covey's 7 Habits and the Franklin Planner leave off.

One of the principles is that every task/idea has a Context. This filters your todo's and projects so that when you're near a computer, you look at your @Computer list, and don't have to sift through a big list of unrelated tasks. Or if you're in the mood to do some phone calls, you look at @Phone. A few of my contexts are @home, @work, @studio and @PC.

Other principles address the need for a 100% idea-capture system, a simple fast filing system for all those ideas, and a reliable follow-up system. He contends that keeping all your thoughts and ideas in your head leads to stress and forgetfulness. If you can capture them into a system where you know you'll find them when you need to, it frees you to give your' full attention to whatever you're doing.

I've been using GTD for a while now, and although I fall off the wagon for periods of time, it really does help better manage my time. And when I'm not, it doesn't take very long to notice and get back on track.

How do you throw?

Jen Mecca was kind enough to post about her throwing technique after I'd asked her about it. Jen throws standing up, which I've recently switched to after compressing a disk in my back this past spring. It was non-pottery related, I was changing a flat tire, but it got me even more motivated to minimize the strain of what can be a physically demanding craft.

I'd already started putting my wheel up on 3 bricks to raise the wheelhead, which was better, but still not high enough. The art center has one Brent wheel with the leg extensions for standing, so I've been using that one ever since.

Robert Compton has a nice page of different potters working. My favorite is with the wheel mounted on the ceiling. I'd actually thought of that myself once while musing the challenges of gravity. Now I find out someone else was doing it back in 1971... I was taught to throw pretty dry, but I can't help thinking you'd need a rain poncho and a shower cap for that one!

John Glick has written some great articles sharing his hard learned lessons in back health. His 'To Sciatica and Back' should be a cautionary tale for us all, as well as the followup 'Down the Spinal Canal: From Herniation to Rupture'

So my informal, unscientific poll in the sidebar asks you: How do you throw?

Photo montage

So this weekend I finally got around to taking pictures of my past and present work so you can see what the heck I'm talking about. I'm also going to backpost some of these into my previous posts for future newcomers.

Naked raku


These are from my one and only attempt at this. It was in a class at the art center and there wasn't much leeway for experimentation. I like the overall effect, and I can see the potential there, but I'd like to try some different masking slips to see if I can get a larger crackle pattern.

Saggar firing


These are more recent, using the tin-foil saggar method described in Alternative Kilns and Firing Techniques. Great book, full of ideas. It covers raku, sagger, pit and barrel firing, with dozens of variations.

Works awaiting the flames....

These are a few of the pieces I have waiting to be saggar fired next Saturday. The orange is the first attempted application of red terra sig. The shinier ones have had white t.s. applied and been polished. This is the last look at them before they're wrapped in aluminum foil in a cocoon of plant materials and metal salts.