Clay Times Magazine Volume 16 • Issue 87

CERAMIC

ART

TRENDS,

TOOLS,

AND

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TIMES

Clay

TECHNIQUES

Volume 16 • Issue 87 SUMMER 2010

C E L E B R AT I N G 1 5 Y E A R S • 1 9 9 5 - 2 0 1 0

3rd Annual Mata Ortiz Pottery Exhibition The Woodcut Method: Achieving Raised Images On Tiles & Slab Work Inspirational Works From “Art of the Pot” Step-by-step Project: Making a Barrel Vase

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Potters Lend a Hand (and a Kiln) to Help Their Local Brickyard Survive PLUS: Which Kiln Burner Valves Are Right for You? •

Tools from Non-Clay Sources • New ‘Slip Techniques’ Book

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contents

TIMES

Clay

SUMMER 2010 Volume 16 • Issue 87 Cover photo: Mata Ortiz vase by Hector Gallegos, Jr. Cover inset photo: Mata Ortiz vase by Juan Quezada. Pictured on this page, left: Mata Ortiz olla by Cesar Navaretti (story on p. 14). Center: Result of Gordon Harrison’s raised imagery technique (p. 27). Right: Just-fired bricks are inspected at Sycamore Pottery (p. 43).

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43

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exhibits

features

14 Mata Ortiz Pottery: An Ancient Tradition Lives On

27 Raised Imagery: A Foolproof Method

Armstrong’s Gallery in Pomona, California offers its third annual exhibition of these extraordinary Mexican works, rich in style & heritage.

Alaskan potter Gordon Harrison offers his stepby-step technique for achieving consistently perfect, raised designs with his own wood-cut templates.

43 Putting America Back to Work 32 Art of the Pot The 7th Annual Austin Invitational Utilitarian Ceramics Exhibition showcases works designed for daily use.

Ren and Pam Parziale of Sycamore Pottery in Kearneysville, WV, lend a hand (and kiln space) to help a struggling local brick company get back on its feet.

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Volume 16 • Issue 87

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contents

TIMES

Clay

SUMMER 2010

departments

columns

9 YOUR WORDS

17 AS FAR AS I KNOW

An inspired reader offers artistic encouragement ...

“From Chawan to Skyphos: Thinking About Drinking”

by Pete Pinnell

11 WHAT’S HOT Clay world news, events, and calls for entries

21 BENEATH THE SURFACE “Bernadette Curran, Part 2” Interview by Lana Wilson

13 GREAT GLAZES Basic ‘Clear Glossy’ and ‘Black Glossy’ formulas for firing to cone 6 in oxidation

23 TEACHING TECHNIQUES “Making A Barrel Vase”

by Bill van Gilder

34 THE GALLERY

31 KILNS & FIRING

A selection of unique works by CT readers

“Kiln Burner Valves: What’s the Difference?”

by Marc Ward

42 SLURRY BUCKET Studio-tested tips to save you time and money

37 BOOKS & VIDEOS “Techniques Using Slips” review by Steven Branfman

45 POTTERY CLASSES Where you can learn claywork in your community

39 TOOL TIMES “Tools Outside the Trade: Some Interesting Tools from Non-clay Sources”

by Vince Pitelka

48 CLASSIFIED MARKETPLACE Goods and services offered especially for clay artists

50 ADVERTISER INDEX A quick reference to find your favorite ceramics suppliers in this issue (be sure to tell them you found them in Clay Times!)

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49 AROUND THE FIREBOX Ted Adler’s vase (at top) and Jennifer Allen’s plate (directly above) — just two of several beautiful works featured during this year’s “Art of the Pot Exhibition and Sale” in Austin, Texas. To see more works from the show, turn to page 32, or log onto www.artofthepot.com.

“Using What You Have Left”

by David Hendley

Clay Times Presents

“A New Decade of Clay” ®

N at i o n a l J u r i e d C e r a m i c s S h o w Co-sponsored by Sierra Nevada College, Northstar® Resort, and Clay Times® Magazine

Opening Reception September 18th from 6pm-8pm at Northstar-at-Tahoe™ Resort, Lake Tahoe “Clay Day” Events | September 18th

Juror: Richard Shaw

- Pottery Olympics - Kids Activities - Demonstrations - Free Drawing for a Skutt Kiln

September 17th - October 16th

- $25 for up to three entries ($15 for students) - Cash awards and many other prizes - Discounted lodging packages including retail, food and beverage available through Northstar® Resort

call for entries

july 12th submission deadline

w w w. s i e r r a n e v a d a . e d u /c l a y

Editorial & Advertising: Polly Beach claytimes@gmail.com Circulation Manager: Rachel Brownell ctcirculation@gmail.com

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’m enclosing a plaque that was inspired by Kelly Savino’s 2009 “Keep the Faith” Clay Times article, as well as excerpts from a letter explaining to plaque recipients what this is all about.

Two days before Christmas in 2002, my designing and sculpting job went to China. Because of my age at the time (49) and my remote location, I felt the best option was to get back to making my own artwork. Fortunately, I had a lot of my own designs ready to produce for tile.

Our little studio has done very well, but (along with many other studios) this economy has us scrambling and more determined to “make it.”

Ms. Savino’s timely article was a real boost.

Accounts Manager: Nanette Greene clayaccounts@gmail.com

M.F.A. in Ceramic Arts The M.F.A. and Graduate Certificate in Ceramic Arts provide students with skills and knowledge from which to build a strong aesthetic direction.

Catherine White Slip Decoration • July 17-18 Ann Hobart and Michael Cohen Holdahl Ceramic Decoration • July 19-30

Spouting Off I Your Words

To the Editor

CERAMIC ART TRENDS, TOOLS & TECHNIQUES

Phil Berneburg Understanding Pottery Glazes • July 31-Aug. 1 Properties of Clay • Sept. 18-19

Proofreader: Jon Singer

Joyce Michaud Masters’ Throwing • Aug. 5-10 Glaze Application • Aug. 21-22 Porcelain • Aug. 25-Dec. 15 East Asian Coil Technique • Aug. 28-29 Photographing Ceramics • Sept. 11-12

Regular Columnists: Steve Branfman, Books & Videos David Hendley, Around the Firebox Pete Pinnell, As Far as I Know Vince Pitelka, Tool Times Monona Rossol, Health & Safety Kelly Savino, Around the Firebox Bill van Gilder, Teaching Techniques Marc Ward, Kilns & Firing Lana Wilson, Beneath the Surface

Visit Hood’s website for more information.

Hood College Graduate School Art Department (301) 696-3456 n Fax (301) 696-3531 www.hood.edu/ceramics

Contributing Writers: Gordon Harrison Ren Parziale

Hood College subscribes to a policy of equal educational and employment opportunities.

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Baby sea turtles seem to be the perfect example of getting through difficulties. They have to run a gauntlet of obstacles and predators just to have a chance at life [especially now, with the Gulf oil spill...]

A lot of people have helped me along the way and now is a good time to remember them as well. I am especially grateful for all those who have shared their techniques, wisdom, knowledge, and encouragement in the past. These hard economic times won’t last forever. Keep the faith, and whenever possible, buy products made in America!

Let me say I was obviously inspired by the timely article; and Clay Times is the only magazine I subscribe to! I enjoy others, but Clay Times is a better investment when you’re wanting to learn ceramics. Please keep up the great work!

— John Beasley Medicine Bluff Studio • Cincinatti, Ohio

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2010

POSTMASTER: Address service requested. Send address changes to: Clay Times, PO Box 365, Waterford, VA 20197-0365. Copyright © 2010 Clay Times, Inc.

After reading Kelly Savino’s article, I thought it would be great if there was something made in the U.S. that I could send to my friends and people who I knew were in need of some support and encouragement. I couldn’t find anything that said what I wanted, so I decided to make it myself.

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Limited ONLINE REGISTRATION now open for the 2011 post-NCECA Clay Times “Cruisin’ for Clay” Conference at Sea!

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Depart Tampa, Florida following NCECA conference closing on Saturday, April 2 • Cruise to Cozumel and Costa Maya, Mexico • Return to Tampa on Thursday, April 7 • Guest Artists: Tom & Elaine Coleman • Randy Brodnax • Don Ellis

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Conferences ‰ “Cruisin’ for Clay,” the acclaimed Clay Times Potters’ Cruise Conference to the Caribbean, will take place again next year— immediately following the 2011 NCECA Conference in Tampa, Florida. Back by popular demand, this 5-night event will be held on board Royal Caribbean’s ‘Radiance of the Seas’ cruise liner and will feature informative demos and presentations by some of the nation’s most highly acclaimed clay artists including Tom and Elaine Coleman, Randy Brodnax, and Don Ellis. The ship will depart the port of Tampa at 5 p.m.

Saturday, April 2, setting sail for Cozumel and Costa Maya, Mexico, and will return on the morning of Thursday, April 7.

‰ The First European Woodfire Conference will take place Sept.

2-5, 2010 at the Bröllin Castle in Fahrenwalde, Germany. Featured artists will include Lowell Baker, Paul Davis, Karin Flurer-Brünger,

Stefan Jakob, and Owen Rye. For full details, visit www.woodfire.net or email markus@woodfire.net. ‰ The Anoka-Ramsey Community College Art Department will host its Masters of Ceramics Symposium 2010 on Sept. 9 and 10 at the college’s new Fine Arts Center in Coon Rapids, Minnesota.

The symposium, entitled “Minnesota Ceramics: An Evolving Legacy,” will feature demonstrations and slide shows by guest artists Sam Chung and Julia Galloway. Also planned is a forum during which educators will discuss current topics, trends, and the future needs of academic ceramic arts programs. A discussion on Minnesota’s vibrant ceramic craft history will feature panelists including Randy Johnston, Marcia Anderson, and Mary Swartout. For further information, call 763.433.1307; e-mail CeramicSymposium@anokaramsey.edu; or log onto www.AnokaRamsey.edu. ‰ NCECA’s Critical Santa Fe, featuring Glen Brown, Garth Clark, Gabi Dewald, Tanya Harrod, Dave Hickey, Janet Koplos, Donald Kuspit, Paul Mathieu, and Raphael Rubenstein, will take place Oct. 27-30 at La Fonda on the Plaza in Santa Fe, New Mexico. For further details, call 866.266.2322; log onto www.nceca. net; or e-mail office@NCECA.net. ‰ Figurative Association: The Human Form in Clay takes place Oct. 27-30 at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.

Guest artists will include Tom Bartel, Robert Brady, Lisa Clague, Debra Fritts, Arthur Gonzalez, Anne Drew Potter, Beth Cavener Stichter, Tip Toland, and Janis Mars Wunderlich.

To learn more, call 865.436.5860 ext.

26; log onto www.arrowmont.org; or e-mail info@arrowmont.org.

Calls for Entries ‰ Is your work ready to be featured on the cover of Clay Times? That’s the grand prize to be awarded to the winner of the upcoming Clay Times “A New Decade of Clay 2010” exhibition, to take place September 17-October 16, 2010 at TM the beautiful Northstar-at-Tahoe resort in Truckee, California. Additional cash awards and prizes will be offered, including the chance for a ceramics scholarship to Sierra Nevada College at Lake Tahoe’s Incline Village, Nevada. Juror: Richard Shaw. Entry fee: $25 for up to three entries (digital preferred). Submission deadline extended to: July 23. For prospectus and complete details, log onto: www.sierranevada. edu/clay. ‰ The San Joaquin Potter’s Guild of Modesto, California, is accepting entries through August 1 for Hands in Clay 2010, to take place August 3– September 4, 2010.

For more information, please call 209.634.3653, e-mail info@ sanjoaquinpottersguild.org, or visit www.sanjoaquinpottersguild.org.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2010

All conference activities will take place while the ship is at sea, so you’ll have plenty of time to relax and explore when the boat is docked. Better yet, your travel expenses to and from Tampa, our departure port, will already be covered by your NCECA conference budget! Registration is now open online at www.claytimes.com, but hurry! As of press time, space for just 65 registrants remains open on a first-come, first-served basis!

• ceramic art world news • events • • calls for entries •

Hot Stuff I News & Events

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What’s Hot

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Hot Stuff I News & Events

‰ The Art Center of Estes in Estes Park, Colorado is accepting entries through Sept. 10 for Lines Into Shapes, a national juried exhibition to feature fine pottery and sculpture, among other multimedia art works. The exhibition takes place Oct. 29-Nov. 14, 2010. $5000 in awards will be offered. Up to four entries are allowed at $15 per entry.

For full details, call 970.586.5882, e-mail lis@artcenterofestes.com, or view the prospectus online at: www. artcenterofestes.com.

To view additional “What’s Hot” listings, please visit www.claytimes.com.

‰ Entries are being accepted through Aug. 30 for the 2011 NCECA Biennial at The Tampa Museum of Art. For a prospectus, visit NCECA. net/Exhibitions. Jurors: Glen R. Brown, Julia Galloway, and Arthur Gonzalez.

Submissions should be provided online through the Juried Art Service at http://www.juriedartservices.com/.

Artists may enter up to two works, with two views per artwork. [

To list your clay conferences, calls for entries, exhibitions, and ceramic news items in Clay Times, please e-mail the complete details to: claytimes@gmail. com, with “What’s Hot” in the subject line, or visit www.claytimes.com and click on the “What’s Hot” link to fill out an online submission form.

ODYSSEY CENTER FOR CERAMIC ARTS 2010 SUMMER WORKSHOPS

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The Misunderstood Extruder HAYNE BAYLESS • June 28-July 2 Japanese Aesthetics JOHN DIX • July 9-10 FIGURE: form + content CRISTINA CORDOVA • July 12-16 Gamble’s Low-Fire Clay Adventure DAVID & TRACY GAMBLE • July 19-23 Narrative Ceramics JAMES TISDALE • July 26-30

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Clear Glossy Glaze Cone 6 Oxidation (best when applied thinly)

G-200 Feldspar Ferro Frit #3134 EPK Silica Wollastonite Talc

20% 20 20 19 15 6 TOTAL

Readers Share I Glaze Recipes

Great Glazes

100%

Black Glossy Glaze Cone 6 Oxidation

Custer Feldspar Whiting Talc EPK Silica Ferro Frit #3134

22% 4 5 17 26 26

TOTAL

add Cobalt Carbonate add Red Iron Oxide add Bentonite

100%

1% 9% 2%

CLAYTIMES¡COM n SUMMER 2010

Each formula is provided in percentage (by weight). Results vary with clay bodies and firing conditions; always test first to be sure you’re happy with the results. To mix a glaze batch to store in a 5-gallon bucket, multiply each percentage ingredient by 50 grams (for a half-bucket with room for dipping) or 100 grams (for a very full bucket). It is the responsibility of the user to have glazes tested for stability. [

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Third Annual Exhibition & Sale

Mata Ortiz Pottery An Ancient Tradition Lives On ...

Pictured, this page: Above: Untitled by Diego Valles. Mata Ortiz pottery, handbuilt with found clay; low-fired.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2010

At right: Untitled Olla by Oscar Quezada.

Mata Ortiz pottery, handbuilt with found clay, low-fired. 7" x 7½" diameter.

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Pictured, opposite page: Above: Untitled by Salvador & Virginia Baca. Mata Ortiz pottery, handbuilt with low-fire found clay; 4" x 3½" diameter.

Below: Untitled by Olga Quezada.

Mata Ortiz pottery, handbuilt with found clay, low-fired. 9" x 7" diameter.

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rmstrong’s Gallery in Pomona, California is now featuring its third annual Mata Ortiz exhibition and sale, on view through October 9. The Mata Ortiz art movement continues to expand as new artists have learned the developed techniques of their ancestors.

Mata Ortiz is a small village in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico, less than 150 miles from the United States/Mexican border.

This unique art movement started with one man by the name of Juan Quezada. As a young boy, Quezada became fascinated with pottery after finding ancient pottery pieces and potshards from the Casa Grandes civilization in northern Chihuahua, Mexico.

He began experimenting with local clays and colors made from local minerals. In 1976 Quezada was discovered by an American anthropologist, Spencer MacCallum, and soon gained worldwide recognition for his art.

Mata Ortiz pots are hand-built without the use of a potter’s wheel. The shaping, polishing, and painting of the clay is entirely done by hand, often with tiny brushes made from children’s hair. Terra sigillata, a refined, thin liquid slip, is used for the painted decoration elements. It can be burnished with a soft cloth or smooth rock to achieve a shine ranging from a smooth, silky luster to a high gloss.

Armstrong’s Gallery is located at 150 East 3rd St., Pomona, California. The gallery is open Tuesday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and every second Saturday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Receptions for the exhibition on the Pomona Second Saturday Art Walk will take place September 11 and October 9 and will run from 6 to 9 p.m. These events are free to the public. [

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2010

The ancient pottery traditions of this region have been refined and adopted by the artists of Mata Ortiz. Their ollas incorporate elements of contemporary design and decoration, reflecting each potter’s distinctive use of the low-fire clay in creating breathtaking works of art.

The talented artists of Mata Ortiz have developed and created their own individual style in making these astonishing pottery pieces. The phenomenon of Mata Ortiz encompasses a unique cultural expression, economic need, and artistic freedom, producing an unexpected but extraordinary artistic movement in that small community. Today, collectors come from all over the world to visit the small village and to acquire the miraculous pottery of Mata Ortiz.

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5/19/10 10:22:10 AM

BY PETE PINNELL

I

f you ask the wrong question, you’ll get the wrong answer. At least that’s what I tell my students about searching for pottery images on the Internet.

To illustrate my point, try this exercise: do an Internet image search (using your favorite search engine) on the word “cup.” What do you find? When I do this search, what I mostly get is a bunch of uninteresting, contemporary, industrially made cups, usually with saucers. Yawn. So, if you are a beginning ceramics student and I give you an assignment to come up with imaginative “drinking vessels,” then your search won’t provide much inspiration.

We know that drinking vessels have a long, rich, complex, and imaginative history, so how do we find images that reflect this?

The simple answer is that we must ask the right question(s), and then we’ll find the right answers. You’ll notice that I say questions, not question. Because the history of drinking vessels is so rich and complex, and because it so closely tracks almost all of human creativity and diversity, it stands to reason that we need to search under many different terms in order to find what’s actually available on the Web.

Before we start, I should mention that there probably isn’t a single search term on Earth that won’t bring up some sort of sexual image on the Internet. If you want to avoid these images (or need to in order to keep a school or employer happy), please make sure you keep the “SafeSearch” function enabled on your browser.

Within the ceramics realm, you can find interesting results by adding a material descriptor like porcelain, china, bone china, stoneware, earthenware, or terra cotta.

Materials associated with specific cultures (like fritware). places (like Zisha), or manufacturers (like creamware or ironstone) will tend to bring up more specific groupings of images.

Adding the name of a particular forming process to the word cup, either with or without a medium, will bring up more specific examples. Carved, thrown, molded, hand-built, turned, and cast will all narrow searches in a productive way. Similarly, adding the name of a firing process will narrow the search in another way. Try woodfired, soda-fired, salt-fired, reduction-fired and oxidation-fired (with or without the hyphen, as the results are slightly different). Most of what you find will be contemporary work, since museum sites are less apt to use these terms than contemporary practitioners.

Specific glaze names are also useful, especially historically significant Asian examples like celadon (often misspelled as celedon), temmoku (tenmoku), chun (jun),

or shino. Because these and other nonWestern terms are spelled in a variety of ways, it should be mentioned that alternate spellings will usually yield different results.

Not to leave out European history—there are wonderful examples to be found with searches on faience, delftware, and maiolica (not to mention the historically unique, but contemporaneously confused Majolica, which is sometimes also referred to as Victorian Majolica).

You’ll be surprised what a different result you get by just adding the name of an alternate (non-ceramic) material, such as a metal. In fact, just adding the word metal to cup will yield nice results and some very nice design ideas. Metals have qualities very different from ceramic bodies, so artists have historically approached these materials with a different set of assumptions, and potters can find a lot of wonderful ideas by looking at metal drinking vessels. You can alternately add the names of the individual metals from which cups have historically been made, such as copper, silver, gold, bronze, brass, pewter, iron, steel, and tin. Each of these searches will provide results different from metal. Because artists working in metals also produce solid objects, the term hollowware (as either one or two words) is commonly used to denote utilitarian objects in the metals world—what we (potters) call pots. Searching on hollowware and cup will return a variety of metal drinking vessels.

Sometimes adding another descriptor (such as a forming method) to the name of the metal will provide different results as well.

For instance, cast, raised, spun, or hammered will give really interesting results, since these processes are more commonly used with hand-made objects. Gadroon is a great term, and is the name of a band of ornament (such as might be found on architecture, or on vessels, especially ones made from silver). Search on the words gadroon and cup, and you’ll find an image of a pretty amazing ivory goblet.

continued on next page

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2010

Why am I only talking here about cups?

Well, we have to start somewhere, and the drinking vessel is one of the most fundamental utilitarian forms, and drinking is one of the most fundamental human acts. In future columns, I may well extend this topic with a list of successful search terms for other utilitarian forms (most likely pouring vessels and storage vessels), but for now it’s all I can do to shoehorn the narrower topic of drinking vessels into two columns.

We’ll start our search with the word cup.

(By the way, for the rest of this article I’ll place all search terms in italics to make them easier to spot). The word cup has been around for at least 1000 years, having first appeared in print circa 1000CE. Like most old words in the English language, it has been spelled a number of ways, including cuppa, cuppe, cupe, coupe, cowpe, coppe, cope, coop and cupp (and those are probably just the ones that I used in high school, given that I’m not much at spelling). Cup is such a common word and we apply it to so many different types of objects that it’s not surprising that our search engines don’t give us exactly what we want. They don’t know if I’m looking for ancient Near Eastern drinking vessels or crotch protection for a Tai Kwon Do class. The answer, then, is to give the browser clues: other information that we can add to cup, so it will find the images that we want.

Perspectives I As Far As I Know

From Chawan to Skyphos: Thinking About Drinking

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Perspectives I As Far As I Know

Thinking About Drinking (from p. 17)

Speaking of ivory, organic materials have also been used to make cups. Ivory, bone and horn all have all been used, and wooden cup will bring up nice examples from around the world. It’s not surprising that cups for use on sailing vessels were traditionally made of MI & CT ad, 4-29-10 wood, and there have been some really nice examples brought to light in the last few decades with the archeological recovery of old shipwrecks.

Stone has been used to make cups in the past, and there are some wonderful historical examples out there. In particular, there are many jade cups in museum collections, both because jade is beautiful and durable, and also because it was long believed in Asia that jade would change its color in the presence of poison, which would have provided a useful little insurance policy for despotic rulers, (if it were only true). Besides

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The video contest is open to anyone (except Paragon distributors and dealers) who owns a Paragon kiln, fires a friend's Paragon, or attends classes that use Paragon kilns.

All qualifying videos will receive exposure at Paragon’s website, including a link to your website. Even if you don’t win, you still get the publicity.

Suggested video ideas: Show a Paragon kiln at your school, the students who load it, the pieces fired in it, and your teacher.

Show your studio and studio surroundings.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2010

Tell a story. How has a Paragon kiln and your art changed your life?

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Show how you made something interesting with your kiln. Talk about what you learned.

The contest ends midnight, August 31, 2010, Central Time. Please read the contest rules at www.paragonweb.com before submitting your video.

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Mesquite, Texas 75149-1122 800-876-4328 / 972-288-7557 Toll Free Fax 888-222-6450 Thank you for participating in our contest. We look www.paragonweb.com forward to seeing your video. Good luck! info@paragonweb.com

searching on stone and cup, you can also find nice examples with jade, malachite, nephrite, steatite, and chlorite.

Cups are often designed for specific beverages and described in those terms.

Anyone heard of a coffee cup, for instance?

While many of these objects are pretty uninspiring, you can find better results by a search on particular kinds of coffee cups, like demitasse. Tea, sake, wine, beer, ale and just about any other beverage you can think of will tend to have particular drinking vessels associated with them, though sometimes cup isn’t the best search term.

For instance, mead cup won’t bring up very much of interest (mostly soccer teams vying for a prize of that name), but mead horn will bring up some really terrific objects. Soup cup will bring up forms that are adapted for that food. Sake was traditionally served in a wooden box cup, known as a masu; like the measuring cup, it is also a standard of measurement, with a volume of 180 ml (6 fl oz). Speaking of interesting drinks, eighteenth-century pirates drank a mixture of rum, sugar, spices and whatever else they had around that was known as bumbo.

(It sounds like the kind of thing I drank on the Clay Times Caribbean cruise a couple of years ago. I don’t know if the pirates had special cups for this stuff, but I hope they had little paper umbrellas!)

Specific kinds of cups can also be associated with important occasions. A Kiddush cup is used in the Shabbat, as well as other Jewish holidays. The Ciborium is used by Roman Catholics (and other faiths) to celebrate Holy Communion. Even the generalized religious cup will turn up a range of results.

Specific cups are associated with a variety of secular celebrations as well: the term wedding cup will bring up many two-handle examples, as will trophy cup, winner’s cup, Christening cup, and loving cup. Ceremonial cup will generate some surprisingly interesting results.

Sometime a cup is defined by what it won’t do: a mustache (or moustache) cup won’t get your mustache wet.

And, how about the saucer? Cup and saucer go together like, well, you know. Those terms together generate over a million hits, so this is an area that’s definitely made for narrowing with the use of a descriptor or two: choose from almost any we’ve already listed. Indicators of time can also narrow things down nicely: adding ancient, old, or

Visual indicators, whether purely descriptive (such as heavy, light, large, tall, fat, thin, small) or qualitative (beautiful, pretty, attractive, ugly, awkward, weird) or terms that fall in between (delicate, fragile) can be added to cup to bring up a wide range of results. Interestingly, comfortable and cup tends to bring up bras and athletic supporters, but comfortable and mug will bring up drinking vessels. Descriptors that are specific to pots will also work well with cup, like footed or handled (as in twohandled, though I find that a number isn’t necessary).

Apropos of nothing, the word cup did not become associated (in print) with the brassier until 1938, while its use as protection for one’s private parts (in an athletic contest) dates from 1914* (thank you Oxford English Dictionary for those little tidbits).

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Perspectives I As Far As I Know

antique to a search that produces too many results can help narrow it down.

As part of quality control, Daryn Montgomery uses a dynamometer to check torque, wheel speed and amperage load.

You must be getting pretty tired of the word cup by now, and obviously there are many, many other words that are used for particular drinking vessels. In my next column I’ll delve into the numerous other names that we, as well as cultures around the world, have used for specific drinking vessels. Cup just barely scratches the surface, and the best is yet to come. [

Contact us for the name of the AMACO/Brent distributor nearest you.

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CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2010

Peter Pinnell is Hixson-Lied Professor of Art at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln. You can reach him at ppinnell1@ unl.edu or through his Facebook page at www.facebook.com.

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* Interestingly, the first written record of this use is from the Lincoln (Nebraska) Daily News Dec. 9, 1914: “It is hereby agreed upon that both contestants shall wear a cup to protect themselves from fouls.”

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Failures, growth in her work, and potting with a baby on her back will be discussed in this column on Bernadette Curran. This is the second of three articles on her work. The next and final article will discuss how she creates those flashes of orange in an electric kiln and will offer glaze formulas.

Wilson: I have had a lot of failures lately—well, I always have— but I am wondering about your failure rate and how you handle them.

Curran: The percentage of failures in a kiln load is sporadic but somewhat predictable. Any time I am testing a new glaze or firing a new form, the failure rate is higher. My failures are higher

in the wintertime because forced heat makes for uneven drying (one of the reasons I prefer to work wet and quickly). I handle failures by repeating them, silly me! Sometimes I just don’t want to believe that it really failed until I have four cracked horse trays staring back at me on my shelves. Then I attempt to change one variable at a time until I work it out. There are unresolved failures, as well, that I revisit from time to time.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2010

Platter by Bernadette Curran. Wheel-thrown porcelain; drawn images with multiple-glazes, electric-fired to cone 6.

Perspectives I Beneath the Surface

Bernadette Curran

PART TWO OF A SERIES

BY LANA WILSON

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Perspectives I Beneath the Surface CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2010

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Bernadette Curran (continued from previous page) Wilson: How have you handled having a baby and working in clay? Do you get babysitters at all? What advice do you have for artist parents of young children?

Curran: We have not had babysitters. Finley is, I guess you could say, connected to my hip. He comes to the studio with me. My goal each week is to get to the studio at least three days for four hours. Some weeks are very productive, other weeks end before we have even set foot in the studio. Sometimes the teething is too bad to subject my studio mate to it and other times, Finley and I are just having too much fun together at home.

I had to figure out by experience that babies don’t understand deadlines, kiln schedules, wholesale orders. Once I relaxed about expectations, we have both become much happier folk. The advice I would give to other parents is the advice that was given to me. Enjoy your baby while he is a wee one; try not to perceive this time as time lost in the studio because the studio will always be waiting for you. So I make pots when I can. In the meantime, I embrace the motto “leave them wanting more.” With each new developmental stage of my baby, there is a joy and challenge in the studio. I thank my studio mate Lindsay for being so understanding of this third little studio mate who doesn’t pay rent. She said a wonderful thing to me one day that was exceptionally touching. She said she couldn’t remember what it was like before Finley came along, that I was such a natural mother making my pots that it seemed that he had always been with us. It was so kind to hear because there are many days that I feel like a gerbil spinning on a wheel and nursing its young, getting nowhere. I also must mention that I feel very blessed to be able to stay home/ take my child to work with me. I am blessed to have a husband who can support us and use his vacation days to watch the baby while I teach workshops.

Wilson: There is a question you like to ask artists ...

Curran: Yes, I like to ask artists, “What would you be if you were not a visual artist?” The two answers that come for me are a professional dancer (yet another avenue for personal expression), or a statistician. I like probabilities; I don’t know why.

Wilson: How do you go about growing with your work or changing it? I do want to add here that when I had young kids, just getting stuff made was it.

Curran: Right now, I am just trying to focus on what I know. The need to be direct and efficient with my time is change enough.

Gone are the days when I could sit and stare at a form in multiple views and reconstruct it until I overworked it. I giggle about how wasteful it all seems now.

I don’t suppose I ever consciously thought about how to go about changing my work; the work changed out of necessity because I desired something new, a new rhythm, a new animal character, or a new approach.

Sometimes I secretly wish I were a handbuilder. However, no matter how many times I have tried it, I always seem to return to the wheel for that starting point.

How do I go about growing? I take risks.

Keep in mind my risks may or may not be defined as a risk to someone else. I seldom like to share a new idea verbally before I try it. I would rather make it and then get feedback. There is always something lost in translation when I describe something I would like to make. I guess I grow by doing rather than by discussion. A side anecdote from when I was a little girl, which may be a good example of how I grow: The first time I jumped off a diving board into the deep end, I had this extreme fear and desire to jump in all at once. I didn’t want the pep

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talk about how I could swim and the ladder was close and how it would be fun. When I leaped, it came from within and that’s how I grow. It may not happen often or when I want it to, and often I am unaware that it even occurred.

What I have noticed in the past 12 months since my son was born is that my work is getting physically smaller: tiny dishes, tiny cups, and little animals. My present studio work is influenced by my son’s tiny socks; his little fat hands; his small tablespoon portions of food. There is the need to work quickly and finish pieces in the same hour.

I find working small is perfect for that. The drawings on the surface have become even quicker—raw in so many words. I re-draw and re-draw the animals I know because there is no time for inventing new ones.

They have become real characters that keep reappearing, moving from cup to cup with a costume change here and there. I love this freedom to repeat without guilt.

How many ways can a rat hold his tail?

Well, in animation, thousands of positions. The drawn line is what remains new each time.

We talk about the potter’s mark and now since I hold my son in a carrier while I work he has been known to leave his mark on my cups. While I am working on them, he will thrash about to touch my tool, the cup, the clay—and to my delight, the mark is usually wonderful, better than I could do. So I keep the so-called mishaps. [ Lana Wilson is happy to respond to your e-mails. You may reach her at: lana@ lanawilson.com. To view her new work and workshop schedule, visit her new Web page at: www.lanawilson.com.

Making a Barrel Vase TEXT & PHOTOS

BY BILL VAN GILDER

In Form I Teaching Techniques

Going Sideways

Necessary Supplies • (1) 2-lb. or 2-1/2 lb. piece of clay • (1) 1-lb. piece of clay • (1) 8-oz. piece of clay • a rib tool • a fettling knife • calipers • a cut-off wire • a trimming tool • a ruler

Fig. 1

• a small sponge and water Optional: • a hole-cutter • a sprig foot-mold • a small bat

“There’s nothing new — nothing that hasn’t been made before.”

That’s what this column is about: putting your spin on a very old idea … making a ‘cask’ or barrel vase (Fig. 1).

• Make the base, or floor, of your barrel at least ½" thick. This thickness will be necessary as you trim the base later.

It’s a multi-piece project that involves rearranging and combining several thrown and handbuilt parts. This project also offers plenty of room to get really creative as you plan and assemble the pieces.

• You can throw your barrel on a small bat, or use a rib to skim the wet slip from the outside wall and then lift your finished form from the wheelhead with dry hands.

Throwing the Parts Gather the necessary supplies listed in the box above and, with your class around you at your wheel, use the 2- or 2½-lb. piece of kneaded clay to throw a barrel-shaped, closed form. There are a few details and options to keep in mind as you begin:

• Shape the form with the widest point at its center, when viewing it from base to rim.

Be sure to leave some extra clay at the top of the form (Fig. 2). That’s the clay that you’ll use to ‘close off’ your barrel.

• One last important thing to watch for as you open the clay: pull up the wall and close off your barrel. The diameters of the base and closed-off top area will need to be the same.

So, center and open your clay with the inside floor ½" thick and about 3" wide. Pull the clay straight upward until you’ve achieved a ¼" wall thickness from top to bottom. As you pull the wall up, keep the rim diameter

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2010

We’ve all probably heard this at one time or another as it often comes up in potterconversations. My response? “Yeah, but it’s the individual ‘spin’ we put on it that makes it ‘ours.’ It’s how we interpret an old idea that makes it new again.”

Do a bit of research and you’ll find this form made by potters in ancient Asia, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Europe, and by American crock-makers. The barrel form has been turned into teapots, pitchers, flasks, hot water bottles and chicken bakers. It’s a very interesting shape when placed sideways, and there are very few limits to what we potters can do with it.

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In Form I Teaching Techniques CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2010

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Fig. 2

Fig. 5

Fig. 8

Fig. 3

Fig. 6

Fig. 9

Fig. 4

Fig. 7

as narrow as possible—just wide enough to fit your hand. Belly the cylinder outward at its mid-section and use a rib tool to smooth and put the final shape into the form (Fig. 2).

Lastly, use your small sponge to remove the water from the interior of your barrel.

ming tool later to mimic the top shape at the base, so keep that in mind as you shape and finish the top area.

(Fig. 8) and some pre-drawing of shapes can certainly help students decide in which direction to go.

When your barrel-shaped form is complete, wire-cut it from the wheelhead and, with dry hands, lift it to a ware board. Or, if you’ve used a small bat, lift it up from the wheelhead and set it aside. Before moving on to the next throwing step, view your barrel form from top to bottom, then find and mark the mid-way point at its belly. Use the tip of your fettling knife to puncture a small hole or slot through the wall, at your mark. (Note: If you miss this step, the air pressure that’s created inside the form as it shrinks can easily split the barrel wall—not a good thing!)

An option that can be introduced at this stage is showing students how to throw and alter a pedestal-foot for their vases. Using a small piece of clay, throw a 4"-wide, fat-rimmed, short cylinder. Wire-cut it free from the wheelhead and immediately use your fingertips to pull it into an elongated oval (Fig. 9).

Allow your barrel form, collars, and pedestal foot to dry until they’re all soft leather-hard.

Then gather the class at your wheel again and demonstrate completion of the project.

The next step: with the wheel moving quickly, wet the top collar area of the form. Then compress the collar inward (Fig. 3), closing your barrel completely as you pinch off any excess clay (Fig. 4). Flatten and smooth the top area of the form with your rib while being mindful to keep the pointed profile of the top under ¼" in height (Fig. 5). Using your calipers, measure the diameter of the base at the wheelhead and compare it with the top diameter of your closed barrel (Fig. 6).

Because you’ll want the ends of your barrel to be identical when the form is placed sideways, the diameter measurements should be within ¼" of each other. You’ll use your trim-

Now attach the 8-oz. piece of clay to the wheelhead and use all or part of it to make several collars for your barrel vase (Fig. 7).

There are lots of different shapes possible

Fig. 10

Trimming, Altering, and Assembling Using the 1-lb. piece of clay, throw a short, thick-walled, fat cylinder—or ‘chuck.’ The

In Form I Teaching Techniques

Fig. 11

Fig. 13

Fig. 12 outside diameter of your chuck will need to be about 1" larger than the top diameter of your barrel. Use your ruler or your calipers to get the size needed. Then use your rib to skim the rim surface of the chuck smooth and dry.

the chuck and gently set it down sideways onto a clean surface with the punctured hole positioned at top center. Pick up the collar you’ve chosen to attach to your vase and note the size of the hole. Using your fettling knife, cut a similar-sized hole through the wall of your barrel, positioning the hole around the puncture mark (Fig. 11). Use a wet fingertip to soften and smooth the cut edges of the barrel hole, then dampen the area around the hole. Place and center your collar over the dampened hole and use a firm fingertip pressure to completely seal the collar edge to the barrel wall. Lastly, use a slightly dampened sponge to smooth around the collar base.

Once the trimming is completed, it’s time to add a collar to your vase. Pop your barrel from

“In the case of this pitcher-form, I’ve used the short, oval cylinder I threw earlier as

Another option is to attach four sprigmolded feet to the base of your form (as in Fig. 12). The feet elevate and visually separate the barrel from the table surface, adding another interesting dimension to the finished piece. Or, tap your soft vase firmly onto a clean, flat surface to flatten the base and call it finished.”

“There are lots of options within this barrel project, and I’ve only shown you the tip of the iceburg here. Start by using a small weight of clay for your first barrel. Sort out all the making steps at that scale and then increase the weight of clay for your next barrel. Your barrel shapes can be squat and fat, or long and lean ... with feet or no feet … and a tall or short collar, or no collar. Again, lots of possibilities—let’s get to work!” [

Bill van Gilder has been a full-time potter since the 1960s and teaches pottery-making workshops.

He may be reached by e-mail at vangilderpottery@earthlink.net. His potters’ tool line, van Gilder Tools, is available via the online store at www.claytimes.com, or by calling toll-free 1.800.

356.2529.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2010

Invert your leather-hard barrel onto the chuck, base up, and center it. Pick up your trimming tool and with the wheel moving at a medium speed, support the barrel with your left hand and trim the base to mimic the nearly flat shape of the opposite thrown end (Fig. 10). Inform students that they may need to pop their barrel from the chuck several times to compare ends … it’s just part of the process.

Now come the handles and feet for your vase … and there are lots of options here. You can press two small balls of clay at either side of the vase collar. Then, use a tapered holecutter to bore through the center of each small ‘lug’ handle (Fig. 12). You can attach two handbuilt handles to the top rim of the collar and connect the base of each handle to the top of the barrel. Or, turn your barrelvase into a pitcher by throwing and attaching a flared-shaped and cut-a-way collar. Then attach a handle opposite the pitcher spout (Fig. 13).

a raised foot. I dampened the bottom area of the barrel and used a couple of wet fingertips to press and smooth the foot collar tightly to the base.”

25

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raised

1

Imagery

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BY GORDON HARRISON

W

hen I began making pottery several years ago, I had at hand a shop full of woodworking tools. Woodworking had been my avocation for many years, and I often put these tools to use in my pot shop. In particular, I used my scroll saw to cut patterns from thin plywood to produce raised images of southeastern Alaskan marine life on handbuilt plates and tiles. Examples are shown in photos 1, 2, and 3 above.

4

I use the technique mainly to produce images of wildlife, but I have also used it for abstract forms, such as the sushi plates shown in photo 4. It is especially suitable for lettering on clay.

The plaque shown in photo 5 uses a combination of raised letters and stamped letters (the ‘R’ in art and the word ‘celebrates’ are stamped). continued on next page

5

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2010

This technique yields remarkably sharp and detailed bas-relief images. It is fundamentally simple and easily accessible to any potter using hand tools and readily available materials. Perhaps because it necessitates some woodworking, it is a technique not described in contemporary books on pottery surface treatment or design.

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13 Photo 6 shows the pattern used to produce this piece. The welcome tile in photo 7 illustrates the use of this technique for expressive, calligraphic lettering.

My wildlife images require various amounts of finishing and texturing, for which I use a combination of small stamping and incising tools such as a fettling knife, ball stylus, needle tool, scrap of wire, tubing, or other miscellaneous material, as well as one or more custom stamps cut from the plywood for specific features of each animal. To illustrate the process of making and using a plywood pattern, I will describe the steps involved in producing the heron plate in photo 1.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2010

The material I commonly use is quarter-inch birch plywood pur4 chased in 4' x 8' sheets from the local Home Depot. Smaller pieces of high-quality Baltic birch plywood are available from woodworking stores (e.g. www.woodcraft.com).

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I make a very basic pen-and-ink drawing of my subject, with just enough detail to suggest the features of the real creature. I cut the plywood to the overall shape of the final piece—in this case, an oval about 12" long that will be put into a slump mold to make a small serving platter. I use Elmer’s interior woodworking glue to fix the drawing to the plywood. The remnants of the paper attached to the pattern will wash off with water after the cut is complete.

Although I use an electric scroll saw to cut my patterns, a hand-held fret saw with a deep throat works well. For the sake of illustration, I cut this piece with a fret saw. The saw 5 must be used with a V-block for support.

Photo 8 shows my pattern glued to the plywood, a fret saw, and two types of V-blocks (the larger one is homemade; it has a block of wood screwed to the underside to hold it in a vise). It is important to use fine saw blades (often I use 20 TPI).

Photo 9 shows the beginning of the cut. Note that the plywood must first be pierced by drilling a hole and threading the saw blade through it. When the cut is finished, it usually needs some cleaning up to straighten lines and smooth curves. I use a Dremel® tool with small rasps and drum sanders, and also needle files (a source for these tools is a catalog of model-building tools at www.micromark. com). Care must be taken not to chip the edges of the cut.

14 Photo 10 shows the pattern and the two stamps cut from the plywood that will define the plume of feathers on the bird’s head and its wing. I cut these directly from the positive image of the bird that drops out of the hole in the plywood. It has the drawing affixed, so I cut on the lines I want to use. These tiny stamps, as well as the entire pattern, need handles. I use super glue to attach a piece of clear plastic across the top of the stamp, and a short piece of dowel to that. I cut larger handles from scrap for the pattern and glue them down with super glue. Without these handles, it is almost impossible to lift the pattern off the clay.

Note the small piece of plastic on the bird’s neck. This is to prevent the pieces underneath from breaking off when the pattern is being driven into the clay with a mallet. I use clear plastic extensively on my patterns—often covering the entire top—mainly to hold them together through the pounding they take. Also, I use an overlay of plastic as a means of locating an interior piece rather than making

a separate stamp. For example, in photo 6 I have covered the ‘A’ with plastic to hold the counter of the letter, and I have covered the fragile ‘R’ with plastic to hold it together; in photo 7, I have covered the entire word with plastic, both to hold it together and to locate the counters of the ‘O’ and the ‘E’). All of the clear plastics I have used tend to shatter somewhat under the blows of the mallet. Plexiglas is the worst. Recently I have had better luck with .06" clear polycarbonate, available in 11" x 14" sheets at Micro-Mark.

There are two more steps before the pattern is ready. First, the bottom must be sealed against moisture. I give it a couple of coats of spray lacquer. Second, the bottom must be coated with mold soap.

This is crucial before each use, because without a release agent the pattern sticks to the clay.

Photo 11 shows the plywood pattern on a slab of clay after tapping with a dead-blow hammer to raise the image into the negative space of the pattern.

Photo 12 shows the image after I have trimmed around the outside edge of the pattern and pulled it from the clay. Photo 13 shows the impressions made by the two plywood stamps.

Photo 14 shows the head with the eye and finished beak. I used a fettling knife to incise the line in the beak. The two eye stamps in the photograph are made of wood, but these can be readily made from clay using a ball stylus, BBs, anything spherical. The eye of a bird or fish is absolutely essential to a good image. It brings the animal to life.

Photo 15 shows the finished heron. The additional marks were made with a needle tool and the edge of an eye tool slightly larger than those two shown in photo 14.

Photo 16 shows the finished piece in a plaster slump mold to give it a concave shape. Glazes for these pieces should complement the image and highlight it, not compete with it for attention or obscure the detail. I have had good results with Potter’s Choice glazes by Amaco®. [

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EUCLID KILNS EUCLID KILNS

Shop Talk I Firing

Kiln Burner Valves: What’s the Difference?

BY MARC WARD

L

ast issue I wrote about the strange markings on valves and promised you an overview of the valves that have these odd markings. There are lots of different kinds of valves that folks use on kilns, and more kinds that many have never heard of. I’m only going to talk about the valves that should be on burners—and the ones that are used, but shouldn’t be.

First, the ones that should not be used: Gate Valves — These are the valves that are most commonly used for in-line water/fluid shut-off. They have a round wheel handle and a “gate” that goes up and down inside the valve body. The valve is non-directional (meaning it doesn’t matter which way stuff is going through the valve). Sometimes you can get away with using these valves, but they are frowned upon by some gas inspectors and totally unacceptable to others. Also the gate can “wobble,” causing fluctuations in settings.

Pros: Readily available and cheap. Cons: Unsuitable for gas; unstable as far as settings.

My opinion: avoid them.

Ball Valves — These valves usually have a long handle, but not always. What they do always do, though, is open and close with a 90° degree (¼) turn of the handle.

Some folks also call ball valves with short handles ‘gas cocks,’ but a true gas cock is a plug valve (we’ll get to that shortly). Ball valves simply have a ball inside the valve, which has a hole through it. Turn the ball so the hole lines up with the pipe, and it’s on; turn the ball so the hole is perpendicular, and it’s off. These are good, safe valves that come in AGA, CSA, and UL varieties.

Look for the ones with these initials on the body or handle. Pros: A gas inspector will never say a word about them. Cons: The only downside is that you may not be able to per-

form very fine adjustments, especially if you are using high-pressure gas. My opinion: These non directional valves are a standard, and pretty bullet-proof.

Butterfly Valves — The ones for use on burners are going to look like ball valves.

Instead of a ball, though, they have a wafer inside that pivots through the middle of the valve—a center-hinged, flap-kind of thing. These have excellent throttling characteristics (ability to do fine adjustments) and some conform to AGA, CSA, and UL standards; however, they cost about twice what a ball valve costs. The other downside is that the ones that are AGA, CSA, and UL approved are only for low pressure (less than ½ PSI). Pros: Very precise (many have numerical scales on the body to help with settings). Approved for gas. Smooth turning, with very smooth overall operation.

Cons: Expensive. Only used for low pressures. If you go to the hardware store and ask for one, they will most likely not have a clue as to what you’re talking about. (On top of that, mentioning the word “butterfly” while discussing plumbing parts could have ramifications in some parts of the country!)

My opinion: a great valve, but so obscure that I don’t offer it for sale on a regular basis.

Would I use it on my own burners? Probably not ... but I could easily be convinced.

Plug Valves — Many times these valves are simply referred to as gas valves. Though there are bunches of different plug valves, the typical bronze or aluminum body valve with a lever handle is known as a gas valve.

These valves are very similar to ball valves, but instead of a ball inside the valve, these valves have a cylinder that goes all the way through the valve. This cylinder has the same kind of hole as a ball valve, and and the same kind of 90° on/off action. continued on page 50

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2010

Globe Valves — These guys look almost identical to gate valves. There is an easy way to tell them apart. The globe valve costs about 6 times as much as gate valves, and your garden-variety hardware store won’t have them. It’s very difficult to find one that is AGA- (American Gas Association or UL- (Underwriters Laboratories) approved. The advantage they have over gate valves is that they open and close faster.

However, they may not allow the same amount of flow as a gate valve. These are unidirectional valves (where the gas must go through the valve in a specific direction indicated by an arrow on the body).

Pros: gas approved and superior construction. Cons: Expensive, hard to find, and can vibrate off their settings. My opinion: not worth the money.

Waste or Stop Valves — Again, from outward appearances, these valves look like gate valves. They have a seal that stops down on an internal opening. NIBCO is a major manufacturer of this type of valve and you may have seen it referred to as a T-22 (look for the blue wheel handle).

In most parts of the United States, these valves are no longer acceptable to gas inspectors. Remember, they look just like gate valves to the untrained eye. (Sorry to say, but there are gas inspectors who have had ‘zip’ in the eye-training department.)

The advantage of these valves is that you can make very fine adjustments with a relatively inexpensive valve. The down side: they are hard to find, and may not be accepted by your gas people. This is also a unidirectional valve, so pay attention to the arrow on the body that indicates the direction of gas flow. Use ’em, but check with the powers that be before you get all your plumbing together. Pros: Inexpensive, very fine-tuning. Cons: Not approved for gas; have a washer seat that will tear over time. My opinion: can be a serviceable and precise valve for years (if approved), but will fail at some point.

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Covered Jar by Phil Rogers.

Rocking Vase, Garment Series by Charity Davis-Woodard.

Thrown and Altered Cups by Ted Adler.

Art of the Pot

7th Annual Austin Invitational Utilitarian Ceramics Exhibition

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2010

A

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rt of the Pot 2010, the premier Austin, Texas invitational pottery show, took place in early May and featured 16 highly acclaimed and nationally recognized ceramic artists who showed their works at four studio locations from east to west Austin.

vited artists included Joe Bova (NM), Mark Shapiro (MA), Nancy Gardner (IL), Ryan Takaba (TX), Jane Shellenbarger (MI), Jennifer Allen (WV), Ben Bates (IL), Charity Davis Woodard (IL), Amy Halko (CA), Brenda Lichman (TX), Ted Adler (KS), and Sanam Emami (CO).

Now in its seventh year, Art of the Pot partnered this year with six local chefs who prepared artisanal foods designed to complement the artistic plates. Additionally there were guest artist lectures at Austin City Hall as well as concurrent ceramics shows.

Joe Bova, Jane Shellenbarger, and Mark Shapiro spoke about their work at Austin City Hall, with featured works on view during the lecture.

Chris Campbell, Ryan McKerley, Lisa Orr, and Claudia Reese were the four local Austin potters hosting the event. In-

Attendees were invited to bring plates acquired during the tour to Claudia Reese’s studio to enjoy a gourmet meal as a courtesy of Art of the Pot. Six local chefs prepared delicious foods to complement the artistic ceramic pieces

that were purchased. Experienced chef demonstrations also took place during the show on both days.

All former invited artists were represented in the Annual Cup Show and Sale located at Claudia Reese’s studio.

Exhibitions, clay classes for adults and children, studio spaces for clay artists, and outreach programs in the community are among the many special activites that again helped evolve this annual event into a highly anticipated Austin tradition.

To find out more about this annual show, including this year’s featured artists and related events, visit www. artofthepot.com. [

Tulip Vase by Sanam Emami.

Lidded container (top) and cups (above) by Amy Halko.

Teapot by Jennifer Allen.

Bottles by Mark Shapiro.

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The Gallery

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2010

Appetizer Caddy. 6" H x 10¼" W x 5" D. Stoneware and porcelain fired to cone 10 reduction in a gas kiln. Deborah Freeman, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. E-mail: heatwork1063@gmail.com.

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We Start Here and End Up There (detail). Reclaimed stoneware clay glazed with a mix of stain and cone 04 glazes; gas-fired to cone 2 and cone 04.

Crisha Yantis, 595 Jefferson River Rd., Athens, GA 30607.

Web site: www.crishayantis.com.

Untitled. 6" x 7". Wheel-thrown cone 6 porcelain with terra sigillata, bisque fired to cone 04 in an electric kiln, then saggar fired in a gas kiln to cone 02. Becky Webster, 664 Rhine Fall Dr., Waterloo, Ontario N2V 2V5 Canada. Web: www.beckywebster.ca; E-mail: beck106@hotmail.com

Haiku, Blue and Raku. 12" h x 8" w x 6" d. Handbuilt with Runyan Raku clay.

Glaze, outer shell: Georgie’s G 805 White Crackle; inner vessel: Robin’s Egg Hi-Fire and White Hi-Fire. Thomas Bowker, PO Box 177, Northport, MI 49670.

E-mail: participed@chartermi.net.

Submit images of your claywork for publication in The Gallery!

Send your high-quality color print, slide, or 1050-x-1500-pixel (minimum) digital image to: The Gallery, Clay Times, P.O. Box 365, Waterford, VA 20197. Be sure to include your name, address, telephone number, Website and/or e-mail address, type of clay, glaze, firing method, and dimensions of the work.

(Enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope for photo/slide return.)

Readers Share I Art Works

The Gallery

Hex Jar. 18" x 14½" x 14½". Thrown and altered composite form with sprigged elements; strontium and fake ash sprayed glazes. Fired to cone 10 in reduction. Jake Allee, 392 Ridgeview Dr., Grand Junction, CO 81507.

E-mail: jakeallee10@gmail.com. Website: www.jakeallee.com.

Untitled. 18" x 8" x 13". Low-fire clay and antique wheels; painted and sprayed low-fire glazes; electric-fired to cone 03. Juliellen Byrne, 6050 Ebright Rd.,Groveport,OH 43125-9271.

E-mail: jebyrwn@aol.com.

Swan Cups. Wheel-thrown porcelain with handbuilt additions, painted slips, and glaze.

Sooyeon Kim, 975 Winding Bridge Way, Johns Creek, GA 30097. E-mail: sooyeon.kim@yahoo.com

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2010

A Textured Tea Pot. 15½" x 8½. Wheel-thrown and handbuilt with cone 10 B-Mix clay, underglazed and fired to cone 6 in oxidation.

James Carlson, 2020 Sibley, St. Charles, MO 63301-1630.

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Work clean. Play dirty.

Trinity Ceramic Supply, Inc. 9016 Diplomacy Row Dallas, TX 75247 214 631-0540 www.trinityceramic.com

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2010

NEW Must-SEES & Must-HAVES for you and your clay studio!

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Now featuring more great stuff—with expanded content & back issue collections—at CT ONLINE!

www.claytimes.com

Your one-stop shop for CT subscriptions & renewals, new potter’s T-shirt designs, potters’ books, and much more

Mathieson is a well-known artist in the UK and Europe. He has taught in several schools, presents workshops, and is a member of the Craft Potters Association.

His name is less recognized here in the US, though his book Raku is well-known among raku potters.

Techniques Using Slips

by John Mathieson A&C Black • University of Pennsylvania Press Paperback • $29.95

I

love this book, so here are my instructions:

1) Get it.

2) Read it.

3) Learn stuff from it.

4) Try the stuff that you learned.

5) Send the author a note telling him how much you liked it.

6) Tell a friend to get it and give him or her the same instructions.

OK, I’m joking, but I really do love this book. I must disclose a quick disclaimer but I assure you that it is not influencing my review: I am one of the artists profiled!

The content is informative and complete without over-burdening the reader with unnecessary details that may not be relevant to the main theme of the book, which is presented in the five chapters that follow. Mathieson has organized his presentation by categorizing how slips are used creatively. He includes a selection of potters who represent each of these approaches, and allows each potter to speak to that approach through their experience and their art.

The artists share their working methods, recipes, influences, and of course, examples of their work. Ten potters describe their methods in “Using Slips Without a Glaze.” Three artists are profiled in “Slips and Raku.” “Slips With Glaze at Earthenware Temperatures” includes 14 artists and their work. There are ten potters in the chapter “Slips With Porcelain and Stoneware,” and four more in “Slips With Salt and Soda Glazing.”

The artists are experts in their use of slips, and no two are doing the same kind of work, though you’ll recognize some of the names: John Pollex, Michael Eden, John Maltby, Ron Philbeck, Tim Andrews, Fritz Rossmann, Clive Bowen, Sasha Wardell, Jenny Mendes, and some others. Many of the potters will also be unfamiliar to you; that’s a good thing!

The variety of work and use of slips is vast. Whimsical sculptural vessels, traditional domestic ware, non-objective abstractions, literal imagery, English slipware, thrown, handbuilt, slipcast, stoneware, porcelain, and earthenware are all illustrated. Slips, engobes, terra sigillata, and vitreous slips are used wet and dry. Application methods include, sponging, brushing, stenciling, trailing, sgraffito, and inlay, and they are combed, drawn, and etched through. Mathieson’s writing is friendly and comfortable to read.

His passion as a teacher comes through in his written words. Throughout the book he is teaching you, not lecturing.

It is almost as if he is answering your questions before you ask them!

Mathieson recognizes (and in fact, embraces) variation, experimentation, exploration, and spontaneity. He warns you not as a disclaimer but as an encouragement, saying, “Your results will be different.” He has the ability to identify the most important aspects of each artist’s work and working methods.

Along with slip and glaze recipes, personal history, and interesting tidbits, that is what is shared with the reader and makes Techniques Using Slips such a fun and inspirational book to read.

Whether you have never used slips before, use them occasionally, or have been considering branching out to include slip decoration in your work, this book is for you. The images and range of work are enough to interest anyone working in clay. Techniques Using Slips is an excellent book written by an excellent potter who also happens to be an excellent person. Take my advice; get this book and take the opportunity to learn something from an excellent teacher. [ Steven Branfman is a an accomplished potter and teacher of pottery and ceramics at Thayer Academy in Braintree, Massachusetts, and proprietor of The Potters Shop and School. He may be reached by phone at 781.449.7687 or via e-mail at sbranfpots@ aol.com.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2010 CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2010

Techniques Using Slips is a book long overdue ... not that information about the technical details of slips and how to use them has been overlooked or ignored, but never before has there been a comprehensive presentation including so many approaches, variations of application, methods, aesthetics, and technical details. John Mathieson has taken a subject too often taken for granted, and elevated it to the level of appreciation and importance it deserves.

Techniques Using Slips is a visually stimulating and handsome book. At 144 pages, 145 illustrations, and a format of 7½" x 9½" it is equally comfortable on your glazing counter, next to your wheel, or in your reading chair. Profusely illustrated with full-color photos of work, artists, and methods, the book contains nine chapters. Chapters 1-4 are “A Selected History of Using Slips,” “Application Techniques,” “Mixing Slips,” and “Colour in Slips.”

REVIEW BY STEVEN BRANFMAN

Resources I Books & Videos Hot Stuff I Events

Techniques Using Slips

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SC035 Clay Gun Shape and Coil Set SC035 Clay Gun Shape and Coil Set

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SC034 Clay Gun Handle Die SC034 Clay Gun Handle Die

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Some interesting tools from non-clay sources ...

BY VINCE PITELKA

I

was unable to attend the annual NCECA conference this year, but I am in touch with most of the toolmakers, and my next column will cover new and improved tools on the market.

In the meanwhile, I have found some interesting tools from non-clay sources.

We generally turn to our faithful and accommodating ceramics suppliers for specialized studio tools and equipment, assuming that the items sold by these dealers will be the best choice for use with clay and glazes. That’s often the case, but I have always advocated searching varied sources for tools adaptable to clay use. Here are a few choice items I’ve come across recently.

I think that the screw feed might be a little slow, and I’d save my pennies for the Artway 1"-barrel extruder previously mentioned. Otherwise, the Makin’s extruder is a very nice design.

Studio Rulers

Hand Extruders We all know about that other “clay” that comes in brilliant colors and hardens when you bake it in the oven. In the world of “real” clay, we don’t have much to say about that stuff, but the reality is that the polymer clay folks have come up with some very nice tools and devices, and among the best are the extruders.

Polymer clay is fairly stiff material, so if an extruder works well in that market, it will last forever with real clay.

looks like a huge improvement over the standard tiny Kemper mini-extruder that has not been changed or improved in recorded history. Go to http://www. polymerclayexpress.com/patterns.html to see a wide selection of dies for the 1" Artway extruder. If you like doing architectural stuff, check out the “Cake Border Set” at the bottom. I want this set!

If you Google “Makin’s Professional Ultimate Clay Extruder,” you will find a pretty nifty little anodized aluminum unit with a screw feed, and I like the manufacturer’s flare for dramatic titles. This one also seems a huge improvement over the little Kemper.

One of my students just got this unit, and I am impressed with the quality and finish. It comes with a good range of dies, and it would be easy to make more. This extruder is popular with the polymer clay crowd, but I am glad to see it advertised as a “clay extruder.” If you want to do quantity small extrusions,

Good rulers are readily available from hardware or office supply stores, but a recent workshop participant asked me about the best rulers for clay work. I must admit that the question had never occurred to me. In my studio I have always preferred flexible stainless-steel rulers with cork backing that minimizes sticking to the clay. Go to amazon.com and enter “Pro Art Rule” in the search box. They make these rulers in 6", 12", 15", 18", and 24" lengths, and the prices are very reasonable.

If you do large work, especially slab work, you need a longer ruler. I find that the stainless steel rulers mentioned above are too floppy and flexible once you get above the 18" length, and prefer a rigid ruler. For 24", 36", and 48" rulers, just go to your local hardware store or home-improvement super-center and get one in wood or aluminum. In either case, cover the back side with one or more strips of masking tape to minimize sticking to the clay.

The Flexible Curve Ruler When you are doing slab work, sometimes it is necessary to lay out repeated asymmetrical curves. You can always prepare templates for this purpose, but for more immediate changeability, I love my flexible-curve ruler. These are popular in woodworking and ornamental iron work, but I only

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2010

Go to www.polymerclayexpress.com/clay_ extruder.html to see the range of Artway Tools “Ace” extruders. You can watch a video of one in action, or scroll down the page to see a rather remarkable variety of models available in various sizes (even including a cordless power model for $375!). If you are looking for a caulking gun-size extruder, I still advocate the Scott Creek Super Duper Clay Gun, but Artway fills a gap in the ceramic market for a smaller clay extruder. Check out the Artway 1"-barrel extruder. It certainly

Shop Talk I Tool Times

Tools Outside the Trade

39

Shop Talk I Tool Times

Tools Outside the Trade (continued from previous page)

recently discovered their value in the clay studio. Go to amazon.com and enter “flexible curve ruler” in the search box, and you will find an assortment in various lengths. These rulers can be bent to whatever shape you wish, and they will hold the shape until you bend them again.

A Superior Spray Gun

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2010

Until recently, I was a strong supporter of simple external-mix guns such as the Paasche Type-L spray gun, available from a variety of ceramics suppliers.

This is a no-nonsense gun that works well with slips and glazes, but at the Appalachian Center for Craft we have had a lot of trouble with the pick-up tube and orifice getting damaged if the unit is bumped or dropped, which inevitably happens too frequently. We have gone through a lot of these units in the sixteen years I have been here, and at $75 a pop, that mounts up. Also, I have never been satisfied with the lack of adjustments for volume and spray-pattern on these basic externalmix guns.

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My March, 2003 column was entitled “Choosing Spray Equipment.” Until recently I have always used high-

pressure guns such as the Paasche Type-L, but for that column I gathered information about HVLP (high volume low pressure) units from clay artists who use them. I recently received a very favorable report about a particular HVLP gun and decided to give it a try. Go to amazon.com and enter “Tool Force A-C1 50 PSI 2-in-1 HVLP Spray Gun” in the search box.

Amazon runs out of them regularly, indicating the popularity of this unit, but if you enter the same information in a Google search you will find other suppliers.

I am sold on this gun. It is an HVLP conversion gun, which means that it runs off a standard compressor (rather than a dedicated stand-alone electric turbine) and has a step-down regulator attached to the air inlet on the handle. A very important feature of this gun is that it comes with two needle/nozzle sets, including a 2mm set, which is necessary for spraying slips and glazes. That’s the problem with so many guns designed for paintspraying applications—the needle/ nozzle set is too small for use with glazes and slips. This gun comes with a smaller set installed, but it is very easy to change over to the 2mm set.

We bought two of these guns for our glaze lab, and I bought an additional one for myself. I am very impressed with the quality and function of this unit. It is a gravity-feed unit with the reservoir on top, and has all the adjustments of high-quality internalmix spray guns. Everything works smoothly, and best of all, it only costs $35, which is a phenomenal deal.

We have been using these guns for a while, and I will pass on some practical advice. In order to get the necessary 10-15 lbs. of operating

pressure, the inlet regulator needs to be set at 40-50 lbs. You will see that when you pull the trigger to spray, the pressure drops down to the lower level generally used on HVLP conversion guns.

Generally, after using a spray gun with slip or glaze, we fill the reservoir with clean water, hook up the air hose, and spray water through the nozzle.

That works fine for external-mix guns, but with this unit it does not provide enough turbulence to clean the internal passages. There is a far easier and more efficient method that works with any gravity-feed gun: Fill the reservoir halfway-full with clean water, screw the cap on, but leave the small reservoir bleeder cap off. Do not hook the gun up to the air hose. Hold the unit horizontally with the nozzle pointing straight down in the sink, pull the trigger, and shake it back and forth lengthwise. With each reversal, water will squirt from either the spray nozzle or the bleeder orifice on the reservoir. Each time this happens, air is pulled in the opposite opening. This repeated reversal creates considerable turbulence in the internal passages, and does an excellent job of cleaning the unit. Just to make sure, empty the reservoir, refill with clean water, and repeat.

It’s simple and quick. You will love this spray gun, but it will take a good compressor of at least 2-3 horsepower to run it. [

Vince Pitelka is professor of clay at Tennessee Technological University’s Appalachian Center for Craft, an active participant on the Clayart Internet discussion group, and author of Clay: A Studio Handbook. You can contact Vince through his Web site at http://iweb.tntech. edu/wpitelka.

Order your fun "pot lovers" T-shirts and tote bags at the online store at www.pot-lovers.com

The Slurry Bucket Hole Drilling & Placement Without the Math An easy and quick way to design and space holes at equidistant intervals on your pot (such as for drilling a colander or berry bowl) is to use a simple floor drain cover. You can buy them at any hardware store or find used ones at flea markets. The used ones have the added benefit of being concave after years of use, allowing them to better follow the curvature of a round pot or bowl and making them easier to use.

Once your pot is leather-hard, use the drain cover as a template by holding it on the outside of the pot. Then use a needle tool to cir-

cle the holes you intend to cut out. Hold the cover securely in place—so it doesn’t move off of the first hole you marked—to ensure the subsequent marks remain equidistant.

After you have marked all of the holes you want on your pot, remove the cover and use a hole cutter or straw to drill your holes. Many different patterns can be made, depending on which holes you decide to make.

— Ro Ludt, Dowling, MI

A Clean Cut for Big Chunks of Clay In order to make the best use of my studio space, I made a portable cut-and-slam wedg-

ing arm that is secured to a table with two ‘C’ clamps. It is constructed with two 2" x 4" pine boards, two plywood supports, and a wire that extends to eye screws at each end of the horizontal 2" x 4".

The turnbuckle is used to reduce the tension in the wire when the arm is not in use.

— Norman Holen, Minneapolis, MN [

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2010

Share your useful clay tips or techniques with our readers and earn a free T-shirt!

Mail your tip with your shirt size to: The Slurry Bucket, c/o Clay Times, PO Box 365, Waterford, VA 20197.

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A Marriage of Arts & Industry B Y R E N PA R Z I A L E

“Let’s help put America back to work.”

I

told my family that [the quote above] is my motivation for providing assistance to one of West Virginia’s largest industries. My wife, Pam, and I have a studio pottery here in Jefferson County. We have been making pots on the potter’s wheel for more than 40 years.

Then out of the blue, we had an opportunity to make a difference and help out some good people.

Pickett retired as plant manager at a time when building was booming and the brickyard’s massive kilns were in continuous use. Each kiln is the length of a football field. But this past winter, the kilns were

Pickett asked if we would be willing to use our 80-cubic-foot downdraft kiln to fire approximately one thousand specialty-shaped bricks. The goal is for the brickyard to successfully bid on a contract and sell some of the thirty million bricks stacked in the brickyards.

After meeting Continental Brick Vice President of operations Don Sult, I took a tour of the brick plant and kilns. “This is American heavy industry, and it has taken a big hit,” I told my family. I agreed to fire the bricks in our 7-foot-long propane-fired kiln. Until this time, it had always been used for stoneware pottery.

Pictured: Exterior views of the quiet brickyard & kiln at Continental Brick Company, Martinsburg, WV; Charlie Pickett and Ren Parziale with Sycamore Pottery ‘loaner’ kiln.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2010

This past December, Charlie Pickett, consultant to the Continental Brick Company in Martinsburg, WV, contacted me at our studio, Sycamore Pottery, in Kearneysville, WV. Pickett knew me from decades ago when we had met at a local arts and crafts festival.

cold. The cavernous plant was eerily silent, and birds flew through the open windows. To restart the kilns would cost many thousands of dollars. Pickett told me, “The brick industry is in a depression—not a recession.”

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“Shapes sell bricks,” Sult had said. With a doctorate in Mining Economics from the Colorado School of Mines, the Fayette County, WV native was willing to try something new and innovative. The Martinsburg plant had been working with a skeleton crew of just four to five employees since November, down from the usual 25 to 30 union workers who had been laid off. “We want to get these guys back to work,” said Sult.

To accommodate the project, we had to change the interior of our kiln at Sycamore Pottery, take out shelves and supports, and install a soft brick floor. (In an ironic twist, our potter’s kiln is built on an old brick car from the Continental Brick yard’s discard pile, and was purchased through Pickett in 1980.)

Bob Elliott, plant manager; Terry Kidwell, kiln manager; and Mike Davis, plant mechanic were joined by several brick yard workers, methodically stacking the potters’ kiln with bricks 2" to 3" thick and 6" to 8" in diameter. Spaces were left between the bricks to allow the propaneheated air to flow through the kiln to achieve the desired flashing (variations in the deep terra-cotta color).

During a period of three weeks, I fired the specialty bricks, several hundred in a kiln firing. Each kiln load took about 48 hours to reach 1900° F. This is in contrast to a kiln load of stoneware pottery—the bowls, pitchers, and utilitarian ware that Pam and I make every day. Our Sycamore Pottery kiln takes 24 hours to reach 2400° F. The pots are thin in comparison with the thickness of a brick.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2010

I stayed in the studio near the kiln to ensure that as the bricks went through critical periods of temperature change, they would not go too quickly. My kiln wants to fire fast; I needed to hold it back. Taking several days to heat and then to cool helped make sure that the much thicker bricks would not crack and break apart.

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When the kiln car with the first kiln load of fired bricks appeared, Sult exclaimed, “They are perfect!”

Using modern technology, Sult had attached thermocouples to the bricks in the kiln’s interior that were then attached to a small computer, giving a minute-by-minute readout of the kiln’s temperature. Meanwhile, I had also placed small clay pyrometric cones in the kiln that could be read by eye (just to be safe!)

It is a pleasure working with the men at Continental Brick. They taught me a great deal about another way of seeing and working with clay. What’s next for the brickyard and its workers is to ship thousands of bricks out to a new building project with a winning contract.

I have been testing other clay samples from different sources for the brick company.

With some advice from me, Sult had his crew build a gas-fired kiln at the brickyard similar to the one at Sycamore Pottery. It is built on one of the original brick cars that I had bought from the brickyard in the early 1980s. (I had bought two brick cars—for as the saying goes, “You never know!”)

During two days in the month of April, Continental kiln manager Terry Kidwell, with help from Bob Elliott and Mike Davis and others at the brickyard, built a kiln in one of their empty workshops. These men are smart, intuitive, and professional. In practically no time at all, they built a kiln to fire their own specially shaped bricks. The new kiln, about 100 cubic feet in capacity, has been dubbed “The little kiln,” although it is certainly larger than our big kiln here at the pottery. It has been successfully fired six times.

More importantly, Elliott, Kidwell, Davis, and the crew at Continental are back to producing new brick. More than 4000 bricks are manufactured every 15 minutes. Each 305-foot-long tunnel kiln holds 31 car-loads of brick. One of the two massive kilns is back on line and fired up. It took nine days for the kiln to reach the necessary temperature to fire.

Every day now, thousands of bricks are again moving out of the brickyard. This is American industry. As an artist, I have been pleased to be a part of this project. [

Pictured, top to bottom: • Wooden molds are used to shape the unusual-sized bricks.

• Soft clay is machine-drilled and cut into desired brick shapes.

• Fired bricks are inspected by the crew.

• Bricks are methodically placed for storage in giant stacks with small aisles in between.

Check out these listings to find local programs for wheel-throwing, handbuilding, sculptural techniques, & more …

Classes are listed alphabetically by state

ALABAMA Studio 101 — 101 East 4th St., Prattville, AL 36067; 334.549.0292; www.studio101pottery.com; Studio101Potter@aol.com. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric & alternative firing, guest artist workshops, classes for adults and children, pot shots (group parties). Supporting beginning to advanced artists by providing knowledge, space, and access to great pottery equipment.

ARIZONA Tucson Clay Co-op — 3326 North Dodge Blvd., Tucson, AZ 85711; 520.792.6263; www. tucsonclayco-op.com; tucsonclaycoop@yahoo.com. Fully equipped studio, studio rental, gallery. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, gas firing, raku firing, sculpture, mosaics, classes for adults and children, clay parties, more.

school programs, and summer camp. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, raku firing, classes for adults and children, guest artist workshops, pottery events, and corporate teambuilding workshops.

Milkhouse Pottery — 30 River Road, Cornwall Bridge, CT 06754; 860.672.6450; milkpotsfox@juno. com; www.milkhousepottery.net. Small, year-round classes; students aged 9 to adult; experienced teacher; individual attention. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, classes for adults and children.

Sawmill Pottery — 112 Main St. #14, Putnam, CT 06260; 860.963.7807; www.sawmillpottery.com; dot@sawmillpottery.com. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric & raku firing, classes for adults and children, guest artist workshops, mosaics, Paint-Your-Own, gallery. A very community-minded pottery, we have classes for all ages and abilities ... join us!

CALIFORNIA

DELAWARE

Community Center of La Cañada Flintridge — 4469 Chevy Chase Drive, La Cañada Flintridge, CA 91011; 818.790.4353; www. cclcf.org; wheel-throwing, handbuilding, glazing, firing, raku, classes for children and adults.

Rehoboth Art League — 12 Dodds Lane, Rehoboth, DE 19971; www.rehobothartleague.org; educator@rehobothartleague.org; 302.227.8408. Wheelthrowing, handbuilding, electric & raku firing, guest artist workshops, classes for adults and children, art classes of all kinds. Teach, Inspire, Preserve. Historic setting at the beach.

New Pottery School!

Get Centered Clay Studio — 8186 Center Street, Suite D, La Mesa, CA 91942; 619.667.7077, www.getcenteredclay.com; getcenteredclay@cox.net. Fully equipped clay studio with 24/7 access, classes, supplies, private/semi-private spaces available. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, guest artist workshops, classes for adults.

Lakeside Pottery Ceramic School and Studio — 543 Newfield Avenue, Stamford CT 06905; 203.323.2222; studio@lakesidepottery.com; www.lakesidepottery.com. Lakeside Pottery is a ceramic art school & studio in Stamford, CT offering pottery & sculpting classes and workshops, private lessons, after-

Carla’s Clay — 1733 Northgate Blvd, Sarasota, FL 34234; 941.359.2773; www.Carlasclay.com; cobrien@ carlasclay.com; wheel-throwing, handbuilding, sculpture, gallery, tools, and supplies.

Craft Gallery & Dixie Art Loft — 5911 South Dixie Hwy., West Palm Beach, FL 33405; 561.585.7744; www.thecraftgallery.net; potteryme@ comcast.net. Gallery, studio & kiln rental. Glazes, clay, glass, tools, books, equipment, and art. Classes in glass fusion, enameling, silver clay, wheel-throwing, handbuilding, and architectural sculpture. Workshops by guest artists.

GEORGIA Callanwolde Fine Arts Center — 980 Briarcliff Rd., Atlanta, GA 30306; 404.874.9351; www. callanwolde.org; gdair@callanwolde.org. Callanwolde is located in Mid-town Atlanta, and offers basic through advanced wheel and handbuilding classes, as well as electric, gas, raku, salt, and soda firing.

Ocee Community Art Center — 6290 Abbotts Bridge Rd., Building 700, Johns Creek, GA 30097; Tel. 770.623.8448; Fax 770.623.6695; www.johnscreekarts.org; dawnjcac@bellsouth.net. Wheelthrowing, handbuilding, sculpture, and electric firing; classes and workshops for adults, teens, and children. Gallery space for rent.

MAINE The Red Door Pottery Studio — 44 Government St., Kittery, ME 03904; 207.439.5671; exfpottery@yahoo.com; www.reddoorpottery.com.

Year-round classes, all skill levels, monthly workshops, private lessons, retail gallery, shows. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, guest artist workshops, classes for adults and children.

MARYLAND Baltimore Clayworks — 5707 Smith Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21209; 410.578.1919; www.baltimoreclayworks.org; marycloonan@baltimore clayworks.org; workshop contact: forrest.snyder baltimoreclayworks.org; wheel-throwing, handbuilding, sculpture, tile, mosaic, decorating, printmaking, slipcasting, wood firing, salt firing.

Glen Echo Pottery — Glen Echo Park, 7300 MacArthur Blvd., Glen Echo, MD 20812; 301.220.5585; www.glenechopottery.com; info@glenechopottery.com.

Year-round pottery school. Day & evening classes. Generous open studio time for individual exploration. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, gas firing, guest artist workshops, classes for adults and children; special raku, soda, and wood firings.

Jayne Shatz Pottery — 452 Laurel Valley Court, Arnold, MD 21012; 410.757.6351;

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2010

CONNECTICUT

FLORIDA

Resources I Classes

Community Pottery Classes

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Resources I Classes

Pottery workshops of all kinds, for adults and children, in a beautiful historic setting at the beach.

www.jayneshatzpottery.com; jesclay@aol.com; wheelthrowing, handbuilding, sculpture, glazing, firing, wall relief and tile, workshops, critiques, marketing strategy, group and private sessions.

816.941.2555; pottersobsession.com; obpotter@ kcnet.com. Wheel-throwing; handbuilding; cone 6 electric firing; raku firing; classes for adults.

Renaissance Children’s Arts Center — 12116 Darnestown Rd., Suite L-4; Gaithersburg, MD 20878; 301.987.0377; Fax 301.987.0377; www.rcarts. com; info@rcarts.com. Art classes for all ages. Drawing, pottery, clay, mixed media & digital arts. Wheel-throwing,

NEW HAMPSHIRE

handbuilding, electric firing, summer camps & workshops.

Shiloh Pottery, Inc. — 1027 Brodbeck Road, Hampstead, MD 21074; 410.239.8888; www.shilohpottery.com; wheel-throwing, handbuilding.

MASSACHUSETTS

For details, contact Kim Klabe, Education Director educator@rehobothartleague.org (302) 227-8408

Rehoboth Art League 12 Dodds Lane • Rehoboth DE 19971 www.rehobothartleague.org Teach, Inspire, Preserve

Potters for Peace

offers technical design and marketing assistance to potters in Central America, and worldwide training in the production of inexpensive, highly effective ceramic water filters.

Your tax-deductible donation will help.

Learn more at our Website:

www.pottersforpeace.org

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Cynthia Curtis Pottery — 80 Pigeon Hill St., Rockport, MA 01966; 978.546.6186; cynthiacurtispottery@verizon.net; wwwcynthiacurtispottery.com. Year-round classes for all ages and abilities. Also private lessons, independent study program, retail gallery. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, guest artist workshops.

Mudflat Pottery School, Inc. — 149 Broadway, Somerville, MA 02145; 617.628.0589; www.mudflat.org; info@mudflat.org. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, tile. Non-profit clay community offering three semesters annually for all ages and skill levels.

Two Rivers Ceramic Studio Co. — 77 Elm St., Amesbury, MA 01913; 978.388.2215; www. tworiversceramics.com; info@tworiversceramics.com. A cooperative studio with programs and classes for both the independent and student ceramic artists. Wheel-throwing and handbuilding; electric and gas firing; guest artist workshops; classes for adults and children.

MISSISSIPPI Natchez Clay — 101 Clifton Ave. (overlooking Mississippi River), Natchez, MS 39120; 601.660.2375; natchezclay@gmail.com; www.natchezclay.com. Ongoing classes; great workshop schedule; great facilities. See our Web site for more info. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, 11:47 AM electric firing, gas firing, raku firing, guest artist workshops, classes for adults, classes for children. Private and shared studio rental.

Bodine Pottery & Art Studio — New location: 432 West Frontage Dr., Wiggins, MS 39577; tel. 601.928.4718; www.bodinepottery.com; hukmut@ bodinepottery.com; wheel-throwing, handbuilding, PMC (precious metal clay).

MISSOURI The Potter’s Obsession, LLC — 13035-B Holmes Road, Kansas City, MO 64145;

Pottery at Phoebes Barn — 16 North Main St., Mont Vernon, NH 03057; 603.673.3410; Pottery@PhoebesBarn.com, www.PhoebesBarn.com.

Pottery at Phoebes Barn is a warm and comfortable environment to relax and create. Wheel-throwing and handbuilding; electric, gas, and raku firing; guest artist workshops, classes for adults and children.

NEW JERSEY Laplaca Pottery Works — 1200 Ocean Ave., Suite 502, Asbury Park, NJ 07712; 732.861.2276; greglaplaca@aol.com, www.laplacapotteryworks.com.

Oceanfront studio in historic Asbury Park, NJ. Wheel-throwing, electric and raku firing, guest artist workshops, classes for adults and children.

NEW YORK Artworks at West Side YMCA — 5 West 63rd St., New York, NY 10023; 212.875.4129; ymcanyc.org/westside; kmissett@ymcanyc.org. A friendly studio with three clay bodies, great open studio hours, fabulous teachers. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, photo-ceramics, majolica classes, lustre firings, guest artist workshops, classes for adults and children.

Banner Hill School of Fine Arts & Woodworking — 741 Mill St., P.O. Box 607, Windham, NY 12423; 518.929.7821; bannerhillwindham@mac.com; www.bannerhillLLC.com; wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric & raku firing, guest artist workshops, classes for adults & children; 1-day to 2-week courses in ceramics for beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels.

BrickHouse Ceramic Art Center — 10-34 44th Drive 1st Floor, Long Island City, NY 11101; 718.784.4907; ellen.day@brickhouseny.com; http:// www.brickhouseny.com. Spacious, fully-equipped studio, year-round adult classes, ceramic artist rental shelves, pottery for sale. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, guest artist workshops, private parties.

Clay Art Center — 40 Beech Street, Port Chester, NY 10573; 914.937.2047; www.clayartcenter.org; mail@clayartcenter.org. Clay classes for adults & children and monthly workshops in wheel-throwing, sculpture, & special topics. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, gas firing, raku firing, guest artist workshops, summer camps, studio space, gallery.

The Painted Pot — 339 Smith Street, Brooklyn, NY 11231; 718.222.0334; www.paintedpot.com; wheel-throwing, handbuilding, sculpture.

Clayspace — 831 S. Front St., Columbus, OH 43220; 614.449.8144; tamiknight@ clayspace831.com; www.clayspace831.com. Fully equipped ceramic studio offering clay classes taught by ceramic artists in a casual atmosphere. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric and raku firing, guest artist workshops, classes for adults and children, glass.

Yost Pottery Studio — 1643 Massillon Road, Akron, OH 44312; 330.734.0763; www.yostpottery.com; wheel-throwing, handbuilding, tile, firing.

PENNSYLVANIA

22314; 703.683.5358; www.theartleague.org/school; blairm@theartleague.org; wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, gas firing, raku firing, wood firing, guest artist workshops, classes for adults and children, corporate retreats, associates program.

Art Pottery Studio — 4810 Tabard Pl., Annandale, VA 22003; 703.978.1480; artpottery@earthlink.net; www. potteryart.biz. Year-round classes for all ages and abilities; group and private lessons, with special programs for Girl Scouts, cancer survivors, & others facing life’s challenges.

Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, classes for adults and children, mixed media, sculpture, and specialty workshops.

TENNESSEE

Lorton Arts Foundation-Workhouse Arts Center — 9504 Workhouse Way, Bldg. 8, Lorton, VA 22079; (703) 584-2982; www.workhousearts. org or www.lortonarts.org; dalemarhanka@lortonarts.org.

A collective and highly dynamic environment with the goal of promoting ceramic art through research, education, and outreach. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, ceramic sculpture, tile, electric firing, gas firing, raku firing, guest artist workshops, classes for adults and children.

Mud Puddle Pottery and Supply — 538 Highway 70, Pegram, TN 37143 (20 minutes outside Nashville); 615.646.6644; www.mudpuddlepottery.com; mudpuddle@bellsouth. net; wheel-throwing, handbuilding, sculpture.

Manassas Clay & Tin Barn Pottery Supply — 9122 Center Street, Manassas, VA 20110; 703.330.1040; www.manassasclay.com; manassasclay@ aol.com; wheel-throwing, handbuilding, sculpture, glazing, raku.

The Clay Studio — 139 North Second Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106; 215.925.3453; www.theclaystudio.org; info@theclaystudio.org; wheel-throwing, handbuilding, sculpture.

TEXAS Eric Orr Clay — 22 Blackjack Lane, Lewisville, TX 75077; 940.241.1242; ericorrclay. com; ericmuddorr@yahoo.com. A complete teaching studio for lovers of clay and glass. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, gas firing, raku firing, glass fusing and slumping, classes for adults and children.

Potter’s Wheel — 5419 FM 1960 W Suite E, Houston, TX 77069; klanier327@sbcglobal.net; www. giftedpotter.com; 281.537.8447. We are a private teaching studio and gift gallery in a busy shopping center.

Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, raku firing, guest artist workshops, classes for adults and children, paint-your-own pottery.

Potters’ Depot LLC — 75 East Benteen St., Buffalo, WY 82834; 307.684.4555; pottersdepot@msn. com.Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, gas firing, raku firing, guest artist workshops, classes for adults, teens, and children. Fully-equipped pottery studio with gallery and supplies. 2010 Summer Workshop with Tara Dawley. [ A year-round listing of your community pottery class in CT and on our Website is available for just $99 — an EXCELLENT VALUE! To feature your classes, visit our online submission page: www.claytimes.com/classes.html or call 540.882.3576.

The

Fulwood Measure

TM

Nan Rothwell Studio Pottery — 221 Pottery Lane, Faber, VA 22938 (near Wintergreen); 434.263.4023; www.nanrothwellpottery.com; wheelthrowing, handbuilding, glazing, firing for ages 16 & up.

WISCONSIN Bethel Horizons - Art Ventures — 312 Wisconsin Ave., Madison, WI 53703; 608.767.8767; www.bethelhorizons-artventures.org; huntk@tds.net. Many levels classes/groups for wheel-throwing, handbuilding, wood-firing, at our state-of-the-art studio in the beautiful hills of SE Wisconsin. Wheel-throwing and handbuilding; electric, gas, raku, and wood firing; guest artist workshops; classes for adults and children, school groups, church groups, and assorted community groups.

CHARLOTTE NC Setting up a studio?

Your full-service pottery supplier featuring clays by Standard, Highwater and Laguna; kilns, glazes, chemicals and equipment.

School orders welcome!

The perfect tool for same-size production pottery. Unique hinged pointer measures height and diameter of the pot and moves out of the way when not in use. With the Fulwood Measure, you can get it right every time. Handcrafted in beautiful hardwood and made in the USA.

Kissimmee River Pottery

One 8th Street #11 Frenchtown, New Jersey 08825 908.996.3555 riverpots @ earthlink.net www.kissimmeeriverpottery.com

CLAY TooLS & ReFeReNCe MATeRIALS

New Book Mastering Portraiture:

Advanced Analyses of the Face Sculpted in Clay $54.95 + S/H

CAROLINA CLAY

VIRGINIA The Art League School — Located near the Torpedo Factory at 305 Madison Street, Alexandria, VA

CONNECTION

704/376-7221

e-mail: carolinaclay@aol.com www.carolinaclay.com

PO Box 722 Honeoye, NY 14471 585-229-2976

www.pcfstudios.com

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2010

SUNIN Clay Studio — 13473 Wetmore Road, San Antonio, TX 78247; 210.494.9100; suninpottery@ sbcglobal.net ; suninclaystudio.net. A full-service working and teaching studio where potters and students express themselves in clay. Wheel-throwing, handbuilding, electric firing, raku firing, guest artist workshops, classes for adults and children.

WYOMING

Resources I Classes

OHIO

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Resources I Classified Marketplace

Classified Marketplace Events • 16th Annual Juried Pottery Competition, Cape Fear Studios, Fayetteville, NC. October 22-November 22, 2010. Entry/CD deadline: September 1, 2010. Prize money totals $1,350.

Prospectus available at www.capefearstudios. com or call 910.433.2986.

For Sale • True Albany slip, original bags. $5 per pound plus shipping. No minimum. Contact Ren Parziale at 304.725.4251; e-mail: pamoren@frontiernet.net.

• Arts Community — NC mountains near Penland School of Crafts. Hundreds of art studios nearby. Ninety acres includes forest preserve, hiking trails, organic farm site, green homes, cool neighbors. Studios/ galleries welcome! Lots have electricity, water, fast Internet, from $55,000. High Cove, a community for arts, environment, and lifelong learning: www.highcove.com.

• 5 acres for sale in the Texas hill country, close to San Antonio. Studio with two Kilns: 18-cu.-ft. raku and 60-cu.-ft. salt kiln, plus 900-sq.-ft. garage with workshop, pool, water, septic; fenced. All you have to do is build your home! E-mail: brendabeam@ sbcglobal.net or call 210.273.3106.

Opportunities

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2010

• Core Clay in Cincinnati, OH is in search for young, aspiring clay artists to join our artist in residence (AIR) program. We are a clay studio, clay distributor, and host to a sculptor specializing in high-end, custom-designed mannequins and figurative sculptures. We seek AIRs for both the clay studio and sculpture studio. In exchange for 15 hours of work per week, AIRs are provided with private living quarters located next door, personal work space, plus clay and tools at cost. We would like 1- to 2-year committed residents. Contact us at 513.961.2728, or check online at www.

CoreClay.com and JustinPooleSculpture.com.

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• Excellent Opportunity for Exploring Wood Firing in a natural Ozark-forest setting.

Studio assistant desired in exchange for room, board, small stipend, studio space and kiln space: anagama, noborigama. Also seeking a participant for October firing. For details: contact Joe Bruhin, 870.363.4264; www.

JoeBruhin.com; email: joebruhin@gmail.com.

• RESIDENCY at Cub Creek Foundation, Appomattox, Virginia. Large studio space, wood, electric, gas, and salt kilns. Beautiful rural Virginia setting. Visit www.cubcreek.org for complete details, or e-mail: info@cubcreek. org or call 434.248.5074 for more information.

• The BCAC 8th Annual “It’s Only Clay” National Juried Competition and Exhibit — Bemidji, MN. Dedicated to functional clay vessels. Juror: Simon Levin. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place prizes equaling $1,600. Purchase awards for Margaret Harlow Vessel Collection at BSU. $30 for 3 entries (each entry must be original and produced after Jan. 2009 by U.S. artists age 18 or older; with each work valued at $500 or less). Postmark deadline: September 3, 2010. www.bcac.wordpress.com/its-only-clay/ for more information.

• Clay Times® presents “A New Decade of Clay 2010” National Juried Ceramics Show — Co-sponsored with Sierra Nevada College and Northstar-at-Tahoe® resort, Lake Tahoe.

Juror: Richard Shaw. Cash awards and other prizes. Submission deadline extended to: July 23, 2010. $25 for up to three entries. Visit www. sierranevada.edu/clay for prospectus and complete details.

• I have been commissioned to work on an in-depth look at American studio ceramics, 1940-1980. It will explore the makers, their teachers, and societal currents that influenced them during those years. To that end, I would like to hear from any makers and/or teachers who were working during those years, to learn about their work and what influenced them. The thoughts can be captured in personal memories, letters, or articles. If you have information, please contact me: Martha Drexler Lynn, Ph.D.; e-mail: marthalynn@mac.com; or write 189 Upper Walden Road, Carmel, California, 93923. Thank you!

JOIN AMERICANPOTTERS.COM • TODAY! Be a part of a national, searchable database for FREE ... or an “online gallery/ portfolio” to sell your work, without commissions. If you have a Website, join with a “link” page. All information is editable by you, without Web knowledge. Go to the site and click on “FAQ” for more information.

• K-12 Ceramic Exhibition — The 14th Annual K-12 Ceramic Exhibition opens in April 2011 at the NCECA Conference, Tampa, Florida. Open to K-12 students by teacher entry, the annual event is a great success. Check out past award winners and their works online at www.k12clay.org.

Videos & Books • PotteryVideos.com — DVDs with Robin Hopper, Gordon Hutchens, and Graham Sheehan. Video workshops for potters at all levels of experience. Choose from 21 titles. E-mail info@potteryvideos.com or call 800.668.8040.

• EXTRUDE IT! Getting the Most From Your Clay Extruder, new instructional DVD videos by David Hendley. Volume I: Extrusions as handles, feet and additions; Volume II: Two-part dies for hollow extrusions; Volume III: The expansion box and extrusions as building components. $43 each or $105 for the set (more than four hours of video). Call 903.795.3779 or visit www.farmpots.com.

• Order Great Glazes I & II for just $15 each at the Clay Times online store at www.claytimes.com. These classic hands-on studio glaze books offer dozens of favorite glaze recipes for all kinds of firing & atmospheres.

Workshops • Two-day workshops: Polo Zapata Ramirez: July 10-11; fee: $125. Cynthia Bringle: Sept.

11-12; fee: $180; location: Prescott, Arizona.

For reservations call Karen vanPrice at 928.443.9723, visit www.vanprice.com, or e-mail vanprice1@msn.com.

• Robin Hopper Workshop, October 29-3031 at Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts in Lubbock, TX. $250 reg. fee includes meet & greet and Powerpoint presentation Fri. eve. plus 2-day workshop with Sat. lunch. For details, call Janis Hubble at 806.789.7960, or visit the Web site at www.lhuca.org.

• Simon Levin Ceramics Lecture and Workshop — 2010 “It’s Only Clay” Juror Simon Levin to host workshop for the 8th Annual IOC, entitled, “Throwing With the End in Sight.” The workshop will be held November 4-5 at Bemidji State University in the Visual Arts Department and Ceramics studio. The workshop is open artists 18 years or older; fee is $25. Class size is limited; registration deadline Oct. 29, 2010.

The IOC Lecture is scheduled for November 3 at 7 pm; it is free and open to the public. For more information on IOC and/or workshop registration, log onto: http://bcac.wordpress. com/its-only-clay/its-only-clay-2010/ [

Place your classified ad in the magazine and on the Clay Times Website for as little as $50—an amazing value!

For details, e-mail: claytimes@gmail.com or log onto: www.claytimes.com/classifieds.html

I

t has been nine years now since I started writing the Around the Firebox column, and I received the most comments ever in response to my last column, “Falling Down and Letting Go.” I found out that there are a lot of injured and/or physically limited people out there working with clay! We columnists always like to hear from readers, and I thank you for your stories, concerns, commiserations, and helpful suggestions.

It’s now been six months since I fell off my roof and broke my foot, and I am pretty much back to business as usual at the pottery shop, just at a slower and more careful pace. I even ventured back on the roof to clear out the fall leaves this spring (five months late). I will wait a while longer before attempting some of the more physical jobs, such as collecting wood for my wood-fired kiln.

For now, to get back in shape, I am going to the local gym three or four times a week, to swim laps in the pool. For some reason, flexing my foot and rotating the ankle, which is still painful on land, is much easier in the water. I have been taking several herb and mineral supplements designed to help bones and joints, as well as applying creams and tinctures to the affected area. I honestly can’t tell if they are accelerating the healing, but I figure it can’t hurt and is worth the effort.

BY DAVID HENDLEY

Then there was the friend who, on the detergent aisle, felt the need to warn me about the dangers of becoming addicted to pain medication. Believe me—injured people dealing with intense pain do not need to hear this lecture. I just smiled with an awareness that, prior to my injury and first-hand experience, I might have been thinking—if not actually vocalizing—the same thing.

and the audience knew that they’d just witnessed a miracle. Everyone leapt to their feet in an extraordinary standing ovation that went on and on. Perlman finally quieted the crowd, wiped the sweat from his brow and said in a pensive voice, “You know, sometimes it is the artist’s task to find out how much music you can still make with what you have left ... ”

I did receive welcome encouragement as well.

One friend sent me an inspiring story about the well-known violinist, Itzhak Perlman. See, he had polio as a child and walks with a leg brace and crutches. This means it takes him quite a while, at the start of a performance, to walk in on crutches, seat himself, set down his crutches, unlock his leg brace, position his feet, position his violin, and finally start playing.

The story reminded me of others who overcame their limitations and proceeded to live their lives and produce their art. In fact, my first Around the Firebox column all those years ago told the story of John Logan, my potter friend who never stopped working on the wheel, even after losing an arm in an accident and suffering a heart attack and a bout with cancer. Suddenly, my problems of the past six months seemed pretty trivial.

As the story goes, at a 1995 performance at Lincoln Center, after his usual, long, arduous entry and preparation, Perlman began playing, but one of the strings on his violin broke almost immediately. Everyone knew what this meant: he would have to get up, repeat the long ritual in reverse, go offstage to change the string, then slowly come back and start over again.

But he didn’t. Instead, Perlman sat in silence for a few moments with his eyes closed, then nodded at the conductor to begin again where he had left off. He proceeded to play with a passion, power and purity that no one present had ever heard before. Of course, everyone knew that it was impossible to play a symphony with a 3-stringed violin— everyone except Perlman. He performed the impossible feat, right before their eyes,

It can be helpful to bear in mind this “use what you have” advice, no matter your situation or your problems. If you long for a large gas kiln but only have access to a small electric kiln, or if you wish you had a spacious studio but are stuck with not much more than a glorified closet, remember that as an artist, your task is to find out how much art you can make with what you have to work with. Remember also that every single person you know—even the one who makes it look easy—is also dealing with some sort of hardship or functioning in a less than ideal situation. It’s the human condition. Try to encourage someone today! [

David Hendley can be reached via e-mail at: david@farmpots.com.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2010

As I wrote in the last column, lots of friends and family provided help and support during my convalescence. However, I quickly grew tired of encountering friends and acquaintances and having to explain why I was limping around on crutches. Even worse was running into friends (figuratively) while riding around on the motorized shopping cart at the supermarket. Many people, I found out, are at a loss as to what to say to someone who is struggling or suffering, and end up saying something funny. The most common as well as most annoying comment I got was that “people my age” shouldn’t be climbing up on roofs. My age? (!) As a physically fit

and active 58-year-old who had installed the roof on several houses and built my current house from the ground up, I was taken aback to be experiencing age discrimination at such a relatively young age. At least I know they meant well.

Opinion I Around the Firebox

Using What You Have Left

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Kiln Burner Valves (continued from page 31) These valves are non-directional and inexpensive. The downside is how they seal.

While a ball valve has a tightly machined, chrome-plated ball that rotates against a Teflon seal, a plug valve generally has a poor metal-to-metal seal that is helped out with a lubricant. Because plug valves have this goop inside, they are some of the smoothest-turning valves in existence. They are also AGA and UL approved. The bad rap on plug valves: These valves aren’t designed for constant throttling, but more for on/off service. The lubricant can squeeze out over time, or dry out; and the valve can leak or become hard to turn. Only use those you can easily access and take apart.

Pros: Again, these are by far the smoothest valves to turn and adjust, like a warm knife through butter! Good turn-down characteristics. Cons: Though very smooth, a poor choice for throttling, as the lubricants will work themselves out of the body. My opinion: If you’re on top of things, have a supply of valve lube, and feel handy taking your valves apart, these are wonderful things. If you don’t consider yourself a gearhead who loves tinkering with mechanical things, stay far away from these guys!

Needle Valves — These kinds of valves have a female, concave cone that receives a male, convex cone (the needle). The needle moves up and down inside the concave (female) cone. These unidirectional valves are some of the most accurate and precise valves available. The problem is finding those that are approved for gas service—and then, if you find them, affording them. I’ve been able to find plenty of approved valves of this nature, sized 3/8" and below. But finding approved valves ½" and above is impossible (please contact me if I’m wrong, and tell me where to find them). Pros: Precise—very precise. Cons: Expensive, larger valves not specifically approved for gas. My opinion: If you’re just goosing the gas, it ain’t worth it.

But if you believe that the slightest turn of the valve is incredibly important, this is the valve for you. [

Marc Ward is owner and operator of Ward Burner Systems, PO Box 1086, Dandridge, Tennessee 37725.

He invites you to sign up for his free newsletter, and can be reached by phone at 865.397.2914 or through the online catalog and Web site at: www.ward burner.com.

CLAYTIMES·COM n SUMMER 2010

Index to Advertisers

50

AMACO.............................................19, 51 Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts........20 Banner Hill School of Fine Arts...............12 Bailey Pottery Equipment.........................4 BigCeramicStore.com............................36 Bracker's.................................................50 John C. Campbell Folk School...............20 Carolina Clay Connection.......................47 Clay Times Products.......... 10,12,19,26,36 Clayworks Supplies................................19 Davens Ceramic Center..........................10 Euclid’s Elements....................................30 Fired-on Images/Heirloom Ceramics.....13 Fulwood Measure...................................47 Giffin Tec...................................................3 Graber’s Pottery, Inc...............................38 Great Lakes Clay & Supply Co.................9 Herring Designs......................................22 Hood College............................................9 Japan Pottery Tools................................46 Kentucky Mudworks...............................38 The Kiln Dr...............................................22 L & L Kilns.................................................2

Larkin Refractory Solutions....................20 Master Kiln Builders................................22 Minnesota Clay USA...............................13 MKM Pottery Tools.................................38 Muddy Elbow Mfg./Soldner Wheels.......41 Odyssey Center for Ceramic Arts...........12 Olympic Kilns .........................................16 Paragon Industries..................................18 PCF Studios............................................47 Peter Pugger.............................................7 Potters for Peace....................................46 Rehoboth Art League..............................46 Saint-Gobain Ceramics..........................20 Scott Creek/Clay Art Center...................38 Sheffield Pottery.....................................16 Sierra Nevada College........................8, 42 Skutt Ceramic Products.........................52 Trinity Ceramic Supply............................36 Tucker’s Cone Art Kilns...........................10 U.S. Pigment Corp..................................16 van Gilder Workshops.............................12 Ward Burner Systems.............................12

America’s Most Trusted Glazes™

Opalescents Velvets over

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V-309 [O] Deep Yellow

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