Going with a Giant to meet a Giant.

Phil took me to the Ken Matsuzaki opening at the Goldmark Gallery. Phil is so generious with his time and his knowledge, as we were looking at the work he would come up to me and talk to me about the pots and how I should pay a lot of attention to them because every time we go to opening we are provided with another perspective. Phil's been talking to me about finding my own way, I shouldn't copy anything that I see. Only take aspects and small details that could be incorporated into my own work.

Everyone has a voice and when I find mine, I'll know it. 

Every single pot had a presence and an elegance about it. It was like looking at something that just seemed to work on all levels, every detail from the foot to the rim, what was in the clay and on the glaze was carefully considered. 

I was very fortunate to meet Ken, he was very nice and open about explaining his work. 

The part I love most about Potters, is that there never not willing to share their knowledge.

Getting those pesky corners right.

Once the wood was stacked for the firing which is coming up in a couple of months I began press moulding. At first I thought it would be easy but once I began, I quickly realized that that would not be the case. 

I use a wire tied between two sticks which I pull through a large lump of squared off clay which I have sized for each mould. The slabs are ribbed and then pressed into the moulds and then the 3 pieces are assembled. Every detail has to be perfect. I'm learning a lot about details, nothing can be over looked. Later the edges will be cleaned and then Phil finish them. 

I am very humbled by this experience. I thought I new about what it means to be a potter. And once again in my life, the more I see, the less I know.

Holy shit I survived the planes, Trains, and Automobiles...

I've begun probably one of the most important summers that I've ever experienced. Phil Rogers, the noted potter and his wife Hajeong Lee another noted Ceramicist have taken me into there home. 

I'll be spending my time learning the day to day workings of running a profit making workshop, while I help Phil maintain his workshop. 

I thought I should post this picture to begin the blog, the dam in the back ground was built more than one hundred years ago by Welsh stone masons. This is important to me because my family were Stonemasons from Wales, but it also represents craftsmanship, and how doing something right will last longer than doing something quickly.

Remembering what came before us is imperative to understanding the present. 

The more I see, the more I begin to realize, that nothing is impossible if you put your mind to it. 

Orange Peels and Hand Prints

I've started photographing some of my better work from last semester as it comes out of the glaze.

The only one of these that isn't glazed in the spray booth is the white one which has what looks like a hand print...because it is. I think that making good pots is about making good choices at every stage of the work. The hand print is where I held onto the little guy as I dunked it into the glaze bucket.

I've been thinking that its important to show craftsmanship in a clean well made pots where the makers marks are almost non existent... But if your making something where the makers marks are left behind. For example, where you would normally find small finger marks around the foot where the potter held onto the foot while they were glazing it. Shouldn't you really go out of your way to show that its made a certain way. Instead of just saying "well thats ok, it shows its been made in a certain way" and leaving those small finger marks. You should intend to show that you made it in a certain way and show that you made that choice.

The trick is making those marks without it looking like crap.

The others are clean and attention is payed to show as few marks as possible. The decoration on these pots comes from the kiln and the layering of the glaze from the sprayer.

I'll probably change my mind a few more times before I'm finished school.

What did you do for your break week Jordan? "played in the mud"

Just before the break week...which means it was exam week. 

We had the privilege of hosting Phil Rogers in our studio. Watching him work and talk about pots was very inspiring. I've always been moved by that kind of "production" pottery. In school my education has been very focused on learning about contemporary work theory, I began to remember why it is that I fell in love with pots in the first place. 

I couldn't help myself after watching Phil work, I went home for the holidays and made some pots on friday and finished them on sunday. All that needs to happen is for them to be bisque fired at the London Clay Arts Centre (my home guild) and then I have to find a way of getting them to the College to be glazed...fingers crossed they make it. 

I make my live difficult because I can

Over the last two weeks I've been working myself to death...I had the "skeleton" of the piece finished by Thursday and I spent the weekend working on the finishing touches. Critiques are Wednesday, I hope the profs like what I've done. 

He's made of mostly coils except for the arms, the base and a few other odds and ends, where slabs were more appropriate. I have a strong idea of how I'm going to glaze it but some details are yet to be worked out. It needs to slow dry for a couple of weeks before it can be put into a bisque kiln.  

Where is the time going?

A lot has happened in the last couple of weeks, some of the more important things are, I finished the construction of my large sculpture. I know I said that I was going to make to, but my other classes took up a lot more time than I anticipated. I'm not completely sure how I am going to glaze it, but the class is talking about doing a Soda firing in the next few weeks... that could be kind of interesting. 

Bruce gave the class a demo on how to throw a large platter, we start that project after the break. And the third years are doing a wood firing, I managed to get one of those cups I made as test tiles into the firing, Its right in the sweet spot. I'm so excited to see the results of slip under the Shino Glaze I put on. Soon I'll start decorating all those pots that I've been making, thank the gods too, I'm tired of them taking up all my shelf space.