yunomi workshop day 5: wrapping up

It makes sense that the last day of the workshop, we'd be wrapping up projects, reviewing notes and digesting the week's information. Well we did that (and digest more good food too!), but the last day was no less a continued exploration and adventure as the rest of the week.

We met as became our ritual at Roots for yet another great breakfast, and while there we met up with Eileen & Marty Black of the nearby Potter's Mark studio. They were about to open a kiln, and kindly invited us to come by and tour the studio and see the results. Unfortunately, I did not have camera in hand to document that, but it was great to see yet another studio layout, see the results (great firing!) and talk more 'shop' with two who have pursued a passionate life in clay. Matt even discovered (possibly, yet to be confirmed) that a gifted batter bowl is likely to have come from Eileen & Marty's studio. kind of small world we love!

At the studio, we had yunomi to trim and our little batch of test lizella to throw. Matt had trimmed a couple yesterday, but they were a bit wet so the rest were saved for today. One trimmed yesterday sports added 'organic' elements: while trimming, his tool caught an edge and sent the yunomi flying off the wheel and slamming against my tool cart, landing in a nice pile of dog hair. I knew he was a full fledged Crazy Green potter when he calmly picked it up, blew it off and put it back on the wheel and kept trimming.

our yunomi fun - it wasn't about quantity, it was about our exploration of the form,
and it came in many ways, both on and off the wheel.

My aim to get Matt more comfortable on the wheel had the best evidence of success when he said he wanted to throw the lizella on my kick wheel! Not only have I restored his comfort on the wheel, but after a demo and his own go at making a few guinomi (sake cups), I have a solid kick wheel convert! The lizella was very nice to throw, and I'm looking forward to some fun firing tests with that later.

Matt, falling under the spell of the kick wheel...

Once all trimming and throwing were finished, it was time to pack up tools and wares, as the rest of our day was outside the studio.

stuffing a week's worth of goodies into the car for the trip home...

Our first stop ... can you guess? Lunch! One final visit to Roots, and Matt and Lisa succeeded in working their way through the menu. It was the perfect place for us to start and have our mid day break for the week - great setting, great people, and you may have gathered from earlier comments, really great food! As a token of appreciation for taking such good care of us all week, Matt gifted Katie with one of his vase frames, complete with sunflower. It's hard to tell for sure, but I think she liked it!

we swear, it's not a staged shot!

Well fed yet again, we headed out for a few more studio tours. We were on more of a schedule, so I didn't keep the camera with me here, but follow the links to see what we saw!

First stop, Clay Space Coop, where Melissa Weiss was cleaning pots from her latest wood fire. We saw great work by all the Coop members in their gallery, coming close to licking several very yummy pieces.

Next was a visit to Constance Williams studio to see her encaustic work, then next door to the clay artists at the Curve Studios, where Maria Andrade Troya and Jenny Mastin welcomed us to crawl around while they worked.

After that, it was time to shop! Matt wants to try some of the glazes I use, as well as the oxide washes we used on our tests, so a stop at Highwater Clays was a must. Jennifer was there, so she got to see some of the firing results that came about in good part because of her earlier suggestions. Well stocked with glaze materials and a few new toys...er, tools, it was time to say goodbye to Matt and Lisa. We met at Highwater at the beginning of the week, and it was a natural completion of our adventure to end there.

It was a great week, and I know I'm taking away as much from our time and discoveries as Matt has, and will continue to as I know he'll be updating me on his own firing results, using some of the new techniques and firing programs that we explored here. And I'm very interested to see how he continues his wheel work, although I also came away with a few new slab techniques that I'm looking forward to trying myself.

And in addition to the great information, deeper friendships and new inspirations, I also have great treasures from both Matt and Lisa. From Matt, one of his slab built yunomi cups from our test firing, and from Lisa, delicious refrigerator pickles that she says will last a month, but I highly doubt it!

newest addition to my yunomi collection

mmmmm...spicy, crunchy, pickles!

yunomi '09

First Friday Fun

There's always a little transition, after a firing cycle, where I spend a small amount of time bumping around the studio, getting things in order for the next cycle of work. This time I feel like I've been bumping around a little longer, maybe because I did several firings pretty close together, stuck in a show, some deliveries and a few other 'out of studio' distractions...and the past two days have been an earnest effort to get back into a 'making' cycle. But there's still some bumping...meetings, bookkeeping, marketing, working with one of my fab new assistants and finally getting the studio to look like it wants to be dirtied up again.

This morning I've still got fun 'business' stuff to take care of, but I've got Nina Simone on Pandora, a nice curry brewing in the rice cooker for a cooler, rainy day, and I've just made my 'do' list. So it's off to pick up some printer toner, a bit more clay and then hands back into the mud!

All that being said, I'm motivated to get it going because today is the first Friday of the month, which means gallery openings and events. Just like I try to keep one day a week where I'm out of the studio, I try hard to make this one night a month one that I'm out of the studio and in as many galleries or other studios possible. Here's my punch list for tonight, and I expect I'll find other events along the way:

Clay Space Coop returns to Clingman Cafe - I just closed out a group show at Clingman, and tonight officially opens the third month in a row of clay work in the dining room gallery space. I know I'm biased, but I really do think clay work looks the best in there! The Clay Space show has been up for a few days, but the reception is tonight from 5-7pm.

American Folk Art Framing & Gallery downtown has a special show for Shawn Ireland and Ann 'Frantic' Morley. This pairing looks amazing, and I've usually gotten to this gallery after everything's been sold and gone, so I'm looking forward to the chance to see and fondle! Opening reception from 5-8pm



The Asheville Area Arts Council is celebrating doubly tonight, as they cut the ribbon on their newly expanded space and present a show of 'New Work' by four artists. One of the artists, Katherine McGinn, also exhibits at the nearby French Broad Chocolate Lounge, who will have some of their sweet treats at the opening reception. So when you're done checking out the great new work, you can go around the corner to the ChoLo for more chocolate, because I guarantee what they put out at the reception will be gone fast!

I also just got word of an event at my neighbors, Harvest Records - an art showing and reception tonight I believe from 7-9...can't put my fingers on the details but if you're in this area and go there, you'll find out and have a great time!

If I keep looking through emails and announcements, I'll find more, but if I want to get out the door to see any of it, I need to get the fingers in the clay! Happy Friday - and don't forget all the great Market action this weekend - check my other posts or the link on the right to Asheville Street Markets for all the details!

A day of YAY!

Well today is a day of celebration, and I was going to add to the multitude of Obama-raising blogs crying out our joy, pride, relief...well I guess I just did. But another part of me is saying 'back to work', even though I was working through the never-ending campaign, I admit it was a growing distraction as election day drew near, and while I'm proud and happy of the volunteering and ready for more, there is this whole issue of actually keeping the lights on, continuing to live indoors, all that good stuff along with my own joy and elation in the making of all things clay. So today was a bit slow moving (as I allow myself to be on my day off, at least in name), but starting to get moving again at a more fierce pace as there's the goal to fire yet one more kiln before the holiday Art Walk early next month, and pack up for this weekend's exhibit fun.

On that note, I want to help celebrate a little extra spotlight on some fellow area potters-extraordinnaire who are on the cover of Mountain Express this week, just in time for the Studio Stroll:

To see a collective of potters on the cover with a really nice spread/interview is thrilling on its own, and even moreso when it's friends and colleagues who are so deserving individually and collectively. And in a world where sometimes you think you're the only one who thinks this is worthy of such shout outs, it's nice to see that others are going to see it too!

So pick up a copy, hit the link on the image and read all about Josh, Kyle, Matt, Melissa, Heather and Eric. And better yet, go check out the studio and all their ware during Studio Stroll this weekend...

...which you'll be coming back to after attending the Stroll Kick-Off Festivities at the Opening Reception for Transitions: An Odyssey Resident Artist Exhibition at Odyssey Studios on Friday night! You see, promotion's not so shameless when you slide it in with some for others!

Congrats to all the great folks at Clay Space and Yay for Clay!