I'll Just Keep Blogging

So far, no one has chosen to follow my blog. I'm not quite sure what can be done about it, but Ill just keep blogging. So photos are taken and enough to start a site: www.oyclaypottery.com. I've got a small studio at Odyssey and I am working on finding a wheel that I can afford. Little by little, atep by step. I wish I was 20 years younger. Ah well, just a moment of fancy. I'd like to get my blog and wesite on Clay Club, but don't know how to leap from follower to contributor. Perhaps emily reason will know. I think she is Clay Club.

so many things to do and think about. More later, Now sleep.

Artist Statement

Writing an Artist Statement can probably be a self indulgent exercise. Perhaps, one should start out really over the top and pare it back, to achieve some balance. Neither too pretentious nor too...matter-of-fact.

So what is my pottery about. It started out as a way to create artistically what I have been unable to express lyrically, for a while. And as an activity to replace the thrill of performing.

Once I sat at the wheel and started with the clay, it became, not a substitute, really, but an enhancement. An addition, or perhaps, an extension of the process of creating. As a lyricist or poet one creates the metaphor. But the clay, and the act of forming the clay and firing the clay, in this case, is the metaphor. Adamah, the earth. Dam, blood. And the burning, the fire...of Destruction and Reclamation. The earth is centuries full of Jewish blood destroyed by fire. Reclaiming it, making it useful through fire is a form of justice. "Here we are!!. In the Jewish homes you could not destroy! We are made whole from the earth back through the fire. We are strengthened and made whole."

I want my art to reflect that. The form of clay, the beauty of the fire, the useful purpose of the form in Jewish life.

Finally Photos!!!!

A fabulous Digital Photography Workshop with John Britt and Joy Tanner. We learned to build our own light boxes and each camera was discussed and used. Joy provided her expertise for the photos attached. So Exciting!!!!!!

From the Earth Into the Fire - Reclamation... Redemption?

Thinking about the metaphor of creating Judaica out of clay. Clay not just the surface for the message, the prayer or whatever. The clay "body", adamah. Reclaiming the Jewish adamah, creating from that the vessels of ritual, of historical reenactment, then cleansing and strengthening the clay through fire. It means something to me. Like music. Like prayer...avodah.

I spent the evening throwing in a new space. Odyssey is closed since last Friday between sessions, and I couldn't take it anymore, so I got a "weekend pass" to Crazy Green Studios. Just the thing I needed. Clay, Lori, Happy Hour. Just keep throwing, taller and thinner, wider and with intent. I just threw cylinders for two or three hours then threw off the hump for an hour. Looking for a style, a shape, something of my own, something that feels like jazz. Maybe tomorrow.

Do You Raku????

Today, as a last class with Terry Gess, we all got to raku fire two pieces we'd prepared for that purpose. Having never fired anything this way, I was fascinated by this relatively quick way to fire. At first it looked like each of us waited too long in getting the hot pieces into the reduction containers on the first round; however, most of the pieces were successfully fired, including mine. The vase was bisqued with several coats of two different terra sigilatta and clear glazed after being bisqued. The second vase was bisqued the same way, but I only put the glaze on the inside. The first piece was quite nice. The surface of the second piece did not achieve any interesting effect, and I decided to glaze it for a cone 4-5 refire. As soon as we find our camera, I can post the results. One certainly gets instant gratification with this process, and it seems like a kiln would not be hard to build. Hmmm...???

Taking a Step

Here I boldly go where I have not gone before. Nelle Fastman Pingree, potter. Maker of pots, functional and ritual for Jewish Festivals, Holidays, Life Cycle Events and Everyday.