Doily Plate: Even though this cracked, I still really like it. I threw the plate on the wheel, trimmed it, then added a slip-soaked doily to the top. Strangely the crocheted part made it, but the fabric part was too solid. It burnt away in the firing (as expected) and kind of feels like a sand dollar now. I still want to expirement with this technique in the future. I’m also quite happy with my little ruffly pie crust edge.

I really love these little pyrex inspired dishes. The lace imprints on the inside didn’t show up as well as I’d hoped (in some cases) but they were lots of fun. I’d like to do more of these, too, and perfect my craftsmanship. I rolled lace into the clay and made the shapes, then painted them with an underglaze and carved the designs with a loop tool. Once fired, I stained the lace impressions and dipped it in a clear glaze.

Here is a side view.

I also made these little porcelain dishes…same kind of idea with the lace and woven bamboo samples. The one that looks white was actually a little filet crochet imprint of a house, but I guess I needed to apply more pressure. Next time!

And here are a couple of my wheel-thrown bowls. The one on the right is my first successful bowl and I like its uneven sides and pod-like shape. I melted a glass marble in the bottom during the firing, which made the glaze flash green, so that was pretty cool and unexpected. There’s some carving that’s hard to see in the pic as well. The blue bowl was painted with an underglaze, carved, fired, then dipped in a midnight blue glaze.

What’s really need is I could actually use these dishes and bowls in the oven and eat out of them, etc. For some reason I never do- but maybe this time. I think I may take another class and go for a big lasagna pan or something.

Oh yeah, and if you’re a member of my family or a close friend, I should have warned you to close your eyes as these might be coming your way at the next gift-giving occasion. But you’ll probably forget by then, so it’s okay.

The pile of ears has a few influences. One is the pile of shoes from Holocaust victims- he was raised with Holocaust survivors who taught him to pay attention to what was going on and change what he could. The ears vary in size from an inch to over a foot and are made of clay that’s rendered to look like stone. Their stony appearance is meant to represent deaf ears. In his studio among the many post it notes, he has listed  the old proverb “We were given only one mouth to speak, but two ears to listen.” His work is political (this collage speaks to his thoughts on the current administration) but in a sweeping way–even without the current administration, he’ll be pissed off about something.  He noted that he thinks all art is a political statement: artists are exercising their creative minds instead of the also human take-over-the-world urges.

All in all, he’s a really interesting guy and I love that he speaks his mind. That was what was so great about seeing him in the documentary. Parts of it were very hippie-esque but I remember him saying in the doc that he was angry and pissed off about the state of things– and he told me today that they fought hard to keep that in the film. 

 I’ll end with a quote from Notkin, posted in his studio: “I continue to make ceramic sculptures which reflect on the social and political dilemmas of our world. As André Malraux observed, “Art is a revolt against man’s fate”. Need I say more?”

Ever since I moved here I’ve had an extreme itch to take a ceramics class. Clay is big in Montana- and I used to take classes while getting my undergrad art degree, so I couldn’t resist when I saw a weekend workshop called “Teapots and Serving Trays.” I took it in early November with artist Lea Zoltowski (whose work is unlike any ceramic sculpture I’ve ever seen). I got  my pieces back from the glaze firing in December and I am pleasantly surprised with how they turned out, because I had no color tiles to look at when choosing these glazes. I really enjoyed making them, but worried about the glazing process which was rushed and disorganized. It all worked out okay though, didn’t it?

To create the texture on the serving trays, I pressed vintage lace and doilies into the wet clay. The glazes worked splendidly at filling in the cracks, and I love the subtle color changes in the oval tray, although they  might be a bit overstated in these photos, thanks to winter light. I even like the crack in the square platter. Enjoy the gratuitous photos (more on my flickr).

This teapot was a beast to make. It’s gigantic, but it’s functional, so I’ll probably have to serve tea from it at least once. Again, the glaze is totally different than what I imagined, but in a good way. We made our teapots using paper pattern pieces–the process was very much like dressmaking. It’s not a technique I’ve ever seen taught in ceramics, but it makes a lot of sense– make the piece from paper first, then work with the clay. That way if it doesn’t line up, you won’t have wasted too much time.

I’m looking forward to the next seven weeks of classes, because I hope to finally master the wheel. Or, at least begin!