Believe in Art: January 2012

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Emerging fish

I thought if I posted the before and after it would be interesting to see the difference. With glazing, you have to be able to envision what it will look like....and sometimes it works....and sometimes not.....and there are many happy accidents that can occur along the way!

These are two photos of the same piece.

And these are two photos of the eel of the same piece.

Saturday, January 28, 2012

winter pottery, electric firing

This is a series of pieces I began with an electric firing as the finish in mind. Since raku is very difficult to do in the winter, due to the temperature drop and firing with propane, I decided to see what my work would look like if I glazed it.

Above on the camel head piece I used iron oxide on the head and glazed the rest.

This bass is what it looks like before it goes into the kiln.....I thought it would be interesting to see a before and after photo.....so check back shortly to see it finished.

This trout was fired at cone 5. I've included two different views of it.

I have more in the kiln now...so will post more photos as they come out!

Monday, January 2, 2012

Christmas break in my studio

I finally found some time to work in my studio over Christmas break. It seemed as though I'd never finish all the work for the Scholastic Arts and then the expected Christmas stuff with my husband's family....but after finishing everything....and enjoying some down time...I knew if I didn't do some work, I would feel I didn't take advantage of a chunk of time that should have been.

These pieces are done in brown clay and will be fired to cone 5 with glazes. It will be interesting to see how they come out. Rakuing is a summer sport in Pennsylvania, due to the cold winters.....although it has been quite mild until now!

Bass view 1

Bass view 2

Big Bass view 1

Big Bass view 2

Catfish view 1

Catfish view 2

Moray eel view 1

Moray eel view 2

Trout view 1

Trout view 2

Scholastic Arts...2012

The Christmas season is a busy one not because of the holiday, but because of the Scholastic Arts Regional competition deadline is as we return for the new year.....which makes just before Christmas break, an incredibly busy and crazy time. We have to collect the artwork, get our students to register on line......register the artworks, get them to sign their forms along with their parents and return them to school.
Then each piece needs to be photographed because that is how the judging will take place. (something new this year) I meant for the photos to be better, but as it turns out....not this year. I was going to redo the backgrounds....but after cropping, color correcting, etc. all the photos, I felt I had spent plenty of time on the computer over my Christmas break and so called it quits for this year.
Next year, I will have a better plan!
So....the following pieces are this years best from Honesdale High School's pottery class.