Trigger Fish

This Trigger Fish is from my last firing, done a while back. With the end of school, there is little time for my work....but there will be!  There are a few fish more to fire....oh, only a few....I had better get started on my summer school.....of fish that is!

 

The summer Arts Academy offers a week long series of workshops to area high school students from Honesdale High School, Wallenpaupack, Western Wayne and Forest City Schools. Each day they attend, they work with a different artist from 9-3 working in that artist's medium. What a great way to expose yourself to so many different materials! The silent auction's mission is to raise money so we can offer this Academy at a very affordable cost to the students!

 Linda Cobb's Fish

 Linda Halverson's Fish

 David Hamill's Fish

 Ellen Silberlicht's Fish

 Alan Wood's Fish

 Joe Kluck's Fish

 Judith Present's Fish

 Nancy Wells' Fish

 Ginny Kannengiesser's Fish

 Hana Gorman's Fish

 Jeff George's Fish

 Jerry DeCrotie's Fish

 Linda Gunderson's Fish

The School of Fish!

The lamp base

I found the photo of the lamp base. It's now sitting in the kiln, slowly drying, waiting for the next step.

It's a fishy kind of day!

I have been firing using my electric kiln this winter and have been surprised to like the results. I have also been doing fish, so they may like the glossy glaze. I plan on playing with glazes on some and rakuing the others to see the variations.

Now they are set to dry....which will take some time. 

I also threw some large vessels that will be a lamp and another one will be a base for a bird bath.

This is meant to be a trigger fish, so I plan on playing with glaze and raku....in my head it works!

...and a few more to add

 These pieces are from my last batch of brown clay. It has been interesting to experiment with the electric firing and see the results. I love raku, but since I can't fire in the winter, I needed to find another way to satisfy my disease, which is the need to create. The brown clay gives it the feeling of a reduced cone 9 firing. I like the warm color of the natural clay. And I also discovered the fluidity that fish have, and believe I have translated that in my pots. Now I must push myself further....and see what else I can discover!

 Below you will notice a stream of fish, all waiting to be decorated for the silent auction fundraiser for the Summer Arts Academy. This fundraiser allows us to offer a series of workshops to high school students from our area. The fundraiser offsets the cost of materials and other expenses so all students can afford to attend.

So, who is behind the Summer Arts Academy?

Lori Gearhart, Kathy Carachilo, Lisa Peet from Wallenpaupack High School

Ellen Silberlicht from Honesdale High School

Kelly Phillips from Forest City School District

Jeff George

Lindsay Barrett George

and David Hamill

It is our vision to make art more available to those students who just don't get enough in their school year. Anyway....how in the world can you go through the entire summer and not be creative? This Academy gives students the opportunity to experience and experiment with something new and different that their class structures can't offer. It is a week long experience of exchanging joy, meeting other creative students from other schools, and having new adventures in self expression.

I don't think it could get much better!

 

Stay tuned to updates about the auction and the Summer Arts

Photos of Most Recent Work

Bass #2

Electric fired, cone 5 glazed on a dark claybody.

 Catfish #1

 Eel

 Toad

 Bass #1

Trout

Gotta work when you can!!!!!!

Without any snow days, I was beginning to think it would be hard to get any work done this winter.....but I've had some good solid weekends to work! This bass and catfish are from my last batch of pots. Only two pieces fit in my kiln at a time...so it's a process for the firing. I took photos of them today when I was photographing my new pieces below.

 The camel's head moves around the pot....but I think the nose is so fun!

The finished catfish pictured as finished, above is swimming on the pot....while this catfish is the pot!

And the lion......These pieces will be electric fired..so the lion's snout will not be glazed but will be rubbed with iron oxide and then scrubbed to give it a deep brown interesting finish.