"... A Mass of Thawing Clay"

A Christmas Surprise

2011-12-23T13:36:00.000-08:00

This afternoon, amid wrapping and last minute gift creations, there was a knock at the door. It was the postman. I wish that he would always knock and not just leave it in the box. I loved answering the door and watch him shuffle through packages and letters, handing me ours with a smile and "Merry Christmas!"

In that bundle there was a package for me, wrapped in a familiar brown paper with a familiar U-S-A written across the front. I got a package from Spain!

Seth, my wonderful British potter, mentor, and friend, dashed off a letter and package for me just in time for Christmas! I can't believe its been two year since I've seen him, since I lived and studied in that little stone Masia on top of a mountain, next to a dry white stoned river bed.

He wrote on thin beautiful paper with that handwriting I know and love, telling of studio cleanings and friendly visits. He found an old pot of mine that I left behind. I left many pots behind since they all had to fit in my suitcases. A little syrup pitcher was stuffed in the package, with crawling glaze and Seth-esque blue lettering. Suddenly I had memories of sitting on my motorcycle-like wheel seat, bent over with brush in hand and cobalt oxide stain glopped in an old bowl, carefully lettering within Seth's rules.

Oh how I miss him and his studio and that house and that bumpy road and my mountain! Merry Christmas, Seth! Merry Christmas readers!

Pictures from my time in Spain:

Exciting happenings from my time in Spain

My Surroundings in Spain

The Pottery in Spain

Photos of Everything I've Made!

2011-12-11T19:16:00.001-08:00

Please note:

I have reorganized and replaced photographs.You can now view all of my creations conveniently using the links on the right-hand column that is always present on the blog. Look under "Sarah Coffin Artwork Photo Albums." The ReStyle albums contain, in order, photos of the projects from start to finish... the original salvaged goods to the finished product.

I will alert you to any updates.

This is the best I can do until I have my own website! Thanks and enjoy!

As always, if you see anything you love, please don't hesitate to ask. Everything is for sale. If it hasn't been sold, it can be yours! Just email me at sjcoffin@gmail.com!

Happy December and dropping temperatures!
Sarah

Pointy Finger Print courtesy of YeeHaw.etsy.com. Print of the letterpress hand available for $25 plus shipping.

Tennis Rackets Turned Household Item!

2011-12-10T05:57:00.001-08:00

I love the look of old tennis rackets. I've found a few in the passed weeks and fell in love with the worn leather, fine wood details, and the designs on each one.

Hanging them on the wall as is seems pretty cool but I thought it would be fun if it served a purpose... especially as I am not a tennis player!

Here are four different takes on a useful tennis racket wall hanging!

Number One: "Melbourn"
... I love the vintage colors of this racket! The lighter wood and cream with black accents stand out nicely on a darker wall. This single hook could be used for any variety of things, keys, necklaces, something in your kitchen, your ID badge by the door...

Number Two: "Davis"

... The two smaller hooks on this racket provide a symmetrical hanging devise perfect for a his and hers key holder! Also could be used for necklaces, ribbon, ornaments, or just as decoration.

Number Three: "Ardmore"
... Affixed to it's traveling case, this racket is full of the old wood and worn paint vintage charm that I love. The four hooks can be used for anything from keys to jewelry.

Number Four: "The Postman's knock"
... This racket is my favorite. I love the red details and what I turned it into! I hand painted the quote on the rim that read, "None will hear the postman's knock without a quickening of the heart" by WH Auden. I attached springs to the face and a hook to the neck. The spaces in the spring are perfect for mail and the hook is perfect for keys! Are there other uses you can think of?!

Pull up that... DRAWER?!

2011-11-29T15:10:00.001-08:00

A few weeks back, on a bright and cheery Monday evening, I went for a run. Around here Monday night is a lot of fun. Why? Because Tuesday is Trash Day! On my run I saw a disgusting old wooden file cabinet. The cabinet was worthless but the drawers stacked beside it? Awesome! I ran home, got my cousin and my car and headed back to the treasure. Cousin M confirmed the coolness of them and laughed as I put them in my trunk.

The possibilities for these drawers began to pour into my head and I scrambled to sketch out ideas. One of my favorite ideas was an ottoman. Add some legs, a comfy, classy top and POOF! You've got yourself a snappy little foot rest.

The legs on this ottoman are from an old corduroy ottoman found by my fellow picker sister, R. I tore that one apart (underneath it's ugly duckling hood, there was a great wooden frame...that will be revealed when it has had its own POOF moment) and cut wood, fabric, and my fingers. Woops, shouldn't have included the fingers but creating requires sacrifices. I only hammered them twice while applying the tiny furniture brads.

I am so pleased with the outcome. The contrast that I am constantly looking for is definitely present here: classy, sleek, and beautiful with a warm flare from the vintage base item.

Original varnish on the front. I added a slight sheen
to the rest of the drawer. Here you can see the small piece of
wood affixed to the top as well as the metal legs.

These are the legs attached to the underside of the drawer. They
squeeze and fold up into the bottom.

Ready for the top! See the foam and fabric on the left.

Attached the foam and then began the drama of the faux leather...

Add some silver brads to reflect the legs and POOF! I love it.

This lovely piece will be available on Etsy!
www.sjcoffin.etsy.com

Sketches

2011-11-28T14:58:00.001-08:00

Sketches are wonderful... whether as part of an exhibit in a gallery or in a friend's little blank book, sketches have a quality all their own. They tend to have a personality and freedom about them that draw me in.

I find my own sketchbooks to be a great journey through ideas. Old sketches can trigger ideas for new projects. I can also see a direction within a sketch that I want to carry through to other things... an energy, subject, or essence. I've recently purged a few old things and found myself flipping through old sketchbooks. Here are some findings from a sketchbook round about 2007-2008. I was in a very line focused phase as you will notice...

Enjoy!

Apples

Back Porch

Beach Flower

Lady Sunning Herself

Beach House

Buy Local

Red Cabbage

Chair

Come to Italy

Draw

Drift Wood

Farmers' Market

Determination

Flower

Gull

Hawaiian Leaves

Leaf and Flower

Man on a Plane

Mile 20

Pot with Handles

Crooked Old Spoon

Swamp

My Street

Wine Quote

That Woman

Eva Zeisel: A "Maker of Things"

2011-11-28T13:36:00.001-08:00

This is a wonderful TED talk by Eva Zeisel. Here is the description on the TED Talks website:

"The ceramics designer Eva Zeisel looks back on a 75-year career. What keeps her work as fresh today (her latest line debuted in 2008) as in 1926? Her sense of play and beauty, and her drive for adventure. Listen for stories from a rich, colorful life."

She speaks softly but, if you have some patience, listen through the whole 18 minutes. There are some gems in there!

Four Tips for Getting Things Finished!

2011-11-15T08:04:00.001-08:00

"[I have a lot of] projects ... going on right now, and I find I end up just reading all the fun magazines and blogs I never have time for in real life. But this is real life and I need to get busy! Which I notice you're good at, so please, any helpful self-motivators?"

In the span of two weeks a few different friends posed questions to me like the one above. How do I motivate myself, get projects done, act as my own boss... It is a HUGE question and one that I have to rethink daily. I am grateful for the question since it makes me really concentrate on what I am doing and how I am doing it.

Its definitely not something I figured out once and have in the bag. We are funny, us humans, always wanting to be needed, wanting to be busy and have things to do but constantly trying to find ways around actual work and ways to stay on our own selfish comfy couch. When you have a boss or even clients, you have someone who is directly affected by your work and productivity. That personal connection can be a huge motivating factor. I do work with clients and bosses occasionally but my own art projects? There is no one but me.

I have to be the boss: setting the deadlines, motivating the 'staff', lecturing the lazy, disciplining the worker... I also have to be the client: deciding what I want, changing my mind, wanting it to be useful, affordable, beautiful... I also have to be the employee: putting in the long hard hours, maintaining the deadline set by the boss, producing...

This reality has been required of me in my situation for years now. In high school I signed up for the art show and realized that I would show up on that day, by myself, to present whatever it was that I completed. There was no one there to grade me, reprimand me, praise me for doing what I set out for myself... people would either stop at my booth or they would not. I was responsible for the work that I did.

In college I wrote up proposals for Independent Studies where, by very definition, you are your own boss. Yes, at certain points in the semester, the professor would check in and at the end I had to present my work. But it was up to me to get out of the study what I wanted. There wasn't an exam to work toward or someone holding my hand through out, ensuring that I would get as much as possible from the experience. I either did or I didn't. Really, I could've fudged my way through an Independent Study if I wanted to... but then where was I? Who had I duped? No one but myself.

After college I've worked many jobs and continued to create on the side. My work for an employer would finish and then there was my other boss standing in the mirror, urging me to get on with it!

So, how do I set deadlines for myself? What are my "self-motivator tricks?"

First: Keep it fluid.

I can't emphasize enough that it is a fluid process. As I change and as my environment changes, my tactics for motivation and focus have to change as well. Like I said before, I've not 'figured it out and have it in the bag.' Just realizing this fact helps me get to work each day. I look at it like a mystery to solve each day, an adventure in discovery... I'll give you some examples that are close to home. "Hmm, wow today I am REALLY distracted! I haven't stayed on one thing for more than 10 minutes" or "I really don't feel like doing anything today. What is the point anyways? Nothing really matters" or "Hooray! Today I am going to work so hard! ...*2 hours later*... Wait! I'm still watching these youtube clips?! What time is it?!" Then there are outside factors too. I set a list to complete but then a friend needs help unexpectedly, a call comes that takes far too long, I run into an old friend, etc. So realizing that each day's tactics for getting to work have to be directed at that day's adventure is helpful to me.

Second: Keep promises.

I am very serious about keeping promises to myself. If I say that I will work on project X or finish cleaning item X, I do it (almost) no matter what. That means if I've made bad decisions earlier in the day or the week I don't just toss that fact aside saying, "Oh well, it doesn't really matter." Sure, my project will still be there, there is still time, etc but I've broken a promise. I am responsible for the use of my time. I will stay up late, say no to fun outings, skip a movie or TV show or reading my book at night in order to stay on track. I see this as good practice for how i interact with others as well. If I make a promise to someone else, I will do all I can to keep it. Be consistent. (Preaching to myself here!)

Third: Lists and priorities.

I make lists all the time. I include little things and big things. This means my list includes

- Sand down Plywood for tray

- Saw Molding for trim of tray

- Reply to J and K's emails

- Put clothes away

- Eat lunch

By including all of the things that I want/need to complete I can properly evaluate how much time I have. This way I can create manageable lists. Being honest with myself as to what I can actually complete helps me keep a good attitude. I usually have 2 columns: one column for that day's list and one for things I think of as I create a list (since inevitably my brain gets excited and starts to come up with ALL of the things I could possibly do). After making a list, the evaluation of priorities begins. I constantly have to evaluate priorities. I fail a lot but continue to evaluate and re-evaluate and try to learn.

EXAMPLE: Do I need to check my email? Yes. I may have time sensitive emails from clients or bosses. I get to my email and have 4 emails that were unexpected and have link to watch or read fascinating things. Do I read them now? Was that what I planned to do? NO. Do I FEEL like watching/reading them right now. YES. Ignore, star in my inbox, and come back another time. The more I give in to whatever I feel like doing in the moment, the less I get done and the more bad decisions I make.

Fourth: Have a motivating factor.

A motivating factor helps me a lot. If my work outs are getting to be few and far between, I sign up for a race or ask a friend to join to get me out there training. If my art projects are starting to take far too long or pile up, I'll get them out to the public somehow... a show, Etsy, anything! If my home has a half-finished project or my room is a mess, I'll invite someone over to scare myself into responsibility. I often make little calendars and hang it on my bedroom door with a sharpie. The calendar only has the days from the starting date to the ending date of the particular goal. Each night I either cross off the day (meaning I did what needed to be done that day) or I circle the day (meaning I was irresponsible and didn't do what I should've). Then I can see how well I am doing... how much I have actually kept my promises... it keeps me very realistic about my work. Then I can look back at the end and say, "Wow! I really stuck to it!" or look back and say, "Well, no wonder you didn't finish by now... just look at how many days are circled." Count up the circled days, add those to the goal date and try again. No fluff added, just the failed days.

This eventually gets deep down into your foundation. I find that the more sensitive my conscience is the more guilty I feel for not being productive in a way that would improve the lives of others. I know this is an abstract thought but it really keeps me putting my nose to the grindstone rather than doing whatever it is that I feel like doing. My religious beliefs give me a lot of hope and excitement in this realm.

Now stop reading this blog and go do a project!

The Power of Making

2011-11-15T07:06:00.001-08:00

"Making is life. It is what I do."

This video, by the Victoria and Albert Museum, is about the human act of creating. The peace and serenity with which these people talk about their craft is that same peace and serenity that I feel when I am engaged in creating. Its hard to articulate because the work itself is the articulation. So, when an artist or craftsman has a hard time telling you about their work, it is usually not for lack of thought or intellect; it is merely that they now must say again, in a less fluid or natural way, what they've already said in their creation.

"I think its really important for people to reengage with actually making things."

Power of Making from Victoria and Albert Museum on Vimeo.

[Thank you to P.B. for sharing this video with me!]

I couldn't find the table I wanted...

2011-11-07T13:33:00.000-08:00

So I made it!

I am doing some interior design contract work right now and have a client with a tight budget. My partner and I were looking for a long thin table to go behind their couch. With heights, colors, lengths, and prices to consider we just couldn't come up with what we wanted.

This vertical half door was raw wood and only $10 at an Architectural Reclaim Store. J called me and asked if I wanted it. With correct dimensions, it eventually would become our elusive table!

The raw wood door. The raw wood table legs.

The table legs I wanted were not available in the store and, because of time constraints, I had to settle for these sleek and simple square legs instead. It ended up working out well as you will see in the pictures. As Tim Gun says, "Make it work!"

I stained the top and bottom with Ebony wood stain. I spray painted the table legs gloss black and the horizontal wood details gloss black as well.

I then added silver brads (or upholstery tacks) to the front and sides for a little fun detail.

Toolbox

2011-11-01T12:11:00.000-07:00

A toolbox is my go to for a lot of my work. Each profession has a 'toolbox' of sorts... whether it is your breifcase, office drawer, camera bag, purse/manbag, or chef's knife set, there is something that holds the materials that you constantly go to. Lately I realized that my 'toolbox' (which happens to be a literal toolbox) was quite uninspiring. It was plastic and cheap, a plastic-y red color with plastic hinges. Quite sterile, really.

Plus it smelled like vomit.

Now, I know that is disgusting and I really am sorry I have to say it but it truly did. I have no idea why but I had it confirmed by friends multiple times. The similarity was disturbing and again, not inspiring!

So when I saw a great sturdy metal toolbox at a yard sale a few weeks ago, I knew it had to be mine. It was full of stories from projects done over the years, beaten and rusty but still in perfect working order. For a hefty price of $1 I took it home with me. I cleaned it thoroughly and sprayed the outside with Rust-o-lium to prevent further wear and tear. I want to get my name engraved on the area under the hand that looks like it was made exactly for that!

Then came the fun part. I taped up the outside and the inside black metal tray with painter's tape. Then I sprayed the inside with Watermelon-Pink Metal Spray Paint!

Now it holds a little bit of mystery with its own history and I constantly want to open it. THAT is inspiring. What is your toolbox?

1. The Restyling Etsy Debut and 2. The Process Behind a Lamp

2011-10-14T14:19:00.000-07:00

1. I have more pottery as well as the debut of some of my ReStyling work on Etsy! Go to www.sjcoffin.etsy.com OR see the right hand bar on my blog!

2. I also wanted to share the work process of a recent piece that I finished.

A dull base and shade... ready to be ReStyled.

I tore the shade apart... which was quite gratifying!

I had some burlap seed bags from the garden center where I used to work (Merrifield!). I cut it, washed it, and lint-picked it (yup, I just made that a verb).

I traced the shade along the burlap, cut it out, and burned my fingers like crazy as I hot glued the burlap to the frame. There are sacrifices for beauty, you know!

Meanwhile, the base was drying from it's coat of metal primer. I think it already looks cooler as you can see the shadows and details of the metal work.

After tightly wrapping the burlap, I sprayed it white (coat after coat after coat) which really cleaned up the rustic look. It looked FAB. But, as I looked at the shade I knew it just needed a little something.

My mom had just refinished a small antique bench and the leftover antique brads were sitting on our workbench. Voila! Perfect finishing touch to the burlap shade.

The base got numerous coats of gloss white and came our beautifully!

Bada bing, bada boom! The white on white gives the rustic burlap and vintage base quite a modern edge. Sleek and clean without being cold.

And with a lower wattage bulb, it gives off the perfect little glow.

SOLD.

Creative work takes a while...

2011-10-12T08:15:00.000-07:00

Thanks to RCA for sharing this. I found it encouraging and challenging. Keep working!

Ira Glass on Storytelling from David Shiyang Liu on Vimeo.

Lessons and Limitations

2011-10-06T08:50:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I took my new wares to their first debut. It was a Flea Market. I had my doubts (which turned out to be true) but knew that this would be good. It gave me an end goal, it forced the work out for critique (a scary but necessary part of this whole process), and forced me to try something I wasn't absolutely certain about the outcome.

[Click here for more pictures from the day]

All in all the day was complete fun and a flop. I learned so much about the market for my things, about display, and about pricing. The flea market was a great debut. People who go to flea markets like that are either really in need of a deal or just really love old things. The latter are my customers.

People's responses were so encouraging. They would be snooping around all of these random stalls with assorted items and suddenly stop at my display. The intrigue, shock, and appreciation was payment enough to make up for the lack of actual money made. People don't go to flea markets to spend a lot of money for hand made things... they go for deals on old things. I did sell the New York mail/Key piece to a woman who loved it. She was from NY and had just bought a house on the Chesapeake (where I found the crate top). I also met a master craftsman who ended up giving me some metal Victorian ceiling pieces and some large letters which I certainly have exciting designs for. (I know i just ended that sentence with a preposition and I'm not changing it! ha!)

Armed with a healthy dose of discouragement to surmount, I left the experience much better for doing it. I was humbled and seriously cold (ha!) but as the G.I. Joes say, "Knowing is half the battle." So, I'm getting back on the horse and continuing to ride towards the sunset, dagonit.

A new look and new work!

2011-09-29T09:19:00.000-07:00

Don't be alarmed! You've come to the right place.. I just updated my blog background.

AND!! I have new pieces to show you! Once again, click on the name of the item to see more pictures of it in my online album.

Half Barrel Single Shelf #2

Vintage Travel Set Coasters

Half Barrel Apron Spoon Hooks

Hooks Hooks Hooks!

2011-09-27T15:00:00.000-07:00

I am in love with all of the old organic pieces of wood and nature I've gathered over the years! But I've found that not everyone loves old or dried things as much as I do. So with a lot of creativity and a little work, I've figured out how to "restyle" them so that others can love them too! ...

Here are more items from my "ReStyling" period.

Click on the title of the piece to see more photos of that item!

New York Mail/Key Holder

Old Wood Jewelry Hooks

Half Barrel Single Shelf

Half Barrel Double Key Hook

More ReStyling...

2011-09-16T08:35:00.000-07:00

Following up on my last post about Restyling old things, here are a few more...

Two more of the previous Drift Wood Coat Hook

Half Barrel Key Hook

Small Drift Wood Double Hook

Restoring the Beauty

2011-09-14T13:33:00.000-07:00

Living on the Eastern Shore has seeped into my style. I fell in love with traipsing around the coast line, rain or shine, picking up drift wood and twisted, rusted shapes. My brain was going wild with ideas of picking up these great natural pieces and turning them into a classy contrast between organic and modern. After collecting from the shore, I moved inland and started seeing the same possible contrast in old pieces on trash day, at yard sales, and junk shops. By staying simple, striving toward classy not crafty, and letting the shapes dictate their use, I aim to create some gorgeous pieces. Here are the beginnings...

Half Barrel Shelves

Along the coast I found tons of these half circles. They are from the bottom of fishermen's barrels. The great smoothed wave washed wood with rust bleeding onto each shelf contrasts nicely with the black shiny boards.

Tops of the shelves

Bottoms of the shelves

On a red wall: side view

On a red wall: straight on

A drift wood Hook for the front hall or mud room!

Taking notes, drawing visions

2011-07-11T14:16:00.000-07:00

I recently graduated from an intense 9 months of study. I spent a lot of time in class, taking notes, discussing serious and heavy issues. The following are the lighter side of class... doodles from my notes. They usually were inspired by the subject at hand but sometimes appeared from nowhere.

Click on the image for a larger view. I would love to know your favorites!

wallpaper

a restful slumber

what will spill out of you when life bumps your cup?

"Do you feel like there is an elephant in the room?"

"Flourish"

David and Sharon!

Paintings and Pots... oh my!

2011-01-02T15:56:00.001-08:00

I blogged about an idea last year to throw pots from paintings, recreating the ceramics found in so many paintings. The idea, marinating for some time now, inspires me to draw quite a bit. Here is a painting with a great pot. If only I had the time to throw. This would be a good one to begin... the grey and blue... I think I need a salt or soda kiln. Oh the possibilities!

Truth?

2010-12-01T09:13:00.000-08:00

"In matters of art our society has substituted taste for truth, which she finds more amusing and less of a responsibility, and changes her tastes as frequently as she changes her hats and shoes."

- Mark Rothko

2010-11-23T17:48:00.000-08:00

Well, wasn't I mistaken! After some quality time with the afore mentioned Bernard Leach book I've realized that the drawings and verse and prose are all his own! What a prolific artist. No wonder they say he is "the greatest artist-potter-writer of our time" and "perhaps one of the greatest men of our time."

While I don't agree with his Baha'i beliefs, I think it fascinating to find someone who has beliefs beyond himself and is willing to expound on that and live by it. Believe something and live by it?! What a novel idea...

A New Book

2010-11-23T12:05:00.001-08:00

I just found a new book by Bernard Leach (that famous potter I mention frequently). You can see the cover to the left. I wasn't quite sure what I was ordering when I presses "buy" online but the cover was enough to make me want it. Bernard Leach was very influenced by Eastern thought, both in his artwork and in his worldview. It is interesting to see how this played out in his philosophies and drawings as he brought them back and modified them to his western life style.

From what I can tell, the book is not his drawings but a collection of drawings that he either owned or enjoyed. The verse I am not sure about yet. Books are so wonderful. Full of mystery and promise. All you have to do is open the cover.

Here I go!

Space

2010-11-12T12:28:00.000-08:00

So here I am, on the edge of the Chesapeake, learning, living, and generally loving life.

Now that the initial suspension of reality is dropping, I am settling into my artistic rhythm again. The work load at the Academy has been difficult to balance, especially with regard to artwork. I didn't expect it to be quite this hard but its a challenge that is growing me in areas of responsibility that haven't been touched. That is a good thing. You can keep telling me that, cause I sure forget some times.

Among the many things that I am learning, I've discovered that space is essential. While learning the ropes in the beginning, my mind was preoccupied and I was hard pressed to be creative. When I was finally inclined to create, I felt claustrophobic with my ideas. I had no where to give space to that creative energy. But creativity doesn't just go away. Much of it was expressed and still is expressed in daily activities, in social creativity: creatively engaging with the surroundings, with the other fellows, and adding or highlighting beauty where I can. I put clippings from outside in vases for the dinner table, decorate spaces, draw in community, encouraging others to creatively engage as well.

Recently a couple donated a bunch of freshly caught rockfish to the fellows (always wonderful to get more food!). I volunteered to write the thank you note and decided to paint them a fish in gratitude:

Meanwhile I am working to create a real creative space for myself. As soon as I've worked that out, I'll post some pictures. I am excited about the secret space I've found and am renovating.

Close Curtain

2010-08-17T21:14:00.000-07:00

Well, this is it Ladies and Gentlemen. I leave on Saturday. I am completely at peace and looking froward to this new adventure. My wheel and tools, my clothes and jewelry, my sheets and books: they are all making their way into boxes. The kick off for my program is on Sunday. After that I will know my schedule a little better and thus my ability to take the time to write.

Here goes.....

Once upon a time....

2010-06-10T18:18:00.000-07:00

...I was an apprentice in Northern Virginia. That time has come to an end. I am no longer apprenticing with my mother and my days in Northern Virginia are numbered. I will soon be embarking on a new journey come August and have decided to end my blog for now.

When I started this blog, my purpose was to educate and be educated in pottery, beauty, and life as an artist. With a clear apprenticeship and purpose, I found writing to be a wonderful way to organize my own thoughts as well as fulfill a dream of including the public in my work.

In August I will start a 9 month program focusing around leadership in arts and community. I am excited and nervous but ever positive that this is the best next step for me. I hope that my time there will foster a maturity and focus; that I will gain a depth that will give me confidence in encouraging a fresh infusion of understanding and love of art into the public's scope of life. And, while I don't know what this time will be like, I hope that my time there allows for writing. I would love to continue to share an insiders view of one artist's struggle to find a place. But we'll see.

Until then, enjoy the colors of your food, sit still and listen, touch the bark on that tree you walk past each day, smell the fresh cut grass, and notice the way an artist uses these inexhaustible inspirations to capture a moment of beauty.

Thanks for reading,
Sarah

Support your local artist!

FACEBOOK

2010-05-14T08:34:00.000-07:00

Become a fan on Facebook!

I just uploaded a short video of the pump action trimming wheel that I used while in Spain.

Enjoy!

Smithsonian Craft Show Review

2010-05-04T08:11:00.000-07:00

I attended the Smithsonian Craft Show for the first time this year. It was a gorgeous venue (The National Building Museum) and a wonderful show. I loved getting to walk amongst some of the greatest crafters in America, seeing their work first hand and talking to them. Crafters by definition want people to use their work and are generally people friendly. Here were some of my favorites:

Jennifer Heller Zurick: Willow Bark Baskets

www.jenniferhellerzurich.com

Robert Briscoe: Functional Stoneware

Stephen Merritt: Pottery www.merrittvessel.com

Lara Moore: Furniture, Wall Art, etc.
www.bellabella.com

There were more favorites but I didn't get their cards. Look up the Craft Show for a complete list!

MET

2010-05-03T19:17:00.000-07:00

At the MET: Contemplations on the Moonjar. Looks too gorgeous not to share! If you go, please tell me!

The Smithsonian Craft Show

2010-04-21T19:37:00.001-07:00

The Smithsonian Craft Show is on NOW! The show is held in the gorgeous National Building Museum (worth a visit to the show just for that!) and showcases amazing artists from across America, producing functional beauty by hand. Go see it!

Silence is Golden

2010-04-20T11:23:00.000-07:00

"Silence is golden..." I think that quote came about because those who work (making the "gold") all the time are never heard from! My silence has been the product of long hard days full of starched shirts, hot plates, aching feet, hungry people, and beautiful annual flowers coming in by the truck load. Spring has brought a different sort of rain this year and work is flooding my days, whether at my garden center or at my restaurant or in my studio.

Because my passion and focus (art/pottery) is not a clear cut job to apply for and work in solely, I find that I often forget that I do have a passion. What do I mean? Well, as I rush to the kitchen on my first rounds, dropping off dirty dishes, entering the order in the computer, and picking up another server's drink order, I know that serving is not my passion. I'd like to have one job, a job where I can be paid to do what I know, want to learn and am passionate about.

My best friend is a chef. She is enthusiastic and beginning to focus in a particular direction with her culinary talents. She just got a job at an incredible restaurant with the ideals she holds and the passion she exudes. Good food, exceptional food cannot be replaced by microwave boxed meals. Because real cooking, fresh cooking, is still somewhat practiced in homes across America, people can recognize a good meal. People seek out a good meal, share in it, are willing to pay for it, and enjoy it. They have experienced it once and want more, hence the typical longing for "mom's cooking" or a "fine home cooked meal." What they've experienced is real substance, prepared by human hands.

Unfortunately, artistry and craftsmanship of America is lost amongst the mass manufactured. While fresh home cooking has dwindled in the 15 second meal in a box (hopefully being revived by movements like "Slow Food" or Farm to Table"), art education is dwindling even more. And I don't just mean education in the formal sense. Education, especially in something like art and craft, can come from experiencing them.

Bernard Leach writes about this in "The Potter's Challenge". While he, of course, is speaking of pottery primarily, this can be applied to a much broader picture of art and craft - cooking, textiles, painting, photography, etc.

"One has to live with fine pots in order to appreciate their character, for they are intimate expressions of peoples and their cultures. Human virtues such as nobility, generosity, breadth, simplicity, sincerity, and charity -- virtues common to both man and pot -- are there to be discovered in shape, texture, color, and pattern."

It is in the familiarity with these hand made pieces, in knowing the maker, getting comfortable with the various aspects of the meal, of the picture, of the pot, that we really do learn.

[images: 'Cafe des Amie' sketch and 'Chef' sketch by Sarah Coffin]

Posts from a Spanish Diary: #8 Sketches

2010-04-09T09:17:00.001-07:00

My time in Spain produced far fewer drawings than I imagined. I think I was a little overwhelmed by the already romantic, picturesque surroundings and intimidated by the rustic beauty of every scene. I did draw pots quite a bit and sketched here and there. I thought it might be fun to share a few of each plus some notes. Enjoy!

A mug by Seth Cardew and a pitcher by Michael Cardew. Drawn in the kitchen after using both for breakfast.

Seth's music room. Listening to Seth play piano, trumpet, or clarinet was one of my favorite aspects of my time there. He would play while I cooked dinner and I almost wanted to continuing cooking just to hear him play a little longer. He learned songs that were familiar to me and introduced me to some gorgeous pieces I didn't know.

Seth always looked so comfortable at the piano and sat at the grand piano with sculptures, pots, and books surrounding him. The side door was usually open, letting the warm, dry Spanish air swirl around the loose paper and music sheets.

Learning Seth's rules for lettering..

Dr. Vogel, Seth's sculpture professor, created this huge reclining nude. Seth proudly displayed it right next to his grand piano.

Wooden spoons in a Cardew pitcher.

Learning Seth's rules for bowls.

Touch

2010-03-22T19:54:00.000-07:00

I grab the wooden handled wire tool, wrapping the thin wire twice around my fingers, and feel it press into my skin as I cut my wet pot from the wheel. I have dried clay cracking around my wrists and wet clay between my fingers. As I slap a new mound of clay on my wheel I can feel it give way and change shape. I throw the walls of my next bowl and my outside fingers mimic the opening motion they can feel of my inside fingers.

The sense of touch is a huge part of a potter's life. While everyone "feels" everyday, a potter's livelihood rests in a heightened sense of touch. A sensitive yet firm grasp of what is happening with your hands is essential.

This appreciation of touch was brought home to me when my sister, my niece and I sat together watching a documentary the other day. At one point in the film, a woman walked through a beautiful stone arched veranda in Paris. The camera panned over an immaculate garden full of trimmed hedges, brightly colored flowers, and rich green grass. The woman's hair, frizzy and red, made the colors of the flowers pop and both contrasted beautifully with the stone arches and gray, rainy sky. My 3 year old niece's immediate reaction to this gorgeous scene was, "Mom, can we go there for I can touch it?" And then added, "I want to touch it so I can feel it."

So human and so real! She wasn't just content to sit on the couch and see the scene before her, she wanted to envelope her senses in it, to truly experience it by touching the stone or wet grass or frizzy red hair. This desire is one that so many of us don't realize we are missing in our world of life on screen. TV and computers have made it possible to experience a vast amount of the world previously privy to the rich or well traveled. But this innocent sentiment of a 3 year old made me think. We should not be content with duo-sensory (did I just make up that term?!) experiences on screen, overdeveloping our hearing and seeing senses. We should seek out true full experiences for ourselves as well! We should be conscious of how each sense absorbs particular circumstances during the day. I believe that in developing and titillating all five, life will take on an extraordinarily satisfied feeling of fullness.

How have you fed all five of your senses today?

touch taste smell see hear

TONIGHT!

2010-03-17T13:08:00.000-07:00

Are you free tonight?! The Kiln Club of Washington D.C. invited me to come speak! I will be presenting on Spain, Seth Cardew, and my experience during my three month stay. I am so thrilled to present and share some of the pottery wisdom I gleaned and some of the wonderful cultural experiences.

Lee Arts Center
5722 Lee Highway Arlington, VA 22207
7pm TONIGHT
March 17th, 2010

International pottery

2010-03-16T20:24:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine is in the Peace Corps, living in Burkina Faso. A little bit ago she got the chance to go make pottery with a local potter there. The process is beautiful! Take a look: adventures à go-go

Love it, Carolyn!

A Potter's Plights?

2010-03-11T18:52:00.000-08:00

There are plights with every job. Some are obvious: construction workers' backs, a waitress' irritating customers who send everything back or their feet, a computer programmer's wrists, or a plein-air painter's eyes (cataracts!). And some are not so obvious. I find it fascinating to understand those aspects of other people's jobs, the things that we wouldn't think to empathize with.

A potter, other than the usual "I'm an artist" plights, have some odd afflictions.

1. My middle finger, ring finger, and pinkie on my right hand are constantly scraping the wheel head. Because of that, my finger nails on those fingers are worn down on the right hand corners making for an odd feeling, odd looking set of nails. No fussing about broken nails here!

2. The muscle between my thumb and forefinger is awesome. Ok, really its just that I can flex it and its hard. Yes, rather like what I wish my biceps were, my thumb muscle IS. What IS that muscle called?!

3. Many older potters suffer from Silicosis, a disease from the silica in clay and glazes. They did not realize the dangers (or have OSHA regulations!) back in the day, and breathed in things that we mask well now (or should). Basically you suffocate slowly from the silica partials that attach to your lung walls. A famous potter, Warren Mackenzie, is suffering from this now.

4. Potters often have arthritis in their hands, wrists, or elbows.

5. I often have hands and nails stained from the materials with which I work and have to struggle to clean them or some how cover them for my serving job which does NOT allow for hands like that!

What are some of the interesting plights in YOUR job?!

[Lucie Rie's hands shown in picture above]

Extra, Extra!! Plates hot off the press...

2010-03-02T15:47:00.000-08:00

Here they are, as promised! Recent lunch/side plates, fresh from the kiln. Black clay, black glaze, carved with my own interpretation of Norwegian designs, and done in wax resist to let the raw clay show through.

Plates

2010-03-01T07:30:00.001-08:00

I have also been throwing plates. Of all forms, plates present the easiest looking shape with the hardest actual construction. Plates are difficult to get flat enough without a collapse, are difficult to dry, take up a lot of space, and cannot be stacked in the glaze firing. A graceful, well made plate, I think, is the sure sign of a seasoned, confident potter. It is a form that exhibits elegance only with practice. There is a crucial moment in a plate's creation that only an innate sense of the clay and the form can attain the subtle yet confident changes of direction.I made a number of small side plates and included carving around the band. That way, the food can sit in the middle with a beautiful hemming in of the contents. I've glazed these and we just opened the kiln last night so completed pictures are on their way!

New shapes

2010-03-01T06:57:00.000-08:00

I am throwing with my black clay these days. It is always a challenge because of the mess. Normally I could throw, wash my hands, and be ready to walk out the door. But with my black clay, my hands are stained and it looks as though I forgot to wash my hands after applying self tanner with the edges of my palms (where my hands rub on the wheel head)! Aside from that, I love the black clay. It is a fine particled clay and runs smoothly between my hands. The rich chocolate color of the wet clay encourages my creativity and the deep black color showing through on the finished product is my reward.

Lately I have been trying to make shapes that will allow the user to see my carving or wax resist patterns. I don't do either of those decorating techniques on the insides of my pots because cleaning rough clay or tiny carved portions where food sits would be a pain. Functional pots with straight sides to show off the decorations are easy to come by in a pitcher, a vase, or a cup. But to make a bowl with straight sides that is simultaneously open and inviting to use has been a challenge.

Female?

2010-02-24T12:11:00.000-08:00

In a few weekends I am going back to my college as a guest artist. Their annual art show, Project Eve, is a celebration of women in the arts. Excited by the mother/daughter lineage, they invited Jennie to come as well. There will be a number of other events including some demos and talks to the ceramics classes, a "Career Services" event, and an article in the newspaper. I am excited to head back to my Alma Mater and share what little bit I've learned from being out of the "fold" and a part of this great big world of ours.

In the flurry of activity before we go (glazing, firing, profiles, questions, event details, etc.), I had the opportunity to answer some questions regarding the upcoming event. One question was obvious, given the focus of Project Eve: What does it mean to you to be a woman in the arts? Now this got me thinking quite a bit about labels and led to a great discussion at the dinner table last night. What does it mean?

When I first sat down to answer that question, I started in on vague ideas - women communicate differently, women have a different perspective, etc. But the more I wrote, the more unclear I became. The truth is, I don't think about it. My artwork stems from my being which is made up of various parts: my personality, my experiences, my race, my place in time, my economic status, my religion, my 'female-ness', my age, etc. I am a woman and in that reality, I am an artist. It is not a platform for some sort of ideology.

I see many who pick up on one aspect of reality and bring it to the forefront of all they do. Suddenly all of the "various parts" are flattened for that ONE aspect. It becomes a driving force for them, it becomes an ideology. Their artwork becomes one dimensional, ignoring the facets of life that make appealing artwork.

I believe that artwork can speak volumes because it has a being of its own, made up of various parts, like a human. My religion is a part of me that informs my purpose and worldview; I don't need to plaster crosses on my pots. My place in time informs much of how I work and my understanding of the world. Yet great art is timeless, transcending the time period to speak truths about human nature and the world. My gender is a part of me that has given me certain experiences and it may subtly show itself in my work; I don't need to plaster female symbols on my drawings. I think it is partly a lack of self confidence that leads to these ideologies. People do not seek to know themselves, to know what they think and why they think it, leading to a blurry self image. Harping on one facet of life gives a clear path, though limited and ultimately mundane.

So, yes, I am a female in the arts but I am also a runner in the arts, a Christian in the arts, a hiker in the arts, a young adult in the arts ... and eager to see the unique work that comes of this ever changing combination.

Crossing the Line

2010-02-19T11:34:00.000-08:00

WIRE! No, I am not taking up the high wire! I found a great medium for my love of line. I have been working with wire to capture the essence of the lines that make up a human face. I wrote about line in a previous post and have really gotten into working with wire, thick and thin, to achieve those essential lines I described. My wire sculptures are one continuous piece of wire. This really challenges me to make proper connections (seeing where things can connect even if there isn't a visible connection in reality) and keep it simple enough to envelope a definite character. I don't use any tools, only my fingers, so that there are no inorganic crimps in the wire. One of my favorite elements of the final product is the shadow that each sculpture casts on the paper behind it.

I sold my wire sculptures for the first time at our annual show of Fall 2008. I was absolutely delighted at the response and have had a small selection (as they are quite time consuming!) at each show since then. Last week I "premiered" some on my Etsy page and have already made a sale. It is a proud moment when other people recognize and appreciate elements that I see in what I create ... very similar to the feeling I got when I was a teacher and my students finally grasped a concept or when they proudly showed off their hard work to their parents. I think it bolsters my sense of purpose, knowing that I have successfully communicated, through any means, to another human being. This is what creates fellowship, community, society; it is what brings us out of the isolation of ideas in our own minds and connects those ideas to the reality that is our fellow man.

Enjoy the slide show of amateur photos of my wire sculptures below!

Gretchen and Edie

2010-02-09T13:17:00.000-08:00

I often tell people that I chose not to go to art school because I've spent my life as an Art major. My family, on both sides, has art running through the genes. So, really, I can't help myself.

I grew up with original works of art on our walls, my attention drawn to their styles, their differences. Often the youngest at family gatherings, I listened as my family noted colors, shapes, details, and compositions. From a simple walk around the neighborhood to a historic home tour to a camping trip, I naturally gravitated towards trying to see what drew my eye, seeing beauty in a seed pod, a painting, a wrought iron gate, a pattern in the sidewalk, the way the wind caused a tree to bend...

Trips to "Grandma's house" always encouraged this appreciation of beauty. Both of my Grandmother's, Edie Coffin and Gretchen Quie, were professional artists, visibly producing, growing, and challenging themselves in their work. Paintings hung on the walls and sat on easels. Handmade paper, woodblocks, illustrations, hand thrown pots, and designs for murals made my head spin in all of the creativity.

I can remember Grandma Coffin, with her easel set up on the dinning room table at the beach house. I watched her, with her watercolors and brushes, sweeping the paper with washes that suddenly became the stormy sky outside. She sat with me and showed pictures from her painting trips to other countires, the paintings in the pictures now completed and hanging on the wall or in a gallery. I sat with Grandma Coffin and her painting "buddies" listening to them discuss the effects of this color or that stroke, watching them draw the world around them. (Self-portrait Squares by Edie Coffin)

I can remember going to Minnesota to visit the Quie side of the family. Grandma Quie always had projects for us. Once we were driving home from an event and we passed a dock full of fisherman. Grandma Quie made a u-turn, drove down to the dock, and got out to ask the fishermen for a small fish. We took it home, rolled it with blue paint, and pressed it onto a piece of paper. I still have my fish print, numbered, signed and matted. (Two Men by Gretchen Quie)

These women were not weekend painters, they were artists because they were created to create. Each of them drew people's attention to a different way of seeing, to the details in a world full of interest.

The following are merely photographs, a poor attempt to capture the qulaity of the paintings themselves. Still Life by Gretchen Quie

Four Bathers by Gretchen Quie

Sketch of a woman by Gretchen Quie

Vase by Edie Coffin (a study of a pot!)

Woman by Edie Coffin

Baltimore Harbor by Edie Coffin

The Art of Playing in the Snow

2010-02-08T15:02:00.000-08:00

Speech?

2010-02-03T10:33:00.000-08:00

I wrote previously concerning the difficulty many people have with modern art. People do not know what they can or can not say. Many are afraid to have opinions. Yes, some of the artwork is to blame for that. But a trend in today's communication style is the real problem here.

What has happened to speaking with conviction? Why is it "uncool" to know what you are talking about or believe what you are saying? Why does it make us squirm to share a clear opinion or shift uncomfortably when someone has something to say and comes right out and just says it?

Watch this video:

Typography from Ronnie Bruce on Vimeo.

And let it inspire you to pay attention to your speech, pay attention to your beliefs, pay attention to your opinions. Become a real person, one who is worth listening to, worth talking to. Get rid of the fluff that makes up the perpetual see-saw of so many conversations.

Posts from a Spanish Diary: #7 A Cathedral

2010-01-31T09:32:00.000-08:00

The castle town of Morella, only about a 40 minute drive from Masia Albadas (my home away from home in Spain), took my breath away. It is a gorgeous little town trickling down a hill with a combination of sandy colored stone structures towering at the top. There is a castle, a cathedral and a convent. The cathedral is still in use, the castle is being renovated and is frequented by tourists, and the convent is no longer active but also in renovations.

We begin here with the Cathedral in town. This catholic church, nestled below a castle of Muslim origin, has the typical Spanish blue dome and incredible doors. To give you a better idea of the setting, I found this picture (through Google!).

Though you may barely be able to see it, the blue dome of the cathedral is below the large rock plateau to the right. Look closely, it is there! The church is an amazing example of Gothic architecture, built in the 13th and 14th Centuries. It is dedicated to Saint Mary or, if you want the authentic name, "Iglesia Arciprestal de Santa María la Mayor." Seth took me to see some sights every once and a while, saying that it would be a shame if he didn't, and Morella was one of the first.

This is a view above the Cathedral, from the castle, looking down on the blue dome and the bell tower.
Seth and I happily realized that we happened upon a full Catholic wedding taking place! The whole church was lit, which I learned was quite the treat, seeing that a tourist might put one Euro in a 'vending machine' of sorts to see the inside with the lights on for a minute or so. The bride and groom were at the altar receiving their blessings and we were able to sit in on the service. Note the spiral staircase with ornate carving on the left. This leads to a choir loft, dating to the 15th Century, which is isolated and elevated, apparently one of the few examples in the world.

Sculptures dotted the ornate stone work along the elevated choir loft.

Posts from a Spanish Diary: #6 Doorways

2010-01-26T20:25:00.000-08:00

I can't help but do an entire post devoted to doorways. In Spain I had to hold myself back from taking a photo of every doorway I saw. The wood was gorgeous, the carving ornate, the metal pounding was impressive, the shapes, the colors ... oh, it was endless. It was inspiring and some pretty cool prints may come out of my love for the Spanish doorway. Enjoy!

A Knight's Templar structure in Albocasser where Seth played in the band.

A local sitting in his wooden doorway in Morella, a local castle town.

The entryway to the National Ceramics Museum in Valencia. Jennie and I were in awe.

A small door to somewhere in the Cathedral of a town about 30 minutes away. I went to a local dancing "expo" there and took some time to wander the town.

Ok, a little different but still great! In Valencia, the doorways or grates covering stalls and stores were often painted. I love this one.

A tiny door on a hill in Villa Fames.

An incredibly old door in a local town.

A cathedral's back door in Valencia.

Oh just a town home/apartment entryway in Valencia.

A doorway in a local town.

Seth's entry to the courtyard. That is his Morris 8.

A newer doorway with matching window.

Note the stairs ... sideways so as to avoid being clipped by the cars on the narrow street.

One of many entry gates to the castle of Morella.

Seth in front of a local Cathedral's ornate doorway. Many were made like this, wood with bolts in patterns/pictures with thin metal pounded over it.

And of course, my balcony double doors! Oh how I miss them!

Diligence

2010-01-24T22:18:00.000-08:00

At a stupid hour to be awake, running out of time and money, I decided to make some important decisions in my life. Never a good idea but its done. And it all worked out just as I "planned".

I am now working for a local, high class, high expectations, high stress restaurant chain. My whole working life I have avoided the restaurant biz. Now, as I think about it, I'm not exactly sure why. I love people, I love action, I love food. Seems like a good fit. But the whims and particularities of people and their comforts (ie. food) seemed like a tall order for me, a person who wants to ensure that everyone is pleased as pie. There were always a few too many variables in that picture for it to be a happy one for me.

Yet here I am, getting shirts professionally dry cleaned, buying "spec" shoes and skirts, memorizing ingredients, learning how to answer a phone and put people on a wait, maintaining a smile, always a smile.

I cannot help but say that I am disappointed. I love, absolutely love, this restaurant. I would not work for another restaurant. But here I am, 26 and working in a restaurant (not even able to be a waiter since I have no prior experience), struggling to find the time and energy to devote to art and struggling to make ends meet. I am stressed learning the details and spending more money than I've made so far. I would be lying if I didn't say that at this point, I'm loosing sight of the light at the end of the tunnel.

These are the moments that I think I should throw in the towel and walk away. But that's just it. When I think of walking away, what is it that I'm walking away from? Dreams. Now, that word has become so cliched it almost makes me roll my eyes to say it. But really, that is what I would be walking away from: a dream. "A strongly desired goal or purpose", something to consider as a possibility. I was talking to a friend about some of this and he had the best response, "I know it is overwhelming and stressful at times, and if that is the case, you need to march your butt downstairs and throw some clay around. That will get your mind off of things and calm you down a bit."

Any fool should be able to see that merely because a dream is not realized at this particular moment does not mean that any towels should be thrown in any direction but over your shoulder for more work to be done. The key word there is "should", any fool should be able to see. But my sorry excuse for patience and hard work blurs that sight completely and I am struggling to wipe my eyes clear. While I'd like to be present, be aware and active in the now, I need to keep that strong desire, that purpose, that goal in mind.

Think on these things: Plato

2010-01-23T08:29:00.000-08:00

"Beauty of style

and harmony

and grace

and good rhythm

depend on simplicity -

I mean the true simplicity of a rightly and

nobly ordered mind and character,

not that other simplicity

which is only a euphemism for folly.

-- Plato's Republic (Book 3)

FREE Sugarloaf Craft Festival Tickets

2010-01-18T19:04:00.000-08:00

Ok, the time is here ... I am giving away FREE Sugarloaf Craft Festival tickets! January 29-31st. But first, you have to answer a question to get them.

1. A long, long time ago I posted about my favorite shape to make. What was that shape?

Email the answer to sjcoffin@gmail.com.

The first 3 people to answer correctly will get 2 FREE tickets to the Sugarloaf Craft Festival!

Posts from a Spanish Diary: #5 La Comida

2010-01-17T12:42:00.000-08:00

I am often asked, with wide eyes and drool already welling, what sorts of things I ate while in Spain. Video montages of a food tour through Europe are playing before the inquirer's eyes before I've gotten a chance to answer.

The rural Spanish, like many rural dwellers around the globe, are still closely tied to their land. This being so, one country's cultural outpourings will have wide variances depending on the specific regions' own natural bounties. Sheep, goat, olives, rice, almonds, oranges, tiger nuts, chickens, squid, and pigs abounded in my region of Spain. I love to say "my region" as if I own some of the spirit of it. I do feel a little like a fraud but I have grown attached to that land. The fresh, local farmers markets had wonderful produce to choose from and the few local home-made Spanish meals I had were adventures in new tastes and sights and smells.

But take a second and think about the typical countries that come to mind when you think of cuisine. At least for me, Italy and France are immediate. Spain wouldn't necessarily have jumped in there with those giants of food perfection. The preparation, the presentation, the almost haute-couture idea of food is associated with, well, other countries. Spain, Spain just seems to slip through with winners every now and again. Now, I have to say, I love this about Spain. When they do whip out the winners, they are strong enough to contend with any. But, in keeping with the Spanish attitude, they are content to be casual in most things, including their food. There are three phrases I think all Spanish have as mantras, "whats the rush?", "tomorrow!", and "siesta!" I met very few Spaniards who seemed overly concerned, anxious, or competitive. If put to the test, sure they could blow you away, but they know that and so on a normal day, why the fuss? Why not just a damn fine bocadillo?

Our casual dining experiences were not varied. No matter where we went, there were the same variations on the theme. The bars, or we would call them cafes, all served a few tapas behind a glass. Most had squid, a variation on egg salad (that one took me a while to figure out), sausages in a liquid of some sort, blanched almonds, olives (of course), and maybe some clams or another variation on a liquidy/mayo salad with unidentifiable lumps. Frittatas are another choice, made with egg and plenty of potato. This, of course, you would get with bread and beer. Keep in mind that none had labels, let alone labels in English, unless I was closer to a city. There, the bars would usually have something in English. My favorite was one touting "Home-made cooking, regional especialites, varied dishes, especial menu for pilgrims". Not that English menus were really that great ... to not even try didn't seem to fit with the spirit of travel and sometimes they were more mysterious than the Spanish ...

Bocadillos were a staple. Manolo's Bar, about 10 minutes from Seth's, served some of the best. Bocadillos are sandwiches or paninis. They are served with anything you want inside but don't over do it. The bread is the best part. "Un bocadillo con pollo, queso, tomatae, y lechuga, por favor," I would rattle off, trying to sound casual as I listed more ingredients than others usually do. Type of cheese or chicken or seasoning? Don't worry, you won't have to make that many choices, plus they wouldn't have stuck around to listen regardless. Bread, toast, french fries, beer, and any other high carb menu item are found a plenty.

Inspiration

2010-01-15T20:05:00.000-08:00

If you love letters, typography, prints, alphabets, or keeping things simple and clean (or awesome young people who are making a go of things like this!), check out these two sites:

Keep Calm Gallery

and

Alphabet Bags

Same couple, same great layout, and great ideas. They have a variety of artists but also design a bunch of the items themselves. Good work you two! Cheers!

National Geographic: Always Cool

2010-01-13T19:36:00.000-08:00

You may have already noticed the link on the right hand column of my blog for other sites. I want to draw your attention to one, a National Geographic site called Novica, from the Latin "novus" meaning "new". In true National Geographic style, it is a global endeavor and it is really cool. National Geographic has such a aura about it ... of mystery and adventure, maps and plane tickets, cultures and people so different than me. Novica brings much of that right into your living room!

I was turned on to Novica by a friend (thanks, H!). In short, they find artists from around the world and sell their wares to us through the internet. Its like traveling to tiny villages, markets, and stalls in other countries without the airfare. And without the adventure of the travel, unfortunately, but still great to be able to experience in a tactile way. Imagine all that we get to experience in small bits that we would have never known! And all thanks to the internet and people who are willing to share.

Novica's mission is short and sweet, so I will let you read it in their own words:

We want to give artists and artisans around the world a global platform to express their true artistic talents and to spur their creativity. And we want to provide you with access to unique, hard-to-find items at great values that only the Internet infrastructure can allow.

At the deepest essence of our philosophy, we want to create a bridge between you and the many talented artisans across the globe.

We want you to know about who you're buying from. We want you to feel that attachment to the product and to the hands that created it.

In the spirit of the Internet, let us bring you together.

I recently received a robe from Novica and could not be more thrilled with it. It is a gorgeous batik robe (You've heard that word before, right? But what IS batik, you ask? It is a wax resist dye technique used on silks and other fabrics. Pronounced "bah-teek"). The colors are vibrant, the fabric is flowing and soft, and the artist's story comes with it. So, I, a little potter in Northern Virginia, am now sporting a robe from Bali and feeling fabulous.

Check out their household items, jewelry, clothing ... I'm addicted.

Sugarloaf Craft Festival

2010-01-12T13:46:00.000-08:00

Local event with artists from around the nation!

The festival takes place January 29-31 at the Dulles Expo Center and features more than 250 artists from all over the country. Visitors to the Festival will see thousands of contemporary crafts in all mediums, in addition to live demonstrations, gourmet food, and family entertainment.

See the official website for the show for more information and how to buy tickets.

But, hey loyal readers, I'm going to be giving away free tickets for the event (normally an $8 cover charge), so check back here for those!

The Final Product

2010-01-11T08:13:00.000-08:00

I blogged about four design options of delphiniums for a friend's wedding last summer. If you click on that link you will be taken to the blog post showing all four options (at the end of the post) and the one that she chose. She is computer savvy and took my drawing and turned it into her printed invitation and wedding program. I, unfortunately, had to miss her wedding but was able to see the finished product when I returned from Spain. I've included the program and invitation below (covering their details with attractive post-its). Take a look:

Posts from a Spanish Diary: #4 My Large Pot...

2010-01-05T18:07:00.000-08:00

Remember my large pot I threw in Spain? Well, it made it successfully through both firings! Unfortunately it was too large to throw over my shoulder and lug through the airport and so it is enjoying time with Uncle Seth now.

I wanted that pot to really be symbolic of my time in Spain and I had a few different ideas of what to paint on it. As the time for the firing and my departure grew closer, I realized that there was no way I would be able to bring that pot home with me. I had no money to pay for it to be shipped either. So, I resigned it to the corner and tried to detach myself. As Helen and I loaded the kiln, Seth says, "Sarah, what about your large pot? Aren't you going to glaze that?" I told him my reasoning and he very gently told me that it would be good practice.

So off I went to paint my big pot. The pot was made in three sections so I thought it would be interesting to mimic that with three scenes. I decided on three scenes from the process of pottery with the pot itself as the finished product, rather like a fourth scene. As I sat outside in the sun painting my pot Seth walked by and noted, "Oh yes, rather vigorous decoration there darling, very nice." Complements indeed, coming from Seth!! That certainly inspired me to continue.

I've included images below (rather poorly lit). At the very end I've included a video of the pot with my explanation. (If you watch it twice, the second time around notice the unbelievable sunset happening out the door in the background!) As I said, this poor pot was left behind but I like to think that it's enjoying Spain for me while I'm not there!

[To see the earlier post about it, click here; to see more photos of the making of the large pot as well as more photos of the pottery in Spain, click here]

The first is a potter at the wheel with his clay, all of his attention on the lump that will be his pot.

The second is an expressive hand with a brush, ready to paint the pot.

The third is a very active figure, stoking the flames of a wood kiln.

The fourth is the pot itself, the finished product of all of those processes.

Sarah Coffin Pottery: Now on Facebook!

2010-01-04T10:13:00.001-08:00

Become a Fan on Facebook!

Come check it out and become a fan to see regular pictures, updates, and other information.

See you there!

A review

2010-01-01T12:06:00.000-08:00

Our show before Christmas was a wonderful success. Thank you to all of you who made it out on one (or more!) of the weekends. It is always wonderful to see everyone and to share my work. Below I've included a slide show of some of the pieces as well as some of the space we create for the show. A lot goes into preparing for this and I would love to hear any and all feed back on any aspect. You should be able to click on a picture and be taken to Picasa web albums to see a larger picture. Enjoy!

New York City

2009-12-31T12:00:00.000-08:00

The combination of people in New York City really is incredible. I drove up to the Big Apple after Christmas this year and experienced NYC like never before. Every street, every neighborhood looked like Times Square; it was packed. The streets were thick with bundled faces, some meandering, some purposefully pursuing. I tried to keep track of the number of languages, the number of nationalities or different states but after only two days, I lost count.

To see so many faces, various shapes, big noses, little noses, almond eyes, round eyes, wide mouths, big lips, no lips, huge hair, dyed hair... not to mention the fashion or styles people chose to cover or compliment or accentuate those features... I was as overstimulated as an artist could get! And to think that all of these features, natural or donned, stem from different backgrounds and cultures and experiences.

That combination of people brings out an amazing array of creative outlets that could not be showcased anywhere else the way it was here. Walking from Madison Square Gardens through Central Park to The Plaza, I experienced a trio of hilarious, energetic young men doing a stand up comedy routine with jokes said in unison and feats of gymnastics thrown in. We also saw a group of artists drawing people's portraits with charcoal in 2 minutes, a man selling Obama condoms, Statue of Liberty impersonators taking photos with tourists, Santa's looking lost, Toy soldiers enthusiastically managing and entertaining a line of frozen parents and crazy kids about a half a mile long for F.A.O. Schwarz, a ragged man playing beautiful saxophone holiday songs, a man in bare feet trotting through the crowds, a group of drummers and dancers celebrating Kwanzaa with ancestral beats, chants, and awesome shimmies and stomps, and a man in shorts and a tank top and gloves up to his armpits running 5 minute miles through the crowds. Through all of this, conversations, food smells, and faces around me were Russian, French, African, Spanish, Korean, Chinese...

If you've not had the opportunity to travel much, NYC (or London, I hear) is, you might say, a great bang for your buck. You get a HUGE variety of pretty authentic experiences from around the globe in one place. Aurthur Schopenhauer, an early 1900's philosopher wrote a number of essays now collected in a volume called "Studies in Pessimism." I read a quote from these essays where Schopenhauer says,
That is a strong encouragement to broaden one's own vision in order to better understand fellow man and the world in which we live. Reading, traveling, in conversation, art, fashion, food, work; all of these experiences

House Beautiful

2009-12-20T09:35:00.000-08:00

"Believe me, if we want art to begin at home, as it must, we must clear our houses of troublesome superfluities that are ever in our way, conventional comforts that are no real comforts, and do but make work for servants and doctors. If you want a golden rule that will fit everybody, this is it: Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."

-- William Morris, 19 February 1880 --

Posts from a Spanish Diary: # 3 An escape to Milano!

2009-12-18T21:50:00.001-08:00

While in Spain I met a great friend of mine, Abigail, in Milan, Italy. Italy ... oh Italy. What an amazing place, from the food to the fashion to the beautiful people to the passions running rampant! While I don't know from personal experience, I hear that Milan is quite different from the rest of Italy. Oh but it was still Italy. The Italians win for best language, hands down. The price of fashion and the amount of people who spent that much made me a little sick but, oh, was it beautiful!

Abigail travels to and from Africa frequently and keeps a blog (what a different life on that continent!). She recently posted about our trip to Milan here. If you are interested, you can read more about Africa as well.

Enjoy a little escape to Italy through those pictures and I have a few more here: Sarah's Italy photos. Also check out the awesome photos taken by Christopher Sabatini, our host. He is a photographer in Milan and wow, does he do a beautiful job. He captures the essence of a person so well. There are two links: Abigail and Sarah & the Photo Shoot.

Museums

2009-12-18T07:30:00.000-08:00

The Holiday momentum is gathering and snow droops lower and lower in the sky. This time of year is so full but if you have free vacation time or visitors in town looking for something to do, check out some of the great exhibits in DC right now!

The American Art Museum
The Corcoran Gallery of Art has a wonderful looking show on Sargent and the Sea right now.

If you see any of these or any others, please share!

SYLA

2009-12-11T08:41:00.000-08:00

CALLING ALL ARTISTS in the Washington Metropolitan Area. Please click here or the title for more info!

Beauty

2009-12-05T07:33:00.000-08:00

Roger Scruton is a British philosopher with a tall mess of strawberry blond hair and an English fashion sense. His patterned suit coat, patterned shirt, and patterned tie played wonderfully into the British stereotype. That being said, his lecture did anything but.

This past week I went into DC to a beautiful club for Scruton's lecture on Beauty. Scruton is boldly breaking from modern aesthetic philosophy on beauty to say that it is absolutely necessary, that it is about redeeming human life and making this world livable. I found the lecture very encouraging and thought provoking. I will try to give a coherent picture of his lecture (I'm going to quote him periodically. He was free with his language so I'm sorry if it is offensive to anyone):

He started by noting that beauty is not paid attention to much these days, saying that there is "nothing which to raise your eyes." In the world of art, he went on, beauty has been neglected; we are stuck in a moment in which art is not the pursuit of beauty but the desecration of it. He called this the tragedy of modern life and by neglecting beauty we produce ultimately useless things. We can see this in the buildings built and torn down without thought in contrast to the buildings that we want to save. Why? Because pure function "resigns things to oblivion."

One of my favorite points of the lecture came after this introduction. He clarified beauty to be beyond just "art". Scruton thinks of beauty and its place in the lives of real people; where does beauty fit in the lives of ordinary people? He envisioned a table set for dinner, an easy image to conjure at this time of year! The arranging of the items, the making of the food, the inviting people to participate ... its not just a matter of food in the belly. With that image in mind, contrast it to much of art today: not inviting others in; "its ME on display and f*** you if you don't like it." In the Q&A time afterwards a gentleman in the back asked Scruton to define beauty. Scruton gave a wry smile and said that that is like trying to define "red". Beauty is defining "a state of mind in the objects, the arragnging of the world so that you are at home in it."

So why is it, Scruton asked, that our tastes in ordinary things like food are not argued about but accepted as part of a person but with beauty we want to discuss what we like and why. He claimed that it is because these are things that actually can demean the human condition which matters incredibly to you, being part of humanity. The desecration of beauty is oppressive and being oppressed, there ought to be some discussion about this!

At this point I connected this to why there is a noticeable lack of interest in/engagement with art today: not only because the artist is not inviting the viewer in but because this needed "discussion" mentioned above is a difficult and blurry path to go down.

Scruton gave some interesting thoughts on education, saying that there should be some education in producing the things that entertain us, giving us a foundation of knowledge upon which to base an opinion of what we listen to, look at, enjoy, etc. And that way, he claimed, there might be some agreement in community of what entertains us.

Well, where does the desecration of beauty/humanity start? Scruton had what I thought was a great point, that it starts with the ruling thought that "I am alone." That is the downfall.

Well, I am not alone! And I hope that provoked you to some thoughts on beauty and humanity as well.

A Local Idea

2009-12-02T06:44:00.000-08:00

Where are all of the artists!? Some times I ask myself that as I wander Northern Virginia. I know they are out there, hiding amongst the sprawl of the suburbs but finding them is the trick. There are non artists too who would love to support a local artist but how do they find them?

Well, I've stopped wondering and being frustrated and am answering those questions and problems with SYLA: Support Your Local Artist. SYLA is a free local connector for artists and non artists alike. I want to provide an easier way for artists to find kindred spirits and for non artists to know where and how to support local artists and own original local art.

SYLA will provide
- bios to know WHO creates art in your area,
- a directory to know WHERE to purchase local art,
- a description of mediums to know WHAT is being created in your area,
- and a calendar of events and shows to know WHEN artists are on display.

I also wanted a sense of depth in the artists we promote so I've established a mission statement for SYLA:

SYLA MISSION

To promote connectivity, artists with artists and the local community with artists. We are comprised of artists dedicated to creating beauty which strives for three things:

1. To uplift humanity
2. To promote communication
3. To encourage the general public to re-engage with Art, sensing a lack of engagement today.

Check it out! http://supportyourlocalartist.blogspot.com/
Since this is a free public service, I'd love to hear feed back as I develop the idea. Email with questions or comments: supportyourlocalartist.nova@gmail.com

A.S. Byatt

2009-12-01T13:17:00.000-08:00

My sister posted a great quote from A.S. Byatt, a contemporary British author. I thought I'd share it too:
On Ceramics

"Early humans shaped and scraped clay to make vessels, cooked in them and realised they hardened, learned to make them impervious to water, and also to decorate them, with incisions and with glazes made from salts and metals. All pots are different, and all resemble each other (except for some defiant modern monsters). They are made elementally, using earth, air, fire and water. They represent the arts of peace, domestication, and elegance, whether of pure simplicity of form or of bravura demonstration of difficult mastery of techniques and images. They are where art meets craft, the useful meets the beautiful."

-- AS Byatt, "The Wonders of Porcelain", The Guardian. October 10, 2009.

Posts from a Spanish Diary: Entry #2

2009-11-30T14:57:00.000-08:00

At Masia Albadas (the name of Seth's home in Spain), the natural beauty of the surroundings completely captured my heart. I still wake up and think about walking outside to my terrace to look out at the mountains, almond and olive groves, red tile roofs, stone walls, and dry river bed. When I got to Spain in August the heat from the day remained in the terra cotta tiles on the terrace. This made for a warm surface to lay on at night and look at the stars which were deeply layered in the dark sky.

The interesting thing about this natural beauty is that while it was inspiring in some respects, I lost any interest in taking a sketchbook outside to draw. Maybe I was too overwhelmed. Maybe I saw a lot of stereotypical elements in my drawings when I did attempt it. I don't know. The further I am removed from Spain, the easier it gets to think about drawing it. So perhaps some line drawings will emerge eventually but for now, Spain stays in my heart.

This video is taken from a little hill down the road from Seth's house. Seth's is the stone house directly above the bend in the dry river bed (under my finger!) at the very end of the video.

Posts from a Spanish Diary: Entry #1

2009-11-23T21:01:00.000-08:00

Since I had limited computer access and was not able to post all that I wanted to while in Spain, I will do periodic "Posts from a Spanish Diary".

The first is a series of videos of Seth putting his three piece pots together.

Enjoy!

Reality

2009-11-22T11:58:00.000-08:00

I walk amidst the leaves of autumn in familiar Virginia again, having left just 3 short months ago. No more horizon with mountain peaks out my front door, no more almond and olive groves to climb through, no more Seth and proper British ways, no more enthusiastic Spaniards speaking rapidly to me. My time in Spain is definitely over. That reality must have crept in over night last night, like a large looming rain cloud, because today, day 6 of being home, is the hardest.

As expected, it doesn't seem real. I took a grand leap in my artistic life and am on the other side of the chasm now. I thought, as I sat on the plane on Monday, that I would wake up on Tuesday morning, in my very own bed, and imagine I dreamt the entire experience, a long, elaborate and wonderful dream. It does feel like that now ... though when I woke on Tuesday morning my first thought was, how do I get to the bathroom!?

I went through all of the motions of leaving: packing, cleaning, stripping the bed, saying Adios to people and places, but I couldn't comprehend not being there anymore. At 3am on Monday morning I walked into the courtyard, through the antique wooden door ornately carved by a Spaniard years ago, passed the garage where Seth keeps his "girlfriend" (An antique car, the Morris 8), passed the ruins of old goat stalls, passed the empty river bed which gleamed in the dark with it's white stones, bent beyond the cliff and out of sight, to the red Spanish van I learned to love and hate.

As we drove out of Masia Albadas in the dark, my mind flooded with the things I would miss most. I thought of my walk to work each day, down the stone stairs I so meticulously weeded, crumbling and uneven, passed the newly jacketed kiln, passed discarded pots and into a dirt and stone floored wonderful mess.

I thought of the work that I had come to learn, work which energizes and exhausts, work which brings each customer a period, even if its just a brief moment, of contemplation - that life is more than your 9-5, life is more than greyscale predictability, that we are more than ants scuttling from place to place.

We can touch, smell, taste, feel, and see such a range and variety that even with the awareness of thousands of years of human creativity we still have the urge to create, share, and try to communicate with each other what is beauty and goodness and what is not.

To ignore this is to isolate ourselves, a very unnatural and spirit crushing mental state. Modernity has made it easier and cheaper to surround ourselves with factory produced 'beauty' but the lack of human touch in the objects is akin to a human with no contact, an ultimately stoney and cold thing. It evaporates the potential for long lasting beauty.

I have many things to share and stories to tell but for now, for today, thank you for reading. Thank you for learning along with me what it means to share, to enjoy, and to appreciate the rugged beauty in human creativity and creation.

A place to call home

2009-11-17T16:10:00.000-08:00

I returned to the gorgeous colors of fall in Virginia yesterday. While pottery in Spain ended with a bang, pottery here is just gearing up! Our Fall Sale starts this coming weekend (see image on right or details below). I have two shelves full of bisque ware ready for me to glaze so, with no time for jet lag, I'm glazing away immediately. I've been decorating pots pretty consistently for the passed 3 or 4 weeks so I am in the groove of glazing ... I just have to wrap my head around the fact that I'm back in my own basement every once and a while!

Jennie has been working around the clock getting her beautiful work all set for the show. Her enthusiasm after 30 some years of working in clay is as fresh as ever. In fact, the work I saw last night for our show is the best I've seen yet. Her colors and strength of line is more confident, making for an eye popping collection. I was really blown away and incredibly proud to not only work with such an artist but be able to call her my teacher and my mother.

I hope you will be able to make it to our show one of the weekends. I will have freshly glazed pots thrown prior to Spain as well as some pots from my time with Seth Cardew (getting those home was quite the trick ... my luggage weighed a ton!).

FALL SHOW

Opening Weekend:
November 20, 2pm - 8pm
November 21, 10am - 5pm

Also Open:
Nov. 28, Dec. 5, Dec. 12 10am - 5pm

Check back for updates on the kiln firing in Spain and other adventures!

Last post from Spain...

2009-11-10T03:51:00.000-08:00

Here are some of the things I've been decorating over the last few weeks. Seth uses a cobalt stain and an iron oxide over a white glaze, under a transparent glaze, and under a celadon glaze. He also has a shino, white, and transparent as "raw" glazes (meaning it is used on greenware).

The pictures show my decoration before the firing, obviously. So, the black color you see is the iron oxide (will be brownish/black) and the reddish brown color you see is the cobalt (will be blue).

A Spanish/Moroccan inspired plate with a Sarah twist.

The firing starts tonight. We begin the warming at 7pm and the first stoking shift is at 3am.

This will be my last post from Spain. I have much much more to share and will do it from the comforts of my own home in the States! Adios for now!

Traditional Spain

2009-11-02T14:20:00.000-08:00

Traditional ceramics around these parts is very influenced by the Moors/ Muslims (as is most of Spain, I think). Here are a few pictures of local pottery.

These are traditional wine and water jugs. They are probably 100 years old or so.

Very Moroccan influenced!

Bisque firing

2009-10-31T00:58:00.000-07:00

Earlier in the month we completed our bisque firing. We fired in Seth's wood kiln rather than an electric kiln the way some wood firing potters do. If you remember, the bisque firing is the first firing a pot gets. This hardens or sinters* the greenware (raw clay) but leaves the pot porous enough to soak up glaze. (*To sinter means to heat the ceramic elements enough to fuse them together without vitrifying them.) We loaded the kiln over 2 days, moving steadily from the back of the chamber, building up pots and shelves. (As you will see in the pictures, my other master potter, Jennie, came to visit and was able to be there for the firing!)

We bisque fired to cone 05. "Cone" is the method by which potters measure temperatures. It is called "cone" because it is literally a cone that is placed upright in a small window inside the kiln and wilts down to a lovely curve when the desired temperature is reached. The temperature for cone 05 is 1800 - 1900 degrees Fahrenheit. (Seth's glaze kiln goes up to cone 10 or between 22oo - 2300 degrees F. At home in VA, Jennie and I glaze fire to cone 6 or between about 2265 - 2365 degrees F.)

The studio was overflowing with work, of mine and Seth's as well as some friend's and other student's work. Near midnight we lit a small fire in the fire box to begin the warming.

Setting my alarm for 2am and 4am, I stumbled down the hill and stairs to check the fire. At 2 it needed a little stoking (but not too much) and at 4 I had to relight it. The warming is to let any remaining moisture escape from the kiln before raising the temperature. Around 7:30 am Helen and Seth checked for steam coming out of the chimney and finding none began to raise the temp by stoking the fire.

We stoked for about 10 hours and at 5:30pm the cone had wilted and we were finished. The kiln over fired just in the last few hundred degrees but the work was fine and still porous.

We are now in the throws of decorating. Glaze firing set for November 11th!

Publicity!

2009-10-27T09:57:00.000-07:00

You may remember me speaking of Mel Jacobson, my forever teacher and friend who I studied with in MN a few years back. He started something called, "ClayArt". Clay Art is an online forum for potters which has become quite popular. He recently wrote a little something about me and my family which I was tickled to read. I only heard about it through other people, that sneaky guy!

Thank you, Mel!

Clay Art Thread:

my former apprentice, sarah coffin is in spain, living and working at seth cardew's studio for six months. she is having a ball. she just loves the place, the people and the work. seth and his wife are a delight.

you must remember, seth is getting much older, sort of my age. he is still working, but has been slowed a bit.

this is one of those cases where a young person just took a chance...i told her `people can say yes or no, it is up to you to ask, seek, and be ready to go.` seth said yes...and she was on a plane for spain in a heart beat. so often people make assumptions that...`why would he let me come and study?' sarah has all the tools to be a great potter. she was very active with me and the `chinese` study. a great help. she is trained.

she lived that summer with her grandfather/grandmother that are neighbors...he was a minnesota govenor, and lived a great deal of his life in washington d.c. (congressman) where sarah grew up with her mom and dad. jennifer coffin/mom/ is a terrific potter, and their mom, grandmother gretchen quie was considered one of minnesota's fine female artists.

their father, grandfather al quie is in his 80's and is still very active in conservative politics in minnesota. al still rides his horse every day, goes on long rides in wyoming, and is as fit as anyone i know. he is one of the most classy, honest men i have ever known. not a blemish in 85 years. integrity, what a concept.

mel
from: minnetonka, mn
website: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/
clayart link: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/clayart.html
new book: http://www.21stcenturykilns.com--

Lisps and dill

2009-10-22T14:36:00.000-07:00

I used to work with a spitfire of a woman from Poland. Her English was nearly perfect and her Polish accent clipped or lengthened certain words, giving everything she said a seductive glaze. She occasionally asked for correct pronunciations which I gave gladly but couldn't help feeling that the way she expressed it had a fullness which my tone completely lacked. Despite this, she often mentioned how embarrassed she was of her English. I tried to encourage her that there was never any question of what she was communicating - something I long for now. My Spanish started off so vacant and looks I got in response were too. I imagine that if my Polish friend could hear her English when she first began, she would not be so hard on herself. As I hear myself trying desperately to communicate in the local language, I know that its laughable. The glimmering moments when I've done it on my own and the poor Spaniard across from me responds with an affirming "Ci!" are precious to me.

The other day I went to the grocery store, a tiny two aisle place in Els Ibarsos, and walked around looking for the herb Dill. It wasn't in my dictionary, so I proceeded to try and figure out how in world I could find it with out the actual word.

Rather than giving up, I told the grocer, a small Spanish woman who is used to seeing me and dealing with my fumbling of her language, that I was looking for a green herb sometimes used with pickles. That took some time.

I wasn't sure we had done the job but she was confident that a certain herb was exactly what I wanted. The one she pointed out, "eneldo", happened to be one that I remembered seeing back at the house, unopened. I thanked her and thought I'd go home to smell it and check the larger dictionary before buying it. Sure enough, she and I had understood each other perfectly! "Eneldo" was dill! I went back a few days later and successfully communicated to her that she had been right and that eneldo was what I had wanted! We were both so giddy at the moment, it was wonderful.

All of this thought given to communicating simple and complex ideas made me think of, what else?!, pottery. I remember working as the Ceramics Lab assistant in college. One of my duties was to be present during lab time to assist students fulfilling their studio hours. I loved sitting down with beginners to help them progress. Each person had a different approach to the wheel.

Looking back I see the incredible similarities to language: I was teaching them the language of pottery. The feeling of the clay spinning between thier hands was as foriegn to them as the feeling of a purposeful Spanish lisped word in my mouth. I helped them center the clay or pull up the wall of a pot to give them a better sense of the proper pronunciation with their hands to the clay.

The same glimmer (and virtual affirming "Ci!") came to them when they finally communicated clearly enough to the clay that their first few pots came off the wheel. They were not beautiful by any means -- standing alone and out of context -- just like my Spanish. But in that moment they hold a different sort of beauty, an interpersonal beauty, like a mother appreciating her child's first scribbles.

As I learn the language of pottery, of art, of beauty, I can feel certain aspects becoming more fluid, more natural -- the way English is to my mouth or Polish is to my coworker or Spanish is to my neighbors, Pepe and Rosa. I look back at my first attempts in this deep and complicated language of pottery and appreciate how much I've learned. But I see and work with potters so much more fluent then myself. There is always more to explore, more to understand, more to communicate. I love to hear my pronunciation change slightly as I'm corrected in my Spanish, just as my pots change slightly as I create and learn. While I'll always have my accent, I have a lot to learn to smooth and give coherency to all of my words, all of my pots, all of my work.

Pictures!

2009-10-14T12:35:00.000-07:00

Hola! I am traveling briefly and have fast internet! This means I can finally get pictures to you. Please check out the two slide shows in the right hand column. One is of the pottery and the other is random images from Spain. Enjoy... I know these guys did!

A New Kiln Jacket

2009-10-11T10:25:00.000-07:00

Seth fires in a wood kiln (one of the many reasons I wanted to come study with him for a little while). A wood kiln is a long firing. The kiln has to be heated slowly and reach the high temperatures with wood being thrown in at various intervals.

Seth's wood kiln is a few years old and has had one "jacket" put on in its life time. A jacket is another coating of wire and cement for the outside of the kiln. He wanted one more put on (making a total of two jackets on top of the original kiln), to strengthen the kiln and take care of any cracks that have appeared as the it has settled in the firings and weather.

As our bisque firing date was fast approaching, we had to quickly cut horrible thick wire, mix load after load of cement and layer the kiln. Another Brit in the area, Helen, came to help. She is a fairly new student of pottery and eager to know more. Seth and I were grateful for the help to say the least. It was hard work.

First came the wire cover which required shaping the wire, cutting it, and twist tying it together. Then we carted numerous wheel barrow loads of sand from the top of the hill, mixed in cement and calcium (for plasticity) and stuccoed the kiln over the wire. It was especially hard to get the cement to adhere around the doorway and other curves.

With a fresh jacket on, the kiln stands proudly, ready to be fired and the owner looks at it with a new appreciation. We definitely earned our siestas over those three days!

Spanish Toast

2009-10-05T08:03:00.000-07:00

Spanish Tomato Toast: The Breakfast of a Potter

Every morning Seth has Spanish Tomato Toast for breakfast. Its amazing! Give it a try and DO NOT skimp on the olive oil.

Its a very easy recipe!

Ingredients:*

Slice of Toast (not just any toast: light and airy, similar to ciabatta, wood fired, crisp outside and soft, bubbly, tender inside)

Tomato (Roma is best)

Cloves of Garlic

Olive Oil

Kosher salt

Directions:

Slice a thick piece of bread and place in toaster (turn over, if toaster doesn't do both sides).

Open one clove of garlic. Once bread is beautifully brown on both sides, take out and rub the clove of garlic generously on both sides of the toast (use another if that one gets too small).

Then take the half tomato and rub it generously, pushing down, all over both sides of the bread. This will squish the tomato and turn the bread a beautiful pinkish red color.

Place tomato and toast on a plate. Then pour, don't sprinkle, olive oil all over the bread. Be sure to cover the crispy outside as well as the middle. Sprinkle with kosher salt if desired.

The combo of the tomato and the oil soften the toast. Eat with a fork and knife, taking a bit of bread with a bite of tomato.

*Add ham and/or a strong cheese if desired.

More Pictures

2009-10-01T12:16:00.001-07:00

Larger than life

2009-09-28T13:33:00.000-07:00

You may recall a few posts back and a few countries away, I tried a tall vase. You may remember it as my flop of a large pot? Things change when you have a teacher. Seth threw three large pots a while ago. They are subtle, graceful curves, springing up from their bases and coming in at the neck for a high shoulder and proportioned mouth.

Some potters throw big pots like this with one hunk of clay. They strain themselves to do this and usually wear muscle tees to show it. Others will do as I tried before and add coils. Rather than throwing with coils, Seth throws his large vases in sections.

He threw three bases on bats. Oh boy, that may sound like gibberish to some of you! If you don't know pottery, you have either just imagined a bunch of baseball items thrown around or some ugly black flying things that come out at night. Lets try again. Seth turned a large amount of clay on the wheel in the shape of a wide, tall walled cylinder. The cylinder is slightly wider at the top in order to start the gradual curve of a tall vase. He made three of these bottoms (for three different pots). Then, measuring with calipers, he threw donuts (bottomless) to the width of the base he just threw. And to finish it off, he threw another bottomless form that looks like a bowl on a pedestal which is the top of the vase up side down. Just think about that for a minute and try to envision it. The pot at the top left might help. If you divide that in three even pieces and turn them upside down, you've got it.

I was keen to give it a shot after seeing it and was

relatively successful on my first go! The shape lacks the graceful quality of a more experienced potter but that will come with each large pot I throw ... because there will be more!

Just a few pictures..

2009-09-20T11:41:00.000-07:00

Painful pruning...

2009-09-16T04:47:00.000-07:00

I'm waiting for a friend at a local gas station. A beautiful tree next to me has large oval leaves with an incredibly fabric-like crinkle to them. There are vines growing around the root of the tree, bursting from the cement that surrounds it and I just noticed that there are grapes hanging from these vines. The land is prolific!

I love to go for runs and take long walks. There are endless directions for my expeditions around the Masia (the term for a cluster of houses). I usually end up in groves of almonds or olives where the earth is churned up regularly by local farmers. This loosens the dense clay and rock around the trees and rids the tree of its competitions -- weeds. The trees all have curious growth patterns very carefully monitored (or in some cases not so carefully) by the farmers. Branches are pruned so that the nutrients can flow well to the fruits. Each tree has branches that reach out, droop down, and splay back up with the fruits popping out all over. Its interesting to think about the process of trimming off fresh, healthy growth in order to achieve more fruits in the future. That takes a serious amount of trust in the process and foresight.

Last week Seth introduced me to his way of making pitchers. They are rounded bodies with taller, straighter necks than I'm used to. After watching him throw once I sat down to my second teacher, the wheel. Well, I spent the day with these blasted forms and had three mediocre ones to show for it by the end. I was so frustrated and disappointed that once Seth left the studio I sat down on one of the rickety old chairs (that almost toppled) and cried pitiful tears. All work has its frustrating days and art is no different. I had run out of steam completely.

I was being pruned. Painfully and laboriously. I had mentioned to Seth that I was having a hard time. He merely said to keep throwing and there would eventually be that moment of light ... hopefully. I just stood there with my eyebrows raised and mouth open. That was it.

So, I threw more. I threw smaller versions at Seth's suggestion and then upped the weight as I felt more comfortable. Yesterday I threw some. I asked Seth, who isn't one to come checking up on me, to come look. My form was a bit rounder than his but echoed the idea quite well. I was ready for his short comment on what was wrong, ready for a good pruning but got almonds instead! He said thoughtfully, yes, yes thats quite nice. Different but rather nice. Maybe that will be the new Albadas (the name of his casa) syle.

It was brief and not much but it was growth. My eyes popped and heart fluttered. I wonder if thats how the trees feel as the almonds finally emerge?

A thoughtful potter

2009-09-11T09:32:00.000-07:00

A large mound of clay in the shape of a large box sits on one side of our wedging surface. This is the reclaim clay, shoveled out of the bucket and slopped onto the table top to set up. The air in Spain is very arid, a perfect bonus for a potter. The breezes and the sun streaming into the studio give the reclaim and thrown pots a quick turn over time. Seth's usual practice is to throw in the morning, leave the pots out, eat la comidar (lunch), and come back to pots ready to trim. Remember from previous posts that a pot has to be at the "leather hard" stage to trim the bottoms. Trimming gives the pot a "foot" on the bottom, a nice finished, grip-able foot.

Why should a potter make a foot that can be grabbed? Why should a potter think about the bottom of a pot? Why does a customer lean toward one pot and not another? Why do you gravitate towards that certain bowl or mug in your cupboard? A good artist, a good potter, knows the answer to all of these questions. The success of a pot relies on the consciousness of the artist even if the reasons for success are inexplicable to the user/admirer. Seth mentions the"washer and dryer" a lot as we are making pots. He says that a good potter must think of a person holding the pot, using the pot, and washing the pot. Is it easy to hold? Is it comfortable? Is it convenient to wash? These are wonderful things to imagine as thought goes into every aspect of every pot, from the smallest bowl to the largest vase.

Throwing to the nines!

2009-09-06T09:52:00.000-07:00

The trek down to the pottery everyday requires a sure foot. Stairs, rocks, slopes, and plants are ready and waiting to makes sure you are awake. It has been part of my 'slave labor' to take care of some of that. While waiting for pots to set up or clay to stiffen or soften, etc. I would head out to the path, gloved and stubborn, pulling out all sorts of weeds. Today I completed that task and stepped back with a satisfied sigh to see a wide, clear path leading to the studio.

As Michael Cardew says in his book, Pioneer Potter, much of a potter's life is comprised of hard physical labor which seems boring at first. But he quickly follows that with saying that those tasks gradually become less boring as you yourself become less boring. Interesting concept. Pioneer Potter is required reading given to me by Seth. It is his dad's autobiography and incredibly interesting for potters, artists, and really anyone. He and his teacher, Bernard Leach, were philosophers of sorts. They thoroughly thought through their aesthetics and were devoted to learning.

Seth has carried on much of his father's philosophizing. In that, though, there is a definite realistic edge. He had me throw bowls, the Cardew way. He sat down and threw one, talking through it pretty quickly as he threw. I stood and watched, mentally taking note of his nine

steps.

1. open (after you've centered, you thrust your hand confidently into the clay and make a shallow opening, keeping the bottom thick for a nice hardy foot ring)

2. pull (thin out the walls of the pot)

3. flute (while keeping the bottom tight, he opens the top way out so that the shape of the pot at this point is like a trumpet)

4. flatten inside bottom

5. undercut with thumb (to tighten the base of the pot and "give it a good spring" as Seth says)

6. shape (you can only do this once, to retain the grace and flow of the curve ... sometimes I tweak it!))

7. sponge (clean out the inside)

8. stick (clean clay from around the base of the outside)

9. wire (and cut it off!)

The "not boring" 9 menial steps of making a "satisfying to use" bowl. (all quotes mean as Seth says, if you haven't picked up on that already!)

First Impressions

2009-08-31T09:53:00.000-07:00

[Thoughts I jotted down when I first arrived] 'I padded softly across my room to the sun roof, my swollen travelers feet felt quite nice on the cool terra cotta tile. I am alone for the first time. Seth and I have been together for a few hours but he just sent me upstairs to unpack while he "plays host" and cooks dinner. My room is white washed and sparse. There is one sky blue wall behind the wooden French-made bed and a set of blue shutters off the the side. These lead to the sun roof and are always open. There is a "screen" of plastic coils hanging in the doorway; they flutter in the breeze and keep bugs out ... or so they say.'

I am in the remote mountain region just off the coast of the Mediterranean. The land, people, trees, shrubs, flowers, and buildings are all at once moving and still, fresh and old, full of color and sepia toned. It feels like an old loved leather chair, comfortable, full of stories, and regal in some way. I imagine my impressions of Spain are rather different from others since I was swept away to the mountains right away.

Seth Cardew is very proper (imagine 1940's London!), but friendly all the same. His pottery is just a short walk down a hill or down stairs, which ever way you want to take.

The pottery is rustic to say the least. The floor is dirt and the walls are the same white washed simplicity found in my room. I do have some slave labor to do before I can throw. I wedged a great amount of clay the other day, moistening it to ready it for throwing. I have more of that to do tomorrow. Seth has a pretty free approach compared to some potters. He doesn't set down and make me throw 50 of one shape until I can do it in my sleep but he does have a critical eye. He won't smash pots because he says that I must use them to learn other steps as well, such as trimming, decorating, etc.

I can't wait to share more about some of the philosophy of pots I've heard from Seth and other tid bits. But I'll give them to you in small doses. All at once and you might feel like you've had your head stuffed, like I do.

Or, even worse, you might not read.

Hola Spain!

2009-08-28T10:45:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

I have not figured out computer time yet but wanted to report that I have arrived safely! I do not have internet but am working on when I can post. Please stay tuned!

Seth and I made tall hollow ware today. The sun lights the studio, the shutters swing open to let fresh air in, and the mountains in the distance provide quite the backdrop. Peaceful and heavenly setting for artwork.

Yours,
Sarah

2009-08-24T21:01:00.000-07:00

I wrapped my unfinished pots with plastic a few days ago, leaving them on a low shelf where they will await my return. As I stood looking at my clean, empty work space I ceremoniously turned off the lights and stood there for a moment in the dim drone of a distant florescent. When I come back to this, what will it look like to me? What will I want to change about it? What will I have missed the most? How will I have changed? How will my pots have changed? Oh, what an adventure this will be!

I love knowing that when I return to sit at my wheel, my very own wheel, that I will be different, will have grown, developed, matured as a potter and as an artist. My hope for this trip is threefold:

1. To develop in confidence as an artist and especially the combining of mediums. Seth studied as a painter. He draws and paints as well as potting. He has successfully meshed the two and is so comfortable in that dual role. I want to see that in action. I want to know what he thinks about as he makes a form, as he looks at a form, as he analyzes the pot and his decorations.

2. I want to learn more about the firing process. Seth and I will be starting at the beginning, throwing the raw clay, and working together to fill his wood kiln. I'm hoping that being one of the primary potters involved in the firing will really piece together my bits of experience and knowledge of firing.

3. Seth has grown up with pottery and worked in it for many many years. He understands what it takes to make a life of it. He knows potters around the world that have done the same in various ways. To get a better grasp on the possibilities for making this artistic calling a sustaining vocation is invaluable to me. I think of a college kid's perspective; the job possibilities are basically limited to the ones they grew up around. As they search and meet people and expand their perspective, jobs that they did not know existed begin to surface. I feel a little like that. I'm excited for ideas.

Languages

2009-08-19T12:31:00.001-07:00

On the metro the other night, in this the melting pot of the world, I, a Norwegian European American mutt sat beside a 4'1" 65 year old Cuban woman. Her accent was strong though she told me, quite close to my face, that she had been here for, oh, 50 years. She said, "I do not care about my accent! People ask me, 'I hear you accented, where is that? and I say I am here for long time!" I laughed and said her English was far better than my Spanish. I mentioned that I was going to Spain and trying to learn Spanish. She dismissed me with a hand saying, "I tell you," she raised her arms with emphasis, "compared to English, Spanish is easy. It is pho-net-ical," with an emphasis on each syllable, "You learn fast."

So, do you speak Spanish? Yes, well umm, no. I don't. I don't speak much Spanish at all. In the weeks leading up to my trip I have had very limited time to teach myself. I've looked over the basics but have not gotten comfortable speaking Spanish. Language is an interesting aspect to this trip. Seth Cardew is British so we will communicate pretty well. Undoubtedly, I will wish I sounded more like him and try to pick up some of the beautiful lilt. But the remote area of Castellon will, I hear, prove to be a Spanish speaking classroom for me. In my regular glass half full mentality I am banking on the universal languages of food, love, and art, confident that I will get by and learn moi rappido!

At one of my jobs there is a vivacious group of Spanish speakers from Bolivia and Peru. They speak to me in rapid Spanish, tossing my name in the midst of a long string of sounds and calling me "butterfly" and "queen" with a laugh. Its my job to draw on the chalkboard and even the ones that speak very little English enjoy the development of my pictures and advertisements and communicate their appreciation. We've gotten by with a slow friendship developing but there is always a barrier of language. The excitement on their faces, in their body language when they found I was trying to learn Spanish was priceless. Why? To be able to communicate with someone, to have that communal relationship with a fellow human being is essential to our well being.

In his broken English and my barely present Spanish, my Bolivian co-worker told me that when I return from Spain they would have me over for a meal to eat traditional Bolivian food. FOOD. Another universal language. Something to share in, to give, to take, to enjoy, to spit out, to laugh over, to cry over, to do together. Where has that sense of universality gone for a lot of today's art, for a lot of today's people's understanding of art? The ability for art to be a universal language of deep beauty - one to share, to give, to take, to enjoy, to spit at, to laugh over, to cry over, to come together has been lost in commercialism, egotism, and a lack of education in the arts.

But art and beauty, like food, is so much more than those wonderful aspects. Our poor minds and hearts starve without it ... other parts of our lives are affected by the lack of that essential harmony of nutrients or in this case, sights, sounds and textures. Sights, sounds, and textures that allow you to come out of yourself, to realize beyond the everyday. This subtle starvation makes for a sad, limited life, indeed.

Everyone has taste buds, taste buds prone towards certain tastes but taste buds that can be honed, developed, broadened and instructed to appreciate more flavors and textures. Our sense of appreciation for beauty, in music or arts, is the same way. We are prone towards certain styles, colors, shapes, patterns, harmonies, rhythms, sounds, and textures. But with exposure, with development and learning, those tastes can be expanded and our minds and hearts fed in so many more wonderful and fulfilling ways.

Learn to communicate and understand more than a spoken language. Learn what it is to communicate without words, through music, art, food, dance, etc. Allow yourself to grow in these things. The rich experiences that come out of that will feed your soul.

A horse... a whole horse!

2009-08-17T11:26:00.000-07:00

You may remember a few posts back when I received an incredible gift (which you can see upside down and ready for surgery in the picture to the left). Well, that gift has now been upgraded and I've learned so much in the process.

There are a number of different Brent wheels for different sorts of potters. The wheel that my co-worker so graciously gave to me was a lower model wheel. Now this does not mean that things are plastic rather than metal, that the control board is slapped together with shoddy parts, or that the wheel has any sort of inferior workmanship. The lower model just has a smaller motor. In my case it was a 1/4 horse power motor. Its drive, torque, and strength are more for classroom use than a professional potter. Brent (now AMACO, American Art Clay Company) makes great, reliable wheels from the bottom of the totem pole right on up to the top. So even though my wheel is a lower model, its still a Brent and it will last me a long long time.

Excited for the possibilities, I decided to look into an upgrade. I called AMACO and talked to a wonderful man, Bob Randolph. Bob couldn't have been more helpful! He explained parts of my wheel to me, from the control box to the foot pedal to the wheel belt. My mentor, Mel Jacobson, always said that I needed to learn how my equipment works so that I can do all of the maintenance myself.

I decided to do some business with Bob. The wheel was running well but was having a few issues (would start turning while the foot pedal was off...). He walked me through dismantling the control box and foot pedal, pulling wires and screws out right and left. I saw the interior of the control box for the first time (see part of it in the picture on the right). I shipped the box and pedal to Bob and he fixed it and shipped it back in two days! Now thats service.

Bob also sold me a motor, 3/4 more horse power than my old one. That means that I now have a supped up Brent with an entire horse power motor on there! I have the equivalent of a Brent CXC for about $1200 less than I would've spent on a new one. I feel like a car junkie. I'm considering runner lights, a dual exhaust, and new sound system too ...

A bundle of letters, an airplane, and disbelief

2009-08-06T12:30:00.000-07:00

A number of years ago, as an impressionable teenager, an artist came to stay with my family. He came twice. A mutual respect developed between my mother and Seth and my whole family. He was much older than I and his name carried weight in the pottery community. Not only was he the son of a famous potter but he had made his own name stand out through his beautiful ceramic work and painting. I was so excited to meet him and get to spend some time with him. He had sparkly eyes, kind wrinkles, and potter's hands. He embraced the clay like an old friend. In one of the workshops he gave during his stay, he told the audience to think of someone you love as you make the rim. Do that, he claimed, and the rims would be lovely to drink from! I think about that every time I do a rim for a drinking vessel. I can't get it out of my head. He had so much personality and he put that personality into his teaching and into his pots. This delightful British man is Seth Cardew.

Excerpts from my pottery journal as a 17 year old:
I love and respect his work, his background, and his personality and so naturally a few months ago I wrote to dear Seth and told him of my new ventures. I mentioned the possibility of working with him for a time, slave labor included of course ... well, a few letters and a few months later (oh yes, real snail mail!) I am off. Jet setting my way across the Atlantic to Spain, where Seth and his wife have moved the pottery from England.

Wenford Bridge Pottery sits in a little nook of Castellon, Spain on the coast, south of Barcelona. The Cardews host students from around the world, offering ceramic courses April through October. I will be working with Seth for a month or two, throwing, trimming, firing, glazing, firing some more, and casting some sculptures. As a wonderful friend of the family, he is offering me a trip of a life time and I can't wait to share it!'

I leave on August 25th. I don't know what my life will look like over there (or what sort of internet access I will have!) but the preparations have begun! Stay tuned as the adventures loom ahead and potting winds down in Fairfax.

Seth Cardew: a charger with his signature birds and detail work.

Have you ever trimmed a pot?

2009-08-03T19:16:00.001-07:00

I really don't enjoy trimming pots but it is fun to watch. The clay curls and snakes off in long flat strands and a foot appears from no where.

Watch here if you've never seen it before. I explain a little about the process and reasoning behind it in the video.

Inspiration

2009-08-02T11:08:00.000-07:00

I love finding artists that are doing something very different but still beautiful and inspired by tradition. A friend of mine alerted me to this site: Ashes and Milk. The site itself is pretty rockin and the artwork is simple and organic. They feature a few different artists and a few different mediums. I love a lot of what they have* and after reading their "About" paragraph I think I understand why. Here is an excerpt:

"Ashes & Milk is an online gallery space founded on the principle that a lot can be created from very little. We are driven by modern ideas with a reverence for traditional methods and believe that the things we bring into our homes should have a soul and a sense of history. Our collection is a boutique of texture, organic materials, and nuances of white, brown, and gray."

Also, many of the potters are Japanese .. and I'm particularly drawn to the Japanese pottery traditions. I hope you are inspired by it as well.

*some may be offensive if looked at too closely.

New Postings on Etsy!

2009-07-29T12:58:00.001-07:00

I'm slowly adding items to my Etsy Store... take a look!

Visuals and Taglines

2009-07-27T12:14:00.001-07:00

The pictures of the pots below were taken when the pots were all almost bone dry. Bone dry is the stage following leather-hard. So, this is the raw clay. I carved them at leather hard (same stage at which you trim the pot), when the clay is stiff but holds enough moisture to be workable. Once a pot is bone dry it is ready for it's first firing, the bisque firing.
I'm getting into carving my pots. I'm very inspired by my Norwegian heritage and the Rosemaling painting often found on wood. I grew up with this style around our house and my Grandparent's house.
I love to get inspiration from a rich tradition like Rosemaling or from other techniques or artists. Copying can be good practice or a good challenge for learning but for an end result, for a finished personal piece, a copy is usually a stale impersonal imitation of the original. To be successful, graceful, beautiful, and true, a pot or any work of art has to come from within you. An artist ingests what inspires them and the influences around them then continue to work, letting those things come together and come out in their own form, their own style.
For that reason, I try to notice what I like about the Norwegian style and make it my own.

And below you can see me throwing a taller form with my little niece, whom I've mentioned previously, at another wheel. Its nice to have visitors every once and while!

Clay's memory

2009-07-21T19:32:00.000-07:00

Throwing a pot tall and throwing a pot wide and open are two of the most exciting things to watch. They both require pretty dramatic changes in shape at a crucial moment. The way a potter goes about creating certain shapes makes all the difference between a success and a failure.

Clay has a "memory". This means that the particles that make up the clay respond to shaping according to previous actions. If a potter were to open the body of clay out wide from the get go (think of a wide platter shape), the particles that make up the clay walls would get weaker and weaker because they are being stretched and spread without any "memory" of a tight, compact, strong wall. That is why a potter will keep the walls pushed together as the pot is being thrown (ie. getting the walls nice and thin) until the very last move. That last move is critical. That is the moment where all of your hard work and repetition of pushing those particles together comes into play. In one move, the walls are expanded to the desired shape. Since the particles have the memory of being so compact, they can take the sudden spread and still hold up. If you mess with them or spread them too much after that, they loose the compact memory and spread until they fall apart. And you have a collapsed pot.

In these short videos you can see me throwing a tall cylinder, necessary for any tall vase regardless of eventual shape. In the second, I shape it a little bit. Enjoy!

"... A Mass of Thawing Clay"

A Christmas Surprise

Photos of Everything I've Made!

Tennis Rackets Turned Household Item!

Pull up that... DRAWER?!

Sketches

Eva Zeisel: A "Maker of Things"

Four Tips for Getting Things Finished!

The Power of Making

I couldn't find the table I wanted...

Toolbox

1. The Restyling Etsy Debut and 2. The Process Behind a Lamp

Creative work takes a while...

Lessons and Limitations

A new look and new work!

Hooks Hooks Hooks!

More ReStyling...

Restoring the Beauty

Taking notes, drawing visions

Paintings and Pots... oh my!

Truth?

A New Book

Space

*Close Curtain*

Once upon a time....

FACEBOOK

Smithsonian Craft Show Review

MET

The Smithsonian Craft Show

Silence is Golden

Posts from a Spanish Diary: #8 Sketches

Touch

TONIGHT!

International pottery

A Potter's Plights?

Extra, Extra!! Plates hot off the press...

Plates

New shapes

Female?

Crossing the Line

Gretchen and Edie

The Art of Playing in the Snow

Speech?

Posts from a Spanish Diary: #7 A Cathedral

Posts from a Spanish Diary: #6 Doorways

Diligence

Think on these things: Plato

FREE Sugarloaf Craft Festival Tickets

Posts from a Spanish Diary: #5 La Comida

Inspiration

National Geographic: Always Cool

Sugarloaf Craft Festival

The Final Product

Posts from a Spanish Diary: #4 My Large Pot...

Sarah Coffin Pottery: Now on Facebook!

A review

New York City

House Beautiful

Posts from a Spanish Diary: # 3 An escape to Milano!

Museums

SYLA

Beauty

A Local Idea

A.S. Byatt

My sister posted a great quote from A.S. Byatt, a contemporary British author. I thought I'd share it too: On Ceramics

Posts from a Spanish Diary: Entry #2

Posts from a Spanish Diary: Entry #1

Reality

A place to call home

Last post from Spain...

Traditional Spain

Bisque firing

Publicity!

Lisps and dill

Pictures!

A New Kiln Jacket

Spanish Toast

More Pictures

Larger than life

Just a few pictures..

Close Curtain

My sister posted a great quote from A.S. Byatt, a contemporary British author. I thought I'd share it too:
On Ceramics