Lucie CM

 

My most recent apprentice Lucie Brisson, has an article about choosing the apprenticeship route in the May issue of Ceramics Monthly.  It is personable, vulnerable, helpful and a great read. Click on her name and it will take you to her blog, as she establishes her own pottery in the South of France.

 

Also in the issue are the 2013 thirteen emerging artists. Two of which are former apprentices.  Tom Jaszczak, and Kenyon Hansen.  Both are making compelling, strong functional ware.

 

Lucie's article inspired me to re-write my apprenticeship description.  I currently have two openings and I hereby am officially announcing the search.

 

PairedView

It is nice to be published again. Thank you Ceramics Monthly! Over the past couple years, I have been working with Amy Smith on collaborative pieces that are meant to be paired.   We shipped work back and forth between Nebraska and Wisconsin documenting the project. This article reflects on the process, the development and the role of ceramic dialogue in the studio. In the article, both Amy and I reflect on each of the pieces featured. It makes for an interesting read.

 

The work itself is compelling and lead to some new concepts in my own work.  It also has enjoyed some quick success. Paired work will be available in Houston at the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA) conference in Santa Fe's Clay's "La Mesa Exhibtion", AKAR's "Yunomi Show, and Baltimore Clay Work's "Game Set Match."

Juried Strictly Functional Pottery National 2012, Juror Jack Troy, Lancaster PA.
It’s Only Clay, Juror Robert Briscoe, Bemidji, MN.
Invitational
 Cup VIII: The intimate object, Charlie Cummings Gallery, Gainesville, FL.
Source Material, Crimson Laurel Gallery, Bakersville, NC.

 

 

Fulbright2

 

 

My family arrived in Taiwan two weeks into my Fulbright experience.  As my schedule has picked up my wife Susan graciously offered to write the following blog post.  This is the first time I have ever had a guest blogger write for my website. 

Weeks 3-5: Transitions, Expectations, and Adjustments

Twenty minutes after arriving at the Kaohsiung Airport, our youngest announced that jetlag was over. This was, obviously, not the case, but reflected the excitement of both finishing 30 hours of travel and reunion as a family in our temporary Taiwanese home. We had tentative plans for our family time before kids started school after the Chinese New Year, but other opportunities upended the calendar. Of course, one of the joys of travel is discovering what is new and stepping into those rhythms.

 

Ching-Yuan, head of the Ceramics Department at Tainan National University of the Arts, has graciously arranged a solo exhibition for Simon that will take place in two locations. The artwork he creates here will be shown at the stunningly beautiful Fugui Ceramic Galleries in Yingge and Sanyi near Taipei. One of the challenges of this exhibition is that it opens March 29th.  Since Simon’s Fulbright fellowship started the second week of January, the push to make work for these shows is intense. Thus, this post comes from Susan while Simon is throwing.

Rather than easing into a gentle schedule, priority has been given to finding local materials, testing clays, attending to local forms, traditions, uses and making work. Ching-Yuan took Simon to a local brick factory to dig and purchase 1500 pounds of local clay and see their roof and flat tile production. Brad Taylor helped with the digging – thanks, Brad! The red ochre color of the fired clay is reminiscent of Lizella Red from central Georgia, although, with less sand and vitrifies at cone 2.
We will start loading the first wood kiln, a 20 cubic foot Olsen fast fire, on February 28th and the  anagama on March 8th. Results will just have to wait. The rhythms of making pots, finding our way on unfamiliar roads, stoking kilns, making friends are both challenge and gift as we move through transitions, expectations and adjustments.

 

 

First two weeks

I am currently in Taiwan on a Senior Scholar Fulbright research grant.  It is a wonderful opportunity to travel, work within another culture and be connected to people who are engaged in exploring the world.  

 

The first two weeks have been a acclimatizing though.  Jet lag came first, then just setting myself up. It took a week to move into what will be our family's housing during the stay here.  And I am still furnishing the apartment.   I am adjusting to working in a community studio, (no more music blasting) an electric wheel (that does not stop when I want it to) language (I do like to be understood) and new clays.

 

After my first week here a good friend came to visit and we traveled up to Taipei and explored the city.  Taipei is tremendously easy and inexpensive to travel around.  The Metro is well marked and sensible, and the food vendors will keep you fortified as you walk.  

 

We traveled to Pinglin south of Taiwan for a morning and walked through the tea fields and tea museum.  It's beautiful country and we had the privilege of being invited into a family's ancient stone house for tea.  It was explained to us that the wooden doors, beams and roof used no nails; a concept that was patiently pantomimed for us repeatedly.

 

And the last few days were at camp Fulbright mid year conference where all the Fulbright affiliates (Senior Scholars, Fellows and English Teaching Assistants) presented on their progress so far.  The conference was a treat.  Though the work was serious a lot of fun activities were planned and easy socializing occurred.   In the photo on the right I am presenting my lack of progress during my two weeks in country.

 

Cupshows

I am having a great time in the studio lately.  A couple years ago when I started making animal bowls and departing from what could have become iconic work possibilities opened up.   About a year ago I contacted a friend Amy Smith and we began working collaboratively to make paired pieces that echoed and made room for each other.   We have never worked in the same studio space but the dialogue of work has become a compelling force in my making cycle.  It is a conversation I enjoy returning to. 

 

I make work that I ship to Amy and she responds.  We discuss and develop.   Amy also sends work for my studio to which I can respond with form and concept.  What has been really wonderful is that we have begun to exhibit the work to great response and quick success.   We had our first piece in this years Strictly Function Pottery National, and as of November 2012 we have work in several shows.

 An upcoming article in Ceramics Monthly details the collaboration.  I will post that link upon publication.

 

Charlie Cummings Gallery is hosting Cup: The Intimate Object VII. 

Source - Material, Crimson Laurel Gallery

It's Only Clay. Bemidji Community Art Center 

 

 

Testimonial

 My friend, Mike Skenadore, sent me the following email this moring.  Perhaps because he is not a potter, Mike captures the importance of the hand made object so personally and eloquently I am going to stop this lead in and let Mike's words speak.

 

I served dinner last night on a Linda Christianson piece. I was struck by how much meaning there is in using pottery. All four of us were able to share stories about the piece and how it came to us. The girls of course remember the golf cart rides down the driveway and the rootbeer keg and the swing in the back yard, while Rose and I remember conversations and my impromptu, and totally unauthorized, kiln tour. It is like bumping into an old friend. The girls will ask "Who made this?" or "What tour did we get this from?" and it is always a point of pride for Anna that one of the very first pieces we got was a bowl of yours that she got for a birthday present.

 

A couple of weeks ago I broke a coffee mug that was gas fired by a lady from Appleton. It was one of Rose's first pottery pieces. I felt so bad that I went online and tried to find a replacement. I apologized to Rose profusely but it took some time to get over the mistake. I tried to remember other plates or cups that I broke through the years and I have to say I can't remember one of them. None of the mass produced Pfaltzgraf stuff I have purchased had any real meaning to it.

 

I find that when we are setting the table or doing dishes that we linger over our pottery a little longer. I think it is to take a moment to touch the hands of the person who made it and remember the good times and good friends and good travel that brought that piece to us.

 

I am probably waxing philosophical here but there is a shift in the way we perceive these objects now. I don't know how much I believe in fate and I have always appreciated the serendipitous series of events that brought us together, but I can't help but think, when I am handling somebody's work and enjoying my relationship with that person, that there is some reason (dare I say plan? I think not) that our families have crossed paths in the way we have.

 

tv

 

On Thursday October 4th another Gresham Wisconsin artist  Dave Aschenbrenner and I were promoting the fall arts tour in Shawano County.   This was my first time on television on Good Day Wisconsin.   It was a strange and surreal experience, not entirely unpleasant.  

The host made us feel comfortable and welcome, and Dave and I got to talk about what we love to do.

 

Miles of Art

 

Apprentice Pottery Sale

 

Start your clicking

 

 Hannah Meredith and Lucie Brisson are having a sale of work they have made while apprentices here at Mill Creek. 

Sweet pots from woodfire women!  Promising work from some up-and-comers.  Do yourself a favor and buy pots while they are inexpensive, and support Lucie and Hannah in their goals to become full time studio potters!

 

Click any of the images below to go to the online Esty sale

 

American Apprentice

 

Red Lodge Clay Center in Montana is hosting an exciting show currated by Daniel Garretson.  Daniel was an apprentice to Mark Shapiro before his residency at Red Lodge and starting Graduate School at Alfred.  

 

Of the show Daniel says "In the United States apprenticeships are no longer aimed at teaching a particular style of making to be passed down by successive generations. For better or worse, contemporary American culture values the new, unique, and individual. Successful apprenticeships, therefore, must not only teach the essential skills demanded of a particular craft, but also how to develop an individual voice as an artist and the ability to clearly articulate the meaning of one's work. Perhaps most importantly is the means to make one's voice heard within the current economic paradigm in which we all operate."

 

I invited my former apprentice and current MFA candidate at SIUE, Mike Gesiakowski, to exhibit with me.

Shows like this make me feel tied tightly to the larger ceramic movement in the US.  It's an honor.

 

 

New Gallery

My pots have invaded North Carolina.  David Trophia of Crimson Laurel Gallery in Bakersville contacted me dillegently for several months asking to represent my work.  I was honored but booked up.  Finally after a firing this spring I was able to send him some really nice pots.  

In addition the consignment inventory he has invited me to several national exhibitions.  The most recent one is "The Functional Element" curated by Eric Knoche.  Its a lovely exhibition paired with a woodfired sculptural show.  Other potters include JD Jorgenson, Tara Wilson, Chris Cambell, John Martelle, Shumpei Yamaki, and Dan Murphy.  

Shumpei, Dan Murphy, Jd. Jorgenson and I all attended The University of Iowa Clay program.   Another connection I think is interesting is that Lloyd Cledwyn and I did the websites for Tara Wilson, Jd Jorgenson and myself.  Must be a tight community.

 

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