Hey there bloggers. I just returned from Piedmont College in Demorest, GA and want to give a shout out to Chris Kelly and his staff/students there. Am currently showing for a month in their new gallery space and museum. Made some new work to be fired in their anagama this spring. Am back home in Mass. It’s cold as heck and I am gearing up for teaching at Worcester Center for Craft, Bridgewater State University and Mudstone Studios. Keep in touch.
Ugh! The holidays are here. Time to break down all the studios at WCC to make room for crafters booths. Spent some time in studio finishing some work up. Will touch off another bisque and hopefully have about 1/3 of the wood kiln full. Much more to go on that project. Pics in progress . . . .
Time is flying by this fall.
Teaching 2 wheel-throwing classes and 1 two-dimensional design course at Bridgewater State University.
Helping with the wood-firing course at Worcester Craft Center as well.
Submitted my first grant application. Boy is that a lot of work. Making functional work for the wood kiln and keeping up with various classes. Life is getting a bit crazy, gone several nights per week teaching. Family support is great though.
Just came back from Mendocino Art Center in Mendocino California. 5 wonderful days out on the west coast. Hats off to Derek Hambly (Ceramic coordinator) for hosting me. Did a little work and we will be colaborating on one piece for our upcoming show in Piedmont Georgia this January.
While I was gone the pyromaniacs at Worcester fired the wood kiln and I can’t wait to see the results. Will be firing with Lori Mader at Cedar Swamp Pottery this December. All of you bloggers please hope for nice weather as we have been hit hard this year.
Cheers!
Week 3 and into week 4 has produced some work (finally). First draft of grant applications done and awaiting the recommendation letters from other staff in my field. Both first year residents are on their own and first gas firing was done yesterday. Thanks goes out to my boss Tom O’Malley for helping Peter with that initial firing. Balancing the schedules between the nurse, teacher and resident is settling down and should become more consistant.
Spent a bit of time cutting wood on my property to haul into the craft center for the wood kiln firing. About 1/3 of a cord of wood. Still needs to be split, but that happens there. Worked on grant applications and research for narratives. Applied another layer of color onto 5 pieces to be sintered in the next bisque firing.
Week 1 of my residency:
Spent much time in meetings discussing rules, requirements, expectations and then cleaning out much crap. The dumpster is full of old broken down equipment. 600 lbs. of crappy kiln shelves are gone and the kiln room is clean. I started 4 basket pieces for the wood kiln. Found out the woodfiring class was a go and I wasn’t there for the first day of class. They will be firing it when I am in California doing a workshop. So much for getting that experience again. Frustrated!