Working in the Mounatins

We arrived in the mountains for the summer in June. This annual event is something I  look forward to all year. It's like a hermitage.  Our cabin is tucked far back in the Ward Canyon four miles from Lake Tahoe.  It is quiet and beautiful back here.  Sometimes we see a car or two coming up the road...sometimes not.  Mainly we see hard core mountain bikers, wildflower enthusiasts, Tahoe Rim Trail thru hikers...it's a very peaceful place.

Looking out my studio window into the forest.

I have a funky studio in our old garage.  It has a smallish, oldish kiln that every time I fire I pray doesn't error code on me.  So far it's proformed beautifully and I  am very THANKFUL. I have been working it hard.

I am making pieces for my upcoming October solo show at Roscoe Gallery in Oakland.  I am cutting  the paper patterns I use for my slab clay pieces out of felt.   The felt will be sewn, machine embroidered and dyed.  I will show both the felt  and the clay pieces together. It's  a fun project bringing me back to my textile roots and  my passion for clay. Being in this quiet beautiful place has given me the mental space to really explore this concept. I am excited about the work.  I hope you can attend if you are in the area. I'll post more about the show as the date gets closer.

Contrast of clay and felt... felt birch cup in process.

A Thank You, Some Inspiration and Work in Progress

First I  would like to THANK all of you who came to my Spring OPEN Studio on May 5 & 6. I appreciate your support so much.  Everyone who came on Saturday saw me floating on air as my daughter in Brooklyn gave birth that morning, two weeks early.  Everybody who came on Sunday met my friend Srinidhi who worked the sale for me as I flew across the country to meet my new little grandson and help out the family. l apologize if I missed you.

Since returning from Brooklyn I have been working non stop in my studio.  Nothing like a  sweet family visit , a trip to the Greek ceramic collection at the MET and the daily walk through a vibrant city scene to fuel my imagination.  I returned revitalized and full of ideas for my upcoming October show at Roscoe Gallery  in Oakland.

I am in LOVE with my new Navajo Wheel clay.   It is liberating not to have to worry about massive cracks forming as I build BIG, add crazy parts, scallop tops. I am no longer fighting the clay.  I am one HAPPY potter. Above is a picture of a big vase (approx 18" tall) in process (below is a pic of a smaller vase, before final glaze. that sold at my Open Studio).  This is the first in a series that will fill one wall of the Gallery.  I'll keep you posted on the progress.

TIME FOR A CHANGE

My entire clay journey has been based on using porcelain .  It's bright white surface was a  perfect for my graphic decorating style.  I could scratch into it, build up flat colors, use silk screen transfer, play with water etching, water down underglazes and use them like water colors without having to take into consideration the effect that the clay color would have on the process. I LOVED the simple white canvas porcelain provided BUT it never LOVED me back!  From the start I dealt with an insane amount of flaws and cracking.  It seemed that the porcelain I was using wasn't at all happy being subjected to the stresses of hand building.  I changed clay bodies several times over the years and though the cracking problem got better it NEVER stopped.  I began to dread the day that I had to check the drying pieces I had so painstakingly made and decorated for cracks because without fail I could count on losing a large percentage of them. It began to effect my creative thought process. I tried to alter my vision to accommodate inevitable failures. Ever the optimist, though, I thought if I kept trying I would discover the magic formula and solve my porcelain problem.

Finally the other day I had had it! I had made the simplest vase form I could think of ...a cone.  I made 24 in anticipation of Easter and Mother's Day sales.  They were decorated and drying SLOWLY.  After dying under plastic for two weeks I checked them ...out of 24, 10 had made it !

Pretty little  porcelain cone vases - available at Abrams Claghorn Gallery.

TIME FOR A CHANGE

I recently bought Sunshine Cobb's wonderful new book on handbuilding.  She made working in red clay seem like a joy.  I drove to my local clay supplier, Leslie Ceramic and picked up a bag of Navajo Wheel. Upon rolling out my first slab I knew I was in for a treat.  This clay  had a bit of tooth but was smooth, responded to my touch and didn't fight being formed...it seemed happy being darted, pushed out,seamed, cut, formed.  It also looked exactly like the chocolate refrigerator cookie dough that my mom used to make....YUM!  I was and continue to be in HEAVEN working with this stuff.  But the real test  came in the drying process.  After one week under plastic and one week without cover...not a single crack! HALLELUJAH !

Fresh slab of delicious Navajo Wheel ready to be made into something sweet.

At first the decorating process seemed a little daunting. But by starting with a layer of white slip I am able to use most of the techniques I have developed over the years. The one exception is mishima but by scratching through the white slip to  the dark ground I can achieve the same effect. As I continue to explore the new possibilities I am actually enchanted with the depth that the dark richness of the Navajo Wheel brings to my designs. Change is Good!

Bisque loaded ...first test came out great.

Sending Poppies to Pittsburgh

I am not attending NCECA this year but I'm sending these three bright poppy pieces to Pittsburgh to brighten up the winter landscape. If you are going,  please check out this fun sounding party and show.  I am honored to be showing in the company of some of my pottery heroes.  Check out Heesoo Lee's impossibly beautiful Aspen pieces, Birdie Boone's wonderful round bottom cups, Ben Carter's delicate red clay teapots and of course my talented Bay Area pottery posse's (Christa, Sara, Whitney, Diana) brilliant work.  It almost makes me want to strap on my snow boots, drag out my down jacket and get my butt to Pittsburgh (almost... but not quite) !

Red Poppy Vase with 3 Flat Flowers

Yellow Poppy Box Vase

The Good, The Bad and The UGLY

I started off 2018 with a very rude awakening.

A very dear friend had commissioned me to make teapots and cups for his daughter and sister for Christmas presents. He gave me this project late into the season and knew that the pieces couldn't be delivered  until after Christmas but was willing to wait. I was able to get them started as soon as my Open Studio was over.  I was excited to be able to deliver the 2 teapots and their 4 matching cups this week.

Needless to say all didn't go as planed.  When I put the pieces into the final glaze kiln they looked perfect.  When I sneaked a peek ,as the kiln was cooling,I gasp in horror.  What the HELL had happened?  I still don't know...they were pocked with craters, the white under glaze was grey, the scratched through designs unrecognizable in the mess.  I was mortified and embarrassed. Devastated that 3 weeks of work was wrecked (get the hammer wrecked) and that I was going to have to tell my patient friend that it would be another 3 weeks until I could deliver his order.

I had, however, not finished  2 teapots and 4 cups as "insurance" in case the first 4 had a mishap.  With my confidence very shaken I re-under glazed , re-decorated and took an extra step that i had never taken before.... I re-bisqued these already bisqued pots... thinking that maybe this would eliminate the transparent problem.  Feeling without much hope, I glazed them and fired them a third time. This morning I shyly opened the cooled kiln and HALLELUJAH ! The kiln gods had smiled and the pots were better than my rather low expectations..They were PERFECT!

Sometimes ceramics lessons learn are HARD.  I lost 4 precious pots and 16 cups but learned a new technique (the extra bisque) that will hopefully take the guess work out of future projects. Ceramics...sometimes I LOVE you, sometimes I HATE you.

The happy ending...much better than I expected!

Good Bye 2017

Good bye to 2017 - probably one the most unsettling, craziest  years ever.

My personal year was great. I was able to make lots of pots in my sunny Berkeley studio.  I want to thank all of you who visited  and supported my crazy endeavors. I traveled lots of miles with my husband John Schnick visiting Cuba, Hawaii, Paris and spent the summer in the mountains.   And best of all had  fun times with family and friends including many hours with my 5 wonderful grandkids.

But it is the state of our country that made this year so crazy. As this new year starts it's hard not to feel super stressed every time I listen to the news...WHAT HAS THE MANIAC BEEN UP TO NOW ? I resolve to, as much as possible, tune out the negative and see this year as full of possibilities for POSITIVE CHANGE.

I am toasting in 2018  with the resolve we can alter the direction our country is going and make this world a better  place for all of us.

Cheers!

Moving on Over

I had no idea how much poking around, swearing, time outs or chats with the technical support team it would take to get my new web-site up and running but now that it's live and you found it...YAHOO!  Since I have my web-site switched to my new Square Space host it is time to switch my blog.  Hopefully this will be a smoother transition.

It's Holiday workshop time in my studio.  The slab roller is humming, my fingers are flying, slip is slipping, trees, birds, bears, bunnies and poppies are popping up everywhere. I hope you will be able to join me for my Holiday Open Studio that starts the Saturday after Thanksgiving. If you are interested in starting your holiday shopping a little earlier or can't make it to my Open Studio you can find my very special 2017 ornaments in my newly opened shop.

Read My Ramblings

The inside scoop...part travelogue, part studio diary.  You can read my past written ramblings here:

josie goes to pot