Pots+Prints: The Art of Amy & Amy

I have a sale coming up this weekend where I will be offering my handmade pottery alongside linoleum woodblock prints by Amy Riley. It will be located at a residence at 2230 Dallas Drive, Carrollton, TX 75006. June 4th hours are 12-8 with a reception beginning at 5 PM. June 5th hours are 12-4. Both savory and sweet treats, including homemade baked goods, will be available during the reception with beer, wine, and soda pop. We will be set up to accept cash, check, and credit card via Square. Hope to see you there!

I have been hard at work to make a new batch of work just in time for the show, which is currently in the kiln  for a glaze firing. Some of my other quite recent pots which will be available this weekend include these underglaze and decal decorated pieces:

Check out the Facebook invite here

You can look at Amy Riley’s recent work here

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My spring show table setup

My Craft Guild of Dallas setup for the 2015 Spring Show & Sale complete with spider mum, waxflower, and greenery floral arrangements. If anyone buys a pot with flowers they’re included, of course!

All slab built white earthenware fired to cone 04 with underglaze drawings.

Craft Guild of Dallas Spring Show & Sale 2015

As per usual I am again participating in the twice annual show and sale at Addison’s Craft Guild of Dallas this weekend. The juried event includes handmade goods from jewelry to paper, painting to pottery. I will be on hand both Friday night and Sunday afternoon, with a small batch of fresh pots on Sunday. I admit I haven’t been as reliable keeping the blog updated of late and you may wish to follow my Facebook page as well, which I am thus far quite diligent in adding information and progress photos to. For more details, the hours, and venue information please visit Craft Guild of Dallas.

Craft Guild of Dallas Show & Sale

This past weekend one of my regular twice annual events with the Graft Guild of Dallas elapsed. I got some valuable feedback and an opportunity to see a selection of the new work in a display setting. The slightly warm white and surface texture of the glazed ware pleases me. I’m plunging ahead towards cake stands, more lidded vessels, and place settings galore, etc.

Here is an assortment of what I have made already for the show in early December.

Poetry in Ceramic: a Joint Ceramic Show & Sale from Amy Henson and Allee Etheridge

This December from the 5th through the 7th a fellow Dallas area functional potter and I are hosting a 2-person show in Allee’s beautiful home in Carrollton, TX. The Friday night reception will feature tasty bites and beverages along with a little bonus: free cups to the first 50 attendees!

Front and back of our show postcard. Send us your physical address at poetryinceramic@gmail.com to receive a mailed copy! Photos by S.K. Plagens and design work by Haus of Murray, plus the drawing was freehand by me, so no copyright infringement please. 🙂

I am also bringing a huge presentation of my new work, all slab built white earthenware oxidation fired to cone 04 with underglaze drawings. I have been working in low-fire for a number of reasons: slab building has so much more formal flexibility than what I was able to get from throwing, attempting to bring cost of production and sale price to equivalency, and it’s just making me one happy potter lady! The image iconography is similar to the porcelain pots but executed in underglaze line drawings instead of sprigs or slip trailing. For the time being, anyway. Check out the new work or at least a sample of what will be available come December.

Four piece place setting.

Pitcher.

Cream & Sugar.

Butter Dish, large enough for a cheese log too.

Art of the Pot Studio Tour 2013, Part 1

The always awesome Art of the Pot in Austin, TX is coming up this Mother’s Day weekend in May 2014. Leading up to the next studio tour I have a whole slew of photos from last year’s event, so I’m going to split them up into two installments.

Ryan McKerley pots.

We usually start at Ryan McKerley‘s studio. He’s such an awesome potter and a wonderful person to boot. I have fired my pots in his kiln a few times, which definitely numbers among the highlights in terms of my experiences in the pottery community.

One Ryan’s large jars with the trademark Pac Man knob.

Soda firing is my favorite firing method and Ryan’s surfaces are akin to what I strive for in my own work.

Flower brick by Joan Bruneau.

A few invited artists share each host studio. Joan Bruneau of Novia Scotia presented her gorgeous terra cotta pots alongside Ryan McKerley, Chris Campbell, and Bryan Hopkins.

Lovely plates by Joan Bruneau.

The brilliant glaze colors coupled with the rich red clay body makes for a highly covetable pot.

Chris Campbell pots.

Ryan McKerley shares his studio with fellow host Chris Campbell, who wood fires his dark stoneware clay pots.

Porcelain ware by Bryan Hopkins.

Thin, translucent porcelain abounds in Bryan Hopkins‘ work, often textured with carving and mundane objects like wood planks or diamond-patterned steel sheets.

Saying farewell to the mural on Ryan’s studio exterior for another year.

Onto the next studio!

A different studio tour happening concurrently in the building housing Keith Kreeger’s studio.

Photographers, painters, and other 3-D artists presented work in the other studios adjacent to the next AotP host potter.

The entrance to Keith’s studio.

An array of pots from all of the presenting artists within decorate the table.

Keith Kreeger pots.

Host artist Keith Kreeger produces minimal, sometimes softly colored, functional pottery.

Some of the more colorful Kreeger pots.

There’s always something new in Keith’s array of pots, so I look forward to seeing the latest and greatest each time I enter his studio.

Another assortment of pots from the potters in Keith’s studio.

I love to see different work shown alongside each other, the variety makes for a strong and visually appealing presentation. Decal encrusted pots by invited artist Dan Anderson appear at top left and bottom right.

Courtney Murphy pots.

I loved the clean forms augmented with brightly colored surfaces from invited potter Courtney Murphy.

Especially this cream and sugar set!

The arched line of raw clay on the sugar jar made me swoon. Two more studios to come, stay tuned for photos!

Dreaming of Spring and Dallas Pottery Invitational 2013

Did I mention what a terrible blogger I am? I’m currently catching up so I can stay on top of the spring pottery events this year. Last April, as per usual, I volunteered to help run the checkout area at the Dallas Pottery Invitational. The core group of artists is always interspersed with a fresh group of invited visiting potters. For more info on this year’s invitational: Dallas Pottery Invitational.

The famous Artstream mobile gallery made it to the 2013 DPI.

First on the docket, we have some cheeky pots by Andrew Gilliatt. Hailing from Helena, MT and the Archie Bray Foundation, this excellent potter uses technology to his advantage. His slip-cast pots feature strong formal lines with precise glazing and often humorous repeating decals, such as in the case of the hot dog shaped unglazed areas filled with tiny dachshunds.

Some of Andrew Gilliatt’s glazed and decal-encrusted ware.

They’re all great pieces, but I bought the horse head mug shown in the photo above. Equestriennes FTW!

More cheeky pots. Said wiener dogs and wiener shapes appear on the large bowl in the upper right.

Next up, please enjoy the work of core group potter Lisa Orr. A self-proclaimed synaesthetic, the glazes reflect a sort of frenetic energy often accompanied by the mixup of concrete concepts and colors in her mind.

Slump molds and sprigs forms pots, enhanced with riotous glazes.

Daphne and Gary Hatcher of Pine Mills Pottery brought a boat-load of pretty pots as usual. Gary’s somehow more masculine ware favors the kind of scale and simplicity commonly associated with a male-friendly aesthetic.

Lovely work by half of the Hatcher duo.

I’m especially crazy about the altered vases with the large swirls, and the giant faceted bowl.

A detail of some round-bellied vases.

Daphne Hatcher utilizes more complex glazing techniques and different ornamental forms. Her technique of wax-resist glazing copper red on top of a black base was one of my favorite go-to glaze applications in my college days.

The floral motif pieces exhibit the afore mentioned copper red/shiny black glaze technique.

The pattern variations always attract me to her lively pots. Those quiet little round boxes may still be my favorite form in her repertoire.

A colony of adorable boxes among plates and platters.

For the wood-firing set I’m pleased to present the work of Liz Lurie. Between sumptuous dark clay bodies, slips, flashy shinos, and earthy forms she finds a magic combination of elements.

My erstwhile pottery professor’s lovely wife makes incredible wood-fired ware.

Employing frogs to secure flowers upright, the baskets always attract my gaze. The bowl with large ear-shaped lugs has a gorgeous form and great visual lift.

Another view of Liz Lurie’s ware.

Once a Dallas area potter, now Amy Halko calls California home. Utilizing porcelain with inlaid slip and glaze decoration, her cone 6 pots exhibit a strong aesthetic vision. During her time as an adjunct and special student at SMU I grew familiar with her work and have several iterations of her ever-changing work in my collection.

An overview of the back portion of Halko’s pots.

Invitee Doug Peltzman followed up a demo session at the Utilitarian Clay Symposium by hauling a load of his incredible porcelain pots to Dallas. His slow and meticulous process made me feel a little less crestfallen about the drudgery of decorating ware in my own studio. Runny glazes designed to catch on the periodic horizontal ridges punctuated by inlaid black line drawings cover his thin-walled vessels.

Meticulous decorations adorn Doug Peltzman’s exacting forms.

I buckled and brought a large jar home from his available assortment of pots. It now houses candy and cookies in a place of honor on my dinner table.

Following a totally different aesthetic path, Hiroe Hanazono adores simple forms, muted glaze hues, and such mundane objects as cafeteria trays for their compartmentalized function.

Soft colored porcelain vessels on Hiroe’s table.

Nesting smaller vessels in specifically designed indentions is such an ingenious solution.

Salt cellars with porcelain spoons.

Between thrown forms and hand-built ware small drawings appear on David Eichelberger‘s impressive pots. We celebrated his birthday here in Dallas during the invitational, hopefully staving off the homesickness for his lovely family somewhat.

Assortment of white pots.

The irregular lobed mugs have the sort of intimate size that keeps them flying off the table. Although I’m perpetually drawn to black pieces so I coveted the following vessels with their delicate hint of color punctuating the differing black surface textures.

Some of the black ware I loved so much.

Another recent participant at the UC Symposium, I was happy to see Kip O’Krongly and her concept-rich earthenware vessels. I couldn’t help but snag a bicycle dinner plate and ostrich bowl.

Re-visiting the awesome work of Kip O’Krongly.

The carved yellow bird salt and pepper shakers are probably the most labor-intensive of her pieces.

An angry bird salt or pepper shaker.

Driven by the sometimes questionable relationship between large-scale agriculture and nature the pieces exhibit a precarious blend of hope for the future through returning to simpler lifestyles and resistance to such practices as using birds to detect poisonous gases, crop-dusting, and GMO foods.

A vignette of plates and cups.

The DPI always confronts me with an exciting new assortment of work so I can hardly wait for April to get here already! Stay tuned for my next installment, a recap of the Art of the Pot studio tour from last May.

Another spring treasure I’m waiting patiently for, local dewberries picked by my family in a home-made cobbler. Cup by Liz Smith and a small wood-fired plate from my college days.

Gallery Show, Feb. 2013

Sometimes I am a terrible blogger, sorry about that! I had a weekend gallery show in Dallas, the Wine and Art Show, in early 2013 for which I built two enormous display blocks. It turned out pretty well, I only made two sales but getting into a gallery again felt great! Plus the exposure never hurt anyone.

Here’s my gallery reception ensemble. Ooh la la!

The dress was designed by one of my favorites, Eva Franco, with a vintage red eelskin purse and Fluevog pumps.

Me and my mister with one of the pedestals during the reception.

The linocut on the wall behind us was created by a good friend of mine, also named Amy. See more of her work here: Petite Menagerie on Etsy.

The other display block, adjacent to a fantastic weaving.

I was fortunate to place my other block in the midst of some gorgeous fiber art.

Here are the pieces I selected for one surface. That’s my bio on the wall.

The other assortment.

My father helped me build these enormous gallery pedestals in the barn, which I then patched with wood filler and painted with numerous coats of stain-resistant white.

Time to break down and head home.

Better late than never, right?

 

 

 

Margaret Bohls Workshop Recap

The Craft Guild of Dallas typically hosts 2 visiting artist workshops annually in the clay department. This year the first visiting artist workshop featured porcelain slab building with Margaret Bohls, who teaches at the University of Nebraska Lincoln alongside Eddie Dominguez and Pete Pinnell. I have been darting a lot of my thrown pots and trying to troubleshoot hand-building for such forms as oblong butter dishes and irregular shaped trays so I jumped at the chance to learn some practical techniques regarding how to execute said forms.

Some of Margaret’s paper templates.

To regularize her forms and maintain clean, straight seam-lines Margaret employs the use of paper templates based on squares or cylinders. Shown above are mostly bowl patterns. These are square-based with curved edges, and she usually drapes them over round slumps then adds a folded-over slab rim and flattened jelly roll for the foot ring.

2 days worth of demo pots.

Everything you see above was created with darted slabs, except for the vase which utilizes leather hard slabs joined together. The pitcher spout has a squared off v-shape template, while the teapot spout template resembles a whale tale, as Margaret pointed out. The handles are created by rolling slabs up like a jelly roll, then slapping them on a work surface that is slightly moistened to flatten to the desired handle shape. Note: flatten with the seam-line up or you’ll smoosh the seam out of existence! They are surprisingly beautiful whether as a lug handle on a tray or more stretched out on a taller form. The back center bowl features the jelly roll handle as a foot ring, instead. Margaret credits Lana Wilson with showing her the jelly roll handle technique originally.

For darted slab pots all edge and lip treatments must be done on the flat slab before assembly when it’s about 1/2-way between freshly rolled out and leather hard. Be careful to rib both sides of the slab often during working them and you may wish to stretch and thin the slab prior to cutting out the template. Shape the lip before cutting out the darts or cracks will form in the corners as you manipulate it. Seams are created by overlapping the edges so thin and smooth the edges of the darts accordingly. Scoring and slipping is recommended, followed by carefully pressing the seams together until well-stuck without running your finger over the edges themselves. You can go back in with a sponge and fingernail combo to clean up the seam when it’s closer to leather hard, so don’t worry about little imperfections or you might overwork or damage the edge. Margaret typically cuts out the base after the walls are assembled by simply tracing around the base of the pot on a slab, then carefully pressing the edges up onto the wall with long, smoothing thumb strokes.

Working with a textured slab to create what Margaret calls bumpy ware.

To create the grid pattern, Margaret carves plaster them presses freshly rolled out slabs into the texture, being careful to smooth the backside to compress it and minimize cracking. She then lays it face-down on foam to raise the areas between grid lines, and as you can see doesn’t touch areas that get cut out as darts. After darting and assembling all pieces, plus adding pulled handles for decoration and feet, rims, coils, and sprig molds, this form becomes something like this:

A bumpy ware vase from the artist’s website.

The lattice base is usually constructed with earthenware. She also fires the vase on wasters so the feet don’t get caught on the kiln shelf as the vessel shrinks, which would warp the whole form.

My trial pots from the 1st day, re-using the same template for all 3.

I churned out three pieces between demos on the first day, from a paper template I generate with three darts instead of four. One of the darts is tied into the full length seam-line as well. Due to uneven drying rates in the clay lab, two of these cracked insanely but here they are for posterity. I like the process and for some reason I’m able to really cover some ground working with slabs. Other than the fact that porcelain is really finicky about cracking and the method creates a lot of waste I really enjoyed the process.

A bottle vase with handle. Despite being covered with a small piece of additional plastic around the handle, a massive crack rendered it unsalvageable.

On the second day I made an oblong rounded rectangular tray with surface texture and handles on each end. It cracked also, but I patched it and wrapped it carefully so we’ll see what happens. At least I can snap a reference photo before destruction if it fails. I also constructed a medium-sized square bowl with an added jelly roll foot ring. So far no issues with that one.

My demo pots from the third and final day.

On the third day she demonstrated the foam texture method so I constructed this tall canister jar. I also hammered out a giant butter dish with a press mold of my own design, both textures based on a Japanese kimono textile pattern. The lid flange for the jar is on the bottom part, which according to Margaret helps keep the walls from warping since the top of the lid usually keeps that part from shifting.

Butter dish aerial view.

Although I was tempted to trace Margaret’s templates, all of my pots came from paper pieces I cut myself based on her techniques. I used bisque and leather tooling stamps to create most of the textures other than those on the walls of the jar.

I added three of her gorgeous black slab-built pots to my collection.

At lunch on the first day of the workshop demo participants pulled numbers and selected pots via lottery. I went more overboard than usual with this haul, but each piece spoke to me and I love the sumptuous black glaze. I can’t believe it’s not reduction! (pun intended) But yes, these are fired in oxidation. I already acquired one of her square slab-built dinner plates from AoTP last year, also.

Here’s another view of the pitcher, yum!

I thoroughly enjoyed the workshop and learned a ton of new techniques to bring into my home studio. Thanks, Margaret Bohls!

Urban Acres Holiday Market, 2013 Version

I’ve been welcomed to set up some pottery for sale yet again at the always awesome Urban Acres Holiday Market near the Bishop Arts District. Along with my myriad porcelain pots, Amy Riley will be presenting her lovely linocut prints and Amberly Hejny will have perfectly festive kitsch goodies in felt and the like, probably along with some other local artists and businesses. The event runs from 11 AM until 3 PM this Saturday, 12/14/2013, and is located on the patio so dress warmly to peruse the wares and possibly pick up some locally grown, organic, and/or grass-fed food items.

Address and business hours:  1605 N. Beckley Avenue, Dallas TX 75203, full Saturday hours from 8 AM to 6 PM

For more details on our smashing venue: Urban Acres website

Or check out their blog for the latest: Urban Acres blog

You can even see some teaser photos from last year’s event: 2012 Urban Acres Holiday Market

Also: Amy Riley’s Etsy shop

Hope to see y’all there! 🙂

I do have a ton of pots listed on Etsy if you can’t make it, to see them you can click the link under my Where to Buy tab. Which will of course be temporarily unavailable but only for the duration of the sale.