One More Venue

Quick post today.... Yesterday I finally got it together to join Etsy, the "handmade" website that enables one to create your own store within their site. It gets tons of visitors every day, and has made the sign up and listing of ones creations incredibly easy. I still have some fine tuning to do, especially regarding photo quality and lighting, but now I am wondering why it took me so long to sign up. The address is Neriage@etsy.com (I think). If that does not work go to Etsy and search Neriage, or, John Quimby..... my "store" should pop up.

Recent Work

A rather long hiatus, it has been September since I last posted!

The holidays, while getting more manageable and simple, still hold their sway in terms of time spent with friends and relatives, shopping (well reduced I am happy to report), the best selling opportunities for those who engage in crafting, and an enduring anxiety that I am only slowly shedding.

The pictures above illustrate two of the several directions my clay work has taken in the past four to six months. Bird feathers have always fascinated me, especially the patterns that they reveal on a living avian... but in this case (center, round plate), the concept and technique lead the way and it was only after finishing the "loaf" that I realised that there was a distinct resemblance (if abstract) to the plumage of a ruffed grouse, one of which often hangs out at the end of my road in rural New Hampshire. It's a variation on the "feathering" technique of classical Japanese Neriage- drawing a horizontal stick through stacked layers of moist colored clay, dragging some of each layer into the next and distorting, bending, each layer as it moves through. The feathered "Loaf " is then formed into a long tapered wedge that can then be rolled around itself to make a circular shape. I know, this is getting a little esoteric and arcane here... sorry.

The other, a free form platter, is the product of "recycled" clay.... holding vestiges of trimmings and failed pots that when combined in broken pieces (in the green state) in a holding tub, just add water, and let it re-plasticise the dry clay pieces into a collage of color and pattern that can be further manipulated to achive some fantastic effects. I just keep playing with it until a test slice reveals a pattern that I am happy with. In this case I was so thrilled with the slab slice as a whole that I decided to work with it "naturally", let it speak for itself.

Ruminations

Perhaps I am a wee bit schizophrenic, or, maybe it's just my Gemini nature manifesting itself, but my work seems to vacillate between rather rigid formal geometric patterns and construction,and much looser, organic and seemingly random patterns. And, as the work evolves, bits and pieces of previous patterns get recycled into newer clay incarnations, leaving a fossil like trail through my pieces... Making patterns in colored clay often results in a loaf that is pretty big. It can be boring for me to slice and form many similar plates or bowls all the same size and the same pattern, so sometimes I just wrap up the unused loaf in plastic and put it aside for a while. As time passes I accumulate a number of partial loaves, and while viewing them I get the urge to just stick some complimentary ones together to create a whole new "patchwork" pattern, something like a crazy quilt. I have found that adding a border enhances the "presentation" of the patchwork, giving it a frame and touch of formality.

Here's another example of a piece utilizing an "infinite", or indeterminate pattern of colored clay. In this case I just wedged together some "leftover" colored clay bodies- black, along with natural Miller 55 white, and natural Miller 70 (fires brown) and Miller 70 mixed with red iron oxide (fires rich deep red/brown), as well as some Miller 50, which appears gray in it's moist state, but fires to a pleasing tan with dark brown specks in it. A gentle wedging was enough in this instance, more would have made the swirls and stripes smaller and closer together. Some of the elements of "success" in a pattern are evident as well- integrated palate (that is, complimentary colors that work well together), in this example, earth tones. The natural white and Mason stained black added contrast, while the various browns added shading and variety and complexity. I have had a lot of fun playing with boxes. This is formed from 6 equal sized squares, joined into a closed box with beveled 45 degree cuts at the edges which were scored and stuck together with slip. I have had the most success making rigidly geometrical shapes, like a box, using slabs of clay that are just a bit dryer than what is considered "leather hard", so that when joining the pieces together they hold their shape and don't sag or bend too much. But, I like to do all of the preliminary things while the clay is still moist: Wedged, sliced, rolled to an even thickness, smoothed with a smooth metal rib to compress and check for air bubbles (often present in colored clay mixes). After preparing the slab (or slabs) I let it sit uncovered until leather hard. At this point I cut the even sized squares, usually with a cardboard template, and bevel the edges to 45 degrees for a square. As I do that for all six squares, the clay continues to dry and stiffen so that when I am ready to piece it all together it is quite rigid.

For this pot I just took the cube I had formed, and turned it up onto a corner, making it much taller and a surprisingly different beast visually. By measuring from one corner (to be the base) equally up the three seams, marking and then joining the marks with a small straight edge, and then cutting off that corner, a triangular hole is opened at one corner of the cube. Another piece of stiff patterned triangular clay is applied as the base, again using slip. The same process is repeated at the top to form a lid, only this time, save the cut off corner and apply another slightly larger triangle to create the base of the lid, and another smaller triangle cut to match the size of the opening in the cube body top opening, which will sit inside that opening and help keep the lid in place. For brevity's sake, which I will now forgo, I left out a few steps.... when applying slip to the edges to be pieced together, it's important to use enough to achieve a strong bond, but not so much that tons of it gets squeezed out as the edges are pressed together. You do want to see some pressed out, that means that you have filled all of the score marks and cracks and spaces between the two edges. And with either just the right amount or with too much, you will have cleaning of excess slip to contend with, both inside and on the outside of the pot. I like to do it as I make each joint- the clay is partially dry now and sucks to moisture out of the slip very quickly, so I like to get it off of the surfaces where it will mar the original colored clay pattern as soon as possible. I use a smooth rib, or a flat piece of cardboard, or an appropriate shaped wooden clay tool, and finally for the last "clean-up" a paint brush dipped in water (most useful on the inside of pots where its hard to get your hands and tool into) I also gently paddle all of the seams from the outside (the application of slip to the edges softens the leather hard clay where it makes contact, I usually wait a while for the edges to firm up again before paddling). After cutting both the triangular base opening and the triangular lid opening, I use a Sure-Fine wood shaping tool to make sure that the edges are all on one plane, and facing up or down as the case may be to make sure that as much contact between the body and base and lid is possible.

This vase is constructed from what I call an "infinite" pattern, in this case specifically, marbleized clay. An "infinite" pattern has a design in the clay loaf or body that when sliced into a sheet, stands alone, it does not appear to be truncated or obviously off balance or missing a piece. An infinite pattern can be cut to any size and still read as "whole", and can be combined with another piece of the same pattern effectively and harmoniously. A "finite" pattern on the other hand, is usually a design that reads best when viewed in it's entireity, a spiral for instance, or a slab constructed by joining slices of a repeating pattern into a grid- a three by three square of nine slices off of the same patterned loaf. Trimming or cutting a finite pattern disturbs the visual symetry achieved in the origional construction. As always, there are exceptions to the "rule", but this differentation is helpful when concieving a pattern, and, in choosing how to best utilize the finished loaf of patterened clay.

Gallery/Studio/Barbara Lane

While I work primarily at home in a funky old space that used to be the kitchen of a summer cottage, I fire and glaze, as well as show and sell my work down in North Hartland, Vermont, at EARTHSTAR POTTERY. Earthstar is run, managed and inspired by it's founder and owner, Barbara Lane. I'll try not to gush too dramatically about Barbara, but I can't help doing just that for a wee bit... for she is a wonderfully charismatic teacher who has in a little less than a year of being open, attracted a more or less stable base of about 20 ongoing students, apprentices, assistants and assorted in-betweens who look to her for support, technical assistance, career advice, and friendship in context of their aspirations in ceramics. She is deeply knowledgeable, highly organized, excited about clay and art in general, and a wonderful potter with 20 plus years of experience in hand building. She takes all of that experience, along with her non-judgemental approach to teaching to offer an on-going series of classes on hand building and glazing that guide even beginners to the completion of successful pots right from the start. I'll be promoting Earthstar Pottery on and off throughout this site. Needless to say, I am totally biased. It has been there, and with Barbara's guidance, that I have been able to slowly progress and develop as a potter in the past year. Barbara sells her work from the gallery in the studio, as well as at a few other local galleries and craft stores. I'll get some photos of her work soon.... I also sell out of her gallery, my only public venue at present. Perhaps I will sell from this venue as well. I'm not sure what the exact protocol for selling via a blog is, but I suppose it's possible and I'll work on that.

THE BASICS

EarthStar Pottery
Hand-Built Stoneware by Barbara Lane and John Quimby
619 Rt. 5, North Hartland, Vermont
Open Sat. and Sun. from 1PM to 4PM, and, by appointment or chance
(802) 295 2922