Studio UpdatesThere are two great workshops coming up at Burnish. If you have already signed up for the Eva Funderburgh workshop, that's great, because it sold out and will be taking place this next weekend, 9/23 and 9/24, from 1:00 to 5:00 pm. THERE ARE STILL SPOTS LEFT in the Surface Design with Stephen Robison workshop, which is taking place 10/21 and 10/22 from 1:00 to 5:00 pm. If you are interested in expanding your surface design vocabulary, this is the workshop for you. The main demonstrations will focus on using bisque and 3-d printed stamps, as well as working with slips. This workshop will be useful for both handbuilding and wheel work, and participants who register before October 1st are able to submit a line drawing that Stephen will 3D print into an embossing stamp for you. If you have gone through at least one clay class, either handbuilding, sculpture, or drawing, this is an excellent workshop to take to add some tools to your kit. The Sink is Fixed After many weeks, we have fixed the sink and it looks like...it works. It is quite a relief, especially for me, as I am the instructor/blog writer/social media/wheel fixer/plumber-type person, on and off, for Burnish Clay Studio. Soda FiringCone 6 soda kiln loads tomorrow, fires Tuesday, and will be unloaded on/by Friday. The next Cone 10 community soda firing lead by Zoe Petersen will be loaded Mon 10/9.
Critique Club Critique Club will start at 6:15 during the Fall session as there is a class until 6:15 on Tuesdays. Come, all who are interested in participating in a lively conversation around pottery, art, and sometime, good recipes, both food and glaze, for there is something to be learned in any examination of a piece of hand made ware. Collaborative Efforts Finley Rick and Barb Lerch work on their cake collaboration. There are a lot of different collaborations going on at Burnish Clay Studio right now, and I can't help but be inspired. It is wonderful to watch two, three, or four people come together in a concerted creative effort to make something that any one of them could not have come up with on their own. It is a unique, creative challenge that not many people undertake. It can completely change your direction, get you to see your work in a different light, and open you up to new creative possibilities that you had not ever considered. Ultimately, as with most creative endeavors, collaborations are a risk, because while the artist usually wrestles alone with their feelings of inadequacy, doubt, and genius, allowing another to witness any of this is a whole other level of vulnerability that can test even the strongest of wills. There is nothing that says that any artist must collaborate with another. If you are interested- Here is a recent article on collaboration that might create a spark. Weekly Tip- On Your Feet No matter what you make, be it bowls, cups, figures, creatures, or abstract shapes with clay, the one thing that is easy to overlook is how the piece meets or rises from the surface upon which it sits. One of my first instructors took great pains to teach me the difference between an intentional-looking piece and a piece that looks like it fell together, one pivotal element being the foot. There is no universal way to design a foot, but make no mistake, just as the knee bone is connected to the shin bone, so too is the foot connected to the belly, which relates to the shoulder, and then to the neck, and so on to the lip (of the pot). Minding the shape relationships of the work you make is a personal design decision, and one that can only be made after the maker understands what they like and most importantly, why they respond to it. So, this is not a short commentary on how to make this choice, this is a short piece on the importance of making it at all. Creating a piece that is in itself a harmony of well-thought out decisions by the artist is more satisfying and easier to learn from than a piece without much thought behind it. A good way to get to this place is to start examining what you like and why you like it. Take notes. Take pictures. Examine the items you have collected that sit around your home. Hold your favorite mug or bowl and examine the way it sits on the table and in your hand(s). Get to know what you emotionally respond to and why, and you will be closer to knowing how to build the work you make with intention. Artist ResidenciesArtist residencies can be potent times for artists to focus on their work and meet new colleagues in their field. Here are some good ones.
Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture Whitney Museum of Art Independent Study Program The MacDowell Colony National Parks Arts Foundation The Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts Haystack Residency Archie Bray Residency Penland Residency Oxbow Residency
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