Clay Artist Spotlight and Studio Updates

Hello and welcome to the Burnish Clay Studio Blog, coming at you from Bellingham, Washington, the prettiest little city you ever did see. 
Bridge the Gap is under way at Burnish, and as you can see from this blurry picture of Audrey who ingeniously carried all her bisqueware into the studio on her purse strap, people are really taking advantage of the studio time. The studio's hours are a bit truncated, but there is plenty of time between now and July 7, when classes begin again, to throw, sculpt, and glaze to your heart's delight.

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Critique Club

June's Critique club will take place on June 27 at 6 pm, and Will Abraham, Dylan Attebury, and I will all be in attendance, so bring a snack, a drink, and a piece for which you would like feedback, and get ready to party the pottery way.

​Artist Spotlight:
​Barb Lerch, Finley Rick and the Spectacular Collaboration

This week I was able to catch up with Finley Rick and Barb Lerch, regarding their spectacular recent collaboration, “Cake Collaboration Spectacular”. As you will see, this piece is very special, as are the two people behind the work.

BCS: What made you two think to make a cake together?
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BL: “Finley and I were having a conversation around my limited shoulder mobility due to my many reconstructive shoulder surgeries. Later in the conversation we were having a conversation about the fourth anniversary of the studio, and suddenly I said, “we’re gonna need cake.””
FR: “We figured, we’re in a clay studio, we might as well make a ceramic cake for the anniversary.”
BL: “So I went home and drew up some designs. The element with the cup and saucer are meant to conceptually represent the studio. We matched the underplate for the cake itself, and the cake like a cartoon cake. I couldn’t throw at the time, (due to the shoulder issue), so I asked Finley if they would like to do a collaboration. They were all in.”
FR: “There was a lot of consultation every step of the way, with each other and everybody in the studio.”
BL: “It’s been more than a collaboration with just us. Every day there is a new decision to be made, and there would be people around, and we would naturally ask what people’s opinions were, and it became more of a studio collaboration than anything else.”

BCS: Do you feel like this process worked well for you guys?
BL: “It’s worked perfectly for both our personalities. I have never felt like I pushed Finley out of their comfort zone, well, I kind of did. They told me after the fact that they had never done a traditional cup and saucer before.”
FR: “Yeah, that’s true. This process has been nice, because I don’t work on my own stuff as much as I want to, I’m not in the studio on my own time, I’m usually here working (Finley is the studio tech at Burnish). So it’s been really nice to come in here and work on something for fun with someone that I really care about and be a part of the studio in that way. Instead of working at the studio, I get to play at the studio, and that’s been really nice for my mental state.

BCS: Do you two feel like you’ll keep collaborating after this?
FR: “Well, I don’t feel like we’ll be setting up a bakery anytime soon, but I love hanging out with Barb, so any idea she comes up with, I’m always game.”
BL to FR: “I would follow you down the rabbit hole too.”

BCS: I want to talk a little bit about your background. Where did you learn how to work with clay?

FR: “I started in clay about six or seven years ago and it’s always been a collaborative process for me. I have never taken ceramics classes, I mean, I took them in high school, but I am self-taught on the wheel, as we only had one janky wheel that no one really used. It was extremely collaborative because I would just ask for tips from people who had thrown before. I have always enjoyed going into any project with an open mind and wanting other people’s opinions because I get very in my head, so it’s nice to have people check me a little. I’m very serious in my life and my art, so having something so colorful and explosive to work on has been very good for me to get out of my very narrow box that I put myself in sometimes, and who doesn’t love cake?”
BL: “I did ceramics in high school, and I did a bunch of hand building but I was always more focused on the wheel. When I went to college the classes for clay were always full, and I was a general art major so I still had drawing, painting and printmaking and all the art things to get credits in and I figured I would pick it up again later. I did a couple years at The Corcoran, after I got out of college. Then I ran out of money and needed a real job, so I became a graphic artist and that just led to how I made my living for the past thirty to forty years. When I took my retirement from my job, I came to Bellingham for a month to see if I wanted to move here. Heather let me have a one month membership, and I got to throw again, and then I had to go home. I was going to come the following year but Covid hit, so that backed me up a couple years for getting here. In the meantime I did two semesters at Glen Echo pottery in DC, and I knew that this was what I’m supposed to be doing. I don’t have a mission, I know I need to make money, but I don’t want to sit on my butt in front of a computer and do full time graphics anymore. I don’t know how I am supposed to monetize this, but I know I’m supposed to be doing it.

BCS: “How do you feel like being in this studio community led to this collaboration?”
BL: Actually, I would say that doing this collaboration has led to more friendships, because I’m sitting at a table figuring stuff out, and other people are coming and going, and I can relate to them, whereas with throwing, I have my head down and focused on the clay instead of making friends, and with handbuilding I can focus on the clay and make friends at the same time.”
FR: “The studio offers so many opportunities to make new friends that you would never expect. I mean, Barb and I met in a soda workshop here, and she was in my throwing class.”
BL: “We were talking about that the other day. I always went ahead and did my own thing. I had a mission. I was trying to make mugs for my brother’s coffee business, Cafe Mam, and there would be down times between firings or whatever, and I would ask Finley to give me a prompt or something. I didn’t usually do it, but it didn’t phase Finley, which was awesome. They were trying to help me, no matter what I tried. They helped me get started on branching out.”
FR: “Fostering those friendships and having your mind open to everybody here, who have the same to desire to be in a safe environment where everyone can just be their authentic selves and create what they want to create, everyone turns out to be your friend."

 A big shout out to Barb and Finley for answering my questions and taking the time, while they were actually making the cake, to verbalize their process.

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Tip of the Week!
​Experimentation

Don't be afraid to experiment. Ripped from the content of the Artist Spotlight above, the tip this week is to open your mind to new ways of approaching your clay. Clay is a very special material in that it is alive and reacts (sometimes violently) to the way the artist chooses to handle it. Watching what happen as you create can lead you down some amazing paths you might not have taken had you stuck with whatever plan you initially laid for yourself. It is also not a bad idea to allow yourself to be influenced by external events/people/experiences. Life is long and trying things you never thought you would be doing is not only eye-opening, but also humbling. Your entire life can change when you give yourself permission to do the things you thought you never would. 

Help for the Artist.

If you are a ceramic artist either starting out or mid-career, I will tell you the one thing that will get your work in front of more eyes, be they brown, green, blue or hazel. 

CALLS FOR ENTRY.
It behooves all artists, if they want to expand their reach, to enter shows. Many of the people who jury these shows are in positions to help artists out, and even if your work does not make it into a show, it will be seen by a handful of people who will remember. 

The best way to do this is to research annual exhibitions regionally, nationally and internationally, and create an entry schedule for yourself. In addition, it is wise to create a new set of ten or so images to send out every year. It always helps to have an updated artist statement, bio, and show resume handy, as well as a rudimentary website to which you can direct people. Digital business cards are also helpful, if not an actual ones. 

As an artist, it is important to recruit patrons, much like fine art galleries do, just by putting your work in front of people who collect. Where are collectors? Well, they are not listed in the phone book, but, a good way to start is by making lists of donors to arts organizations, they are usually public record on the walls of or websites of any arts org. Chances are, if these people support the arts financially, it's a good bet that they also support artists.

Good luck!