Recycling

Airborne Glaze Event

This is some footage of the currently exploding Icelandic Volcano, which in addition to lava and rocks, spews a cloud of ash dust. As we all know by now, it is terribly disruptive to travel because of the harm it will do to jet engines. I am not an expert in vulcanology, but it seems to me that a superheated coating of fine ash dust would actually, well, be glazing the engine of the jet. Volcanigama, anyone?

Michael Connelly @ NCECA

I found this pot at the Artstream Gallery, which had a booth for selling at the NCECA conference, but which is also known for being a roving caravan of ceramic excellentness operating out of, yes, a genuine Airstream trailer. Michael Connelly, who made it, is based in Philadelphia, and makes functional stoneware that is exactly the kind of work that will get lots of use, and has beautiful, but understated details that don't distract.

Rings

This is a new thing just out of the kiln. Kind of a complicated cup.

Joe Singewald at NCECA

This is another new piece I brought back from Philly, a beauty of a woodfired container; makes me happy.

Shay Church @ NCECA, Philadelphia

In an empty lot on S. Broad Street, a trio of beached whales made from unfired clay over a wood and chickenwire armature by Shay Church, who is a visiting artist at the University of the Arts.

Ruth Borgenicht @ Snyderman/Works Gallery, Philadelphia

Ruth Borgenicht is someone whose work in clay has interested me, and this trip to Philly provided me with a chance to see some work in person, as well as to meet and talk briefly with her. I first came across photos of her elegant chain-mail wall pieces and found their soft, light-absorbing surfaces and limited, white-gray-black palette to be pretty seductive. She slipcasts these ring shaped elements, then builds other forms and volumes from their combination. Up close, more traces of the making are apparent. As she shifted around a basket-like piece, I realized there was a sound element too: something along the lines of strolling the pebble-lined path of the Tuileries, or lazing around in a beanbag chair in your parents' basement, or maybe swirling dry chickpeas around in a big pot of water. Not a fragile or glassy sound, kind of grating, but in a soothing way. From her website, I learned that she has also used pieces in collaborations with dance performance.

There were some smaller things, and I was pretty happy about getting a light gray circle of interlocking hourglass / drumlike shapes that she called a study.

This is a small study for a sculpture that I brought home from the Ruth Borgenicht show.

End of Winter