Betty Woodman @ Max Protech

Anna Sew Hoy, "Holes", @ Sikkema Jenkins Gallery

This New Zealand native works now in Los Angeles, and her show was an installation of nine or so pieces.

My favorite was this floor piece that really seemed to set up some sort of dialogue between the massive, lumpy clay part and the stripped-away jeans, reminding me of what perhaps could remain after a gazillion trips up and down the mountain by Sisyphus and the rock, finally turning them into one thing.

From some angles this piece looked like it was wearing a thong, or maybe that the clay boulder had given the jeans a good thrashing, perhaps eroding the greater part of the threads in endlessly tumbling around.

This clay multi-hedron was wearing black jeans, and seemed comfortable on cinderblocks. Closer inspection revealed a cache of trashy plastic shades.

Truck

couple new cups

Here are a few more results with the small cups.

...and then there's this...

One of the significant lessons from this off-balancing act with these small cups is that they will display greater imbalance after the final glaze firing. Good to know. I thought I was firing this small cup on top of this kiln shelf shard so it could catch a drip or two that might flow out from the downward-tilting handle. Rather than catching a stray glaze drip or two, what I ended up with was a crazy cup that fused itself completely. Somehow, though, I like it.

Michele Quan @ BowmanBloom

Some nice work in the east village this past weekend. Michele makes garlands of clay balls that are combined with fabric and rope and decorated with slips and underglazes. Great drawing style. I loved the shell shapes as well. Upcoming work from her will feature tusk shapes. Look forward to seeing more.

Clay Pigeons

I'm not quite sure what it is that makes these clay pigeons so amazingly delightful, but I just love them. It could be the immediacy of the way he is working; a real sketch-like feeling. Or it could be the "personality" of their attitudes. They are made by studio manager Albert Pfarr, who is known for his expertise in all areas of clay, glazes, kilns, etc. Here are a few shots that chronicle the method he uses to produce the flock. A loosely thrown jug or bottle type shape is then tilted onto a base, given a beak and face, then glazed with a shino glaze that is heavily reduced in the kiln firing. Wax resist prevents some areas from the effects of the carbon trapping, which is what gives the deep black.

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

Tyler Speicher @ Greenwich House Pottery's Made In Clay

I brought these cups home with me from the annual GHP benefit sale. Their maker lives in Iowa. What attracted me to them instantly was the very blocky shapes that really reminded me of grain elevators and other architectural forms of the wide open spaces. They are fired electrically to cone 6, and the glazes are commercially prepared - both facts I found surprising. He also had some neat small plates and canister-type vessels that I was pining for. Great work.