Gwendolyn Yoppolo Workshop

Some current work; Gwendolyn Yoppolo via the Ferrin Gallery

Gwen did a 'working workshop' at Ruby's this weekend - meaning we all got a bag of Babu to knock around.  Funny how porcelain can freak people out!

About Gwendolyn's work; I've found no picture to do her pieces any justice at all.  The details in her shapes and forms are amazing; and the glaze can only be experienced first hand - it has a velvety lusciousness that would convert anyone - except that she talked about how challenging the glazes are.   Her use of microcrystalline-glaze is as much a part of the overall result as the shape and form - a perfect example of a good marriage.  Her process is "GLaborious"; such care and indulgence invested in each piece down to the minutest details. 

The thing that resonated with me was the discussion of focus being on the inside of a piece.  She is very interested in the socio-relationship to the service of food; the process of gathering and the process of serving and the use of the vessel in the ritual of eating, as are all functional potters, I suppose.  Gwendolyn described is kind of like a micro-philosophy - the inner world relating to the outer form.  The discussion about her primarily focus in building each piece from the inside out was something I had not really heard in this weay before.  The end result isn't the driver.  Instead of simply jumping to the end; the finished "look" - building, creating, designing is a contemplative exercise to imagine the end from the inside out...

Wow, I donahue-d that eh?

Here she is demonstrating this:

Gwendolyn is currently at the Bray - she talked a lot about the fabulous opportunity to work exclusively in studio to spend a lot of concentrated time on one direction. 

What else do you do in Montana!?

And, here's my clunkier model...

 

It was a great workshop.  I got a lot out of it; I'd recommend attending one of her demo's if you have an opportunity.