Julia Galloway Workshop in Walnut Creek

Julia Galloway is doing a workshop on Sat, May 21 hosted by the Walnut Creek Clay Arts Guild.

Description: Julia Galloway, Director of the University of Montana School of Art, will be making and decorating pottery. She will discuss pottery forms, wheel throwing and altered forms, slip surfaces, cone 6 glazing, idea development and historical influence. Enjoy a slide show about Julia's work and a talk about historical pottery and how ideas have developed over time. Big talkers, shy potters and technique seekers all welcome! Doors open at 9am. Bring a potluck item to share for lunch. Cosponsored by the Walnut Creek Clay Arts Guild, Association of Clay and Glass Artists and Trax Gallery.

Go HERE to register or call (925) 943-5858

Richard Slee

Richard Slee.com 
It's nice that "Slee is one of Britain's most important contemporary ceramic artists. His work attempts to challenge every conventional notion of that genre, transcending its utilitarian roots whilst also sidestepping the self indulgent aspects of the studio tradition which became ubiquitous in the late twentieth century."

In the past, Slee has messed with the cultural, historic and vernacular possibilities of the ceramic object, using puns, humour and his vast array of craft skills to transform the ordinary into the surprising.

"From Utility to Futility" at theV&A  
Watch the vids with Greyson Perry - interesting commentary.

Fetish Ghost's Secret Studio and Beatrice Wood

GO HERE and watch.................beautiful!

Workshop with Forrest Lesch Middleton at Fourth & Clay

Fourth & Clay hosted their third workshop with Forrest Lesch Middleton.  It was a packed house.  standing room only.  and no surprise.  For anyone who has seen Forrest's work, arguably some of the most original, sophisticated, stylistic, articulate work out there - being able to watch and learn from him was a great opportunity.

People attend workshops for different reasons, each specific to whatever it is they are looking for to inform their work, for me, it was about the screen printing process.  I'm not a thrower and everything Forrest does is on the wheel.  But, since I took a screen printing class last fall, I've done nothing with it; I wanted to learn more about that part of his process.

I first saw Forrest's work last year at the ACGA Show at the CCACA show in Davis, then at the ACGA Clay and Glass show (a great show) in Palo Alto last June.

Forrest teaches all over the Bay Area including: Santa Rosa Jr. College, SF City College, Solano Co College, CCA in Oakland.  He is also director of the ceramic program at Sonoma Community Center and recently created and manages an artist-in-residence program there, so he has a philosophy of sharing information and an openness in his process.  Generosity in the clay community continues to impress and inspire me.

This workshop was 6 hours long - it's impossible for me to cover all of it.  

One thing about Forrest's work; it's so unique and so endemic to him and the arc of his ceramic career - there are so many layers, years and hours that inform his work the thing to focus on is his knowledge and experience as a teacher.  There is a dearth of information about clay, printing, design, firing, chemistry, information, slip recipes, even photoshop.

The gift of the workshop for me were the magic words:   Ryonet.com 
Ryonet - the place that you can get any screen printing supplies you could possibly need and GET THIS - they will expose your screens for you with your images on them!  THAT made my week!

I highly recommend taking workshops or signing up for clay class with Forrest - find out where he's teaching - take advantage of it.  I am doing little justice to the resonance and depth of his experience and here's the thing; he's also one of the nicest, coolest guys you'll ever meet!

There is a TWO -DAY Workshop he is teaching at Sonoma Community College next weekend.
Feb 19-20 hands on with the screen printing process for both thrown and hand built work.
Go HERE for more information

Bay Area Workshops coming up

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I've already signed up!!  If you're in the Bay Area - take advantage of these two fabulous workshops.  

Carol Schwartz Sculpture

Carol Schwartz sculpts in wood.  For me, the style and scale is a reference to Akio Takamori and Viola Frey, don't you think?  Big, bold and strong and yet there's an elegance toward gestural storytelling.

Turns out Carol once lived in San Francisco and worked on the design for the BART signage.  I wonder if Carol ever met Viola?

Visit Carol's website; many more beautiful pictures and info.

The AUCTION is LIVE

GO here

Groundhogese

 photo courtesy
Punxsutawney Phil lore

Zoological data suggests that groundhogs have a average lifespan of 10 years in captivity and 6 years in the wild, with a maximum lifespan of 14 years in captivity documented.^[3]Punxsutawney Phil fans say that there is only one Phil (all the other groundhog weathermen are impostors), and that he has made weather prognostications for over 121 years as of 2011. They say that every summer, Phil is fed a sip of the mysterious Groundhog Punch, which magically lengthens his life for seven years. This is done by Inner Circle members.^[4] According to the Groundhog Club, Phil, after making the prediction, speaks to the Club President in "Groundhogese", which only the Inner Circle appear to understand, and then his prediction is translated for the entire world.

how's that for creative, eh?

Punxsutawney Phil has weighed in; Spring is coming fast!  I'm thinking the East Coast won't mind!

Let's not forget the imposter: Staten Island Chuck

...oh  and yeah, it may be my birthday, but I'm not part of the "inner circle" and I don't drink any groundhog punch - all sounding a tad bit druid-y.