may be in over my head ??

My friend Sharon Virtue recommended me to the gals at Fourth & Clay to participate in this show and there I am!  Jeepers - do you see the lineup?  I'm feeling in a bit over my head, but hey no guts no glory, right?

I'm also wildly thankful to be involved.

Time to get my A-game on and ask the clay and kiln gods to work some magic too - cross your fingers for me.  (I have a set of cups at the half way mark that I am hoping will fit the bill).

If you're around  - I can guarantee this will be a super fun event and like I said; look at the line up - worth your time!

I know I will be spending big on some new cups for my collection - I'm a big fan of many of these artists.


So come by -  see the show.

Andy Irons

RIP Andy. we'll miss you; you are one of the purest. a dream.
blessings to your family, friends, Lyndie and baby about to come into the world ...

dude, my god, way too young.

shepard fairey

Dwellings for the Divine show at Ruby's

Halloween, Samhain, Dia de los Muertos...

Here are some pictures of  the "Dwelling's for the Divine" Sharon Virtue & Barbara Vanderbeck show at Ruby's Clay Studio last night.  Divine alters, spirit houses and dwellings for the living and the dead....and chocolate carmel corns!!


Sharon was in full regalia as the African diasporic goddess Mami Wata: Mami Wata is often described as a mermaid-like figure, with a woman's upper body (often nude) and the hindquarters of a fish or serpent. In other tales, Mami Wata is fully human in appearance (though never human). Mami Wata often carries expensive baubles such as combs, mirrors, and watches. A large snake (symbol of divination and divinity) frequently accompanies her, wrapping itself around her and laying its head between her breasts. Sharon is off to Ghana for a couple months - King Louie there, is going with her.  


Go Giants!

I lied

I said I'd not be posting for a week - and I am almost outta here; I managed to sneak in a workshop with Christa Assad this weekend.

Many of you probably know of or have heard of Christa Assad?  If not, you might want to sit up and pay attention.  To be sure, Christa is a super cool gal and makes incredible work.  I have posted about her a few times and I have a small collection of Christa cups.  It was great to see her.  She's been running around all over the world, she recently had an amazing 9 week trip doing a diverse bit of ceramic-y stuff.

This was a robust workshop at 6 hours, and even with technical glitches and some studio issues; she made one of her "iron teapots", a two part vase (sitting on the table in back of her there) a Saki set with tray and managed to get them all done on the hour!

For me she represents the modern ceramic artist - dynamic young, modern, super talented future...

Christa Assad
Ferrin Gallery
Fourth & Clay




I took a workshop from Christa a couple years ago; one important tip of many from her is that she uses a retractable box cutter to cut and alter pieces; it has become my indispensable tool.  The cheapy ones you can get at the hardware store - they are long and thin - right, you can see where I'm going with this.  It does not drag or pull on clay when you cut, it's a great improvement over a knife.  I also got all excited about making a damp box which she swears by -  the best idea yet that has not materialized  (I do have a sack of plaster and a couple bins - I'm half way there!).


Repeating this workshop was a great opportunity to see her evolution over the last couple years and listen to her talk about what's going on for her now and how her recent experiences are shaping her work.  


Oh, and the roller!  She is using a little hand roller tool - like a printing roller for her seams - that was new from her last workshop!  I have been using a wall paper seam roller to work on my work and it definitely allows for greatly compressed seams with a nice clean finish!  


Actually, I think when you have an opportunity to get to meet and see an artist in action - however many times, it's worth it.  I am hoping at some point to do a 1 week or 2 week workshop with her, how fabulous would that be?  


One more bit of news: Christa's and her Studio mates at Fourth & Clay will be having a holiday show in early Dec - they have a bunch of artists selling cups (I don't know how I got to participate in this but I am and kind of freaking out about it).  There will be food, fun, drinks and music - should be a good time.  Check out the Fourth & Clay website for more info.


cheers, best
see you all soon!

Yeah, Bubbles

I





love this......
Bubble up, blubbly?
Happy Full MOON Friday - have a super fab weekend.
I will be Offline for a week!
I hope to have some fun stuffs to report when I get back.


The Underwater Project. 

Handful of Salt does Joe Cariati

Handful of Salt (a favorite of mine) posted an interview with Joe Cariati (another favorite).

Joe makes classic beautiful look modern and cool - I like his style and his style.  Inspiring.  

I think of glass as the sister craft of clay; both driven by fire!

THANK YOU Fetish Ghost!

Zygote - a million thanks - I love my new piece - it's a beauty!!  And thanks for my little pirate charm!
We'll be talking about that workshop for 2011 - I very much look forward to it.


cheers!
linda


ps: sorry the pic is a tad grainy - bad picture taker...

a few new things

here are a few new 'experiments' - I've been fooling around with looks of things....it's part of the 'flyin' through the air' program I'm on right now.

And I am not talking about hallucinogens.

cone 5/6 bmix - cobalt, copper carb, mason stains and some new orange and reds...

Human Cannonball

It's been a super whack-a-doodle couple few weeks; I feel like I've just been shot out of the cannon and I'm flying through the air....not sure where I am going to land - breaking plates along the way

woo-hoo.!

Oh, and don't forget about the Forrest Lesch-Middleton & John Neely show at Trax.  I'll post some pics next week.

Happy Friday

pic: life mag of Egle Zacchini getting ready to take a little trip

Pithy

take one shady guy who needs a date, one good lookin' if reluctant springy girl out picking flowers and what do you get....a very interesting first date, very upset parents.............. and, um,,,,skiing?! 


:)

you can thank the pomegranate for that one.

Pomegranate facts

Pomegranate Myth

Persephone

Pluto/hades

I love pomegranates and thrilled the season is here!

Ben Krupka

That plate!  The mapping mishima pieces both porcelain and the wood fired work are very interesting to me; I have been doing some new work with map references - old maps.  I love his loose, terrain, landscape line work.



Ben Krupka 

dream studio and a bunch of other ridiculously dreamee stuff

I almost fainted; I'm still trying to recover myself.  BIG, clean, gorgeous & stylish studio space in Brescia, Italy. Such the life!!  I used to want to come back as a wine maker in italy - forget that....


The amount of aluminum leafing that he does on those large tree forms is astounding.
Please, I invite you to investigate his site - totally amazing and inspiring!


found at Carole Epp's fabulous Musing About Mud blog


Fausto Salvi's Brescia Studio
Fausto Salvi 

Forrest Lesch-Middleton & John Neeley Show at TRAX

John Neely from Logan, Utah &
Forrest Lesch-Middelton from Petaluma, CA

Once upon a time: teacher and student.

Oct 9 – Nov 7, 2010

OPENING RECEPTION: 5–7pm Saturday October 9

Gallery Talk @ 5:30pm

and a nice invitation from Forrest :

Hello, I hope this finds you well.

I would like to invite you to the opening of "Once upon a time" a two person ceramics exhibition I will be having with John Neely (One of my graduate school Professors) at Trax Gallery in Berkeley on Saturday, October 9th.
For me, this will be a great honor in two ways; one being that I will have another opportunity to show at Trax a renown West Coast gallery of fine hand-made ceramics; and two, I will be showing with one of my great mentors and an icon of Functional American ceramics!

The exhibition will run October 9th - November 7th
Opening Reception Saturday, October 9th 5pm - 7pm: Gallery talk 5:30pm

This exhibition will also be available on line for viewing and to purchase works for the entirety of its run.
www.traxgallery.com

I hope you get a chance to stop by either in person or on line! 

Gratefully,
Forrest Lesch-Middelton

ok, THIS was fun...

click here - RAKU Demo at Fog Fest


Featuring me as the "cranky" cranker 
Margaret Tassi the STAR puller & Rig Inventor!
Georgene MacNicol as second puller.  


Video courtesy of Erika Peterson's new iPhone...
and dedicated to John Toki - who wasn't there in person but definitely in spirit - he was the inspiration.


Of course, THIS happening on one of the hottest days of the year in Pacifica (90 degrees - thanks for that) and this the 4th firing of the day.  


Margaret hatched this Raku Rig idea after attending the Raku FEST at RAC with me over a week ago - inspiration put to work!  We even tried a bunch of glaze/underglaze that Jane MacDonald had outlined at the festival during her talk - we had mixed results this first go.   


Friday night before this event we were giddy and ridiculous with excitement putting this rig together with the help of,  well,,,some riggers (friends of the studio)


dang, I love ceramics and ceramics people...

Lauren Gallaspy

Lauren Gallaspy's work is intriguing and creepy but pretty too; it's like 'the thing' - only a 1000x better than John Carpenter ;)  it is porcelain after all.

This works requires concentration to enjoy and long periods of time to work through the feelings and responses it elicits.  The intricacies and attention to detail living on and within the over all abstract form is delightfully complicated.

ma jun

Ma Jun  neat-O!

Raku Fest, David Kuraoka, Coyotes attack, and various other bits

Richmond Art Center (an amazing place!) had a Raku Fest on Saturday.  For a fee, you support the RAC and could choose to have two pieces raku fired.  There was food, demos and David Kuraoka did a lecture on his history of Raku and Pit Fire both at San Jose State and SF State including a slide show....highlight!

I have only had second hand knowledge of David Kuraoka.  I had a teacher (Tiffany Schmierer) now a friend who was a student of his at State - I've heard all the stories, good, bad and everything in between, tales and mythic legends of huge beach pit fires and raku fires sometimes with as many as a 1000 people; the original burning man!  In listening to him talk about his career all the stories, hearsay and bits of information came together.  I started to get some of the scope of David's influence and power.  It is so fantastic how many of his students are now teaching, influencing the next generation of artists.  Not a few of his former students working and impacting the ceramic stage on a large scale - many in the Bay Area.   People like Dave Kuraoka are (as mentioned in an article I linked below) living treasures.  The dude is a powerful & amazing guy - funny, cute and humble; a real original, a master.  I've heard a lot of stories about State and David - it was a real cool thing to get a chance to listen to his storytelling with pictures!  I sat there in awe.

MORE on David
MORE

Jane McDonald fired some large pieces - it was great to see big work !
Bruno Kark did a throwing demo - Bruno is super cute and fun to watch and listen to.
The RAC is a gem!

I left the Raku event SO high on creative fumes and Dave Kuraoka and FIRE...couldn't wait to get in the studio and do something, anything with clay.



I thought I'd take my dogs out and them go to the studio and work all night.  It would have been a walk like every other walk we've taken in the last 10 years.....

except for these guys

They wanted my dogs.....for dinner.  To make a long story shorter; we were a mile from the car and we were "hunted" the entire way back to my vehicle.  There was no one anywhere near me to help and the two coyotes were extremely aggressive and deadly serious!  I had the tiny dog in my arms and had to tie my other dog to me with my scarf - at one point after circling us for a half mile they were less than 6 ft away lunging in at Dante.

I threw rocks, yelled - it was an intense exchange to say the least.  Nature is beautiful until it tries to kill you; or  your dogs in my case.  It's always good to keep your eyes open and keep your cool...

now we will have to rethink our walk strategy...


the next day:

At Clay Creations Studio where I have been working and teaching a mosaic class we have built a cute little gallery.  Sunday a friend of the studio came by with some reclaimed wood to build two shelves for work!

How cute is that shelf - thank you Dave Blackman - you are an awesome speed racer builder guy!
the gallery is OPEN FOR BUSINESS!!  come see us at FogFEST this weekend.


so, that was mostly my weekend: I got my pyro fix, listened to a Master, made my first concrete counter top, fought off marauding animals, made some cups and bowls, helped build shelves, set up a gallery....