A bunch of MudFire folks have some pots in a new show at Gallery Walk at Terminus here in Atlanta, one of the biggest, swankiest new buildings in town. My set of pots is above. Here are the curator's notes and artist list from the brochure...


Georgia Clay

Georgia has a long history of clay being used to produce vessels of all shapes and sizes. Our agrarian roots spawned the tradition of using earth to make functional objects like pots, jugs, mugs, platters and vases for everyday use. That tradition still runs deep in Georgia, but there are also artists who are using the medium in new and innovative ways. The art form that these artists explore is not necessarily “functional,” but a more sculptural, artistic expression using clay, porcelain and ceramics as the medium. Some artists use their clay form almost as a three-dimensional canvas on which to paint and draw their thoughts and ideas while others seemingly push the physical limits of what clay can withstand in order to make gravity defying sculptural objects.

All of the artists in this exhibition are schooled in the tradition of their craft but have chosen to explore a more unconventional direction in their artwork. Represented by galleries such as The Signature Shop in Buckhead and MudFire in Decatur, these artists are nurtured in our community and are flourishing in their artistic explorations.

– Anne Lambert Tracht, Curator

ARTISTS
AJ Argentina | Eileen Braun | Glenn Dair
Martin Dawe | Debra Fritts | Jennifer Graff
Krista Grecco | Erik Haagensen | Ron Meyers
Andy Nasisse | Mario Petrirena | Barry Rhodes
Adrina Richard | Stefan Ritter | Luba Sharapan
Kirsten Stingle | Gregor Turk | Pandra Williams

Georgia Clay
October 13, 2010 – January 14, 2011
case study at TERMINUS 200

Busy Summer, AKAR

Holy infrequentness of posting batman!

Guess its been a busy summer, not the least of which is the big Hooper plates project. I took his family crest, and made six prototype platters all using different decorative techniques. Sent 'em out, got 'em back, and got to work duplicating the winner 13 times. Its not done yet but almost done and done enough to breathe easy finally. Here's a peak at the in process...

Just got back from southern Minnesota for a wedding, survived my first mid-West summer extreme storm with 90 mile an hour winds and hail, enjoyed a free first class upgrade from Delta on the way home (bloody marys!) and got home to find a non-descript envelope...

...INVITING ME TO SHOW AT AKAR GALLERY!

Very exciting, in fact let's say just as exciting as having San Francisco artist Diana Fayt come to MudFire to teach for back-to-back weekend workshops starting Thursday.

Plate a Day

Yipppeeeee!

One of my big platters was featured recently on the A Plate A Day blog. Check it -- and a lot of other really cool plates -- out on the blog. Scroll down a few entries to #362 from Thursday May 8. A Plate A Day

Let us add a parting thank you to Kyle Carpenter for catching this while I was on vacation and mentioning it.

Vent it!

Here's a great reminder of why its important to vent your kiln & kiln room. Take a look at what a few years of kiln fumes did to our heavy gauge stainless steel Envirovent blower. Here are "before and after" pics with the replacement...

Painting, Fish Test

Super excited today! Yippppeeeeeee!

I've been working on some new things and had some awesome test results out of the kiln today. The goal is to come up with some design motifs and ways of extending and complementing the line drawings with more depth...particularly for larger pieces. The thing that has interested me most is the look of water color overlayed with pen and ink. I think this started with a painting in a high school art exhibit that I juried last year.

Let me see if I can dig up the photo right now. Yes here it is. Sadly I've lost the artist name. This was a small detail of a huge painting. But I love the crisp lean lines on top of the color.

Here's my first test result. I'm not sure if it'll be color little monsters and cartoons, maybe some, but I'm really eager to try some abstract and some more expressive fire pots and some calming nature is likely too.

From a technical perspective I couldn't be happier! All the colors stayed true, no weird interactions, the color layering worked well, everything stayed smooth and shiny, fine detail stayed fine. Happy happ-E. Time to start testing my 80 jars of mason stains and spend some time in the notebook composing.

I don't know why I picked a fish for my first test, it just worked out that way. I'd like to capture fire, water, air, earth somehow, have a series of each. How varied can I get with the decoration and still have it be Erik Pottery with the same materials and forms? This is what I'll be drifting off thinking about in a few minutes.

Peace, good night.

Riding A Wild Pony...

...is how I think of this life of the artist and arts administrator. The hat rack seems to grow ever bigger. Here's a bunch of posts I've been meaning to make and I'll just lump them all together. Maybe not ideal from a writing perspective but a good glimpse into the wild of the ride.

Man down! One of the vents on our kilns quit the other day. Not a big deal if you're firing for yourself outdoors, but in a building full of kilns that people are working in every day moving work for 160 ceramists in and out, its really not safe to fire because of fumes, and if you don't fix it the ware shelves back up pretty quick. Luckily it was an easy and routine repair and we keep the spare parts on hand. I learned that working on a sail boat....keep 2 or 3 of everything on hand, because when you're 50 miles offshore is when things decide to break. Take a look at what several years of firing fumes will do to a heavy gauge stainless steel blower fan when you fire continuously...

Did I mention I love my socket set?

My fine friends at Maralyn Wilson Gallery in Birmingham, AL had a big cup show including work by yours truly. While the show is not online, it did get coverage in a nice segment on the local news on the ABC affiliate. Maralyn does a great job in the interview, although she does make the newscaster kind of snort and make senseless comments when she reads the caption from one of my mugs "Bunny Loves Riding Smiley 3-Eyes". I helped with some artist suggestions and was excited to see my friends Joey Sheehan, Ronan Peterson, and MudFire Ranger Megan Ramsey join me in the show.



We've been busy with events and big spring marketing push here at MudFire the past several weeks. I realized the other day I had nothing drying and ready for bisque firing. I've got a few days to throw throw throw and I can't wait it's been a while. My last run of making was mostly handbuilding, which was unusual and fun. I made some cool boxes getting ready for the Containment show at Crimson Laurel Gallery that opens in April. This is going to be an awesome show and you'll be able to view it online. I'm doing my final decorating work this weekend and shipping the work out this week. I'll try to grab a few pics and post a sneak preview of my contributions to the show here. I'm truly honored to be included in this group of artists.

And of course, no blog multi-post would really be complete without a picture of one's darlin' with her new green mini-goattee...

Ready for Action

It's been a crazy month of nonstop MudFire madness with our big neighborhood arts cruise RAD, and exhibit of new work by Luba and myself and Austin pottery Ryan McKerley, another weekend with Ryan doing a workshop, and now setting up for the Kyle Carpenter show this weekend.

The good news is I got a ton of pots done in time for the RAD exhibit, the bad news is it all went so fast I didn't get to post a show video. I've got a ton of pictures though...here's a few...including my first pottery on fire, a bunch of whiskey cups to get us through this cold weather, a monster mosh pit serving bowl, and at the end my favorite of the last kiln load. I love the crazy stuff but I'm also working toward elegance, and this one is the best step in that direction yet.

If you're in Atlanta, stop by this weekend, I've still got a big bunch of pots on display, and you can catch Kyle Carpenter's opening celebration too. We'll be drinking wine and talking pots, see you there.

Thanks for reading and looking!

 

 

My Long Lost Twin

My parents never told me I had a twin brother, but now I have uncovered their plot. Apparently they shipped off Alterna-E to Brazil at an early age, but the adoptive parents must have tried to preserve his heritage somehow. There is no other possible explanation. Well, wait, I suppose as performance art I could have created and populated this myspace profile. I don't know, I'm uncomfortable talking about it. You make the call....long lost twin...or performance art? Comments? Mom?

My Brazilian Musician Alter-Ego