Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Pribilof Stare

It's about midnight here and I'm waiting a bit so I can turn up the electric kiln and go to bed.  The end to yet another 15 hour day. If you are a Deadliest Catch fan you might catch the title reference.  I was spoiled up at the school with the computer controlled kiln.  The studio is mostly finished and I've been working steady in there.  I've been pulling a lot of long days since Thanksgiving. My two biggest events of the year are coming up in about 5 weeks.  My MFA show goes up mid-February(can you believe that is already coming to an end?!!!) and the week after that I'm heading off to Baltimore for the ACC show.  After those I'm going to NCECA in March and then up to the ACC show in St. Paul in April.  This MAY be my last year for the Baltimore show, I've given this wholesale thing a shot but I've not been that happy with it.  The money has been good but I don't like the compromise.  I've burned a couple bridges this year with my biggest accounts so it may not be as profitable to me as it has been, but we will see.  I like to think that I'm sacrificing to hold up the flag for artistic integrity, or I could just be an uncompromising bastard.  I have to say though, it's easy to stand behind the flag of artistic integrity when you're pulling a teaching salary, I'll admit it.  If there is one thing that Elmer Taylor has impressed upon me (ad nauseum) it's that the University is a patron that affords me the opportunity to work as I please.  Well, anyways. Here's a few photos from the last couple weeks. 

Some leatherhard teapots.

Large vase, I liked the texture on the ridges.

 Slab dishes, lots of slip work!

Bad construction practices keep my kiln going. 

Large bowls, more slip work.  These are made with my batch of Ocmulgee brick clay.  Gnarly stuff. 

The pots are stacking up.

My goal was around 500 pots for the Dec-Feb cycle, I'm sitting somewhere around 300 at the moment.  The problem for me is working that far ahead.  Once I've produced enough work for a firing it's hard to keep working because the question for me is what do I make?  I'm not immediately firing and getting that feedback that I can take into the next cycle.  So instead of working non-stop and then firing back to back I'll try and get a firing out next in about a week and a half and that will give me 3 weeks to get a some last minute work done for the second firing.

Well, time to turn up the kiln and head to bed.

Cheers!

5 comments:

Dan Finnegan said...

Nice to see that new space fill up for the first time!

Sandy Miller said...

Enjoy the read on your wholesale mutterings. Been having that same issue and finally decided to get off the road this year. Here I sit in Jan. watching the deadlines go by and wondering if I have made a mistake..... Will let ya know. Kept three accounts but have also burned a few bridges, explaining if I wanted to work in a factory I'd join a union with Ben-ies.
I've parred down my expenses as much as possible and hope for good studio sales. Just put a gallery in my old studio space and it's helping me to see what I need to make, especially since I drink morning coffee in that space. Love the work and new space, best....

Kyle Carpenter said...

Wow, MFA already? Where does the time go? Looks like you had no problem adjusting to the new studio. Pots look great. I hope the firing is good too. I'll be in Austin in May. Are you close to there? Congrats on your upcoming MFA degree. Seems like you'd be a good teacher.

Scott K Roberts said...

Both flags can be cut from the same cloth, E.T makes a good point.

learning ceramics said...

I just love how delicate your pottery always looks - there's a fine craftmanship about them....