NCECA will be here before we know it – and two days before that will be an amazing Preconference hosted by Michael Connelly and Alleghany Meadows @ Montgomery College.  I suggest you all register right away and come out to Philly a few days early.

Making Through Living

Living Through Making

a two day event (March 29, 30) focused on the journey of the contemporary studio potter

There will be simultaneous demonstrations by:

Ron Meyers

Ellen Shankin

Christa Assad

and

Andy Brayman

as well as a keynote address by Studio Potter’s Mary Barringer and panel discussions featuring Julia Galloway, Ayumi Horie, Alleghany Meadows, Michael Connelly, Andy Brayman, Lisa Orr and Steve Lee.

the Artstream Nomadic Gallery will also be in attendance with maybe our best lineup to date .

This is going to be a really inspiring event. Enrollment is limited. We have kept the price really affordable. Standard cost is $135. Full-time students are $85.

Visit the website for information and feel free to print out this flyer to post as you will

Call 215-641-6397 to register with your credit
card. (Monday-Friday/9-5 E.S.T). If you leave a message, the operators
will call you back!

i was kept awake the other nite thinking about making 50 or so blocks in a sandy cast terra cotta  – building a wall and painting them w/ slips and then glaze.

it is beautiful in my mind.

Medieval Chamber Pot

1300AD – 1500AD

This object speaks for itself.

Rather worryingly, the description in the Yorkshire Museum’s database says:

“Greenish glaze on upper two-thirds of body.  Internal deposit.”

Things may get a little weird around here as i transition from studio potter into grad school applicant.  As i ask the big questions of why? and what? around returning to school i’m finding all kinds of avenues opening in my brain.

Challenging my own commitment to pots as a primary means of expression feels really good.  I’ve been thinking about school as a continuation of making outside of the demands of the marketplace.  Feeling like i don’t have to produce ‘product’  – i am becoming more keenly aware of my relationship to ‘object’ and how objects  carry ‘image’.

that having been said – this is a pretty great pot.

i wish i made it…

Stevie's best friend

nice to settle back into life in ‘Bonedale following a two week whirlwind roadtrip.  I’ll be getting back in the groove tomorrow – preparing a push of work designed specifically for graduate school applications.  I can’t wait to get back into the studio – feeling all filled up from my adventures on the road.

It was great fun to see friends, visit schools, spend time with family and do a bit of museum hopping.

Here are a few snaps of my trip thru the east and back again:

these little fellers just came out of the kiln yesterday.  the images should get cleaned up a bit in the coming weeks – but we’re informal here:

some of these pots will be available at Baltimore Clayworks Winterfest, some will be in the CCC Holiday Show and the rest will come on the road with me as I visit family, teachers and friends.

1st snow in 'Bonedale

a beautiful day to edit and compile images from yesterday’s kiln.

i’ll be getting some fresh pots up today…

long nights in the studio as of late – tromping back and forth from the studio thru the gallery  – making new work and taking in the show @ the SAW gallery each time i need to get to the fridge or the bano.

i like to just let the pots in the gallery effect me when i’m in the middle of the next round.  i try not to think too hard on them or pick them apart too much while i’m in a creative cycle.  thru setting the show – hosting the opening and delivering the gallery talk  – i have a pretty good idea of what i did.  now that i’m moving the ball forward it’s handy to be able to run into the gallery for a quick ‘ what did that look like under that? ‘ issue – but other than the small technical queries-  i mostly just let the show wash over me.

i’ve just got a next glaze kiln loaded -

here’s a couple shots of the process:

Stanley Bell @SAW

I’m a bit short on words these days.  The studio scene has been really active recently and i’ve been having some great time with my SAW colleagues.

I’ve got a bisque in – mixed some fresh glaze – and transitioned the studio into glaze mode.  Big day manana.

I hope everyone likes pictures…