No foliage color yet, but it really feels like fall now; today we brought the wheel in from the "summer studio,"aka the kiln shed. It always feels way too soon to do it until suddenly it is time. Some places in Maine, places not too far from here, got frost last night. Funny: last week we had a 90° day. That's Maine for ya.
So, the season is turning, and so is the wheel. I am finishing an order, and when I have thrown the last piece, I will throw the order over again: this way I guarantee I will have the ware, and any I don't need, well, those are inventory. Because there's another season coming, right after this one, and I am gonna need inventory.
I actually posted these a while ago but only just getting around to sharing.These were pots from my August firing, which would not be available for purchase from finemesspottery.com were it not for my less-than-stellar art fair. Glass half full, etc.
And, in fact, the glass is more than half full. Because I have inventory, I was able to pursue new accounts. This holiday season, Handworks Gallery in Acton, Mass (not to be confused with Handworks Gallery in Blue Hill, Maine) will be carrying my work. More appointments on the docket; will keep you posted.
Play this 210 times, and that was my day yesterday.Notice I am wearing my bike helmet! I don't care for heights.
Spent a couple of hours pulling down the stack. I had hoped I'd only have to take down the softbrick shell, but that didn't work out; the upper courses of hardbrick were laid partially on the outer softbrick sleeve, so they had to go before I could work on the softbrick.
That was the bad news. The good news is that, looking down into the opening, I don't think the inner hardbrick sleeve has been affected. I had to remove 30 courses of hardbrick above but I think hte res can stay in place while I remove and then rebuild the outer sleeve.
It was much shorter work than I expected, once again proving the truism that begun is half done. Gravity was a great assistant in this venture: after warning Doug, and then the neighbor kids, to stay out of the kiln yard, I just tossed the bricks down from the roof. I could only throw down about 20 before I had to climb down and stack them out of the way, because while the soft ground did them no damage, striking another brick definitely would. I think I broke three bricks that way.
Hmmm...Seemed higher when I was up there!
Which is fine, because I decided that when I rebuild it, it will be a little bit shorter. It draws like a mad bastard (or it did, when it was standing!) and so I think a shorter stack will serve me better. I just can't decide how much shorter. One course? two?
But none of that is for today. Today is webwork, and then canoeing!
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Lori Keenan Watts (aka me) is a potter, gardener, and avid reader from Augusta, Maine. Though I started my university education in surface design for fabric, clay quickly grabbed me by the heart and redirected my creative impulses. I have been a potter for over 25 years -- hard to believe. The most valuable years of my ceramic education were spent in graduate study at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, under the tutalage of Dan Anderson and Paul Dresang.
My aesthetic is guided by my love of the material itself. What fascinates me and makes a pot compelling for me is the clay-ness of clay: the squooshiness that becomes the adamantine solidity. I also like patterns, unexpected proportions, and when the flame comes along and dissolves part of my careful decorating efforts! I am obstinate about this aesthetic, to a point which might be called pig-headed, but hey, if you don't like what you make, why bother?
My happy little family also includes my husband, musician and photographer (and author of the book Alewife) Doug Watts; five cats; and a turtle, all foundlings and rescues of one stripe or another.
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