Gerit Grimm

Production Pottery, 2011, Ceramic

I recently unpacked one of Gerit's pieces for an upcoming show at Red Star Studios.  Her work is stunning and really well thought out.  I love how she uses the potter's wheel as a tool to throw and alter vessels to create small and large scale human sculptures.  Her work is playful and inventive.  The little details within the hands and toes blew me away.  

Josiah Wedgwood

Pegasus Vase, 1786, Jasper Ware

After a visit to the Nelson Atkins Museum, I found myself wanting to return to the English Ceramics Collection.  One piece that particularly caught my eye was a Josiah Wedgwood piece.  I love his form language and blue and white finishes.  His works are beautiful parts of history that tell stories with their low carved reliefs.   I love how this one sits on a stand.  

Forrest Middleton

Bottles, 2012, Ceramic

Last year I saw Forrest's work in Ceramics Monthly.  He is a potter who uses image transferring to display intricate patterns inspired by the history of the Silk Road.  I love his forms and and his choice in imagery to display on his pots.  These bottle forms particularly caught my eye with their bulbous forms in the base that come up to tight necks with finials that reminisce the body of the pots.  

Linda Sikora

Jar, 2012, Ceramic

Linda Sikora focuses on jars for their generous canvas and criteria of containment.  I enjoy her forms for their reflection of folk pottery and melting glazes that lead your eye down each piece.  I am attracted to this jar for its simplicity, elegant form, and glaze combinations.  

Brett Kern

Astronaut, 2013, Ceramic

I first saw Brett's work on Instagram.  Never saw anything like it before, but could relate to it immediately.  As a child I had different types of inflatable toys that I used to play with.  Brett uses these to make molds and slip cast them to look almost identical to the plastic blow up toys.  They are awesome to see in person and I really hope to own one some day.  

September 13, 2013

Gertrud & Otto Natzler

All of their pieces have incredible form language.  I find myself just following the whole profile of every pot.  They are even more talented at glazing their pieces with multiple layers of color variation.  This work has a strong sense of movement to it that I like.

Koie Ryoji

I enjoy these pots for their sense of freedom. They all of have a different personality based on their form and color.  I love how small the feet are, it makes the pots look as if they are floating and it helps complete each form.  

Eric Rempe

I recently saw this teapot at Red Star Studios in KC, MO for a show last month.  I really enjoy everything about the whole piece.  The lid is really beautifully done and the finish has a great contrast between the matte background glaze and glossy black paph orchids.

Claude Monet

This summer I visited the Philadelphia Art Museum.  I found myself spending a lot of time in the gallery where they showed a lot of Monet's paintings.  I am captivated by his use of strong vibrant colors that lead you into the depths of his landscapes.   

Ryan J. Greenheck

The first month of this semester I am focusing on jar forms.  I enjoy these jars for their very fine craftsman ship and glaze combinations  You follow the glaze down each pot that flows nicely in front of a matte finish.  It's really nice how the knobs echo the form of the pots.

Testing Different Clay Bodies

High Fire Grollegg Porcelain

When our class was introduced to testing different clay bodies, I knew right away that I wanted to play with a very white clay body.  My professor Paul Donnelly gave me a couple of different recipes that contained high amounts of grollegg.  I ended up choosing Babu's porcelain and testing that.  It was more difficult to throw and trim with but it was extremely hard to pull handles with because of it's plasticity.  After taking mixing up a slip slurry of it and letting it dry on plaster it was a lot easier to pull handles with.

  

High Fire Black Stoneware 

The second clay body I tested was a black stoneware.  I mixed up a one pound slurry of slip and laid it out on plaster until it was firm enough to wedge up and throw.  This was by far the best all around clay body I have ever worked with.  It looks like dark chochlate when you are throwing with it and it fires beautifully with just a clear glaze over it such as Hensley Clear. 

                                    

Flint Hills High Fire Stoneware

The last clay body I worked with was from Flint Hills Clay and it was just their high fire stoneware.  This clay body reminded me of other stoneware's I have used in the past.  It works really nice to throw with and it is not that firm so it easy to wedge large amounts.  It is a very strong clay body so it makes it easy to trim a lot off when leather hard.  This clay body is also quite beautifiul with just a clear glaze over it and looks even better with black under glaze designs if applied in the correct amount.  

From the potters wheel to the plaster wheel.

The Plaster Wheel

This was the first time I learned how to work with plaster and the plaster wheel.  You start by rolling up a plastic tube and setting it center on the wheel head.  Once you have that plastic dammed up around the sides with clay you pour plaster in the tube to the height that you want your piece to be.  Depending on the size of the piece you unroll the plaster and begin to lathe the plaster block into whatever your heart desires.  Once you have the form you want you soap it and repeat the first step and make a crack mold.  This is a cup I made where I lathed it upside down.  

George Timock

Words can not even desribe George Timock, but I will try.  He is the most talented, hard working, and dedicated ceramic artists/teacher I have ever worked with.  I only worked with him for 2 weeks here and there as he helped me learn about basic mold making.  However, I learned a lot from him but still have so much more to learn about molds.  I feel very fortunate to have had the oppurtunity to study and work along side of him.  

Pitchers assignment 2013 KCAI

Josh Deweese Pitcher

From the moment I first saw Josh Deweese's work I was in love with it.  I was surprised that I enjoyed it so much because for years I always admired tight forms.  Josh is able to compose pots that have a very loose feeling with his cut away rims, large attached spouts, and sometimes pretty crazy handles that are pulled and manipulated.  His gestural brush strokes also flow very nicely with his forms.

Ancent Greek Wedding Pitcher

I have always admired ancient Greek pitchers for their unique style and different form designs.  The Greeks composed different pitchers, amphoras, and some of them even just look like vases.  Some of my favorites are the ones that have pointed bottoms that rest in another pot.  I admire this wedding pitcher for its simplicity, size, and beautiful white slip application.

Jeff Campana Pitcher

Jeff Campana is working unlike any other ceramic artist that I have ever seen.  He throws these beautiful porcelain forms, then cuts them in leaf like patterns.  After he has his forms completely destructed, he reassembles them exposing the lines.  He is a master not only at this technique but glaze formulation and application also.

Start of Spring 2013 at KCAI

Sanam Emami

We started off the semester by making a variety of vase forms.  One contemporary ceramic artist I have always admired for her work but especially her vases is Sanam Emami.  Her vases are unlike anything I have ever seen before and her approach to setting up different spouts for the flowers to grow in remind me of how flowers actually bloom themselves.

Chinese vase made in Jingdezhen

I have always admired ancient and current Chinese ceramics.  They produce beautiful, elegant forms that are normally finished with a base glaze then highly decorated with china painted or cobalt oxides topaint beautiful scenes of nature.  

                                         

White Calla Lilys

For years I have always admired flower arrangements and also enjoy putting them together for special occasions.  I have only done it a couple of times for girlfriends and of course for my mom on mothers day.  It is even more fun when you get to fill one of your own vases that you made and see how the flowers want to position themselves.  

October 24, 2012

Chinese Landscape Paintings

I have always admired Chinese landscape paintings.  It is incredible how much depth and detail they show with simple mark making.  Several lines, dots, and shading come together to coney a beautiful depiction of a Chinese landscape.

Martha Grover

I am drawn to Martha Grover's porcelain for it's movement and color.  It is elegant yet simplistic in a way.  These dinner sets flow very nicely together in the stacked position.  Martha's pots are invitiing to the user and she a great sense of color with her glaze application.  

Chris Staley

Chris Staley's pots are about "fragility and strength."  He primarily makes vessels, some have tight forms but loose textures that are applied.  Some of his other pieces are more loose in form but have smooth surfaces.  I really admire his work for its craftsmanship and explorations in form.