100 Spring and Summer bulbs ready for Labor Day open house

bulbs in progress (before glazing)

Join me at my home studio this coming Labor Day weekend for a free open house featuring my work and that of my friends and art colleagues at Yakima Valley College, Kayo Nakamura (drawing, prints, mixed media), Monika Lemmon (drawing) and Chris Otten (photography). Oops! in my last post, I forgot to mention that my daughter will also be there with her handmade jewelry.

Now that she's nearly and adult and working independently, she decided to rebrand her jewelry with her name (before she and her friends were "Dezignosaur")

Stop by my studio, 203 S. 8th Ave, just south of Walnut Saturday and Sunday, August 30 and 31 from 10-4 and/or Monday, September 1 from 10-12. Admission is free. Kids welcome, as long as they can be gentle around art. (Adults welcome under the same expectations ;-)

bulb in progress, partway through its first coat of underglaze

In the Spring and early summer, I made a bunch of bulbs, to replace the 100 bulbs that I installed at YVC. I had a blast making the bulbs, but now I've spent what feels like the whole summer glazing them. 

finished bulb, this one was fun to underglaze

Last week, I unloaded maybe the third load of glazed bulbs (and a few other odds and ends). 

bulb from my sketches, made to look drippy

Somehow I still keep making them, so I'm not exactly caught up, but I did get all the ones made in spring done. It's funny how small pieces like this can feel both like nothing (I didn't make any new large or even medium sized sculpture this year), but also like a lot (I made and finished 100 pieces in about half a year).

some of the 100 bulbs made earlier this year

The irony, of course, is that I don't have space to show 100 bulbs during the Labor Day open house. Maybe I'll just put out a bunch in some bowls for folks to play with. 

the original idea for the bulbs installation was that the audience could rearrange their order and orientation

For the show, I bring in a partial wall with hooks. While I'm using the studio for making, this wall is in storage, but during the show, it gives me space to install 27 bulbs while hiding the clay storage area under my worktable.

the partial wall during a previous year's studio tour

The other thing I'm not sure how to think about is all the bulbs that require more work because the plan is to include mixed media. I've got maybe half a dozen bulbs that I planned to add stuff too, and adding that stuff takes extra time. 

These perforated pieces are a bulb I intend to sew together. So far I'm on attempt 3 to get the sewing to look right

I'm not exactly behind my timing plan, so they might still get finished, though I have a lot of things I plan to do if I have time. I already started cleaning my studio, and I've fired what I hope is the last firing (I got an error code, but the top layer looks ok, so far). 

a new bulb with glaze on only the sprigs

Most of the mixed media stuff can be done in the house which may work out well, since this week is supposed to be very hot and my clay studio does not have air conditioning. The weekend of the open house is supposed to be cooler, and my studio feels great when the fan is on and the windows are open, as along as it isn't 101 degrees outside.

a bulb after underglaze, but before glaze

The bulbs that I've been working on have been a blast. I got really excited about making them earlier this year and still have lots more I want to make (and finish). I've been trying to balance my glazing (and painting) time with my making time, because, apparently I could just make bulbs basically forever and not do anything else.

a chain bulb--the chain moves

Earlier in the year, I thought I'd spend this summer focused on more political pieces and/or screaming faces, but I just didn't find the energy. The politics pieces and the faces tend to take more of my mental and emotional labor, while the abstract pieces are fairly relaxing and calming to create.

the only screaming bulb from this batch

Even applying the underglaze layers to these pieces can be fairly relaxing, at least when compared to painting and using glazes themselves. For those of you not familiar with my process, underglazes are the colors I use for the bulbs and most sculpture. These colors look similar before and after firing, while glazes are the ones that can melt and get shiny. They usually look very different before and after firing.

bulbs with the second coat of underglaze applied, ready to be wiped

For most of my bulbs and sculpture, I bisque fire the dry work, then I apply the first layer or layers of underglaze and fire again. After that I add a second layer of underglazes, wipe that away with a wet sponge, so that it highlights the textures of my forms. Then I add a layer of clear glaze to some or all of the sculpture. That clear glaze will be glossy, and may also darken or deepen the appearance of the underglaze.

bulb before the third firing, with pink underglaze

The glaze I usually use over the underglazes appears pink before firing and clear after firing. I use different glazes, which fire to a hotter temperature, for my functional work. Most of the glazes we use at YVC are still different glazes that fire to a yet hotter temperature.

the same bulb after firing, the pink turned clear (over green)

Labor Day Weekend Open House & Tall Work in Progress

Coming up this Labor Day weekend, I will be hosting an open house at my home studio. My art colleagues at Yakima Valley College, Kayo Nakamura, Monika Lemmon, and Chris Otten will also have their work on display at my studio. 

This year's postcard, featuring work by me, Monika, Kayo, and Chris

Like last year, the show will run Saturday and Sunday 10-4 and Monday 10-12 at my house, 203 S. 8th Ave in Yakima, near Davis High School. Unlike last year, admission is free! The studio is on the ground level, but in back of the house, and visitors will have to walk across some grass and there is a small step into the studio itself. We'll also have work displayed in the yard.

me, Chris, Monika, and Kayo

My studio has been a part of the Yakima Artists' Studio Tour for the past 4 years, but this year we decided to separate ourselves from the tour for several reasons, including that we don't really want to charge folks to visit the studio. We are holding the open house on the same weekend and have offered to tell our visitors about the Tour, though we are taking care of our own advertising, such as it is, for this event.

finishing three parts of this large sculpture from last year (the cat thinks the paint water is her dish)

My goal with this event is to show off my studio and my work, as well as the work of my colleauges, and to chat with folks, socialize, and hang out with friends. I signed on to the tour back in 2021 for the same reasons, and because I like the idea of a weekend set aside for folks to visit different art studios in the area. I would like the tour to be free for visitors.

Dates and times are the same as last year, but we're no longer an official part of the tour 

Months or a year ahead of time, I always think that inviting people to come to my studio sounds easier than taking my work someplace else, but when it comes down to it, I'm not sure that's actually true. There's a lot of cleaning involved in opening my home studio to the public, and I need to stop making new work (or finishing old work) at least several days or a week ahead of time in order to clean and arrange the space to show work rather than make it.

clean windows, floor, and wheel, this only happens once a year!

On the other hand, it's not a bad idea to sometimes clean my studio. This is the only way the windows are going to get washed.

my large (complicated) sculpture started last year

I've spent most of my studio time this summer trying to finish work I made last year or in the spring. Honestly, I kind of hate finishing work. I like making things out of clay, but I don't like glazing nearly so much and this summer I learned that I pretty much hate painting--at least the way I was doing it.

ooh, that crack!

Last year I completed several tall multi-part sculptures, but the bottom parts cracked in the kiln. I suspect that they cracked because the clay body couldn't handle the size and weight of the clay. In May, I bought several different sculpture clay bodies to test my theory that the clay is at fault, but I haven't found the time to do make anything out of those clays (because I've been glazing and painting instead).

I usually fire the first layers of underglaze, then add a second layer and wipe it away from the raised textures

Because the bottoms cracked in the bisque or first underglazing firing, I didn't want to fire them again. My usual approach to sculptural surfaces is to layer underglazes, which, for me, means 3 firings. The cracks  were likely to get worse in subsequent firings, so I had determined to patch the cracks and use a cold finish (meaning an unfired finish, in this case paint and paper).

the repaired base with acrylic paint

Last summer I asked my painting colleagues for recommendations and during the year I purchased some acrylic and gouache paints and practiced using layering gouache over acrylic paint. This summer I finally got around to using the gouache on the most complicated of the large sculptures. It worked great for what I wanted, but it took forever and was somehow more tedious than my already far too tedious underglazing layering techniques.

the first layers of gouache on the sprigged surface

The tedium had a lot to do with my approach. Instead of using one or two colors of gouache over the blue acrylic, I decided to use eleventy-seven colors, which took eleventy-seven hours to apply, and then an additional infinity to wipe away.

the gouache partially wiped away from the sprigs

I finally finished the paint layers on all 3 of the parts of this textured stacking form, but I still haven't finished the piece, because the plan is to add paper layers over the blue sections. Honestly, by the time I finally finished the paint, I didn't want to look at this sculpture anymore.

the gouache nearly completed

Also, before the Labor Day open house, I really wanted to finish glazing the 100 bulbs I had made in the Spring. I've got the last batch in the kiln today, so my plan is to clear some space and get the paper done on this sculpture before the show. Which is why I've decided to take time out of my day to write a blog post...and mop the floor...and clean my email...and maybe I'll paint the kitchen today, too.

painting all done, pieces stacked (somehow it feels like it should be taller than this)

If you'd like to see this piece finished, stop by my studio on Labor Day weekend, there's, like, a really good chance it will be done by then.