Rachel Dorn Ceramic Sculpture

Pre-School View of Raku Firing

2012-03-06T16:51:00.002-08:00

This is what this weekend's raku firing looked like from the point of view of a 4-year old. Fascinating, no?

second breakfast

the photographer is photographed

earlier she was in my arms asking about the sky. I guess she looks at it more than we do

self portrait with feet

self portrait with flash

the view from inside the studio

I had no idea there was a bag under there

Winter Quarter Raku

2012-03-03T17:04:00.001-08:00

Today was a gorgeous day for raku. (Much better than last quarter when the heat was off in the building and I couldn't feel my toes.)

We only had a few students show up to fire raku work. The day was warm and beautiful, a bit windy at the end. We fired a load of Mike's work, then a load of Janice's work. We'd just started cleaning up when DJ showed up, but the weather was nice and I was firing the glaze kiln so we stayed to fire his load. None of the beginning students showed up, even though I offered extra credit.

putting on the lid and adjusting the counterweight

technical difficulties: one wire got stuck in the edge of the pulley

the first load: ready to fire

Venturi burner hooked up to propane

post-firing reduction buckets

Most of the results were good. Janice and Mike's pieces had been glazed ahead of time. Janice layered a clear over one of the glazes that was not firing right last time around. Mike used a simple clear crackle.

partially combusted materials inside

good results: cooling

The mood surrounding the firing was calm and pleasant. We fortified ourselves with plenty of snacks, expecting a crowd because of the pleasant weather and option for extra credit. I should have taken a picture of the food because it was really impressive. We had bright yellow and orange and green and pink frosted cupcakes in honor of spring and someone's birthday. My daughter and I brought blueberries and strawberries and blackberries, but we didn't realized that our veggie tray (empty cookie box) with bright orange and yellow and red mini sweet peppers, carrots and green pea pods would match the cupcakes. Even the donuts had green frosting and green sprinkles.

Lighting the smoke firing

While the raku pieces fired and cooled, Mike smoked his barrel kiln, my daughter experimented with slip and then mopped up. The rest of us unloaded and loaded a kiln and started firing the glaze kiln uncovered end-of-the quarter forgotten work from the shelves and the damp cabinets. We found several pieces, still damp, from week 1 and 2 (it is now the end of week 9).

Sustainability Conference

2012-03-02T20:45:00.000-08:00

I went to a sustainability conference last Friday. It was an interesting experience. I heard some good information, but mostly the conference was useful as an adjustment to standard practice and habit. By this point in the quarter (or the year) I have gotten into a bit of a rut, teaching the same subjects I've taught before, grading the same assignments and looking at the same projects. I think we get into habits of thinking and talking and planning and it is nice to be forced, for whatever reason to think differently, be challenged and adjust.

I didn't feel that I left the conference with any major shift or change in my world view or even in how I plan to incorporate ideas of sustainability. I was a little disappointed, because I was hoping for some inspiration, to see how other faculty incorporated these ideas, not just in science classes, but across the curriculum. However, since starting the new week, I have talked with other faculty about how we might incorporate some of the conference ideas into our classes. And I did leave the conference with a couple of real, immediately applicable, ideas and tips for lessons or adjustments I can make in my classes.

But the biggest take-away I got from the conference was an increased appreciation for the value of my colleagues. My colleagues at Yakima Valley Community College are thoughtful, student-centered instructors who are interested in exploring new ideas and are often willing and interested in helping their colleagues (and their students, of course) improve their teaching and classes.

Unfortunately the value of my colleagues was emphasized by several negative interactions with faculty from other institutions. The conference was well organized. The people who ran the conference seemed interesting, intelligent and thoughtful. They were also open to diversity of opinion and seemed to value the variety of viewpoints in the conference.

But I was disappointed, even disgusted with some of the other attendees. Early on in the discussion, one woman told me that "young people who are involved in these [sorts of sustainability initiatives] are not coming from community colleges; they are coming from elite universities." I'm not sure if her goal was to insult me, because she knew I taught at a community college, but either way I was offended. What a negative, close-minded thing to say. I really loathe this idea that students who attend community colleges are incapable of higher level thinking. Obviously elite universities attract students with good grades and high test scores (and money) but I think it is reasonable to consider that students who may not have been served by the best K-12 schools might still be able to think critically. Furthermore, faculty at these institutions should be expected to challenge community college students to improve their critical thinking and analytical reasoning skills. I believe that involving students in efforts and initiatives like incorporating ideas of sustainability into the classroom are exactly the ways to get these students (any students) involved and interested in classroom discussions and learning.

Another disappointing statement came from a man in the first group who explained that he believes students aren't interested in sustainability because they are too plugged in. This "kids today" argument is so silly. Should we believe that the iPhone and Angry Birds are preventing students from caring about the environment? The way students think about the environment may be cultural, but I suspect it is more complicated than "technology". He suggested that if there were a video game, students would care about sustainability. Apparently he hasn't heard of SimCity. He, or perhaps another person at the table, later suggested that the only way to create "green campuses" was to have college presidents refuse to grant pay raises until the college went "green." So I guess his plan was to just blame the other guy, or "kids today" or "the man." But what I can't understand is why he attended the conference.

My last brush with idiocy was the woman seated down the row from me in the presentation on water quality and water sources in the Yakima Valley. The lectures were interesting. The water quality lecture had to do with wells in the Lower Yakima Valley being contaminated with nitrites and other contaminants, likely from failed septic systems or frfarm animal waste. After the talk, I asked what sorts of filters were being used, curious whether the type of ceramic filtration system used by Potters for Peace would be useful. The woman down the table from me responded to me in a very condescending way, implying that I couldn't possibly understand the complexities of water filtration. The ceramic filters may not be appropriate in this application but they are useful filters. I couldn't determine whether they remove nitrites, but they do remove bacterial contaminants that cause diarrhea and other water-borne diseases. The question, in my opinion, wasn't beneath contempt.

Anyway, the conference was interesting and worthwhile. In the past week or so I've also been lucky to be involved with my fellow quality faculty at YVCC on several other projects. I have been working with a group of faculty on an honors program that we have piloted and hope to expand in the Spring quarter and next year. I have been working with the director of the Larson Gallery to encourage faculty to integrate a couple of next years exhibitions into their class curriculum. Faculty have been supportive and interested in both of these projects and the discussion of sustainability. I am pleased. It is easier to keep up one's energy and interest level when colleagues are also energetic and interested.

Upcoming & Current Shows & Events

2012-02-26T19:49:00.000-08:00

Current Shows

Today I just dropped off a piece at Gallery One in Ellensburg for one of their three ceramic shows put on in conjunction with the NCECA conference in Seattle. The exhibits at Gallery One open March 2 (this Friday) from 5-7pm. The show continues through April 2.

My installation and other work at "From the Ground Up" in Larson Gallery remains up through March 31.

I also still have a few pieces at Oak Hollow Gallery. A group of my work will be featured in a show at Oak Hollow Gallery in April with Jack Roberts.

Coming up this Week & this Month

I also want to remind people of a few events coming up this week and this month.

March 3, 2012: Raku Firing

Raku Firing demonstration outside the clay studio in Palmer Hall from ~9am - ~1pm.

Students from the YVCC clay classes will be firing their work in our raku kiln Saturday morning, weather permitting. The raku firing process is a fast firing that should take about an hour for the first round and about 30 minutes for subsequent firings. After work is heated to ~1700 degrees Fahrenheit, the work is removed from the kiln and placed in a bucket of combustible materials. The public is invited to attend this firing as part of the clay-centric events of the "From the Ground Up" exhibition at Larson Gallery.

The firing will be cancelled if Saturday is a burn ban day.

March 10, 2012: Clay Artists Panel & Discussion

Clay Artists Panel Discussion at Larson Gallery from 1-3pm.

Panel discussion and slide presentation featuring clay artists Renee Adams, Rachel Dorn, Carolyn Nelson, Greg Pierce and Stephen Robison in the Larson Gallery. Moderated by Cheryl Hahn, director of Larson Gallery.

March 31, 2012: Bus Tour

Bus trip to Seattle/ Bellevue leaving Larson Gallery at 7am, returning 7pm.

Travel to Seattle to see "Push Play," the 2012 NCECA Invitational at the Bellevue Arts Museum and Li Chen "Eternity and Commoner" at the Frye Art Museum.

Student Behaviors

2012-02-22T21:11:00.004-08:00

I've had some interesting classroom experiences in the last week or two. I'm not sure they are exactly related, but they do have to do with classroom atmosphere, classroom (or studio) culture and behavioral expectations.

Gallery Visit

I took my clay classes over to Larson Gallery last week to see "From the Ground Up". On Wednesday I took my hand-building class. I was introducing the show, telling them what it was and what they would see. I had a short assignment for them to complete in the gallery and I wanted them to see the variety of clay work. Before I had gotten to the end of my spiel, one student walked over to my wall installation, stepped over the taped line that says "stay behind this line" and started petting one of my sculptures.

mmm... I want to touch you

I amended my introduction to include the never-before uttered (by me) sentence, "please do not rub the artwork." Later this same student walked into a low pedestal and sent the piece wobbling. He caught the tall sculpture and replaced it but I was flabbergasted. I told him to watch where he was going and I pointed out that the work was $4500. I suppose he felt bad and he didn't walk into or rub any more pieces, but I was surprised that he required the dual reminder. For what it is worth, I did tell the class not to write or lean on the pedestals. It didn't occur to me to remind them not to walk into it.

From the Ground Up postcard (that sculpture on the bottom left looks like it might wobble if I walk into its pedestal).

The second class I brought over was warned before entering the gallery not to touch the work and to watch where they walked. I have been bringing class groups to this gallery for almost 6 years. I can't remember anything similar happening. Or maybe I just reacted more strongly because it was my work being "rubbed."

Visiting Lecture

Yesterday I visited a colleague's class to present a guest lecture. I was speaking to this humanities survey class about the influence of wealth, consumerism, and trade in art of the 17th and 18th centuries. (I tried for a more catchy title.) The class met a bit longer than my usual class period but I had built the lecture to tightly fill a 50 minute class and I intended to involve the class in some discussion at several points during the lecture. I guessed that I would fill the time easily.

This quarter, in particular, my problem has consistently been running over or leaving no room for discussion and review. In preparing my lecture for my colleague's class, I planned for my current class. I ended up being surprised when his class reacted differently.

My art appreciation class this quarter tends to ask a lot of questions and they tend to ask more in-depth questions that lead to some discussion, rather than just quick answers. During lectures I encourage them to answer questions, guess and discuss the topic. I only lecture exclusively in about a third of their class meetings. We spend about another third of the class days in group discussions and the final third mixes guest lectures, visits to the gallery or studios, videos and other activities. I intend for the mixed delivery style to encourage them to be more involved, less passive in their learning. Just today I was lecturing about Medieval art. Several slightly tangential conversations and some energetic review caused me to run long in my lecture. I didn't finish and will have to make adjustments later this week or next to accommodate the extra information.

So I went to my colleague's class with this format in mind. What I found, instead, was a classroom with an entirely different culture and habit. I am not trying to say that my colleague fostered this atmosphere. Last quarter, for example, my class was set up basically the same as my current class and that group of students, together, were loathe to answer a question. I even had several instances where I had to remind students to actually look at the screen during a lecture. Sometimes students, for whatever reason, develop a habit and a class culture that is not conducive to learning, discussion or teacher sanity.

What was interesting during this guest lecture, though was how quickly I had forgotten what it was like to teach an inattentive, uninterested and uninvolved class. I have become thoroughly accustomed to my current art appreciation class and I don't want to have to change.

When I walked into this colleague's classroom, students were not there yet, and most didn't arrive until a few minutes before class. Contrast with my current class who arrive often 10 minutes early. Most students sat down with cell phones out and texted or played for the few minutes before class started. To my horror, at least one played with the phone during class. (I don't tolerate this in my class.) During my lecture I asked questions that were answered with crickets chirping. I double checked with their instructor to assure myself that they had indeed covered the information that I assumed they knew (Humanism. They had covered it). Eventually I took to teasing them for not answering. I had asked a question that should have resulted in a laugh and a negative response. I got neither, though perhaps we can assume that no response is a negative. I joked that they wouldn't answer either way. I'm not sure that teasing a quiet class for not responding is a mature way to conduct myself as a guest in someone else's class, but I can't even remember how I handled it when I had this situation in my class--a mere 3 months ago.

Anyway, the upshot was that my lecture finished early. We were able to squeeze a few distantly related questions out of a student I sort of knew before class. My colleague asked some questions and then we just had to end it. I felt my lecture went well (apart from the joke that no one got) but I felt like overall my visit fell flat. Disappointing.

The joke they didn't get: this "Concrete Mixer" by Wim Delvoye wasn't one of the Chinese influenced porcelain pieces made by the famous Wedgewood Porcelain company.

Clay Critique

And finally, back to my beloved hand-building class. Today they had a critique. Though this is their third class critique, somehow they have not quite mastered the art of being civil and supportive to each other. This was the first and only class in which I had a student say "You Suck" in response to someone presenting on their work. That was the very first comment of the first critique and looking back, it seems to have set the tone. I stopped the critique, of course, and explained how "You suck," even said jokingly was not appropriate in a critique atmosphere. Somehow we still had some of this negative energy in todays critique.

We were about halfway through the critique when one student was energetically presenting his work. He presented a little too energetically and broke his wet clay object in half. The break happened at a seam that hadn't been scored very well and I took the opportunity to point out that fact. I then thought we could proceed with the discussion. Several of his classmates, who had been respectful and involved in the critique with the rest of the students, tittered and dismissed him and his work as a joke. I tried to explain to the rest of the class that this was their opportunity to give the student suggestions on how to improve the piece he now needed to repair. However, the student presenting had basically shut down by this point and it was difficult to continue with his, now broken, piece.

We moved onto the next student who had not tried as hard on this critique as the previous one. His pieces were intact and he had done the basics of the assignment. Several of his classmates noticeably dismissed him as well. One told him, in a condescending tone, that he hadn't make one of his decorations very clear. You couldn't tell what it was. I stopped the critique again here. I explained to the class that they needed to be supportive and offer suggestions, not criticism. The point is to help each other improve and get each other to think about the choices being made, not to prove whose work is better.

I told the students that this is what I'd like to hear:
First, the student should ask the question, "Why did you decided to make the decoration look like that on the top?"
The the artist could respond that he made it that way on purpose or made a mistake but liked it.
The first student could now tell him that she thought it was hard to tell what it was supposed to be.

I was trying to get the students to understand that just because one student doesn't like the artist's choice doesn't mean that the choice was incorrect. And just because he didn't want to change his work, doesn't mean that she shouldn't offer her thoughts. I finished explaining this, I didn't appear to get any glimmers of understanding and then the artist presenting his work said, "I'm right anyway."

So, lesson lost. Momentum 1, Rachel 0. But I tried. Maybe someone was listening.

More photos from my show

2012-02-17T17:35:00.000-08:00

I finally got into the gallery with a camera and a tripod today. Unfortunately my computer isn't quite ready to accept RAW images. I have downloaded the software but need to restart and try to download the images again sans iPhoto. I suspect the lure of the Rib Shack will prevent me from finishing very soon. In the meantime, enjoy some pictures.

a slightly closer view of the wall installation

closer still

ah! too close

low fire ceramic and mulberry paper (inside center circle)

long piece with dry water lily sprigs

a group of friends

more water lily sprigs (and weird color in the photo)

side view

other side

this piece almost got caught on a lady's hat during the opening.

I brought some clay students into the gallery this week to visit the show. Before I could explain gallery etiquette, one student was standing at my wall, past the tape line on the floor that says "do no cross." He was petting the blue guy in the left of the picture above. Later he walked into a pedestal. (deep breath)

From the Ground Up

2012-02-11T20:53:00.000-08:00

Tonight was the opening reception for From the Ground Up at Larson Gallery. The shows looks great, there is a lot of variety in the work. It's mostly fired clay, but firing range, technique surface and color all vary. There are even a few works in synthetic (polymer) clay and there are several pieces on the wall.

I made most of the pieces in this grouping during the past summer with the idea of grouping them together for this show. I'm happy with how they came together, though the installation went a little differently than I expected. Each of the medium to large pieces in this installation could probably be shown individually, but I think they are much stronger as a group. I had a lot of comments about the piece during the reception this evening. Most people who spoke to me seemed to like the piece and I know it made an impact. One of the most interesting comparisons was to the underwater scenes in "The Life Aquatic." (I tried to find examples but I'll have to rewatch the movie, I guess.) A student with a fear of camel spiders saw scorpions in the work, others saw sea creatures or sexual references.

I had other work there too but it was overshadowed.

At least one person liked this piece but the pedestal pieces were hardly discussed--at least around me.

One person did tell me that the gallery director had done a good job installing my work. I laughed; I hadn't considered having someone else install my work.

The show, like I said, was good and it was also nice to chat with a bunch of other ceramic artists from the region. The NCECA conference is coming up at the end of March in Seattle so we all had lots to talk about besides the show.

*sorry the photos aren't great, I still haven't figured out my camera so I took these quickly between running errands and grading.

Installation: From the Ground Up

2012-02-08T20:39:00.000-08:00

Today I installed most of my wall piece at Larson Gallery.

I brought extra so I was able to edit.

I was unable to spread out the finished work in a large enough space (not in the grass) at home, so this was the first time these pieces were laid out together completely done.

I was very appreciative of Mike's help. He said he'd come watch but I put him to work.

Want to see the finished installation? You'll have to come to the opening Saturday from 3-5:30 pm in Larson Gallery.

Teach Like A Champion

2012-02-05T21:43:00.000-08:00

Over the winter break I read the book, Teach Like a Champion, by Doug Lemov. The book is mostly aimed at teachers of elementary or upper elementary aged kids and is more broadly designed for K-12 teachers, but it had some elements that seemed applicable or adaptable to college level teaching. I originally learned about the book because it was referred to in an free kindle "book" about how our perceptions or conventional wisdom don't line up with what is really happening. This book, The Myth of the Garage, was similar to several other titles I've read, such as The Tipping Point (or pretty much anything by Malcolm Gladwell), in that it revealed that research-based information isn't always what we expect it to be. The book is comprised of different articles. The article from which the book's title is derived referred to the belief that people make amazing inventions or discoveries or turn into awesome bands in their garage (or when they are unemployed with no equipment, just hanging out). But the truth is the heros of those amazing stories of success have generally benefited from experience and jobs in their field before they make their discovery or invention or big break. They may have operated out of the garage or been unemployed just at the moment they have the breakthrough, but that breakthrough is based on years of work and practice.

I have digressed. The specific article that directed me to Teach Like a Champion discussed how successful teachers aren't divinely inspired but practice a relatively standard set of techniques that any ol' person can learn. Lemov's book, in turn, set its intention to identify and explain 49 of these techniques. The idea is that teachers don't fall on a continuum from good to bad where the bad are irrevocably bad, but that the best teachers have the most complete bag of tricks. Or something like that.

The point of all this explanation is that I read the book and I found several tricks, techniques or ideas (whatever you want to call them) to be useful. So I've been trying to incorporate them into my teaching this quarter. I would love to say that the results are unequivocally clear and my students are learning better than ever before, but my results are impacted by far too many factors to be sure. For what it is worth, the class in which I am consciously adding these techniques seems to be engaged and keeping pace with the material.

Do It Now

The technique that I have been most actively employing might even be the one I read about in the first place. Lemov explained that many of the successful teachers used "Do it now" assignments at the start of class. These instructors had short assignments on the board when the students walked in or during transition times. My adaptation is that I post several review questions on the document camera immediately when I walk into class. Usually I arrive 5 or 10 minutes early. It takes me a few minutes to get my papers organized, return assignments, open up my PowerPoint on the computer or answer questions from students.

During this time, instead of waiting or chatting or studying on their own, those students who come in early can start reviewing key information from the previous class. I have put up questions every morning when we have been in the classroom except for the first and second day of class. On the second day of class I put up a short article about art from Smithsonian magazine for them to read before class. Sometimes I specifically ask the students to write their answers down in their notes. Twice the "do now" questions have turned into a pop quiz once class officially started. Usually I ask the students to give their answers out-loud once class has started. Several times I have had volunteers (or students I pick) draw their answers on the board.

This past Friday, I had the students change the composition of a simple drawing I had on the document camera. The directions were on the screen for 10 minutes before class. As I said, this was a review and the students had seen exactly these directions several days earlier. I sent 9 students up to the board to illustrate various principles of design using the same elements I used in my drawing. We then discussed the compositions as a class. This particular activity took longer than usual, about 10 or 15 minutes once class had officially started, because it was a review for the entire section. Usually the review of the "do now" questions takes only a couple minutes.

copies of my example drawing (left) and two student compositions illustrating linear rhythm (center) and scale (right)

I've felt pretty confident about this new technique because it seems to make such good use of otherwise not particularly useful time. First, students who arrive early are asked to interact with the class material before they are able to interact with me (because I am answering individual questions or logging into the computer). They are also seeing the information again, rather than just hearing it. If they arrive early, they are able to spend the extra minutes looking in their notes or discussing the answers with classmates, thus reinforcing that they can find the information and giving them a few moments to prepare a confident answer (before the class-time pressure is on).

As class begins, students don't have to wait for equipment or for me to write or ask a question. Those students who come in late are not as much of a distraction because I do not have to stop for them and I don't have to repeat myself or explain what we are doing. They can look up at the board and see exactly what we are reviewing. I also don't feel that I am hurting those students who come late. Yes, of course, it is their fault they are late, but by walking in two minutes late, they miss review of information they should have already heard. I don't make class announcements until after the review questions, so anyone walking in so late as to miss an announcement or the directions for the day's main activity has probably done more than stop at the bathroom between classes or hit traffic on the way in.

Classroom Arrangement

Another of the book's suggestions I may not have had much control over last quarter anyway. In the fall, I taught in a classroom that had an odd arrangement for the desks. They were grouped in pods of 4-6 desks (most days). The desks were arranged facing one another so that only some of the students were looking towards the front of the room or the screen. This arrangement was good when the students did group work but, ultimately, I think it was disruptive. When I lectured, the students weren't automatically facing me or the images I was showing. Students seated on my side of their groups had to turn their bodies away from the group to see me. This didn't always happen. In one memorable instance, I had to stop class twice to ask students to stop talking amongst themselves. I think the desk pods contributed to a less structured, orderly classroom.

Over break, while reading this book, I was flabbergasted to read the section on classroom arrangement. Of course it makes a difference, why hadn't I considered it before? I may not have had much control over the seating arrangement last quarter but I never bothered to find out. This quarter, when I walked into the new classroom to discover the desks arranged in a gigantic circle at the edge of the room with a quarter of the desks facing backwards, several under the raised screen and about 5 stacked in the corner, I knew I would need to make serious changes. Though my inquiries set off a strange domino of e-mails and room changes, the upshot was that my classroom now has rows of four and five desks on either side of the classroom with an aisle in the middle. Occasionally we move desks to sit in groups, but most days this set up works well, allowing me to reach all the students quickly and to have their attention (most of the time). I think I even learned their names faster with this arrangement. About half of our days are spent in lecture mode. On the other days we still spend half our time looking forward. The only thing this set-up doesn't do well is put students in even numbered groups for discussion. When I do ask them to divide into groups we usually have a few people move and students need to turn around or lean across a a row of desks. I guess I'm still working on this.

Everybody Answers

Though I may use a few more of the techniques in the book, their use hasn't been particularly conscious. Before reading the book I already used some of the techniques. The book gave them a name, but didn't change how I do them. The one other technique I have consciously tried to use is really a combination of techniques for holding each student accountable for answering (rather than giving an "I don't know" and letting someone else be involved instead). I haven't done a perfect job of implementing this tactic. Some of the ways in which the author advocated using this technique seem a little condescending for adult students. In the book a student is called on to give an answer to an arithmetic question (or something similar), if the student doesn't answer, the teacher moves on to another student but then comes back to the first student after the correct answer has been given by someone else. The first student is then asked to give the answer. He might just be repeating the first student's answer. This technique is meant to hold all students accountable for paying attention and eventually giving the correct answer. It is meant to give the students the feeling that they can do it. I find it to be a tricky technique to comfortably use in my class.

The book also talks about having the teacher cold-call students, meaning to call students who haven't volunteered. This is an issue in my classes because I pepper the students with a lot of questions throughout my lectures and I have a tendency to allow people to shout out their answer. The problem is that this technique often results in an active class size of only 5 or 10 students. By this I mean that only 5 or 10 students volunteer answers and it becomes a smaller conversation. This is something I have been working on this quarter. I ask the students who normally answer to stay quiet and let someone else have a chance. This seems obvious, but I think it is important to do this in such a way that students don't think you are annoyed with them. The risk with this technique is also that students won't volunteer so I'll have to call on them.

One particular day this quarter we were doing a lot of review and I made a real effort to involve more students in the discussion. At one point I called on a student who didn't have the answer. I adjusted the question and waited but he still didn't know, so I moved on to someone else. After a classmate eventually gave the correct answer, I asked the first student to repeat the answer. He did, and thus, according to Doug Lemov was involved in the class discussion and was able to learn that he could give the correct answer, but the process didn't feel quite natural. I felt like I was picking on him for not knowing in the first place. For this reason I haven't exactly used the technique again. I have come back to the first student again with a modified question, but not the exact same one. Perhaps I should just do exactly what I did the first day so that particular student won't feel singled out.

As always, the classes are works in progress.

Upcoming Clay Events in Yakima & Washington

2012-02-01T20:13:00.001-08:00

I have some exciting local and state clay news to share. There are several clay related events coming up in the next months in Washington State and right here in Yakima.

Washington Events

This year the NCECA (National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts) will be hosting its annual national conference in Bellevue (Seattle), WA. Several art venues in Central Washington are also gearing up related exhibitions for the event.

Let me tell you how excited I was to see this workshop advertised in Seattle just before the conference: Two Day Raku Workshop with Robert Piepenburg, Gail Piepenburg and David Roberts (click the link but you need to scroll down to the event). Unfortunately the workshop is March 26 and 27, the first days of the Spring quarter. So sad. So I'm hoping people I know will go in my stead and tell me all about it.

Yakima Events

In February Larson Gallery on the Yakima Valley Community College campus hosts "From the Ground Up," an exhibition of ceramic art by regional artists working in organic and synthetic clay media. The exhibition will feature functinoal and sculptural ceramic made using a variety of techniques and firing processes.

"From the Ground Up" opens Saturday, February 11, 2012 from 3pm -5:30pm in Larson Gallery on YVCC's campus (corner of Nob Hill Boulevard and 16th Ave in Yakima.

This exhibition has a number of adjunct events including a slide lecture and panel discussion by 6 of the exhibiting artists. The slide lecture and panel discussion will be held Saturday, March 10 at 1pm in Larson Gallery. I will be showing slides and discussing my work. I will be joined by Renee Adams, Carolyn Nelson, Gregory Pierce, and Stephen Robison.

Later that afternoon, YVCC clay is partnering with Larson Gallery for a live demonstration by two of the exhibiting artists. Eunsil Kim will be demonstrating her throwing techniques and Mike Hiler (one of my perpetual independent study students) will be demonstrating his unique hand-building methods. Both demonstrations will take place in Palmer Hall (the round building) room 107.

Plans are underway for a raku firing hosted by clay classes at YVCC. The raku firing is normal part of YVCC's clay program, but in honor of the special clay-centered events this season, we will be inviting members of the public to observe this exciting firing process.
Update: The Raku Firing took place March 3:

Larson Gallery is also planning a bus tour to see the Push Play, the NCECA Invitational Exhibition at the Bellevue Arts Museum and other clay exhibitions associated with the NCECA conference. The bus tour will leave Yakima for Seattle/Bellevue on Saturday morning, March 31 and will return that night. Contact Larson Gallery at (509) 574-4875 or e-mail gallery@yvcc.edu for more information and to reserve tickets.

Central Washington Events

Gallery One in Ellensburg will host several clay exhibitions in their gallery in March and April. An artists' reception will kick off the exhibitions March 2 from 5-7pm. The exhibition in the main gallery will be the Airstream Ceramic Exhibit. Kittitas County Ceramic Artists will be featured on the Mezzanine and the CWU Ceramic Students Show will be in the Eveleth Green Gallery.

Heritage University will host a visiting artist lecture by clay artist, Wanxin Zhang on March 20, 2012. The Slide lecture will be held from 1:30pm to 2:30pm in Smith Family Hall in the Arts & Sciences Center on Heritage University's campus in Toppenish.

Finishing Work & Running a Studio with More Students

2012-01-27T16:00:00.000-08:00

Finishing Work

Towards the end of class today I was clearing out old work, forgotten bats and plastic sheets from the damp cabinet and shelves. I was surprised to find work I had thrown last week, before our surprise snow days. At school I often start projects then get distracted or forget them before I can finish trimming them or attaching handles. In part, this is a factor of the way I work in the school studio. Since I am not making my own work (per state ethics guidelines), I usually throw example pieces for new techniques and as students request to see new shapes. I try to stay a day or two ahead of the current projects so students can see works in progress as they are trimmed, attached and finished.

I forget the work in the damp cabinet or on shelves because students frequently ask for a new demonstration during class. They want to be reminded how to throw a narrow-necked vase but they already know how to trim it. So I have a vase from one demonstration and no reason to finish it during class. After class I need to grade papers or prepare new demonstrations so I can't finish "my own" work.

This quarter, however, I have noticed that I've been able to make and finish more work than usual. I'm in the clay studio for more hours and more days in the week. I've traded a clay class for a design class, hence I've traded that prep and class time, too. The type of classes makes a difference, too. I have 5 intermediate students, 8 beginning throwers and 16 hand-builders at this point in the quarter. A more typical mix has generally been 14 beginning throwers and a handful of intermediate or hand-building students.

The intermediate students have more complex and varied requests for demonstrations and the hand-builders work at an entirely different pace. Beginning throwers need to see bowls and do bowls. Over and over and over again. I'm not complaining, I enjoy the throwers, but the intermediates and hand-builders present a considerable departure from the normal routine. This quarter, only 4 weeks in, I've been able to try out some techniques I don't use very often. I was able to demonstrate coil throwing and building in sections. I spent almost 2 weeks on a coil built piece and I have several slab pieces and a teapot in the works.

More Students in the Studio

There is an interesting disconnect as a professional artist during the summer, and an instructor of mostly begining level clay students during the year. I make sculpture in the summer. I throw pots during the year. As a result of the classes I teach, I get a lot of practice on my bowls and my cylinders. I spend some time with handles and spouts and that's about where my pottery practice ends. When there isn't a student need, I don't find the time to try other techniques or forms. In the summer I prioritize my hand-building and sculpture.

Just last week a student was asking me what was the biggest piece I'd ever thrown. He had earlier requested that I demonstrate throwing a whole "pug" of clay (we cut extrusions from the recycling pug mill that are about as long as the bins we store them in). I explained, that was probably as big as I'd ever thrown. Then I thought, how funny, I've been teaching pottery here for almost 6 years and I've never bothered to push the scale of my pots. No student need.

I've thought and talked and written before about the importance of studio atmosphere for the development of student artists and potters. I've always believed that hard working students (who clean up after themselves) set a good tone for the studio. New students see that there is an expectation for them to practice, ask questions, plan, and take risks. A group of students in the studio who all make these sorts of assumptions about my expectations (or the expectations of the group) translates into more work, better work, more interesting work and a more rewarding experience for everyone involved.

In a studio that expects hard work and interesting discussions, not to mention responsibility and respect, the work is better and the people are happier (and, in a clay studio, healthier since the studio is kept clean). What I haven't thought much about before is the benefit of this atmosphere for me, as an instructor and as and artist.

I am happier and also more challenged in my clay studio because I have more time and I have more varied students. I have more time to plan, more time to prepare example pieces or pieces that can be used to illustrate intermediate steps in the various processes.

One example that captures part of the difference is the example of a surface decoration demonstration I do every quarter. Usually I have a leather-hard bowl and perhaps a dry or bisque fired bowl to work with. During this demonstration I try to show students how to use slip decoration, carving, sgraffito, paddles, stamps, sprigs, faceting, cutting and piercing. Since I am showing so many techniques and I have only one or two pieces on which to demonstrate, the one bowl becomes a tragedy of overabundant adornment.

This quarter, however, I was able to spread out my carving, cutting, sgraffito and sprigs on two plates, four pinch pots, a coil pot and a lidded box. Since all these things were partially made on the day of the critique, I had abundant surfaces to decorate and no hideous Meissen style extravagance as a result.

Hideous Meissen extravagance (picture from Wikipedia)

One of the disadvantages of teaching at a small community college is that I do see a great number of beginning students and I am less often able to work with groups of higher level students. I hesitate to explain, because I don't want to complain; I like what I do. I enjoy the challenge of teaching different sorts of classes. But it does mean that my attention and my time is dispersed.

Working in this quarter's iteration of the clay studio has allowed me to move more in depth into some of the forms and techniques I regularly teach and has given me more practice in working with students on higher level techniques. In fact, I find that I am excited about all the things I can still do with this quarter's classes. And I am excited to see what we as a studio, can encourage individual students in the studio to accomplish.

Still Here

2012-01-26T19:07:00.000-08:00

I've got a couple of posts in the works, but they are a little too link- and photo-heavy for me to finish today. This week has been a bit hectic as we try to catch up after our two surprise snow days last week.

The pink on the corner is not my hand; It was snowing heavily, so to protect my new camera, I covered it with a baby blanket, but it was hard to see if I had it up above the view of the camera--and editing photos is not an appropriate use of my time right now.

While I finish a post about my busy studio and another about the upcoming clay events in Yakima, check out what my Art Appreciation students are watching this week. We're talking about the formal art elements of time and motion, so we watched part of the Andy Goldsworthy film, Rivers & Tides. I highly recommend watching the whole thing. I think you can rent it from Netflix.

A few months ago, someone on Facebook shared this video about Theo Jansen's kinetic sculpture. I thought it was perfect way to explain or show kinetic sculpture, since we can't always guarantee that the students will see kinetic sculpture in person during the class. (We had some great kinetic sculpture made of metal and stone by James Lapp in Larson Gallery a few years ago and Renee Adams had some kinetic sculptures made from polymer clay in the Central Washington Artists Exhibition this year.)

Snow Day & Advertising Online

2012-01-19T16:12:00.000-08:00

Why I'm Home Today

Yakima got about 6" of snow yesterday morning. Yakima Valley Community College cancelled school around 4pm, we came home and played and shoveled but by then it had pretty much let up.

Snow. it looks white. They don't plow here.

I got up early this morning to get some things done (I ordered new media business cards for Larson Gallery) and ended up running just a bit late. As I ran upstairs to wake up my daughter, it occurred to me that I'd better check that her day care was open. I checked the YVCC homepage (which doesn't actually help me find out if her day care is open, since they follow Yakima School District closures) and was very surprised to see we were closed. After checking my e-mail and calling in (since I really couldn't believe we cancelled for 6 inches of snow that fell while I was on campus yesterday), I went back to getting ready and let my girl sleep in.

ooh, ahh. What a lovely (draft) of a new media business card you have there.

It has now been showing since 8:30 or 9:00 am and we've got about a foot total maybe. It was supposed to turn to freezing rain, but so far I've just seen the fluffy white stuff. Hopefully it stays that way. I heard a rumor that Yakima doesn't plow until there's at least 6" of snow, but I've also seen no evidence of snow plows on the roads around here.

I use the truck to gauge snowfall levels.

I have, of course, had a wonderful day home. My daughter and I tromped through the snow to the pharmacy and stopped to write her name and draw smiley faces in the fresh snow. On the way back, we made funny footprints and followed the freshest footprints home while trying to find our old ones that were almost covered in new snowfall by the time we got home an hour later.

Advertising & Marketing (as an artist and instructor)

I didn't do any real school work after I discovered it was a snow day, but in the early morning I talked to my mom, who had seen the new videos I posted on YouTube. I've had the YouTube page less than a month but I'd posted some throwing demonstration videos and some other clay demonstration videos I made this month and in the summer.

I had been envisioning the YouTube page as primarily a teaching tool. I have been thinking of the blog as both a teaching tool and a personal/art journal of sorts. As a professional artist I would direct people to both my website and my blog. As a teacher, I would direct students to the blog as a way to access particular demonstrations or explanations and also as a way to link to other interesting content.

With this school use in mind, I had linked my YouTube videos to my "Quick Links for Clay Classes" page on the blog but I hadn't bothered to include my name or information on the videos. I labeled them as throwing videos and figured they'd be used by just 10-30 students a quarter, depending who did their suggested homework.

My mom suggested that the videos were part of the overall marketing of the "Rachel Dorn Ceramics" brand. Okay, she didn't really say that. But as an artist, its important to remember that my online presence is one important way that the world can see me/my art. I haven't been doing this blog/YouTube a long time, and I certainly don't have it figured out entirely, but I keep discovering, in little "Ah Ha!" moments, that easy little things like labeling can make a big difference. (At least I think they can, I guess I haven't been doing this long enough to know.)

Maintaining the blog, linking to demonstrations, videos, interesting stuff, updating a YouTube channel or a website or a Facebook page, all of these are easy little things to do, but they're also difficult and large and multi-faceted. I remember reading a few months ago that to get stuff done you need to keep something really big and unpleasant on your "To Do" list so that in procrastinating that thing, you'll do all the other things. There seem to be a million little pieces that go into maintaining a useful online presences (I have no idea what half of them are and I haven't gotten around to doing most of them), but just keeping some of the plates spinning seems both exhaust me and give me a great sense of accomplishment when I do some of the tasks (like labeling my videos).

Somedays I would like to just take a personal snow day (or snow week) to get ahead. I'd spend some time linking and advertising and trying to bring more traffic to my new and improved blog and website. But I actually like what I spend most of my time doing. It's nice to have this hungry little monster as a supplement but I suppose if I did give it all my time, it would take all that and more.

One more snow pic: the mailman was here, like, 10 minutes before I took this picture, his tracks are already filling in.

Independent Study Student Blogs Winter 2012

2012-01-16T07:05:00.000-08:00

This quarter I have again asked my ART 299 students to create a blog to track their plans, progress and thought about their studio work this quarter.

Students are maintaining their blogs as a part of the requirements for the class. I am sure they would appreciate thoughts, questions and other feedback from their studio mates in beginning and intermediate wheel and hand-building classes.

To access these student's blogs, click the links below or on the right side of my main page. To comment you will likely need to sign in with a Google account (or similar) but I don't believe you will need to join Blogger. Some students also have e-mail addresses linked to their websites or if you see them in the studio, be sure to ask questions or talk to them about clay.

Two throwing students will be continuing to post on blogs they started last quarter:

DJ's Blog http://djwood-ceramics.blogspot.com/

Les's Blog http://lesdelzerart299.blogspot.com/

Mike will be continuing to blog about his hand-building and drum making but at a different address:

Mike's Blog http://mikehilerclayforms.blogspot.com/

And we have one new (to ART 299) throwing student joining us in Independent Study this quarter:

Amanda's Blog http://amandabequette.blogspot.com

Also, don't forget that I have posted links to videos and clay related posts on the "Quick Links for Clay Classes" page above.

Installation plans

2012-01-12T17:46:00.000-08:00

I am planning to include an installation at the upcoming clay exhibition, "From the Ground Up" at Larson Gallery.

I have experience with installation work but I am starting to fret about this one. I'm mostly just fretting because that's what I do at this stage. The work is made, I can't really make any more pieces before the deadline but the installation isn't up yet so I fret. To ease my own fretting, I'll plan, or, in this case, write about installations.

My first wall installation was created for my senior show in college.

The installation consisted of 100 "bulb" shapes arranged in a 10 x 10 grid. The piece took up the short wall of the long gallery. The pieces were pinched and raku fired. Later I recreated the installation with different bulbs, different arrangements, and different surfaces for firing methods. One installation in a window display of Higher Fire Gallery in Madison was hung from strong fishing line with pieces "evolving" onto the floor.

Later I recreated a version of the installation in my parents' living room.

During graduate school I created several different installations using clay and one using handmade paper and fabric.

My Master of Fine Arts Exhibition was a large installation in the Allen Centennial Gardens on University of Wisconsin-Madison's campus.

One fall I even had my Art Appreciation students create installations after watching Andy Goldsworthy's Rivers & Tides.

I haven't done an installation myself in some time. My plan for this installation is to use a variety of different pieces arranged together on the wall in the gallery. I was expecting to use about 10 or 12 medium sized pieces and several small forms. I laid out my plans on the patio outside my home studio before the works were glazed, but the installation will look different fired and installed on a vertical surface.

Here are some of the pieces I intend to use in the installation.

Ironically, this week when I was preparing to present on my trip to NCECA last March and was going through my images from the conference. I found this picture from the NCECA Biennial that I had forgotten about.

So, I'm not sure that writing about installations made me feel much better, but it allowed me to think and plan my installation a little more. We'll see what happens in February.

Forming Work

2012-01-10T21:17:00.000-08:00

As my 15 hand-builders begin to build their first coil project, I have been thinking about what they need to know about the forming process. I have piece in the studio I have been building alongside them (or alongside those who come in outside of class). I have a few smaller pieces I was using to demonstrate surface decoration. I haven't felt able to spend as much time in the studio as I would like (since I have other work that needs to get done), but I do have images from my summer studio work.

Sketches

I sketch a lot, though I don't always make what I sketch. I sketch during the year and in the summer, In the summer I sketch ideas I will create soon. During the year (when I am not in the studio as much) I sketch so that I can record my idea and save it for my summer studio time. The sketches give me something to work towards, especially if I am feeling stuck or if I don't have an immediate plan for something to start on.

I sometimes combine drawings with found images, like the advertising images above or the photographs below.

Most of the sketches on the last page haven't turned into sculptures, but sometimes I come back to a piece of an idea from a sketch and use it later in my work. It isn't always recognizable when it shows up later, but the sketches, which I sometimes hang up around the studio, remind me later of things I meant to get around to making or trying.

Collections

I also keep a lot of stuff in my studio to remind me of forms I might want to build or and surfaces I might want to incorporate into my work.

Starting my forms

My sculpture is built using coil, pinch and wheel throwing methods. I started off using mostly coil building because I found it to be the most direct and natural way of working. My building methods evolved to be less strictly coil than a loose combination of squished coils and pinched wads of clay.

After I started teaching throwing classes regularly, I started incorporating the wheel into my sculpture building process. I would throw all quarter and have trouble leaving it when my summer studio time began. This past summer I would throw a bunch of parts one day and then use these parts to build for the next two weeks. My work is too asymmetrical and twisty to use the wheel exclusively. Plus, I'm not that patient.

I sometimes also pinch and coil a set of parts before I begin building or while I am waiting for pieces to stiffen up enough to be worked on. These pinched and coiled forms are also combined into larger forms.

throwing a middle section for a sculpture (hollow to floor)

throw pieces that will be modified off the wheel

thrown sphere (on "the hump")

Thrown pieces will be kept tightly wrapped under plastic until I am ready to work with them. By two weeks they are too dry to use.

Combining forms

When I use the wheel I usually start several pieces at once. The wheel thrown elements can dry a little but need to be wet enough to be attached to coils or other throwing work.

scoring edge of thrown pieces

shaping edge of thrown piece for attachment

attaching two thrown pieces together

paddling seam of attached pieces

attaching third thrown section

piece is laid on its side for more shaping and finishing

Coil & Pinch Building

Some of my work combines mostly thrown pieces (as above), but usually I hand-build onto the thrown pieces and the form of the sculpture develops more organically.

pinching coils onto the open end of a thrown form

I often work on foam or on my lap because pieces don't have a flat base.

the same piece later that day

adding more coils

attaching a pinch formed cone shape

after two pinch cones have been added. The foam and wad of clay are holding up the heavy wet clay as it dries.

closing the coil / pinch form

finished form

Scheduling Creativity, Planning for Effort

2012-01-06T17:37:00.000-08:00

One of the most rewarding things I did before leaving for winter break was to redo my course calendar for my clay classes.

This winter I teach 3 classes and several independent study students. For the first time at YVCC, I will be teaching hand-building on a different day than throwing (rather than stacking the classes and teaching smaller groups simultaneously). I have been using and revising the same calendar for several quarters, but the new schedule required me to make significant changes.

The schedule and time change and the split classes required me to rearrange the schedule. I also anticipated that, especially the hand-building class (which filled late), would have a significant number of students who are not college ready. My beginning clay classes have no prerequisites (whereas many lecture classes have a Math or English requirement to enroll). Obviously students don't have to be able to write well or calculate to learn pottery or hand-building techniques, but students who enter college at a low level sometimes also lack the expectation or experience of doing homework, planning their work or preparing for class. With this in mind, I adjusted my hand-building class to include more directed activities.

Instead of 3 building projects and a glazing project (like the throwing classes). I added an extra project to the hand-building schedule and adjusted the projects to each be a bit shorter.

When I was an undergraduate student, my beginning level projects were pretty flexible. I was expected to find a creative answer to the problem posed by the instructor. I was also expected to work hard and challenge myself within the project. The project was left open, in part, to allow for multiple interpretations on the theme. With hand-building classes at YVCC, I have discovered that setting up a relatively large flexible assignment works for some students but can leave some students floundering. Some students don't realize soon enough that a studio class requires a great deal of time. They think art is an "easy" class and don't plan time in the studio. They realize their mistake just before the due date and then try to rush the building. Sometimes their work collapses or has to be redone. They get frustrated and aren't happy in the class.

hand-building student working in clay studio

I find with clay classes that the best way to understand the drying process is to experience it. No matter how many times I say that work needs to be covered so it won't dry out, some students need to come in to find their half-finished work bone dry and impossible to complete. No matter how many times I tell them to come into the studio to work on their project, students try to put it off until the last minute.

Really successful hand-building students are often the ones who enjoy being in the studio and therefore plan time to work outside of class. Their work is built up a little at a time and the deadline is easy for them to meet. These students are often content to work independently or take the initiative to ask me or ask classmates for help.

coil-built work by previous students who spend time in the studio outside of class

One adjustment I made to the calendar this quarter was to include two deadlines already this week. Most students were able to get 4 pinch pots made by the end of Wednesday's class, but no one was finished with their three coil pieces by today. I don't think any of the students came in between Wednesday and Friday's class, but several were in this afternoon. Hopefully they all now have a better idea of the time required by the projects.

One additional variable for the students' success in my class is the size of the class itself. The hand-building classes here have suffered from being small and from being combined with throwing classes. I think the students sometimes feel like the hand-building class is a neglected step-sister of the primary class (the throwing classes are generally larger).

I anticipate that the sheer number of hand-building students in the studio will encourage more effort from a greater percentage of the students. They will see each other working and the idea of working, especially outside of class time, will be reinforced. I suspect they will also see students from other classes (beginning and intermediate wheel and independent study students) working in the studio at various times.

Today students looked at some "inspiration" images I brought in. They worked on their practice coil cylinders and had the opportunity to talk a little about what they might like to do for their "real" project next week. Monday I will give them a surface decoration demonstration and I will also require them to practice some of the techniques on their prepared pinch pots. Before they even begin their "real project" they will have had 3 things due and 3 days of class spent working on various techniques and projects.

texture tools to be demonstrated Monday

Writing Assumptions and Voice

2012-01-02T20:36:00.000-08:00

I've been spent some time over break writing and revising my artist statement, teaching philosophy and other writing. The process of revising writing causes me to fluctuate between feelings of accomplishment and frustration. Revising with family nearby makes it easier for me because I can read it out loud and get an immediate second opinion from someone in person (instead of over e-mail or phone). Sometimes reading it out loud to someone just causes me to recognize errors I've made.

Revising my own previous writing also causes me to realize that the sorts of regular errors I make are pretty similar to the regular errors I expect to see in students' writing. Its funny, since I have been writing artist statements and artist philosophies for a while and I assumed I was pretty good at it.

At the end of the quarter I meet with Art Appreciation students who are writing reports on an artist. One of the things I most often tell them about their writing is that they need to write how they say it. I ask them to explain what they are trying to say. They are often perfectly able to explain clearly to me, but when they write, their speaking voice is lost.

The other day, I read someone else's teaching philosophy (Jason Briggs, I linked to his website in a previous post but didn't take too much time to actually look around then) and was impressed by his conversational tone. He was saying many things that I say, but his writing sounded less formal.

It wasn't until I read this other statement that I realized that my own tone in a similar teaching statement is not particularly conversational. I read it out loud, I have people read it over to give me a second opinion, but still it was hard to recognize how it would sound compared to other similar writing.

I was also interested to discover that Jason Briggs' statement, though it didn't say so, clearly assumed he was teaching art students in a 4-year instituion, whereas there are elements in my teaching philosophy or other writing about teaching work that assumes that I am teaching students who don't intent do continue in art and who, often, are only going to take one art or one clay class.

In both cases, these assumptions make sense, but I wasn't able to see my own assumptions until I read his statement and recognized his assumptions. In my case, I think I tend to argue for the value of art in a general education degree because I have spent most of my career at YVCC arguing for the value of art in a transfer degree. Most of my regular students don't intend to pursue art as a career. I don't spend most of my day-to-day or quarter-to-quarter efforts concerned with art majors. I know and have experience with art majors in various institutions, but my current position is different.

I believe in what I do now. In considering whether I want to be at YVCC or at a similar institution long term, I start to wonder about these assumptions and habits of working and thinking. My values are unlikely to go through major shifts based on where I am, but the assumptions of students and other faculty around me may be different. I may be "fighting different battles" in another context.

Though I would like to give this post more thought, perhaps read it out loud to check if the voice is appropriate, my efforts are currently required to color a house with my daughter.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-25T11:47:00.000-08:00

Our Christmas baking efforts so far this year:

A gingerbread train

The kiddo decorated cookies while Grandma and Mom constructed the train.

Later the train got a little bit of landscaping.
A gingerbread House* (the doctor) is standing on the caboose.
His motorcycle is parked against the peeps trees.

*We stole the "gingerbread House" joke from a Fox Trot cartoon.

"Mining Data" in the Classroom

2011-12-18T12:22:00.000-08:00

I've been subscribing to The Chronicle of Higher Education for a year or so. I thought I subscribed to read about new ideas in higher education. As it turns out, I read this journal simply to give me a target for specific frustrations. I find it more satisfying to yell at The Chronicle than to yell at Fox News. I'm not sure why.

Anyway, today's target is the article by Marc Perry, "Colleges Mine Data to Tailor Students' Experience". I only got about 7 paragraphs in before I was yelling at the paper--and Bill Gates, of course.

The article is advocating technology that can group students by their interests, grades and responses on test. Those things sound strikingly like part of the job description of teachers and advisors. I'm not saying I would never use a technology that could do some of these things, but it would be an aid to something instructors already do. Grouping students for in-class discussion based on the answers to their tests is NOT new. I do that all the time.

a typical group discussion

Bill Gates earned my ire with this gem: "I know more about my 11-year old son's sixth-grade basketball team than the average college faculty member knows about their incoming class..." I wonder if his son plays on a basketball team with a new roster of 35 students each term. I wonder if he's met any of the players before the first game (class).

Teachers learn about their students during the course of the class. In the best case scenario, they interact with students in and out of the classroom, but is it feasible that college level instructors know the "...key variables that are going to make them successful or not successful" before the class begins? I just learned the "key variables" of 70 other students, most of whom will not take class with me again this year.

So, anyway, the technology will fix all this. Student scores, and a "college-admissions algorithm" will enable teachers to serve students better. I might be overly sensitive today, but this seems like the folks who believe this don't value my skills as an instructor very highly.

I get that there are folks out there who believe that my job is to deliver a ~~product~~ service to my ~~customers~~ students, but I think this is a dangerous way to look at education. If I sign in to Amazon to buy a book, its fine that Amazon suggests other books I might like, but it gives me suggestions based on author's names, best sellers and general topics of books I've purchased in the past. Amazon doesn't know what is useful for me and it has a superficial idea of what I might like. Amazon certainly doesn't encourage me to try books by authors or genres I haven't tried before. As a "provider" of higher education, I hope I am giving my students more than that with which they are already familiar.

To use a computer to track test answers and quickly group students for discussion sounds fine, but when we get into having computers (alone) direct students to career paths based on their previous success, I start to get nervous. Its not a bad idea, but it seems like a potentially limiting idea. Just the same, using a computer as an assistant to an instructor is fine, but I get nervous when the folks touting the technology aren't acknowledging that instructors do performed these "tasks" before the computer came along. And skilled instructors can perform these tasks with or without the technology.

Support the instructors, don't try to replace them. Writing about or developing programs that act like instructors don't know this stuff sounds like a step towards de-valuing those instructors and their specific skills and experience.

Frost

2011-12-13T13:58:00.000-08:00

Yakima was cold and foggy this weekend. It was also beautiful.

I went for a walk with my daughter and we marveled at the frosted trees and crunchy grass. I pointed out to her how spiky the frost was on the branches and fences. We talked about how the bushes were frosted everywhere except right next to the church.

Sunday morning I went for a run about 7:30am. It was light but early enough (or late enough) that I only saw one other pedestrian and three dogs (separately) on my run. It was foggy. The world felt deserted, peaceful and still. It was a beautiful run. I took pictures later around our block.

Finals Week Traditions

2011-12-11T13:57:00.000-08:00

The end of the quarter is a festive time of year for instructors. I like to celebrate the season by following some personal traditions. One of my favorites is to delude myself into believing that grading and firing will be completed early in the week. I usually give my students an explanation and warning of impending deadlines. For the two weeks preceding finals week, I remind them to finish, fire and glaze work. All this is to help prevent me from firing after their scheduled final critique. This quarter beginning students did an excellent job of finishing their work on time.

Independent clay students, on the other hand...
this work wasn't loaded until after the last critique.

On the first days of finals week I always think I can get the grading done quickly. Wednesday at noon all the stuff comes in (my Art Appreciation class usually has a Wednesday noon deadline for their final report) and suddenly I'm surprised by all the stuff I still need to grade.

I usually observe the tradition of forgetting to prepare the paperwork for the student show. I remember 10 minutes before the first final critique. This allows me to perform my tri-annual finals-week sprint back to my office and the accompanying fidget-in-front-of-the-copier while I make copies right before class.

I round out the festivities with a grading melt-down on Thursday afternoon when my brain stops functioning and I find it impossible to coherently grade another paper. This is followed by the Thursday night panic that I won't finish grading the next day before grades are due. Friday I finish grading before the deadline and wander away from my office with a sense of let-down. I finished grading but I have to come back next week to prepare for next quarter anyway. (In the summer I just race from the building, knowing that I get to spend the next 3 months in the studio before even considering another assignment.)

the birthday stack

This week wasn't too bad and despite shopping for birthday gifts for the kid and doing some half-hearted preparation for a sale at Larson Gallery, I finished my grading with time to spare. I've also spent the week feeling like a cold is coming on. I firmly believe the cold symptoms are a finals-week tradition, as well, but I'm too busy at the end of each quarter to have ever documented symptoms.

This quarter I think I did a better job keeping calm as I graded work and finished projects and as I fired late kilns and talked to students who had missed deadlines. I tend to get worked up about the students who flake out during finals week. As I enter and calculate grades, I find myself yelling at the Excel document when I discover that a student hasn't turned in a final project or assignment. As I read the artist reports students have been writing all quarter, I get mad if they haven't made changes since we last discussed the paper. Of course most students do turn in their final projects and most earn a grade pretty similar to the grade they were earning all quarter. So I waste a disproportionate amount of energy and frustration worrying about the students who didn't try very hard at the end.

One of the things that kept me calm this time around was something a colleague said to me earlier this quarter and has been referring to for the past month or two: "if the teacher is working harder than the student, something is wrong." Basically: don't put in more effort grading than the student put into doing the assignment.

Reading final reports with this in mind, I was better able to recognize those that haven't been edited or fixed since last time. These I simply graded and moved on, I didn't try to give lengthy explanations of my concerns and I didn't get frustrated. I thought to myself, this student didn't revise or re-read this part or put much effort into improving this assignment. And, thinking this to myself, I was able to grade the work, set it aside and move on. I think this left me in a better mood and I was able to grade more efficiently.

I'm still upset that some students didn't take advantage of the designated time to meet and discuss their papers, and I'm still disappointed if some students didn't finish what should have been a reasonably easy requirement (for a different class), but I was able to remind myself that they need to take some responsibility, too. They need to read the schedule or the assignment guidelines.

If a student comes in at 9am for a 12pm final and doesn't bother to communicate with me or check the schedule, we probably can't blame it all on the fact that he ran out of minutes on his phone. I think it is possible that writing the final time and date in a larger font on the syllabus would have helped, but 12pt is pretty standard and I did announce it 3 or 4 times in class as well.

And then there are the high-achieving students:
This drawer hadn't been cleaned for at least 6 years before one of my functional pottery students took it on.

"Naughty" Sculpture

2011-12-07T20:22:00.000-08:00

Maybe it's because we're at the end of the quarter (finals ended today, grading stacks await me in my office), but I can't bear to write about something serious today.

The word "naughty" seems to keep cropping up, so I'll talk about that.

a water fountain

In the last weeks of class, a lidded piece showed up on one of the clay carts that looked phallic. It was a straight cylinder with a cone shaped lid, but the lid was irregular and didn't have a handle. I saw the piece earlier, in process, and chose not to mention the similarity. I was pretty sure the student didn't intend to create a phallic piece, or maybe I just assumed this because the student was female. After class other students confirmed I wasn't the only one interpreting the piece as "naughty."

not the jar in question

For their final project, my Design students were creating posters advertising the spring Drama production, "As You Like It." They prepared drafts of their posters and then the drama director, Alicia Bickley, talked to them about their designs and her vision for the play and the posters.

"As You Like It" is the story of Rosalind who is forced to flee her erstwhile home disguised as a man. As Alicia was explaining her vision for the play, she explained that Rosalind dresses as a man for safety as she journeys in the forest, not as a cross-dressing experiment or for fun. Alicia said her production will not be "raunchy" or "naughty."

This is the second poster design the students have created for a client in this class and the second time the client had to warn them not to cross the line to something sexy or naughty. The earlier project was a poster for "The Vagina Monologues."

One of the finished designs for "As You Like It" was accidentally naughty. One of the students, as suggested by our client, was using dramatic lighting in his design. Unfortunately the arrangement of his two spot lights seemed to form the rear end and legs of a person bending over. The title of the play became more of a joke.

another fountain

My own work has sometimes been interpreted as naughty. The biomorphic forms I reference remind people of the biomorphic forms of human bodies. Even though I don't often look at human organs when I am sketching and planning my work, the swellings and orifices of natural forms (such as flowers, seeds and undersea animals) are similar in form to the swellings and orifices of human bodies, particularly when the color is not "right."

I like to assume that viewers interpret my work based on what they think about, or more specifically, what they expect to see. Since my work is abstract and based on slightly familiar but not easily recognizable subjects, people sometimes identify "naughty bits" as the likely subject. Sitting for hours at art fairs, I've observed that some people really struggle when the subject is not identifiable. These are the folks who earn my ire at the end of a long hot show when they ask "what is that supposed to be?" These people aren't comfortable with the idea that their question might not have an easy, or even a correct, answer.

people were disgusted with me for showing this piece

In class I am able to push students to accept the possibility of flexible answers, at art shows I just have to let these people walk away thinking I have a "dirty mind."

In graduate school I showed work with a classmate, Ryan Myers, during an art fair at our instructor's studio/gallery. My work consisted entirely of abstract sculpture similar to that which I create now. His work included figurative sculpture and functional mugs or drinking vessels with semi-abstract, minimal line drawings of nude women. The mugs were attractive and the line drawings were subtle but the subject was clear enough if you actually looked. One of the visitors to our space looked at my work and voiced disgust at how obviously "naughty" or erotic the pieces were. Then she picked up a "naked lady" mug, admired it, and bought it. We wondered to ourselves whether we should tell her what she had purchased. We didn't, though I expect the woman's children eventually informed her.

based on a sea squirt

I think, in this situation, that the woman expected abstract in the surface decoration of a mug but she expected figurative sculpture. She warped reality around herself and turned my work figurative and Ryan's work abstract.

But kids tend to react to my work in the same way I do. They don't notice phalluses or body parts in my work, they notice colors and textures. I can't think of the last time a young child walked up to my work and wanted an answer (what is it?). Children usually grab and point and talk about the work, but it seems like they make observations and don't attempt to categorize the work in the same way adults have been trained to.

based on an acorn

Jason Briggs, one of my favorite ceramic sculptors, creates work that is clearly meant to reference human anatomy. (I must mention that in picture form, I think his work looks more "naughty" or "gross" than it does in person.) When I brought my 3-year-old daughter to an exhibition that included Briggs' work, she was fascinated by his work. She didn't tell me what she thought she was looking at but she just wanted to keep looking. Of course little kids haven't yet learned to react to their own anatomy with more than curiosity. (If you got to Jason's website, visit the "stimulation" link to read about his inspiration.)

I just started a new book by Terry Tempest Williams. I thought the book Red, was about pigments. It turns out it is about the southwestern United States. I've only just begun reading it, but I love how she takes ownership of a "naughty" word: "I want to reclaim the word erotic at its root, meaning 'of or pertaining to the passion of love; concerned with or treating of love; amatory.'"

Williams is discussing love of place, but I like her broader interpretation of erotic. I want to apply this "passion of love" to an interpretation of my own work. At the very least, this non-naughty definition give me a new perspective when encountering people who interpret my work as phallic or relating to those human organs of love.

Studio Atmosphere and Group Dynamics

2011-11-30T17:47:00.000-08:00

As the quarter wraps up, I've been thinking about how my classes this quarter compare to previous quarters. Just the other day, my brother (psst, Gavin, I could link to your blog right here someday), who is teaching his first college class this year, said something about being impressed that my students seem to pitch in to help each other in the studio.

He was referring to students helping during the raku firing, but this quarter's clay class seems to be more helpful in general than previous quarters. Yesterday as I started to load the glaze kiln, two students came over and said "what can I do?" I didn't need to ask.

loading the glaze kiln

This quarter's clay class was a strong group. They worked hard and I didn't have to do a lot of nagging or reminding. In fact, I usually spend the last week or so reminding everyone to clean up their stuff, get it to the kiln, etc. I joke that I become a broken record at this point and just start repeating myself. But this quarter as I started to say it, I realized that there was very little work that hadn't been fired. Tuesday was set aside for glazing, and most of the class was glazing. This is always my expectation, but not always reality.

glazing

During the quarter, I felt I was able to do more demonstrations than usual. Fall quarter is a strange one because we gain about a week of real time but November is broken up with quite a few holidays. Most of the days we lose are Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. This means clay classes, which meet on Tuesday/Thursday, don't lose work days in the studio. This quarter we also added a work day (Veteran's day) and a raku day (students could glaze or work while the kiln was heating up). The total of all these days meant that all students had more time in the studio than they do other quarters.

Both these students put in more more than average...and later took additional clay classes.

More time in the studio translates into more work, which translates into better work. When a bunch of students are working hard and pushing themselves, we get a feeling of friendly competition in the studio to see who can make the most or the biggest work. At the end of the fall quarter, we also have the impending holiday season and student often try to make extra work for Christmas gifts.

homemade holiday stockings

But the time increase alone doesn't seem to account for the positive atmosphere of the studio. Students in this class have consistently volunteered to help with loading and unloading kilns, mixing or sieving glazes, clean up, and other things. I'm not quite sure of the exact formula that creates this studio vibe of helpfulness. A studio class is different from a lecture class and often these classes become more friendly and chatty because students (and instructors) chat while working, but friendly isn't the same as helpful.

They look friendly, I'm not trying to imply they aren't helpful

To some extent, it is the students. Some students just naturally volunteer to clean up and to help out. Sometimes the chemistry between students in a class can cause students to behave a bit differently than they might in another group of people. I've seen this group dynamic take over for the worse, when a couple students complain loudly, others start to join in or when a few students leave a mess, others get the idea messes are okay. I suspect that a few students visibly helping or cleaning up can encourage the rest to behave the same way.

Look, I'm cleaning, you should too.

I also made what I thought was a small change this quarter in the requirements. I'm curious whether this helped shift the group dynamic. Most of the class grade comes from projects and critiques with a couple of short tests. I also give points for helping to load and unload kilns. Extra credit can be earned by helping with the clay sale, raku firing or mixing glaze. This quarter I added the requirement to help with the glaze kiln and bonus points for helping to sieve glaze. I also made a more concerted effort to remind them about these points and mark students off for the points during class. I am curious to know whether increased awareness of these requirements and potential bonus points helped push students to help a bit more in the studio.

There is one other significant factor that impacted this quarter's class. Most quarters I have taught a cluster of classes at the same time, with some Functional Pottery students and some Hand-building students. I don't teach more students, but my class time is divided between the two groups. It shouldn't be surprising that fewer classes and fewer things to demonstrate, describe and explain should result in more attention and more in depth demonstrations or explanations in the remaining class.

cylinder demonstration

Next quarter I plan to teach Functional Pottery on the same days as usual (Tuesday/Thursday) but Hand-building will be offered this quarter on Mondays and Wednesdays. In my teaching load, Hand-building replaces Design, so my attention next quarter will be more focused on the clay students and the clay studio. I anticipate that this extra time will allow me to do more in depth demonstrations and spend more time with the two classes. Additionally, if I am not required to be outside of the studio for the entire morning two days a week (and for me, outside the studio usually means in a different building on campus), I will be more available for students even outside of class hours.

good students make good work

The two classes should mean double the students (or close to double), which will mean more work. If I am correct in a couple of my assumptions, I should be able to get the students next quarter to help out quite a bit with the studio clean up and loading, unloading, and maintaining clay and glaze. First, I will again be clear in requiring and giving points for help with studio tasks. Second, I should have at least a few students continuing from the fall quarter. These intermediate level students should be able to model their helpful and conscientious behavior and thus impact the studio atmosphere and the group dynamics in the classes.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T08:00:00.000-08:00

Is it possible to do a Thanksgiving post without sounding earnest and a little corny? I'm going to take a hint from one of my favorite websites, thxthxthx: a thank you note a day. I always feel better when I read her thank you notes.

Dear my job,
Thanks for allowing me to watch my students learn how to make and talk about art. It's fun to watch them discover what I already love. Also thanks for being a 9 month position so I can spend the summer making my own work.

Dear House,

Thanks for having an attached studio (heated) even if it sometimes is overtaken by bikes and other things during those months that I don't get to use it as often.

Dear Design and clay classes this year,
Thanks for working hard and creating a positive studio atmosphere where everyone helps each other out. Your attitude makes the class enjoyable for everyone. I hope my classes next quarter are just as much fun.

Dear Sean's shift,
Thanks for being a day shift for the last few months, it's been nice having a full time husband and a second person to help with parenting.

Dear thxthxthx,
Thanks for brightening my day every time I read your post. And thanks for updating frequently. I look forward to buying your forthcoming book.

Happy Thanksgiving!
-Rachel

Raku Firing

2011-11-20T15:46:00.000-08:00

Today we had a raku firing in the clay studio on campus. This is about as late in the fall as I have fired the kiln (at least since grad school). It was pretty cold, but we still managed to get decent results and fire four loads. Yes, today was Sunday; we fire on the weekend ever since some from a weekday firing in 2006 (my first year) smoked out our VP's office.

horse hair pots smoking in the YVCC kiln yard

Yesterday it snowed and today was just COLD. I had forgotten that the heat isn't on in campus buildings over the weekend. Unfortunately we didn't have a bisque or glaze kiln loaded. An indoor firing might have helped keep us warm in the studio. The raku kiln is outside and, though warm itself, it didn't radiate enough heat to warm the entire kiln yard. I wore two sweatshirts over my two T-shirts and was still cold, even though I was also wearing a hat and gloves inside.

students waiting in the cold for the kiln to be unloaded

Six of my students came for the firing, 3 from beginning pottery and 3 independent students. We fired four times, starting just after 9am and ending a little before 1pm. We fired regular raku pieces in the raku kiln as well as some smoke fired work in the barrel kilns.

smoke firing in barrel kilns

A couple of students experimented with horse hair (from the student's own horse) and sugar sprinkled on the surface post firing. The firing in these instances really just served to heat the work up so that the horsehair would burn on contact with the pot. They didn't use glaze.

hair recently attached to a horse

horse hair and sugar pot (with paper reducing interior)

Our Kiln

We fired using the studio's permanent top-hat raku kiln. It has a hard brick base with a soft insulating firebrick interior. We put a kaolin fiber lined top on the kiln for firing, but the top is stored under cover the rest of the year.

YVCC's top hat kiln and propane tank

The kiln yard has a counterweighted frame that allows us to put up the top hat while we remove work from the kiln. This is an important feature as the top hat is too heavy for one person to lift up and over hot work.

kiln top being raised before first load

We fire using my own venturi burner and a couple tanks of propane gas. The kiln yard does have an outside gas line, but when I first tried the burner and natural gas line at the school, I wasn't able to get enough pressure for the heat we needed. I have been meaning to try it again; I remember from a few years ago that the gas line was in some way affected by tearing down and replacing Glenn and Anthon Halls. I can't remember now if I tested the natural gas line before or after the buildings were replaced.

But the venturi burner and propane works well for now.

venturi burner

During our firing today we had to switch propane tanks because the one we started with froze up partway through the firing. This usually happens at some point. It doesn't mean the tank is empty, just that the liquid propane has frozen and needs to be thawed before it will go through the burner. Today's frost was more impressive since the entire area was semi-frozen.

frozen tank (on right)

Preparation

When I first got to campus we needed to set up the kiln. Today's special task was that we also had to remove the snow from the kiln shelves that cover the kiln base and keep the rain (or snow) and leaves out. The kiln yard had accumulated leaves along the wall and snow on top of these leaves so we also had to remove them.

The kiln top is then carried over to the base and attached to the cables and the counterweight is attached. The burner is attached to the propane and the kiln is loaded. This morning a few pieces were ready that had been glazed during the week.

waiting to load kiln

Other works that students glazed today were pre-heated in the bottom of an electric kiln so they wouldn't be wet when we loaded the second, third or fourth loads into the kiln. If the work is wet, especially if it is also thick, it can explode during the firing because the kiln is heated up so quickly. This time around we didn't have any work explode during the firing. No one dropped work either, as sometimes happens.

cracked rim (probably due to heat shock)

Firing

Once the kiln is loaded, the burner is lit and the kiln can be heated. The first firing takes about an hour because we need to heat up the whole kiln. This time around I tried to go slowly because the kiln base had been covered in snow and I was concerned that some moisture had gotten into the bricks of the kiln itself.

Once the work has heated up to the appropriate temperature (about 1750 degrees Fahrenheit or roughly cone 08), we turn off the burner, pull open the kiln top and remove the work from the kiln.

kiln just opened (notice the bowl in back was knocked by the top of the kiln and has tipped over)

still glowing hot, pieces are removed from kiln

The work is red hot and needs to be removed with tongs. Then the work is placed in one of several post-firing reduction buckets. The hot pot lights the combustible materials (shredded paper or leaves, usually). Students can thrown more paper on top of the pot, then put the lid on and reduce or smoke the pot in the bucket.

hot pot being placed in a reduction bucket

The post-firing reduction can affect the surface color of the clay or the glaze. Copper in a glaze can "flash" red or golden. If left out in the air, the color is more likely to be green or turquoise. Naked clay (clay without glaze) absorbs the smoke and turns black or grey. Clear glaze cracks and the smoke can be absorbed into the clay exposed by the glaze cracks. A typical raku glaze is usually a shiny or matte copper glaze with swirls or flashes of red, green and turquoise or a clear glaze that appears to have bold black cracks in the surface.

pieces cooling after reduction

Once the first load of work has been removed from the kiln and reduced, the kiln is ready to be loaded again. If the kiln can be emptied and loaded quickly, it will stay hot. The burner is directed at a brick under the shelf in the kiln. This "target brick" retains the heat so that when the gas is turned back on it doesn't necessarily require a flame to light. The second firing takes less time, maybe 30 minutes to heat up the work.

placing hot pot in a reduction bucket

reduction bucket flaming

re-opening a bucket to add another hot piece

Then the work is removed again and the process is repeated. Unless, that is, the propane tank freezes. In that case there is a short intermission while we try to screw the burner into a new tank valve.

moving burner from frozen tank

Horse Hair

When we say "horse hair" we usually mean the surface treatment in which horse hair is used to create small areas or lines of reduction on the clay surface. The work is heated but not put in a post-firing reduction bucket. In our case, the work was not glazed either. The work is taken out of the kiln and horse hair (or steel wool, I've heard) is placed on the surface of the piece.

The hot pot burns the hair which leaves smoke residue on the surface of (or absorbed into) the clay. The coarse horse hair shrinks and twists as it burns, leaving an irregular bumpy line along the surface of the pot.

teetering tower topped by a hot pot

yeah, let's put that hot pot closer to the ground

paper inside the pot (to blacken the interior)

throwing a pencil at your pot brings good luck

holding horse hair against hot pot

the pot on the right was coated in underglaze before firing

The horse hair reduction line is very dark against the white (or pink) surface of the clay. Both students today reduced their interiors with other combustible materials. Here the hot pots are still smoking and the horse hair is visible hanging over the rim of the white pot. One of the students was, at first, hesitant to hold the burning horse hair against the pot. Eventually they both discovered that the horse hair burns slowly and can be adjusted for location on the pot. One student also threw some sugar on the surface of the pot. The effect is subtle and didn't show up well in my images.

interior of copper glazed pot (with burnt paper scraps)

various copper glazed raku fired pieces

Artist Statement: From the Ground Up

2011-11-17T20:35:00.000-08:00

Apparently the artist statements for this winter's clay show, From the Ground Up at Larson Gallery are due tomorrow. Here is my (illustrated) statement.

Clay seems to me to be the perfect material; it is immediate and tactile. I can create directly and modify in all dimensions. As an expressive medium, clay has always seemed to "fit." Clay gives me the freedom to squish and shape, add and remove, with my hands touching the clay I don't need to use tools to translate what I want to say. Some of this sense of freedom comes from familiarity with the medium and techniques, but even from a young age, I felt comfortable squeezing modeling clay into the shape of a person and then manipulating that human form in expressive ways.

forming a sculpture by hand

Today my ceramic work is primarily abstract and sculptural. I encourage an open interpretation of my forms. I like the viewer to become involved with the work, either by physically handling it or because I have forced them to interpret the work by leaving the subject ambiguous.

My work is inspired mostly by local and exotic plant forms and aquatic flora and fauna. The biological forms I look to for inspiration are at once familar and strange. Nature repeats similar forms in different organisms and in different ecosystems. Though I may not have seen a particular plant or seedpod before, I have seen seedpod and plant forms in general.

plant forms collected for my studio

Similarly, my work is both familiar and strange. Out of context, the subtly or subconsciously familiar forms of my sculpture might be hard to categorize or identify. Direct inspiration for my sculptural forms or surfaces might come from seeds, blossoms or the surface of an orange. I combine these influences into new forms that are essentially abstract and non-representational.

sprig (mold) made from the surface of an orange

People have often asked if my sculptures are meant to represent human anatomy. I don't often draw inspiration from these forms, but the forms I do look at, like the soft bodies of a sea cucumber or cnidaria (like jellyfish) are subtly similar to organs we see in the human form. Biological forms, whether human, animal or plant-life, have complex structures very different from the manmade structures that surround us everyday. Often the complex structures are unfamiliar to us because they are too small or hidden from view by skin or shell or other protective layers. My intent is not for my audience to recognize the forms or surfaces I represent and explore in my work, but to recognize, consciously or subconsciously, that something about the work is familiar.

finished form with shell sprigged surface

I also hope to attract my audience to look closer or spend more time with my work. I use vivid hues and saturated layers of color that are reminiscent of tropical flowers or fish found near a coral reef. The bright, layered colors, complex textures and contrast of shiny and satin surfaces are meant to be eye-catching and appealing. Once I have drawn in my audience I hope to encourage them to question the meaning of the work or what it represents. I want them to recognize, or almost recognize, forms or surfaces they have seen before, but I want the process to be a search and I don’t necessarily need them to discover the same connections I envisioned when I created the work.

finished form with orange sprigged surface and sprayed and painted underglaze

Taking Slides (recommendations and my experience)

2011-11-15T21:25:00.000-08:00

By popular demand:

Jane asked me to write about taking slides and marketing ceramic work. I feel the best way for me to do this is (as my students know) the long-winded way. I'm going to tell you about my experience and what I do and have done. Today I'll talk about taking slides; I will post on the marketing aspect later.

I welcome suggestions from other 3D (or 2D) artists who are experienced taking slides.

Taking Slides on Film (circa 2001)

I learned to take slides in 2001 or 2002. Way back then I used something call "35 mm film" in a camera that did not require batteries and couldn't be hooked up to a computer. Can anyone remember such a thing?

We had a room in the art building without exterior windows. The windows it did have were covered in dark paper so that no other light could get into the room. There were a couple backgrounds for us to use. There was a wall for the 2D artists to hang their work and grey or black fabric (or was it paper?) could be hung and pulled forward across a table for the 3D work.

Grey background under and behind a raku fired piece from my senior year.

We used tungsten lights and I think we had umbrella filters over the lights. We set the camera on a tripod, relatively far from the work to provide a clearer illusion of depth in the piece. For 3D work the camera was set higher than the work looking down at the work at a 45 degree angle.We used at least two, maybe three lights to illuminate the piece. For 3D work, we placed the piece on the backdrop on a table and arranged the lights to limit glare (hence the indirect light of the filters) and limit cast shadows.

We used special tungsten film and set the camera's depth-of-field high. This meant the exposure would be long, so we needed to use a cord and plunger to depress the button and take the picture (the cord prevented the camera from shaking on the tripod while the shot was being taken).

After taking a roll or two of the best shots we could imagine, we'd send the film in for processing. I'd inevitably end up printing some slides that didn't work at all.

This slide was digitized using a slide recorder. The black space on the edges is a remnant of this process.

My senior show was in a quality gallery on campus. The white walls, white pedestals and lack of windows allowed me to take slides in the gallery while it was "closed." The slides I took in the gallery are probably the highest quality images I have from college.

The large space of the gallery also allowed me to capture the scale of this installation.

Reproducing Slides (circa 2003)

Around the time I was applying for graduate school there seemed to be a shift taking place. The world of graduate school admissions and exhibition or fair applications had relied on slides, packets of slides and slide carousels. Speakers were expected to bring a carousel of slides to show (whereas now I bring a Powerpoint presentation on a portable USB drive). I spent many hours labeling, sorting and reproducing slides.

This installation shot was first created as a slide. The slide got dirty before being scanned into a computer. The dirt on the surface of the slide was reproduced as noise or graininess in the digital image.

But the new, upcoming technology was digital. More and more places were asking for digital images on CD (eventually e-mail or online applications, too). At first artists needed both. I spent time in various libraries or computer labs scanning sets of slides to be made into digital files. Later, I vaguely remember sending digital files to a company in Wisconsin to be turned into slides.

The computer allows for manipulation of the image.

Makeshift Studios in Basements, Spare Rooms and Gallery Spaces (2003-2006)

Around this time I didn't have regular access to a designated slide-taking space. At various points I set up makeshift studios in what spaces I could find. In my parent's basement I set up a studio with a piece of grey fabric. I think you can see the texture of that cloth in slides from this time.

I often worked with images in the computer both because various art shows and art fairs were asking for both digital and slide submissions and because digital files were cheaper and easy to duplicate. Digital files were also easy to manipulate to eliminate wrinkles in the background.

This fountain slide shows extra black space on the top and bottom. Slide reproduction called for specific dimensions not required in digital images. The black was added to an image that probably started as a horizontal image with extra grey space. I believe the cord for the fountain plug was obscured digitally after the image was taken.

At graduate school I took slides in a tiny spare room that the clay graduate students set aside for slides. We blocked the windows, bought special grey paper from a photography store for our backdrop and set up clip lights on either side and hung a filter light. As a result of either our limited resources or our impressive ingenuity, our filter light was actually a regular light suspended in a cardboard box with a home furnace filter covering the light on the bottom. I don't think I would advise this method. Nor would I advise our method for dangling the light precariously above our work while we took slides.

An additional problem with taking slides in a clay studio was keeping the dust level down. The paper seemed to be a magnet for clay dust an kiln wash residue.

We kept the camera on a tripod and positioned it as far from the work as would fit in a small room. We adjusted the lights to limit shadows and shine and took our images from a slightly overhead angle with a long depth-of-field and a long exposure time. We started using tungsten lights but once we started using a digital camera, trial and error (rather than any sound knowledge or instruction) seemed to indicate that the light type didn't matter for the quality of the slides taken with a digital camera.

In graduate school I also had occasions to take slides in galleries and outdoors. The results in galleries were not always great. One installation exhibition was difficult to photograph because the works filled the space but also because the gallery was small and the light wasn't great.

hand-made paper and fiber installation

The quality of other photographs taken in galleries seemed to differ greatly based on the lighting in the gallery and whether the lighting was designed for my work alone or for a group of works. I always used a tripod and a long exposure/depth-of-field but I didn't always have a way to control the light in the space.

Installation at Overture Center for the Arts in Madison, WI

detail of an installation in Madison

Right before my Master of Fine Arts (MFA) show, I upgraded my camera from an SLR film camera to a digital camera. The process for taking slides was similar but the results were much faster and less expensive. The biggest savings, as far as cost and effort, seemed to come from not printing (and paying to print) wasted images. I could simply delete them. I also saved time and money by not needing to get special film (or any film). By the time I was applying for teaching positions in 2006, almost all shows and schools were asking for digital application materials (or at the very least they offered this option) so I no longer needed to convert slides to digital and digital images to slides.

Digital image of a piece from my MFA installation

My MFA show at the end of graduate school was an outdoor installation in Allen Centennial Gardens on UW-Madison's campus. I took the advice of the gardener who suggested that the best time to take pictures of flowers was in the early morning or on a cloudy day when the light was soft and wouldn't create strong highlights and shadows.

small low fire sculpture under a daffodil plant

wood fired sculpture in Allen Centennial Gardens

Low-fire sculpture from MFA show

Raku sculpture from MFA Exhibition.

My show was up for a month and I had many opportunities to take pictures of the work. I used my tripod sometimes, I used the close-up feature on my digital camera and I even took "action" shots of people interacting with the work. I also benefited from other people (with better cameras and more experience) taking images for me. My MFA advisor (Jim Escalante) and my father both took beautiful images that were, in several cases, better than the images I took.

hanging object in MFA show (photo by Jim Escalante)

hanging object in MFA show

part of lawn installation in MFA show

Digital Camera outside in the morning (2007-2011)

In Yakima I have been operating on my own and have had to put together my own methods for taking slides. Initially I ignored the problem (taking slides isn't fun or interesting) and ended up with really crummy shots of work that I no longer own. For a show I did at Allied Arts in Richland, I took slides in the gallery but not before I brought the work to the show. The lighting wasn't great and the set up was particularly bad. The gallery is a pretty gallery, but they didn't have good options for displaying 3D work. They put my pieces on glass shelves set across white pedestals. The show looked cluttered and cheap and my slides look unprofessional and the color in my images seems odd.

Gallery shot from Allied Arts show (October 2008)

Image of work from Allied Arts show

The glass shelves wouldn't be my first choice for display

The glass slides didn't help me take slides (also notice the random planter in the background).

After this experience I learned that I needed to plan time to take slides and since then I have built time to take slides into my summer work schedule before I ship or sell the work. I had originally intended to set aside a space in my home studio to block out the light, get lights and set up a slide taking room.
However, as I thought about where I could do this, I thought about how nice the images were from my MFA installation in the garden. I started wondering whether I could take advantage of natural light to take my slides. I tried it and I liked it and this is still how I take my slides.

My summer slide set-up involves a small table, grey paper I originally purchased in graduate school, several clamps and a tripod. I wake up early several mornings in August or September and set up the paper and the table in the backyard near my studio. I clamp one end of paper to a strange metal clothing rack that we discovered in our garage when we bought the house. I set a table in front of the rack and pull the paper down and across the table. I then set the work on the paper and set up the camera on a tripod in front of the work.

Digital image taken using outdoor natural light

I use the timer on my camera to allow me to take long exposure shots (without bumping the camera) and thus increase the depth-of-field. Since I start early in the morning the light is not bright, the exposure usually needs to be longer. I make sure all other light sources are off (like the light in the studio or outdoor lights by the exterior door. When the sun comes up and starts to cast shadows from the trees, I know it is time to stop.

detail of same piece

The early morning light reduces glare on my shiny surfaces and creates an all-over light source which doesn't cast bold shadows onto my paper background. It allows the camera to capture the detail of the pieces and surface qualities and give a sense of the depth of the piece.

I usually take several shots of most pieces. I usually take an image of the whole piece, a detail and sometimes different views of the piece if it is unclear or highly irregular or asymmetrical.

Three images of the same work. I was testing out which angle would best capture the form of the sculpture.

I set up my camera on the tripod so that it is pointing down at about a 45 degree angle. I want it to be slightly higher than the piece being photographed. I try to capture as little of the grey background as I can and I usually allow a bit more background at the top of the image than at the bottom. Unless it is a detail shot, the piece needs to fit inside the frame of the picture with a little room to spare.

Centering and eliminating extra grey space/background is less important now that I use a digital camera. I can open the files in Photoshop or other photo editing software and I can crop or adjust the image to fit my needs. It is still wise not do do much fussing with the image after it is taken. I want the camera to capture as much detail the first time around. I also don't want it to be obvious that I altered the image--it might make someone wonder if the piece itself was altered.

There are still two things I don't like about the last round of slides and I have a couple strategies in mind to deal with these concerns. First, I am hoping to replace my ~6 year old camera with a new one this year. Having played with some of the more modern digital cameras (or cameras that are more recently in my price range) I think I can get more detail in my images and have more control with a new camera.
I also plan to replace my ancient photo paper. Photo paper is available in grey and black but there is also a type of photo paper that has a gradual change in tone from black to grey. Having seen other slides taken on this paper, I think the results look more professional and cleaner than my (admittedly dirty) grey paper.

My ~~Slide~~ Digital Image Taking Recommendations

Take them before it is too late. Even a bad image helps you remember work you made in the past if you no longer own it.
Use a quality camera & take high resolution pictures
Control the light source (you want to eliminate dramatic shadows or glare on the piece or on the surface)
Check that your image looks like the original piece. Increasing the depth-of-field on the camera and taking the shot from a 45 degree angle helps create an accurate sense of the dimensionality of the piece. Decreasing shadows and glare also help the piece "look right". Controling your light source can also help ensure accurate color
Set aside a place for taking slides. I highly recommend putting the work on a grey or black background free from dust, wrinkles, or discoloration. The image becomes distracting if we can see molding, wallpaper, shelves or even a pattern or texture in the table or surface. Some people like to take slides on the beach or in the grass. If you do this, it needs to "make sense" for the work. Do you use your functional pitchers in the grass or at the beach? Will your background be a distraction from the work?
Take your time. Allow time to check your results (preferrably on a computer or printed out) so you can fix them.

I took this photo with a flash on a wooden table--it isn't application quality, but at least it is a record of the piece.

Someone else took this photo for me. The photo quality isn't high and the yellow wall is distracting.

The shine on the surface is distracting.

The interior is bright red, the wall of the piece is light blue and the background is white--at least in real life.

I'm sure that lady is happy her legs are in my picture. This picture was taken at an art fair.

Music in the Clay Studio

2011-11-11T21:22:00.000-08:00

I'm exhausted; today there was no school but I decided to have an open studio day for my students.
I opened the studio so they could work. My work study came in and pugged clay and I tested out some plans for musical instruments.

Next quarter I hope to be teaching a full class of hand-building. This summer I was reading Mud to Music by Barry Hall. I've made whistles and rattles from clay before and I have a student who makes drums and has made a guitar out of clay. The book expands considerably on my knowledge of instruments and how sounds can be produced.

I am considering making instruments for one of the hand-building projects. One of the things I wanted to do this fall was try out some of the instruments I haven't made before.

My daughter came to the studio with me today because her Daddy had to work. My work study also brought her daughter. I enlisted the girls to help me with my projects (and to keep them busy while others were working). My daughter had, of course, packed a very full bag of toys, but after playing with them for an hour or so, she was ready to play with clay.

Rain Sticks
After shaping a whistle and some pieces to be used when drier, I showed the girls how to use the extruder. I wanted to test rain sticks. I think I understand the concept of how they are made but I wanted to try some variations. I extruded three hollow tubes and I had the girls make the bits of clay to go inside.

As I understand it, a normal rain stick is a piece of dried cactus with the spines pushed into the hollow interior. The sound is produced by the spines falling through the interior. I believe the interior is not smooth but has different ridges or sections that prevent the spines from falling smoothly down the length of the stick.

So, what I did today was try out different "fillings" and different ways to make the interior irregular. For the first rain stick I pushed some flat, leather-hard pieces of clay through the soft wet clay tube. I then had the girls put small leather-hard sticks (broken bits of a long skinny coil I made earlier) of clay into the tube and I sealed the top with clay. The second tube had a similar array of flat pieces through the walls but balls of clay inside. The third was smooth inside with leather-hard clay sticks (coils). Later I extruded a narrower tube and pushed clay spines through the wall and filled it with clay spines. It will make a different sound, at the very least, because it is a different size.

whistles, rain sticks and practice version of a slip transfer (performed by children) method

Whistles
I also made two "regular" whistles. These I've been making for years. I make a round hollow body (out of two pinch pots) and attach a mouthpiece. I didn't have much trouble getting them to work since I allowed them to dry somewhat before I made the cuts. I drilled four note holes in the bottom of the larger one. It makes a low train whistle sound when all four holes are covered. I don't have enough of a musical ear to have any idea about the notes my whistles play other than low and high.

For the first time, I wanted to try some long whistles similar to a recorder. I didn't feel like the longest ones had dried enough by the time everyone was exhausted and ready to leave, so I saved the cuts for next week. I did finish two shorter ones made from extruded tubes. One had a closed end (with a mouthpiece at the opposite end) and worked fine as long as the holes were covered. With all the holes open the sound was airy. For the other one I was curious what would happen if the end was bell shaped like a horn. It didn't work at all. When I put my hand over the end, it made a faint sound and when I closed the end it made a strong whistle sound. I believe that the longer tube shaped whistles (recorders or end-blown whistles) should work better because, though the end isn't closed, the air bounces around inside the instrument longer as it travels the length of the tube.

whistles from home: 2 bisque and one raku fired

Flute
I also tried making a side-blown aerophone (or flute). I followed the instructions in the book and made a long tube with an opening near the closed end and several more openings along the body of the flute. I have no idea why this should work. I don't really think it should, but I wanted to try. I read the book's explanation but I didn't really understand it. I might need a flutist to explain it to me. I suspect there is something the musician does specially when blowing into a side-blown flute but if the book explained it, I didn't understand.

Years ago, after I had learned to make whistles, I was reading a book that explained how to teach kids to make ocarinas. Up until that point I had believed that ocarinas were whistles with multiple openings that the player could cover with his or her fingers to produce different notes. The directions in that kids' clay book were similar to this book's instructions for a side-blown flute. Basically the ocarina instructions said to fold a circle of clay like a hard taco shell, trapping an air pocket inside, and seal the edges. Then cut some holes. Somehow that was supposed to be an instrument. I tried it, of course, and it didn't work, of course.

After that I went back to making whistles that direct the air at an angled edge or slope in the wall of the clay and force some of the air into the instrument and some of the air out, thus making a whistling sound. I experimented with shape and size of the main opening, size and shape of the air chamber and quantity, size or location of holes. I've made whistles that make different types of sounds or sets of sounds and I have some understanding of which shapes or sizes make which sounds. I've even made water whistles and whistles that could be played (as in, made to sound different notes) by holding more or less of your finger over the one main opening.

I always just assumed the ocarina directions were an indication of the value of that book: not great. But now that Mud to Music gives similar directions, I may have to conduct further research. By further research I mean I will ask my flute playing friends how flutes work.

Davis High School Whistles

2011-11-07T20:23:00.000-08:00

Last Tuesday I visited a local high school to talk to a clay class. The visit was part of YVCC's Speaker's Bureau. The Speaker's Bureau is essentially a group of faculty who are available to lecture to local schools or groups on topics in their area. There are lecture topics listed that the faculty have prepared already but faculty can also work with the school or teacher to create a lecture that works for them. Since I was speaking to a clay class, I did a shortened version of a lecture on my work and I also did a project with the students.

The visit to the school was an unusual experience, very different from my regular classes. I was surprised by the facilities, I suppose I've grown accustomed to pretty good equipment at YVCC, despite the fact that the art rooms lack some of the features I see in other classrooms on campus and also lack studio features I was accustomed to in previous college studios.

Davis, the school itself, is in pretty bad shape. I was a little bit surprised by how much the building itself colored the atmosphere in the studio classroom. The art classroom is at the top of a three-story building with exterior stairs and hallways. When I arrived, a bit early for my visit, the classroom door was propped open with a bit of wood in the doorway and the class was loudly milling around the door.

This was a young group. I didn't see what they were working on since they seemed to have put stuff away by then time I arrived. Shortly after I came in, classes changed. The classroom had about 8 four-person work tables, 8 pottery wheels, a metal-smithing hood in the center of the room and a small glass fusing kiln.

Because I normally show images using Powerpoint on a computer with projector, I asked for these things. They were able to get a projector but didn't already have one in the classroom. They had a screen to pull down at one side of the classroom but the projector cart was dusty enough to show that it wasn't frequently used. It was lucky that the instructor who invited me communicated with me through several e-mails about the equipment because I would have expected a projector in the classroom, though I did ask about it to confirm. What I didn't think to ask about was whether I would be expected to bring my own computer. I did. And of course there was no cable to hook my Mac to the projector, so I had to bring that as well. They had one somewhere but it wasn't in the room or on the cart. I was also told I wouldn't be able to go online in the classroom since websites have to be pre-approved. (Yeah for college! Today I lectured to my Design class about having someone view their logos or posters with a critical eye to avoid images that can be misinterpreted. I showed them this site which might be banned in a HS.)

But the main feature of the classroom, as far as I am concerned, was the vent underneath the screen. The vent was blowing when I arrived. When it finally shut off, I realized it was responsible for about 50% of the noise in the classroom. I mean, it was loud! My voice was a little hoarse, but I don't think I could have talked over that vent all day anyway. The students seemed to have trouble listening to a full set of directions, but I've gotta say, I think the vent was partly (or mostly) to blame.

The vent blew for most of my lecture and shut off just as I began the demonstration. Another vent (I don't know where it was) started partway through the project and continued until I left. Because of the space on the projector cart, the projector was above my head and my laptop was below and facing the screen. So I stood facing the aisle between the students' tables, but with a very large cart in front of me, obstructing my view of several students. The projector blew hot air directly at my face for the duration of the lecture. I was relieved I had decided to cut out part of the lecture.

Now, to the credit of the school district, serious renovations are planned for this dump of a high school. They should begin construction in a year. Until then the students can enjoy jet-engine decibel vents in the classrooms, portables (a real trend in Yakima K-12 educational facilities), and exterior walkways and stairs that would frighten me in winter.

The limited equipment in the studio meant that students in this clay class were sharing 4 wheels. Before my visit the instructor informed me that each student had at least 1/2 an hour on the wheel this semester. By contrast, my beginning pottery students have at least 2 hours on the wheel by the end of their first class.

As you might imagine from my description of the facilities, the demonstration didn't go as smoothly as I might have liked. I may be selfish, but I don't think I can entirely blame it on me having a bad day. I have done this demonstration before. It is a tricky project but I was optimistic that we'd have 75% success. In a class of about 25 or 30, we had 2 successful whistles.

I have actually made whistles with little kids before and the kids were able to get the whistles to work. The trick with little kids is to take the whistle away as soon as it does work because they will keep blowing on it until it is soggy. I didn't have this problem with the teenagers. One problem I did have that I didn't anticipate was that the students wouldn't put their mouths close enough to the clay to test the whistle because they didn't want to get dirty.

The other thing I should do differently in the future is find a bigger set of appropriate tools. I have one nice hole maker for the mouthpiece. It is a random plastic tool that is flat and stiff and a little wider than the modeling sets at Michael's. I don't know where it came from but it works much better than the tools they had. I also didn't expect they would be sharing fettling knives but this wasn't a major problem.

One way that the project could have had a higher success rate was if I cut the holes. The teacher told me that she attended a workshop once where the person did just that. But how will they learn? I think it is more interesting to get them to understand the concept, the reason the clay makes a whistling sound. I brought several whistles of different sizes and I also brought a diagram illustrating the side view of a whistle.

I was very surprised by how hard it was for some of the students to understand the concept of what we were trying to do. Basically, a whistle needs a contained space and an opening with a sharp edge. It needs a mouthpiece that directs the air at the sharp edge. The air splits so that half of it is directed into the contained space and half of it goes out of the whistle. Though there is probably a technical term, this "split" in the air causes the whistling sound. The sound can be further adjusted by the size of the contained space or opening and the number of holes into the container (which can be covered or not to make a multi-note whistle).

It appeared, not surprisingly, that the students who had the most trouble understanding the concept were farthest back from me or were having other conversations during my explanations. However, one student still didn't understand how the angle she was cutting was different from what I instructed, even after I came over with my example and my diagram illustration.

Basically, giving the lecture was like talking to a semi-distracted lecture class, but giving the demo was a new thing altogether. I felt like everything I said needed to be repeated half a dozen times and still the students weren't quite with me. By the end it was hard to tell if it was too noisy or they weren't listening or if my vocabulary was different from theirs.

I left verbal instructions for the instructor explaining that the holes might be easier to cut when the clay is a little drier. Students who had reworked the openings several times were better off starting over again. Hopefully she had more success with their whistles another day.

What I've learned (in the clay studio) this quarter

2011-11-05T09:12:00.000-07:00

I asked my independent students to write about what they've learned this quarter.

I thought it would be interesting to think about what I've learned, too.

This week I forgot to go back to shut off the kiln. Well, I forgot to do it when I was supposed to. I did eventually remember. (My high school art teacher, sometime after I graduated, apparently forgot an electric kiln for a full weekend. She evidently did not have a kiln sitter, computer or timer on the kiln. I saw the remains of the kiln hanging in Paoli, WI when I went to pick up some materials for grad school. It was impressive, a melted, compacted layer of shelf fully fused with the bottom section of the kiln.)

My kiln (this week) was on schedule for cone 10 to be bent around 6:30pm. I usually reduce a bit more at the end. Once I turn off and close the kiln, cone 10 usually continues to come down. But since I was firing on Monday, we'd just gotten back from trick-or-treating at 6:30. I made dinner and forgot about the kiln until 8pm. When I went back, the temperature gauge said 2200. The bottom cone 10 was bent, on the top, cone 11 was bent.

The next afternoon when I went in to open the kiln, I was pleased to see that the results were good. We had good reduction on most glazes, the Midnight Black glaze was matte and irregular but only three pieces ran significantly and I suspect the issue was more thickness than time and temperature.

The other thing I learned, was actually something I read but have yet to test. This summer in the clay studio, I attempted to transfer a slip design on paper to a piece I was making. This week I read about the process in Pottery Making Illustrated. One of our adjuncts went to a conference and picked up some extra issues. I haven't had the studio subscribe to the magazine in a while and should probably start again (if our budget allows).

Anyway, the article was Slippery When Wet by Jason Bige Burnett in the Sept/Oct 2011 issue. He demonstrated a technique for transferring slip paintings on newsprint to leather-hard pots. I can't wait to try it myself. I think I had the right idea in the studio but my pots were dry and my paper was too thick. In my own work I do a lot of layering of underglaze. On my sculpture the surface texture usually determines the design, but my thrown functional work has less obvious guides to follow for the color and pattern.

Besides an accidental firing lesson and a clarification on a slip decoration method, I had a few little lessons about life in the studio. Not all were shocking. I discovered that having a program assistant whose job includes helping me advertise and prepare for the clay sale means that I actually advertise and prepare for the clay sale. We used to do this, but budget cuts last year eliminated this position (temporarily, as it turns out). This quarter clay sale attendance was probably up from last quarter because people knew it was coming.

I also learned that getting glaze materials orders in early is better for the studio. Ok, so I didn't learn this. I already knew it. But I usually get this done during convocation. This year we didn't have convocation so, despite my best intentions to place the order during the first week of classes, I didn't. I placed the clay order and didn't got a good list of glaze materials until we started missing them.

Art Appreciation

2011-11-03T18:36:00.000-07:00

The other week I had my Art Appreciation class do a group activity to review composition and the principles of design. They had been studying composition and compositional terms all week. (Earlier in the quarter they focused on the formal elements of art, now they are studying medium and they'll end the quarter discussing art history.)

I put the students in groups of 3 or 4 and gave them a handful of colored paper shapes (scraps mostly, cut in triangles, strips, squares and whatever shapes are easy to make on the paper cutter). Then I gave them a composition term, such as "balance." As a group they were to arrange the shapes on their table to show balance. After each group created a "composition" that illustrated the term, they called me over, I checked it, asked some questions and either told them they were correct or made them redo it until it was correct. Once the finished one term, they took another and created a new arrangement of shapes.

All 7 groups were able to show balance, bilateral symmetry, rhythm, gradation, focal point, scale, consistency with variety, and more. They also had no trouble with combined terms, such as "contrast shown by color" or "scale and rhythm." The only thing groups had some trouble with was "absolute scale," one group eventually "built" a pen-sized column with the shapes.

At the end of the class, after most groups had done 5 to 7 different terms, I took away the composition terms and told them to "create an interesting composition and tell me about the composition when I come back."

Here comes the surprise (for me). Almost all of the groups had trouble with this last direction. They were all, of course, able to make an interesting composition. Most of them used representative imagery, even if their "alternation" and "radial symmetry" examples from the first round had been abstract. They created flowers and houses and girls (throwing up, in one instance). But when I came around to ask about the compositions, most groups started by identifying the subject.

"So, tell me about your composition," I prompted. They responded, "It's a tree, a house and a person," or "two flowers." I pushed them some more, "I see that the subject is a girl (throwing up) but what is the composition?"
Several groups responded to this second prompt by telling me about the directional lines or the symbolic color. Those are formal elements. What is the composition?

So the fascinating thing is that this was a room full of students who had just spent 30 minutes creating compositions to illustrate given compositional principles or terms. But when I reversed the activity and had them apply these terms to their creations, they were lost.

This quarter's Art Appreciation class has been difficult for me because I get little verbal (or non-verbal) feedback from student during class. Of course I discover what they do or do not understand (or how much of their understanding they can communicate) when they submit assignments and quizzes.

Several years ago I reorganized the class because I didn't like lecturing and assigning readings and then grading tests where the students couldn't show their comprehension. I reorganized the class to include a lot more group discussion during class. I now assign "worksheets" which are essentially outlines of the chapter to accompany the readings. The idea is for their class preparation readings to be more active and involved. During class I sometimes lecture but they often are required to discuss a question from the reading and present their answers in front of the class. In general, I think this approach has led to more active learning, more engaged students and more interesting classes.

I think this quarter is an anomaly. I think this quarter the class is just a quiet bunch and their learning and comprehension, as a group, is probably comparable to previous quarters. But not having regular feedback (in the form of reactions from students, conversations, questions, etc) has been very disorienting and somewhat disturbing to my approach.

This week in my studios

2011-10-30T14:22:00.000-07:00

Art Appreciation students: Looking for the link and videos mentioned in class Friday? Scroll down the the previous post.

It's been a busy week, I guess. I prepared this post last weekend but didn't have a chance to post it.

This week we had a clay sale at YVCC. We did well, though I notice that the crowd has been more docile in the last couple years. Back when I started (6 years ago), people would be hovering over their intended targets for 10 minutes before the sale started. This quarter we did have a few hover-ers but they were calm and patient.

The sale was on Thursday and that evening the school had a halloween dance. We had a few randomly bloody students hovering around the sale. One appeared to be a blood turtle. Another had blue painters tape on his face (Does anyone know why?).

We also loaded our first glaze kiln this week and, apparently, ran out of all the glaze materials in the studio. I really need to place an order for some cobalt oxide and some tin oxide.

the kiln mostly loaded. the tall extruded forms worry me a bit, I'm afraid they will fall when I push the car into the kiln.

I will fire the glaze kiln Monday during our assessment workday. There are no classes but I will be on campus anyway. On Tuesday I will be giving a lecture/demonstration to an art class at David High School. We will unload the kiln that afternoon or the next day (depending how excited my independent students are to see the results).

Last weekend, before the busy week in the school clay studio, I got some work done in my home clay studio. I've been wanting to put away my underglazes so I can regain most of a countertop on which to work. (I'd also like to clean out the dead bugs from the windowsill behind the counter.) But before I put away the underglazes, I wanted to improve my inventory system.

Fired underglaze colors are very close to what they appear when they are applied, but not exactly the same. They also can change a little depending on how thickly they are applied and whether they have glaze over the top. Firing changes (like firing glazeware and bisque at the same time) can have an impact too. I wanted a chart of fired colors so I could quickly double check which blue I was intending to use when I went to put on a touch-up coat after firing. So I made these:

Each basic underglaze color has its number painted on in 3 coats and then a set of three lines (top=one coat, middle=two coats, bottom=three coats). These took me most of nap time, but my counter is clear (and mostly free from dead flies).

stack of underglaze bottles halfway through inventory

stack of bottles after entire inventory completed

I also epoxied my work from summer. I had a plate that needed a sprig glued back on and a couple pieces with other damage. I wanted to attach hanging equipment on the back of a couple pieces I might use for this winter's installation.

the center piece has a hanger inside (underneath); the back left piece has a washcloth holding the epoxied hanger.

I use PC-7 for my repairs. I try not do do a lot of repairs but I find the PC-7 works well when I need to fix something. The texture is like a past and I can fill in gaps and build the surface up a little bit. The epoxy hardens in 24 hours so I have plenty of time to work with it. The only disadvantage is that it the repair needs to be supported and immobile during that time. I occasionally use 1-minute epoxy to make repairs that aren't visible so that I can hold the pieces together as the epoxy hardens. In general I don't like the look of the shiny clear epoxy.

This weekend I took some work to several galleries for holiday shows. I took work to Oak Hollow Gallery near Inklings in Yakima and to Allied Arts on Lincoln in Yakima. Today I brought work to Gallery One in Ellensburg. I brought some functional work and small work to both the Yakima galleries. I was a little disappointed after I dropped the work off because I don't think of the small stuff as my "main" work.

I appreciate that people like my bowls but I don't want that to become the main work I do. I did bring bigger stuff to Gallery One and a couple medium pieces to Oak Hollow. These holiday shows are about sales, not so much about showing the work.

Lost wax casting

2011-10-27T08:30:00.000-07:00

I wanted to share some sculpture techniques with my Art Appreciation students. This week they are talking about media and Friday the class discussion was focused on sculpture techniques. I though it might be helpful to have some video or visual images to help describe metal casting, slip casting and glass blowing techniques.

Here is a video from YouTube demonstrating and describing the lost-wax casting for jewelry (small-scale).

You can also search for lost-wax casting videos of people making large-scale sculpture. I've watched several "How It's Made" episodes that describe the lost-wax-casting process for making an engine block or other industrial applications. The Wikipedia entry for Lost Wax Casting also gives a pretty good explanation with pictures of a larger object at stages through the process. If you have the opportunity to visit Maryhill Museum in Goldendale, they have a good display downstairs showing the various stages in the lost-wax casting process.

To watch the glass blowing process, visit Dale Chihuly's website. I recommend "In the Hot Shop" (the video starts after a few still images).

I am also including a video from YouTube on slip casting. During the next week, I will share some other pottery techniques (like wheel throwing and coil-building). The technique shown is for functional work at a factory. The same technique can be used for bathtubs and toilets as well as by individual artists.

Identity

2011-10-25T06:59:00.000-07:00

I was reading my new Ceramics Monthly magazine last night. They have a "yearbook" this year as part of the annual buyers guide. Usually this yearly supplement is just a bunch of ads for new tools, some reviews of materials, tools, etc and some information on technical ceramics. Occasionally some of the technical stuff is useful; I read about the changing formula for G-200 feldspar and why it has changed and that's kind of interesting.

But the yearbook stuff, well, it actually annoyed me. Ok, it is possible that the simultaneous argument between my husband and my daughter regarding the finishing of her dinner vis-a-vis watching more Caillou (Caillou=the current most annoying kid's television show) had something to do with my frustration. Anyway, the yearbook included an article about the "ceramic artist of the year," remembrances, collections and shows, like SOFA. The bit that got under my skin was the page spread on "Transitions." This is a page of 20 apparently important people who are now teaching somewhere else or running a different ceramics program. I was annoyed because I only recognized 2 names and I couldn't figure out why I was reading small bios of these people as opposed to any other people. The US ceramics world isn't so small that these 20 people changing positions matter to everyone, is it?

But the question of why these 20 people warrant a page in CM's yearbook, mirrors some things I have been contemplating lately about identity: defining one's identity (in the real world as well as the art world) and cultivating one's identity.

I mentioned, before, my various roles: mom, teacher, artist; but I also have been thinking about what is important to me within, between and through those roles. I am not, for example, a teacher. Though I teach, teaching is not the full definition of me. But in considering "identity" I am not interested in defining my identity or listing the pieces that make it up. What I have been thinking about lately is how to maintain and develop those pieces of my identity that are most important (or that otherwise balanced might begin to turn it into something else).

Why is it important to maintain the various roles I see myself in and how much effort and time and thought do I put into maintaining these various identities? I periodically find that reading about achievements of other artists of a similar age (or in a similar position to mine) make me question why I am here and they are there. But I need to remind myself to ask "Why have I cultivated this life which is different from the one they are pursuing?"

Not surprisingly, I enjoy aspects of all my chosen roles. (Of course each one also has downsides and must-do's that are essential but not so much fun.) If it were possible, I would wish to spend more time on aspects of each of these roles. If I could, I would spend more time playing with my kid (obviously), I would spend more time in my studio (ditto), and I would also spend more time developing and prepping classes (true, if less obvious sometimes).

Of course, obviously I don't have more time. And even if I got a bonus lotto win of 50 more hours in a week (BTW wouldn't that be a great lottery? Do you think you'd have to "pay to play"? Would you give an hour for the chance to win 50?), I wouldn't be able to do all the things for all the extra time I wished.

But back to the real world (and days that include sleeping and weeks that have 7 days in them), we juggle, eh? We fit in as much of all the good bits and as few of all the bad bits and also eat and sleep and drive to things and do laundry. All of the juggling and squeezing and maneuvering (I like spelling that word) are meant to balance us out and do all the things that make us into who we are.

I see myself as an artist, even if I do spent most of my waking hours teaching and parenting. I value spending time making art and I value the time spent thinking about art. Writing this blog regularly has felt like a tiny thread keeping me attached to my role as an artist (and occasionally also to my role as a mom or a teacher). Each time I write, I put in a stitch connecting the fabric of my teacher-mom life to the fabric of my summer-studio life. And, of course, when the mom fabric bleeds into the artist fabric and the teacher dye bleeds onto the artist cloth and I write about it, the whole thing becomes, I guess, a sleeping bag. Or maybe a Snuggie.

I teach about what I already know and I make work based on work I've made and work I've seen, but there is a gap in my knowledge and my experience. Everytime I pick up and read a book about art criticism, art theory, art history, I feel like I'm filling in this gap (or, to maintain the metaphor, darning a hole.)

I intentionally developed this life I live. I've made decisions that build on each other and have brought me to where I am. I sometimes wonder if I could be on that page of the Ceramics Monthly yearbook. I sometimes follow a train of thought that brings me back a couple years (or further) and wonder what I did wrong that I am not there. But when that annoying Caillou is not playing in the background, I usually remember that I started making choices at least as far back as when I chose a college, that steered me towards where I am now. I didn't always have the end "goal" in sight, but almost every step along the way has been about doing things that make me happy and make me whole.

One of the reasons I am not on those pages is that the "whole" of me can't be defined so simply as to be a page in Ceramics Monthly (no offense to the folks on those pages who, I am sure, are interesting and complex people).

Reading About Chicano Art

2011-10-22T16:52:00.000-07:00

I've been going to this "boot camp" class since a friend recommended it to me this summer. This week they had us write a "mission statement," setting a goal to do something specific that would improve our lives or health. But instead of the usual "eat more leafy greens" or "do more leg lifts," they encouraged us to think about whole-life things like setting aside time to read or meditate.

This quarter a colleague at Yakima Valley Community College is teaching a class on Chicano Art. This is her first time teaching it. She usually teaches classes on Chicano culture or other social sciences. When I saw the offering, I wanted to take it. So this week I asked her to recommend some Chicano artists I should be referencing in my classes and I asked for suggestions of books on Chicano art. My Chicano art knowledge is basically nil. If you asked me to name a Chicano artist, I might suggest Diego Rivera. (Actually, I could name Daniel DeSiga, a local Chicano artist, and Alfredo Arreguin because a student suggested him, but that's about it.)

So it turns out my colleague and I are in an interesting reciprocal situation. I know art but don't have a clue about Chicano history or culture, she knows Chicano history and culture and doesn't feel comfortable with the art side of things. So we made noises about teaching a "learning community" class sometime (so we could learn the other side of things) and she loaned me a book on Chicano Art.

For much of my adult life, when I buy an interesting book on some aspect of art with every intention of actually reading it, I set it aside to complete some pressing task or job and somehow the art book never makes it to the top of the to-do list. These texts are too much like work to read for leisure and too much like reading to take "work time" to do. Following the usual standard, I set the Chicano art book on my desk early in the week and graded papers. I looked at it longingly as I responded to e-mails. I thought about it as I left campus and when I arrived at campus in the morning. But on Wednesday I surfaced from an ocean of grading. I was caught up (for the first time in a week and a half)! I responded to a couple e-mails and got my classes prepped for Thursday, but then, I did something extreme. I read an art-related book that wasn't strictly for class.

I was surprised how difficult I found it to just sit and read. It was an academic text with some passages in Spanish and I had to keep a bookmark in the back to look up the translation, but that wasn't the difficult part. I had a really hard time focusing. I looked at the clock and told myself that for 30 minutes I would read this book. I started reading and found the text interesting, but then I thought about an e-mail I hadn't returned. I had to yank my attention back to the book. "You're reading now, focus." I'd read for a while and then hear voices in the hall that reminded me of something I had sent to the office printer but hadn't yet sent to the print shop for copies. I had to pull back my focus. I read for a while longer.

I though about my yoga teacher during telling us to watch our thoughts drift past as if on a river. She tells us to acknowledge the thoughts but not let them distract us or become our focus. (It sounds better when she says it.) I realized that I had to approach reading this text in the same way. I wanted to commit to reading this book for 30 minutes and everything else had to wait.

It sounds so silly, that this college instructor can't read a book for 30 minutes, but it has to do with the environment and the kind of reading. I can read a novel for half an hour in the evening at home or in bed at night because I can focus on the story even though I am tired or distracted. I can't read a denser academic text when distracted or tired and I don't usually read them at work unless they are specifically related to the topic being discussed in one of my classes. Academic texts, especially French assignments, put me to sleep many an evening in college and I don't think I got as much out of those sleepy texts as I did out of fully-conscious daytime reading.

So as with yoga, I have to consciously set aside time to read this book. I have to be in a devoted space free from most distractions (my office), and I have to continually rein in my focus as my mind flits around in its typical over-excited state. My brain is constantly trying to ask me questions (What's for dinner tonight? Do we have bread or do I need to go to the store tonight?) or warn me that I should be doing something else (that e-mail inbox is so full I might have missed something...really should order more clay this week). I even caught myself thinking this inane thought while I was reading: "This is interesting. I wish I read more stuff like this. I should write myself a note to read more stuff like this." Seriously. Hey dummy, you are reading this, now! Focus, already.

In the end I read 30 minutes of a text on something I knew practically nothing about. It was interesting, I enjoyed it and I enjoyed making connections between this text and things I knew (like the similarities between the concerns of post-modern art and Chicano art) and thing I had seen (I think the all-over patterns in Alfredo Arreguin's paintings may be influenced by the rasquache sensibility that the book discusses).

So the "mission statement" that I wrote for boot camp I said I would set aside 30 minutes once or twice a week to read an art text. I need to be intentional about setting that time aside. The e-mail will just get full again, the clay can be ordered a bit later, but if I don't take 30 minutes to read about Chicano art right now, when will I?

I read 30 pages this week. At this rate I'll finish the book in 6 or 7 weeks. That's a painstakingly slow pace compared to how quickly I can rush through novels, but I can read part of a novel while waiting in line at the supermarket or while my daughter is watching Dora. The art text is probably more rewarding but it also takes more effort and more commitment.

New Stamp

2011-10-20T19:53:00.000-07:00

I got my new stamp in the mail the other day. I haven't gotten in to the studio to try it yet but here it is on a little wad of clay.

The stamp is 1" across but the design is obviously shorter it is also a little less wide (which is good). I think the detail shows up pretty well. It isn't perfectly legible but it wasn't really intended to be.

My camera battery is dead so the picture of the stamp was taken on my phone (not great quality). It's a nice little stamp. I got it from Socwell Inc. in Whitewater, WI. The website is www.4clay.com. They've got some standard stamps too and they were very easy to work with. I e-mailed the drawing and he sent a draft in an e-mail showing what I could have at 1" and what would fit at 1/2." They were fast. (I'm still waiting on my business cards from somewhere else.)

Sorry, still the phone camera but this is my stamps and the new stamp in my daughter's oil-based clay. She's working off to the side of this picture.

Studio "jobs"

2011-10-15T09:58:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in several recent posts, I have been thinking a lot lately about managing my time and balancing the various obligations that come from what you might call my different "jobs" or roles.

I am an artist
I am a mother
I am a teacher
and I have to be a self-marketer and a publicist for my own work. (Isn't this the part about being an artist that all artists hate?)

I probably have a few smaller roles, too, like homeowner, wife, board member and some that are harder to define.

I spend a lot of time thinking about balancing the first three. The role of teacher stays tightly defined because I go to a different place to do that one, away from the distractions of all the others. The role of mother comes with a noisy, energetic reminder of my responsibilities.

a messy responsibility

However, the role of the self-marketer and publicist compete for my attention with the role of artist. I have to track, inventory, price, pack and transport my work. I also have to apply for shows and promote myself and my work, but if given the choice, I don't think I would ever voluntarily pick any of those tasks over the option of making new work.

building in progress

In the summer, my "studio" time obviously includes throwing or building time, underglazing and surface decorating time, firing time, glazing time, cleaning time and clay recycling time. I don't relish cleaning and recycling clay, but they have to get done. If I don't do them, it isn't long before I am forced to do them because of a lack of clay or a lack of surface area.

my studio before the summer "building season" (aka winter storage)

However, in planning my art work time, I also have to account for the time I spend on the odds and ends that are required to be a professional artist: photographing work, naming and pricing work (why does this always take more time than I want it to?), filling out and submitting applications (I remember how important this is now that I've missed a deadline for a show I'm usually in), filing time and paperwork (if I could see my desk, I might not have missed the deadline), planning, packing work, and keeping track of work and supply inventory.

Often, because they are not priority jobs, I get around to most of these "office" type jobs shortly before deadlines force me to do them. I name and price works just before I take them to a show or clean my desk when I realize a deadline is approaching. I don't expect that this is much different for anyone else who has a similar second job or hobby.

Unfortunately, the solution is pretty obvious even if it isn't much fun to implement. I just need to set aside time to do these things (ha ha, I "just" need to set aside time). I could write a list of things to do. I could designate 3pm on Thursdays for getting the work done. I could set a goal for the week or the month. I could give myself a reward or hold back a luxury (like chocolate) until I finish whatever task it is. All of these are probably fine strategies but all of them require me to find time to do the work I don't like to do and then to actually DO the work I don't like to do.

This month I managed to force myself to make business cards (of course, making business cards is kind of fun), and I started naming my pieces (not quite as fun), but I haven't started pricing them (not fun at all). I also haven't gotten around to setting out the pieces I will have in this winter's show (because I'm scared).

Really, it makes me physically uncomfortable when I think about tasks I haven't done (and should do) or when I think about whether or not I am prepared for this winter's show. I know the solution is to just walk out to the studio, take out the stuff and see whether I am ready. But if I'm not...

I always find an excuse not to head out there.

So this week's goal: Face my fears. (Go out to the studio. Ignore the excuses. Find the work that will be in this winter's show. and Feel better).

Day shift for the whole family

2011-10-12T19:06:00.000-07:00

So we are trying out this new thing this week at the Dorn household: My husband is working a new shift. He leaves for work in the morning, stays for 8 hours and then comes home in the afternoon.

* The status quo for the past 4 years has been that he works some version of a night or very early morning shift. Most recently he worked a 10 hour shift that had him starting in the afternoon and coming home in the middle of the night. I would be sleeping when he got home, he would be sleeping when I left. We saw each other rarely and communicated mostly on the weekends.

So far the new schedule is working out well. It is a little bizarre. I am accustomed to being alone with my daughter all evening. I pick her up from day care immediately after work and it's just the two of us until bedtime. Often we meet Daddy for dinner or he comes home but he only has 30 minutes (including driving time).

This week he picked her up from day care before I left work. Then we spent time together and ate when we felt like it. It is strange not to be anchored by a 7:30 mealtime (plus drive time) and strange to have eaten and cleaned up by 6:30. Now what do we do?

It is also amazing what a relief it is to have a second person home. This week events have conspired to keep me late at school, grading or working until just before I left campus. It was a relief that my daughter wasn't sitting at day care all day (since she arrived earlier in the morning because I now take her before class). It was also a relief to come home Tuesday and have a chance to drop my stuff and rest for a moment before going back to meet them. (They were in the back, swinging and working on the truck.)

Today we all went to the grocery store. It was strange: the grocery store. with another adult. not trying to carry the child and push the cart (she says she wants to walk, then ends up climbing up my legs). Today she rode on Daddy's shoulders. When we got home, she went in with Daddy and one load of groceries and I brought a second load in.

Here's what usually happens at this point: I unbuckle the girl from the car. I help her down. (She usually tries to give me something else to carry.) I take a load of groceries up to the porch and unlock the door. I get another load of groceries and try to cajole my daughter into bringing in a small bag or other container. Instead she asks to watch Dora. I bring all the groceries to the kitchen and start to put them away. She asks to watch Dora. She asks again to watch Dora. She asks to watch Dora. I tell her I am putting the groceries away. She asks to watch Dora. I suggest she might help with the groceries. She asks to watch Dora. She wears me down. I turn on Dora and then feel guilty that I'm using the TV as a babysitter. I put away the groceries.

Today, because I had help, I had more energy to put away the groceries (I didn't have to bring them all in and put them away). Then I had energy to cook while my daughter put away the sodas and set the table.

It's not like she never helps with the groceries and cooking and setting the table. She does. And she's a good helper. But today was nicer for both of us. First I talked to an adult (my husband, even better) about non work-related stuff. She got to tell Daddy all about her day and talk to him and play with him (and then do it all again when I got home). And the parenting things were divided and reinforced.

It isn't hard to say "No Dora right now" or "Do you need to go potty?" or whatever other parent things you have to say. It's just that alone you have to say them over and over and over again. It wears you down. But with two people splitting it, you get a break in between. And the kid hears it from two people.

So, I've decided: I like having a husband whom I see during the week.

It remains to be seen whether I will be able to work in the studio more because of his schedule change. This week has been busy at work and I have been staying late. But at home I've been much more relaxed and happy. That's a start.

Business Cards

2011-10-09T15:20:00.000-07:00

Thanks for your help on the business cards.

I chose this image:

I had forgotten how much space I needed to leave for trimming. I have ordered business cards and postcards from Vista Print before but when I first looked at the site, I didn't see the template. Instead I just copied down the card dimensions and made my document that size. It wasn't until I went to purchase the cards and upload my image that I noticed their downloadable template. Of course the template leaves quite a bit of space to trim. I should have known this because I've done it before and we've even had students make business cards in Design: One Byte at a Time (the learning community that I co-taught the last two years). But in the end it wasn't too much hassle to add some grey space around the image.

For next time, though I think I will try to remember to take images, in the first place, that have more grey space. Because I had to add the grey background, I ended up messing with some of the original shadows and the reflected blue behind the piece. I don't know that it is a glaring problem but the piece is less grounded than it might be. I determined not to use the other card design that was suggested by Sean and my Dad because the piece seemed to be floating instead of grounded.

The red piece here doesn't appear to be on a surface.

Finishing my business cards was a goal for this fall. Another task I checked off my list today was having a clay stamp made by Socwell LLC. I've been seeing an ad in Ceramics Monthly for clay stamps made by Socwell LLC (www.4clay.com). The ad first caught my attention because the logo includes a whippet (looks like a small greyhound), which was my high school mascot. I looked closer at the ad and realized the company was located in my hometown, Whitewater, WI. The company creates custom stamps for clay and the advertised designs are more detailed and look cleaner than designs I can made out of clay.

I usually make a few new name stamps or "maker's marks" every year for use on my functional work. (I don't often mark my sculpture--though once a woman had me sign the bottom of a sculpture with a ballpoint pen.) I usually make so many stamps because I demonstrate the technique for classes and because I lose them regularly. The clay stamps I made work fine for my initials but I like the idea of having a more detailed image.

I sent in this image for my stamp.

Socwell apparently will clean up even rough sketches in pencil. I wish I had read that more carefully before I spend hours cleaning up my original sketches, but it's too late now. The website indicates that they will send proofs of your design before making the stamp if you wish. After I did my online order I was given the option to have them send a proof if they though it was necessary. I like that: leave the decision to the professionals.

Anyway, that's two fall tasks done even before November. I'm on a roll.

Business Cards

2011-10-08T15:20:00.000-07:00

Update:
After some helpful suggestions, I've altered my business card designs. I also added a "signature" stamp.
I am am planning to have a clay stamp made (for use mostly on my pottery). I've been working on several designs for the stamp but I haven't selected a design yet. I am considering putting the stamp on my card so that my business cards show my sculptural work but also reference the stamp (and functional work). Does the stamp clutter up the card too much?

The mixed version suggested by Laura (and Mom).

The mixed version suggested by Laura (and Mom) with a stamp.

Mixed version with different stamp.

Sean liked this card, I've added the a stamp version in the corner.

Sean's version with a different stamp.

I'm trying to design new business cards. I tend to fiddle with them quite a bit but I am trying to get them mostly done this weekend. Setting she short time limit will hopefully force me to just do them instead of fiddling with them constantly.

Here are some of the designs I came up with today. I'd appreciate any opinions on which ones I should go with. Which ones are easiest to read? Which is most memorable? Which best represents my work?

Blue arial font with shadow, grey ground & blue sculpture

white arial font with shadow, grey ground & blue sculpture

black arial font, grey ground & blue sculpture

other font, grey gradation ground & red sculpture

other font, grey gradation ground & red/blue sculpture

blue ariel font, transparent pod background

other font, transparent pod background

Any other suggestions? Should I start over? Did I spell my name wrong?

Thank for your suggestions!

A change is as good as a rest

2011-10-06T16:00:00.000-07:00

It's always nice to come back to teaching after a long summer break. I feel refreshed and excited about the upcoming classes and challenges. Even if in May I was ready to go away and never return, by September I have come up with new things to try in class and I can come to campus energized and ready to go. Basically it takes 3 months in the studio to reset the grumpy mood that took 9 months to crush into me.

I might look grumpy, but that's just calm and concentrating

I didn't actually take much of a rest this summer, but working in the studio all day every day is a big change. After just 3 months, I could have happily continued working all day every day in the studio, but by September I was at least interested in a change of pace.

Unfortunately, in some ways 2.5 weeks was long enough to squash my excitement. I had several complications in the first two weeks, including a cancelled class and a sick kid, so I'm going to blame circumstance for my diminished mood.

I am still excited about parts of my fall job but I miss my summer job.

my summer job

The Chronicle of Higher Education came today in the mail. There were a couple of articles about "productive procrastination." John R. Perry apparently won an Ig-Nobel prize for this idea. It is the idea that someone can get jobs done if they are done to procrastinate doing the job you are "supposed" to get done. Essentially, it means if I have to grade some papers and I have to write a press release, I'll grade the papers to avoid having to do the press release. (In my case it means I'll do the laundry or clean the living room or color code my bookshelves to avoid having to write the press release or grade the papers.)

Its an interesting idea, though the second author, Rachel Toor, commented that if you have kids (or a life) you can't get around to the "procrastination productivity" because you're too busy doing triage to get the most pressing (loudest) thing done before the pot boils over (literally) or the kid gets hurt.

The first two weeks of this quarter I felt like i was doing a lot of triage as my regular responsibilities piled up and went unattended. As the quarter began I had high hopes of keeping a schedule in which I snuck in some work time in the studio. In the first week I was so exhausted every afternoon that I just came home, popped some Excedrin and transitioned directly into gymnastics-dinner-Dora-bathtime-bedtime.

At the start of the second week I got home early and threw some pieces in my home studio to make a throwing demo video for my pottery students. I even had my daughter throw with me.

Boy can that 3 year old center!

Early the next morning instead of finishing the throwing videos, my daughter was throwing up. I spent the day "catching" and the videos still aren't done. Neither are the pots trimmed.

I asked my independent students to talk about their progress this week (week 3: 30% of the way through the quarter), the beginning students have their first (of 4) critique today. And when I look in the mirror, I realize that I don't have much to show at this progress point, myself. I haven't made any new work. I haven't cleaned my studio or made new business cards or even finished unloading the very last kiln I fired at home (it was done the day before classes started). I even missed an application deadline for a show I usually enter. (Turns out that my husband and I may have had a slight mail miscommunication that led to the lapse, but still, I should have noticed.)

All this being said, however, I am further along than I might have been. I did, after all, start the videos. And today I'm going to have half an hour (when I finish this) to start my business cards. (I also believe the mail thing has been addressed.) I'm the tortoise, slowly inching forward. If I can start 2 or 3 things in the first 1/3 of the quarter, maybe I can finish 2 or 3 in the second...or third.

Independent Student Blogs

2011-10-05T13:51:00.000-07:00

All of my Independent Clay students have started their own blogs and have been commenting on their plans for the quarter and their inspiration. This week they have posted or will be posting images (or descriptions) of their progress so far.
Comment on their blog posts to send them a question, give them a suggestion or discuss their work.

To learn more about Mike's work, visit http://mikehilerfiredclay.blogspot.com.

To learn more about Jane's work, visit http://janefassel.blogspot.com.

To learn more about Les' work, visit http://lesdelzerart299.blogspot.com.

To learn more about Joe's work, visit http://joerosenkranz.blogspot.com.

To learn more about Katelin's work, visit http://katelinrosenkranz.blogspot.com.

To learn more about DJ's work, visit http://djwood-ceramics.blogspot.com.

To learn more about Sharon's work, visit http://sharon-norman.blogspot.com/.

I am also "following" each of these blogs so you can click on my picture and that will link you to all the blogs I follow. You can also click my picture when you are at one of these blogs and that can link you directly to another blog without going back to my site.

track what you value; value what you track

2011-10-01T10:10:00.000-07:00

At the beginning of this summer, I had some vague goals in mind for my work in the studio. I had various checklists and sketches around the studio. During the school year I have time to sketch ideas for studio work but I don't have as much time to make the work itself. I keep the sketches in books and on scraps of paper and put them around the studio when the summer starts. The sketches are a kind of to-do list or reminders of works I want to make. Once I have made a work I don't cross it off the "to-do" list but I might turn to a new sketchbook page.

My to-do list: sketchbook pages, doodles and a photograph

I also kept track of my summer studio progress in various ways. I kept a tally of pieces finished every 2 week period. (I usually start several pieces at once and finish them the next week.) In most of the 2 week periods this summer I finished 5-7 pieces. I also tried to keep track of how many pieces I underglazed each week. This was harder because of how many times I apply underglaze to the same piece; the resulting tally wasn't particularly accurate. I also kept to-do lists on post-its and the backs of packaging all over the studio. Usually a daily or weekly to-do list would include "chores" like recycling clay or a list of the pieces I plan to finish that week.

Wet clay "arches" drying on my wedging table

I also kept a sketchbook page with simple renderings of works finished for a particular installation I hope to create this winter. This sketchbook index helped me keep track of what I'd done. Since something was constantly drying under plastic or firing in the kiln or moved around the studio to make space, I tended to forget what I had made.

What is hiding underneath the plastic sheets?

Of course, there are items that more readily lend themselves to keeping a tally. It is easy to track how many pieces I finish or fire or glaze. It is more difficult to track aesthetic achievements. I can tally work completed but I must become subjective when I try to count how many "good" pieces I have completed or how close I am to "ready" for a particular show.

How many good pieces are piled under my cabinet?

I try to keep track of the important things in the studio: the things I value. However, the act of keeping track can become a distortion. When it is difficult to tally the important achievements, I might end up tallying something that approximates my important achievements but is easier to count. The mere fact that I am tracking it then increases the importance of that data point.

I encounter this at school, too. Faculty are encouraged to make "data-based" decisions. But, again, what we can track doesn't always match what we value. Tests and scores are much easier to track and compare, but don't always account for subtler idiosyncrasies of an individual learner or an individual question, situation, class, etc. Interpretation is pulled at least one step away from the experience of the individual student and the individual teacher.

At home and at school I regularly make to-do lists and checklists of what I need to do or want to do or hope to do. Since January, I have been keeping track of the books I read. I started doing this because I was curious how many books I read (or listen to) in a given year. However, the count started shifting regular reading into a competition. I suspect the fact that I am keeping count means that I have read more books this year than last. Similarly, I made more pieces this summer than last summer, but I find it harder to be confident that the works completed this year were stronger than the works completed last year.

At the end of the summer studio season, I have been thinking a lot about what I accomplished this summer and how best to spend those long hours in those short months. As the school year has started, I have also been thinking about how best to spend the very limited hours I can squeeze in between school and family time. I can't say I've gotten very far in making decisions about this time, but I've certainly been thinking on it.

Materials & Influence

2011-09-27T13:48:00.000-07:00

Paper and papermaking has been an interest of mine for almost as long as I have played with clay. In elementary school I owned a book of papermaking for kids. My friend Carrie and I experimented with most anything we could get our hands on to put in the blender with the paper pulp. At one point we had a large red plastic briefcase full of our paper experiments. The briefcase became slightly less appealing once we started experimenting with ingredients from the spice drawer. I seem to recall adding quite a bit more garlic powder than one usually expects to find (or smell) in their handmade paper.

In graduate school I gained access to a much more impressive venue for papermaking. UW-Madison had a papermill and occasionally Jim Escalante would teach papermaking classes. It wasn't the most popular medium and I often worked in the studio alone during the time I experimented with paper as a sculpture medium. I was accustomed to working with clay and, for sculpting, clay has some serious advantages over paper. Clay acts as its own support structure, for one. With paper pulp I needed to either form the wet paper over a mold and let it dry or build it onto a wire mesh structure. Though I liked the texture I could achieve with paper (and I liked how light the paper was to transport) I wasn't as happy with the forms I could make.

detail of an installation of handmade paper and fabric sculptures (2005)

I returned to clay as my primary medium and the works for MFA show were exclusively made of clay with just a few pieces incorporating other media such as hair (and metal or fishing line for hanging or support).

One of the things I like to explore in my ceramic work, however, is the contrasting of textures. I can achieve this contrast in clay itself by the use of different molds, textures, applied sprigs or burnishing techniques. I can use glaze to create contrasting smooth, shiny and matte or satin finishes as well. I have experimented minimally with incorporating other materials such as hair or mulberry paper.

high fire ceramic with synthetic hair (2006-MFA Exhibtion)

low fire ceramic with mulberry paper (2010)

I was pretty happy with the results of the mulberry paper and have decided to experiment with this material more this summer. the process is somewhat tedious (like much of my work) but I like the results.

In working this way, I was also reminded of my use of hair several years ago and, though I haven't allowed space to incorporate hair or other materials in much of my work this summer, I would like to keep this technique in mind for future work.

Besides my own work, I have had two recent outside reminders of incorporating mixed media. In the Spring I had a independent student who was working with polymer clay in a steampunk style. She incorporated clock gears, light bulbs and other machinery or pieces of metal into her work both before and after baking (polymer clay is baked to a much lower temperature than regular clay). A few years back I had a couple of students who incorporated crushed marbles into their fired clay. And just a few weeks ago I was looking at Renee Adams' work at the Tieton 10 x 10 x 10 exhibition and admiring her incorporation of polymer clay, flocking and other materials to create contrasting surface textures.

Two other long time influences incorporate contrasting materials and have a tactile quality that I find appealing. I first saw Jason Briggs' work at an exhibition in my hometown, Whitewater, WI. He went to University of Wisconsin-Whitewater as an undergraduate and had work in an alumni show. Later I discovered that my parents owned a vessel he had made as an undergraduate. (The most interesting features of the vessel: an unusually textured glaze and an attached glass marble.) Briggs' work is highly textured. He incorporates real hair into his work but most amazing are the soft and contrasting textures he is able to achieve with the clay. His pieces sometimes look gross, particularly in photographs but in person they are simply intriguing. You want to look and touch. There is so much to see in each of his pieces. I took my daughter to see his work at the last NCECA (National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts) convention and she just wanted to look and look. (I often think the opinions of the very young are more pure than adult reactions).

Michael Barnes is a printmaker, but his subjects often seem to incorporate pieces that don't belong together. He seems to be making prints of sculptures made of mixed media. His lithographs have a soft, inviting texture that makes me want to touch the objects inside the images.

Recent Work with Mulberry Paper

2011-09-25T13:48:00.000-07:00

This morning I took images of the last of the work that I finished this summer. I still have a few pieces to finish from the summer, but I feel a sense of accomplishment to at least have finished what was finished.

Most of these pieces incorporate mulberry paper or other handmade papers.

Here I added paper to the body of the pieces to provide a textural and color contrast to the glazed end of the pod or seed.

Some of the pieces I photographed this morning were actually formed last year or before but I was unhappy with the glazed or underglazed surfaces and wanted to enhance them with the softer paper texture.

I believe I actually completed this piece several years ago, possibly even before moving to Washington, but the colored seeds seem to "pop" more against the soft purple mulberry paper behind and below the pieces.

In this box the paper softens the sound and feel of the ceramics. I carried the paper over the top edge of the bottom piece. When you put the lid on, the ceramic edge sits on paper rather than clinking or scraping right on another ceramic edge.

This was originally made as a multi-part lidded box but for some reason the lid was permanently attached. (It's been too long; can't remember what happened.) The piece doesn't fit particularly well with the rest of my work. I was thinking of those baby toys where the child pushes a handle down and the balls in the container below spin. Since the piece was already damaged I decided to play with a different type of textured paper.

I blew this piece up last year. I forgot to include an air hole in a small hollow section near the top and it blew in the kiln. I only lost a small section of the top, so I decided to glaze the pieces and attempt a repair later. I epoxied the pieces together but the seam was visible and some of the color was off. I used two colors of mulberry paper in part because I was trying to create a contrast between the shiny ball on the inside at the top and the body of the piece. I also didn't have enough green paper on hand. I attempted to highlight the shadows and the underglaze spray from the original by putting green under the spines and yellow above. I am not entirely happy with the result and I consider this piece only partially complete.

I still have a few pieces I am waiting to finish. I saw waiting, but truthfully this first week of classes was so busy I didn't have a spare moment until today. These pieces are the uninjured pieces that would be okay without the paper but I think would be enhanced with the paper. I guess I was afraid to start on them until I worked out some of the kinks with the broken, cracked and maimed pieces from last year.

This piece from last year looks find on the end but is a little dull when viewed from the side. I believe I always intended to try paper on this piece.

Last year was the first time I started experimenting with mulberry paper. I only made a few pieces but I was pretty happy with the results. I sold one of the two small pieces below.

Pre-School clay project (after firing)

2011-09-24T16:00:00.000-07:00

The pre-school clay projects finished firing last weekend and I was able to get them back to the kids on Monday.

I was fortunate to leave work early so that I could bring the pieces to the kids during pre-school and before most of the kids had left for the day. The kids were sitting in circle when I arrived with the box and their teacher handed out the projects, showing off the finished pieces.

The night before my daughter helped me put ribbons or raffia through the holes in the top so we could hand the name plates.

I decided to spray a gloss overglaze to all of the plates before firing because I guessed the kids would appreciate the shiny surface. The dark underglazes became quite dark after firing but they look better in person than in my photos, since I didn't spend much time messing with lighting and glare.

These pieces have a spray of gloss glaze over the top and are ready to be loaded into the kiln. Texture details show up better when you can't see the underglaze.

Regardless, the project was fun and would be fun to do again with students. It would be interesting to see how older students would do with a similar project or even how these same students would do with a second project.

Independent Clay Blog Project

2011-09-21T20:08:00.000-07:00

This quarter every student in Independent Clay (ART 299) will keep a blog about his or her Independent Clay experience. The blog will provide a written and visual record of students' experience and growth throughout the quarter. It will provide a flexible way to maintain communication between myself and my students. I believe maintaining the blog will also encourage students to think about their goals, inspiration and working methods throughout the quarter.

This first week I am asking students to set up a blog. In the first post, students will introduce themselves and discuss what they expect from this quarter. Some students may be planning to complete a particular project or practice a particular technique. A quarterly goal may be to complete a particular quantity or type of work in the next 10 weeks. A student may also wish to receive direction from the instructor on a particular process, like firing, glaze formulation or more advanced clay techniques.

In the blog posts for this class, I am interested in learning what my students are thinking and what they expect and hope to do in this class. I am not particularly concerned with style or formatting of the posts. In some ways the blog posts function more like journals or e-mails with a casual, conversational tone. This isn't a writing class (I don't expect perfect grammar or punctuation or even sentence structure); we are using writing as the vehicle for discussions about art.

In the spirit of the project, here is a first blog post of my own in which I will discuss my own goals for Fall 2011.

Rachel's First Independent Clay Blog Post

As the instructor, I have goals for how the quarter will progress in the school clay studio. I also have goals for my own work this quarter, though WA state law requires that my own work be created off campus (so you won't see it in the YVCC studio).

My YVCC studio goals are to work towards a greater equity between hand-building and wheel throwing techniques in the classroom. Often the beginning hand-building students are greatly out numbered by the beginning throwing students. Sometimes this disparity allows the smaller class to create less ambitious work. It appears that they look around and don't see much work from their classmates and start to think less is expected of them. This year both beginning classes are large. I hope that having more hand-builders will allow those students to be inspired and challenged by each other and to try more ambitious projects or techniques.

Having independent students in the studio helps both groups of beginning students learn the studio etiquette and, more importantly, they see the impressive things the higher level students can do and are challenged to try for larger or more complex pieces themselves.

As I write this the week before school starts, I don't have any ART 299 students signed up, so it is hard to know what goals I might have for them because I don't know who to expect. One broad goal I have for my ART 299 students is for them to think a little more critically about what they are making and why. Why they use certain techniques or materials, why they consistently return to certain forms (or not) and where their ideas come from.

In my own work, one simple goal is to spend at least an hour in my home studio each week. This usually means squeezing in an hour after I leave YVCC and before I pick up my daughter or an hour during a weekend nap time (her nap, not mine).

I have several pieces that, as of this writing, are not complete. I hope to have them finished and ready to photograph before October. I have a few older pieces that need repair and at least one 2-part piece that needs to be put together and epoxied. After that I will need to photograph the work and update my inventory. Most of the work created this summer has yet to be named or priced.

This winter I will be exhibiting work in a clay show at Larson Gallery. One work I intend to show is an installation of several separate pieces. I need to find some quiet, uninterrupted time to determine an arrangement of these pieces and to determine whether I need to create any new pieces.

Though finishing my summer work and preparing my winter work seems like it might eat up all my home studio time, I also have a few new projects I wish to try this fall, time permitting. I have been reading From Mud to Music by Barry Hall and I would like to try making some of the instruments he discusses. I have a vague idea about making instruments in a clay class, but I want to try some things on my own before I test them out on students.

Writing as a Generative Process

2011-09-19T17:08:00.000-07:00

Classes started today at YVCC. Last week while I was updating syllabi and trying to determine whether I have work study support in the studio this year, I was also been thinking about changes and improvements I can make in my classes this coming quarter. I finally got around to reading some course evaluations I gave my students last year and I got some good suggestions from them.

I plan to have my independent clay students keep a blog about their quarter's experience in clay. I suspect some of them will not be thrilled about the writing element in a clay class, but I have a background in writing as well as art and I think that an essential skill for an artist (or anybody) is to be able to talk intelligently about their work.

One of the things I have noticed about keeping this blog regularly--even for the short amount of time I have been keeping it regularly--is how helpful the writing process is for how I think about my work. As my mother likes to remind me, "writing is a generative process."

As I sit down to write, I don't have a fully formulated plan. I keep a notebook handy in the studio and jot down a few ideas as they come to me. When I sit down to write, I pick the most interesting or promising idea and start to write about it. I often don't know where I am headed when I begin to write. A few times I have found myself on a tangent or in a slightly different place that where I expected to be when I began writing. A few times I have made a connection in writing that I hadn't really thought about before writing it down.

The fact that I end up writing something I wasn't expecting when I started is what makes the whole process interesting. Keeping the blog has reminded me of sharing a studio in college. Obviously one doesn't script a whole conversation ahead of time. Conversations with a studio-mate or conversations in a more formal critique move you from one understanding to another. In some ways having a conversation with a blog is like talking to a very neutral studio-mate.

I also like Blogger's save and edit features. I try to step away from my blog before posting it because, as is happening right now, I might get distracted in the middle of writing. I can get the basic ideas down and return later (say, when my daughter isn't trying to talk to me about her owies) and read the post through to be sure that I didn't muddle my phrasing.

But a blog also doesn't require formality expected in a classroom setting or an artist's statement. Blog authors can use slang and incomplete sentences as it suits their style, just as long as it makes sense. One of my favorite examples of this relaxed (and funny) style of writing is the Books I Done Read blog.

Another advantage of a blog is that the writing can be sparse and the images plentiful. The Larson Gallery Guild blog uses a lot of images combined with writing (and the images and writing come from a variety of sources). Other artists' blogs use almost no writing and focus entirely on images of work. One of my favorite blogs that relies heavily on images hasn't been updated recently, but Hyperbole and a Half has excellent stuff if you search past posts.

I believe that keeping a blog will force my independent students to formulate more thoughtful ideas about their work. I hope that it will also encourage discussions between the independent students. Of course it will allow me insight into what students are doing, thinking and talking about.

My independent students keep different studio hours or work outside of the studio. I can force conversations by holding a required critique, but the discussions end up being somewhat formal and are hard to schedule.

Of course I also like the idea of having students present their work regularly and perhaps even interact with people who are not in the class. Several local artists keep blogs of their work. Fostering a discussion or connection between students and artists could be a good experience for all.

Summer's New Work (finished)

2011-09-15T07:50:00.000-07:00

I finished quite a few pieces in the last few weeks. I've just updated my website with photos of this work.

Visit www.racheldorn.com to see my newest work (and older work, too).

My website says I finished 39 pictures of finished work from this summer. A few pieces were only finished this summer but formed last summer or fall. I still have some pieces in the finishing stages and that have not yet been photographed but I will post them when they are finished (hopefully the next week or so.

A piece that was built last summer but I didn't like the surface.

Taking Slides

2011-09-13T15:00:00.000-07:00

The summer work is done and the studio is almost clean. So I've spent the bulk of the last two days "taking slides" of my work.

This used to entail special film and special lights and sending the special film away for processing and paying for said processing and then tossing out the inevitable bad slides and feeling a little sad about the cost and the effort.

Eventually real slides meant endless hours at a slide recorder when everyone started asking for a CD of .jpgs or .tiffs in application materials rather than a carousel or set of slides. I bridged this gap in my early career. In college and afterwards almost all applications required physical slides. When I applied to graduate school, some schools wanted digital but I remember sending off several bulky slide carousels too. I vaguely remember giving at least one talk on my work using a slide carousel.
By the time I finished graduate school, no one was asking for physical slides anymore and Kodak had stopped making carousels.

I haven't actually made or used a slide in years. But "taking slides"sounds better (and is quicker) than saying I am "taking digital images of my artwork for use in job and exhibition applications." When I used to take actual slides, it was clear I was talking about making something to record and promote my artwork. Now I'm as likely to fill my digital camera's memory card with pictures of my daughter as with pictures of my artwork; there isn't a physical distinction between the two types of images.

Anyway, "slides" is what I've been doing this week.

When I am taking slides (er, making images), I find it is sometimes hard to judge the quality of the image at immediately. I get into a rhythm and take a bunch of images but I have to come back to the computer (and often the printer) before I can "see" if the images work. I also find that time and distance helps. I am better able to judge the quality of the images I took last year than this. Similar to judging the quality of the work itself, judging the quality of the slides right after making the work is difficult because the actual image competes with the image in my head, my feelings about the process and my hopes for the piece.

Looking back at last year's images, I realize that several are quite dark and have a blue-ish background rather than grey. This year (so far) I don't have that problem, but I don't remember changing anything about the process of setting up, lighting or taking the images.

My method isn't necessarily an official or approved method for taking slides. It certainly wasn't how I was taught, but, then, I am not a film camera and freedom from processing fees means I can quickly delete or retake images that don't work out.

In college I learned to use tungsten lights and a depth of field with a long exposure and one of those cords on the camera that allows you to click without moving the camera. We had a diffuser light of some sort and lights on stands. Slides were taking in a room specifically devoted to taking slides (and maybe storage, too. In graduate school we adopted a small room that was slightly less dusty than the rest of the clay studio. We built our own diffuser out of a light hanging from an extension cord with a cardboard box around it and a filter over the opening. If I recall correctly, the filter was the kind used in a heater. We covered the windows with paper and tried to get the lights far enough back that they wouldn't create shadows.

At my home studio, or, rather, outside of it, I hang my big roll of grey photo paper from an old clothes rack (came with the house, don't know why) with plastic clamps and drape it over my daughter's art table. I do this early in the morning so I can use the daylight just after dawn when shadows are more diffuse. I set a long depth of field and adjust the light meter as the sun comes up.

I don't think this method is orthodox but neither can I have a permanently dedicated "slide" area in my studio or home. Also, tungsten lights get really hot and unpleasant and my only real enemy outside in the morning is the wind. The wind almost won a small object from my "slide" table when it blew the grey paper and rolled the piece to the edge. Luckily I was standing there and caught it before it fell.

I took 135 images of 48 objects this morning and yesterday morning. A few were retakes of work completed last year or before. Taking advantage of dawn's early light means that by the time my daughter wakes up I've already accomplished something for the day!