Yakima Art Festival this weekend, and what I've been working on

This weekend I am participating in the Larson Gallery's Yakima Art Festival downtown at the Farmer Market space (Rotary Marketplace) on Yakima Ave.  The festival runs 11-4 on Saturday, June 28 and there's a long list of artists, including myself, John Barany, Cydney Bacon, Denny Driver, Susan Harris, and more. I count 24 participating artists listed on the Larson Gallery website. 

bowls, like those I'll have at the Art Festival

There will also be art activities for kids and food trucks. I've done this show before, but it's been several years. I am hopeful that the new location will make the event more popular and cooler (it was really hot last time I participated). I am also pleased that Larson Gallery has made an effort this year to increase the quality of the artists exhibiting.

I'll bring some sculpture, too

When I agreed to participate, I told myself I would not overdo it on set up and what I would bring. I also told myself I would not try to make a bunch of new work specifically for this show. I have a tendency to forget or write off all the work I have stored in boxes (out of sight; out of mind) and try to make entirely new work. Earlier this spring, I boxed up a lot of my functional pieces to make space for works in progress, which was helpful, but I can feel myself starting to worry that I don't have enough pieces for this show (even though I have so much stuff stored!).

And a few vases and mugs

Since the quarter ended June 13, I have spent most of that time making new work in my home studio. Since I have a show coming up, I have told myself that I should get at least one kiln load finished before then. Why? I don't need to do this, but it just feels like I should need to. I spend something like 12 hours yesterday applying underglazed to new bulbs I've made in 2025 (before the quarter ended). My husband drove my daughter and some classmates to a band leadership camp in Oregon, so I was home alone for most of that time.

experiemental bulbs and bulb parts from spring

I got really excited about making bulbs this year. In March, I installed a group of 100 bulbs in the faculty office hallway in my building, Palmer Martin, at Yakima Valley College. I had already gotten excited about making new bulbs before then, in large part, I think, because our union contract bargaining was finally over. 

my installation at YVC

The installation required 100 bulbs, which I collected from three different "bodies of work" (abstract bulbs, chemo bulbs, and protest bulbs. I also had one single bulb from way back in college or grad school when I was still raku firing the bulbs. (I wanted a raku piece so that I could grab it off the wall and show students, which I already did for the spring class).

my home installation with place-holders non-bulbs and a gap

Collecting 100 bulbs for the Palmer Martin install left me with some gaps in my home installation, so I figured I'd made some more. All spring I felt like I had tons of ideas I wanted to try. I had more ideas than time, which is a nice way to be out of balance. I finished making 100 new bulbs (starting in February, I think) earlier this month

the first layer of underglaze and some newly fired bulbs

In May, I attended an AFT convention in Tacoma. The convention was good, but there were parts of the process that were boring. They weren't pointlessly boring, which was an interesting distinction I hadn't particularly thought of before. Instead, the process requried by Robert's Rules of Order meant that there was repetition that was required. I found that the absolute best way for me to focus was to get out my sketchbook and start sketching bulbs. I was able to pay attention to what was being said, but my mind didn't wander and I wasn't tempted to play on my phone.

my sketch of bulb ideas

The convention was at the Murano Hotel in Tacoma, where glass artists are featured on each floor, meaning that in between convention events, there was lots of art to look at. I came away from the convention with just a ton of pieces I wanted to make. 

I started coloring in the bulb ideas I had started making

As I reached the end of the academic year, I was thinking about what I wanted to do over the summer. We've got a few school visits planned for my daughter, so there's some heavy duty traveling scheduled, but I also wanted to spend time in my studio on things I wanted to make.  The irony is that what I thought, in May, that I'd want to make in summer has turned out to not be quite accurate.

underglazed bulbs waiting for their second layer of underglaze (and glaze)

As usual, my plans for what I want to make in summer include about 3x as much stuff as I can actually find the time to make. Over the summer, before our the open studio at my house on Labor Day weekend, I want/wanted to:

• finish (glaze and underglaze) the 100 bulbs I made during spring
• make face mugs
• make protest and/or face bulbs
• test 3 new (to me) clay bodies on large sculpture to see if they are less likely to crack
• create new pieces for a different wall installation at YVC
• install said wall installation at YVC
• make some mid-size sculptures from my sketchbook
• finish painting the large sculptures from last year

this chain was trick to underglaze without it getting on the bulb

This is obviously way too much. The face bulbs take a lot longer than the abstract bulbs, mugs take longer than bulbs, large scupture takes longer than small or medium sculpture, and my approach to glazing is so stupidly time consuming that it took me 12 hours yesterday to finish the first (of 2 + a glaze layer) layers of underglaze on about 25 bulbs. In the past week, I probably spent ~40 hours on just the first layer of underglaze for 100 bulbs.

tiny vases and bowls for necklaces

Then, once I started thinking about the show coming up this weekend, I decided it would be good to make some cute little critters for kids to see at the show. I also decided I had plenty of time to make and glaze a bunch of tiny vases to turn into necklaces for this weekend.

bulbs waiting on their second layer

And while I've been perfectly happy to do the underglazing on these pieces, I've got two face mugs that have been in progress for most of that week (that I can't seem to get myself to finish). I also bought all this new clay at the end of May so I could use it for the face/politics bulbs and the large sculpture tests, but I haven't gotten to those yet either.

Cali after investigating my new clays

I know that part of the problem is that things just take time. There's literally just two weeks between the end of the quarter and the Art Fest this weekend. And its not even reasonable to spend all day every day in the studio. One day I had to go in to YVC to finish ordering for fall classes, another day Alison and I had our motorcycle endorsement test, and we have had other things like laundry and groceries, and all that non-studio stuff.

a new texture I just tried

So, in large part, I'm writing this post, which is ostensibly just a post to invite y'all to come to the Art Fest this weekend, to calm myself down. I get like this and I need to write it out to calm myself down. But the other thing that's been bugging me is that when I listen to my brain or heart or whatever part of me decides, I really just want to make more abstract bulbs right now, forget the faces and the mugs and the things I think I "should" be making or that folks will buy. I just wanna keep experimenting with textures and ideas from my sketches. I don't wanna do the heavy/thoughtful stuff right now.

these bulbs are ready for cone 6 glazing (which I usually don't do for my bulbs)

Recent Sculpture: Twisty Chartreucat

Twisty Chartreucat, ceramic with underglaze, 2021

I built this sculpture in spring and finished it this summer. It reminds me of a cat or someone acting shy based on the way it folds back on itself. I was enjoying building twisty forms in spring as a mental break from the teaching and union work I was doing.

the Chartreucat is starting to hide its head/bulb

For this scupture, I wanted thte work to come up and then bend back down so that the "top" bulb was almost lying down on its base. But I wanted to keep space between each element. I didn't want this to look like it had fallen during the firing or that the plant/creature was dead or collapsed.

I love the s-curve of the stem and base here

As with the last twisty sculpture I posted about, I am having fun with how the sculpture looks different, or photographs different depending on how it is positioned. As I said, I think of this piece as shy becuase of the way the yellow bulb is hidden by the stem from a certain angle.

building a twisty form like this is fun, but requires care to make sure the stem is stable enough to support the wet weight being added below as a cantilever

As with the rest of the sculptural forms I built in spring/summer 2021, this one was coil built with my freshly pugged clay. The freshly pugged clay made a significant different, as I mentioned previously, it was warm and soft and just a better mix than when I do it by hand.

the stamps can't fill in all the spaces between sprigs without squishing the sprigs

The surface of the sculpture was decorated with sprigs (little bits of clay pressed into small bisque molds) and stamps. In this case, the stamps filled in the large spaces between sprigs and then I used a stick or ball stylus to add more holes in between and up to the edges of the sprigs.

The surface seems a lot more dense with the added dots between and around the other elements

The stamps won't fit right next to the wet sprigs without squishing them and the sprigs smush the stamps if I put them on in the other order. The ball stylus allows me to add some variety of mark making (I can use larger and smaller balls to make dots of varying sizes) and fills in those spaces.

the chartreuse underglaze looks much brighter after firing or in better lighting

I then treated the surfaces with my typical two color underglaze treatment, which consists of painting on the first layer of both the background and the sprigs, then firing the piece to bisque temperature (low temperature) a second time.

red was added over the chartreuse, blend to orange at a distance

After the second firing, I add a second layer of underglaze, then wipe it incompletely away from the surface so that it highlights both the indents and the areas around the sprigs. In this case, I added a glossy glaze to the entire yellow/red background surface, but left the sprigs unglazed so that they have a velvet/matte surface texture.

the base color looks very different at the bulb wher there is minimal red vs along the base and body where close texture creates more areas for the red to remain

This piece and several other brand new sculptures that I've yet to post about will be on display (and for sale) over Labor Day weekend at my house for the Yakima Artist's Studio Tour on September 4 and 5 from 10-4 and Monday, September 6 from 10-12. You can purchase tickets from me on the day of the tour or beforehand. For more information, check out my blog post about the Tour or Artebella Gallery's Tour page.

The density of both sprigs and background texture changes as one moves "up" the form

New work at Artebella Gallery for International Sculpture Month

New work, April 2019, now on display at Artebella Gallery

April 27 is International Sculpture Day and there are several sculpture events going on in the Yakima area. Boxx Gallery in Tieton is having a sculpture show (I'll have an installation in this show) and there will be an associated community event in the square that day. And Mike Hiler is showing work at Oak Hollow Gallery.

New work, Summer 2018 (not on display at Artebella)

Artebella Gallery at 1111 Spruce Street, next to Taste and See Deli in Yakima is having some events, including artists talks and a display illustrating the process of lost wax casting. The gallery owner had contacted me earlier this year to ask for new work from me. 

New work 2018-2019

When she first contacted me, I told her I didn't have any new work, but then I realized I might have time to make something before April. So I actually got myself into the studio and made something new this winter. Of course when I went to pack up to take her the new piece and a few older pieces, I realized that I did have two or three new pieces from the summer that I had forgotten about.

New work, Winter 2019

I pulled the latest sculpture from the kiln Saturday morning. I had tried a combination of underglaze layers and cone 6 celadon glazes. I was trying to create a sense of thickness and color variation that was a bit more subtle than the underglazes on their own.

celadon on underglaze, detail

I fired the work in my small kiln, since I was firing so little, but the kiln didn't quite reach temperature. Regardless, I was pretty happy with the results fo the firing. The blue celadon has some mottled texture on the top bulb that is only evident when you look closely at the work.

I was trying to get away with not setting up a backdrop for photos. This is the result of my laziness.

I used a blue celadon over two layers of blue underglaze on the main body of the piece. I used the same blue celadon over two different types of blue underglaze on the bulbs and I like the similar texture and different color result. I used clear celadon over the orange and cinnamon underglaze on the sprigs.

Celadon over underglaze (and a small glaze fault)

 The results weren't perfect, however. Two of the bulbs have small dry spots after firing. It looks like I brushed up against the side of the piece after glazing, but I am sure this isn't what happened. The strange thing is that I underglazed the entire piece, then bisque it. Three coats of blue underglaze were applied the entire surface, then fired. After bisque firing I added the celadon. So for bare clay to show up, both the celadon and the underglaze came off during firing.

New work, Summer of 2018, on display at Artebella

I've had similar issue in the past when underglaze has peeled off of a pot after glaze firing. This has happened a couple of times in the last few years. I think the problem is the fit between the glaze or underglaze and the clay body. I have never seen this issue on a textured surface, only on a smooth, burnished surface. I don't remember every seeing it with underglaze alone, but it shows up as brittle pieces of glaze (with the underglaze attached) cracking off the surface, leaving no evidence of either glaze or underglaze on the raw ceramic below. 

New to the gallery work at Artebella

Luckily, on this piece the glaze faults were pretty tiny little spots, but I think I do need to do some research into this in the future (though the thought of doing this does not fill me with joy). This is also something I occasionally see in student work, so it is worth it to figure out the problem.

new to the gallery work at Artebella

If you'd like to see my new work, or slightly older work, including almost everything pictured in this post, stop by Artebella Gallery at 1111 W. Spruce in Yakima. Tomorrow I will be installing some political work at Boxx Gallery in Tieton. More on that in a future post.