NCECA part 1 (Bad Apps, Maps, and Gaps)

I just got back from NCECA, the annual conference for the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts in Detroit. This week was YVC's spring break, so I have nearly a whole day to rest before classes start tomorrow. My mom met me in Detroit and attended the conference with me. We had lots of opportunity to talk about clay and teaching and the conference and her hometown (she grew up on the East side) while in Detroit, but now my mind is racing with more things I want to think about, so...blog writing!

Me and my mom in the hotel with a view of Detroit, Windsor, and the conference center

It was a good experience, despite the fact that there were some serious flaws, in my opinion, with the organization of the conference itself. Luckilly, the experience included lots of valuable stuff, like info on kilns and parts, new to me tools, inspiring work and exhibitions, and validation of some of my techniques and teaching approaches. I was disappointed, to varying degrees with the organization of the conference, and though I have lots that's good to think about, some of today's writing was me getting out some of that frustration with the organization and, especially, the app.

a small amount of my conference collection (including lots of posters for the studio)

I went to my first NCECA conference in Kansas City as a senior in college with my clay professor, John Beckleman, and other Coe students. The next year, I went to San Diego as an independent artist and prospective graduate student. I attended the conference all three years of graduate school (in Indianapolis, Baltimore, and Portland). After that I went less freqently, attending Seattle in 2012, Milwaukee in 2014, and Portland again in 2017. I presented (on my work, and a separate presentation on my teaching) at the conference in Pittsburgh in 2018. Then I didn't attend again until this year.

This year's theme: Volumes 

I figure that even though it's been a while (8 years, though only 6 in-person conferences) since I attended, my nine previous conference experiences give me some authority to say that I thought that there were some disappointing changes between this year's conferencce and previous ones I've attended. 

me: crabby (this was from the Substructure show, but I can't find the artist name and the website link is broken)

It seems like in Milwaukee there were a lot more presentations showing building and throwing processes as programing for the conference, whereas this year most demos seemed to be held by booths in the expo (so, company sponsored with limited viewing and seating). In Pittsburgh, I presented my work in the Blinc 20:20 short form section, which appears to have a correllary in this conferences' pograming, but I didn't see anything like the other presentation I did: a group discussion, simultaneous with another group discussion in the same room, about studio atmosphere and culture. Today, in drafting this post, I looked back on the post I wrote about both the Blinc and the Topical Networking sessions and apparently I thought NCECA was poorly organized at the time too, so maybe this year wasn't worse, I just remember it better than it felt at the time.

more crabbiness in some show where I also failed to get the artist's name (let me know and I can add it)

Of course both this year's crabbiness and my attitude in 2018 have many variables include my own stress level (finals and a presentation at NCECA the same day was a lot). I also realize that NCECA may be facing challenges with the location and physical space available to them, local business owners' attitudes, and who knows what else behind the scenes.  My own age and position at YVC and role at the conference also color what I care about and what I notice. Some of the conference is unapologetically aimed at new artists, students, and folks getting started. Additionally, of the programing changes may have been gradual over the last decade, while others may not be changes, but bad memory on my part.

 the Guardian building, one of the few ceramic-related sites near the conference center (but not listed in the app) with a ceiling and other decoration of Pewabic Pottery tiles

We like to talk about the influence of the pandemic on every aspect of modern life, and NCECA did cancel their 2020 conference and held a virtual conference in 202l.  For me, the intervening eight years included the pandemic, cancer treatment, and my AFT-Y union presidency, all three of which have adjusted the parameters of my job, work, and my perspective significantly. Looking back at past blog posts, NCECA was unorganized then, and I cared about some parts more than others. Interestingly, I think going with my friend Nina and with my Mom made both conferences a lot more fun than otherwise. NCECA 2028 will be in Spokane, maybe I should make arrangements to take a group from Yakima.

Driving around, it was always pretty easy to see our hotel in the distance, even from fairly far out of the downtown area

Back when I attended my first conference as an undergraduate, I remember being amazing at the scale of the conference and the crowds, and at the quantity and variety of exhibitions. Attending with a school cohort made the conference less intimidating and having our professor (John Beckelman) as a guide helped us choose what to attend and where to focus. I have always remembered John's thoughts on why he didn't attend every year and how he felt about the conference. The students were all agog about everything, but he said that attending made him feel good about what he was already doing. 

The K-12 student show is always at the conference center and always very impressive. 

I don't know how much I thought about it at the time, but attending conferences as an instructor, and especially this year, John's perspective from back then really resonated with me. This year, I had lots of good conversations, saw some good stuff and feel inspired to do my own work, but also vindicated by what I am already doing, both as an artist and an educator.

I attended this talk by Rebekah Bogard about how she makes large scuptures in pieces. Her approach is really similar to what I've been doing lately

This year I went in with some pretty specific goals to get some questions answered about kilns, wheels, and our 3D clay printer. I went in with technical questions and had a bunch of interesting and useful conversations with companies in the expo hall and returned home with stacks of resources. (The only downside is that I have to turn that stack and those conversations into a plan now that I'm home.)

Shortly before the conference, I was tasked with putting together a studio equipment maintenance plan.

The conference itself always consists of speakers, demos, exhibitions, free samples, sales, give aways, and even some performaces. This year there as a whole new (to me) subculture or trend of tradesies.  Folks had come prepared with pins, key changes, magnets and other small handmade ceramic items and they would trade with other attendees similarily prepared. Traded items then decorated their lanyards like badges on a scouting sash or medals on a letter jacket. 

In the expo, there were three separate booths where I wanted to buy something and they didn't sell it yet. They'd brought prototypes or hadn't figured out shipping to the US yet.

Compared to conferences I've attended for advising, writing, and curriculum, there's a lot of similar chatting, attending presentations, deciding what's worth your time. I don't remember much of an expo hall at academic conferences I've attended as an adult, but as I kid I remember they had book tables at the reading conferences I went to with my folks. Probably most conferences don't have a multiday scavenger hunt for ceramic tiles so folks can win a new wheel or kiln or art, etc.  And, of course, the biggest difference is the exhibitions. There are ceramic-centric shows scheduled during the conference throught the city and more distant communities (Yakima had clay events when NCECA was in Seattle), as well as in the conference center itself. 

This year there were a bunch of pretty small shows upstairs in the conference center itself

Compared to my previous experience, the exhibitions were disappointing. To some extent I felt that a lot of them weren't coherent--just a bunch of random pieces on pedestals. The exceptions being the Palestinian show at the Arab American Museum in Dearborn and the Ceramics x Fiber show in Detroit. There were shows with good work, but not as many good shows, and the vast majority of works in these shows lacked any kind of artist statement or interpretive materials. May next year NCECA can join forces with a Museum curation conference.

The Ceramics x Fiber exhibition paired ceramic artists with fiber artists for an creative, energetic, and fascinating group show that filled every nook and cranny in this old warehouse building

The biggest disappointment for me was the location of the shows and the difficulty fining them. The latter was primarily the fault of the conference, though I don't know if they had trouble getting shows downtown. NCECA has an app for the conference (they had an app in 2018, too), but it was poorly designed.  It worked adequately for finding lectures, demos and events and adding them to your own schedule (though I still prefer paper and assorted highlighters because it helps me plan what to attend if two things are scheduled for overlapping times). 

the app loading screen

But the app was garbage when it came to exhibitions and especially maps. There were, theoretically, maps in the app. The maps of the conference center didn't identify the expo hall, the demostration hall, or what was in each room or lobby area.  This wasn't a big problem, as the rooms were mostly numbered based on floor, but it led to some frustration on the first day when it said that an event would be in "Concourse C" but the word "concourse" didn't appear in any map. What level would concourse C be on, I wondered. Based on context, I have since learned that "Concourse C" means "just outside the doors to Hall C" and floor 2.  Later in the day, Concourse C was adjusted to mean "the middle of the lobby area near Hall C" on floor 2.

k-12 student work

The real problem, though, was with the 80+ exhibitions in and around Detroit (including Dearborn, Hamtramck, Flint, Ann Arbor, Warren, etc). In the past, I believe we've always gotten a paper copy of the schedule and exhibitions, with maps, and a paper program with my registration. You could buy the program separately this year, but you were expected to rely on their "interactive" map and exhibition list in the app to find shows. 

the main landing page for the app

In previous years, as I recall it, there have been different maps showing different exhibitions. For example. There is usually a map that shows exhibitions within a reasonably short walk of the conference center. This map didn't exist, in part, because there weren't many of these exhibitions. Usually there would be exhibitions in the conference center and in nearby hotels. Some exhibitions might be in cafes, shops, galleries, or temporary venues near the conference center. 

the menu page/overlay for the app

Another map or maps would include more of the city or a section of the city (or nearby cities) with marked exhibitions that one might need to get to via car, shuttle, or public transit.  There might be a map for Shuttle 1 and a differnet map for Shuttle 2. These multiple maps made it easy to find exhibitions that were either walkable from the hotel/conference center or where you could plan a route that combined one cab, car, or transit ride with some walking.

the start of the long exhibition list

Instead, this year's app included just one map. The details of the shows were not visible at the same time as the map was open, which led to juggling between the app and a browser, both on my phone. It didn't help that the Interactive map didn't include street names or GPS. The second night, I gave up and just wrote a list of exhibitions and their addresses.

when the map first loads, that's Flint alone at the top

It was also annoying that the map was accessible through the app, but opened a separate browser page. Links in that broswer page opened yet more pages, and none of these were ones that were easy to toggle between. I ended up with 43 open tabs on my phone because I was looking for things. The low reliability of the info in the app led to missed shows, arriving at shows that weren't open yet or had closed early, and lots of separate searches for addresses, directions, and hours.

lots of transit stops on Woodward Ave

After much trial and error and practice, here are my 22 easy steps for finding an exhibition in Detroit this year:

1. Unlock your phone
2. Open the NCECA app 
3. Remind your phone that you are not in Canada, despite your phone pinging a cell tower across the river in Windsor
4. Log into the conference center or hotel WiFi because you are worried about out-of-country data charges 
5. Now that's done, close all the windows you opened to try to avoid Canadian data charges
6. Open the NCECA app again
7. Click on the menu
8. Click on "Exhibitions" This is the 4th item down under "Presenters" in the menu. The 5th item is "maps" but this does not include any exhibition maps, so never use this.
9. Once you have opened "Exhibitions," select the first item titled "Click for 2026 NCECA Exhibitions Inter" This is the exhibitions map, but you wouldn't know that by reading the menu options or the visible title. They could have titled it "Exhibitons Map." but that would be too clear.
10. Once you have opened the map page, click on the link to get to the map.
11. Wait for your browser to load the page--there was always a lag.
12. Zoom in to Detroit, because this map includes Flint and Ann Arbor in the default view.
13. Adjust the screen to put downtown Detroit near the center. This will take a few tries.
14. Click on a variety of different icons because you don't know where the Conference Center is. There is no key. The purple flag is the Conference center. It is the same color as most, but not all, of the People Mover stations. (The People Mover is a free downtown transit option. It will be out of service for the duration of the conference. You cannot remove the icons for all the People Mover stops that you can't use. Try to ignore them, even when they are on top of other icons. Some of them are a different color. Some of them have different icons.)
15. Once you have found where you are, look a the little paint palette icons. These are probably art exhibitions. Sometimes these are not art exhibitions. Sometimes art exhibitions use a different icon. Some of the icons identify landmarks unrelated to clay or this conference. There will be no way to know ahead of time if a numbered icon is related to this conference or not. Some of the paint palette icons mark exhibitions that do not exist. NCECA will not updated the map, despite announcing, at the start of every lecture, that the app is "the most up to date" way to tell what's going on at the conference.
16. Find a cluster of paint palettes that appear to be close to the convention center. Zoom in to see the name of the street they are on. Just kidding, this map doesn't include street names!
17. Click on the closest paint palette icon. At the bottom of the screen there may be a word or words. 
18. Click the word(s) to enlarge. Text here may or may not include the name of the show or the name of a business at this location. There may be a link to, or photos of, an unrelated business.
19. Click the link. Now you are at a website for a restaurant. Good luck getting back to the map or this icon before you forget what you were looking for, or at.
20. Return to the app. 
21. Click the left arrow to return to the Exhibition list. There are over 80 exhibitions at NCECA this year. They are not listed alphabetically. They are not listed by location. You may not sort them by name, location, or any other feature. There is no search feature (edit: I found the Search feature today, Monday. The conference ended Saturday. I didn't check if it worked). You may not check off or hide exhibits you have already seen (or that do not exist). You may not highlight exhibitions you want to see. You may not search for exhibitions that are close to one another, are open now, open on a given day, have receptions on the same day, or close early. 
22. Click on every. single. one. of 80 individual exhibition pages and us a pencil and paper to write down their addresses, dates, hours, and descriptions. Look up each one separately in your phone's functional map app. Ideally, bring a friend or family member so they can use a funcrional map app on their phone while you convert information from the poorly designed NCECA app.

lots of different icons with unclear (at least to me) meanings

On the first day of the conference, Wednesday, we used the visual of the map (remember, road names are missing) to look for some exhibitions. One address and map location was simply a closed buiding under construction. We circled the whole building and the next one over. That exhibition didn't exist. We moved to the next street where a passing pedestrian informed us that we had to enter from the alley. That exhibition wouldn't open unitl Thursday. We stumbled upon the twin of the missing exhibition by accident on the way back to the convention center (the Cranbrook alumni show was listed twice with two different locations and two different icons in the NCECA map). We viewed another exhibition from the locked glass doors of the closed restaurant where it was housed. And got kicked out of another exhibition because it was a pop-up only opening for 3 hours on Thursday.

lots of steps trying to find that phantom show

The map was aggravating and easily the worst thing about the conference, but the lack of walkable shows was also pretty annoying. I was really hoping that this Detroit NCECA would celebrate the vibrant revitalization of the city with exhibitions in downtow spaces that were otherwise empty.  And to be clear, we saw lots of revitalization in the city and lots of empty space downtown, but that's not where the exhibitions were. There were a bunch of pop-ups, but they had a separate card, were mostly not listed in the NCECA app, were not particularly walkable, and were open on different nights, each for only a few hours at a time. We made it to none of them.

lots of streets without names

It was especially disappointing to be staying in large hotel on the waterfront with huge unused spaces, including waterfront views, with no exhibitions save for a single table for one of the hotel's employees. Don't get me wrong, it was super cool of the hotel to feature their employee, but with so much empty (glass enclosed and secure) space, there should have (and could have) been more. 

the view of our hotel from near the conference center

In fact, no downtown hotels had any exhibitions or installations of ceramic work that I was able to find, apart from a single one-night pop-up and the aforementioned table. The pop ups appeared to be mostly in bars, cafes, restaurants, etc. The problems I had with the pop ups may have been unrelated to NCECA, since the pop-ups weren't listed in anything from the conference organization itself.

four (empty) levels of our hotel, that are visible, but difficult to get to

I obviously don't know enough to know if the fault lay with NCECA's national organizers or local organizers of the conference, or with whoever owns and/or manages those empty downtown spaces. My mom understood that the Renaissance Center, our hotel was located, was supposed to be a public and river facing hub of business activity downtown. It clearly was not that. The restaurants in the hotel were quite expensive, and there was so much empty space. They restaurants were also difficult to find from inside the space.

it took us maybe 20 minutes to find the entrance to this "tube" that allowed us to cross the street out of the rain

As I understood it, the hotel and local restaurants were understaffed (maybe chronically), but on the other hand, there were security guards sitting in a variety of locations around the unnecessisarilty large and empty central part of the hotel. I didn't count carefully, but there had to be at least 4 or more on multiple floors.  They seemed to be bored out of their minds guarding basically empty space and giving directions to the perpectually lost guests trying to navigate the labyrinthine architectural folly of the Renaissance Center.  Wouldn't everyone have been happier if they could guard, say, a ceramic show AND the empty wastelands of the central hotel?

it is mandatory to visit a Culver's when in a state with a Culver's

100 Spring and Summer bulbs ready for Labor Day open house

bulbs in progress (before glazing)

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

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

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

bulb in progress, partway through its first coat of underglaze

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

finished bulb, this one was fun to underglaze

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

bulb from my sketches, made to look drippy

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

some of the 100 bulbs made earlier this year

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

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

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

the partial wall during a previous year's studio tour

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

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

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

a new bulb with glaze on only the sprigs

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

a bulb after underglaze, but before glaze

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

a chain bulb--the chain moves

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

the only screaming bulb from this batch

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

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

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

bulb before the third firing, with pink underglaze

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

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

Labor Day Weekend Open House & Tall Work in Progress

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

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

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

me, Chris, Monika, and Kayo

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

my large (complicated) sculpture started last year

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

ooh, that crack!

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

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

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

the repaired base with acrylic paint

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

the first layers of gouache on the sprigged surface

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

the gouache partially wiped away from the sprigs

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

the gouache nearly completed

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

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

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