Graduation, Summer Trips, and Studio Time

My husband got me a new desk chair for my birthday and it finally got here. It is so so so nice that it make me want to sit at my desk and type. So, I guess that's a good reason to blog after not having much interest in doing so for quite a while. My old chair has migrated to the studio where it joins a silly amount of seating options for different heights of focused work.

three "stacks" finished (left to right) last fall, this summer, last summer 

seating options in my studio (not visible here: a cushion on the ground)

This summer has already been pretty busy, and not just in the studio. My daughter graduated high school in June, so family and friends came to visit. 

proud parents of a new high school graduate

Since my brother's kids hadn't been to Yakima before, they decided to add a trip to Portland and Crater Lake in Oregon, and the Redwoods and California coast so my daughter and I tagged along with my folks for a week long trip. 

with my favorite red-headed nephew at Glacier Lake

my favorite brown haired nephew as a River Otter

The scenic highlight of which was probably the tidepooling in Northern California. We went looking for nudibranchs, which we didn't see, but we did see starfish, crabs, snails, sponges, anemones, and things I can't name. 

sea star heart

tide pooling near Crescent City

my favorite bit of the tidepool

Then we came back to Yakima for a week of getting stuff glazed and finished for the Yakima Art Festival in late June. I was most interested in creating some bells with jingly bits based on what I saw at NCECA in March.

at Yakima Art Festival

new bells this summer

Then my daughter and I took another trip to New York, where we spent 6 hours each at the Met and the American Museum of Natural History (and Hayden Planetarium), watched three Broadway shows, and also visited the Guggenheim, MOMA, the Museum of Art and Design, and the Museum of Broadway. We were in NYC for Alison's graduation present: Hamilton on Broaway, but our other shows were just as impressive! Six was great, Hamilton was amazing, and Hadestown knocked our socks off. It was a great (packed, exhausting, hot, fun, educational) week.

before Six on Broadway

After Hamilton on Broadway

We also got 30,000 steps one day (walking from our hotel through Central park to and from the Met. We had some really good food and got to experience Times Square during the World Cup (and Taylor Swift's wedding) and Hell's Kitchen in 101 degree heat. 

Our favorite thing about the Guggenheim

a very large cat near Rockefeller center

pretty sure this guy was in Harry Potter

we took the most picures at the American Natural History Museum

including these Mayan Bricks with drawings on them

and this bronze model of...one of my scuptures, I guess?

The Hall of Biodiversity was our favorite room at the AMNH

Loved (but didn't take many pictures of) the "Haas Brothers: Uncanny Valley" at the Museum of Art and Design

Last week we were back to Yakima, happy to be in only 86 degree weather, and ready to make some work. I dove into some studio building projects, while my daughter balanced her time between college preparations and helping me in the studio (mostly seiving glazes and cleaning, which are both much appreciated.

First underglaze layer done before Yakima Art Festival

second underglaze layer done before the NYC trip

Glazing done after NYC, but waiting on more work to fire the kiln

I usually come into the summer super excited to work on something in the studio. This year I have already been working on tall stacks. These are coil-built pieces that have been consistint of two or three sections stacked on top of each other. I want them to be taller than me, but I have kiln size limitations which mean that I can't fit anything taller than about 25" or wider than about 20" in my home kiln. What that means is that I have to figure out how to make them strong enough to stack and hold their wet weight while building, fire safely without cracks, and stack securly after firing. 

underglazing stacks, waiting on the last firing for the top section, then paper

I had some challenges last summer with stacks cracking, so during the academic year, I tested out some new approaches to strengthen the bottom edge and some new clay bodies. I cracked two of my tests, but the other two seem to be ok so far.

this clay cracked pretty badly in the firing

Currently, I am building two stacks. I have the base basically done on one, and have started the middle section.  To this, I've added the structural challenge of some side openings designed to hold some large bulbs. I've been working from a sketch, making adjustments as I turn a drawing into three-dimensions. I am hoping the additional challenge of adding these elements to the form won't result in cracks during firing.

one of the two stacks I'm working on now

sketched plans for the bulbs on this form

The second stack I am working on now has the added challenge of a twist. I feel very comfortable building twisting, turing, cantilevered coil forms in one go, but they are trickier to make work when the forms are segmented. In the past, I've used epoxy and wooden internal supports to keep the pieces together, but I want to get to the point where the pieces can hold themselves up without other media. I am starting small, with the plan to work my way up to more complex forms.

a bit of AMNH inspiration (after the fact) for some spiral sculptures

I have been working on these two forms for about 9 days and anticipate they may not be done building until at least late next week. I am excited about them and enjoying both what I am learning and the progress I am making. It's nice to spend some studio time just trying stuff without a tight deadline.