Great Pottery Throwdown Tieton Edition

Ed Marquand of Mighty Tieton and Paper Hammer competes in Saturday's throwing competition with some assistance of Jeff Kent. Photo from Boxx Gallery's Facebook Page (click through to see more photos).

This Saturday was the opening reception for The Potter's Touch ceramics show at Boxx Gallery in Tieton, WA, featuring sculpture, pottery and some 2D work by local artists. The show runs through the end of July, with the gallery open on Saturdays and Sundays 11-4. 

Advertising for The Potter's Touch show, featuring sculpture by Jane Gutting (visit Boxx Gallery for more)

Also on Saturday, I was invited to judge a pottery competitio modeled (very loosely) on The Great Pottery Throwdown on BBC2 (which Americans can watch on HBO Max), the competition featured 4 locals artists, not all of whom probably consider themselves professional potters. The audience consisted of local and visiting art fans both young and old, though the youngest audience members ended up considerably messier than the audience members who set up some ways back from the demonstration wheel.

All the potters were asked to bring five 1.5 lb balls of clay. They were given a time limit of 15 minutes and asked to aim for height, consistency, and creativity. Jane Gutting, the organizer, hinted that creativity might be what you call the one that falls down, but I love seeing potters play on the wheel, using it for sculpture, drawing lines on the surface, or messing with the form in interesting ways.

Amanda Ontiveros throwing her first vase on Saturday (photo from Boxx Gallery's Facebook page)

First up was Amanda Ontiveros, a local ceramic artist and YVC clay alum. She works at Yakima Maker's Space downtown, where she is just starting to get into teaching classes. (I keep hoping they'll start up their kids and/or community pottery classes again soon.) She has also been working on producing custom dishes for Yakima restaurant, Crafted, though she explained that those dishes are handbuilt, not thrown on the potter's wheel. Amanda's throwing skills didn't look at all rusty as she comfortably threw 5 evenly matched vases to start off the competition. Amanda won the top prize for consistency and for being the only pottery who completed all 5 pieces within the 15 minute time limit.

sculpture by Nancy Bocek, photo from Boxx Gallery

Next up after Amanda was current Seattle artist (originally from Yakima), Nancy Bocek. Her work in the Boxx Gallery is stunny black sculpture with human forms carved and highlighted with shocking orange lines. She explained that she hadn't thrown pottery in 30 years, but she still managed to create the tallest form that was entirely thrown. Nancy also was the only potter to add a linear design element to her surface, not surprising for an artist whose sculpture emphasizes line and texture.

Paul Beverage, throwing his second form (Amanda's pieces are on the far left of the table, Nancy's tallest piece next to them, and Paul's first creative piece in the foreground).

Paul Beverage, of Wilridge Winery, was the third potter to compete in the throwdown. Paul's usual ceramic work is larger and more sculptural than the parameters of the competition allowed. If you'd like to see his work, check out his tall stacked sculpture as you drive in to Wilridge. Paul channeled some George Ohr energy on his first piece, entertained the kids by blowing into the opening of a clay "balloon" for his second, and won first prize for height by altering a thrown form to extend it to 12" high. 

Jane Gutting moves Ed's pieces off of the bats at the dnd of the competition (Amanda's 5 pieces are on the far end of the table, then Nancy's 3 pieces in a reddish clay, Paul's 3 pieces in a white clay, and Ed's 3 pieces on bats).

The fourth and final competitor, Ed Marquand of Mighty Tieton has a role in a lot of arts organizations and events in Tieton and Seattle, but he hadn't thrown in decades. He didn't seem interested in competing against Paul or Nancy on height, but he made the widest pieces and, as The Great Pottery Throwdown is an offshoot of The Great British Baking Show, he won the award for "most likely to be able to fit some baking inside." As he and Paul eschewed the splash pan, Ed also won the award for messiest potter.

The day was lots of fun (and remarkably cool, as both the potters and the audience were mostly set up in the shade). Jane Gutting did a great job of organizing the event and making sure stuff was set up and that everyone had clay, water, and electricity, and she brought the awards. Jeff Kent, who recently took over my pottery classes at YVC while I was on medical leave, did a great job of taking photos (a lot more than I thought to capture), and making sure the potters had water and tools. Bart Roderick helped create the right atmosphere by playing live music for the event.

I had a great time being the judge, with a little help from my daughter. And before we even got around to awarding prizes, I asked Jane if we could do this again next year. That's the plan, and it sounds like it will be great fun. As soon as I got home, I drafted up a plan for what we need, what we could add for next year (i.e. more wheels so the competitors can go head to head) and who we need to invite to be invovled. Look for more information in the coming year!

Mugs from the mug wall at The Potter's Touch. Photo from Boxx Gallery. Check out more photos on their Instagram

International Sculpture Day in Yakima Valley

This Saturday is International Sculpture Day. Yakima Valley is celebrating with events in Yakima and Tieton. I am part of a show at Boxx Gallery in Tieton. The reception for Sculpting The Valley II is Saturday, April 27 from 11-4pm.

Resist Bulbs from the Nasty Woman show at Yakima Maker Space earlier this year

My resist bulbs will be on display and for sale individually at the Sculpting The Valley show show at Boxx Gallery, 616 Maple Street. The show runs through May 26 and is open Saturdays, 11-4pm.

Resist bulb

You can read about Yakima's International Sculpture Day events here. Besides the show at Boxx, there are other galleries with shows open in Tieton and a walking tour of downtown sculpture in Yakima at 4pm.

My work at the YVC DoVA Student & Faculty Exhibition

The YVC Department of Visual Arts Student and Faculty Exhibition is opens Tuesday, May 1 with a reception from 5-7pm. Awards are at 6pm. The exhibition is hosted at Larson Gallery on the Yakima Valley College campus.. The show features works in clay sculpture and functional pottery, drawing, painting, photography, and printmaking. The works in the show were made by students in Art and Photography classes at YVC during the Spring, Summer, and Fall of 2017 and the Winter of 2018. Faculty also have work on display.

One of my pieces at the Robert Graves Gallery

This week was the last week for the Northwest Artists Ceramics Invitational at the Robert Graves Gallery on the Wenatchee Valley College campus. The show was open April 2-26, a very short run. I feel like I just drove up to deliver the work.

Shows Coming Up, Shows Coming Down

Today is the last day of the 10x10x10 show in Tieton. The Mighty Tieton website says there is an artists' reception from 12-5pm today. I'm not sure if that means artists are taking work home today, too, but I plan to check it out. It'll be the first time I get to see the show.

My piece in Tieton

If you're out and about today in Yakima, there is a reception from 2-4 at Oak Hollow Gallery for the new show, featuring work by Duane Heilman and Jane Fassel. Jane took classes with me a while back and then took at least one workshop with nationally recognized raku experts. Her naked raku has moved beyond what I can do and is worth a look. 

Jane Fassel's "Naked Raku" (I borrowed this picture from Josie Fast at Oak Hollow Gallery. Thanks!)

I also got word that my work will be in the Central Washington Artists Exhibition at Larson Gallery. I have two pieces in that show. The reception will be held from 3-5pm on November 1.

"Scylla Bionica" for the Larson show

Early next year I will have a show at CORE Gallery in Seattle. The show is scheduled for February, but I don't yet know the dates. I'm still waiting to hear when my Storefronts show in Seattle will be; I may only know a month ahead of time.

"Charybdis Bionica" for the Larson show

Gallery News

Last week I took a trip to Seattle to visit a couple of galleries. Both visits went well and I have good gallery news to report. As of last Wednesday, I have work in the shop at the Schack Art Center in Everett. The center has an art gallery with rotating exhibits and a shop with smaller work for sale year-round. In the back of the art gallery space is a glass hot shop where one can watch artists blowing glass during the day. The center also has art classes and art studios.

lidded box (now at Schack Shop)

I brought some smaller work to the gallery, including some lawn sticks, lidded ceramic boxes and pea pods. The meeting with the shop director went well and she was pleasant and easy to work with. Across the street from the center is a children's museum. My daughter's reward for her patience on the long drive and the wait while I showed my artwork and did paperwork was to spent two and a half hours playing at the museum. It was big enough to entertain her for even longer.

lawn sticks installation (several now at Schack Shop)

open pea pod with mulberry paper (now at Schack Shop)

My other good news to report doesn't actually begin until January. Starting in 2015, I will be a member of CORE gallery near Pioneer Square in Seattle. The gallery is run by a group of artists and managed by Shunkpike. The gallery is made up of 20 artists per year with most staying year to year. February through November two artists show together in the gallery each month. In December there is a group holiday show and in January a community show. Additionally, throughout the year the represented artists all keep one piece on display (for sale) in a back section of the gallery.

one of several pieces I brought to CORE (who knows what will be there starting in January)

The gallery seems organized, well lit and visible with nice walls, and it is close to quite a few other galleries including Punch, Gallery 110, Soil, Globe and Foster White. The 2015 schedule will be out in the next month or two and I will let everyone know when I will be showing. I will have something there starting in January as part of the artists' permanent display wall.

another piece I took to CORE

In the meantime, you can see my work at Tieton's 10x10x10 show with a reception this Saturday during Highland Community Days. You can always see a few of my pieces at Oak Hollow Gallery in the permanent section (my small pieces are on the shelf in the back right corner near the desk/computer).

"Aoi Cephalotini" (now in Tieton)

Small Work and Good News

I haven't had much time in the studio lately but I've tried to get a bit of work done in the time I do have. Last week I was enjoying cool breezes on the unusually short beach (the lake level is higher this summer due to the deep freeze from winter) of Lake Superior with family. The weather was especially nice this year without the black flies or mosquitos harassing us daily.

I can't remember seeing the lake this still before

Despite having some further limits on my time this week, I decided to throw a bunch of forms yesterday. I wanted to replace some images for a project I am working on. I figured I'd throw a bunch of pieces and make some smaller wall-mounted forms fairly quickly.

don't worry, I think I have a better image on the other camera

Of course I often underestimate how quickly I can really crank out "simple" small pieces. I have about four more pieces in progress, but once I got around to attaching sprigs, it turned out that finishing two pieces took most of my day.

little wall hanger with a new gear sprig surface

I'm building a few small wall pieces because I just heard back from Shunpike in Seattle that I will be participating in their Storefronts projects sometime in the next year and a half. More on that later. All I know know is that I will be creating a wall installation in a storefront somewhere in Seattle. I told them I have all the work all ready, so it might be sooner than later. Though I do have plenty of wall-mounted work ready, it never hurts to make a few more pieces if they might be finished in time.

This orange sprig, on the other hand, has gotten plenty of use before.

If you can't wait to see my work until some undetermined day in Seattle, you can see my work in Tieton right away. The 10x10x10 show opened at Mighty Tieton last week. I was kayaking on the lake or eating s'mores or something, so I wasn't there. I know at least a few people have been out to see the show. It runs through October 11, 2014.

In other good show news, this week I have two meetings with galleries, one in Seattle and one in Everett. More on those later, too. Right now I have four pieces to finish and a car to pack.

Tieton's 10x 10 x10 exhibiton

Last week I brought a piece to Tieton for the 10 x 10 x 10 exhibition. This is an international juried exhibition of small works. I've been in the exhibition several times. The show features works in all media, so long as they are each smaller than 10" in any dimension. 

"Aoi Cephalotini" 2013

The exhibition opens August 11 and runs through October 9 in the Mighty Tieton Warehouse gallery in Tieton, Washington.

"Aoi Cephalotini" on the wall at Esvelt Gallery

I also picked up a piece from the Membership Show at Larson Gallery which ended last week and I just received a package with a piece that was in a bike theshow in New Hampshire.

 

"Nepentha Prosthesia" 2014 (back from Larson Gallery) and "Oranji Gears" 2013 (back from New Hampshire)

Upcoming Art Events in Yakima

Though I don't seem to get much time in the studio this winter, there are a few interesting craft-based art events coming up in March.

Tieton Mosaics
This weekend Tieton Arts and Humanities is hosting a couple of events featuring mosaic work. Tieton  Arts and Humanities, the folks who bring us a variety of events at Mighty Tieton's Warehouse and lofts has apparently received an NEA grant to make some mosaic signs for the city. Saturday morning, March 1 from 10-noon mosaic artist Kate Jessup will be giving a free public lecture about the Tieton Mosaic Project.

In the afternoon on Saturday there will be a free mosaic workshop. The website lists two names for the artists, so I'll let you explore the original source yourself.

Wine Country Craft

Larson Gallery's functional art show, The Wine Country Home opens on March 7 with a reception from 5-7pm. This is a national juried show and I am optimistic that the media will be broad and varied. The card makes it look like that's the case.

Art Play

On March 9 Larson Gallery hosts "Art,"a Tony award winning play by Yasmina Reza. The play will be performed by Larson Gallery director, David Lynx and YVCC faculty Tim Jeske and David Huyke.  For tickets and more information, visit Larson Gallery.

Mini Maker Faire

This weekend I spent the day demonstrating at the Tieton Mini Maker Faire. The event was put on by Mighty Tieton or maybe Tieton Arts and Humanities or maybe Yakima Maker Space. All these entities are apparently related, but looking for which is the head and which the tail, leads one on a twisting and ultimately frustrating tour of intertwined websites and Facebook pages. Also my computer is excessively slow lately and trying to fix it makes me want to hit things.

Anyway, Maker Faires are associated with Make Magazine and the one in Tieton was the first on this side of the Cascades in Washington. The Faire went on all day at the Mighy Tieton warehouse and the Faire and related exhibitions overtook something like 7 rooms in the warehouse as well as space outside. The "Trimpin" and "Salsa" exhibitions were open during the Maker Faire and the Goat Head Press areas were open with people apparently demonstrating printmaking techniques.

my minimal setup (incidentally, has anyone found the lily I left outside in the rain in Tieton when we packed up?)

The Maker Faire is different from a craft fair, in that the goal is not to sell work but to demonstrate techniques and show people how or what you make. The faire is mostly educational and community building, though some people had work for sale. Admission for kids was free and the interview in the Yakima Herald the next day suggested that the event was about teaching kids and showing kids how to be makers. There were a lot of hands-on activities for kids, but the makers weren't told it was going to be for kids and weren't required to have kid activities. I picked my project because I thought it was interesting, but it was way too complex for kids to do. In fact, it took me several hours to complete one piece. I didn't even quite finish the four pieces I was working on during the day. 

my workspace in Tieton

Kids kept asking at my booth if they could "make one" and I ended up letting kids press wet clay into sprig molds while I worked. A few people watched me for a while, but most people, kids and adults, just stopped briefly or wandered past. My favorite visitor was a pre-school aged girl. She came with her mom and brother and she asked to make one. I helped her with a sprig mold and she proved to be quite dextrous for one so young. She popped the clay right out of the mold. Then she asked to make another. it was towards the end of the day, so after she made a few sprigs, I gave her a hollow clay ball that was extra and let her attach some sprigs. She really enjoyed it. Her mother said she really gets into doing this sort of thing, so I sent them away with a little bag of clay and some suggestions for other things to try at home.

clay sprig decorations and their mold

Besides teaching pre-schoolers to form sprigs, my only task was to demonstrate my technique throughout the day. I brought in a work table, some tools and some clay and spent the entire day making my "pea pod" sculptures while people watched (or didn't). I brought a shelf and some finished work so people would know what the pieces looked like later in the process. My space was in a dark, cool room of the warehouse and the work dried very slowly. I made the peas first, shaping and adding sprigs, then I made the pod structure and put underglaze on both the peas and the pods. At this point I had to wait a long time for the wet clay and underglaze to dry enough to put the peas in the pod without  smushing the surface.

underglazed peas awaiting their pod

My daughter went with me to the event and worked on some of her own clay sculpture next to me at my work table. Her favorite part of the day was the go-cart race. I have to admit that was one of the highlights for me as well, but I thought it was neat to see the 3D printers and hear about the tool library that Yakima Maker Space is starting. There were also some very cute baby goats and a beehive in our room. I was in the clay corner, and behind me was one of my YVCC clay students, Grace Keller. She brought her wheel and demonstrated throwing techniques. Another clay artist rolled out slabs and made clay fortune cookies.

waiting for the race to start

My husband came around midday so that my daughter could see more of the Faire. I was able to walk around some while I was waiting for stuff to dry, but my husband was able to help our daughter solder a light-up pin. After that they spent some time walking around the Faire, looking at stuff and watching the R2D2 robot drive around the warehouse. My daughter's least favorite part, she says, was the rain. Towards the end of the day an impressive rainstorm came down quickly. My husband and daughter we outside when it started and came in looking like they'd been in a pool.

this pod just didn't want to dry on the silicone mat

I was glad to see that there were such a variety of types of makers at the faire. I was concerned that, given the focus of the Mighty Tieton lofts, the focus would be only on art, whereas Make magazine is a little more focused on tech. I think the idea of a Maker Faire should be to broaden the definition or assumptions about makers and what they make. I thought this event did a nice job of that, albeit on a small scale.

my work space at home

This time around the Faire seemed a little small, both in makers and in attendance, but hopefully the understanding and excitement about the idea will grow and next year's Maker Faire will be bigger. At the very least, I'm hoping they invite some makers of food, say chocolates. I was hoping the Copper Pot Caramels people would be there.

four (mostly) finished pea pods 

Today I finished most of the work on the pods I started at the Faire. I experimented with some textured surfaces for the exterior of a couple of the pods. It was interesting to work on these pieces with an audience, but I think I prefer my home studio. In Tieton I was limited to only a small box of tools, whereas at home I have drawers full. I also had limited light and limited control over drying speed. I really like to have more complete control over the process.