Happy New Year

L'shana tovah... hebrew for Happy New Year...!

Shana Tova (pronounced [ʃaˈna toˈva]) is the traditional greeting on Rosh Hashanah which in Hebrew means "A Good Year." (שנה טובה)basically...

Today is Rosh Hashana.

LShana tova tikoteivu- may you all be inscribed and sealed for a good year!
P.S. I love to say "tikoteivu"... I just do.

Actually enjoyed a lovely sermon today referring a lot to Buddhist concepts...
Really makes me want to start the year off RIGHT...
When I say "RIGHT", I mean PRESENT. AWARE. etc.

SO... here is a photo of one of my wood fire POTs with a wood fired BREAD that my friend brought back from Maine for MOI!!!!
Love...

Inspiration Thursday

Also known as spending too much time surfing the internet...
BUT yielding some amazing results:
From The Met's Asian Art Collection:
Wine Pot
China
Qing dynasty, later Transitional period
ca. 1644–83
Porcelain with colored glazes
4 1/8 in. (10.5 cm)

A few close ups

Woodfiring: Stage 2:Results

Too tired to get detailed now but here we have them!
Wood, Wood/Salt/Soda:

WoodFiring: Stage 1

OK, So here is the The Noborigama Wood/Salt/Soda Fire Kiln at Baltimore Clayworks!
Jim Dugan is the red headed guy you see who totally rebuilt this sucker a few months ago(before the earthquake!!!) and is the MASTER. You can also see Laurie Erdman ,such a cool chick, who arranged for the group of us, mainly her potter friends from The DC/VA area and ME, to work on firing this kiln together this weekend! Additionally, there is Jeremy Wallace, Jim's assistant who is a major "woodfire head"(my new name for the pseudo "cult" of woodfire lovers) too.
We all came to Baltimore Clayworks on Friday morning to glaze and load... and then we bricked up the doors...
Saturday morning, those of us on the first shift(me, Al Pellenberg, Laurie), started by mudding up the doors that to seal the kiln... get the fire started... preparing the wood for loading and moving ash in and getting the stoking going... It got busier around 4 and by 5:30 my shift was over...
and it was getting pretty CRACKLY before I left...(last photo)
So, unfortunately, I cannot report about what happens through the night... as I will need to try that shift next time(if there is a next time...).I do know that it requires A LOT of stoking through the night until about 7am...
and that was this morning...
SO... I will report back when it cools by Wednesday morning and I trek back to Baltimore for the opening... very nervous and excited... I will deal with the results, however they may be...

"COME ON IRENE...."

Oh.. it's "EI-LEEN"...hurumpf.
Well ..Too Rye Ay...

We have been getting ready for that *BEEE-ATCH*...
Boarded up the house and
worried about a wind crashing through my second story studio:
























But before we lose electricity... I figured I'd BLOG!!!!
So here is what I have been working on..
Prepping for my first wood firing at Baltimore Clayworks in September with Laurie Erdman!




























This last one is red clay for my electric kiln at cone 6....


















And here are some inspiration photos from my walks outside...







































So lets pray for the best since we have pretty much prepared for the worst..

the latest.

Sketchbook and Bisque Also "Little Images" and COLLAGE

Just thought I'd share some visuals of where my head has been... some sketch book pages...
with photos and quick sketches and then a shelf of bisque...




















































































Based on the above post, I should also tell you that I continue to read Lee Krasner's biography
and keep thinking about her "Little Images" and how in some way I am drawn to creating more of a collage effect in pieces both 3 dimensionally as well as regarding the surfaces... so the pieces that you are are seeing evolve now, feel like a jumping off point...

New Submission

Just chose these as submissions for a show...
You never know...
I love that it can be done on the computer!!!

What's happing on this clay "trip".

I am still working and developing and playing with clays(with out MANGANESE) and throwing and carving and manipulating and texturing and glazing and not glazing...
but I have a few photos I feel like I can post....
The ones that have glaze on the outside creating a texture were re-fired after I was unhappy without something else making the inside and the outside of the pieces relate and create a cohesive unit.
I am moving back and forth between these ideas...
Glaze, no glaze, clear glaze texture, smoothness...
In the background are pieces that i have been working with wedging bits of clay in contrast colors into the mound and then throwing and carving... and also throwing and layering up other slips in other clay colors to carve through, reveal... etc...
My head is spinning... just like my wheel!
Trying to enjoy the trip as I am usually wired to focus on the very end result..
.