What's Marsha doing now?

Centering

Just opened

First Pull up the wall

No idea what the stick is doing...tee hee.  Ask her!

before and after firing

What miracles occur in a kiln!

Sea Horses too!

What's Amy got to imprint on her slab?  Yes, look closer...

birds~ tweet tweet

Pat the second made some lovely birds...this one has a crown and pearls...the queen bird maybe?

Planters

The ware cart is full of recently glazed works.  Isn't that a nice planter?  (Bonnie did this, I'm pretty sure)

Lynda's vase

Lynda has again come up with a gorgeous combination of glazes for her vase.  It sits on the ware shelf after being glazed.

glaze can flow...

What lovely combinations of glazes on this mug!

Luminary

A well worked luminary by Pat the second (meaning the second Pat who now works in our studio!)

Lovely matt bronze green glaze on it.

Owls waiting for bisque fire

More lovely owl planters just dried and waiting to be bisqued.

Pat's finished pitcher

Pat finished her pitcher...the one we've recorded here from the beginning!  It sure is gorgeous!

Owls anyone?

Some recent glazed work including some great little owls planters by our students.

Matilda's carvings

 

Matilda Tanner is one of our teachers, and she has a great technique of carving on pots.  Here dragonflies grace a bowl.  It is waiting to be glazed.

You can see more of her work in her YouTube movies HERE.  The latest showed how to make fairies!

Friday Sarah

When you drop by the studio on Friday mornings, Sarah Vekasi will greet you.  Her own studio is also nearby, and you can see what she is creating HERE.

Here she's grinding a rough spot off the bottom of a dish that just came out of the kiln.

Different potters, different pots

Foreground, incense burners, then 3 mugs, and yellow toothbrush holder by Barbara Rogers.  Background, oil container and casserole by Marsha Cozart.

Visit by a friend

A student of Geoff Bird's who we welcome whenever she is in the neighborhood.  Like many of our students, she commutes from a few miles away.

Bette Potter Jones has a great deal of experience from a community studio in Miami and she'll answer questions about it, I bet.  No, she doesn't commute from quite that far away!

Lovely oil container

On a whim Marsha Cozart made an oil container (is that the correct term?)

It came out so cute, though bigger than she expected.
And look at that gorgeous casserole!

Marsha is Geoff Bird's student.

More potter fun!

They may have left the studio, but their heads are completely absorbed by pottery talk!  Gail and Pat talked about different shapes and techniques outside one of their favorite restaurants.

Bonnie and Gail are good friends, and aren't too proud to have clay on their clothes when they go to lunch!

Pat's pitcher, next stage...

OK, if you've looked at our students' work before, or know much of anything about pottery, you'll recognize that this is a bisqued pot.  It's waiting for a coat of glaze, then a higher temperature firing and then it will be finished.  In case you look at the last post, you might notice that it's shrunk a bit already. By the time it's finished, it will be about 15% smaller than the original size.

Pat's pitcher

Pat's making a large pitcher.

I'm sure this will be the first of many.

Lynda's animals

Coming home from the gallery show are 2 of Lynda Keith's lovely clay animals. 

Busy clay workers

The foreground shows (left) some handles lying on their sides, firming up before being married to some mugs.  And on the lower right there's the sludge blue bucket...where reclaimed clay will be mixed, then spread on a plaster slab which you can actually see under the red table legs.  Above, on top of that work table, 3 clay artists are seen hard at work, Gail, Pat and Lynda.

The mural

Bas Relief in concrete on one side of the clay studio.

I'm told it is beautiful when lit at night (I guess I'm in bed after dark).
David Seils is the artist’s name. (wallsculpture.net)

Student Work Window

Do you remember how honored you were the first time a teacher chose your work to display in public?  I do.  It was like myself hanging up on the wall in a student show somewhere or another, I think I was in 6th grade.

So the Student Work Window is our display of what our various students have created.  Right there by the door.

The sign at the door

Geoff Bird teaching

Geoff Bird and Marsha Cozart discuss pottery techniques, which is how Geoff teaches!

Glazing day at the studio

Unfinished pieces with Mathilda's signature carving.

Welcome to BMCA

Gale Jackson, Director of Black Mountain Center for the Arts, has a welcoming smile for visitors to the center.  The web site will let you know when and what is happening there!  http://blackmountainarts.org/wp/

Pat working on glazes

Where pottery can be purchased

A small display of student's and teacher's pottery is available to purchase in the office of Black Mountain Center for the Arts.  Several students and teachers also have their  pottery for sale on their own web pages, through FaceBook, Etsy and blogs, or in the shops around Black Mountain.

Trimming tutorial, and closed on Fri Feb. 14, 2013

Roads not considered safe for driving potters, so studio won't be open on Fri.  Maybe Sat?

Snow day again

Black Mountain has snow everywhere, and people are being urged to not go on roads.  Charles is going sledding.  No Open Studio today!

Getting the glaze right

No Open Studio due to snow

Charles Freeland just sent this email to the students he has on his list.
"There will no open studio tonight due to hazardous road conditions.  Please watch email for thurs. open studio conditions."

BMCA Office

The office at Black Mountain Center for the arts has a welcoming smile from our Program Coordinator, Jessica Klarp.  She's who to talk to when signing up for classes in the Clay Studio!

Next session starts soon

Next week the next classes will start. 

I've been pretty remiss in posting here, sorry.  I wish it was because I was in the studio up to my neck in clay.  Soon.

Pat Levi is monitoring the Monday afternoon Open Studio from 1-4 for everyone, but with snow falling heavily, not many folks have dropped by today.

The latest from Mathilda

Mathilda's making movies of her clay techniques.
Here's her first YouTube effort.

In case you feel a bit dizzy, you can,
1. lie on your side to watch
2. turn your monitor 90 degrees
c. know that this is a work in progress and will get better each time!

Thanks Mathilda for sharing your talent.

Mathilda Tanner rose carving

The groundhog says...

six more weeks of winter.  We know what that means.  Time to be in a warm place, doing something creative!  Yep, for me I'll be here at Black Mountain Center for the Arts Clay Studio.

I've got a big (for me) sculpture waiting to glaze.  I've got some mugs and toothbrush holders to finish.  And some bowls.  I'm definitely in process of creating.

And it's great to look over at the next wheel or table and see what fabulous ideas the other students (and teachers) have.  A kiln that's unloaded is always like Christmas, and everyone wants to know, "What glazes did you use to get that effect?"

Reminder to Independent Studies Students, time to pay for another month of open studio time. 
Sincerely,
Not the groundhog's friend, Barb