Monthly Archives: April 2019

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work continues

Still getting notes together for my ideas on an artists statement. the challenge when I was in college was getting my notes stretched out enough to fill the length requirements, now it is in compressing about 50-100 pages of notes into a brief artist statement. though my research i have gotten a more in depth idea of how technology and craft interact with each other.

One of the things that interested me in my research was finding out that many sculptors were done in stages. the bulk of the work was done by one group, and the artist would come in later and shape the defining details. Yet, the work as a whole is still fully belongs to the artist. Trying this in back to pottery, where does the potter transform the piece of clay into their finished idea?

Towards this idea, I built a centering arm and made two sets of pots, one fully made by hand processes and the other made with clay made and opened with a centering arm. I finished them up to look as identical as possible, and realized that I could not readily tell the difference that introducing the machine had made. I now believe that there are two sets of processes that are involved in making a piece of art: extrinsic steps done merely out of necessity, and the intrinsic steps that are used to define a piece and give it meaning. what exactly those processes are are hard to define and will vary form person to person, and piece to piece. One must neglect to develop the extrinsic process because they reveal new creative options to explore to the attentive craftsman.

Departing from that, I looks like I have visitors. I’d like to say thank you for your visit, try not to mind the posting neglect to much and feel free to enjoy the galleries.

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experiments with handles

I am exploring ways to make my pottery better, and one of the areas that i want to explore is handles. they are currently pulled handles, bit recently I have began to explore the idea of modifying slab handles.
When I was first making mugs, I could never get handles right. I started with using rings of clay cur from a cylinder, they were serviceable enough, but they always seemed crude, I had given up on the more traditional pulled handles because they had seemed out of reach. not great, but good enough.

Two years later, I had undertook an apprenticeship at the Ozark folk center where again I tried the pulled handles. They were still not up to par, but the experience that I had developed with the clay had allowed me to make something better than what I had previously accepted. after a few more years, I had gotten the pulled handles to where I was satisfied with them. when I was struggling with the handles for the second time, frequently my handles would slump over. To counter this, I began to attach a bar of clay at the top of the handle to strengthen the bond between mug and handle. I came to like the way the bar felt in my thumb when the center was pressed down . This was the beginning of my thumb rest.


Recently, I have began to feel that the handles can be further developed. overall I feel satisfied with the technical aspects of the handle, but now I want to create a handle that will satisfy several competing aims. I want it to be quick to make, but also break me out of what seems to me like stagnation in my mugs. Towards this end. I have been experimenting with slab handles that have been modified by pulling. so far, I have had about 40 new mugs made with this method, and so far it seems that I have been able to use this method without sacrificing craftsmanship. As I work with the idea, I grow more certain that somehow I am on the right track to making a more interesting mug.