The Class

For the past three years I’ve taught a “Play in the clay” class for the Lost River Educational Foundation. LREF shares a goal with the Lost River Artisans Co-op: “helping the public value traditional and modern handmade items.” The shared board and administration of the two organizations is just short of schizophrenic (take that from an old psych nurse), but each year we provide some great classes! 

My clay play class this year included three women. One Saturday they handbuilt their pieces using slabs, coils, or pinch methods—whatever they liked. Then I dried and bisque fired the pots for the students to glaze them when they came back two weeks later.

Some years my students tend to be artful neophytes so we begin with real basics, such as distinguishing among stoneware, earthenware, and porcelain. However, each of these clay players has other well developed artistic skills along with being very observant, so it was a simpler matter of translating into the medium of stoneware. That is not to minimize the difficulties that lateral arabesque can pose for some people, but this trio took to clay like ducks to water. They each had 25 pounds of clay to play with, which can produce a lot of stoneware! The glazing is always the trickiest part because nothing is ever as it seems, which routinely surprises newcomers. But we had a couple of fun Saturdays and Kathy, Joan, and Jody picked up boxes of happy and creative stoneware from the co-op barn. I hope they enjoyed the class as much as I did!

 

VISIT THE BARN JULY 25TH

 

Red, White and Blue

Happy Fourth of July! 

Hopefully you have some fun event planned to celebrate our nation’s holiday. I’ve been making flags again. At the risk of sounding unpatriotic, I have to admit that they are not my favorite thing to hand-build. I favor the organic shapes of leaves and pots formed over pumpkins. Flags are linear and pretty much all look alike. (I realize that is the point.) Linearity occurs rarely in my studio, but with the flags I measure angles and count the stripes. They are sharply rectangular and have straight (well, wavy) lines. I can’t take the liberties with them that I do many things, although I acknowledge that I never count their stars. 

I made my first stoneware flag years ago when our son Mark was at the Coast Guard Academy. The child who wanted no structure goes to a military academy? It wasn’t just boats and water, he explained, but the outcome of having a philosophically anti-military mother and a colonel father. (We do have amazing discussions in our family.) I made a flag for son Greg when he became an Eagle Scout and one for a military neighbor who got promoted. Living only a few hours outside Washington, DC, the flags are always popular. A friend came home from a tour of the White House with a photo of one of my flags on a desk there. I liked that---even if I grumped all the way through that administration.

Mark retired from the Coast Guard this year and I still make flags twice a year. There are never a lot of them around but if I am into measuring, I’m making multiples so I do six at a time. The stars are the best part. They are the final phase and I stick them on with drippy glaze that attaches them securely during the firing. I am careful to get the stripes right and I don’t mess with our colors, but I lay wet glazy stars on until it looks like there are enough and trust my numerical independence is covered by the First Amendment. Have a great Fourth and a safe one!