Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Cup #61 (2 views and the inspriration)
Cup and handle as sandhill crane.....(with a revision after the 1st posting; I strengthened the neck and retook these photos)
Feathers too...
The inspiration: a gift from my son Amory of his illustration of me as a sandhill crane...yes, that's right...me as a sandhill crane....
Feathers too...
The inspiration: a gift from my son Amory of his illustration of me as a sandhill crane...yes, that's right...me as a sandhill crane....
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Cup #60
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Cup #59
Waves and folds as cup and handle flow together after a record breaking 8 hours of delicate work (it fought being finished!) This may be related to it's status as the last cup I will make while I am 59 years old and as you can see it is also Cup #59...it just turned out that way. Tomorrow I turn 60! SO, the next cup I make will be Cup #60 and it will be the first cup I make upon turning 60...stay tuned..
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Cup #56
Thursday, December 2, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
Cup #54
A very small cup...and a very big handle that very early split apart and fell off the cup leaving a small remaining section which I then worked with to this more delicate result. The body of the cup is very much held at the base by the handle. The handle then becomes very busy curling around a seed, flowing up it's cup, and splitting into soft interconnected sections.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Cup #53...after....the transformation
Cup #53..before... (in the beginning...there was a very rough handle)
Here is the handle in the rough just after attachment. Notice the slip oozing out between the handle and the cup at the base...(slip is wet clay slurry that helps the handle stay attached through the contraction of drying and firing). I have to trust that if I pay good attention to the handle it will transform from clunky/ugly into fluid/beautiful. The pleasure comes in the transformation.
It's just a matter of time...
It's just a matter of time...
Friday, November 12, 2010
Cup #52
Friday, November 5, 2010
Cup #51
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Cup #50
Sunday, October 24, 2010
Cup #49
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Monday, October 4, 2010
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Cup #45 (another view)
Friday, October 1, 2010
48 cups
Monday, September 27, 2010
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Friday, August 20, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Cup #39
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
Cup #38
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
Cup #36 ( the not supposed to be cup)
The cup form reveals that which a potter works against when throwing...it is that which is not supposed to be: deep finger ridges, uneven outline, collapsing handle. AND YET....somehow it has its own integrity and balance. A whirling, swirling little cup whose existence so obviously reveals the turning of the wheel.
Monday, May 24, 2010
Cup #35
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Potter's Wheel
The messy potter's wheel from which a ball of clay is turned into a cup. A water bowl, tools, and sponges and 5 new cups line the shelves (cups #32-36) Above the wheel hangs a drawing of a woman (with a cup!) that has hung above the wheel since 1989 drawn by my son, Amory, at age 9. Next to the drawing hangs postcard of a very old photograph of a woman dancing close to the edge of a rock that juts out high above a canyon.
Cup #33 (two angles)
An energetic handle vine splits and proceeds to dance and curl boldly over the cup surface.
This is a large cup that has been well informed by the cost of exuberance in the previous cup. Working in clay shapes the potter, I know I have been shaped by it. Clay is clay. Clay will not be that which it cannot be. It cannot be forced by one's will. Turning clay into an object requires a relationship of sensitivity, respect, and a centered stance. If not, it can fly off the wheel, collapse, distort, wobble, crack, or explode in the kiln (taking out it's next of kin!)....hmm....sounds so human!
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Cup #32
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Cup #31
Friday, May 7, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
Cup #28
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