I spent the last day of June split between the clay studio and the printshop.
I have been working on a special print for one of my US Route 62 neighbors who lives all the way over in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.
Today I got to put first ink on the block and then print an edition at the log cabin print shop.
After printing, I had some time to put some handles on mugs, put some glaze on bowls, and then throw a few cream pitchers and bowls
You never know where it will take you when you put your creativity out there:
Late friday night, i made a live stream while throwing pots…no words, or instruction, just an hour of making pots.
I don’t know who all watched, but poet, Tania Anderson Horne , saw it, and it inspired a poem! I liked the poem so much, we made this short video together. Thank you Tania! I’m honored!!!
Tania is participating in Lexington Poetry Month. A project, where every June, poets are challenged to write a poem every day. You can learn more at https://lexpomo.com
#lexpomo
I’m excited to share some of my latest pottery after last weeks firing. I’m as proud of the photography as the pottery. There has been a learning curve to photographing pottery, and I think I am finally getting a good representation of what the pots look like.
NOTE: I have already sold all the pots from this firing, but plan to have more soon.
I work in a lot of different media, and am always looking for ways to cross the different mediums. One dream I have is printing woodcuts onto ceramic. After some research, I learned that the woodcut process does not work well with ceramic materials, but screenprinting does.
Using a technique that i learned while studying in Oaxaca, Mexico, I copied a few of my favorite woodcut designs onto a screen
then printed the designs onto rice paper using ceramic underglaze as the ‘ink’
then, i transferred the underglaze onto unfired clay…in a technique similar to old fashioned temporary tattoos
My big, exciting event for this summer was going to be a week long pottery workshop at the Arrowmont School of arts and crafts. It was a gift from a friend, and was going to be a really special treat. To be safe during the coronavirus, the workshop was cancelled. I was really looking forward to visiting Arrowmont, and having a pottery intensive experience. My hope was to get better at throwing, and to learn a few new surface decoration techniques.
just because I can’t go to a famous arts and craft school, and learn from a popular potter, doesent mean I can’t still have a pottery intensive experience. I decided to give myself a summer of pottery making!!! So far, I’ve thrown about 20 mugs.
Most of them are being decorated in a style, called sgraffito.
If you haven’t already seen it, here is a short video explaining the process:
I learned a new technique to throw plates. Thanks @Dennis Allen ! So now I’ve been working on a few sgraffito plates.
This squirrel design is based on one of my linocuts.
Another plate…with BLUE underglaze.
These are works in progress…they still need to be glazed and fired, but I’m really excited about making plates…and hope to the have enough to fire the kiln soon.
I’m back in the clay studio, working with a decoration technique, called sgraffito. The word comes from Italian and means; to scratch away.
The way the technique works, a pot is covered with colored clay, then I scratch the top layer, reavealing the design.
Since i have a printmaking background, this technique feels familiar. It’s the same way I would make a woodcut.
The idea for the mug i’m working on is tow pigs enjoying a field of clover, and they both found a four leaf clover at the same time. What a lucky pair of pigs!
If you are interested in seeing how these pots turn out, stay tuned, i’ll show them off once they are fired in the kiln.
UPDATE: i forgot to mention…i don’t sell pots online. I believe a pot has to be experienced in person, so the owner can hold it before deciding to take it to it’s ‘forever home’. Hopefully a drive in the country to Old Washington, ky isn’t impossible for you. Thanks again everyone for the great response!
Hey everybody! I haven’t made any functional pots since October, but this morning, I opened my kiln and have a fresh batchl!!! I’m really excited about this one, because it’s my first time firing porcelain.
Sculpture update: my little bird has gone from a white dove, to a red breasted robin, and now appears to becoming a blue bird. Just goes to show that sometimes the art tells me what it wants to be…especially on april 1st.
Hope you all are healthy and well. Stay home and make art if you can.
Ken is a self-taught artist from rural Kentucky, whose work includes painting, printmaking, and pottery. He considers himself to be a 'lifetime learner' and uses art as the vehicle to explore and learn more about the world around him. Much of his work reflect his optimistic views on rural folk culture, river life and simple pleasures.
