Yesterday I went for a glorious long hike through a state park near my house. It was perfect! Hiking is something that renews me and boy did I need it after all the hours I've put in lately from getting this show ready on top of working my 50+ hr/week day job. I went on a hunt for spring. And the second I found it (in the form of a flowering tree), my camera died. Go figure. Next time, it will be the sketchbook for me. I need some new ideas.

I think I'm taking next week off from potting partly because my tools haven't arrived yet (remember? I lost my whole tool box) and partly because I want to renew my creative juices. Something about sketching outside helps my ideas grow so tonight as it rains and storms very loudy outside, I've been dreaming of hikes.
Next monday, it's off to Hal Scott Preserve for me. There's a 5 miles trail I have to check out! Well, goodnight all. I have to get up in 4 hours so I really should be getting to sleep.

I stumbled across a few inspiring artists today that I thought I would share with you all. Enjoy!

Liz Summerfield:



(pics found at the AKAR Gallery website, even more images at her personal website)



Benjamin Carter:



(above pics found on-line at Charlie Cummings Gallery website, with even more images on his personal website)

Finally I am back! I know it's been a long time, my life has been pretty busy. I've actually had a bit of a selling spree this month, a commission to finish up and some other things in the works so it's been good!

Also, as you can see, I'm getting back into making some test tiles to try and experiment a little more with my work. As always, it's one of those things that takes quite a bit longer than you think it will!

I'm also trying to play around with my sprig molds again, in hope of getting some of that "wallpaper patterning" that I was talking about in a previous post to start happening on my pots.
This is one of my old sprig molds that I started to play around with on one of my test tiles (sadly, the fit of my slip was not as good as I could have hoped for and this one cracked off in the firing).

Here's a pic of the actual mold I used. It's made out of scrap plaster that I had left over from making some larger molds. I just use a brush to paint the slip into the mold, wait for it to get dry enough on the outside to come out of the mold and then I take it out and attach it to my piece.
The mold on the right is finished and the one on the left is one I'm currently working on. I drew the design on the plaster first with a pencil and then I just carve away at those lines in the right places, test it out a little, making it thicker in spots if it needs to be. Once all that is done, I have a nice sprig mold!

The idea I had for these molds is to start using them to create some extra pattern in my work the same way that use repeating designs in wallpaper. Such as this one by William Morris:

There's just something about that "mirror image" sort of thing that starts to happen but at the same time, it's organic (that sort of controlled organic) that I'm really enjoying. Mine would be simplified down quite a bit but it's still that same sort of idea.

I was actually fishing with my husband the other day and saw the way the reflection of this tree that had fallen into the water had this same quality to it. Here's a few snap shots I took of that that I've turned on their sides so you can see the "seam" of the mirror image vertically as you would in wallpaper.
Interesting, yes? I can almost start to see the damask pattern popping out at me just from this picture. Who says damask wasn't taken from nature!

So this week (starting tomorrow since I have to work today), I'm going to be throwing my first batter bowls.
First step for me is to look at other batter bowls, think about the shape and function of them and find something from all that which I like and which fits with my work. Since I'm making something handmade, some people may look just to handmade sources but I find that sometimes leads to either copying something someone has already done or making something in a way that may not function as well as something else. My solution is to go straight to the source, I usually start with a Google of the piece I'm going for. Here's a few of my favorites that resulted from that search:


Okay, so as I was looking through the different bowls and thinking about what would be the most comfortable position to pour from I got to thinking that if I use a full handle, the sides of the bowl have to be a bit straighter just to keep the center of gravity correct for pouring. Also, you don't want the top to get too wide because it makes it harder to channel the liquid down the spout. Of course these are things we all know but I want to try and keep them on the forefront of my mind while I am drawing designs so I don't find something that looks really nice as a design but becomes something that doesn't function as well as I would like it to.
So for alternative handle options I will look to potters:Lorna MeadenAmy HalkoDeborah Schwartzkoph

These three artists are a few of my favorites partly I think because I have seen two out of three of them work and so I feel a bit more of a connection to their work.
Deborah came to Illinois State when I was a student there and actually made one of these batter bowls. Although it's not a very good angle to see her handle, it's actually a cut out space on the outside of the bowl which is very comfortable to grip with your hand while letting your thumb rest either right on that red dot or laying comfortably above it.
Lorna was a demonstrator at NCECA this year and I really love her funky oversized handle which works well for the smaller size of this bowl but may not be comfortable for something larger that could hold more batter.
Last we have Amy Halko whose work I have never touched in person but I really love it all the same. Her bowl must be a smaller one as well since it doesn't have any handle on it. Of course this isn't central to the function of the design, but I love her bright patterns and bold color combination of greens/blues with a bright popping red. I use it often on my work as well!

Well, I guess those are my thoughts as of now about batter bowls. This way I will have time at work to mull over which ideas I like and what I would like to use when I start the sketching phase of my bowl design.

While at ISU, I developed a love of floral design books and really based my first drawings and carvings on my pot from those. I never actually got the pleasure of looking through this one but I stumbled on this artists work while blogging one day and fell in love. His name is Frederick Edward Hulme and he was a graphic designer/illustrator/writer in the late 1800s from around 1870-1890. These are a few pages from his book Suggestions in Floral Design:


I love not only the drawings in this and other design books from this era but also how they talk about pattern and using it as a design element. It's interesting for me to read about these ideas-- repeat patterns, drop repeats, reverse repeats, etc.
Below are a few of his drawings (giclee prints) from another book he wrote and illustrated called Familiar Wildflowers that are remarkable as well!

So when a bit of insomnia overtook me this morning at 3am, I started surfing the web in my usual fashion. Going from artist blog to blog when I came across a few pieces in the Santa Fe Clay cup show from an old teacher of mine, Chris Berti, who teaches at Parkland College in Champaign. Here's the link to the entire show here. These are his cups below....drat, now I really want to buy one!


I'm excited to see his work out there. It's not very often that I see it even though he is a very talented artist but then again I am a bit bias, he was my teacher and clay mentor for 4 years.

Thanks to the wonderful world of Etsty, I have found a few new ceramic artists that I love and would like to share with you. For more info about each artist and to see their Etsy store, click on their name.

Molly Hatch
"Molly was born on a small organic dairy farm in central Vermont. Raised to appreciate doing things from scratch and making with her hands, Molly strives for her work to express elegance and simplicity and her love of nature." (words written by Molly about Molly)





Jenni Brant
"Jenni Brant developed an appreciation for the simplicity of life and the beauty of natural materials that comes through in her elegant and carefully crafted pottery. Jenni is a maker of functional ceramic objects focusing on serving vessels and dinnerware made for celebratory occasions, often making the most mundane of activities a cause for merriment and remembrance." (a few words about her work written by Jenni)

*Something that I love about Jenni's work is the clean simple forms which are both fluid and refined at the same time. All the decoration reinforces this theme from the organic dimples and dots to the swirling patterns.




Naomi Cleary
"Dishes hold the potential for human connection through their tactile nature. Most of us have associations and memories connected to dishes. We look at dishes and can easily imagine using them. They live in our physical space, in our kitchen cabinets, are used every day. They have a relationship to our bodies. We pick them up and even touch them to our mouths. Dishes speak of history and lineage, passed down from mother to daughter, connected to family dinners, celebrations and sharing. They are a reminder of the warmth and comfort found in domestic spaces." (Naomi writing about her work)
*Let me say that I just love when things are on the bottom of dishes! Not only is it a nod to good design training (learning to think about the object in the round, as a full 3-D thing and not as something that has "sides" and "top" and "bottom") but also it's such a sweet surprise for the user!

Kirsten Bassion

"These are porcelain pieces that are wheel thrown and stamped with hand-carved stamps. The work is then decorated with a layer of underglaze and fired. All my glazes are made from scratch and painted on before the last firing." (Kirsten writing about her own work)*I really appreciate the way she uses repetitive patterns to define the separate areas of each piece as well as how the different colors bleed in one area and are clear in another depending on the glazes used.




Kristin Pavelka
"I think about many things when creating my candy-like coated functional earthenware pots. Forms are inspired from Midwestern architecture and the body, classical pots and contemporary containers ranging from 1950s kitsch to modern day fast food containers. Martha Stewart has been a great influence regarding my color palette, as well as candy and mid-20th century design. Patterns are inspired from my everyday surroundings." (Kristen writing about her own work)



*Love how she decorates the underside of the handle on this baking dish. Like I said before, it's so wonderful to discover little surprises like that as your using the dish!

So in case you can't tell, the subject for this post is paisley patterns. So for a little history, our friends at Wikipedia say, "[Paisley] resembles a large comma or twisted teardrop, the kidney-shaped paisley is one of the most recognized patterns in the world. The lacy pattern is Persian in origin, but its western name derives from the town of Paisley, in central Scotland. Pakistan Paisley designs are widely termed as the "Carrey" design. Carrey in Urdu means the Mango seed."
For a few modern uses of the paisley pattern, check out this leather settee from Horchow. Love the more traditional style mixed with the fun, more modern paisley adaption. They had a few other very fun paisley pieces such as a few rugs, a chair, and a upholstered headboard!


As far as wearing paisley, there are many current options for that as well. I have to say, those paisley sandals (Privo by Clarks) are my favorites!






One day when I have a studio, I want to buy cards like the one above and make an inspiration board. I think it will actually make my work much stronger to see these things as I'm making.

So after two weeks of making plates, I need to do something else so today I went to the school studio and snatched some earthenware clay and a bit of slip to play around with for awhile. I like the idea of carving through to reveal the clay below which will also help me with my problem of getting my designs to show up on the fired work as more than just something subtle to notice when you're holding it close. Doing this, I am worried I may be venturing into the territory that Ayumi Horie made popular, the white slip with things carved into it. I don't like doing things that others are doing so if I feel like it's going too close into this realm, I may do something else instead.

I am excited with working with the darker clay body. That will be nice. I found this recipe somewhere online that I modified a bit to get my own cone10 dark stoneware at the beginning of last semester so I may start using that once school starts. I suppose I am jumping around a lot but this is the time to do that, right? And this way I will be used to jumping around but still keeping my work somewhat cohesive so that once I'm out of school, I will be able to be more flexible about what temp I'm firing to which will help me find somewhere to work easier (and make it a bit easier to set up a home studio as well)!

Spring is such an inspiring time to be an artist! On my walk to work this morning, I was thoroughly enjoying drinking in the smell of the air which was perfumed with sweet smelling flowers (maybe the lilac bush behind our carport). I'm thinking that some time this summer I should visit the botanical gardens in Chicago again. Justin (my hubby) has never been and I haven't been for a long time. I just think looking at and taking pictures of the plants and flowers could influence my work right now.

On that note, here's some amazing flowers for your viewing pleasure:

Wallpaper, self-portraits and William Morris

William Morris wallpaper designs have been an inspiration to me from the time I discovered them almost two years ago yet it didn't really start to appear very strongly in my work until this past year.
I really enjoy the curving lines of the vines and the vintage feel.
Also, even though this isn't something that's in my work, I like the childhood game of finding shapes in the paper (like you would in the clouds). I did a self-portrait in my 2D class last semester that was based on William Morris wallpaper designs but the vines and flowers became a repeating face motif if you looked at it long enough. Of course I could see my face in it right away, but for some it was a discovery after staring at the painting for a long time (and I really liked that about it as well!). That discovery that happened after spending more time with the piece. Who knows, maybe one day those ideas will find their way onto my pots. For now, I'm very content with the layering of patterns that's currently happening.


The wallpaper design on the right is entitled "Artichoke" and it was designed by John Henry Dearle for William Morris & Co. in 1897. I love the design of the artichoke, very stylized and (of course) vine-like. William Morris was one of the main contributers to the start of the Arts and Crafts movement in Brittan, a movement whose ideas myself and many others still look to for inspiration.

At the Essential Architecture website I was just looking at, it describes the Arts and Crafts movement in this way: "Originating from the teachings of William Morris, John Rushkin, and other late-19th century English Theorists, the Arts & Crafts movement's emphasis was on "humanizing" design through simple, crafted forms and honest expression of materials."

I love that second part, "simple, crafted forms and honest expression of materials." That's what I want to see in my work. But at the same time, I don't want to forms to look stereotypical or too "crafty". Right now, I feel like I'm just starting to touch on where my work could be headed and what direction my career as a ceramic artist is (stylistically) going.

To read a few thoughts by William Morris about his ideas of what is (should be) art and what is craft, read his book _Hopes and Fears for Art_ .
Here's a link to a free online copy at gutenberg.org-- Enjoy!

I was just browsing the web today and I stumbled across some really beautiful henna designs and so I thought I would devote this post today to the traditional art of henna painting is known as Mehndi in India, where it has been practiced since the beginning of the 12th century. In Indian Mehndi, a person applies designs (traditionally) to a woman's hands and feet, on special occasions. After two to twelve hours, during which the Mehndi dries, the wearer scrapes the paste off to reveal the designs, which resemble tattoos and last one to three weeks on the skin.
It reminds me a lot of the sort of effect you get from a slip trailer. It makes me want to practice with my slip trailers. I'm only so-so with them, I have trouble getting the lines to change widths as beautifully as the artist above has done.
This last picture I had to throw in here because it looks like that would have been such fun!

For more info about the Mehndi process or design pictures and such go to this website:
http://www.hennapage.com/