Art Journaling..

I have been doing a little online research on Art Journaling because I will be teaching a workshop on it next month and wanted to really get familiar with the world of Art Journaling.  I found a really good blog called Daisy Yellow that goes over the basics, as well as a lot of really nice art techniques.

 Daisy Yellow Art Journaling Blog

Another awesome potter...

I ran across this ceramic artist and thought I would pass him onto you to check out.  I love how he writes and draws on his pots!  

Erik Haagensen's Website

artist Erik Haagensen

A Cool Bulletin Board!

I often substitute teach in a middle school classroom where the students are severely mentally and physically challenged.  Their bulletin board had not been done in the 2 years I had been working there so I volunteered to go in one day last month and redo it for them in a cool winter theme.  I hand drew the penguins, aren't they cute?

Some new Raku pieces..

At the Maitland Art Center, where I take pottery classes, Raku is always on the menu!  Here are a few recent pieces I have made.

small container w/lid & large bowl with copper penny raku glaze

close up of the smaller piece

Finger Puppets! Too Cute!

I found these adorable finger puppets on Etsy, made by Jordan.

Scottish Animals

Arctic Animals

More Snowy Goodness!

I was looking for some ideas for ceramic snowflakes.  Here is what I found :)  I love the idea of using a doily for the texture/pattern!

By OneClayBead on Etsy

Let it snow...

Time for some snowy themed clay ideas..

By Caryn Burwood on Etsy

By MudKatsPottery on Etsy

By Kate Bertin on Etsy

By Greg Laplaca on Etsy

I love this idea!!!!

I found this on instructables.com.  The link is below if you want to check out the instructions for this project, or browse other instructables.  There are a lot of great art ideas to be found!

                             http://www.instructables.com/id/Pocket-sized-Watercolor-Altoids-Tin/

Its Turkey Time!

On my search for some fall pottery ideas, I found some really cute turkeys made from clay.  I also found a cool website for art lesson plans for children too!  Scroll on down and see...

These are made from polymer clay but I thought it they were a real hoot LOL.  On Etsy by Krisi

This turkey  made from a pinch pot was found on the website I just mentioned.  It's www.deepspacesparkle.com

Look at this lovely pair of wheel thrown turkeys!

They were found on Etsy, made by Suzannes Pottery Farm

Tiny turkey leg tiles!  How cute :)  On Etsy, by Popogirl

Not really a turkey, but fowl non the less!  On Etsy, by Adorome

A bit about Bernini

The other night at pottery me and a few friends were discussing one of my favorite sculptures, Bernini's Ecstasy of St. Teresa.  When I went to Rome this was one of the things on the top of my list of must-see works of art, and it did not disappoint!  It is located in a smaller church, less crowded with tourist than most of the other usual Roman sites, which made for an awesome experience.  In looking up information on the internet about this sculpture I found a really cool site if you are interested in learning more about famous works of art and art history.  There was a ton of information about Bernini and his sculptures, photos, and videos too.  Check, check, check it out!

http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/bernini-ecstasy-of-st.-theresa

The History of Raku

Today I started to write a lesson plan on raku tea cups and the japanese tea ceremony.  I found another awesome website for all my pottery loving friends!  This is the site to Japan's raku museum that is located next door to the original raku family home and workshop.  There is an awesome summary of the history of raku and lots of photos of raku ware :)

http://www.raku-yaki.or.jp/e/history/index.html

ce – ram – ics:

ce – ram – ics: The art and science of making and using solid articles which have as their essential component inorganic, non-metallic materials.

The word ceramic can be traced back to the Greek term keramos, meaning "a potter" or "pottery." Keramos in turn is related to an older Sanskrit root meaning "to burn." Thus the early Greeks used the term to mean "burned stuff" or "burned earth" when referring to products obtained through the action of fire upon earthy materials. 

Ceramics can be defined as inorganic, nonmetallic materials. They are typically crystalline in nature and are compounds formed between metallic and nonmetallic elements such as aluminum and oxygen (alumina-Al2O3), calcium and oxygen (calcia - CaO), and silicon and nitrogen (silicon nitride-Si3N4).

An awesome pottery website!

I ran across a really great website by an awesome group of artists who specializes in crystalline glazes and other alternative firing methods.  There are a lot of glaze recipes too!

http://www.creativecreekartisans.com/

A ceramics teacher throws a pot with his feet!!! LOLOL

Another blended underglaze pot I made...

Here is another pot where I combined different underglazes while the piece was still wet on the wheel.  I love how the colors blend together when I do this!

A few new mini's...

Lately I have been making more miniature pieces. on the wheel.  This one was rakued (is there a past tense to raku?? lol)

I used a glaze called muddy waters on this one but it crawled on me, however I still like how it turned out :)

The broken pot revisited...

On the right is the pot I made months ago, that had imploded.  I fired it not long ago and painted it with a variety of orange, red, and yellow glazes and underglazes.  You cant even see the break, and it goes awesomely with the pots on the right, and the Virgin Mary too!

More Spooky Goodness!

I found this artist on Etsy (Ol'BlueHair'sOddities).  I love her Frankenpots and gourd dream catchers.. awesome work!

The cauldron comes off of the flames... great idea for a wheel thrown and handbuilding combo project!

One of her Frankenpots!

Dream catcher gourd (these are ceramic not real gourds)

Its October..

To get into the holiday spirit I went on a search for some clay spirits!  Check it out!

I love the ghoulish roof, and the hand-like tree!

both made by Heirloom Pottery...

I love how the pinch pots were used for the eyes!

Recent works..

To save space in my home, I have began to make smaller pots!  Working in miniature has been a challenge since I am used to working with larger amounts of clay on the wheel.  I have also been practicing making lids for my pots, something I have avoided doing in the past.  I will be uploading pictures of some of these works as soon as I get the photos off my camera, until then enjoy some of my mini pots!

The black was made using mocha diffusion (tobacco juice and black oxide).

An example of a perfect lip made using my nifty new lip & foot rib.

A cool new artist..

A friend of mine turned me on to a new contemporary artist.  His work is a contextual spin-off of Louise Nevelson type sculpture.  The artist uses found objects to create awesome assemblage!  Check it out!

www.kuksi.com

Ceramics Vs. Pottery

I have given the debate more research and thought and agree with the masses: There is no difference between the terms ceramics and pottery.  Both terms refer to creating objects from clay.

What is the difference between "ceramics" and "pottery"?

Why does everyone up north call it "pottery", and down south refer to it as "ceramics?" When I lived up north, I first learned about pottery at my high school.  I continued on and took pottery through community college.  Once I moved to Florida, I took ceramics classes at the Maitland Art Center, and at UCF.

So today I attempt to clarify the difference between these two interchangeably used words!  I'll first ask Merriam Webster:

Definition of CERAMIC (adj)

: of or relating to the manufacture of any product (as earthenware, porcelain, or brick) made essentially from a nonmetallic mineral (as clay) by firing at a high temperature; also : of or relating to such a product

Definition of CERAMIC (noun)

1

plural but sing in constr : the art or process of making ceramic articles

2

: a product of ceramic manufacture

Definition of POTTERY (noun)

1

: a place where clayware is made and fired

2

a : the art or craft of the potterb : the manufacture of clayware

3

: clayware; especially : earthenware as distinguished from porcelain and stoneware and from brick and tile

Very cool decorating technique

I like how the artist in this video uses coils to decorate his wheel thrown pieces... I can't wait to try this one!

This made me giggle :)

A cool ceramic artist I found online..

Ceramic Arts Daily : Steven Lee Young

The Smurfs have been making a comeback lately!  I love how this artist mixes the traditional styles from his culture with pop images!

A few recent wheel thrown pieces..

I have been playing with underglazes and painting them onto wet pots (pink).  The blue/black pot is one my friend made (her 2nd wheel pot ever!), I think she is a natural.

It's been awhile..

I wanted to post a picture of the redo of the broken piece, along with a few other pieces I recently made. I used my school ring to make impressions on a test piece on the bottom right.

After thinking ...

Even though I already did a remake on my pot.. I have decided to sand down the rough edge where it broke and fire/glaze it anyways. I think that I like the form even as it broke. I will upload a photo when its finished. The other one that I remade is still drying out at UCF. I hope that it hasn't exploded!

Welp...

I wound up making another similar pot. I will upload the photo later. This time I made it in class so that I would not have to worry about transporting a fragile pot to school, so I decided to make it a bit smaller than the last one due to time constraints at school. I have also been thinking about different ideas for the slab cup assignment. I have been exploring the use of different textures by stamping into the clay with jewelry such as my class ring.

That darn pot!

That darn coil pot!

I had a cool idea for creating a coil pot and decided I would try it out. I made it in one sitting, knowing that it would be hard to transport to school to be fired if I let it dry, so I gave it a quick spray of water and wrapped it up. The next day I went to check on my pot and it had broken in the most unusual way. I learned that keeping my pot so wet may not have been the best idea. It caused the clay to expand and break :( Better luck to me next time!