Pottery and Photography in One
Archive for the ‘Ceramics’ Category: Thursday, January 21st, 2010
My friend slash former pottery teacher sent me a link to this guy a few months back. Steve Irvine lives in Ontario, Canada and works a lot with photography and ceramics, but what got my attention were his beautiful pin hole cameras. Since we’re starting with pinhole photography in my light media class, I thought it might be fun to follow this step-by-step guide and try to make my own pinhole camera.
Now actually finding the time to do this will be difficult. Yesterday I was in the art studios almost, and quite literally, all day long. It’s fun though since I get to hang out with fun people, help and tutor students, and play with the materials when I’ve got the spare time. Basically, the best job any college student could ask for.
Posted in Ceramics, Photography | 2 Comments
Sunday, December 13th, 2009I can’t remember the last time I posted a totally completed photo of a pot I had thrown. I mean, the 29-inch tall pot displayed earlier had to be “thrown away” (aka. hit with a baseball bat… for real) because the bottom fell out and my professor was convinced that I could throw a better one. So I did… and it ended up being something like 34 inches tall before it got bisqued and glaze fired. Now it’s sitting in the back of my car waiting to get wrapped for Christmas. BUT ANYWAY… here is a photo of a raku pot that I made this semester and got extremely lucky with on the glazing:
Yeah… so it definitely looks better in real life – MUCH shinier.
My cousin and I have also been watching this TV show I’m sure many people have heard of called Alice on the Syfy channel. Pretty much the best show I’ve seen from them since Tin Man, I recommend it to anyone who’s in need of a FANTASTIC remake of an old classic. Both of these mini-series are, by far, my favorites over the first films.
And to continue on with my geekery, I’ve decided that I am going to buy my cousin (the same one who watches the Syfy channel with me) and I one of these so our desktops will be almost completely Doctor Who‘d out when we plug in our printers or cameras or whatever.
So that’s that… another holiday time update.
Posted in Ceramics, Geekery, Television Shows | 3 Comments
Saturday, November 7th, 2009I’m actually quite proud of myself in terms of the art scene this fall. As noted in my previous post, I have two silver gelatin prints hanging in a group exhibition in a gallery at one of the local hospitals. I recently received a copy of The Best of College Photography Annual for 2009 with one of my black and white rodeo shots in the finalist section. And just last week I entered a pot for another local pottery exhibition at Rome Area Council for the Arts. It’s a decent raku piece and it’s sitting next to one of my supervisor’s pots. Needless to say, my artist’s resume has had some healthy improvements over the past month and a half.
Next weekend mark the last horse show of the semester. I can’t believe it has all gone by so quickly! My 10-page paper for my international relations class is due on Friday the 13th (which officially marks mid-November for me!) so I’ve got to get to work on that.
And tomorrow I’m taking engagement photos for a couple of friends of mine. It should be fun! More updates on that later, of course.
Posted in Ceramics, Photography, School | 1 Comment
Saturday, October 31st, 2009
By far the tallest pot I have ever thrown in my entire life. Thanks to my good friend, Fire, patience, and a lot of clay, I measured this beast at 29 inches tall. Of course, it will shrink when it goes through the bisque and glaze kiln, but no matter. It’ll still be a good floor pot for my parents house when I drive up this Christmas.
I think I may make more of these – they add varying height in the kiln which is good for firing and it’s something new to work on and play with. What I will do with a whole collection of giant pots? I have absolutely no clue.
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Wednesday, July 15th, 2009
Way back when, during my freshman year of university, the ceramics department did a salt firing thanks to the constant whining of college potter students. Oddly enough, the only people who actually showed up for the whole firing were me and a couple of the hired students to help out around the studios.
Next to raku, this is my favorite type of firing that I ever experienced. Why? Mostly because the more fire there is, the more fun the firing is. Us pottery people are pyros, you see. But the outcome is also cool – instead of using glazes like with all other firing methods, you decorate your pot with colorants and the salt vapors do the rest. Basically, the salt vaporizes and creates a nice, pretty, shiny coat of yummy-ness that goes all over almost the entire pot. You can see this below with a piece that I put colorant on before the firing.
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Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
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