Change

Changes are on the way!

I am about to move to a new studio! Will Baker and I were accepted into the residency program at the Energy XChange in Burnsville, just over the hill in the neighboring county. We will be sharing a studio space together and using their new wood kiln to fire our work in. The residency offers studios to craft artists working in clay and glass. This renewable energy center was built on an old landfill in order to use the landfill gas to fuel the pottery kilns and glass furnaces as well as heat the greenhouses that are used to cultivate endangered flora. They also explore other sources of alternative energy such as solar, wind, and wood waste. I am very interested in using this time to learn some alternative methods for firing my work where I am not relying on propane to fuel the kiln.

For the past three years I have been working alone in my home studio. When I first started this studio from scratch, I was coming from a Bachelor's of Fine Arts degree in ceramics and a two year residency I completed at the Odyssey Center in Asheville, NC. At that time I was ready to leap into full time life as a potter and embarked upon setting up my first studio in my house. I was fortunate to rent the temporary use of a soda kiln from a dear friend and potter Linda McFarling, and actively kept busy making, promoting and selling my work. In that time of living way out here in the beautiful middle of nowhere, I've grown and learned a lot about myself. This private, secluded time in the studio has been priceless and I will always cherish it.

However, I have been ready for a change for quite some time, as well as a need for a kiln to fire my work. I also long to be involved in more of a community environment with the energy of more artists nearby. I'm excited for this change to my work routine where I will share a clay studio with 4 others, fire my work in the new wood and soda kiln, have opportunities to take business courses, learn about using renewable fuels, and have more exposure for my work.

So, all of this is happening pretty fast; in one week it's time to pack up this dusty old place and head down the road to the landfill!

www.energyxchange.org

Studio Tour

I unloaded the last bisque kiln with lots of mugs and bowls. Time to glaze! I have two firings lined up in the next week. I need to have a lot of pots for the upcoming studio tour, here at my studio in two weeks.

Toe River Arts Council Studio Tour
June 11-13, 2010

www.toeriverarts.org

Watershed

I have to share my fun summer plans that I recently learned about. All spring I was looking around for some short term summer residencies and after applying to a few..........

I was awarded a fully funded two week residency at the Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts in Maine. I'll be headed up there in August during the session when Sequoia Miller is there. I'm super excited, I've always admired his work. I'm eager to have the time away to explore some new ideas, and going to Watershed has always been on my to-do list.

I'm also hoping to have time to take in some sight seeing while I'm up that way...I'm thinking of hiking along the Appalachian Trail near Katahdin or strolling along the coast at Acadia National Park. Oh, there are so many ideas!

Planting

I've been finally getting around to a little bit of planting. The best part about gardening? When you get volunteer cilantro plants coming up all over where you mixed in your compost. I have over 10 little plants that are popping up in my garden beds as freebies. As far as I'm concerned, a cook can never have too much cilantro!

The relationships of certain things that are so much a part of my life seem to fit so well together:

dirt = plants

clay = pots

and the wondrous sum of all these parts?

food!

Friends

Yesterday I headed over to Marshall, NC to visit with my friend and potter Emily Reason. Her studio is at the Marshall High Studios, an old high school built on an island around the French Broad River in downtown Marshall. It's a pretty cool place. She was unloading her kiln right by the river, so I got to peek in!

Emily was a resident artist with me back in the day at the Odyssey Center in Asheville. I forget how fortunate I am to be in this area where there are so many great potters and friends in every direction.
She's making beautifully carved porcelain pots here as you can see! I was lucky to get a new plate of hers I've been wanting for quite some time. If you're ever in the area, you should check out her work and the neat studio she is in!

You can see more of her work at her website: www.emilyreason.com

Just one more board

Well I know I said I had enough pots for the next wood firing, but there's always that voice in the back of a potter's head that says "But you need some more bowls, or cups, just a few more, really." And that voice doesn't go away and we potters tend to crank out yet another board of pots.

So...there was extra time to push the firing back a bit and I needed more medium sized bowls for the firing, so I've made 6 or 8 of them and am finishing them up now! Next I might squeeze in a few new tumblers, too. Sometimes it's just hard to stop!

Light work

Today was a light studio day. After a great two day workshop that I taught all weekend with John Britt on photographing ceramics, I eased back into the studio today to catch up on some carving and handles for more mugs.

Upon leaving I noticed the rows of mugs are glowing greenware; almost the same glow when they're piping hot in the kiln, isn't it? There's such beauty in the repetition of lines and rows.

Everyday things

I'm loving the chive blossoms in my herb garden right now. They are interesting forms from the closed bud to the open bloom. Little purple explosions of color!

Empty Bowls

The NC ClayClub had our monthly get together last night hosted by the founders of Empty Bowls as a thank you to all in the community who have helped this amazing organization. It was a lot of fun! People were throwing, trimming and decorating bowls all day and into the twilight hours.

More fun pictures are posted here.

Stoneware mugs

I'm busy making rounds of mugs for the soda kiln. Some are made with a dark stoneware clay, and some will be porcelain clay. I enjoy using different kinds of clay for the way I fire my work. I get various results depending on where those clays are fired in the kiln.

It's a good throwing day....it feels good to have my hands back in the clay!

Pots 4 sale

I just listed new wood fired pots online at my Etsy shop. It's my two year anniversary for having my Etsy shop and I've had 75 sales! Maybe I'll reach 100 sales soon!

www.joytanner.etsy.com




I'll be adding a few more in the next day or so, so keep in touch!

Morning inspirations

Caught this iris bud this morning just before it opened. I think they're a prettier form before they open...it brings to mind a lobed flower vase. All those little details and lines are so amazing!

Moving it out

wood and soda fired carved tumbler

I'm taking my pots on the road today to deliver to a couple of galleries in the general area. One is a new order from a gallery that requested an assortment of cups in Rock Hill, South Carolina. It's called Gallery Up in the Gettys Art Center. I'm excited to have my work represented there.

wood and soda fired carved medium bowl

The other gallery I'm headed over to is Pottery 101 in Salisbury, NC. I've had my work there for over a year or so and have been happy with how it has sold there. I'm going to take a variety of forms to freshen up my display a bit.

wood and soda fired carved ewer

More new pots

wood and soda fired small pitcher detail

wood and soda fired small pitcher

wood and soda fired oval carved jar

wood and soda fired ewer

wood and soda fired oval server

wood and soda fired cup

wood and soda fired carved small pitcher

wood and soda fired carved medium bowl

wood and soda carved medium bowl detail

wood and soda fired bud vases (i'm loving these little 3" guys!)

wood and soda fired bud vases

These images and more I didn't post here are in a new album at my Facebook page.

the details

wood and soda fired carved ewer

It's always after the firing, after the unloading, and after the new pots have settled into their new existence do I really start seeing the results. And the best place for me to do this is behind my camera lens. Always needing to document my new work anyway, taking photographs of them really helps me see all of the subtle details of firing and form that make the whole process completely worth it to me.

wood and soda fired oval server

wood and soda fired spring lobed bowl

wood and soda fired small carved pitcher

wood and soda fired ridge bowls

More images to come. Some of these pots are hopping off to galleries, some are going to be in my online shop, and some are available right now if there's one you fancy! Just let me know if there's one you see you can't live without!

Just a peek

After a climb up and down a steep mountain, we're back to unload the kiln. We could have unloaded the kiln last Saturday but we broke away for a fun hike on a beautiful weekend.

It was amazing to find the pots still warm inside! It was a great firing, I'm still absorbing all of the details....


You can see more shots of my pots in the photo album on my Facebook Pottery Page:

http://www.facebook.com/joytannerpottery