Tony Clennell

Wanna see a pot die?

2012-01-29T16:27:00.000-08:00

Sheila has a pot full of brushes on our kitchen window that I stare at each morn when getting the high octane ready. If you want to see a pot die put one of these brushes in my hand. I'm a mud and water guy and I'm afraid of brushes. Some need clay as a canvas for their brushwork. I need clay as a canvas for my marks, jabs and pokes.

Studio is ready for us to get to work. We're kinda tentative. The music is playing and the words are percolating.

A Potter's Best Friend

2012-01-28T11:50:00.000-08:00

No! A potter's best friend is not a dog. It's a hammer! I keep one handy above my wheel. Might as well put it out of it's misery before it gets out there and further pollutes the world. Well, the butt scratchin' is over and it is time to play some rock and roll. I know the music but I have forgotten all the words since they were written for a high pitched Cone 10 voice and now I have to sing low down around Cone 1. Sheila got me a brand new birch chair from Ikea for $9 so I can sit there and stare out the window at the trains until a vision comes to me. I don't believe in ghosts but I'm afraid of them. I keep hoping the ghost of my Uncle Jimmie would drop in and talk to me about this low fire stuff. I think he knows I'm afraid of ghosts so he stays away.
I keep telling the students that pressure makes diamonds so we'll see what we will have in couple of months. I think for the first month or so the hammer will have it's work cut out for her. Ya, the hammer is female. She answers to the name "The Destroyer!"

why I love cats

2012-01-25T15:54:00.000-08:00

Sad Day

2012-01-19T13:34:00.000-08:00

It is with sadness today that I report the death of Sara Burke daughter of my long time potter friends Gord Burke and Jan Phelan. She was a skiier at the top of her game and an Olympic Gold hopeful for Canada. Sara died doing what she loved. That still doesn't make it easier to swallow. Not much I want to say today. Be of courage Gord, Jan and family.

Fine dining in The Hammer

2012-01-18T13:26:00.000-08:00

The Hammer is being recognized as a city for artists, a city of music and now it is to become the culinary capital of Canada. Yesterday Sheila watched a hawk dining out in our courtyard on a dove. It must have been a Japanese hawk as it ordered it's meat uncooked. The hawks are coming to our town to dine as the fare is well fed and easily available. I think pigeon and dove would be fairly easy to snag in our Town. I will use the feathers for some feather combing I plan to do on my new e-ware.

Sheila said she threw sticks at the hawk to chase him away but he said "Not on your life honey, I'm dining out! Where's the wine list?"

The Devil Made Me Do It!!!

2012-01-12T13:11:00.000-08:00

Some potters have kiln gods. We had a kiln devil looking over our gas kiln. The little bugger did a pretty damn good job of keeping our shino glaze in line. We brought him along and I swear it is he who is responsible for us having do all this painting. I like painting about as much as I like gardening. OK, so it is now public knowledge that I am not a new age sensitive guy. I like Harley's over Smart Cars, bacon over tofu and cats over dogs. Yes, I think cats are more apt to be artists than dogs. They are more independent and can survive on their own. Dogs are more like employees with pay cheques. No pay cheque equals no dinner. I will roll on the second coat tomorrow and then Sheila makes it look good. I've been told to go to Sheridan for the weekend and make pots as I just get in the way in the painting dept. OK, by me!

Top of your game

2012-01-11T16:20:00.000-08:00

Some 30 or more years ago a 20 year old young punk friend of mine failed from Sheridan where I now teach and had the cajones big enuff to purchase Robin Hopper's house and studio for the unheard price of $100,000+ big ones. Gord Burke fell in love with another Ceramic Artist Jan Phelan and they had two daughters. The one Sara is a 4 time gold medalist in free style skiing. She has had a serious accident and is in a coma in Salt Lake City.
Gord and Jan where at the top of their game. Jan made the dinnerware for our Governor General and has continued to make stellar work. They worked too hard like most potters do and their relationship went south. I don't know what happened to Gord but today when reading the news I thought of them and the good times we had drinking Drambui and planning our lives as potters. My thoughts and my prayers to whoever is listening go out to Gord, Jan and their kiddo- Sara. Fight, big fighter, fight!
Here is a pic of Sara and a vase of Jan's.

For Bobby

2012-01-11T12:37:00.000-08:00

Hey Bobby this post is for you. Bobby is one of the hardest workin', hardest livin' guys I know. It was either Bobby or I that had the coffee going at USU. If Bobby was a little slow off the mark I had the coffee on for him to wash down his morning oatmeal.
Since ya like Simon so much here are some more of his cups in our kitchen. Also some cups of his former wife Sandy and her present husband Bob Brady decorated one with the stick man.
Here also is a cup from your partner in crime Danny "Crumpet" Crump. It is Sheila's favourite cup for a wee nip. He did pull a damn nice bra strap handle.

Checking your homework

2012-01-09T13:40:00.000-08:00

Ok for those of you that attempted your homework assignment on the Working Class here is a list of the pots in the cupboard
Top shelf- Eric Wong
2nd shelf-Christianson, Glick, Hopper
next shelf- Selfridge, Piker, Smith
next shelf Uhlick, Medalta, Oestreich (25 years old), Rock Creek(Ruggles and Rankin)
Micheal Simon tumbler over in the corner.
All of it is pretty good company to keep.

The Working Class

2012-01-08T17:07:00.000-08:00

OK, if Brandon and Ron get three more of the cups of the working class I'm VERY impressed. I am always suspect of potters who use their own dishes. They claim they need to see if they work. How long do you have to pour a teapot to see if it pours? How many times do you need to drink from a cup to find out it dribbles down your lip? Well maybe that's all they can afford. I can't afford my own. Ron and Brandon obviously know their pots. We have a house full of other peoples pots. We like their good company after a day spent with our pots and ourselves it is nice to enjoy the company of friend's pots. Every pot and I mean every pot in our house has a story that we can relate to.

Off to school in the morn so another year starts at Sheridan. Time has flown the coop.

What's Your Cup Size?

2012-01-08T07:55:00.000-08:00

Cups are the most important item a potter makes. I've always maintained that if you can make a good cup that people will use every day then you have put your business card in their hand each and every day. I love to make cups and I especially liked a trimmed foot ring. It takes more time but as my dear old dad used to say "It's what you do when you don't have to that makes all the difference!"
Here is a display of some of our cups in the kitchen. The cupboards are full of the working cups that we are more apt to use on a daily basis. It is often quite embarrassing to find we have both brought 4 or 5 cups each out to the studio. A week later things are growing in the cups.

Here is my all time favourite cup made by Mark Pharis of Minnesota. I have used this cup for over 30 years. Two years ago at NCECA I bought Sheila this yeller cup by Pharis. He has moved from quiet to shouting. Neither of us have ever put this cup to our lips. I really like to look at it but maybe the colour is too aggressive for morning Joe. Move yourself to the head of the class if you can identify 3 makers of the cups in our kitchen display cabinet.

Sandwiches

2012-01-07T06:18:00.000-08:00

You'd think I like sandwiches! I live on the very beginning of the Niagara Peninsula where we are sandwiched between Lake Ontario to the north and Lake Erie to the south. Most of Canada is north of the Great Lakes but we dip down between Ontario and Erie. Where I live in the city of Hamilton we are also sandwiched between Lake Ontario and the beautiful Niagara Escarpment. The Bruce Trail a 400 kilometer hiking trail wanders along the Niagara Escarpment from Queenston, New York to Tobermory on another Great Lake- Lake Huron. Here is a view of the city from the top of the Chedoke Steps. 330 steps up the escarpment for a view of My Town. I'm contemplating the steps as part of my exercise routine. Taking the bicycle trail would be a hellava lot easier.

The Chainsaw Carpenters

2012-01-06T15:24:00.000-08:00

Well Sheila and I have finished the wood butchery in the workshop. In my next life I will be a gentleman potter with a patron that will pay to have a builder do all the grunt work. This is the third studio that we have built. We do pretty well everything with a circular saw and a cordless drill. A bargain Boxing Day oscillating saw has come in handy for a variety of jobs.

The joint is ready for Sheila to start painting on Monday when I'm off to school. I think the plywood will suck up a lot of paint and this is going to be a BIG job. Colour scheme planned is white ceiling to give it height, yellow walls, a painted on black board and we haven't decided on the floor colour yet. I have to do some market research to find out what colour squirrels and raccoons hate most.

Steel Town

2012-01-04T16:25:00.000-08:00

When we planned our move we looked for one vital component- "ENERGY". We wanted to live where there is energy and most especially in the arts community. We wanted to be surrounded by musicians, writers, fine crafts and arts, coffee shops, galleries, farmer's markets etc, etc. For once we chose well and just in time. Historically artists have moved into areas where the rents are cheap and they beautify and gentrify the place and then the money moves in and the artists move out.
Well our planning this time is "just in time". Word is out. Today in the Buffalo, NY newspaper was a headline "Steel Town transformed into artist's commumity"

Updated: December 11, 2011, 6:56 AM

HAMILTON, Ont.—“Art Is the New Steel” reads the slogan of the Print Studio, a gallery and artist workspace on James Street North. The city, once mostly known for its industry, is now getting noticed for its burgeoning art community and galleries.
Located two hours northwest of Buffalo between Niagara Falls and Toronto, Hamilton (nicknamed the Hammer), once was responsible for more than 70 percent of Canada’s steel production. In an all-too-familiar story, the industry dwindled to a fraction of its former self and the downtown core deteriorated.
But a shift has begun. Art is at the forefront of a transformation, which has seen many new galleries opening, along with more restaurants and coffee shops. Artists, lured by inexpensive rents and a supportive arts environment, are putting down roots, especially in the James Street North neighborhood. So noticeable is the influx of creative types, especially from Toronto, that national Canadian media has made the bold declaration that Hamilton is “the new Brooklyn.

Kaopectate for fish

2012-01-04T05:55:00.000-08:00

Just saw this in the news. Kaolin slurry spill in Georgia.
A weekend kaolin spill in Jefferson County involved approximately 679 tons of the milky colored material, according to Georgia’s Environmental Protection Division.

Reedy Creek flowed milky white after a weekend spill in which a 12-inch kaolin pipe ruptured

The spill, caused by a ruptured pipe near the Georgia Highway 17 bridge over Reedy Creek, involved de-gritted kaolin slurry owned by KaMin LLC, whose Georgia offices are in Macon.
Based on the 679-ton number, they calculated the release was 187,000 gallons of de-gritted kaolin slurry.
I wonder if this an environmental disaster? If I had my choice between catfish and whitefish it would be a toss up. Two of my favorites. Now will there be white cats? I can have them both.

Old Yeller

2012-01-02T16:54:00.000-08:00

This e-ware pot by the late David Taylor of Nova Scotia was bought by Sheila some 25 years ago on a trip out to the Maritimes. We had a wonderful dinner with beers at David's home and studio on the La Harve River. We enjoyed the company of he and his wife very much. This pot has sat in a cupboard for all that time as it didn't really fit in with our wood fire aesthetic. Our new home with it's warm yellers seem to show this pot off nicely. A favourite corner of the living room has our David Fleming Windsor chair, an old Nova Scotia batter bowl, a wood block print from the Hatch Print Shop in Nashville and Mr. Wiggley Legs by folk artist Jeremy Hayes. This house seems to demand colour. Perhaps our work is headed that way.

Clay Cottages

2011-12-31T13:17:00.000-08:00

I try to get a 45 minute walk in the morning. A few months ago I would hope to see a heron fly over head or perhaps a couple of deer in the vineyards. Now this urban cowboy enjoys the cottages of Steel Town. One of the advantages of living in clay country is there are some great brick cottages. Our house with the trumpet vine climbing up the wall has the parapet architecture which reminds me of the castles of the motherland where men took shelter to fire their arrows. At first I thought it looked Texan like the front of a saloon but then further reading showed the ancestry of the early settlers of Hamilton from England, Scotland and Ireland. Damn good brick masons are those folks.
My morning walk now includes the homeless man that wished me Happy New Year, the busker out front of the Liquor Store and the yuppies with dogs as fashion accessories. My walk now is less solitary. I will miss the smells of the country. Oh if I get too nostalgic for smell I'll walk past Wimpy's Hamburgers. I'l
l gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today!

To all of you I wish you good health and happiness in 2012. Remember to eat your vegetables and walk daily. Here's to bacon the ultimate red vegetable.

The Happy Gang

2011-12-28T09:58:00.000-08:00

In between Christmas visits Sheila and I have been putting up insulation and putting plywood on the walls. The last studio had drywall and nice trim. It was nice to look at but not all that practical for a mud and water guy. Plywood will allow us to put nails in the walls to hang tools and all the stuff we seem to need to make our pots.
It has been nice just doing manual work with no thoughts of other things that need done. It's been days since I thought of my class at school. Here is a picture of them- we're missing Amber. I bought them all "I Love Isaac Button" buttons for Xmas. It is to remind them not to be afraid to be just a "potter". Making good honest pots that people need and love. What I would give for the Isaac Button 28 lb cider jar that I poured pear cider from the wooden spigot at Mick and Sheila Casson's the summer I was at Upton Bishop, Ross on Wye, Herefordshire, England.
I hope I make even a fraction of the impact on my students as Mick did on me. Gave me a enough motivation to last a life time. There is a difference between those that want to make work and those that need to. I am the later and am missing making my work. It is within sight- a month or so.

Socks AGAIN!

2011-12-25T19:01:00.000-08:00

Yeah, I pretty well have everything I need. Not too much that I want. So glad Sheila buys me some socks.
Yeah, the socks are full of memories and still hang on to hope that I'll be 35 again. I love this life and all that it has given me. I am one very lucky camper.
Gotta go! The smoke detector just went off which means the turkey is ready.
Yum! Yum!
Gobble, gobble!

We have much to be thankful for said the turkey at a vegetarian conference.

This is what it has come too!

2011-12-25T06:59:00.000-08:00

Please accept, with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes
for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non
addictive, gender neutral celebration of the summer solstice holiday
practiced with the most enjoyable traditions of religious persuasion or
secular practices of your choice with respect for the religious /
... secular persuasions and / or traditions of others, or their choice not
to practice religious or secular traditions at all .

I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and
medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally
accepted calendar year 2012, but not without due respect for the
calendar of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have
helped make our country great ( not to imply that Canada is
necessarily greater than any other country ) and without regard to the
race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual
preference of the wishee.

By accepting this greeting, please be advised that you are accepting
these terms:

This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely
transferable on the proviso that there is no alteration to the original
greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any
of the wishes for her / him or others and is void where prohibited by
law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. The wish is
warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good
tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a new wish at
the sole discretion of the wisher.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Boughs of Holly

2011-12-24T08:13:00.000-08:00

Deck the halls with boughs of holly. Bah humbug! Give me "That'll be the day" by Buddy Holly, a good book, something nice to sip on and I'm happy as a clam. If it weren't for Sheila decking the house and wrapping and decorating Christmas would not happen for me or our kids. I don't do it well. Even the music drives me cuckoo.
I am however a BIG believer in Santa! He sprinkled some of his fairy dust on Sheila and I this year. Our customer, turned friend, turned patron saint Sylvie gave us her almost brand new programmable Skutt kiln. Unfortunately health and work issues prevented Sylvie from continuing with clay. We will pay up later with pots and in any way we can once we have the workshop going again. This has been a HUGE relief for us as everyone seems to have their hands in our pockets with this move. Being the new folks on the block and not knowing who to call for electrical, plumbing, roofing etc has us with large X's on our foreheads. Beware of any electrician named Sparky!

Well all the best my friends. May you get all of what you need and some of what you want. The kiln for us was what we needed. Gotta go I hear Santa. Peace and love to all of you.

Racoons for Sale

2011-12-21T13:51:00.000-08:00

Our house was built in 1885 and the studio we're rebuilding is like opening a can of worms. The building we thought had been a boarding house for squirrels turns out to be the Hell's Angels headquarters of the hood- racoons. We have torn the entire ceiling out by now and yes there is no mistaking the size of that poop indicates coons. The reason the lights didn't work was that Rocky Racoon had chewed through the wires.

So we all know there ain't much money in pottery so my new idea is to trap friggin' coons and sell them to pet lovers. I can't shoot them without fear of doing hard time in an orange jump suit in a place where I just might be the cutest of the pack and this time that would be a baaaaaaaaaaaaad thing. There were some good squirrel recipes so now how about coon! Ya know when I was a kid I had a Davy Crocket hat my dad bought me at Niagara Falls with a real racoon tail. I've always been a lover of hats. I wonder if the animal lovers would object to racoons without tails. My job at Sheridan is coming to a close so I have to get entrepreneurial again. Pets or hats???????????????????

Rats in Party Clothes

2011-12-20T16:27:00.000-08:00

Yep, you're right they're just dressed up rats. Today in the studio we thought we had to replace a quarter of the studio's insulation but after ripping off plywood our worst nightmare was realized. The rats with bushy tails had completely destroyed the other front section of the studio. The plywood has been nailed up with a power nailer so it is not a fun job. Once you get a good hold on a piece you are covered with chewed up fibre glass.

I heard in the southern US they eat those critters. Here in squirrel hugging territory you'd do hard time for chasing one with a water pistol. I love all kinds of nuts so I don't know why I wouldn't want one on the grill, with some mixed veggies and chased with a glass of Chardonnay. Please send squirrel recipes.

Saturday in the Hood

2011-12-19T15:15:00.000-08:00

This blog ain't been much about clay lately cause I ain't been doin' any. Started working on the workshop on Sunday and to be honest it's the best I've felt in a long time. I'm built to labour. Saturday we went to the Hamilton Farmer's Market which was really cool and then we went to a book signing at our neighbourhood book store where Tom Wilson of Junkhouse, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings and Lee Harvey Osmond, not to mention his solo career
was signing for a kids book he illustrated. We bought one of his paintings that we really love. I once had a chance to buy a Mendelson Joe painting of my favourite rocker of the time- David Wilcox. I didn't buy it and it haunts me to this day.

I'm finished school today and tomorrow I labour in the studio. Hallelujah!

Rats with a good PR Agent

2011-12-18T17:10:00.000-08:00

I had my first day in a looooooong time working in the studio. We are tearing out the ceiling and replacing the insulation as it seems we had a leaky roof and a rodent. I don't like squirrels! They are just rats of another kind. Look what one of those viscous montsters did to our joist. There is barely a centimeter of wood left. If the roofer had weighed in over 200 lbs he would have gone through the roof. It felt good to do just plain old labour today. I input my marks and those of the faculty tomorrow and then I'm done for a few weeks. I'm looking forward to plain old mindless work. Plans are to paint the inside of the workshop yellow with a big blackboard on the wall for me to do my sketches of pots in process. We have to get cracking in the pot dept as it has been since August that we actually made anything.

I'd like a pellet gun for Christmas if anyone is wondering what to buy me. Rats with bushy tails!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don't tell anyone of my evil thoughts.

Sheila's Heart Throb

2011-12-16T15:07:00.000-08:00

Well the cougar got her Christmas wish when her and birthday girl Eileen went to the CBC Christmas party. And wouldn't ya know Jian Giomeshi greeted Sheila with "Great hair!' Man that guy could steal her away from me in a wink but the complimenting of her hair is like pouring honey all over it.
We are both fans of Jian and he does such a fine job as radio host on CBC. He is articulate, well researched and always does his homework. I've told Sheila many times if she leaves me, she has to take me with her.

I'll gladly

2011-12-12T13:42:00.000-08:00

pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today! One day while doing a wheel demo I looked out and 5 of my students were watching and eating Harvey's hamburgers. This class never stops eating!!!!! They have egg and bacon bagels for breaky, a burger for lunch, left overs from Starbuck's in the afternoon and they don't seem to grow in size. Me on the other hand have to smell and look at this delicous fare and chow down on a pear, an orange or a fruit plate. Life is just not fair!!!!!

Chair Man of the Bored

2011-12-04T05:44:00.000-08:00

This is the first December in over 23 years when we weren't hanging around waiting for a customer to pull in to our showroom. I'm actually doing stuff in my little basement workshop. I'm not bored with actually having a life. I love chairs!!!!! It all started when we visited a wood show and saw all this crappy furniture selling and in amongst all this was a guy who made his chairs on a treadle lathe and put dry wood into green wood so that it shrank and no glue was used. He didn't sell a chair until a couple of years later I had saved up enough to buy one. It is a full Windsor that he stained pumpkin orange and then put a black paint over it. It is now wearing thru beautifully.
This week at Pinecroft I was thrilled to have Brenda give me a couple of ladder backs that her Uncle Charles had made. Charles was truly a Renaissance man that lived in a log house by the pond and kept a daily journal of growing produce for sale, making chairs, knitting and cutting block ice for people's ice boxes. I spent the afternoon cleaning up the chairs and bringing Charles back to life in his work.

I've been a good boy this year so Santa if you were wondering go to David Fleming's website and look at his incredible chairs. http://www.spokeshave.ca/shop.html I'd take another rush Annie's chair to accompany Uncle Charles or I do love that Birdcage Windsor or the Connecticut Yankee or just choose anyone of them. Chairs and hats are a weakness. Did I mention good bourbon?

Getting Hammered

2011-11-26T13:09:00.000-08:00

We've been a month in The Hammer and we're luvin' it. We have yet to start getting our studio ready for our work but with the move, Sheridan, Pinecroft and enjoying our new neighbourhood to be honest it can wait for a few more weeks. Here is a pic of our studio that was a two car garage so it is the same size as our other studio but this one will be all workshop with no showroom. We have a lovely courtyard with interlocking brick, a water fountain and lots of creepy crawlers like trumpet vines, and such. So the court yard will serve as our good weather showroom for special sales. We're enjoying life too much to want to go back to 7 day a week retail. 23 years of it was more than a person should be subjected to. The moment we left the studio we'd return to a note on the door- "We were here! Where were YOU????

One feature that was a negative for most is the train runs right behind our house. We love it!!!! It means there are no neighbours counting how many glasses of wine you have drank, you don't have a strip mall or a rowdy bar, a large apartment building where hundreds look down on you and in your windows. This is steel town and this morning there was a Canadian Pacific freight train with steel from the foundries that made this town. My grandfather Jack May worked for CP Rail. I thought of him this morning.

Mug and bowl

2011-11-23T15:03:00.000-08:00

Today was our mug and bowl sale at Sheridan orchestrated by the Clay Club which falls on the broad shoulders of the second year throwing class to pull off. I have one of the best second year classes in years so I knew they would be up for it and do a super job. We set up tables in front of the Tim Horton's license to print money coffee shop and sell our wares to raise money for guest artists, scholarships, travel, Nceca registration etc, etc. The second years were smart enuff to use this as a marketing exercise and recorded what sold and when! Marketing is an important part of being an artist. We had a steady line up of buyers and my feeling is there will be a cha-ching, cha-ching in the bank account.

Mrs. Claus

2011-11-20T18:21:00.000-08:00

Well Mrs. Claus is starting to decorate. This will be our first Christmas in 23 years where we haven't sold pots from our studio. We're not going to miss the being home all day watching to see if a car is in the driveway but we are going to miss the cash. We're also going to miss the customers that came each holiday to buy their gifts, and exchange good wishes.

I went to Home Depot today and saw cars with Christmas trees on top. At our old studio we always bought a live tree and planted it after Christmas. Now that we are urban potters we don't have the land to plant trees. Interlocking brick courtyard and some decorative Japanese maples, lilacs and some white birch and that is our forest.

My New Hood

2011-11-13T11:35:00.000-08:00

We live just off Locke Str on Canada Str right smack dab in the middle of The Hammer, Steel Town, Art is the New Steel or The Lunch Bucket City. This is a blue collar town and what's sooooooo great about our area is it doesn't have any BIG BOX STORES. The small street Canada is alive and well. We have small shops that will tell ya how to cook your steaks. I've shown you a few of the little shops but I neglected to show you the number of dogs at Starbuck's this morning. Every yuppie has a dog, or two, or three and the dogs wear bandanas to match their owner's for Heaven's Sakes. I keep wanting to tell them I ate dog in China and it wasn't all that bad washed down with a Tsingtao or two.

The Best of 3 Worlds

2011-11-05T12:40:00.000-07:00

I've been super busy with the move and my change of life. I gotta say I am running from pillar to post but all seem to be great places to be. I'm teaching 3 days a week at Sheridan with an incredible bunch of students. We held the Hopper workshop on the weekend with 150 in attendance and then had a private day with Grass on Monday. He asked the students to dress for Halloween and they were all decked out. We had an intimate day with him that was really the icing on the cake of a great workshop. Since the closing of our studio I need to bridge the transition and have been spending 2 days a week with my cousin Brenda at Pinecroft trying to help her keep up with the demand for pots that have been built up there over the past 63 years. Here is a pic of my walk across the pond from the pottery to the showroom/restaurant for my yummy lunch.
Then the other two days of week we're settling into our urban downtown location. No big box stores in sight but a vibrant Locke Street that is full of great shops for chocolates, cheese, bagels, a glass of wine, a tankard of beer or just around the corner is Hess Village full of great dining establishments.
Hopefully by Christmas break I'll be putting our studio together. I'm starting to dream of new work and that's a good sign.

Inner Peace

2011-10-25T12:27:00.000-07:00

Well we're moving in the morning. We're surrounded by boxes and I'll be damned if I know where my socks are. I could use some inner peace. One of my students sent me this advice. I tried it!

I'm passing this on because it worked for me today. A Dr. on TV said to have inner peace we should always finish things we start & we all could use more calm in our lives. I looked around my house to find things I'd started & hadn't finished, so I finished off a bottle of Merlot, a bottle of Chardonnay, a bodle of Baileys, a butle of wum, tha mainder of Valiuminun scriptins, an a box a chocletz. Yu haf no idr how fablus I feel rite now. Sned this to all who need inner piss. An telum u luvum!

Cowboy Down

2011-10-24T06:22:00.000-07:00

The other night for some reason Sheila got up to get a drink of water and walked by my computer to read that friend and potter Bob Reimer had passed at age of 57. Well I've laid awake for nights thinking of Bob. I remember him as this handsome poster boy in an ad for Tucker's Clay that read "Soft clay, slow wheel". Sure wish Bob's wheel of life had slowed down. Here is a pic from a previous blog posting where I got to spend a few days with some great potters. Here is pic of Aaron Nelson, Bob Reimer, Jim Etzkorn and Yous truly. Bob and I drove from Calgary to The Hat and he talked of retiring to The Hat to be part of the great clay community that is developing there.

Gosh, darn, damn!

The Week from Hell

2011-10-16T13:57:00.000-07:00

We're getting ready to make the move being urban potters and that includes having a new septic system put in at Sour Cherry Pottery. The dozer and backhoe have got the job done if the rain would only keep up- up in the sky that is. We need to sow some grass seed.
A nice little break in the clouds of this week was a trip with the students to the vault of the Royal Ontario Museum to look at some medieval pots. That little wood fired lead glazed piggy bank with the chickens on it makes my heart flutter. Nice slip trailed charger with cockle shell impressed rim. I'm looking at e-ware for inspiration to reinvent us. If all goes well there should be some pots coming out of the studio after Christmas. Yep, Christmas and pots are still words I use.

Rockin' Robin

2011-10-06T05:34:00.000-07:00

We're 3 weeks away from the Rockin'Robin Rock n Roll show. He'll be playing lead on stage and he's gone electric. We have over a 100 bums in seats as of today so we hope to have an electric audience for Robin's last tour of Ontario. He offers up so much information on surface. We are all very excited. Come one, come all! http://hopperworkshop.eventbrite.com

People that work

2011-10-01T12:13:00.000-07:00

Gotta tell ya I haven't had much I wanted to write about with this job at Sheridan, planning the Hopper workshop, working at Pinecroft and cleaning and getting ready for our move to The Hammer. Every once in a while I get a moment to reflect on how how almost all of my dreams have been realized and that I am a lucky man.
I got a nice note from my young friend USU undergraduate Bobby Free that made me stop and think about how important it is to keep workin'. Bobby is busting his butt and making a living as a potter in an economy that is in the shitter and in the state of Montana that already has more than it's share of good potters. Bobby is like many of us that have hung in there. You work when you're tired. You work when you're hung over! You work when the fish are biting! You work when everyone else is playing!
I thought this wee reading by Ira Glass was worth pinning up by your wheel.
Off to clean my glaze shed. Rocks, clays, ashes, weird shit I always thought I'd do something with. I need 3 more lives to git all this here stuff done!

Grass Hopper Invasion

2011-09-22T09:42:00.000-07:00

We are planning a mega workshop with lengendary Ceramic rock and roller Robin "Grass" Hopper. Robin has done more in education thru his writing, workshops, DVD's and his work than most people could accomplish in a life time. We are lucky to have him presenting at Sheridan College on October 29, 30th. This will be his last Ontario workshop as he is booked until 2014 when he turns 75 and wants to give himself a well deserved rest. Robin is a polished performer. If you're thinking about treating your yourself to some professional development this is a "must do" workshop. We are hosting it in theatre Sheridan so it will be fully blown light show. The fee is very reasonable as it includes two lunches and coffee/muffin breaks.
Hope to see y'all there.
ONLINE REGISTRATION
http://hopperworkshop.eventbrite.com

Popping wheelies

2011-09-20T08:49:00.000-07:00

We moved our kiln on Sunday. My neighbour picked up with his big forks on the John Deere. The kiln was heavy enough to lift the front wheels of the tractor so that he had to steer with his brakes. My heart was in my hands. It is ready now to be picked up and a be a faithful workhorse for a friend and fellow mudslinger.

World's Away

2011-09-14T17:39:00.000-07:00

Sheila and her mum and baby sister Linda are in Scotland on a wee journey to the homeland. Her 85 year old mum wanted a last trip to the mother land. They have rented a wee flat in Edinburgh and are enjoying the sights including the magnificent Edinburgh Castle. Word is they have had a nice fish and chip dinner and washed it down with a Tennant's Lager. I'm sure a dram of the single malt variety was to follow.
I on the other hand have been up to my ying yang in paper work for the first week back at school. It has been a very hard landing since our support staff is on strike and I am doing the jobs of 4 people. So far, the program is up and going but I have lost all creative thoughts and wake in the middle of the night thinking of forms I need to create or complete.
Yesterday I found myself at the kick wheel trimming 8 bowls I had made

and talking with the students. We all enjoyed the time together. It was like being on a potter's holiday.

Fries with that?

2011-09-11T07:24:00.000-07:00

I've often told the students in my second year throwing class at Sheridan that if you don't have independent means you had better learn to make mugs and bowls or be prepared to say "Would you like fries with that?" Harlan House took this quite literally in his show at David Kaye Gallery entitled China, Made in Canada. Harlan took a poke a his name sake Colonel Harland Saunders and the Golden Arches. Some of his vases had carvings or cobalt paintings of Ronald McDonald, the Colonel, the Arches and with the piece you got a generous portion of ceramic fries. Although a little hard on the teeth they are probably just as tasty and nutritious.
The Last Supper was a great spoof on what it might have looked like today. Present at the gallery were two of the grande dames of craft in this country- Jean Johnson and Jean Chalmers. Great to see them there. Harlan and his #1 support person his wife Maureen.

Hell's Gatekeeper

2011-09-10T18:31:00.000-07:00

Hell's Gatekeeper sent an unsolicited note to Medalta Potteries in my home town of Medicine Hat. Seems like he thinks they raised a devil out on those prairies and set him free to take on teaching in hurricanes. One might think that teaching during a hurricane is a little taste of hell and might indeed label the week as the workshop from Hell. Well, to be honest it wasn't. I had a great group and the people at Peter's Valley lead by Hell's Gate Keeper Bruce Dehnert are AWESOME! When you take on a responsibility of captaining a ship ya stick with the crew. Thanx Bruce for the note. It means alot.

D

ear medalta,

it comes to my attention, after spending a week with mr. tony clennell, that he is, like you, from canada. tony taught a workshop for us here at peters valley craft center at the end of august. and an end of month it was.

being canada's foremost ceramics center, i just wanted to tell you that your countryman, clennell, inhabits a most austere place. that 'place' is found somewhere between total commitment and insanity. he did, afterall, teach for us during hurricane irene. just to make sure i'm being understood...he taught for us DURING hurricane irene.

with trees falling all around, water filling homes and running through kiln rooms, power gone for the three days of a five day workshop [wheelthrowing/shino...and we have electric wheels], students hauling five gallon buckets of water for bathing and toilets, like yaks, from a nearby stream, and pots that seemed to get only wetter after being made, tony held his position and continued to teach like a man consumed by the devil.

tony clennell would make the most stalwart captain of any ship...refusing to go down without a fight.

we raise our glasses to the country that 'made' such a beast.

salute.

bruce dehnert
head of ceramics
peters valley craft center
19 kuhn road
layton, new jersey. 07851
usa

The End of a Era

2011-09-04T09:08:00.000-07:00

Well in preparation for our move to "Th

e Hammer" we have been busy dismantling the train which is thousands of hard heavy firebricks and a fellow friend and potter Phil Yordy bought our Geil gas kiln and came down to help build a wooden structure inside the chamber to keep all the bricks in place for shipping.Phil was great to work with and we did a really nice job. That kiln has been the heart of our studio and has fired like a dream for 306 glaze firings. As for the train, now the best wood kiln in the world will have to be owned by someone else.
Another friend Sylvie offered us her Skutt programmable electric to get us started in the new urban studio. To be honest we're very excited about 04 e-ware. I have always maintained that good potters can make good pots in any kiln. This is will be a test of how deep our well is.

Life is a hurricane!

2011-08-31T09:27:00.000-07:00

I just looked at my blog and see I have been absent without leave in the posting department. For those of you that think I haven't been up to much I got news for you. Sheila and I have sold our house and studio and have purchased a nice brick Victorian house with attached studio in downtown Hamilton aka The Hammer or Steel Town. We are two minutes walk from coffee shops, cheese shops, bagels, bars, wine bistros, train station, art gallery etc, etc.
So I've torn down my wood kiln and sold my Geil gas kiln. Bricks are still available if anyone out there wants to buy them- cheap!!!!
Oh yeah, another small detail is that I have accepted The Acting Head of Ceramics at Sheridan College until December so this will help in our transition to being urban potters. I'm very excited about this job! It is the job I had my eye on when I went to get my MFA at Utah State in 2007.
So last week I accepted the position, sold and bought a house, torn down a kiln and headed to Peter's Valley New Jersey to do a workshop. Since my mind was swimming I didn't listen to the radio and arrived to find out about the pending Hurricane Irene.
They say natural disasters bring out the best and the worst in people. Clay people are very special and we continued to make without power. We hauled water from the flooding streams for toilets and fired the gas kiln with it's atmospheric burners. We had a nice carbon trap shino firing.
This has been one big hurricane of a month. I hope it settles down so that I can concentrate on my new job and the move on October 28th. Yep, moving day is the day before I host a workshop at Sheridan for my long time buddy Robin "Grass" Hopper. If you want something done give it to a busy person.

The Boat Launching

2011-08-10T03:53:00.000-07:00

If you're in Toronto at the end of August you might want to drop into David Kaye Gallery and see the launching of Harlan House's fast food fleet. Harlan gave a workshop at Sheridan in the spring and showed us the process and thinking behind this current show. The large sculptural pieces had their beginnings in the functional scale Chinese junks that he made for candle/flower holders. These current ones are massive and I'm guessing over 4-5 feet in height. What is interesting about the process is that the slabs were cast with slip. He cast these large slabs and then hand built the pieces. The show will have taken Harlan two years to complete. We all wonder if this departure will take Harlan forever away from the shores of the

classical Chinese forms that he was so recognized for. Good on Harlan for continually setting sail in uncharted waters.

NYC

2011-07-31T16:37:00.000-07:00

While I was working and slaving Sheila and daughter Eileen were in NYC eating pretzels and going to museums. Here is a pic of the shop I should run instead of a pottery and dang a real live cigar maker. Man oh man a Cuban cigar and a beer and a

bump. Life doesn't get too much better, does it?

I live on a battlefield

2011-07-30T08:19:00.000-07:00

Whenever I go down to Pinecroft I stop by to have a talk with Lance Sargent Jimmie Clennell my mentor and the guy responsible for guiding me down the clay path. Seeing my image on the tomb stone is kinda spooky. Making pots for a living ain't easy. I don't think it ever was. It is a battlefield that one must be prepared for both physically and emotionally. I have fond memories of laying on a bed of pine needles on the roof of the pottery with Uncle Jimmie where he would tell me stories of WW 2, the coal mines and working in the potteries. After a few tales he and I would fall asleep for 5-10 minutes in the warm sun and then it was back to work. If this is a battlefield I've been at war for half a century.
Here is a great tune by Nick Lowe -I live on a battlefield

Follow your heart

2011-07-29T05:05:00.000-07:00

Here is one of my students at OCAD that has quietly worked her way to the top of the class. The one assignment was to make a composite form. I think this is a pretty cool rocking jar. A few years ago Ceramics at OCAD ceased to be a major. So for those like us that want more clay and not less it means you have to search else where for additional ceramic studio instruction. I must say the students I have at OCAD are amazingly talented and get great instruction in design, mould making and experimental approaches. I wish I could have them for another session of wheel work and hand building. They just now seem to be "getting it".
Anne Marie is a few credits away from graduating and has decided to follow her heart and take Ceramics at Sheridan full time. She will be joining my class. I'm the second year throwing teacher at Sheridan in the fall and my class is looking amazing.

Macho Wood firing

2011-07-24T11:23:00.000-07:00

This weekend I was in upper NY State in the 100 degree heat with friends firing a wood kiln. The farm is called Garry's Fat Camp and the kiln The Amish Rocket. Guaranteed to loose 10 lbs in a weekend of stoking a wood kiln in this weather. So you can see some of the friends potteries I visited this weekend between shifts. Started Friday night with the rat family Ronnie and Hester Meyers. 50 years married!!! Visited Kathy Gullo the Queen of Overstatement http://katherinegullo.com. CRASHED after the firing at Marineland with Marv Bjurlin and his bride Tina in Fredonia, NY. http://bjurlinceramics.com/. Had a red neck weenie cooked by friend Jim Reno who has a pottery near by with his bride Pat. Normie Wheeler was down from the north country to lend a helping hand. Lots of good people, good times, good food and good pots fired. We had a good hot Cone 13 so a over the top macho firing it was.

I'm a believer!

2011-07-21T09:57:00.000-07:00

Ok, so ya hang a couple of zip lock bags full of water with a few pennies in them on the doorways of your studio or home and it'll keep the flies out. Well when at Pinecroft if I walked outside the deer flies, house flies and flying critters ate me alive. Inside the studio with doors and windows wide open there wasn't a bug to be seen. Brenda even Scotch taped a few pennies on the outside of the bags. It's got something to do with light refraction, prisms and such. http://animals.howstuffworks.com/animal-facts/water-bags

I bought a belt buckle a few years ago to protect me against shark bites. I haven't been biten by a shark yet! See ya got to be a believer. Now I can't get that stupid Monkey's song outta my head- I'm a believer!.

The Prodigal Son

2011-07-20T04:31:00.000-07:00

The prodigal son returns after 33 years. In biblical terms the prodigal son is referred to as " The Lost Son". It was over 33 years ago that I set off from Pinecroft Pottery to find my own way in the pottery world. It has been a long and winding road that has taken me almost around the world to study pottery- England, China, Japan, Italy, the US and my beloved Canada. My cousin Brenda and her husband Herm have kept the home fires at Pinecroft burning and have grown the business to an amazing destination and experience. http://www.pinecroft.ca/ Great food, pottery, massage, bed and breakfast and 50 acres of beautiful pines surrounding a large pond of geese, ducks, swans, turtles and other creatures.
It was nice to work in a real pottery for the past couple of days. Clay floors, room to put things, doors open, people wandering in all day to ask all the stupid questions. Like is the wood furnace the kiln,?Have you seen Ghost? Do you do this all day long? Did any of the family find real work in a real career?Is that the same dog I saw here in 1984? Can I try working on the wheel? The answer to the questions when you're tired and over heated is "No!" Just say "no" to everything.
My Uncle Jimmie loved talking to the people and we remind ourselves of him and how generations have come to talk to the old guy in the pottery. Strange to think that for the past couple of days the old guy was me. Life comes full circle.
Now ask me about those bags of water with pennies in them hanging at the door way!

It's that time of year!!!!

2011-07-17T12:50:00.000-07:00

It's PYO cherry time on the Niagara Peninsula. Since we named our pottery Sour Cherry Pottery after the orchard of sour cherries that used to be there before they discovered there was more money in booze than tender fruit and tore the cherries out and planted grapes. So we now have van loads of people that don't read English so well getting out of their vehicles all ready to decend on the cherries. When they walk into our showroom there is a look of disbelief on their faces. Where are the cherries? Where are the trees? Where are the ladders? Where the hell am I?
Our best one was when the guy came in and said to me " Where are cheekans?" I said "What are you talking about- where are the cheekans?" He said "Sour Cherry Poultry vy don't you sell cheekans?'

Deep in the heart attack of Texas

2011-07-16T14:40:00.000-07:00

While in Texas I tried a deep fried chicken steak. It was the size of half a steer. I thought it would be good with some KD (kraft dinner). I never thought of a chicken steak with KD between two slices of Texan fried toast. Dang those Texans think of everything. For those that worry about me thanx but today I celebrate being below China weight which is the weight I came from China at. Walking 6.5 k a day and eating well. I've shed a bag of clay since Jan. This was my first blog from our new Ipad- not so easy!

One of the hot shots

2011-07-16T05:21:00.000-07:00

Can you believe this is Eric's 2nd throwing course? I introduced composite throwing (stacking pieces together) and he is having fun making big pots. He is restricted to 27 inches because of the height of the electric kiln which during the summer is our glaze kiln. Size matters! It also shows that this OCAD student puts some time in before and after class. As it should be!

The Ladies

2011-07-10T16:19:00.000-07:00

Well Grand daughter #3 arrived safely today. Abbey Clennell weighing in at 7 lbs 13 oz arrived cute as a pin this morning. My son Jay is the proud father. I spared his partner Denise from the picture as she was feeling rather beaten up and nauseous. Here is a pic of my daughter Aunt Robin holding the little cutie pie.
So now we have quite a stable of little ladies Ava age 5, Olivia age 2 1/2 and now our new arrival Abbey.

They will all grow up to be teenagers and there will be pay back time for our time raising the kids thru that dreadful adolesence.

The Power of the Blog

2011-07-09T06:55:00.000-07:00

Geez, I never thought anyone would take the eating Redneck Turtle burgers post seriously. But apparently poor Michelangelo's David did. Sorry Dave but ya better get yourself back on that Mediterranean diet. If ya feel like snacking you can treat yourself to carrot sticks, celery or watermelon.

Why do I bother?

2011-07-03T13:45:00.000-07:00

I make these ruff pencil sketches of pots I want to make and then when I get the pieces made they become something else. I wanted to make a vase. Usually when I plan a vase it becomes a jug. This time the vase became a teapot! The hardest part of resolving this pot was the handle. I am not a fan of the overhead clay handle and making a back handle that looks good on a round bellied pot is difficult. Then the question always is "to circumcise or not to circumcise the spout. My teapots only seem to sell with a circumcised spout so a John Wayne Bobbit is what I did. Thank you for the instruction Lorena.

Heart Attack on a Plate

2011-07-03T07:03:00.000-07:00

It was kind of a dare. My step daughter Eileen and I had to go for a KFC Double Down. We were showing our pride in her mother's Scottish heritage where everything is deep fried including Mars bars, ice cream and butter.
I can now claim "I put down a double down!" Two pieces of fried chicken as the bun for a bacon and double cheese sandwich. Geez, it was good but boy am I thirsty. Salt overload!!!!!

Our next treat will be a Redneck Turtle sandwich. I can't help but think of my class mate at USU Mississippi Ernie Gentry and his love bacon. Doesn't that look delicous!!!! Bacon has converted more vegetarians back to the dark side than any other meat. I thought it fitting that since we were eating lots of critter we might as well serve it up on Ronnie the Rat Meyers dinner plates. I had horse, Eileen had billy goat and Sheila had boar.

Showin' ya mine

2011-07-02T06:34:00.000-07:00

Firstly I'll show you some jugs I'm making for an upcoming wood firing. This is a Helmer based clay body that is sometimes a little tuffer to work with than our regular studio body but the colour in the wood kiln is pretty sweet.
Now for my score on the colour test. It was fun to see all you perfectos. The rest that scored like I did ain't admitting to taking the test. Here's my take on the scores. It's a bit like asking someone how well they did at a craft sale. You take their answer and deduct about 30% and therein lies the truth. So if I told you I got a 21 on the colour test what was my actual score?????? I just looked in the mirror and by God my nose is quite a bit longer this morn.
Actually I was doing rather fine until I hit the blues and greens. I guess like John Britt I've been looking at wood firing and shino too long. Speaking of orange yesterday was Canada Day. Happy Canada Day!

It was also Orange Mans day and the ditches of the province of Ontario are filled with the flower of the Protestants of the Orange Hall in Ireland -Orange Man. I call the flowers Ditch Lilies.

Show me yours

2011-07-01T08:36:00.000-07:00

and I'll show you mine. I took this colour test that apparently women are so much better at. Take the test, tell me your gender and score and then I'll reveal how well I did. Kinda interested in how the colour man Grass Hopper will do on this. That guy has seen more colour tests than 10 men. Well maybe the male population of a country. I am counting on Grass to save our reputations.http://www.xrite.com/custom_page.aspx?PageID=77&Lang=en

Here are some of Sheila's sauce boats that she is making for an up coming wood firing. I always tell customers that look at them "If you have company over for dinner and they don't comment on that sauce boat never invite them back. They're boring!

Sketching at the wheel

2011-06-30T05:53:00.000-07:00

Because I do a lot of composite/sectional throwing it is my custom to make a drawing of the pieces I intend to put together. I made a sketch of an hour glass type vase with a narrow bottle top. When I put the two cylinders together the vase looked really tall and cylindrical so the narrow bottle top would have made them real tall boyzzzzzz. So I just added a coil and extended the lip a bit. The wheel work when all assembled looked nothing like I had sketched. So there ya have a vase of 7 parts. Two joined cylinders, a coil lip, a throw foot, a slab inserted into the opening of the foot ring and the signature 2 handles. It is no wonder I don't make any money in this business. I need to stop caring so much about details and additions. I need to watch Issac Button A Country Potter again. I need to go work at strawberry pot pottery in rural Georgia. I need to go work with this guy!

Afgan potter making bowls

http://youtu.be/7icu1LKjgbM

Splitsville

2011-06-29T12:30:00.000-07:00

I wanted to show you the split rim on the Texan sugar bowls that I made. I used to have a very strong rim that allowed me to stack the bowls rim to rim in my large two chamber kiln. This habit carried over even when I no longer had the large kiln. Recently I started to split the rim and pinching it to give a more interesting shape. The origins of the split rim historically is that they filled the rim like that of a moat with olive oil or veggie oil to keep critters from crawling into the food in the bowl. My little pinches give the bugs an over pass to the Texan sugar.

Texan Sugar Bowls

2011-06-28T07:54:00.000-07:00

Everything is bigger in Texan. I came home and made some sizable sugar bowls. I like to put a rather narrow foot on them to give them more elegance. If a pot with such strong rims and handles can be considered elegant. It also makes them a little less functional in the stability dept so they won't be considered as planters. Planters down the road at the landscape store are under $50 for really beautiful Korean stoneware LARGE ones.

Holy Smokie's

2011-06-23T12:41:00.000-07:00

Pottery Supply House in Oakville near Toronto makes our clay. I have two custom bodies that they prepare for me. The clay has become so popular with our students at Sheridan and Mohawk that now they offer the clay as a house wine. You can purchase our standard stoneware body "Smokie's Hot Bod" which is a high temperature stoneware with the addition of some yellow iron for a nice toasty colour and shino seems to like the iron content. This clay is pretty well bullet proof. We throw it, put it out in the sun, bring it in and trim it and put handles on it and put it back out in the sun. You don't have to cover it, baby it and sit around singing Kumbuya while waiting for it to dry. We have them make it a little on the soft side for most but as I always say "the older you get the softer you like your clay". The other clay they make is our wood/salt body that is Helmer kaolin based and it flashes beautifully in the wood kiln. I can also get some beautiful blue/purples from pots placed up near the firebox. This clay is a bit more tempermental, I think because of the high kaolin content. They are a good bunch to deal with and will ship to the US. http://www.pshcanada.com/ Hey, if this reads like an ad it is. They treat me right and I treat them right. Win, win!

Texan Love Birds

2011-06-23T06:22:00.000-07:00

Here is a pic of my friends Gay and Jim Bob Judson of San Antone, TX. I spent a few nights with them touring San Antone and staying up discussing the world as we know it and how we'd have it. We went to the San Antonio Museum of Art and looked at the Chinese and Middle East Ceramics. A few years ago I would have only looked at the high fired work but I would myself drooling over the lead glazed earthenware of the Tang and Liao Dynasty. I loved these pots and wish I could visit them often. I am tip toeing in the e-ware direction with my work however it is 30+ years I've been on the high fire road and now the low road seems like a gravel one in terms of my life's walk.

Get a Handle On It!

2011-06-21T07:12:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics Gay took with her I-phone. They are handy little gadgets. I guess I have this rep for handles so here are some of the ones made for the pots at the workshop. Nice pot on that handle!

San Antone

2011-06-20T14:27:00.000-07:00

Gay and I visited the South West School of Art and Craft and had a great tour of an amazing facility with lots of pot making going on and a kiln pad with lots of big ole kilns.

We then met Diana Kersey to go look at her new bridge installation, pots and went for lunch at the old Pearl Brewery on the river walk in San Antone. Diana is the real thing and makes some really nice work. Interesting to hear that her architectural work supports her functional work. Nice to meet someone that sits on the same three legged stool as me- teach, pots and I do workshops were Diana does installations.
The Mexicans celebrate the dead so I had my pic taken with a dead guy. I hope this means good luck.
Leaving this 104F heat in the morning on my way back to Atlanta, Buffalo and then The Promised Land-Canada.

Rural Texas

2011-06-20T07:10:00.000-07:00

We went to a real bar last night after the workshop. There were girls dancing on the dance floor and the food portions were SUPER SIZED +++++++. A chicken fried steak weighed in at around 3 lbs of meat then there was your side of mashed potatoes, green beans, squash, a side salad and one of those throw away little brown rolls. A by the way this was the 1/2 order only ordered by city slickers and tourists. Mind you there were some big people in the bar. There was a hangin' tree outside that had in the past gotten a lot of use.

Since I like clay so much we visited an ole brick yard that is still using their big bee hive kilns.

Gator, Catfish and Deep Fried Dill Pickles

2011-06-19T05:42:00.000-07:00

A lot of clay got slung today at my workshop at Castroville Pottery here in the heart of Texas. After work Tim and Gloria my gracious hosts took me for dinner- where else would you eat gator, catfish and deep fried dill pickles? It's a 104F in the shade here so we took a ride around town in Tim's 1936 Chevy fire truck. This is "the" most beautiful historic town I have ever visited with these wonderful homes with stone walls 2 to 4 feet thick. People are cooling off floating down the lazy river.

I highly recommend you look up the Castroville Pottery website.wwwcastrovillepottery.com My buddy glaze guru Johnnie Britt is coming here to do a workshop here in August. Great Inn down the street, excellent restaurants and amazing Texan hospitality. As for quality of workshops this one has set a new standard.

The Heart of Texas

2011-06-18T05:38:00.000-07:00

I'm deep in the heart of Texas doing a workshop at Castroville Pottery. My first stop was with my friend Gay Judson in San Antone. I am a fan of folk art and one of my favourite artists doing what ya might consider folk art is Gay's son Kenny. Kenny has cerebral palsy and is a realllllllllllllly big fan of Mickey and Minnie mouse. Here is Kenny and his work. The definition of an artist when you're 5 years old is the ability to colour within the lines and when you get older like Kenny the definition changes to the ability to colour outside the lines. Kenny has clear views about his art.

Off to the pottery. It's a work day!

The lawnmower ate my homework!

2011-06-14T08:33:00.000-07:00

It's not that I've been neglect in doing my blog. I have been cameraless. A few years ago my trusty Lumix fell out of my fleece pocket while cutting the lawn on my man tractor. I spotted what looked to be the chip from a camera. I had mowed my Lumix into iddy biddy pieces. That was replaced by a cheapie Nikon Coolpix which really didn't give me good pics. I bought another trusty Lumix and I abused it. It spent most of it's life in the studio, the clay classroom and in the end it succumbed to dust. The telescoping lens froze on me. So yesterday I went to my camera store- no not Best Buy or Wallyworld but a real camera store with people that know their stuff and will be there next week or next month or next year when you need some help.

My camera woman suggested I get the Lumix that is waterproof for taking pics of bath tub bubbles, it's dustproof since the telephoto is internal and it is shock proof and can be dropped 10 feet. Nothing in the manual about lawnmowers though. It's a little heavier than my others but still good for the jean pocket. So I'm back!

Lemon Aid

2011-06-04T11:07:00.000-07:00

I'm teaching Intro throwing at Ontario College of Art and Design. The potter's wheel takes time. So with all these creative minds it takes time for their fingers to catch up with their imagination. I took in some lemons and asked them to bring in to the next class some cups made from the lemons. Some really great stuff arrived which proves they have a place in a top flight art program. One student even brought in lemon juice to toast the art exhibition with.

Working on my form

2011-05-30T13:58:00.000-07:00

I have been walking 6.5 kilometers each morning to try and get my form back. I also am enjoying making my pots now that the students are 80% out of my mind. I lined these 5 teapots up in the order I feel is the best form from left to right. The far right being the best. Not that any of us would pass gas in the bath tub. But if we did what would the bubble look like. That is the form I'm looking for. A narrow bottom with a full shoulder that looks like it's full of air. Also on this last teapot I discovered if I dipped it to the rim I got the bonus of a jar on the side.

Can I put orange juice in them?

2011-05-28T09:08:00.000-07:00

Got a couple of nice jugs outta the kiln this morning. The orange persimmon is the local clay from the ditch down the road and paper resist decoration. The carbon trap is where the slip isn't.
South of the border they call jugs "pitchers". I say you hang pitchers on the wall.

Congrats to my buddy Bobby Free and his family for being on the cover of pottery's Rolling Stone Magazine(that would be Ceramics Monthly). Well done, Freedom Fighters! You learned well grasshopper!

Getting on top of it!

2011-05-13T11:25:00.000-07:00

After winding down a year of teaching,critiques, marking, administria and now just going through another interview process and orientation for a summer faculty position at OCAD U I've had a tough time learning to be a potter again. These bottles have taken me all week to finish. I finally put the tops on them and dunked them in our red clay slip. I love the look of pots best of all when they are wet. Wish I could fire them to look that way. Hey would they be my bottles without a lug/handle?

Thinking upside down

2011-05-11T11:26:00.000-07:00

One thing I have found when giving critiques is that when you turn some people's work upside down it is often a more pleasing form. I decided to make these bottles upside down. I threw a bottomless cylindrical form a wee bit narrower on top so that when it is turned upside down it will be the narrower bottom. I have always been more attracted to forms that are narrow at the bottom and grow to a broader shoulder.
I threw the bottoms and have attached them to what is the top of the hollow cylinder. Flip them over and you have a form that need to have a neck thrown and attached.

Thinking outside the box

2011-05-04T12:42:00.000-07:00

Here is the box I'll be teaching in this summer-Ontario College of Art and Design University. The school is in the heart of Toronto surrounded by bars, restaurants, galleries, art shops, and it is absolutely the most creative place I can think of to work.

I'm looking forward to seeing what goes on in the college compared to my beloved Sheridan. Well, I was out of teaching work for a week. I'm excited about being in Toronto this summer. Teach to learn is my motto.

Potter's Digs

2011-04-29T12:35:00.000-07:00

Potters are like farmers they're always crying poor. Truth is most like farmers live below the poverty line but they do have some time on their hands and with that they usually have really nice digs.
Here are few nice ones I visited while on the Island
.
Gordon Hutcheons tucked away in the forests of Denman Island
Les Crimp with a 14 dollar view of Nanoose Bay
Cathi Jefferson with a gorgeous house on the Cowichin River.
Robin Hopper/Judi Dyelle with a to die for property in Metchosin.
Robin being the king of pottery theatre rented John Lennon's Rolls to tour me around town in.

Nice to think about being treated like royalty on this Royal Wedding Day. I was soooooo busy trying to squeeze every last minute with Robin and Judi I forgot to take their picture. They're both cute- you'll have to believe me!

Welcome Home!

2011-04-28T11:32:00.000-07:00

Before I get into all the good times had with friends on Vancouver Island I'll show you what we woke to this morning. My neighbour has a wind turbine that usually sounds like a chain saw but this morning sounded like a snow mobile ripping up and down our driveway. Since my flight was delayed I crawled into bed at 3am and was awake at 8am. We sat down for breakfast and looked out the kitchen to see our neighbour's chicken barn flattened. Luckily it did not contain the 37,000 chickens. We were without power for 5 hours and have lots of tree damage everywhere. The condo overlooking the harbour in Victoria looks pretty inviting today.

They don't get better!

2011-04-24T17:38:00.000-07:00

You can't find better people than Gordon Hutcheons and his wife Sandy. My ole cyber buddy Les Crimp and I took the ferry from Vancouver Island out to Denman Island to witness the firing of Gordon Hutcheon's anagama. Gordon is the real deal and is good at every clay/firing technique he approaches salt, wood, crystalline, earthenware, high fire gas, raku and there's more. Today at the firing was a guy that does it all. He had a community of potters, a squatters village with cooking and sleeping facilities. They had bacon, eggs and pancakes for breaky and a turkey was being cooked in the make shift firebrick oven for supper. He has learned a lot in the past 40 years of mud slinging and he gives back to the pottery community in spades. Bon feu, Gordon and crew. I hope your pots are blessed as generously as we the clay community have been by your enthusiasm for mud, water and fire.

Name dropping

2011-04-11T14:55:00.000-07:00

I was saying to Mick Jagger the other night at Sir Paul McCartney's castle that I hate name droppers. Mick and Paul concurred.
So next Tuesday I finish my year with the students at Sheridan College- School of Craft and Design and on the Wednesday I hop on a flight to Victoria, B.C. Going to give a workshop up island to the Ladysmith Potters Guild on Thursday and Friday and presenting at the BC Potter's Masters Conference on the Sat. I'm staying with an old time cyber friend Les Crimp who in his 70's is firing his bourry box wood kiln. A man with good genes. Sunday Les and I are going to Gordon Hutcheon's anagama firing on Denman Island. Gordon is a guy that does all of ceramics really, really well- raku, cyrstalline, high fire, wood fire and salt glazing. I hate guys like Gordon. Monday, I'm off for lunch at Cathi Jeffferson's. Cathi is one of our premier salt/soda firers. After lunch I head down island for two days with my buddy Robin "Grass" Hopper. Grass is cooking up some chowder for me and taking me on a private tour of the pots of the Victoria Museum. We're going to "Smokin Bones Cookhouse" for some real southern BBQ and Grass tells me they have 18 brands of bourbon. My oh my, oh my life is good y'all!
Check out these potters
Robin Hopper/Judi Dyelle http://www.chosinpottery.ca/pages/thepottery.html
http://www.gordonhutchens.com/home.html
http://www.cathijefferson.com/Home.html

Fast Mover

2011-04-10T17:00:00.000-07:00

Apologies that I have not been posting to my blog of late. Up to my ears in Crappademia. 8 of our Sheridan students went to Nceca in Tampa, Florida. I told them if you see "Grass" Hopper corner him and tell him you're my students. Well, they are champion log rollers and he is a sucker for good looking women so here is a photo of Robin and his/my harem. The students came home inspired and told me Grass's closing address was worth the price of admission. Congrats ole boy. You haven't lost your edge.

Wearing two hats

2011-03-26T11:49:00.000-07:00

My new lid arrived from Art Fawcett Vintage Hats in Oregon( whiskey with a olive trim-nice!). Custom made for my big noggin from 100% beaver felt. One day I'm dressed down for firing the wood kiln at Sheridan along with colleagues seen here Marc Egan and Bruce Cochrane. The next night I'm all decked out in my finest to go to the Sheridan Grad Exhibition at the Gardiner Museum. We have since unloaded the wood kiln and I'm very pleased that two of the third years had some killer pieces in the kiln. They worked hard for these pieces so it is true the harder I work the luckier I get.

Bon feu!

2011-03-23T08:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we fired the wood kiln at Sheridan. Where there is smoke there's fire and the crew had the kiln up to Cone 11 flat top and bottom without a stall, a battle, or a curse word. The firing had been well prepared with good dry wood split and a schedule of short 3 hour shifts. Some of the hard core pyromaniacs couldn't leave after their shifts and just had to be around to hear the kiln roar with the perfect stoking pattern. Less wood, more often was the operative strategy on this firing. The chimney for this kiln is around 40 or more feet high so when the draught is established it can suck up small kids and critters. Security reported a glowing red lid out in the parking lot. Hey, if you believe that I got some swamp land in Florida to sell you.

We open the kiln on Friday. One of the students made a kiln god to look over the firing. All should be well!

#500

2011-03-19T09:19:00.000-07:00

I guess I ought to celebrate my 500th blog posting with some of Sheila's colour spectaculars. She got new glasses and is really going to town with the colour and reticulated surfaces.

500 postings to my blog all started in 2007 when I went to China with the USU gang. It was a way to keep in touch with family and has continued as a personal diary of an ole mud slinger. It has been a crazy year and most of the insanity I can't share with you. The politics of Crappademia must remain inside the Ivory Tower. I love the job but look forward to a some quality time in the studio with some side trips to Vancouver Island, Texas and The Jersey Shores.

Emerging Talent

2011-03-18T06:48:00.000-07:00

A few years ago the Sheridan students shared a bus with the Ontario College of Art students to go to Nceca in Indianapolis. There was a very friendly and outgoing OCA student that I remember chatting with. Some years later I saw an installation of her ceramic work in a bathtub and toilet at the Gladstone Hotel in Toronto. Very funny presentation of the work. A few blogs ago I posted a mentor's post called the Critical Path. My cyber buddy Robin "Grass" Hopper read it and asked me whose work is that? Well, it is the work of Michelle Mendlowitz. I think this is outstanding work! Congrats Michelle for your moving from the toilet to the plinth.

Sheridan Grad Show

2011-03-16T11:50:00.000-07:00

If you're in the Toronto area be sure to come to the Sheridan Graduate Show at The Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art. This is a small but diverse group of students show casing functional ware, large sinks and conceptual and figurative work. The opening is on Thursday March 24 from 6-8. Come one and come all.

Tony's new pony

2011-03-13T13:29:00.000-07:00

We're having a wood firing next week at the college so I made a couple of jugs to get in the firing. This textured work has been a hard pony to straddle for me. Customers are still in love with the carbon trap shino with paper resist and slips. I'm hoping that a killer wood fired shino will make these puppies sing. The ash celedon that we like so much on the textured work is not the flavour of the month. It takes time to get used to a new horse.
P.S I can't figure out how to add the pics of the jugs with this new computer. Have to wait till the IT person gets home from a day in the city.

Don't drink and drive

2011-03-12T11:15:00.000-08:00

I came home from Harlan's workshop the other day all excited about slip casting. I went directly to the fridge and poured myself a healthy glass of cheap wine and loaded it up with ice cubes since I needed a refreshment. I sat down at my computer to load up the pictures to send to y'all and spilled the entire glass cubes and all on my laptop. Needless to say it is pickled. I was able to get the IT people to save 80% of my stuff from the hard drive and I had to buy a new computer. It was 7 years old and considered a dinosaur by many. I miss him dearly.
So here are some pics from Harlan's workshop. He did some remarkable throwing and demonstrated mould making and drain casting. The students loved his stories and since he wasn't on the college payroll the room was full of colourful language. He generously shared 40 years of glaze and clay research with the students as well as he donated 6 wine boxes full of books/magazines on Chinese ceramics.
He made a row boat analogy that has stuck with me. In this game of ceramics it's like we're rowing a boat. We can see where we've been but not where we're going! Then he said maybe it's a good thing to not know what is ahead. Keep mystery alive!!
Great workshop, amazing maker!

Harlan House

2011-03-06T08:25:00.000-08:00

My old friend Harlan House is coming to teach a two day workshop at Sheridan College this Monday and Tuesday. Harlan is not on the payroll of the college so he can and will say whatever enters his mind. Me being a Graduate student of Robin "Grass" Hoppers private club entitled "Mischievous Little Shit Disturbers" will be encouraging Harlan to tell the students such stories as "The Pissing Contest" which is his diatribe on the state of the Arts and Crafts movement in galleries today. Some of his latest work the Chinese junks have some good political stuff on them that sometimes contains the F bomb. He takes a good swipe at fast food and world politics including our own Prime Minister Steve Harper.

Harlan is one of the last Renaissance men that I know of. He and his wife Maureen have made a living from porcelain for more than 40 years in an old hotel that they have beautifully renovated. In the words of Canada's Red Green "If you can't find them handsome, find em' handy". Actually Maureen got a two in one package with Harlan. Great guy, great work and I'm excited to see him work and listen to his tale for a couple of days.

Raining Cats and Dogs

2011-03-05T06:26:00.000-08:00

It's March and it's not s

upposed to be raining here in Ontario. Today it is raining cats and dogs. When my class visited the Royal Ontario Museum it was explained to us that the term "raining cats and dogs" came from Medieval England where the cats and dogs would go up on the thatched roofs to hunt for rats and mice. When it rained heavily the critters could slip off the roof and land on the streets. I went for my morning walk and couldn't keep my Borsalino on my head and now have my coat hanging by the fire. My grand father used to say never hire a man that wears a hat or rolls his own cigarettes because if he isn't rolling a cigarette he is chasing his hat. What a miserable day but at least all the snow will be gone by nightfall. It's Pino Grigio Saturday here at Sour Cherry Pottery but I doubt many will be around. Oh well, we will reward ourselves for having to work weekends with filled glasses. Life is good!

Bus man's holiday

2011-03-04T05:33:00.000-08:00

Here another poster for a workshop I'm doing in another one of my favourite places in the world- Vancouver Island. They downloaded the pics from our website and I see Sheila's boxes. I always get the glory for her fine work.
This is going to be yet another bus man's holiday for me as I plan to stay with an old cyber friend Les Crimp, visit a potter whose husband is a world class fly fisherman and then wouldn't go to the island without a couple of days with my long time friend Robin "Grass" Hopper. Robin is taking me on a tour of ceramics at the museum in Victoria and has promised a seafood soup that is to die for.

As well as the workshop I am on a panel with the BC Masters group. Never consider myself a master. I figure I need a couple more life times to qualify. It will as always be great to hang out with potters, tell some lies, eat some good food and drink some fine spirits. Life is good! I have been blessed with many great friends in all corners of the continent. This spring and summer takes me to Gulf of Mexico, the Pacific and the Atlantic. Nice!!!!!

T for Tony and Texas

2011-03-02T12:09:00.000-08:00

I love Texas. Why wouldn't I? I love music! I love Mexican food! I love meat and I hate the cold. I am doing a workshop at Castroville Pottery just outside of San Antonio. I wonder if they have any Cuban cigars? Going to focus on making everything outside the scale of function since everything is always bigger in Texas. Going to make some Texan creamers, sugar bowls, chili bowls and chargers that won't fit into the oven and certainly not in a microwave. In Texas SIZE MATTERS!
I did a workshop in San Antone about 5 years ago and can't wait to go back. I love that town. Hope to see

y'all real soon, ya hear? Gotta practice that as there is nothing more embarassing than a northerner trying to be a southerner. Yawl, ya all, y'all y'awl, eh!

Texas Chain Gang Chili Bowls

2011-03-01T18:17:00.000-08:00

Hey nice bowl on that handle. I used to call these 3 piece bowls Roman bowls but I'm into a Texas thing right now. Anticipating a whack of CD's of Texan recorded music from a friend. Texas bad boy singer song writers are my fav.

I throw a low bowl of about 12 pounds of clay and then I add the top portion of about 8 lbs and when I trim it I add a collar of about 2 lbs for the foot. This makes a bowl big enough to toss a decent Caesar salad hence the Roman bowl title or enuff chili for Ernest Borgnine to have a rip snortin' time around the campfire after a meal of chain gang chili. I like the bowl to sit up on a pedestal so that it isn't really functional enough to be used for oven ware. I'd rather make for occasional use than everyday use.

Critical Path

2011-02-28T17:47:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I went to an interesting show "Critical Path" at the Burlington Arts Center. A group of seasoned ceramists applied for a two year long mentoring session with Professor Emeritus of Sculpture from University of Waterloo- Ann Roberts. This was two years of critique with the final result being a show in the gallery at the BAC.
Two big surprises for me came with the work of Louise McCann and Barbara Rose. I know them for their animated and playful teapots and functional work. Louise did a turn around with a study of rocks that in some cases were very figurative and Barbara took a page out of the work of Marilyn Levine.
A student I knew from Ontario College of Art Michelle Mendowitz had some nice large scale pieces but the wall pieces that I didn't capture all that well were really exceptional.

My buddy Norm Wheeler took on some scale to his work and filled a large plinth with a band full of nicely wood fired trumpets. Some of my favourite pieces of Louise's came from Norm's kiln. Trains Rule!
Art schools seem to be shrinking, guilds are bulging at the seams and 40 veterans signed up for this mentoring process with only 10 positions available. Academia doesn't seem to have it's ear to the railway tracks. People have a need to talk about their work to people that know how to bring out the best in them. People want to learn, change and grow. Ann Roberts did a fine job! Congrats to all for a nice show.

Love it or leave it!

2011-02-26T04:57:00.000-08:00

I should have followed Grass Hopper some 30 odd years ago cause the truth of the matter is I don't love winter. I don't ski, I don't skate and I sure as hell don't winter camp. It's harder to get around and often requires shoveling and snow blowing and sometimes postponing firings.

I could build little cupboards for my kiln posts and further enclose the kiln but I never thought I was staying here this long. We had a ten year plan that is now into it's 12th year. How time flies.

Why I need a Peter Pugger!

2011-02-24T13:26:00.000-08:00

I don't like reclaiming clay. It takes a lot of work and never do I get it so that it throws worth a darn. Actually we don't have room in the studio for plaster batts to fill with slop. So rather than feel guilty about taking the reclaim to the dump I truck it for the students at Sheridan. Here is January's reclaim and that is with me teaching 2 days a week that really adds up to 4 days a week. I could save a lot of money with a Peter Pugger. Sheila wants a hot tub! Ah, the life of a mudslinger.

Good news today from my buddy Robin "Grass" Hopper. It's going to be -7C on the Wet Coast which ought to kill the flowers he annually writes to me about around this time. He sends a note to rub it in that I stayed in Ontario and he moved to the West Coast where flowers bloom when the winter winds are howling here. Well, it's Feb and my flowers are out in full bloom. Aren't they beautiful? Eat your heart out, Grass!

Wong's Scottish Meat Pies

2011-02-23T13:48:00.000-08:00

Well we just wrapped up the historical project at school. Toronto is a very multi- cultural city and we have a real melting pot of people and cultures in our classroom. I expected to see the students gravitate to their own cultures. A Chinese student chose Greek, an African chose Italian, a Dutch woman chose primitive South American culture and on it went with different projects from around the world.

The students were to replicate a historical object and then make a contemporary version of the object and not stray too far from the original concept. I think for the most part the historical objects were bang on but the contemporary version takes a gigantic creative leap. I will be curious to see if that historical object contemporary version is still peculating in their gray matter and will surface again new and improved.

Small steps

2011-02-19T14:07:00.000-08:00

I find I have to stick with a particular form for a while to figure out some of the nuances that make the piece satisfy me. Watching the students at school their progress seems to roar. Mine after so many decades is more subtle and goes in small blimps. So I repeated the ewers today and made improvements to the foot and wanted to show you the difference between the stamp and the roulette's. I have yet to throw thick enough to get a good impression in the clay with the roulette's. Perhaps it's just a matter of timing. I trimmed the flat disk feet which makes me happier as I like a finished foot. We are planning a wood firing at the school so I hope to get 2 or 3 gooduns in the kiln. The saucer foot is a great receptacle for a ash deposit on the run.