Pigeon Holed

 

Sometimes studio potters, artists and  musicians get pigeon holed into making what their particular audience expects from them.

I always took pride in making rather dramatic changes in my work. This is no easy task. Usually the change had to do with colours or surface. The jug, the teapot, and the big casseroles have always been the old stand byes that my small audience of 13 munchkins and a wino shouts out for.

Sometimes like when Dylan went electric the audience is in shock.  These little bud vases (yes they have a hole or two in them for the stem of a flower) are small maquettes of what I am thinking of making on a larger scale.  This is a small seed of inspiration by my late mentor Uncle Jimmie who continues to steer me.

When Uncle Jimmie died I was asked what I would like from the house as a memory. I asked for his hat. A pink and purple mohair woman’s hat. He was a character and it has rubbed off on his nephew.

High Iron Stoneware- shino glazed, wood fired, gnar-gnar on shoulder and fired directly in the line of fire on the bagwall.

 Title: She Knows Her Fruit

This fruit shaped bud vase is glazed in “She knows” . Ya, I poured two different shinos on this piece. It is a really dark iron clay body that shinos seem to love. The ash has formed beautiful little crystals on the surface.  It’s got two holes so ya have to be a big spender and buy two flowers instead of one.

Price $100

 Helmer Kaolin Stoneware- soft shino, wood fired with a nice green camel sneeze of ash on the one side that once again was in the direct line of fire of the bag wall. Camel sneeze- how's that for clever marketing? Wondering if Dennis has read this far. He will have a clever come back to be sure.

The pots I really love seem to get that prime real estate in the wood kiln. This piece also has some large feldspar chunks in the foot. The feldspar was collected in a rattlesnake infested cave on the Assinaboine River in Alberta by a friend. See what lengths we potters go to for the sake of a good pot!

Price $100