And So It Begins…

At the expense of appearing curmudgeonly… oh hell, I’m not just appearing curmudgeonly, it’s full on curmudge now. Let me reiterate if I haven’t said it explicitly enough in the past. I hate the holidays… I hate all holidays and even though of all the holidays, halloween is the probably the least offensive, its commercialization is in hyperdrive and even if it wasn’t it signals the beginning of the holiday season. If I were king of the world, every other year would have no holidays at all… just regular days. You know, like tuesday. In anticipation of the most common reaction to this suggestion is that we would all still get the same days or the same amount of days off work as any other year. Clearly, I’ve spent too much time fantasizing about this utopia of mine. I used to duck as much as possible but there’s this other person in our lives now…

So Friday was dress up like a word day at school and today is a halloween party day at school, followed by pumpkin carving (yeah I know, dragging our feet there), followed by trick or treating. Then wednesday is the bug’s 7th birthday (having trouble getting my head around that) and another party, followed by her birthday request of a friend sleeping over. And then a couple weeks and we’re right in the middle of the thanksgiving shite and the xmas shite. Like, totally, like, gag me with a spoon. January 2nd seems so far away. OK, enough of that. The bug and I went to a reception for Aaron Calvert at the Mount on saturday evening. There was a fire outside the gallery and my clothes still smell like smoke (maybe I should change them?). On another smoke related tangent, when I returned from Iowa my clothes smelled like sandalwood because my friend Ig has incense burning at his house and Sofia kept burying her face in my shirt and sweater saying how much she enjoyed the smell so we stopped the other day and got her some sandalwood incense for her room (so now the fish can ponder the smoke). Anyway, the reception for Aaron was nice and although I was a bit under the weather, I did manage to get some pics of the work. It’s all about ants on Aaron’s pots and I wished I had felt better because I wanted to chat a bit more with him about those ants. In my pre-dementia moment, I was trying to ask him if he had read E.O. Wilson’s book “The Ants” but I couldn’t for the life of me remember his name. Anyway, bring on the ants…

That’s Aaron on the left with the hat. Here’s some platters…

In other news, I’ve been terra-sigging pots starting the long slow decoration process. Here’s what the terra sig looks like in the bucket. I’d like to get that kind of effect in glaze…

Here’s my iron ts with the white over the top and shellac over the top of both…

Adieu, adieu, as I brace for the onslaught.

Hindoo Boobs And Eye Candy…

I know, for some that’s redundant. I just got back from one of my annual pilgrimages to Des Moines to stop off at AKAR, but more importantly to visit my great friend Ig. Part of his summer’s adventures ended up with another shipping container from the far east. The dumpster was still in the driveway as I arrived and evidence of his travels was everywhere. Let’s just begin with those hindoo boobs. As a sculptor from way back, I don’t think I’m going out on a limb to suggest that of all the ancient sculptors that carve depictions of deities throughout history, none consistently do better boobs than the Hindus. I first became acutely aware of this after a visit to the Smithsonian’s Freer and Sackler galleries. So as I pulled up in the drive, here’s what I saw…

I know, I know, these statues are not old (just carved actually) and not made by Indian sculptors but still, check this out…

Am I right or am I right? I mean these are definitely not Michelangelo’s pomegranite boobs…

Hey, I love Michelangelo as well as the next person but I have to give credit where credit is due. OK, moving on from the nonsense. Like all visits to my friend Ig’s, there was much food, wine, movies and best of all great conversation… especially at a couple dinners where friends showed up to socialize. As the camera sat in the kitchen (just like my last visit), I completely forgot to take pics of the guests… bad blogger. So on to the eye candy. Here’s my favorite new vase of Ig’s (it’s not all that old but I sure like it)…

Dreamy! Here’s some new masks…

Here’s a big blue and white vase (not all that old again but not new either)…

More pots…

One of my faves…

Here’s a cute little one…

Ig also has a bunch of petrified wood and then there was this petrified shell. Look at my foot to see how big this thing is…

Now let’s switch over to contemporary. I stopped into AKAR to swap out some inventory and took the opportunity to get some pics of work. I always like to visit AKAR’s gallery because there’s so much great stuff all packed in there…

Here’s Jeff’s…

And Ms. Yoppolo…

Mr. Michael’s…

Mr. Snipes’, not so hot of a pic as the pieces were tucked back in a bit of shade and looked bad with the flash on so this is what I got…

Ms. Coleman…

And Adam Field, never saw his before in person, beautiful pots…

Last but not least, Mr. Chung…

Of course, there was some fun and games. At the dinner party, Ig got out his “cheese cutting board” (not sure why that’s in quotations) and in the box was this “cheese saw”. I was wondering what kind of cheese needed such a lethal gadget. I tried to shave with it to no avail…

More Moh And Wackipedia…

Here’s a new vase/bottle…

Well, let’s see… I don’t consider myself an intrepid reporter by any means but occasionally I come upon something that seems to warrant a bit of attention. So, wacky wikipedia is the subject. In a way, it’s become a de facto standard for research on the internet. I’m fine with that and find myself looking things up there often. Anyway, a friend and I were looking up L0uisville St0neware (a long standing pottery located in Louisville) on wackipedia a week or so ago and they have a typical page with brief historical data and short synopsis of factoids. If one clicks the “edit” tab on any article, one can find out the author and if the author has his/her own page, one can look at that also… this is what we did. Now over time, I think wackipedia users take for granted the legitimacy of what’s written and in wackipedia’s defense, they have tools in place when someone has an agenda or represents one side of a debate, etc. But, here’s the page of the main author for the L0uisville St0neware page…

Click and enlarge to get the full effect. I’m particularly fond of the picture of the author and his description of himself (I wish I could write stuff like this). Here’s a snippet…”He is a penguin. Born in the highlands of Louisville over three decades ago. He is alone; there are no others like him. Always good, never evil. For decades he has battled the forces of stupidity, with reading his only refuge. He cannot die, unless you take his penguins, and with it his power. In the end there can be only one. He is Bedford, the Falklander.” As much as I’d like to believe that wiki contributors are all self-proclaimed geniuses dressed as Santa Claus, it does kinda call into question the accuracy of something written by this wackipedia author or any other for that matter. OK, glad that’s out of the way and I feel better at having done my civic duty. Now for the eye candy… I went to my friend Sebastian Moh’s opening on Tuesday. Here’s Sebastian…

I tried to take a couple shots of pots at the opening but they are dark and shiny and I couldn’t get any that even remotely showed the wonderful glaze effects that Sebastian is achieving. So, I glommed these from Seb’s FB page…

Last but not least, it’s been a week of mostly cups and mugs here in the studio…

(sh)It Just Rolls Off The Tongue…

Here’s the cutie pie, I took this pic on the porch before school and it almost makes me cry to look at it…

Not sure about this, but I think the cooler weather has hit the bug and the dog. Sofia wakes up with so much energy that it’s as if she drank 5 pots of coffee and the dog is pretty energetic too. I’m so envious… if I had that much energy, I’d be the king of the world (hey, maybe it’s a good thing I don’t have it). The little bug is growing up. She’s been saying funnier and funnier things (at least to me). The other day she was playing with the demon dog before school and, while frolicking, some saliva drooled out and landed on her dress. Pretty soon she was dancing around the kitchen singing… “I got spit on my dress and I don’t care, I got spit on my dress and I don’t care.” Then the other day she had her friend over and they were going in and out to her treehouse in the backyard. She came in while Mom was in the kitchen and said, “awww, Mom, I got dogshit on my shoe”. It was so matter of fact without the usual awkwardness of youngsters cussing for the first time… hell, I didn’t say shit in front of my dad until I was 32. So I guess I’m swelling with pride at her budding command of the language as she cussed with no pretense or embarrassment and the delivery and context were dead on. Next, of course, is to make sure she understands the consequences of speaking freely. I haven’t solved the photography thing yet but it’s still on the agenda. Here’s some snaps of a new bowl in my studio from the last load…

I’m very happy with this bowl as it is a combination of my shellac with my experiments with terra sig. In other news, check out what Mr. Troy Bungart sent me (thank you Troy!)…

I knew from Troy’s etsy shop that he was making beautiful tools but in person, it is so beautiful that it’s gonna be difficult for me to actually use it and get it all grunged up. I will though. In case you’re wondering, it’s made of wenge and the wood grain is lovely. It’s hard wood and should outlast me easily. If you have a hankerin’ to check out Troy’s tools go here. I stopped over at my good friend Jeff’s place the other day to see what he’s working on and things are coming along nicely. Here’s his first larger piece that he’s slowly drying…

The bicycle piece is about 30 inches tall. Here’s the one he’s in the middle of which will be even taller, the person will eventually be sitting in the chair that’s in the background…

Can’t wait to see how these get finished and fired. My other good friend Vern sent me his last photo collage…

I’m looking forward to seeing this print in person. Last but not least, my buddy Sebastian’s opening will be this friday. If you’re in the area and have a hankerin’, check it out…