AOTP this weekend was a blast! Before I get into that, I just had to post a picture of this mug! The latest firing was not the best, the blue glaze in particular was a bit lack luster, but this guy turned out awesome! I really am liking the flashing slip against bare clay, and I plan on glazing some more pieces like this. I love the way the blue and green glazes look on my carved pots (when they fire well at least), but I would like a little bit more of a variety of surfaces, and in addition the flashing slip is a bit more subtle than the others.
Art of the Pot! I had a great time this weekend, I helped out at Ryan McKerley's studio both days, mostly by taking payments and wrapping pots, and I also went around the tour each day, saturday with my dad and sunday with my mom (great mothers day activity!!). The tour was great this year, though it was a tad bit hot in some of the un-air conditioned spaces. For the first time this year Keith Kreeger had several guest artists in his house, which was very nice. I love having the studio's on the tours, so that people can really connect with the artists, but it is also really neat to see work in someone's house. I think it really lets people visualize having these ceramics in their houses. So I was excited about that change.
In this post I'm not going to to over all the guest artists, just highlight some of them. There were two artists at Ryan's studio in addition to him and Chris Campbell, including Chris Gray (I could not find a website for him, but he works at the community college in Plano, Tx). Chris G. has some really beautiful surfaces and decorations, and some really neat forms. He makes these great morter and pestles that I definitely would have bought if I could afford it :). However he did give me a great teabowl in exchange for helping out at the studio. I haven't gotten a picture of it yet, but it is a beautiful celedon piece with a silhouette of a raven on it, similar to the piece pictured, but imagine a large teabowl instead of a mug :) 
The other guest at the studio was Maria Dondero, who makes some really amazingly decorated ceramics. I just love these pieces; the attention to detail, the quality of the surface created with all the different glazes decorations, and the whimsical nature of the images. Maria also gave me a piece (all these artists are so generous!), and I chose a small mug like the ones pictured, with a wonderful little bicycle on one side, and a deer on the other. What I love about these pieces is how Maria puts little snippets of her life onto her pots' surfaces. She draws things she sees around the studio and her house, she makes little notes on them about things happening in her day, or comments on the drawings themselves; they are basically her sketch journal fractured into many little pieces. This quality makes it really fun to see a bunch of her pots all together.
The only pots I actually bought for myself this year were two lovely miniature mugs from Margaret Bohls. I really love her black and white pieces, the simplicity of their surface goes well with the little details of their construction. I really love how you can see exactly how she built the mugs; they would not be nearly so compelling if she had smoothed out the seams of the slabs. 
My only regret for the weekend is that I did not by this amazing vase by Diana Fayt! It was pretty far out of my price range, and so I convinced myself to not buy it :( But I will for sure buy something from her in the future. I love the way Diana combines the organic images of flowers and plants, and in this case a lovely little bee, with geometric elements. Some day...
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