Talking the Talk

Why is it so easy to talk the talk? But then why is it such a challenge for me to listen to what I say to my students? I urge them to be open to the changes that the smoke and fire bring, and then I am shocked and not so ready to accept what unfolds...

My Angel of Peace seemed to me to be so sweet and gentle when she emerged from the clay; while I was painting her; and even after coming out of the glaze firing. I put her and some of the other 'Girls' into the barrel and started the fire... Hoping that the transformation would change her enough so that she might look like a woman with wisdom.Here she is rising up out of the ashes. But perhaps she may be a bit too much transformed by the fire.... It seems to be a bit of a challenge to accept the radical change in her appearance.

I know, I know, I keep saying that the magic of the art process, (at least this barrel-firing process), is that somehow the fire fates seem to create the works beyond the point that I might take them. That I should have no assumptions or expectations. That I should trust the process. That I should trust that it will work...

But it is not so easy to do this...

There may be a bit more cleaning up that I can do for her. I may decide to put her back into the electric kiln to erase all that the barrel smoking has done to her. But for now, I am reserving judgement and going down to the studio to paint, paint, paint...

The local newspaper came to the studio to film yesterday, and I am reminded again that no matter what I think I came here for, that this residency will bring 'something else'. That perhaps this is now the time of the 'something else'. And I do indeed want to be open to this.

Surely getting to hear Richie Havens perform here in Breckenridge last night is part of that 'something else'.

As the Sun Sets in the Western Skies

So much has happened here since my last post on Monday. It has indeed been a busy week: many curious and encouraging visitors to the studio while I worked; a Gold-leaf-on-clay mini workshop; a making-clay-faces-demo at Colorado Mountain College; 3 barrel-firing workshops for community participants; my own first barrel-firing since my studio days (and late nights...) at Cockpit Arts, Deptford, London... Whew...

Workshop Participants write thank you notes and wishes to be burned inside of their magical pinch pots...

Pots are placed inside of barrel with paper and wood shavings...

Watching the smoking barrel..

Lifting pots out of the barrel with raku tongs.

Pots cooling on the ground...

Washing the pots..

Polishing with tile sealer...

One of the magical pinch pots with its maker...

Someone noticed the sky and we all went ouside to enjoy the sun setting in this magical place.

Perhaps good things do come to those who wait...

The stream of studio visitors over this week-end seemed to be especially joyous. Almost everyone admired the student's pots awaiting the firing in the kiln. And now as I tap these keys the kiln is heating up to temperature with these pots inside.

Also now in the kiln are four of the smaller 'Bottomless Vessels to Hold Change' that I made while I was waiting for the larger ones to go through their firing cycle. Maybe these are for 'small change'? Whatever their purpose, they were a joy to create. While visitors came in to the studio with questions and comments, I felt like I was doing quick sketches in clay. I think that I was more playful, perhaps because these were the pieces that I was making 'while I was waiting...'

Also while conversing with a couple from Southern California, I started a 'wall work'. I got so caught up, the day flew by and I totally forgot that I'd been on pins and needles awaiting the opening of the kiln.

Someone visiting the studio suggested that the work is reminiscent of a Madonna figure. If so, then perhaps she could be called 'Madonna of the Rockies'.... For now, she is drying slowly, and she reminds me that sometimes good things do come to those who wait.

Now I am headed down to the studio...can you believe the commute is a simple stairway...it takes a nanno second, really.

All of 'the big girls' made it through the kiln firing. Now come the color choices. Painting and pouring undergalzes and glazes. Keeping in mind that no matter what I plan, the kiln and the smoking barrel can often seem to have their own ideas!

Into the Firing Chamber

Transport to the CMC Ceramic Studio seems to have gone well. The new 'Bottomless Vessels to Hold Change' are now in the kiln for a slow bisque firing. They should be ready to emerge late Sunday night. Fingers are crossed...

I am always a bit on edge while my works are in the kiln. Wondering what to do while I await the verdict of the kiln gods. A good time to take a walk or watch a film...?

But open studio starts in a few minutes now; and I want to work on something new. But nothing that will take longer than today and tomorrow. Though I will not make any assumptions, I do want to trust that all will make it through the firing, and that I will be able to take each one through the painting and glazing steps and then through a second kiln firing.

The waiting is always a challenge.
Best to get into the studio, unwrap some clay, begin something new, and enjoy today's stream of visitors...

Meanwhile the sky is blue, the flowers here have unfolded, and the sun is brilliant.

While Angels Dry

While Angels continued to dry slowly on studio shelves , the energies of workshop-participants filled the room with a creative buzz.

They pinched and shaped the clay...

Paddled ...

Scraped ...

Decorated...

Embellished...

And burnished their pots with my Grandmother's silver spoon and other handy tools.

Conversations ebbed and flowed as intentions and attentions were focused on the clay.

The excitement of the magical nature of the process filled the studio,
and now a few dozen 'magical pinch pots'are also drying

awaiting their firing in the electric kiln,

in preparation for next week's smoking in the barrels....

I hope that I gave them what they needed to make their works,
to follow their own muses,

and to experiment with their own solutions to technical challenges...

I trust that the makers of these pots enjoyed their process.
And that they will love the finished works - as a record of this magical process.

Going for the Gold

This weekend brought many visitors to Breckenridge to pan for gold in the center of town, to dress up in old-time outfits, and to celebrate the history of this amazing town.

Many visitors stopped by the studio, and on Sunday evening the local TV aired a video shot in my studio.

But on camera, I was totally wrong about the history of pinch pots!

Given that I recently co-led the family program at the Metropolitan Museum, called 'Potsabilities', I ought to have remembered my facts. The pottery-making tradition is not really quite 35,00 years old! Perhaps that number represents the number of ceramic pieces in the museum's collection??

In truth, the oldest clay pots were made about 12,000 - 17,000 years ago: the Jomon pottery in Japan. And the earliest ceramic objects may be the Venus figures from about 31,000 years ago.

And so, for not-so-accurate numbers that I gave during my interview, I send apologies to my program director at the Met Museum, Dr. Mike Norris...

Perhaps it was the high altitude, or the excitement of being on-camera, that created the fuzzy memory for the facts??

In any case, the TV spot may have generated some more interest for the workshops this week. I think that these are now full. And I am looking forward to seeing what magical pinch pots and imaginery animals, these workshop participants will create..

Now, as I tap these keys, the barrels for the 'smokings' are on their way up from Denver in my brother's truck... So I think I had better get into the studio and make some more works to go into those barrels for next week's smoke-firings...

After the smoke-fires, applying the 23 k. gold leaf will be final step....

Sharing the Process with Studio Visitors

What an excellent studio day.

Sometimes it can feel like a bit of a challenge to work while visitors are in the studio. I am not really very good at multi-tasking. I often find it hard to work and talk at the same time. Maybe it is a right brain/left brain thing?

But I do love sharing my process. And the visitors' questions and responses to the process are important to me. In fact, some of my most exciting creative break-throughs have actually come about during a public demonstration; or in response to a visitor's questioning….

I am pleased with the piece that evolved during today's open studio. Maybe it was so many children crossing their fingers for me as I added the strands of wavy hair. Or the encouragement of on-lookers as I worked with her face, trying to make it less 'severe' and more peaceful.

Perhaps a viewer will help to name her, either now or when she is finished. Maybe she is another 'Angel of Peace'? This one as a Bottomless Vessel to Hold Change?

Now my fingers are crossed, and the clay is under plastic wraps, with the hopes that she will dry without cracking, and make it through all of the kiln-firings, the barrel-smoking, and gilding…. to completion.

And I will hope to have more days like this one…

Embracing What Unfolds

I am trying to keep an open mind.
Trying to keep in mind the welcoming speech to Haystack Mt School of Crafts, given by Howard Evans, back in the mid 1980s. 'No matter what it is that you think you came for, he advised us, 'that is not what you are going to get. So keep an open mind…' And he invited us to be aware of and to embrace what unfolds.



This one seems to be drying safely; but the wings of several of my 'angels' are cracking away from their clay bodies. The clay is drying too fast in this mountain air? My joining techniques are not strong enough? Maybe forms with such extensions are too delicate anyway to be transporting in a box on my lap, in a car to the kiln which is two blocks away…?
Maybe these 'Mountain Phoenixes' don't want to have their wings unfolded?

One visitor suggested that since the altitude is so high here, perhaps angels have a chance to rest their wings!
Another visitor thought that perhaps there are times when 'a cigar is just a cigar'; and there may be no hidden meaning to an angel losing her wings….
And when one visitor asked if the wings were an 'add-on' or part of the original piece of clay that is wrapped around my cardboard tube, it sparked the idea for an alternative construction technique.

So I am off to the clay bag, to try this… And wings unfurled may still be possible

Springtime in the Rockies

This outside the front door of my studio just two mornings ago. Melted by the brilliant sunshine here within a few moments after I shot the picture.

There is so much beauty all around me. I trust that this is glorious 'food for my muse'.

And so to work... with my 'commute' from living space to studio workspace being less than a New York Minute. For now I am living right upstairs from my clay studio. This is heavenly.

Six Degrees of...

No it's not about Kevin Bacon this time.

What happened here at my public reception on Wednesday could be called 'Six Degrees of Matt Nolen'….

Looking through my portfolio on a table in the Tin Shop studio, a visitor spotted Matt's work in a reprint of the Ceramics Monthly article about the show that I had helped to curate at the South Shore Art Center in Cohasset, MA.: 'Fragments and Elements: Art as Architectural Ornamentation'.

It turns out that this visitor from the Breckenridge area, had spent some time in NYC working for my former studio-mate, Matt Nolen! (At the time that Iris was there, I had recently left the Flatiron Clay Studio, and was doing my studio work in Hingham, MA, while doing all of my teaching in NYC.)

Matt's work was included in the Cohasset exhibition and also when the show travelled to the gallery at the Boston Architectural Center. His piece was one of those featured in the Ceramics monthly article. Of course, she recognized it. This led to several moments of singing Matt's praises. And laughing that perhaps in the ceramics world, there actually could be a game called 'Six Degrees of Matt Nolen'. Indeed, there would be many players…

And I am reminded that in spite of what seems to be an extreme contrast of the hustle-and-bustle of my New York City life compared to the idyllic nature of my time here as artist-in-residence, there is an 'interconnectedness'.

I am in Heaven!

The photographer from the Summit Daily News came in during my first open studio day and shot several photos and this one was in last Friday's paper.

Indeed, I think that I am in heaven, having such an excellent studio space, in such a lovely town, and this morning we had some snow.

Imagine being artist-in-residence for the the Arts District in the town of Breckenridge, Colorado... making 'mudpies' for five weeks in the Rocky Mts.

This afternoon is a public reception... so as I tap these keys, some tasty treats are being set out on one of my worktables.

Musings and other updates coming soon....