Being A Finalist

In November of 2018 I was selected as a Finalist for the 701 Center for Contemporary Art Prize.  This prize selects 3 finalist for an exhibition at 701 Center for Contemporary Art in Columbia, South Carolina.  The exhibition of the 3 finalist them moves to Lake City, South Carolina at the beginning of 2019.

The other finalist this year are Carey Morton, and Jena Thomas.

The exhibition looks fantastic at 701 CCA and I am excited for the installation in Lake City.  This was the first time that I have hung, No Need To Look Up from the ceiling and I cannot be more pleased with how this changes the work.  These are also the second version of this piece with the chandelier wired in the same fashion as a light fixture.  Previously, the chandelier was wired so that the entire chandelier would light up or twinkle.  I may go back to making the whole piece glow in the future but for now, this newer version looks wonderful.

Overall this was  a wonderful experience and a huge congratulations goes out to Jena Thomas for being selected as the winner.  The winner receives a 6 week paid residency, solo exhibition, and an advertisement in a national publication.

Back to Peters Valley

For a good portion of the Summer of 2016, I was a Studio assistant in Ceramics at Peters Valley School of Craft.  My time there was incredible and it really opened up my mind to working in the craft school environment.  I had take workshops at other craft schools before but that was the first time I had actually worked at one.

Recently, I was able to go back and take a workshop to refresh my glaze chemistry skills.  I took a workshop with Bill Carty and it was amazing.  Bill did an wonderful job taking his crazy, vast knowledge of ceramic materials and explaining/teaching to a bunch of artists.

We spent a lot of time looking at the Stull Chart (pictured below), to understand the outcomes of glazes.  After testing a bunch of glazes and placing them on the Stull chart, we were able to play around with different variations, colors, and effects.

I am just now realizing that I did not take many photos but here is another one that has some tests that I did.  Overall, this workshop was amazing and I am glad that all of the material presented was given to us in the form of a bound book and a flash drive that contains all of the goods.

Anagama at Clemson

I had the pleasure of meeting and making a connection with Valerie Zimany and Daniel Bare, of Clemson University Ceramics, at the National Council on Education for the Ceramics Arts (NCECA) Annual Conference in March.  While talking with them and talking about my proximity to Clemson University and my love of wood firing, I was very excited when they invited me up to Clemson to take part in the firing of their anagama.  The anagama at Clemson is located just off the main campus in a wonderful little, wooded area.  I was able to stay for a couple days during the firing and had no problem, other than a little rain, hanging up my hammock to catch a bit of rest between shifts.

A nice flame shooting out of the chimney of the Clemson anagama

The visiting anagama workshop leader was William Baker.  Will makes some incredible work and gave a pretty good artist slide talk out at the anagama during a heavy rainstorm.  Check out his work by clicking on his name and his online shop can be found HERE.

This firing was nice and relaxing for me mainly because I was not in charge.  I was able to be a contributing member of my shifts but had the pleasure of sitting back, splitting side stoke wood, and calling out stokes.  Overall a fun firing.

I had a wonderful time meeting and talking with students, professors, and others.  I even had the pleasure of being asked by Connor Alwood, a Clemson graduate student, to trade some work from the firing.  You can find Conor's Instagram by clicking on his name, and a nice little interview HERE.  See photos from our trade below.

A super sweet, little, ewer made by Conor Alwood.

A painbow made it through the wood kiln and now lives with Conor Alwood.