Yesterday’s grace

Posted on April 30, 2018May 1, 2018 Posted in hand building, pottery, wheel throwingTagged Ceramic, ceramic teapot, clay, craft, hand building, handbuilding, Kathleen mcgonigle, kathleen McGonigle artist, kathleen McGonigle potter, Kathy McGonigle, kathy McGonigle potter, kathy McGonigle pottery, kathystoneware, pottery, teapotLeave a comment

Ambition could be the title of the hopeful list of ware to be included under the next craft show tent. But I’m taking things one day at a time; throwing a dozen bowls one afternoon, and a clay brick’s worth of mugs on another. Large bowls next, and yesterday, it was teapots – only four teapots, to be exact.

I needed time to allow for personality, teapot personality. Cane handles were a must, but the rest was up to the flurry of happenstance and the what-if’s that come about when throwing has ended and hand-building commences.

From a utilitarian point of view, how would each member of this little quartet function? To fill, to pour, and to carry when tea is about to be served? How would this dark brown clay enhance the series of glazes I plan to use? Thoughts pause hands to consider these and other things, as little periods of grace make room for the future possibilities of each teapot.

Off road authenticity

Posted on April 24, 2018 Posted in artistry, clay, wheel throwingTagged Kathleen mcgonigle, kathleen McGonigle artist, kathleen McGonigle potter, Kathy McGonigle, Kathy McGonigle art, kathy McGonigle artist, kathy McGonigle potter, kathy McGonigle pottery, kathystonewareLeave a comment

Of course my aim leans towards some image of near perfection, yet the spirit of authenticity, with all of its foibles, resides in my pottery. I admire what I consider to be the perfect balance in others’ ware, never in my own, though. I’m brutally honest about it – seeing through to the hand in the work beneath the finished glazed surface. I inspect with care until I uncover the flaws that lead me right back to making more.

Tiny Increments

Posted on April 23, 2018April 23, 2018 Posted in Craft fair Prep, Pottery business, studioTagged craft, craft fair, Kathleen mcgonigle, kathleen McGonigle artist, kathleen McGonigle potter, Kathy McGonigle, kathy McGonigle artist, kathy McGonigle potter, kathy McGonigle pottery, kathystoneware, potter studio, studioLeave a comment

Some things happen in tiny increments of time, especially those less glorious tasks. Fun jobs like planning and gathering, then using a mitre saw to chop wood into usable pieces for portable shelves occur in a time warp of effortless bliss. Framing shelving units – not so much.

So, I had researched long enough and had to prepare for the eventuality of the craft event. It was time to stop procrastinating; the shelves were going to happen. There would be no distractions – shelves would be built.

And they were. It took less time than anticipated and of course they aren’t perfect – they have fallen over once, taking a dozen or so pots to their doom. However, with some minor adjustments for improved stability, these two sets of shelves should serve their purpose and function, for they are lightweight, portable, easily set up and taken down, and will hopefully not continue their villainous rampage against my pottery.

When pottery moves in

Posted on May 6, 2017May 6, 2017 Posted in clay, pottery, wheel throwingTagged art, artistry, ceramics, Kathleen mcgonigle, kathleen McGonigle artist, kathleen McGonigle potter, Kathy McGonigle, Kathy McGonigle art, kathy McGonigle artwork, kathy McGonigle pottery, kathystoneware, pottery, Sato salon Organics, wheel throwingLeave a comment

Little corked jugs are curious forms. They nestle into any space and seem perfectly willing to take up permanent residence there. A case in point: some of these little guys have been on display for sale at SATO Salon Organics for a while and recently we figured out that they look so comfortable in their spot on the shelf that they avoid moving day. So, they’ll soon be placed in a new location at the salon, but my guess is that they’ll settle in comfortably once again.

Back to making mugs

Posted on April 30, 2017April 30, 2017 Posted in wheel throwingTagged ceramics, clay, home studio, kathleen McGonigle art teacher, kathleen McGonigle artist, kathleen McGonigle artwork, kathleen McGonigle potter, Kathy McGonigle, kathy McGonigle artist, kathy McGonigle artwork, kathy McGonigle pottery, kathystoneware, potter, potters wheel, pottery, Sato salon Organics, studio, wheel throwing, wheel thrown potteryLeave a comment

I hadn’t thrown any mugs in over a year, because there were bins-full in the kiln shed. My niece had gone through the bins a few months ago to bring with her to Sato Salon Organics, an all-organic salon where she works, and where my pottery and mixed media pieces are displayed and offered for sale. Some of the mugs she left with that day were for use in the salon, for customers to enjoy a cup of coffee while they waited, while other mugs (and various pottery) were designated specifically for sale. Last week my niece called to say someone liked one of the coffee-designated mugs, and wanted to know if I would throw a new set for her. So yesterday,for the first time in over a year, I was throwing mugs.

I threw a dozen stoneware mugs, half in white and the rest in speckled brown. After trimming and attaching the handles to the white stoneware mugs, I trimmed the speckled brown ones and wedged up some clay for more handles. Now, I’ll go out to my studio and finish the rest today. I’d forgotten how much I enjoyed throwing and ‘handle-ing’ mugs.

Altered wheel-thrown form

Posted on April 21, 2017April 22, 2017 Posted in pottery, wheel throwingTagged altered form, altered wheel thrown form, Kathleen mcgonigle, kathleen McGonigle art teacher, kathleen McGonigle artist, kathleen McGonigle potter, Kathy McGonigle, Kathy McGonigle art, kathy McGonigle art teacher, kathy McGonigle artist, kathy McGonigle potter, kathy McGonigle pottery, kathystoneware, potter, potters wheel, pottery, pottery studio, wheel throwing, wheel thrown form, wheel thrown potteryLeave a comment

After seeing a wheel-thrown altered pot on Pinterest, I wanted to try making a few. I threw a form on the wheel with about 4lbs -5lbs of Standard white stoneware clay and after each form was leather hard, used a needle tool to mark the four corners of where the cuts would be created. A fettling knife was used to cut out a little square and then stamped with one of my home-made clay stamps. Then I used the needle tool again to mark 8 holes – 4 holes outside the cut shape and 4 holes, one in each corner of the little cut out square. I made sure the holes were large enough to allow for passing twine through after firing shrinkage. Then I replaced the cut-out shape into each wheel-thrown form and allowed the clay to dry. After bisque firing, I applied underglaze to the cut-out shapes on both forms and when they were dry, applied a coat of wax resist. I also applied wax resist inside the openings created with the needle tool to prevent the glazes from accidentally getting ‘brushed’ into those 8 holes. Next, I applied underglaze to the pot rim and base (shown on left), allowed it to dry and applied clear transparent glaze over the whole pot surface. For the pot on the right, I used Amaco Textured Tan glaze very loosely and unevenly applied. After glaze firing at cone 5, I used garden twine to ‘tie’ the shapes to each form. This was clearly an exercise in procedure and now I’m stoked to try variations on this idea of an altered wheel-thrown form.

Making a hand-built milk can

Posted on April 2, 2017April 22, 2017 Posted in hand buildingTagged art, art studio, artistry, ceramics, clay, hand building, home studio, Kathleen mcgonigle, kathleen McGonigle art teacher, kathleen McGonigle artist, kathleen McGonigle potter, Kathleen Mcgoniglr artist, Kathy McGonigle, Kathy McGonigle art, kathy McGonigle art teacher, kathy McGonigle artist, kathy McGonigle potter, kathy McGonigle pottery, kathysoneware, kathystoneware, milk can, potter, pottery, slab, slab building, slab building tutorial, slab roller, studio

Constructing a large slab-built milk-can requires a bit of planning and plenty of work space. Using bristol board sheets to construct a mock-up of the overall form and I then took it apart to use the pieces for templates. The large slab roller in work made quick work of rolling the largest template shape, which was roughly 30″ by 17″ – for the barrel of the milk can. For transport, I rolled the 15 lb. slab within heavy canvas and plastic sheeting, then placed it inside a rolling suitcase to bring it to my home studio. Once in the studio, I unrolled the soft slab to allow it to set up a bit.

Once the slab was no longer soft, I draped it over a 5 gallon bucket and a wheel bat placed at either end, with heavy canvas between the clay and the supporting structure to allow the clay to set up in a large arc without sticking to the bucket and bats.

The slab sat like this for several hours, checked on from time to time, to determine when it was strong enough to hold its own weight. Once it was strong enough, I stood it up and began to form the cylinder for the barrel of the can. While the large slab had been setting up, I had rolled a smaller slab for the base of the can and let it firm up on a plaster bat, so when the barrel of the can was ready, I attached it to the base and positioned the form on a masonite board.

After wrapping the form in plastic sheeting so it wouldn’t get too dry, I began to roll and cut the slabs for the upper sections of the milk can using the bristol board templates.

After forming the upper sections of the can I placed each part on a plaster bat to set up. Getting these sections leather hard didn’t take too long, because the warm sun and gentle breeze on the back patio provided the perfect drying environment.

After the upper sections were firm enough, I attached them to the barrel, and added a coil to the joint of each upper section, then a handle on either side.

Wrapping the lower portion of the can in plastic allowed the upper section to dry a bit more so some fine tuning of the form’s surface could be dealt with at a later time. Lastly, I took some measurements to record the amount of shrinkage at leather hard -and later at bisque and glaze- since I’d never made this form before.

PVC Photo booth

Posted on March 4, 2017April 18, 2017 Posted in pottery, studio, wheel throwingTagged art, artistry, ceramics, clay, clay studio, craft, home photo booth, Kathleen mcgonigle, kathleen McGonigle art teacher, kathleen McGonigle artist, kathleen McGonigle potter, Kathy McGonigle, kathy McGonigle pottery, photo booth, pottery, PVC, PVC photo booth, studioLeave a comment

Setting up the photo booth was easy once I saw that post about using PVC pipe to create the structure.

Using my chop saw made quick work of cutting the pipe to the dimensions I needed; the 3-way fittings and elbows worked great to not only build the box but to make it stable. I draped a few yards of muslin over the top and sides, then stood a piece of matt board at the back. I ran a roll of tracing paper across the ‘floor’ of the booth and up and over the matt board – folded the paper over the top of the board to hold it securely in place, then left the paper uncut on the roll in the front of the booth so it could easily be replaced as needed. With a lamp placed outside the muslin ‘wall’ I was ready to shoot some pottery images. The whole task took about 20 minutes from start to finish. An added benefit is that the PVC is very lightweight which will make it easy to move and quick to disassemble and reassemble should I ever need to do so.

Form

Posted on March 4, 2017April 22, 2017 Posted in wheel throwingTagged art, art form, Kathleen mcgonigle, kathleen McGonigle art teacher, kathleen McGonigle artist, kathleen McGonigle artwork, kathleen McGonigle potter, Kathy McGonigle, Kathy McGonigle art, kathy McGonigle artist, kathy McGonigle artwork, kathy McGonigle potter, kathy McGonigle pottery, kathystoneware, mask, mask formLeave a comment

Working on the potter’s wheel naturally leads matter toward cylindrical forms, while the creation of utilitarian objects that interact with the human form require a conformity to a certain proportion. Slab work, combined with wheel thrown work, invites variety as the two methods of building interact with one another. But it all comes down to one thing; I am constantly evaluating the nature of form everywhere everyday.

A geometric shadow washed over an organic human form (a form that contains circular and spherical geometry) demands analysis as well as investigation. What possibilities are inherent in this intersection of parallelograms temporarily floating over organic/geometrical composition?

‘Little mask’ is tiny at just over 5″ tall, yet commands attention. There’s some compelling visual force when you’re in the presence of that tiny facial representation. Emphasis though isolation perhaps explains some of the draw, but no matter where this mask has been displayed over the decades, the result is the same powerful visual energy. It makes me ponder the possibilities that can be unearthed in creating tiny forms that can harness that sense of powerful visual presence.

Forms require consideration from multiple angles, as well as how the inside complements the outside, in addition to how light and shadow interact overall. Those endless possibilities…

Square Footage Miracle

Posted on February 27, 2017April 22, 2017 Posted in wheel throwingTagged art, artistry, clay, craft, Kathleen mcgonigle, kathleen McGonigle art teacher, kathleen McGonigle artist, kathleen McGonigle potter, Kathleen Mcgoniglr artist, Kathy McGonigle, Kathy McGonigle art, kathy McGonigle art teacher, kathy McGonigle artist, kathy McGonigle potter, kathy McGonigle pottery, kathy Mcgoniglr art sale, kathystoneware, pottery, pottery sale, wheel throwing, wheel thrown potteryLeave a comment

It wasn’t the most stylish way to move thirty-some pieces of framed work, but it was the most efficient. Three suitcases, one very large, one medium sized, and one small, along with one canvas bag, did the trick. My niece, Kelly, picked the work up yesterday and graciously offered to hang it all in the Sato salon organics, in the West End.

While picking up the work from the series, “On the Outside Looking In,” Kelly thought some of my wheel thrown pottery would nicely complement this framed hanging work, so out to the kiln shed we went to rummage through my tower of glazed-fired pottery in bins. While selecting a few crates-ful of pottery, Kelly had the idea that when bringing coffee to the Sato patrons, she could pour that java brew into one of a collection of my pottery mugs. So, we went through the bins again to select a group of coffee mugs.

When it was time to load up her car, I wasn’t sure that the suitcases would fit into the tiny real estate of her compact, and now with multiple crates of pottery added to all the artwork, I was even more skeptical of a successful outcome. Somehow it all came together. Who knew you could fit so much into so little square footage?