CLAYART

How can I explain CLAYART? It is an internet community of people involved in clay: Artists, publishers, gurus, authors, equipment experts, educators, amateurs, gallery owners, hobbyists, newbies and old hands.

The physical boundaries have no end. Anywhere that an internet and computer are available, CLAYART exists. It is one enormous club. There are no dues, no initiation, no jury, only the requirements of civility and everyday grace you would exhibit and experience with fellow creatures of this planet.

CLAYART started as an outgrowth of NCECA and the personal computer. About 13 years ago, an email discussion group was formed in which people could dialogue about all things clay. It was the result of NCECA and the desire to continue the flow of information and to network with other potters.

Today it has grown into a huge population with a daily traffic that can amount to around 100 messages or more. (I really don't keep track.) That could be daunting if you set out to read every word of every email, but you quickly learn to pick and choose what is relevant to your own environment and delete (in my case, mercilessly) that which you judge can be eliminated. Most of the time, the Subject Line and the sender will tip you off as to whether you choose to read or not. I pass up raku or woodfiring, for instance.

And, a subject-word-keyed archive can be used to research a particular question that might arise, so elimination of messages doesn't usually mean they are gone forever.

Additionally, once you are enrolled, you can address the CLAYART "Brain" to ask an open question. The avalanche of replies or opinions will almost fall from the screen. We are a helpful and giving folk in the main.

It is helpful, as in any new environment, to sit back and observe the protocols and 'lurk' until you're comfortable, but it you have a bad problem or want to respond right away, that's okay too.

Mel Jacobson (or "The Mayor") runs it most of the time and serves as a basically hand-off moderator yet knows when to 'send us to our rooms' when things occasionally get too hot or protracted. In other words, telling us to 'ride that dead horse outta here.' But in a good way.

Current discussions this week have included the NCECA experience plus the discussion of the cost of attending. And what to see, where to go and the best places to eat in Philadelphia.

Take a visit. Get your toes wet. Google Clayart, click on ABOUT to get the complete background. Go to www.acers.org/clayart/ to find out how to enroll. Follow the directions and wait. It won't be long until your mailbox will be bubbling with a plethora of subjects.

Beside being an internet discussion group, CLAYART is a sub-community that meets within NCECA. Mel arranges with another hotel beside the convention hotel (after all, they have their own fish to fry) and secures a large meeting type room for us to have available throughout the time of the convention to relax, talk, show our work, present mini-programs, meet and talk in real-time with the people manifest in the flesh who we have come to know ethereally. It's nice because you feel you know them already. We all walk around NCECA with our nametags showing a red dot as a way of recognizing each other amid the masses, although people involved in clay are for the most part a truly friendly lot.



Each year the CLAYART room is something different. This year Mel arranged to have a room that was equipped with a very long bar where we could set up an example of our work. It was great to be able to see the work of many of our members and connect the work with the names.

Pictured: A wonderful teapot by Gerry Wallace on display at the bar.

Also this year, the CLAYART room presented a supurb collection of work from the American Museum of Ceramic Arts--absolute benchmark pieces marking the history of 20th Century ceramic art with works by masters of the craft. A sister show from the same collection was set up in the gallery area of the Marjon Clay Company of Phoenix. Just stunning work! (A lot of the shots from the previous posting came from that show.)

One evening, a presentation by Tom Coleman and Frank Boyden about their journey working in collaboration and their new book.


Check out CLAYART before the next NCECA.

NCECA

Just got back from the annual National Council for Education in the Ceramic Arts convention in Phoenix. My head is still spinning with all the wonderfulness of it all. Too bad you can't s-p-r-e-a-d it out into a couple of week's time. It's impossible to see it all, attend every event, or meet everyone you want to talk to. But I tried.

There were galleries and other venues presenting works in clay, there were seminars, discussion group meetings, receptions, presentations, an exhibitor's hall of vendor's equipment and tools, schools representations, demonstrations of techniques, sales of clay works.

Authors signed their books, students rubbed elbows with famous artists and everywhere something to see, new people to meet, ideas to stir your brains. In short, it was a virtual clay artist's heaven.

I've been to several conventions in the past few years and I always come away with new life and new ideas. I also come away with the thought that I must make it to the one next year. Usually, they are held on alternate coasts or general areas of the US. However, next year it will be held in Philadelphia and the following one in Tampa. I will try to get to both even though it is expensive to travel, the value received professionally is golden.

Shadbolt Clay Conference

Just got back from the Shadbolt Clay Conference in Burnaby, British Columbia. It's a 3 1/2 hour drive from home, but well worth the trip. It was a great conference. Small, but quality offerings in the way of demonstrations and information. The highlight for me was to meet Magdelene Odundo whose hand coiled, burnished pots I've seen in museums and admired for their beauty. We were able to chat for some time about her work, the UK, and travel.
What a wonderful thing--to be able to meet one of the giants of the ceramic world in such an easy atmosphere. The problem with these conferences and conventions though, is deciding where to spend your time. There is so much stuff going on and so many things that you want to see and do. Too bad you can't clone yourself just for a short time and go everywhere. Choices, Choices!
I decided to get out of my comfort zone and go to demos that were about techniques I know very little about. I was a total sponge in Kinichi Shegeno's newspaper resist demonstration. He not only worked live, but had a video explaining the technique. He also did a slip mold of a very large teapot form and threw a giant platter. So generous with his information and full of great tips. The only disappointment I had was he ran out of time and didn't address overglazes.

I then went to a demonstration by Jeannie Mah of transferring printer images onto procelain. An extremely interesting process, I decided that I loved the idea and can adapt it to drawing my own images, running them through a printer and transfer it to a porcelain surface. Can't wait to try it! She is truly a master of this process.
The final session was with Diane Creber who does crystaline glazes and has written a great book on the subject. I chose to go to this one because these glazes both attract and repel me. The ones I like, I really like; the ones I don't I really can't stand! Diane works in small crystal formation. The process is very involved and regimented, it seems to me with much technical ability both in formulation and firing control to produce the growth of crystals in the glaze. Diane's pieces were stunning. Especially a totally new matt kind of result. Sorry, my pictures didn't turn out for an example. Anyway, I resolved that should I decide to tackle these kinds of glazes, her book will be the perfect guide.
And speaking of books, I was asked to autograph one myself. I was standing at one of the commerical booths and a lady was buying "500 Teapots". I pointed to the teapot on the back cover and said, "That's my work." She was flabergasted. I said that I had three selections in the book and she asked me to sign the back cover.
Beside the talks and demos, there was a gallery show of participant's pieces and/or any interesting piece owned by anyone who wanted to display it and write a small blurb on the placecard that went with it. I took the white teapot that is at the beginning of the blog and a mug to donate for the sale. There was one corner in the gallery area that displayed donated mugs and sold them on the spot. They were selling just about as quickly as they were being put on the wall.