Sunday, January 29, 2012
Change out of Reach
Crowds of people waiting for change, do they realize it's happening now? Everywhere, all the time. Change will always be in action, moving forward, molding perspectives, taking away predictability. There are those who can't see the change, and there are those who fear the change. People are just waiting for the next best thing to happen to them. Change brings new experiences in life, but expecting the change to bring you everything is a lost cause. Change is a driving force that lives within every particle of every being. Even inanimate objects carry it in their composition. Minerals transition from one form into another through methods of change: iron into rust, rocks into clay, sand into glass. Change can be a curse, or it can be the transit way to new beginnings and opportunities. Those who take risk with salt and pepper are those who benefit from change. Why, then, when change comes to me I don't know how to face it? The worst part is thinking about how even though perceptions have changed for me, physical distances remain the same. If only there were a way of teleportation that only took a second. No, I don't know how to embrace this change because it is still too far away. For now all I can do is to enjoy what I have near me-- but try not to forget the opportunity presented to me.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Facts of Life
1. Roommates always suck.
2. The toilet paper is always gone.
3. Your first kiss will be awkward and not romantic in any way.
4. There will never be a good time to do something that you don't want to.
5. There will always be that one person who won't laugh at your jokes.
6. The majority of people take themselves too seriously-- which is why everyone feels so self-conscious.
7. Dropping your phone is not the end of the world.
8. Choosing not to go to a party doesn't make you a nerd.
9. Drinking diet soda won't make you get any skinnier-- if anything, you will gain weight.
10. You will never be old enough to do what you want to-- until you're too old to do anything.
11. Single men are single for a reason.
12. All of the good ones are taken-- but half of them aren't happy.
13. Do what you love, and you will find people who will love you.
14. Pens always run out of ink while you are taking an exam.
15. Nothing new ever really happens on facebook if you check it five times a day.
16. Doing things for other peoples' reasons won't get you what you want.
17. Fantasy is usually a lot better than reality.
18. If you live a lie, it will soon become who you really are.
19. You're only as good as your actions.
20. A straight guy will never notice the effort you put forth in getting ready.
21. It's easier to learn from other peoples' mistakes-- but you can learn more from your own.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
New things... new space
So... I made some bowls in my space last night. I decided that I may as well get ahead on the assignment for the throwing class since I have to make 50 bowls eventually. I don't have the syllabus yet, and the rest of the class is working on getting certified and getting respirators so they can mix their clay. I am so glad that I got that over with last year... although my respirator might benefit from some new cartridges. Anyway, yesterday I was thinking of how I could make my space a little more personal. I am going to get a table somehow to work on, and then I will stick a few pictures on the wall-- probably cartoons and things that inspire me. Also, I want to take a few more tools and sponges, and maybe a towel or two. I don't really know where to begin. Today will be the second day of classes for me, and I need to buy a book for glaze calc at the bookstore and I have to remember that I have ceramic art history at 6:30 tonight. I will just throw until then... because my intermediate throwing class starts at 3:30.
Monday, January 9, 2012
First Day Back
Hmm... well... what a day. I feel a little overwhelmed mentally today. It was the first day of classes, and I moved into my studio space this morning. I have no idea what I want my focus to be for this semester, but I am supposed to have a written proposal by Friday morning. I will get some more guidelines on Wednesday morning, but for now I am just making a list of things that I am interested in or things I like. I think I want to work more with transparent glazes over light-colored clay with black slip images on it. I also want to make more red pots... and paint white porcelain slip and black on top of that, like my mugs from before. I want to make some big pots out of nicer clay and paint on them and glaze them with various celadons... and I want to salt and soda fire some more. I guess that my main problem with the proposal is that I don't want to be too specific but I don't want to list everything because the goal is to keep the idea simple and build on it later. I just don't know where I want to start. I didn't even want to start making pots today because I don't have a direction yet. Also, I need to get a table put in my space because the one that was there belonged to the previous tenant...
Anyway, class was alright. I think it will be a creative semester. Glaze calculation is intimidating but exciting at the same time. I can't wait to learn the details about glaze minerals. Once I know more, the sky could be the limit and I could actually find decent glazing options for my pots. Lately I have moved away from glazing for the most part and left it up to the atmosphere to color my pots. The red clay is the other no-glaze on the outside solution. I don't mind glazing the insides of my pots.
I went to work after helping to make test tiles. I only worked for a couple of hours because I was supposed to have wheel-throwing class at 4:15pm. The professor had a meeting and couldn't make it, so I sat with the other students and waited to see if the syllabus would be handed out anyway. I don't really know why I was sitting there in the first place because they were discussing respirator training, which I did last year. After I found out that the professor wasn't going to be there at all, I decided to walk home because I didn't have any crazy good ideas to start on. I did make more black slip before the supposed class meeting time, but I didn't feel in the mood to make pots. I felt dizzy at work earlier.
Well here are a few drawings that I worked on over the holiday break:
Anyway, class was alright. I think it will be a creative semester. Glaze calculation is intimidating but exciting at the same time. I can't wait to learn the details about glaze minerals. Once I know more, the sky could be the limit and I could actually find decent glazing options for my pots. Lately I have moved away from glazing for the most part and left it up to the atmosphere to color my pots. The red clay is the other no-glaze on the outside solution. I don't mind glazing the insides of my pots.
I went to work after helping to make test tiles. I only worked for a couple of hours because I was supposed to have wheel-throwing class at 4:15pm. The professor had a meeting and couldn't make it, so I sat with the other students and waited to see if the syllabus would be handed out anyway. I don't really know why I was sitting there in the first place because they were discussing respirator training, which I did last year. After I found out that the professor wasn't going to be there at all, I decided to walk home because I didn't have any crazy good ideas to start on. I did make more black slip before the supposed class meeting time, but I didn't feel in the mood to make pots. I felt dizzy at work earlier.
Well here are a few drawings that I worked on over the holiday break:
Frog Study in ink on tea-stained paper
Abstract Deer
Figure
Figure 2
Paranoia
Hush
Female Face Study 1
Female Face Study 2
Jude Law, ink, black colored pencil, and white charcoal on tea-stained paper
Olivia Wilde
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Learning, cont'd.
There is something truly magical about reduction-cool wood firing. I was just going over last semester in my mind, and I remembered the slow streams of flame inside the chimney of the double-wide. The view inside was equal to that of watching a red lava lamp. Fire has a life of its own, uncontrollable and beautiful. The vision of the chimney view in my head is as vivid as it was while I was standing next to the blazing kiln.
I can't believe how much personal progress I made in ceramics last semester. I learned about a million things that I didn't know before, and I gained confidence in firing and I started to develop a style of my own beyond functionality of the pot. I experienced a lot of firsts as well... in ceramics and other things ;) I mixed my first glaze, I fired a gas test kiln, I joined the ceramic guild, helped out with the annual chili bowl sale, participated in the holiday sale, learned to use the log splitter solo, introduced salt/soda into firings, fired/babysat a (defective) soda kiln for almost 15 hours straight, taught other students how to mix clay, pulled a midnight-6am wood firing shift, made a big coil pot (pretty wide and almost 2 feet tall), went to Capital Ceramics, had to grind shelves from a bad glaze, showed a drawing in the studio gallery on campus, dated someone 10 years older than I am, stood up to a bully in a catty confrontation :), got a raise at work without asking for one, and... well... yeah. It was a good semester for charging forward. I remember how nervous I was before last semester began. I didn't know much about firing, and I was completely intimidated by the very idea of ever firing a kiln by myself. I was nervous about mixing glazes, and I was nervous of whether other people in the studio took me seriously. I was afraid that if I applied for BFA review last semester that I wouldn't make it in because I wasn't very technically experienced in the studio. I was afraid of almost everything. I didn't have much faith in myself, and every time I went to do something I felt like I was running into the dark or jumping into thin air. I had no idea where I would end up next or how I would accomplish the next task without somebody holding my hand-- somehow I made it. I did have a lot of help from an excellent teacher, but part of what made her such a great teacher was that once she taught us the basics and answered our stupid questions, she told us to just go and do what we needed to. She didn't "hold our hands". She expected us to try on our own, even if a glaze or firing or pot turned out like shit. It's the experiences of failure that helped me learn so much last semester. Believe me, I asked a LOT of stupid questions. I basically felt like an idiot until the last few days of the semester.
It will probably be the same way again next semester. Learning is thrilling because you never know what to do next until you have to. Learning comes from necessity... or curiosity :) Anyway, I have no idea what to expect in glaze calculation class. I know I will be making a million test tiles. I bought a new glaze book, but I bet Todd will expect us to formulate some of our own glazes from scratch-- that's where the fun part begins. For me, I might do what I do with cooking... a pinch of this, a pinch of that. Once I know the basic ratios in my favorite glazes and the right amount of colorant to put in, I will turn brownies into blueberry muffins :) I don't know how Dan will teach his classes, either. I have never had him as a teacher before, but I've heard that he is great, and patient. I am interested to see how it goes... and he is interested in more sculptural creative forms and the stuff I doodle in my sketchbook and on my pots. He seems almost the opposite of my last teacher for throwing class. I just hope I can stay on top of all three of my studio classes-- he seems to think I can.
Classes start Monday. I have been working at my summer job for the last couple of weeks. My boss has started calling me the Artist in Residence here. I'm not actually living at the store (although there is a living space upstairs), but I work there almost every day of the week and my pots are scattered throughout the store. Plus, my pots are the only ones there. Last summer my boss was talking about building a wood kiln by the store and adding another room onto the side of the store to turn into a pottery studio. He suggested that I could teach classes to people there, like a community life-span class. I think it's an amazing idea, but I don't know how to go about building a kiln and I don't have a functional pottery wheel or any regular kilns. It would be a big expensive project, but if he decides to get more serious about it, I will jump on board. For now, that's just a pipe dream.
I've been learning a lot at work as well. I learned how to make fresh ginger ale from scratch, make herbal salves, process herbal tinctures, make organic pumpkin muffins and sprouted wheat bread, how to separate whey from yogurt to use as a culture for the ginger ale, and probably a bunch of other little things... can't think of them right now :) but I am learning a lot this year already. I guess I shouldn't be so nervous about learning new things... they seem to work out all right.
I can't believe how much personal progress I made in ceramics last semester. I learned about a million things that I didn't know before, and I gained confidence in firing and I started to develop a style of my own beyond functionality of the pot. I experienced a lot of firsts as well... in ceramics and other things ;) I mixed my first glaze, I fired a gas test kiln, I joined the ceramic guild, helped out with the annual chili bowl sale, participated in the holiday sale, learned to use the log splitter solo, introduced salt/soda into firings, fired/babysat a (defective) soda kiln for almost 15 hours straight, taught other students how to mix clay, pulled a midnight-6am wood firing shift, made a big coil pot (pretty wide and almost 2 feet tall), went to Capital Ceramics, had to grind shelves from a bad glaze, showed a drawing in the studio gallery on campus, dated someone 10 years older than I am, stood up to a bully in a catty confrontation :), got a raise at work without asking for one, and... well... yeah. It was a good semester for charging forward. I remember how nervous I was before last semester began. I didn't know much about firing, and I was completely intimidated by the very idea of ever firing a kiln by myself. I was nervous about mixing glazes, and I was nervous of whether other people in the studio took me seriously. I was afraid that if I applied for BFA review last semester that I wouldn't make it in because I wasn't very technically experienced in the studio. I was afraid of almost everything. I didn't have much faith in myself, and every time I went to do something I felt like I was running into the dark or jumping into thin air. I had no idea where I would end up next or how I would accomplish the next task without somebody holding my hand-- somehow I made it. I did have a lot of help from an excellent teacher, but part of what made her such a great teacher was that once she taught us the basics and answered our stupid questions, she told us to just go and do what we needed to. She didn't "hold our hands". She expected us to try on our own, even if a glaze or firing or pot turned out like shit. It's the experiences of failure that helped me learn so much last semester. Believe me, I asked a LOT of stupid questions. I basically felt like an idiot until the last few days of the semester.
It will probably be the same way again next semester. Learning is thrilling because you never know what to do next until you have to. Learning comes from necessity... or curiosity :) Anyway, I have no idea what to expect in glaze calculation class. I know I will be making a million test tiles. I bought a new glaze book, but I bet Todd will expect us to formulate some of our own glazes from scratch-- that's where the fun part begins. For me, I might do what I do with cooking... a pinch of this, a pinch of that. Once I know the basic ratios in my favorite glazes and the right amount of colorant to put in, I will turn brownies into blueberry muffins :) I don't know how Dan will teach his classes, either. I have never had him as a teacher before, but I've heard that he is great, and patient. I am interested to see how it goes... and he is interested in more sculptural creative forms and the stuff I doodle in my sketchbook and on my pots. He seems almost the opposite of my last teacher for throwing class. I just hope I can stay on top of all three of my studio classes-- he seems to think I can.
Classes start Monday. I have been working at my summer job for the last couple of weeks. My boss has started calling me the Artist in Residence here. I'm not actually living at the store (although there is a living space upstairs), but I work there almost every day of the week and my pots are scattered throughout the store. Plus, my pots are the only ones there. Last summer my boss was talking about building a wood kiln by the store and adding another room onto the side of the store to turn into a pottery studio. He suggested that I could teach classes to people there, like a community life-span class. I think it's an amazing idea, but I don't know how to go about building a kiln and I don't have a functional pottery wheel or any regular kilns. It would be a big expensive project, but if he decides to get more serious about it, I will jump on board. For now, that's just a pipe dream.
I've been learning a lot at work as well. I learned how to make fresh ginger ale from scratch, make herbal salves, process herbal tinctures, make organic pumpkin muffins and sprouted wheat bread, how to separate whey from yogurt to use as a culture for the ginger ale, and probably a bunch of other little things... can't think of them right now :) but I am learning a lot this year already. I guess I shouldn't be so nervous about learning new things... they seem to work out all right.
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