Brinson's Race Barn by Lori_Buff

During a break in a recent workshop with Ryan McKearley I started painting on one of the Rustic Buildingplates. One of the workshop participants started watching what I was doing and admired the work. Then she asked “are you an artist or a potter?” What kind of question is that?
I threw the plate, so clearly that makes me a potter, but I’m also painting on the plate which would make me an artist. Maybe I’m a ceramic artist. I know some artists don’t include pottery as art, even though it is one of the oldest art forms. For some, it loses credibility as art because it is functional. On the other hand, we do raku, which is typically not functional.
I recently read Janet McGregor Dunn’s blog post about how she was treated by a fine artists group. They excluded her because the group does not consider pottery to be art, no matter how artistic her pottery. It doesn’t make sense to me. I think potters are artists and crafts people. However, some people reason that because potters don’t necessarily know what a piece is going to look like until it’s removed from the kiln, then they aren’t artists. Because we aren’t completely in control of the final product? Where it’s true that a potter also benefits from being a chemist, testing often lets us know fairly accurately how a piece should look when it’s complete. I could argue that thought often painters have an idea of what the painting will look like, many have expressed having issues determining when a painting is “done.” I would argue that there are many types of art where the end product is different from what the artist initially envisioned.
Ceramics are included in the definition of visual arts and visual arts are included in the humanities – that makes us all humanists. I wonder what types of questions that would raise when printed on a business card or used as the answer to the question “what do you do for a living?”
I don’t imagine I will be able to solve the debate in this article, or maybe ever in my life, so maybe we should think outside the box as my friend Gary Rosenberg suggests in his video about people grouping.

Syrup Shed Plate

Here’s another plate in this series.  This is a different view of the same syrup shed I painted a few weeks ago, this plate is a few inches larger at 11 inches.  I like painting the larger plates better as I can get more detail and show the vastness of the fields.  I’ve also been working with more low fire glazes and washes.  This plate uses a combination of colored slips (a.k.a. under glazes) and high fire glazes.  I really like this view and may do some variations.

Ryan McKerley demonstrates his technique

One of the reasons I enjoyed this workshop is because Ryan is very entertaining.  The workshop wasn’t filled with uproarious laughter but more of a genial smile and quite a few chuckles yet at the end of three days we had all discovered we had learned quite a bit.  Not just how to carve into clay using wax resist and water but different throwing techniques, some hand building and attaching processes, glazing tricks, how to design a and fire a salt/soda kiln, glaze recipes and even a little bit about the city of Austin, TX (where Ryan lives & works).

I highly recommend taking a workshop with Ryan, it’s very through, moves at a comfortable pace and is a good balance of hands on and lecture.  I also recommend picking up some of his pottery while it’s still affordable.  The Gallery at Mudfire almost sold out this weekend just from people who took the workshop.

Horse Hair Pot

I’m not trying to get all metaphysical or spiritual, with this idea, what I’m trying to say is that when we need something; we can often find it just by looking and knowing we will find it.  I think that’s a pretty good outlook to have.

Syrup Shed Plate

One of the buildings on the farm that attracts me is the old syrup shed.  It’s a few hundred years old and out of service so it’s not in pristine condition but the old bricks are still in place and the metal work, including the huge iron cauldron and gears are still there (albeit a bit rusty).  I’ve even found some of the old, empty syrup bottles in tact.  Being around the shed is a reminder of times long past; seeing it’s decline reminds me of our impermanence.  So I have created a plate with it’s image to save it for just another moment.

Teapot

hidden by plaster.  After many years the plaster stops sticking well and the brick, the foundation of the wall, starts revealing itself.  I’ve also been noticing what appears to be an increase in graffiti lately.  This has me thinking about the message people are painting on walls.  I’m not an advocate of defacing property but I have seen some graffiti that is really amazing.  The difference, in my opinion is tagging vs. urban art.  I can get into a big discussion about that but I’ll save it for another post.  It just got me thinking about what graffiti used to look like and what message I would like to present.  This teapot is just one example of the series in progress.

Ingredients

Fancy Mac & Cheese

• 4 cups Macaroni
• 8 Tablespoons Butter
• 2 whole Medium Onions, Cut In Half And Sliced Thin
• 1 package GimmeLean Sausage Substitute
• ¼ cups All-purpose Flour
• 2 cups Whole Or 2% Milk
• ½ cups Half & Half
• 2 whole Egg Yolks, Beaten
• Salt & Pepper (to Taste)
• ½ cups Grated Gruyere Cheese
• ½ cups Grated Fontina Cheese
• ½ cups Grated Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese
• 4 ounces, weight Chevre (soft Goat Cheese)

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cook macaroni for half the time of the package instructions. Drain and set aside.

Fry GimmeLean until slightly, but not overly, crispy. Drain on a paper towel.

Melt 4 tablespoons butter in a skillet and saute onions over medium-low heat for 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown and soft. Set aside.

In a pot, melt 4 tablespoons butter. Sprinkle in flour and whisk to combine. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium heat for 1 minute. Pour in milk and half & half, then cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until thick. Reduce heat to low. Add salt & pepper to taste. (Do not undersalt!)

Beat egg yolks and drizzle 1/4 cup hot mixture into the yolks, stirring constantly. Stir to combine. Pour egg mixture into sauce and cook for another minute.

Add cheeses and stir until melted. Add onions and soysage and stir. Taste for seasonings and add more salt if needed. Add cooked macaroni and stir to coat.

Pour into a baking dish and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until sizzling and hot.

When teaching new members how to clean up, Erik, one of the owners has said “think of this place as a state park; you want to leave it a little bit better than you found it.”  Not only is the studio very clean but, as is the state park, it is a place of wonder and joy and adult fun.  I don’t think I’ve ever been there when I’ve not heard laughter.  It’s like a playground for adults.

The other day I was trimming some pots on a wheel that was situated next to my friend Marci.  Marci is a woman filled with knowledge about art and wisdom about life and she is happy to share.  After many years of creating she is still always experimenting with glazes and slips, trying to get just the right effect.  Since we were both trimming I told her not to worry about sweeping the floor as I would do it when I swept up my scraps.  As I was sweeping Pete, who was sitting on my other side, started washing down the work bench, since he was doing his area he just continued on to my space also.  Nancy seemed to be done working at the same time and mopped around her wheel and Pete’s and I’m sure someone cleaned up something of Nancy’s while cleaning their own space.  I’ve worked in teams in offices and not seen such a display of teamwork and sharing.  It is a community and I love it. The world would be a better place if more communities functioned as such.

Whether or not you believe that global warming is a problem, or just a natural, cyclical part of life (on a grand scale), you have to admit that our planet is changing. I believe that the human race is contributing negatively to that change and possibly accelerating it exponentially.

As I write this I am sitting on my deck drinking my morning coffee in the sun in Atlanta, in mid-August and I am not overheating. The thin layer of sweat and humidity that normally covers one in the South during summer is missing. It is pleasantly cool. I am thankful for the beauty of this morning but I also know that it is a fluke due in part, to the changing of our environment.

One way that I try to lessen my impact on our natural world is by considering the effect of my actions on our planet. I’d love to think that only organic food grown by local farmers is cooked and served in my pottery, but I know that isn’t always realistic, even in my own house. However, I do support my local farms and I do try to buy organic foods.

When creating art, I often turn to nature for inspiration; using natural images and earthy colors, giving people another way to view nature. Hopefully, my art will lead others to be more thoughtful about the planet and our environment. I’d like for my art to serve as a continual reminder for what a beautiful and fragile place we inhabit.

Thank you.

A couple of years ago I worked a Dave Matthews Band concert in the park and had a wonderful time.  It’s really a great venue for 50,000 people to get together and enjoy some music.  I got to experience the concert for free by volunteering and although I did do quite a bit of work I also had quite a bit of fun.

If you can’t afford a concert ticket (and they are expensive these days), you love music or you just love to volunteer this type of work is highly recommended, one gets a different view of what goes into the making of a show.  This opportunity enables me to support the park, recycling and other green initiatives and enjoy the music of someone who I’ve enjoyed since I was young.  Who could ask for more?

At the time of this posting volunteers were still being sought.