Processing clay while I was waiting for the kiln to cool off...
9/4/2023
I hope everyone had a good long weekend. I am working in my studio everyday and I kind of had a meltdown after a full kiln load fired too hot–-which means I would need to spend even more time on the next glazing step and many of them were warped or bloated. It felt like so many weeks of work went down the drain…there’s one piece looking alright though! It's a bigger coil-built vessel with many layers of mountains on it. Took me weeks to make it. I knew I had to make something that night to pick myself up or just change my focus so I could move on. Based on the piece,I chose the color of the thread and the pine needles that would go well on it and I finished around 2 am. It felt good to eventually get something beautiful out of it. I think I am going to bring this baby with me to an art festival this weekend.
Last week I found out two of my ceramics pieces got selected in a local art exhibition! So glad that ceramic art can be shown alongside with other media. I also heard that the gallery ordered more new pedestals so they can show more sculpture pieces! I’ve been thinking of challenging myself by making a big wall piece though. I already made some local, wild clay for that and will get on it as soon as the art festival finishes.
We got a new-to-us pottery wheel. The old one I have is working alright but there’s something wrong with the bearing and it slows down when I center a bigger piece of clay. The new wheel has a stronger motor and it can turn in both directions so it will be nice to use that feature to experiment with some decoration methods. That wheel was covered by mice hairs and poopoo inside and out though… It took a long time to clean it up and align the parts and belt. but it seems to be working! So happy about this addition! ahh! and I also found a hopper spray gun in a garage sale! When I saw it, I was like “THAT IS MINE!!!” I would love to use it to spray glazes and clay slip!
After so many test tiles for my homemade ash glazes, I found a few with great potential for layering with each other and on non-ash glazes as well! The textures seem a lot dryer than I expected. I can make it run more and it just means I will need to make more test tiles. LOL. In ceramics, everything can go wrong so we have to test so many times but I guess it’s the fun part and if it gets fucked up, it’s just a test tile not a piece you’ve worked on for months!
I found a formula that works well for my yard clay and I will need to mix it with a pugmill after the electric wiring stuff gets done. I'm so excited about this and I can’t wait for the fall so I can work in my studio longer and not get cooked!
I hope everyone had a good long weekend. I am working in my studio everyday and I kind of had a meltdown after a full kiln load fired too hot–-which means I would need to spend even more time on the next glazing step and many of them were warped or bloated. It felt like so many weeks of work went down the drain…there’s one piece looking alright though! It's a bigger coil-built vessel with many layers of mountains on it. Took me weeks to make it. I knew I had to make something that night to pick myself up or just change my focus so I could move on. Based on the piece,I chose the color of the thread and the pine needles that would go well on it and I finished around 2 am. It felt good to eventually get something beautiful out of it. I think I am going to bring this baby with me to an art festival this weekend.
Last week I found out two of my ceramics pieces got selected in a local art exhibition! So glad that ceramic art can be shown alongside with other media. I also heard that the gallery ordered more new pedestals so they can show more sculpture pieces! I’ve been thinking of challenging myself by making a big wall piece though. I already made some local, wild clay for that and will get on it as soon as the art festival finishes.
We got a new-to-us pottery wheel. The old one I have is working alright but there’s something wrong with the bearing and it slows down when I center a bigger piece of clay. The new wheel has a stronger motor and it can turn in both directions so it will be nice to use that feature to experiment with some decoration methods. That wheel was covered by mice hairs and poopoo inside and out though… It took a long time to clean it up and align the parts and belt. but it seems to be working! So happy about this addition! ahh! and I also found a hopper spray gun in a garage sale! When I saw it, I was like “THAT IS MINE!!!” I would love to use it to spray glazes and clay slip!
After so many test tiles for my homemade ash glazes, I found a few with great potential for layering with each other and on non-ash glazes as well! The textures seem a lot dryer than I expected. I can make it run more and it just means I will need to make more test tiles. LOL. In ceramics, everything can go wrong so we have to test so many times but I guess it’s the fun part and if it gets fucked up, it’s just a test tile not a piece you’ve worked on for months!
I found a formula that works well for my yard clay and I will need to mix it with a pugmill after the electric wiring stuff gets done. I'm so excited about this and I can’t wait for the fall so I can work in my studio longer and not get cooked!
Ash glazes combo test tile. I brought the ashes back from Taiwan.
8/12/2023
So! I finally got a pug mill!
A potter who lives about 5 hrs away told me he’s selling a well-loved used pug mill so I went for it. To be honest, I was really nervous. It’s a big/heavy piece of equipment that can mix clay in large amounts along with a vacuum pump to de-air the clay. But for the sake of my not-so-strong back, it’s probably better to get it sooner than later! Processing local clay is something I see as a necessity in my future work and it’s labor intensive enough even with the help of a pug mill. I am currently playing with a couple different clays I harvested nearby with different ratios of additives. I can also fire the clay to different temperatures to get different results. The possibilities are endless! The potter who sold us the pug mill explained to us how to take it apart and do basic maintenance on this beast. Then he showed us his place with many beautiful pieces of handmade furniture (made by him!) and of course, pottery! Gorgeous works with beautiful glazes and excellent chattering technique! And some pieces have metal elements to them. His chattering work reminds me of woven baskets. It inspired me and after I came back home, I started to look for stuff that can create textures on pots! For the upcoming shows, I made some mixing bowls as a playground for trying this technique. It’s a lot of fun to just let go and get loose - that’s the tip to make it happen.
Just a day before picking up the pug mill, I did an installation of many of my functional pieces in a corner of our local visitor center. It included work such as mugs, vases, and small plates. I think I spent more time bubble wrapping and preparing them than the actual time installing them on the shelves. I had 3 boxes and had to make multiple trips LOL. Sigh, the fate of being a ceramics artist.
In July, we visited family for a nice weekend. We ate too much good food and enjoyed nice walks together. One of the special things we did was to go on a hike and look for pine needles! The ones we found are not as long as the longleaf pine around here, but they are still workable. It's more meaningful because of the location and the memory. I think I can use them to make Christmas gifts for the family. On my way home, security had to check my carry-on. Before she opened it, she asked me if there was anything sharp. I answered: “Yes, a lot of pine needles, be careful.”
7/10/2023
This weekend we visited Beaumont for the Gumbo ClayFest and it was a blast. It was a long drive for us, but totally worth it! I actually almost canceled this trip because I was so bummed after a seller sold his pugmill to somebody else before the time we agreed for pickup… but considering that sitting in my studio without a pugmill was not going to cheer me up either, we decided to go anyway. The Art Studio Inc hosted this event and invited several ceramics artists to work on the site so people could see what they were making and ask questions about their process. One of the wonderful surprises was that I met Patsy Cox. She’s the person who started the multicultural fellowship and that’s the reason why I had a chance to go to NCECA in 2019 and Women Working With Clay Symposium this year! Those events allowed me to meet so many other artists in person and absorb so much information about ceramics… those experiences really made me feel included in the ceramics community. I was so starstruck, I’m not sure I made any sense… Her Chinese is probably better than my English… She was working on many textured bowls for the studio fundraiser and because her wheel was at the studio entrance, she greeted everyone who came in and was interested in what kind of work everyone’s making. Then we met Tom Belden who was making a tall vase, throwing it in sections. He shared his color slip recipes with us! The ceramics community is so amazing. I don't know that other types of artists would be so open with their techniques and their formulas. Chris Leonard showed us his stamp collection and even gave us a piggy bank drawing! Steven Erickson was building sculptures from coils and he will use kiln wash on top of his glazes and grind later to show different layers underneath. John Eden was making many pieces of functional ware and told me about his outdoor paper clay sculptures and some places we have to go if we ever visit London. Gary Greenberg used a bowling ball to mold slabs. He knows a lot about wood firing theme parties, foil firing, and kiln building. Danielle Weigandt uses paperclay to create cubes that represent physical time. And she was making panels of works that are inspired by canyons and layers of sediment which are deposited over long periods of time. I also love her installation work about past trauma and using it to bring awareness and remove stigma for victims. Constant Albertson’s works are about storytelling, environmental issues, and social justice. Stephen Wolochowicz currently has his works showing in the gallery. They are a combination of industrial elements with giant bright colored bubbles. (He shared the information about the tool he used that does the same thing but costs less than 1/10 of the price if you would pay from a ceramic supply brand…) He brought a 3D pottery printing machine to show people how it operates. Greg Busceme, the director of this amazing place, showed us around and told us what he did to have this studio become the way it is now. We asked him how he started the empty bowls event in Beaumont and what it takes to keep this space running with great people and new blood. I wish I lived closer so I could visit every day! On Friday night, each artist gave a 10-minute talk and I loved to hear where they are from and what led them to make their current body of work. And of course in 10 minutes you can only show so much, so some of them were even kind enough to show me more of their work the next day. It was such a blessing to be here to meet these generous artists. I highly recommend this event to everyone.
This weekend we visited Beaumont for the Gumbo ClayFest and it was a blast. It was a long drive for us, but totally worth it! I actually almost canceled this trip because I was so bummed after a seller sold his pugmill to somebody else before the time we agreed for pickup… but considering that sitting in my studio without a pugmill was not going to cheer me up either, we decided to go anyway. The Art Studio Inc hosted this event and invited several ceramics artists to work on the site so people could see what they were making and ask questions about their process. One of the wonderful surprises was that I met Patsy Cox. She’s the person who started the multicultural fellowship and that’s the reason why I had a chance to go to NCECA in 2019 and Women Working With Clay Symposium this year! Those events allowed me to meet so many other artists in person and absorb so much information about ceramics… those experiences really made me feel included in the ceramics community. I was so starstruck, I’m not sure I made any sense… Her Chinese is probably better than my English… She was working on many textured bowls for the studio fundraiser and because her wheel was at the studio entrance, she greeted everyone who came in and was interested in what kind of work everyone’s making. Then we met Tom Belden who was making a tall vase, throwing it in sections. He shared his color slip recipes with us! The ceramics community is so amazing. I don't know that other types of artists would be so open with their techniques and their formulas. Chris Leonard showed us his stamp collection and even gave us a piggy bank drawing! Steven Erickson was building sculptures from coils and he will use kiln wash on top of his glazes and grind later to show different layers underneath. John Eden was making many pieces of functional ware and told me about his outdoor paper clay sculptures and some places we have to go if we ever visit London. Gary Greenberg used a bowling ball to mold slabs. He knows a lot about wood firing theme parties, foil firing, and kiln building. Danielle Weigandt uses paperclay to create cubes that represent physical time. And she was making panels of works that are inspired by canyons and layers of sediment which are deposited over long periods of time. I also love her installation work about past trauma and using it to bring awareness and remove stigma for victims. Constant Albertson’s works are about storytelling, environmental issues, and social justice. Stephen Wolochowicz currently has his works showing in the gallery. They are a combination of industrial elements with giant bright colored bubbles. (He shared the information about the tool he used that does the same thing but costs less than 1/10 of the price if you would pay from a ceramic supply brand…) He brought a 3D pottery printing machine to show people how it operates. Greg Busceme, the director of this amazing place, showed us around and told us what he did to have this studio become the way it is now. We asked him how he started the empty bowls event in Beaumont and what it takes to keep this space running with great people and new blood. I wish I lived closer so I could visit every day! On Friday night, each artist gave a 10-minute talk and I loved to hear where they are from and what led them to make their current body of work. And of course in 10 minutes you can only show so much, so some of them were even kind enough to show me more of their work the next day. It was such a blessing to be here to meet these generous artists. I highly recommend this event to everyone.
6/30/2023
Summer is brutal here! I wish Thanksgiving were tomorrow and Christmas season would be next week! Even though my studio is spray foam insulated, it’s still too hot to work in the afternoon… like 38 celsius hot (That’s 100.4 fahrenheit!). So I’ve been doing more weaving with pine needles lately (In the air-conditioned house). And I made a few fermentation jars this week so we can enjoy some cold vegetables in meals. They are only greenware right now, so I will share some pictures after they come out of the glaze firing.
I miss the trip to VA for the Women Working With Clay symposium… There’s something about that gathering that I know has changed me. I feel empowered after seeing many presenters from different cultures and backgrounds, showing the possibilities of making ceramics into a lifelong career. Also, because this symposium provides a more intimate environment, and attendees all eat and stay at the same places and conversations happen more easily and organically compared to other events with more crowded, busy settings. I love how they asked everyone to submit pictures of their work and we were able to talk about our work briefly in front of everybody. It’s a good way to quickly get to know other artists and also feel included in that wonderful group. At the end of the symposium, there was an art exchange and everyone got a small piece from another artist. The air in the room was just full of joy and excitement during the exchange. I am so appreciative of this event, providing a place for women like me to meet other female artists, learn more about their experiences, and see them as role models. There is something magical about women’s friendships. Maybe it’s the way we communicate, how we listen and support each other, or maybe we understand what other women probably went through. I know that I have made some lifelong friends because of the symposium.
Right after I came back from VA, I had a 2-day vendor event at a local restaurant. They have an open area with an outdoor stage behind the main building. We got the best spot because we were facing right onto the stage! (and pretty close to the parking lot, too. lol.) This restaurant is known for having great live music and good vibes. And great designs for all their decor and ad posters, etc. We attended the throwdown competition, which was a speed contest to produce a basic shape of a minimum size on a pottery wheel. Neither of us won our round but we had a lot of fun! They had a guitarist playing on stage at the same time to make the whole thing even more interesting! Clay told them my competition name is “The Iron Lily” and he played some Iron Maiden riffs when I was being introduced. Oh, and the host was hilarious too! I’m glad that I overcame my stage fright for less than 10 mins that day. We met 4 other potters that weekend and they all seemed really nice. I hope we can get together for a week or even just a weekend and throw hundreds of bowls so we can have an Empty Bowls event for our local community this year. We will see. 🙂
Summer is brutal here! I wish Thanksgiving were tomorrow and Christmas season would be next week! Even though my studio is spray foam insulated, it’s still too hot to work in the afternoon… like 38 celsius hot (That’s 100.4 fahrenheit!). So I’ve been doing more weaving with pine needles lately (In the air-conditioned house). And I made a few fermentation jars this week so we can enjoy some cold vegetables in meals. They are only greenware right now, so I will share some pictures after they come out of the glaze firing.
I miss the trip to VA for the Women Working With Clay symposium… There’s something about that gathering that I know has changed me. I feel empowered after seeing many presenters from different cultures and backgrounds, showing the possibilities of making ceramics into a lifelong career. Also, because this symposium provides a more intimate environment, and attendees all eat and stay at the same places and conversations happen more easily and organically compared to other events with more crowded, busy settings. I love how they asked everyone to submit pictures of their work and we were able to talk about our work briefly in front of everybody. It’s a good way to quickly get to know other artists and also feel included in that wonderful group. At the end of the symposium, there was an art exchange and everyone got a small piece from another artist. The air in the room was just full of joy and excitement during the exchange. I am so appreciative of this event, providing a place for women like me to meet other female artists, learn more about their experiences, and see them as role models. There is something magical about women’s friendships. Maybe it’s the way we communicate, how we listen and support each other, or maybe we understand what other women probably went through. I know that I have made some lifelong friends because of the symposium.
Right after I came back from VA, I had a 2-day vendor event at a local restaurant. They have an open area with an outdoor stage behind the main building. We got the best spot because we were facing right onto the stage! (and pretty close to the parking lot, too. lol.) This restaurant is known for having great live music and good vibes. And great designs for all their decor and ad posters, etc. We attended the throwdown competition, which was a speed contest to produce a basic shape of a minimum size on a pottery wheel. Neither of us won our round but we had a lot of fun! They had a guitarist playing on stage at the same time to make the whole thing even more interesting! Clay told them my competition name is “The Iron Lily” and he played some Iron Maiden riffs when I was being introduced. Oh, and the host was hilarious too! I’m glad that I overcame my stage fright for less than 10 mins that day. We met 4 other potters that weekend and they all seemed really nice. I hope we can get together for a week or even just a weekend and throw hundreds of bowls so we can have an Empty Bowls event for our local community this year. We will see. 🙂
The epic pottery throw down! (I'm the one with a hat.)
6/9/2023
It's hard to believe that I'm heading to Virginia again in a couple of days for a ceramics conference! The last time I was in Virginia when I went to Cub Creek Foundation for a summer ceramics residency in 2018. I'm super excited and nervous at the same time. The 4-day event will be filled with artists' demos, speeches, and ceramics exhibitions. I'm very grateful for getting a scholarship for the travel expenses and registration fees; otherwise, this trip would be impossible for me.
I just came back from Taiwan and that trip was very heartwarming. I got to spend time with family, old friends, and their newborn children, and nieces! BTW, There is a wood kiln just 15 mins away from my parents' place and my parents happen to know the kiln manager. So my dad hooked me up to fire some pieces right before my trip ended. I was there during most of the firing, and got to know different artists while they were stoking the kiln. It's interesting that each of them would bring their own tea cups and pot in a small custom-made bag to make their favorite tea and coffee through the 12 hour shift. The wood kiln fired 4-days and we waited a whole week for it to cool down. They unloaded the whole kiln on a Saturday morning and gave us time to look through everyone's work. We had a meeting where each person would come up to tell what happened and to address any issue came up during their shift. Although every firing is going to be different, like we potters all know..., it's still valuable information for future reference. The kiln manager suggested that we should find some local materials for making shino glazes together next time I come back. I'm so looking forward to that! I left 3 pieces with my parents that I combined with some pine needles that we collected together at the beginning of the trip. Just around the corner from my elementary school. I know my parents are not excited about my artist's income, but they definitely showed support to me while I asked for some strange help... (Like, "How can I get to fire a wood kiln in Taiwan?" and "Where can I find some long pine needle?")
I also collected some ashes from the wood kiln firebox. I'm planning to make some ash glaze tests soon. I will share some results for sure after a few weeks.
Last weekend I finally saw, in person, a recent piece of mine on display in a local gallery for the spring exhibition. They did a wonderful job displaying it! It's in a clear case with a mirror at the back, so it's protected, but people can see the piece from all sides. That made me so happy!
I have so many ideas I need to bring to life after the Virginia trip (probably will be even more after the conference...) and a pottery sale right after I return. Being a busy artist feels good. Thank you everyone for the support along the way.
It's hard to believe that I'm heading to Virginia again in a couple of days for a ceramics conference! The last time I was in Virginia when I went to Cub Creek Foundation for a summer ceramics residency in 2018. I'm super excited and nervous at the same time. The 4-day event will be filled with artists' demos, speeches, and ceramics exhibitions. I'm very grateful for getting a scholarship for the travel expenses and registration fees; otherwise, this trip would be impossible for me.
I just came back from Taiwan and that trip was very heartwarming. I got to spend time with family, old friends, and their newborn children, and nieces! BTW, There is a wood kiln just 15 mins away from my parents' place and my parents happen to know the kiln manager. So my dad hooked me up to fire some pieces right before my trip ended. I was there during most of the firing, and got to know different artists while they were stoking the kiln. It's interesting that each of them would bring their own tea cups and pot in a small custom-made bag to make their favorite tea and coffee through the 12 hour shift. The wood kiln fired 4-days and we waited a whole week for it to cool down. They unloaded the whole kiln on a Saturday morning and gave us time to look through everyone's work. We had a meeting where each person would come up to tell what happened and to address any issue came up during their shift. Although every firing is going to be different, like we potters all know..., it's still valuable information for future reference. The kiln manager suggested that we should find some local materials for making shino glazes together next time I come back. I'm so looking forward to that! I left 3 pieces with my parents that I combined with some pine needles that we collected together at the beginning of the trip. Just around the corner from my elementary school. I know my parents are not excited about my artist's income, but they definitely showed support to me while I asked for some strange help... (Like, "How can I get to fire a wood kiln in Taiwan?" and "Where can I find some long pine needle?")
I also collected some ashes from the wood kiln firebox. I'm planning to make some ash glaze tests soon. I will share some results for sure after a few weeks.
Last weekend I finally saw, in person, a recent piece of mine on display in a local gallery for the spring exhibition. They did a wonderful job displaying it! It's in a clear case with a mirror at the back, so it's protected, but people can see the piece from all sides. That made me so happy!
I have so many ideas I need to bring to life after the Virginia trip (probably will be even more after the conference...) and a pottery sale right after I return. Being a busy artist feels good. Thank you everyone for the support along the way.
4/9/2023
About a month ago, I saw a Facebook post giving away greenware and I went to get it. My idea was to reclaim the clay and use it to make new work. When we arrived, there was a whole shed of slip-cast greenware from all kinds of plaster molds. The family was so sweet and as we were loading the truck, the lady who made all the greenware kept giving me more and more finished pieces that she made and loved. She even gave me her paintbrushes. She told me that she can’t paint as much as before because of arthritis. She gave me the advice to enjoy it while I can. She had so much fun with pottery for so many years so it’s okay now that she passes all those items on to me to savor. I was just so moved. I was imagining one day I will have to say the same thing when I’m unable to do what I love and give my love away to another person, hoping all the materials will be used and make something new in another artist’s hand. She showed me the confidence and generosity I hope to have at her age.
Recently I have been incorporating local materials with ceramic pieces. The uncertainty during the process, when you are not sure what you are doing, is exciting. And in the end, when it finally feels right and all the components come together as (mostly) planned but with some surprises... Well the anticipation of that is what keeps me making late into the night. I’ve found people and stories along the way that I didn’t expect. What really has energized me and kept me going has been the many small surprises and the encouragement of new people I’ve met along the way. I don’t really have a name for these pieces yet even though people have been asking, but I will keep making them. I showed a few new pieces at the latest fair and got a lot of positive feedback. However, they are not for sale because they are the beginning of something I treasure at this point, maybe I will be able to let them go after I make more of this series down this road. I love working with things I can access around my home instead of clicking buttons to put them “in my cart”. For instance, a few months ago, we volunteered at the local Arbor Day tree planting, and after our assigned job was finished, I asked around, trying to locate longleaf pine trees in the area. We eventually got a name and a phone number then we visited the next day. The gentleman told us all about the history of local longleaf pine and showed us his amazing art collection made by local woodworkers, potter, and by himself. Meeting people who care about the same things that I do and exchanging experiences and pieces is wonderful. The result is evidence of a whole process that I feel is greater than the sum of its parts. Or maybe I am just too sentimental about all this…which I am okay with because that’s what makes me an artist.
Now I am finally in Taiwan again. Although the rush to finish packing (We had 2 shows in March which took the majority of my time and energy…) and doing taxes was not so fun (at all!), The really fun part before my flight home was that we went to a ceramic supply store and spend half of what I made in the latest fair on raw clay materials. And while we were there, I asked Conor about making my own clay body from the clay I dug from our yard and he gave us some good starting points. A nearby potter fired a test tile for me to reduction cone 10. I had already fired to cone 10 in my electric kiln before. 100% from our yard with no additives! It looks very dry and purple-ish. (See?! much more interesting than doing taxes.) I am so grateful to be with my family again for a while after 3 years. I am more than happy to do ordinary things with them such as trimming dead leaves from plants in the yard, taking an hour's walk to a park nearby, or going to have some sweet tofu with red beans and taro balls together. My parents do look older and shorter than what I remembered which scared me. 3 years. How many more times will I be able to go 3 years between being able to spend time with them? I need to enjoy all the great Taiwanese food with them while I can.
Besides spending time with family and food, I plan to visit the ceramics museum in Yingge as many times as I can during this trip. I promise to share it in my next blog. (This is the method I use to push myself to write more in case it’s not so obvious.)
Love
About a month ago, I saw a Facebook post giving away greenware and I went to get it. My idea was to reclaim the clay and use it to make new work. When we arrived, there was a whole shed of slip-cast greenware from all kinds of plaster molds. The family was so sweet and as we were loading the truck, the lady who made all the greenware kept giving me more and more finished pieces that she made and loved. She even gave me her paintbrushes. She told me that she can’t paint as much as before because of arthritis. She gave me the advice to enjoy it while I can. She had so much fun with pottery for so many years so it’s okay now that she passes all those items on to me to savor. I was just so moved. I was imagining one day I will have to say the same thing when I’m unable to do what I love and give my love away to another person, hoping all the materials will be used and make something new in another artist’s hand. She showed me the confidence and generosity I hope to have at her age.
Recently I have been incorporating local materials with ceramic pieces. The uncertainty during the process, when you are not sure what you are doing, is exciting. And in the end, when it finally feels right and all the components come together as (mostly) planned but with some surprises... Well the anticipation of that is what keeps me making late into the night. I’ve found people and stories along the way that I didn’t expect. What really has energized me and kept me going has been the many small surprises and the encouragement of new people I’ve met along the way. I don’t really have a name for these pieces yet even though people have been asking, but I will keep making them. I showed a few new pieces at the latest fair and got a lot of positive feedback. However, they are not for sale because they are the beginning of something I treasure at this point, maybe I will be able to let them go after I make more of this series down this road. I love working with things I can access around my home instead of clicking buttons to put them “in my cart”. For instance, a few months ago, we volunteered at the local Arbor Day tree planting, and after our assigned job was finished, I asked around, trying to locate longleaf pine trees in the area. We eventually got a name and a phone number then we visited the next day. The gentleman told us all about the history of local longleaf pine and showed us his amazing art collection made by local woodworkers, potter, and by himself. Meeting people who care about the same things that I do and exchanging experiences and pieces is wonderful. The result is evidence of a whole process that I feel is greater than the sum of its parts. Or maybe I am just too sentimental about all this…which I am okay with because that’s what makes me an artist.
Now I am finally in Taiwan again. Although the rush to finish packing (We had 2 shows in March which took the majority of my time and energy…) and doing taxes was not so fun (at all!), The really fun part before my flight home was that we went to a ceramic supply store and spend half of what I made in the latest fair on raw clay materials. And while we were there, I asked Conor about making my own clay body from the clay I dug from our yard and he gave us some good starting points. A nearby potter fired a test tile for me to reduction cone 10. I had already fired to cone 10 in my electric kiln before. 100% from our yard with no additives! It looks very dry and purple-ish. (See?! much more interesting than doing taxes.) I am so grateful to be with my family again for a while after 3 years. I am more than happy to do ordinary things with them such as trimming dead leaves from plants in the yard, taking an hour's walk to a park nearby, or going to have some sweet tofu with red beans and taro balls together. My parents do look older and shorter than what I remembered which scared me. 3 years. How many more times will I be able to go 3 years between being able to spend time with them? I need to enjoy all the great Taiwanese food with them while I can.
Besides spending time with family and food, I plan to visit the ceramics museum in Yingge as many times as I can during this trip. I promise to share it in my next blog. (This is the method I use to push myself to write more in case it’s not so obvious.)
Love
Watching fire at night is mesmerizing and comforting.
4/4/2022
Last week we attended our very first art and craft show and it was a blast! I was really nervous before and during the entire first day of the show. I am glad we got to meet so many other kind vendors selling handmade works at the show. We met and talked to more people than we have the entire time since we moved here. It’s encouraging to know there are people who like what I like to make and love it enough to want to use my work in their homes and support the business to keep it going. The little introvert in me was listening and taking notes about everything that happened during the event. I am going to use that to improve my next show. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
I met a ceramics artist/educator at a local artist meet-up event and she was kind enough to give me many useful tips about setting up my booth, and she lent me piles of old ceramic magazines that I am going to look through to make notes and to sketch. I am a total sucker for these things. Yes, I am a nerd. Also, she introduced me to other artists and told me some possible places to sell my work. She even visited us during the show and brought me coffee! I can’t describe how much I appreciate her. I am incredibly grateful to have met her at this crucial moment of starting my business. Thank you so much, Joan!
A few weeks ago we did a barrel firing and the outcome was better than I expected. I fired a total of 5 pieces and 3 came out very nicely. (I will re-fire the other two at a higher temperature.) I sealed them five days in a row, polishing them with bee wax, and was surprised to realize that they changed colors over time due to oxidation. They looked the darkest when we first got them out of the barrel and gradually showed more of the terra sig I applied underneath. The different materials that I put near the pieces created subtle, interesting patterns. I used red and yellow iron oxide, seaweed, fruit peels, seashells, candies, salt, eggshells, etc. I would love to try some more materials in the next firing like wildflowers and seeds!
Now that our first show is over, I can focus on making new work in my studio again. Please send me some ideas of what you would love to have in your home and maybe it will show up in the next show or my online shop. (I’m going to explore creating garlic jars, tall vases, and flower pots.) The kiln conversion is still going and we have got all the burners and materials we need for the project. (also for a raku kiln, oh yeah~)
3/11/2022
Since the last post, my studio has gained some more previously loved equipment. I am super grateful for those prior owners and feel lucky to be in the ceramics community here.
The most recent purchase was a BIG one. We got a 37 cubic foot gas kiln.
Since the day I saw it on Facebook marketplace, I had been anxious about figuring out how to move my new, big baby back home. We decided to make a trip the week before the actual moving day, just to see the kiln and the surrounding area to make sure the move would be possible and to give us a better idea on how to transport it as smoothly as possible. It was shocking to see how big it is with the hood. The owner/artist and her husband told us how they moved it in 10 years ago - just the two of them and some metal pipes. While the guys were discussing some technical strategies, she showed me her studio and her work which was in/around their home and gallery. I was just over the moon. There are collaborative works with other artists, a series of sculptures about extinct animal species, and trompe l'oeil ceramic books! It’s wonderful to meet people who live the life they want and who put in the work to obtain it. They had a confidence which you can only get from being bold, and learning from the experience.
We talked to Mike, an old friend back in Cali, and a local clay store owner here who have kiln-moving experience. In the end, we rented a double axle hydraulic trailer, a U-Haul truck, and a material lift. It seems so easy while I’m typing this, but figuring out where to rent was a difficult process. For example, I can’t rent a Home Depot truck and tow a trailer that I rent from somewhere else. But Home Depot doesn’t have the hydraulic ground-level trailer that we wanted, so we had to rent a truck from U-Haul. It ended up our U-Haul truck is more heavy duty than I thought. (10,000 lb towing capacity!) One thing to notice is to make sure the hitch is the right size. The trailer we rented requires to hook up to a truck that is ½ ton or bigger. So our original plan to use our tiny truck to get the trailer home then only rent the U-Haul on Saturday was quickly blown. We had to pick up the trailer on Friday afternoon and return on Monday because they are not open on the weekend. It’s just really more complicated than I thought, but hey, that’s like everything in life. We rented a material lift, planning to use it to hold then lower the hood after cutting away the supports. But we didn’t actually use it because they came up with a better idea to suspend it from the roof with rope.
We arrived at the site around 11 am and were done a little before 2 pm. They had a couple strong family members who came out to help. First, we filled up the interior with cardboard boxes and bubble wrap. (Our plan was to build some wooden braces but time ran out so we figured boxes should work just fine!) (Mike mentioned putting some exercise balls in the kiln which I think is clever. And since I’ve had a ball for almost forever, which I never actually used…) Then we cut the connecting supports between the kiln and the hood. They had already cut half of them and also cut off the top of the chimney, which really saved us some time. With support from the rope and bracing from a couple of 2X4s, the hood was lowered down to sit on top of the kiln. We put two 4X4s in between the hood and kiln to protect them from each other. They used a bump jack, lifted up the kiln, and rolled peeler cores that we got from Tractor Supply under the kiln. The five of us were able to start to roll the kiln, but couldn’t steer. They attached the cable hoist from their full-size truck to rotate the kiln on top of the cores. The hoist was super helpful since the angle was kind of tricky because of the width of the huge hood and a propane pipe next to the kiln. They ended up having to move the truck multiple times to get it to just the right angle and pull the kiln onto the trailer. I was the least helpful person in the group and I saw the husband teaching us how to do things the correct way. Such as how to cut metal, where to hook the chain, how to use a jack, etc. I’m amazed to see how patient he was under all this stress and after many hours of work. The final step is to chain down the 4 corners to the trailer and we used two 27ft ratcheting straps to secure the hood. (Btw, when you’re moving something this heavy, you can get a ticket if the load on your trailer is not chained down. Straps aren’t good enough. Glad we learned that lesson without getting a ticket.) Shortly after we got on the road, the hood shifted a little bit and the straps lost their anchors. One of them fell off completely as we were exiting the freeway. Luckily we were paying close attention and caught the shift immediately. We parked at a gas station near the end of the offramp and Clay ran back to pick up the strap. I can’t imagine what we would have done if we had completely lost the strap. We would have been stuck… We tilted the hood a little lower at the front to brace against the wind and it worked great. After driving about 140 miles slowly, We got home before dark which was a big success and which only happened because of the hard work of that couple and their family.
The next day we unloaded the kiln in the place we think is the best for it right now. A small car jack and the peeler cores worked their magic again! But we were just not strong enough to push the kiln off the trailer. So we chained two corners of the kiln to posts on our carport and slowly pulled the trailer forward, stopping to adjust every few inches. Then we used our tiny truck. We backed it upright against the kiln, with the bumper against the kiln door, to push the kiln to the exact spot. Finally! Hooray! (Almost as soon as we finished that, we saw our kind neighbor diving by, hauling his Bobcat to give us a hand moving the kiln. lol.) At that point, I was glad that we rented the truck and trailer for the whole weekend because there’s no way all the work would have been finished in one day. Very interesting how things just worked out the best way even though it was not what we thought we wanted in the first place.
There is still work that needs to be done before we can fire up this kiln. But now I’m trying to focus on the artist market coming up in a few weeks. And after that will be the electric kiln conversion projects and building a raku kiln. As much as I am excited about getting my own big gas kiln, I still would like to explore some alternative ways of firing because of the lower costs and better accessibility. I’m fortunate enough to have the option to explore with mostly pre-owned equipment and materials. And hopefully, as I go down my own path with the help of other peoples’ experiences, I can share my trials and errors here. Just like now. Hopefully this will help someone someday if they know how we moved a kiln.
Since the last post, my studio has gained some more previously loved equipment. I am super grateful for those prior owners and feel lucky to be in the ceramics community here.
The most recent purchase was a BIG one. We got a 37 cubic foot gas kiln.
Since the day I saw it on Facebook marketplace, I had been anxious about figuring out how to move my new, big baby back home. We decided to make a trip the week before the actual moving day, just to see the kiln and the surrounding area to make sure the move would be possible and to give us a better idea on how to transport it as smoothly as possible. It was shocking to see how big it is with the hood. The owner/artist and her husband told us how they moved it in 10 years ago - just the two of them and some metal pipes. While the guys were discussing some technical strategies, she showed me her studio and her work which was in/around their home and gallery. I was just over the moon. There are collaborative works with other artists, a series of sculptures about extinct animal species, and trompe l'oeil ceramic books! It’s wonderful to meet people who live the life they want and who put in the work to obtain it. They had a confidence which you can only get from being bold, and learning from the experience.
We talked to Mike, an old friend back in Cali, and a local clay store owner here who have kiln-moving experience. In the end, we rented a double axle hydraulic trailer, a U-Haul truck, and a material lift. It seems so easy while I’m typing this, but figuring out where to rent was a difficult process. For example, I can’t rent a Home Depot truck and tow a trailer that I rent from somewhere else. But Home Depot doesn’t have the hydraulic ground-level trailer that we wanted, so we had to rent a truck from U-Haul. It ended up our U-Haul truck is more heavy duty than I thought. (10,000 lb towing capacity!) One thing to notice is to make sure the hitch is the right size. The trailer we rented requires to hook up to a truck that is ½ ton or bigger. So our original plan to use our tiny truck to get the trailer home then only rent the U-Haul on Saturday was quickly blown. We had to pick up the trailer on Friday afternoon and return on Monday because they are not open on the weekend. It’s just really more complicated than I thought, but hey, that’s like everything in life. We rented a material lift, planning to use it to hold then lower the hood after cutting away the supports. But we didn’t actually use it because they came up with a better idea to suspend it from the roof with rope.
We arrived at the site around 11 am and were done a little before 2 pm. They had a couple strong family members who came out to help. First, we filled up the interior with cardboard boxes and bubble wrap. (Our plan was to build some wooden braces but time ran out so we figured boxes should work just fine!) (Mike mentioned putting some exercise balls in the kiln which I think is clever. And since I’ve had a ball for almost forever, which I never actually used…) Then we cut the connecting supports between the kiln and the hood. They had already cut half of them and also cut off the top of the chimney, which really saved us some time. With support from the rope and bracing from a couple of 2X4s, the hood was lowered down to sit on top of the kiln. We put two 4X4s in between the hood and kiln to protect them from each other. They used a bump jack, lifted up the kiln, and rolled peeler cores that we got from Tractor Supply under the kiln. The five of us were able to start to roll the kiln, but couldn’t steer. They attached the cable hoist from their full-size truck to rotate the kiln on top of the cores. The hoist was super helpful since the angle was kind of tricky because of the width of the huge hood and a propane pipe next to the kiln. They ended up having to move the truck multiple times to get it to just the right angle and pull the kiln onto the trailer. I was the least helpful person in the group and I saw the husband teaching us how to do things the correct way. Such as how to cut metal, where to hook the chain, how to use a jack, etc. I’m amazed to see how patient he was under all this stress and after many hours of work. The final step is to chain down the 4 corners to the trailer and we used two 27ft ratcheting straps to secure the hood. (Btw, when you’re moving something this heavy, you can get a ticket if the load on your trailer is not chained down. Straps aren’t good enough. Glad we learned that lesson without getting a ticket.) Shortly after we got on the road, the hood shifted a little bit and the straps lost their anchors. One of them fell off completely as we were exiting the freeway. Luckily we were paying close attention and caught the shift immediately. We parked at a gas station near the end of the offramp and Clay ran back to pick up the strap. I can’t imagine what we would have done if we had completely lost the strap. We would have been stuck… We tilted the hood a little lower at the front to brace against the wind and it worked great. After driving about 140 miles slowly, We got home before dark which was a big success and which only happened because of the hard work of that couple and their family.
The next day we unloaded the kiln in the place we think is the best for it right now. A small car jack and the peeler cores worked their magic again! But we were just not strong enough to push the kiln off the trailer. So we chained two corners of the kiln to posts on our carport and slowly pulled the trailer forward, stopping to adjust every few inches. Then we used our tiny truck. We backed it upright against the kiln, with the bumper against the kiln door, to push the kiln to the exact spot. Finally! Hooray! (Almost as soon as we finished that, we saw our kind neighbor diving by, hauling his Bobcat to give us a hand moving the kiln. lol.) At that point, I was glad that we rented the truck and trailer for the whole weekend because there’s no way all the work would have been finished in one day. Very interesting how things just worked out the best way even though it was not what we thought we wanted in the first place.
There is still work that needs to be done before we can fire up this kiln. But now I’m trying to focus on the artist market coming up in a few weeks. And after that will be the electric kiln conversion projects and building a raku kiln. As much as I am excited about getting my own big gas kiln, I still would like to explore some alternative ways of firing because of the lower costs and better accessibility. I’m fortunate enough to have the option to explore with mostly pre-owned equipment and materials. And hopefully, as I go down my own path with the help of other peoples’ experiences, I can share my trials and errors here. Just like now. Hopefully this will help someone someday if they know how we moved a kiln.
My new favorite mug.
1/26/2022
It has been a long time since the last blog. A lot of big changes happened in our lives. We moved away from California and finally became homeowners last year. One of the reasons that made us move is so that I could finally have a real studio space to make a mess.
It was still hard to leave so many good memories. Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to say goodbye to many people because of covid. Even for those family and friends, we got to meet in person, it was just not easy.
After months of being here, I finally got to fire the little old Cress kiln that I bought so many years ago that I dared not to plugin when I was still living in a small apartment in Cali. Yesterday I moved some raw materials onto the new shelves that hubby built on the already-existing table in the studio. Nothing is perfect, but I'm super grateful that we got to where we are today. We both had some health emergencies in the past couple of years. That experience taught me to do what I want to do as soon as possible, and spend time with the people who I care about. Because we just don't know what will happen. And! DO THE WORK to enhance our health on the daily basis.
In a couple of months, I will have my first artist market vendor experience. I already paid the fee and rented a table to prevent myself from backing out or having cold feet. I will also set up an online store soon. Most of the pieces are functional ware that I do sgraffito or slip trailing. I wish I were not a slow maker but it's just my nature. I can't rush anything or I will mess up the pieces and myself......Also, the point of making something and going through everything is to enjoy the process-at least for me. Hopefully, after we have a high-fire propane kiln it will speed up the process a tiny bit. Also excited to do some alternative firing such as soda and raku. (We scored some kilns a few weeks ago from a sweet couple and we are researching how to convert them.) I will definitely share more details about that in the next blog.
The progress of our home and studio innovation is super slow. However, it's probably a good thing, so we know what we need and what are just "wants". Btw, I share some tips about having handmade functional pottery in a home with Redfin blog readers. (Here is the link). Backsplash and fireplace tiles are on my to-do list with the home remodel but I'm not in a rush with all the other projects before them. ;)
It has been a long time since the last blog. A lot of big changes happened in our lives. We moved away from California and finally became homeowners last year. One of the reasons that made us move is so that I could finally have a real studio space to make a mess.
It was still hard to leave so many good memories. Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to say goodbye to many people because of covid. Even for those family and friends, we got to meet in person, it was just not easy.
After months of being here, I finally got to fire the little old Cress kiln that I bought so many years ago that I dared not to plugin when I was still living in a small apartment in Cali. Yesterday I moved some raw materials onto the new shelves that hubby built on the already-existing table in the studio. Nothing is perfect, but I'm super grateful that we got to where we are today. We both had some health emergencies in the past couple of years. That experience taught me to do what I want to do as soon as possible, and spend time with the people who I care about. Because we just don't know what will happen. And! DO THE WORK to enhance our health on the daily basis.
In a couple of months, I will have my first artist market vendor experience. I already paid the fee and rented a table to prevent myself from backing out or having cold feet. I will also set up an online store soon. Most of the pieces are functional ware that I do sgraffito or slip trailing. I wish I were not a slow maker but it's just my nature. I can't rush anything or I will mess up the pieces and myself......Also, the point of making something and going through everything is to enjoy the process-at least for me. Hopefully, after we have a high-fire propane kiln it will speed up the process a tiny bit. Also excited to do some alternative firing such as soda and raku. (We scored some kilns a few weeks ago from a sweet couple and we are researching how to convert them.) I will definitely share more details about that in the next blog.
The progress of our home and studio innovation is super slow. However, it's probably a good thing, so we know what we need and what are just "wants". Btw, I share some tips about having handmade functional pottery in a home with Redfin blog readers. (Here is the link). Backsplash and fireplace tiles are on my to-do list with the home remodel but I'm not in a rush with all the other projects before them. ;)
Those bowls are going to Lompoc empty bowls event in late March.
3/8/2020
I bought a used pottery wheel! WOOHOO! The search was a very long process. In most cases, the prices were never in my range. For some I was just too slow, or the wheels seemed really old and I didn’t recognize the manufacturers. I just want to make sure that if one day my wheel gets issues, I can find parts to repair it. Because who knows when I will get another used wheel?! Anyway, I finally got my Brent wheel and I think it's worth the 3 and a half hour drive each way (I’d never heard of Strathmore, CA!). The seller was really kind and down to earth. He had a great energy! And I could tell he’s a really good son and father.
He said he bought two broken wheels from somebody and took them apart, cleaned everything, and also adjusted the pedal on the wheel that I bought. Turned out they both were fine. Just needed some TLC. I need that skill! He’s keeping the other wheel since he and his wife would love to get back to throwing. That made me so happy.
On my way home I stopped by a thrift store and scored a five buck bamboo stool. 18 inches tall and it’s just perfect for me. I don’t have a splash pan yet but I read that a rubber feed pan from a farm supply store can be turned into a splash pan. That’s going to be my next task!
My apartment is still a mess but I have a feeling that it will probably be like this no matter how hard I try... So I better just get to doing what I want to do! Now the wheel is sitting next to my bed that I seldom sleep on because I just pass out on the couch almost every night. But I will soon find a better spot for it. Maybe in the bathroom? Haha
For some reason, I really really want a space to work indepently. I appreciate the communal studios and that's where I started first. I met so many amazing people there and learned so much from them. However, there are also downsides about making work in a shared studio. As an introvert, it’s hard to focus on working while people are chatting around me. And I want some privacy to explore without answering people’s questions. I tried putting on headphones at max volume and I tried to work in an unpopular spot outside but I wasn’t able to get to be alone with my thoughts. I am not blaming anyone because I know it’s just what’s going to happen in a shared studio. People are just being who they are and there’s nothing wrong with that. I just need to find a solution so I can be more focused and make work and get things done. But there are downsides about working solo, too. Like, getting too comfortable or eating too many snacks, extra expenses for setting up a studio and renting a space, etc. If i set up a studio at home for sure I will get distracted by other chores (eg: “hmm the bananas seem really ripe, I should make some banana muffins RIGHT NOW!”). Life is never perfect. I need to keep working with what it gives me, no matter what.
When everyone, including myself, is panicking about corona virus I realized pottery can really save lives! You know, when you have to wash your hands a hundred times a day working or cleaning in the studio, you’re following the advice to prevent infection. I don’t think I have any travel plans for this summer because of the virus and also the uncertainty about my citizenship status. Hopefully I can keep making ceramics without too many distractions! Or at least I can make my apartment more tidy even if it’s just for a short period of time.
I bought a used pottery wheel! WOOHOO! The search was a very long process. In most cases, the prices were never in my range. For some I was just too slow, or the wheels seemed really old and I didn’t recognize the manufacturers. I just want to make sure that if one day my wheel gets issues, I can find parts to repair it. Because who knows when I will get another used wheel?! Anyway, I finally got my Brent wheel and I think it's worth the 3 and a half hour drive each way (I’d never heard of Strathmore, CA!). The seller was really kind and down to earth. He had a great energy! And I could tell he’s a really good son and father.
He said he bought two broken wheels from somebody and took them apart, cleaned everything, and also adjusted the pedal on the wheel that I bought. Turned out they both were fine. Just needed some TLC. I need that skill! He’s keeping the other wheel since he and his wife would love to get back to throwing. That made me so happy.
On my way home I stopped by a thrift store and scored a five buck bamboo stool. 18 inches tall and it’s just perfect for me. I don’t have a splash pan yet but I read that a rubber feed pan from a farm supply store can be turned into a splash pan. That’s going to be my next task!
My apartment is still a mess but I have a feeling that it will probably be like this no matter how hard I try... So I better just get to doing what I want to do! Now the wheel is sitting next to my bed that I seldom sleep on because I just pass out on the couch almost every night. But I will soon find a better spot for it. Maybe in the bathroom? Haha
For some reason, I really really want a space to work indepently. I appreciate the communal studios and that's where I started first. I met so many amazing people there and learned so much from them. However, there are also downsides about making work in a shared studio. As an introvert, it’s hard to focus on working while people are chatting around me. And I want some privacy to explore without answering people’s questions. I tried putting on headphones at max volume and I tried to work in an unpopular spot outside but I wasn’t able to get to be alone with my thoughts. I am not blaming anyone because I know it’s just what’s going to happen in a shared studio. People are just being who they are and there’s nothing wrong with that. I just need to find a solution so I can be more focused and make work and get things done. But there are downsides about working solo, too. Like, getting too comfortable or eating too many snacks, extra expenses for setting up a studio and renting a space, etc. If i set up a studio at home for sure I will get distracted by other chores (eg: “hmm the bananas seem really ripe, I should make some banana muffins RIGHT NOW!”). Life is never perfect. I need to keep working with what it gives me, no matter what.
When everyone, including myself, is panicking about corona virus I realized pottery can really save lives! You know, when you have to wash your hands a hundred times a day working or cleaning in the studio, you’re following the advice to prevent infection. I don’t think I have any travel plans for this summer because of the virus and also the uncertainty about my citizenship status. Hopefully I can keep making ceramics without too many distractions! Or at least I can make my apartment more tidy even if it’s just for a short period of time.
In Hsu Yung Hsu's studio in Taiwan.
8/14/2019
Summer vacation is almost over and I can’t wait to get back to work in a studio again.
After I moved out from my huge, used-to-be-a-doctor’s-office apartment in Philly, time flew by really fast. First, home to California for a week, then Vietnam for a week, then Taiwan, then China for two weeks, then back to Taiwan again. Now I’m finally home in California. I’m not completely in the time zone yet though…
Those trips took me away from studio but also brought me back in mind constantly, which I really needed. I used to travel a lot, all alone with Lonely Planet in my early twenties. I did that to prove “I am independent!” Now I know that we all rely on some people in some way, no matter where we are. Experiences are the best when people exchange kindness. When we don’t have to, but we choose to, not expecting anything in return. It seems so rare because I feel most of people are making decisions based on “What can I get from this person?” instead of “What can I do for this person?” And because it’s so rare, it makes me appreciate even more when I meet the second kind of person.
I was in Jingdezhen, China for a little over a week after I spent a few days in Shanghai with a dear friend. The fact that I understand Chinese definitely helped. Because of the Great Firewall of China, Google Maps is not an option and the local map app it is not always correct. Taxis are not too expensive but the bus is only 2 RMB which is about 30 cents. The other common option is a small electric car which is really more like a cart build on a motorbike. But you really have to haggle. And you lose your bargaining power if you only speak English. Before I went there, I was hoping I could work in a studio for at least a little bit. But I really couldn’t bring myself to pay over 100 dollars per day to work in one of the fancy air-conditioned studios for 2 weeks. And also there are many ancient sites I really wanted to see in person. I only had a week, so I just went to a touristy studio for one day. I didn’t really go there to learn how to throw a vase. I really just went there to talk to a person who has lived in the Jingdezhen ceramics industry. My instructor looked about 10 years younger than me. He is not from Jingdezhen, but he moved there alone to join a ceramics club for about 3 months and he became an instructor. His boss was a little arrogant when he saw I threw on the wheel in what he called “The western way,” AKA “The wrong way” in his opinion. My instructor had gone to the “Ghost Market” at 3 AM that day to buy fragments of antique ceramics. However, no vendors really showed up until 6. He didn’t buy anything because it’s just so hard to tell if the pieces are authentic or reproductions. Some vendors know how to make things look very old. At the end of my time there, he gave me a small light green glazed vase as a gift and showed me how to get to the street of infinite ceramic supplies. Seriously, they sell everything that you can think of for making ceramics. I visited two major glaze stores and it was amazing. I may have been a little too excited. They sell glazes by weight. In the sample room I chose what glaze I wanted and told the cashier my decisions. The cashier printed out a tag with the glaze name and the quantity, then stuck the tag on a worker’s arm. That worker went into another room and packaged the glaze in a recycle water bottle, then gave it to me. A bottle is usually about 7RMB which is about 1 dollar. Crazy! It all seems wonderful, but the problem is the glaze does not always match the test tiles. I overheard a guy complaining to the glaze store owner and then she promised to make the glaze just for him for free. Just like that, problem solved when you know how to make glazes~
I was lucky to see Shingo Takeuchi’s exhibition at the pottery workshop. At first the gallery wasn’t open so I stuck my face on the glass door trying to check out his pieces. I was worried that I looked kinda creepy. Then a girl who worked there saw me and kindly let me in. She also told me about the artist’s process and about the studio. The very last day in Jingdezhen, I made it to Sanbao art village. I was going to check out their museum but no one was there during the open hours. There was a mother with a daughter waiting to get in the museum as well. We waited about an hour. Finally a girl who appeared to be an employee showed up on a scooter. She gave a story about Jason asking her to do something somewhere else. She couldn’t let us in even for 5 min. Which made us really disappointed, especially considering how far the studio is outside of the town. The lady with a daughter was kind enough to let me share a taxi because my phone couldn’t run the right app, due to Chinese restrictions. I shared my experiences and I told her what places she might like to see when we got to town. I tried to share the cost of the taxi but she insisted on paying the fare herself.
After I went back to Taiwan, I got an unbelievable opportunity to meet my ceramics idol Hsu Yung Hsu in his giant studio in Tainan. The first time I saw his work my mind was completely blown. It was a dream come true when he showed me his installation, shipping system and his giant kilns. He and his team are constantly trying to make the system better and easier for the installation crew. He also told me about how he started to make ceramics and what challenges he faced on this path. His work ethic is unparalleled and I was completed floored when I saw how many things are going on in his studio. He told me that he really doesn’t like it when people say that ceramics is just “playing with clay.” I guess it’s because he puts so much time, energy, and thought into his work and many people depend on his career, he treats the art form very seriously. It’s not just a hobby and it’s not always joyful. He’s not just playing around. It was very inspired to hear him say that to me in person. We talked about making the clay that would best serve the piece and vice versa. He told me what he had to do to make sure the clay he makes is strong enough. I feel extremely grateful that he was willing to spend a few hours to share some of his experiences, insights and knowledge with me. He gave me more courage to keep making.
About a month ago I got a good news that my “Dream Dress” piece was accepted into a national competition show at the Kellogg art gallery on the Cal Poly campus in Pomona, CA. The show is called Ink and Clay 44, and displays ceramic and printed art. The show will be up from August 22, 2019 until November 21, 2019. The reception will be on September 7 from 2 to 5 PM. If anyone happens to be in that area, and if you happen to love ceramics or printmaking, go check it out. If I conquer my fear of making small talk with strangers at the last minute I might go to the reception. *fingers crossed* Link
Got to hang out with Casey and Rachel~ the artists I met at the Cub Creek residency.
4/7/2019
My first NCECA Experience- It was a week ago but it still feels so surreal.
There were so many lectures to listen to, so many artists I never imagined I'd be able to talk to, so many demos to watch, and of course so many ceramics arts to appreciate. It is amazing how much was able to be crammed into just 4 days. Many of those moments will stay with me for a long time.
I am very grateful to NCECA for awarding me the multicultural fellowship and for enabling me to meet so many ceramics artists from all around the world in the people of color artists gathering. It meant a lot to feel the support of this community and to know that I am not alone.
We were so lucky that Minneapolis was not as cold as usual during the NCECA week, it made the gallery hunting a little easier. I went to 5 ceramic art shows in one night. With all the nice clay people I met that night, it was a great adventure for me. And we still couldn’t see all the shows that we heard are great. But we all tried our best!
The thing I appreciated the most during the NCECA was the feeling of sharing and guidance from the people who are already farther into this wonderful journey than me. People who are making great work and have already overcome the difficulties that I am dealing with right now. Those kind people made me believe that I can be better. They inspired me to pay it forward when I am in their shoes and can do the same for other people in 10 or 20 years.
In Tony Marsh’s closing lecture, his honesty about how he felt after the 3 years in Japan as an apprentice touched me deeply. He mentioned he clearly knew that he didn't want to become a Japanese potter when he came back to the United States. That awareness and courage is a very valuable inspiration for artists and, really, for anyone. It takes guts to be honest to oneself and to take the hard, but the correct path. This is the kind of lesson that is difficult to learn. Thinking of myself, I’m studying in a foreign country, and in a city where I don’t feel I belong. How do I really feel about how my current experience can positively shape and inform me as an artist? What did I learn here? And where will be a place that I can build my community? The lecture inspired me to ask myself many questions. Only I can answer them and make the decisions and build the future that's right for me.
I am going back to California next month and will be back to Taiwan for a while. And I am also planing to visit Jingdezhen for a week or two. Please let me know if any of you guys know a studio I should visit or an artist I should meet. I always feel I know nothing.
My first NCECA Experience- It was a week ago but it still feels so surreal.
There were so many lectures to listen to, so many artists I never imagined I'd be able to talk to, so many demos to watch, and of course so many ceramics arts to appreciate. It is amazing how much was able to be crammed into just 4 days. Many of those moments will stay with me for a long time.
I am very grateful to NCECA for awarding me the multicultural fellowship and for enabling me to meet so many ceramics artists from all around the world in the people of color artists gathering. It meant a lot to feel the support of this community and to know that I am not alone.
We were so lucky that Minneapolis was not as cold as usual during the NCECA week, it made the gallery hunting a little easier. I went to 5 ceramic art shows in one night. With all the nice clay people I met that night, it was a great adventure for me. And we still couldn’t see all the shows that we heard are great. But we all tried our best!
The thing I appreciated the most during the NCECA was the feeling of sharing and guidance from the people who are already farther into this wonderful journey than me. People who are making great work and have already overcome the difficulties that I am dealing with right now. Those kind people made me believe that I can be better. They inspired me to pay it forward when I am in their shoes and can do the same for other people in 10 or 20 years.
In Tony Marsh’s closing lecture, his honesty about how he felt after the 3 years in Japan as an apprentice touched me deeply. He mentioned he clearly knew that he didn't want to become a Japanese potter when he came back to the United States. That awareness and courage is a very valuable inspiration for artists and, really, for anyone. It takes guts to be honest to oneself and to take the hard, but the correct path. This is the kind of lesson that is difficult to learn. Thinking of myself, I’m studying in a foreign country, and in a city where I don’t feel I belong. How do I really feel about how my current experience can positively shape and inform me as an artist? What did I learn here? And where will be a place that I can build my community? The lecture inspired me to ask myself many questions. Only I can answer them and make the decisions and build the future that's right for me.
I am going back to California next month and will be back to Taiwan for a while. And I am also planing to visit Jingdezhen for a week or two. Please let me know if any of you guys know a studio I should visit or an artist I should meet. I always feel I know nothing.
My first figure sculpture~
2/4/2019
Today is Chinese New Year’s Eve. Living alone in Philly almost made me forget about this until my friends back in Taiwan sent me well wishes for the new year. I asked my mom what she’s going to cook for the big dinner and it suddenly made me really miss home. It was 4 years ago that I last got to spend the new year with them. Another reason why I miss home is that the Taiwan Ceramics Biennale-The Humanistic Return is happening there right now! Showing amazing works from around the world and also featuring Taiwanese artists. They're even including the pieces that inspired me to make ceramics sculpture (particularly, a Japanese artist- Ayumi Shigematsu). I really wish I could see those works in person…
I am doing my best to enjoy the city before this semester ends, and just trying to do things at my own pace and take good care of myself. I’m taking figure sculpture, ceramics materials, advanced ceramics, and a weaving class this semester. I’m just so glad I have a chance to try some new things. Just being in the moment while making and feeling the joy is the most important thing to me right now.
2 weeks ago I attended an artist talk by Antony Gormley. I had some great conversations with some strangers over a few drinks before it started. It’s just a surreal high point of my life while seeing the artist talking about his work Field, which includes over 200,000 clay figures made by various communities and arranged to completely fill a space and look out at the viewers. After watching some more videos about him on youtube, I believe that great work has to start from personal experiences. This is necessary for people to feel the atmosphere and space, and to lead the viewers to ask questions about life.
Last weekend I went to The Clay Studio to listen to their resident artist talk. Each artist did a short presentation and told us what interests them and what experiences that shape their work. They have a very strong community and it takes a lot to form it. I hope I will have the chance to come back to join at some point in my life after I have my MFA. (Which I’m so anxious about right now. I don’t even want to talk about it!)
Professor Charlie Cunningham did a clay sculpture demo of me for Philadelphia CraftNow event.
1/13/2019
I can’t believe that my last semester at Tyler starts tomorrow! I spent my winter break back in Cali and it was mostly sunny and there was a lot of food involved. I ate at least one piece of pie everyday. Pumpkin and Pecan pie are my favorite! Grad school applications took a lot of time (and $). Many of my professors were super helpful and nice enough to write recommendation letters for me during the break. The process took a lot of patience. By the time I sent out all the applications, I had “accidentally” memorized the dimensions of almost all of my pieces. Many of my old friends were sweet enough to let me meet them and share what they’ve been doing. And I tried my best to visit some schools in the area before I flew back to Philly again. No matter where I end up going for my future, I appreciate all the experiences and the kind people I met.
Since many people posted a 2018 reflection on instagram at the end of last year, I figure I would do a much later version, too. It’s better late than never:
In 2018, I learned that life is so unexpected and we have to cherish the people we love while they are still around.
I learned that sometimes even when I try my hardest, I can’t make everyone like me, so it’s better to just be who I am.
I learned that the people who understand, support, and are passionate for what I make are so precious. They are treasures and I hope nobody ever takes them for granted. (And I hope they don't feel that I take them for granted).
I learned that I really hate bugs and wasps. I don’t see any chance that I might change about that fact.
I learned that being a live model is so fun and incredibly awkward at the same time. Though maybe the awkward part would fade away if I got to do it more than one time. And it’s super cool to see my face came out from a big chunk of clay!
I learned that it’s important to take time and relax. It isn't worth it to be stressed out and make experiences unenjoyable.
And I still have so much to learn (about ceramics, art in general, and life). For this year, I am going to try some new mediums and going to push myself to explore Philly and New York before I leave. I’m super excited for a coming artist talk by Antony Gormley at Philadelphia museum of art. And an exhibition of Paula Winokur’s work at The Clay Studio. But I hope I don’t end up loving this city too much and make it so difficult to leave in May.
Professor Liza Masalimova also did a demo of me for Philadelphia CraftNow. And she put a teardrop on it. So moving.
12/8/2018
This semester is almost over! The past few weeks have been crazy and had so many ups and downs. The most important thing is that I tried my best and I learned a lot during the process. That’s good enough for me. I remember I was so frustrated with building something to hold up my pieces for the installation. I felt completely helpless and spent almost 40 bucks for an uber trip to the closest Home Depot. I just started asking people who were working there how to build something, hold it up high in a corner using the drywall and have it be strong enough to hang approximately 50 lbs of stuff from it. After 4 kind, long, but not so productive conversations, finally a lumber and art guy Shawyne showed up and made the uber trip worth it. (I also got something completely useless / wrong items because I just imagined that I probably need those stuff and because I had no idea what kind of drywalls I was dealing with. But obvious I’m not going to spend 40 bucks to go to home depot and return them.) I had no idea that installing the thing could be even more frustrating. I had no experiences using drill and having the piece mounted up so high was just a nightmare. Hands were shaking, palms were sweating, the drill is so heavy…... It ended up that all the holes I drilled are cracked and they don’t line up. So I wasted many of the expensive drywall anchors that I got. After so many days of frustration and feeling unsure, I just could not handle it anymore. I just had to run out of the god damn studio and I just broke down (and kept walking fast because I couldn’t find a spot where there were no people around in the whole building). And the worst part is that day was my birthday and I didn’t want to tell anybody. I just wanted that day to end with some kind of progress. If the thing can’t be hung up then all the small pieces I made throughout the whole semester have to be displayed on the ground… I am just so appreciated that someone was there at that moment and told me “Most of people would already gave up at this point. I know it’s so frustrating. We can do it together tomorrow, just go home and call it a day now. IT’S GOING TO WORK!” And after just two day, the thing is up there and after all that, the things I thought would be difficult to do, suddenly became so easy. Everything went smoothly and there were lots of happy surprise moments during the hanging process. Nothing feel better than to see the images in my head come true after that struggle.
Thank you Carly.
Yesterday I was so lucky to have Alec Smith to document my work. He took so many great shots! I have a camera but I don’t have any other equipment, and the light is very important for capturing my work. I was low on energy and didn't have time to figure these things out myself... I know I can rely on someone professional if I need good photos. During the session, I really appreciated that he gave me some advice about how to make the whole image better and cleaner and he looked out for all those details for me. It’s fun when we were both so excited when we saw awesome shots. He’s just so professional and nice at the same time. I am so impatiently waiting for those big files right now haha.
The studio clean up is next week and I will have some free time after that. I can’t wait to check out the Philly art museum and maybe visit New York again before I head back to Cali and start preparing for my next step.
Testing to see if my teardrop can support someone sitting in it.
11/14/2018
As promised in my last post, you can find my inner demons piece HERE.
Since my last update, the studio Tech Natalie helped me to fired the first couple of my teardrop pieces for my big project. Both teardrops survived the firing and I was just so excited to see them come to life! Thanks to many people’s help! The clay bodies are strong in both tests. I was able to grind them with the tool that we use to clean glaze that has run onto kiln shelves. I was very surprised that I was able to do that! Last weekend I finished building another big teardrop using another clay body. And I just fired some test tiles to see how some glazes will look on this clay body. Fingers Crossed!
There was an awesome event in Philly from 11/1~11/4 called CRAFT NOW. Many of my classmates and I went to our professor Roberto Lugo’s talk, “Pottery Saved My Life”. It was inspiring to see how hard a person can work to overcome difficulties in their life and become an artist who can use their experiences to move others.
Because of the CRAFT NOW event, there were many artists who were in town. We were fortunate to have Ayumi Horie and Nathan Lynch come in to talk at Tyler that week. After Ayumi’s talk, I couldn’t help thinking about why Ayumi Horie, a well known potter, activist artist, and the founder of the Pot in Action instagram feed, does so many things out of passion for this world and for strangers - without pay. It's amazing how much influence one person can make in the community and on the internet. And it's amazing how long an artist or group of artists can sustain a project they are passionate about. During the talk she mentioned that being a maker is full of accidents and surprises. While you are making you have to be fully engaged. I guess being a good human is the same, and I know I still have a long way to go.
In Nathan’s talk, it was interesting to see how different his projects are, and how he brought together people from different fields to make his seabird project happen. They design durable houses for birds and it really moved me to see what humans can do for other creatures through art and science.
I signed up to get a critique session with Nathan Lynch after his talk. He gave me some great ideas and helped me see things from a different point of view. He also showed me some more efficient techniques that he would use to make pieces similar to what I am making. I told him that even though I’m in studio every single day I still feel I don’t make enough. Now I realize that sometimes I make things in a certain way because of some unconscious reason that’s related to my personal experiences. The process is a way for me to meditate and release myself through my fingers on the clay in my hands. It really helps me sleep super deep every night.
I can’t believe the semester is going to finish in a month! I’ll be back to Cali for a few weeks. Hopefully to get to see some old friends and family and man I miss good tacos!!!
I made some planters. Love the flashing effect around the copper glazes.
10/28/2018
Today I went to Parsons School of Design to check out the graduate national portfolio day! I paid for my greyhound tickets online yesterday in case I changed my mind at 6 AM this morning. It’s weird, in Tyler I always hear people talking so casually about visiting NY. Like it’s not a big deal at all. But really it’s just my west coast brain not yet used to it being so close.
I arrived at Parsons about 2 hours early. From my experiences from the other undergraduate portfolio day at Cal Art a year ago, which was like a zoo but with people (A LOT of them) instead of animals. And the lines were super long for most of the schools. But this time was a lot calmer and it was so cool to visit the Parsons building! (I smelled dollar signs everywhere).
I talked to all the schools that I’m interested and get some feedback base on the images I showed. What’s interesting to me is that two people can say totally opposite things about the same image. Like, one person would say: ”It’s better if you can crop out the surrounding area and only show your piece.” Another person from different school said: “I really like that you decided to show the area surrounding the piece in this image. It’s stunning!” or one person would say: “I hope you can show more of your whole body of work and show us your style.” And the other school said: “I think what you showed today looks great and we really appreciate the quality and the ideas of your work”. So I guess I should just follow my instinct and whichever school think I would fit in would be the school for me.
The last time I visited NY was when I just finished my au pair year in Cali. I stayed in NY for 4 days before I flew back to Taiwan. My friend Tracy was kind enough to let me stay in her sweet apartment while she was out of town. And we were able to spend some time together before she left. I walked A LOT in those 4 days and I remember I tried Shake Shack, Halal Guys of course, and a cronut (I'm not sure if they still sell that combination donut / croissant). And I had lamb gyro for dinner every night. I can’t believe it’s already been 5 years and I can't believe how different I am now when comparing to back then.
Many exciting things are happening in Tyler like always. We will have Ayumi Horie and Nathan Lynch this coming week! The department is talking about having a movie night at the plaza one day a week. And there’s a TCC show opening on 10/30! I made a piece for the topic “inner demons”. I will post photos of it when I have better images.
My goal for the rest of time at Tyler: Be a machine and follow my instincts. I revised my project contract and wrote down the new timeline that’s more reasonable but still intense. The wonderful studio tech Natalie helped me to fire the giant kiln last Friday and I believe it will be ready to be opened tomorrow! I can’t wait to see the result. One problem about firing this huge kiln is, the back temperature is much much higher than the front. We tried open the damper during the firing but it didn't seem to help much. The temperature at the back of the kiln can be 2 cones different from the cone packs located and the front peepholes. (cone 8 and cone 6). Well, we tried our best. And we will see tomorrow and figure out what we can do better next time.
9/30/2018
5 weeks in the Tyler have passed already! I am finally working on my own project now. It has taken so much preparation and waiting for some materials and because there’s so much going on. I’m still figuring things out in the studio so everything is taking extra long time for me. But I believe things will speed up soon!
On Sep 13 we had a back to school sale and I was so glad to see some of my mugs going to the people who love chubby babies. (What? I did a series inspired by my nephew's chubby, adorable baby legs) I was in a rush to get those mugs out on the same day of the sale and thanks to a nice graduate student who let me use the small kiln first and Judy who helped that morning to open the kiln (so it’s cooling faster) my mugs made it on time that day! I bought a mug that day as well. It has boobs, a fart and a penis on it but with super cute matte yellow and light green glaze on it. I just love it and I had to buy it.
A few weeks ago we had Adam Chau to give us an artist talk and he meet us individually and gave us feedback for our portfolios. During the artist talk he showed us a graph about manufactured, digital, analog, and handmade art. He is interested in making work that are in the “digital and handmade” category. For example, he would made his own brushes with different materials and put it on a CNC machine and let the computer to do a drawing on a ceramics piece. He has all different kind of results even all the movement are controlled by a computer. It really reminds me of the real world and life, even though now technology is everywhere, we still want that human touch and that can change the our life completely. Adam also gave me some good advice about how to display some of my work and some more good ideas for a potential new series base on my old work. I hope I can make it happen next semester!
The other artist talk that I feel so inspired by was from Sonya Clark. Her idea started from her grandma, Chummy, a talented seamstress (please forgive me if this is not the correct term - I mean no disrespect) who raised her family with that talent. Her work is powerful and speaks for itself. She also said she thinks the work is always better when you bring people in. I found it very true and I feel it’s the kind of art that can make the world better. But it takes courage to do that. Artists can have a lot of power in a way that are not that obvious as they can connect strongly to their intended (or unintended) audience.
Another big stepping stone for me in the last few weeks was - I made my first two-part mold! Professor Carly Slade let me sit in her mold making class to see her demo and with some help from a wonderful classmate that same day I made my first mold! It’s like MAGIC! It’s kind of a similar feeling to when I did printmaking. The second when I see the print after all the work is indescribable. But when I did the first half part of the mold I forgot to leave the opening for the pouring hole. Hopefully it will still work (fingers crossed!).
I’m a little homesick and I still always take the wrong subway (omg it sucks!), but I am also just so grateful that I can make work in this amazing studio. I don’t want to waste my time (and rent) while I’m in this city with a great ceramics community. However I also got reinforcement that I’m an introvert and I usually don’t start a conversation because I don’t want to bother or interrupt anyone’s thinking/making process. I also don’t really want to be the kind of person who always talk about themselves or their own work. I'm doing this to connect with others, not to focus on myself, right? I just hope my work can speak for itself and I don’t need to say too much. I often consider myself a worker and I’m just the working hands to let the pieces come to life and speak for themselves. I hope the pieces that go through my hands connect with others as much as they connect with me.
Chubby baby legs mugs right before I put them in the kiln and fired to cone 018.
9/9/2018
I’ve been living in Philly for 2 weeks and It still feels so unreal. I remember the first few days were super crazy. And the few days before my flight I was just simply in a panic and all my close friends got SOS messages from me. And every single one of them told me that I will be okay. (Thank you Michelle for being so supportive and believing in me!) My friend Elin said: “If it isn’t a bit scary it’s not worth it.” I have to agree with her. After my husband and I arrived in Philly we were running around in town trying to get all the essentials and fix stuff in the apartment. My husband Clay is my superhero at this point. Now the place is much better after I unpacked everything from suitcases and cleaned the whole place. I don’t know when I will start to call it my home yet, but now it’s definitely a place I can feel relaxed after I spent a day in the studio. Thanks Rachel again for finding this place for me.
Tyler school of art is a cool place. Last friday we had a Ceramics department potluck BBQ. Graduate students and new(er) faculties gave artist talks. It’s just great to know what everybody is working on and what they are passionate about and what awesome pieces they’ve made to get to where they are now. This event was started by the student group Tyler Ceramics Collective and they are doing so many things to let people who love ceramics participate and have more opportunities. Next week we will have a sale and I can’t wait to see everyone’s creations. I am still working on my mugs but I am not sure if I can meet the deadline. I am going to try decal for my first time which will require one more firing after the glaze firing. (YES! we have TWO decal printers here! Food safe and non-food safe. It’s like a dream come true.) I will post images once they're finished. As a Post-Bacc student here, I am in the Roberto Lugo’s advanced ceramics class with senior students and have a working space in the major studio and a shelf. Rob is very welcoming and supportive. For advanced class, each person has to write a proposal about what we want to make this semester and set the timeline for our projects. And we all have to update that in the middle of the project. I’m also in Natalie's crash class, it’s a class designed for students from other majors and the instructor would help each student to reach their goal in making ceramics. I just love to see how many different approaches people have from outside of the ceramics circle and how that connects with their backgrounds.
I am super excited for the project that I want to make this semester. But I need to run some tests first ASAP to make sure it will work. I can’t wait to see them come to life! (Or not. Either way I will have a great, hard-earned lesson.)
Michelle I LOVE the coral scarf that you made for me so much I had to bring it with me to Philly!
8/9/2018
I can’t believe that I’ve been back to California from Cub Creek Foundation for a couple weeks. It was a great first ceramics residency experience for me. I met the legendary John Jessiman and his generous art collector and educator friend Randy Edmonson, Randy’s talented and lovely wife Cricket, the awesome studio assistant and a great team leader Ian, and the other talented fellow resident Elizabeth, Rachel and Casey. I felt I learned more than just about ceramics during the time there. It’s really an eye opener about what people decide to live for and how to make it work with the people you like to spend time with. Wood firing is a lot of work and you really can’t do it alone. We did a wood plus soda firing on July 17 and it took around 30 hours in a small chamber which is used to do salt firing. I really love the reaction that occurs on the unglazed native dark clay and some shino and ash glazes.
As a resident, each person got a pretty big studio space with a pottery wheel and dedicated shelves. There are total 7 space in the open plan, huge studio and there is also a kitchen, lunch area and a restroom. Everyone takes turns to clean the common area. There is a slab-roller and an extruder available in the studio as well. Each resident also has a private room in a house nearby. The house has 6 rooms and 2 baths, 2 kitchens. Also a common room with a TV room for watching dvds or playing board games. John, the director, gives each resident a Cub Creek Handbook and besides all the tried-and-true clay bodies and glazes recipes, there are also some heartfelt insights about what is ceramics art and about being an artist. John tries his best to do a full gathering dinner with everyone each week to go over glaze test tiles results, wood firing process, or materials. It’s amazing how much we can talk about ceramics. He is a great cook and I always ate more than I should. Residents sometimes bring wine or desserts for everybody if they feel like it. Usually after the meal we would watch some videos of throwing demo or documentary of a community woodfiring. There’s also a documentary dvd about how they built a wood kiln at cub creek about 5 years ago, totally worth watching.
I felt I was in shocked all the time when I was at cub creek because it’s just like a different world to me. But I guess it’s the reason why people do residency- to get out of your comfort zone and your usual everyday routine then see where the experience takes you. It’s a very different lifestyle compare to my previous ceramics studio experience. It’s like an island. I don’t really drive and there was no public transportation, so I had to rely on other people to give me a ride to go grocery shopping about once a week. And it’s like 20 mins away by car. John has about a hundred acres and it’s really out in the countryside. I covered myself up as much as possible everyday even it’s super hot and humid climate (ex: my fave green hat, oversized denim jacket over long sleeves button-down shirt and jeans), just because I wanted to protect myself from being run into by many many bugs on the way to the studio and on my way back to the house. But it’s really just me being over sensitive about bugs, other resident seemed to be doing fine and are not as bothered by it. I made a cup and carved “VIRGINIA IS FOR BUGS LOVERS” (In case you don’t know, “Virginia is for lovers” is a tourism slogan) on it to make fun of my frustration with the whole bug situation. I also used the teardrop shape to developed a series of works about saying goodbye to the people we care about. The pieces include both sculptural and functional work. It’s quite a transition time for me at this point. I knew I had to do something to record this personal experience for myself and not just sit around feeling down about it. Now to look back, I’m glad that I did this series.
I appreciated the opportunity of meeting those wonderful people and feeling the support from a group who shares the same interests and are serious about making it a career. It’s not easy like how people imagine how the artist's’ life can be like. But I believe that being honest to ourselves is the key to every life decision, and it actually always make ourselves feel better.
8/9/2018
I can’t believe that I’ve been back to California from Cub Creek Foundation for a couple weeks. It was a great first ceramics residency experience for me. I met the legendary John Jessiman and his generous art collector and educator friend Randy Edmonson, Randy’s talented and lovely wife Cricket, the awesome studio assistant and a great team leader Ian, and the other talented fellow resident Elizabeth, Rachel and Casey. I felt I learned more than just about ceramics during the time there. It’s really an eye opener about what people decide to live for and how to make it work with the people you like to spend time with. Wood firing is a lot of work and you really can’t do it alone. We did a wood plus soda firing on July 17 and it took around 30 hours in a small chamber which is used to do salt firing. I really love the reaction that occurs on the unglazed native dark clay and some shino and ash glazes.
As a resident, each person got a pretty big studio space with a pottery wheel and dedicated shelves. There are total 7 space in the open plan, huge studio and there is also a kitchen, lunch area and a restroom. Everyone takes turns to clean the common area. There is a slab-roller and an extruder available in the studio as well. Each resident also has a private room in a house nearby. The house has 6 rooms and 2 baths, 2 kitchens. Also a common room with a TV room for watching dvds or playing board games. John, the director, gives each resident a Cub Creek Handbook and besides all the tried-and-true clay bodies and glazes recipes, there are also some heartfelt insights about what is ceramics art and about being an artist. John tries his best to do a full gathering dinner with everyone each week to go over glaze test tiles results, wood firing process, or materials. It’s amazing how much we can talk about ceramics. He is a great cook and I always ate more than I should. Residents sometimes bring wine or desserts for everybody if they feel like it. Usually after the meal we would watch some videos of throwing demo or documentary of a community woodfiring. There’s also a documentary dvd about how they built a wood kiln at cub creek about 5 years ago, totally worth watching.
I felt I was in shocked all the time when I was at cub creek because it’s just like a different world to me. But I guess it’s the reason why people do residency- to get out of your comfort zone and your usual everyday routine then see where the experience takes you. It’s a very different lifestyle compare to my previous ceramics studio experience. It’s like an island. I don’t really drive and there was no public transportation, so I had to rely on other people to give me a ride to go grocery shopping about once a week. And it’s like 20 mins away by car. John has about a hundred acres and it’s really out in the countryside. I covered myself up as much as possible everyday even it’s super hot and humid climate (ex: my fave green hat, oversized denim jacket over long sleeves button-down shirt and jeans), just because I wanted to protect myself from being run into by many many bugs on the way to the studio and on my way back to the house. But it’s really just me being over sensitive about bugs, other resident seemed to be doing fine and are not as bothered by it. I made a cup and carved “VIRGINIA IS FOR BUGS LOVERS” (In case you don’t know, “Virginia is for lovers” is a tourism slogan) on it to make fun of my frustration with the whole bug situation. I also used the teardrop shape to developed a series of works about saying goodbye to the people we care about. The pieces include both sculptural and functional work. It’s quite a transition time for me at this point. I knew I had to do something to record this personal experience for myself and not just sit around feeling down about it. Now to look back, I’m glad that I did this series.
I appreciated the opportunity of meeting those wonderful people and feeling the support from a group who shares the same interests and are serious about making it a career. It’s not easy like how people imagine how the artist's’ life can be like. But I believe that being honest to ourselves is the key to every life decision, and it actually always make ourselves feel better.