{Moving Forward}
We interrupt our regularly scheduled tear-inducing family-dog-death programming to bring you a quick uplifting iPhone picture of some new high fire ceramics. Sad? Make pots! We unloaded these puppies (no pun intended) from the kiln late last night and I was so excited I brought them home and slept with them all crowded on my nightstand so I could Be Near Them. Creepy, but true. If you've ever worked with ceramics (which you probably did in high school; I'm just catching up) you know the feeling.
Clay is new territory and these are pretty basic, modest pots, but boy am I having a ball learning something new from scratch. I've been working away in NYU's amazing ceramics studio this spring learning how to throw on the wheel and mix old-school high fire glazes, and I'm like a woman possessed. I've got another dozen salt pots, sugar bowls and vases in the kiln as we speak, including some featuring a heavenly Korean celadon glaze my gal-pal (and incredible photographer) Michelle Young Lee and I mixed up from an old 1970s glaze recipe. It's gunna be bangin'.
Playing backdrop on my mantle up there are some new oil paintings based on traditional Indian hand block printing patterns...more on those soon. But first, two questions:
A. Are we having fun?
B. Is it like Varsity Arts 'n Crafts Team c. 1975 over here?
Why yes; yes we are, and yes it is. Cue the Linda Ronstadt. And thanks for the all the absolutely lovely, thoughtful, beautiful comments about Nellie. My family read them all and it was so, so sweet!
We interrupt our regularly scheduled tear-inducing family-dog-death programming to bring you a quick uplifting iPhone picture of some new high fire ceramics. Sad? Make pots! We unloaded these puppies (no pun intended) from the kiln late last night and I was so excited I brought them home and slept with them all crowded on my nightstand so I could Be Near Them. Creepy, but true. If you've ever worked with ceramics (which you probably did in high school; I'm just catching up) you know the feeling.
Clay is new territory and these are pretty basic, modest pots, but boy am I having a ball learning something new from scratch. I've been working away in NYU's amazing ceramics studio this spring learning how to throw on the wheel and mix old-school high fire glazes, and I'm like a woman possessed. I've got another dozen salt pots, sugar bowls and vases in the kiln as we speak, including some featuring a heavenly Korean celadon glaze my gal-pal (and incredible photographer) Michelle Young Lee and I mixed up from an old 1970s glaze recipe. It's gunna be bangin'.
Playing backdrop on my mantle up there are some new oil paintings based on traditional Indian hand block printing patterns...more on those soon. But first, two questions:
A. Are we having fun?
B. Is it like Varsity Arts 'n Crafts Team c. 1975 over here?
Why yes; yes we are, and yes it is. Cue the Linda Ronstadt. And thanks for the all the absolutely lovely, thoughtful, beautiful comments about Nellie. My family read them all and it was so, so sweet!
GENIUS!
ReplyDeleteSo cute! I wouldn't want to leave them behind either, they're meant to be enjoyed! :)
ReplyDeleteOkay...I gotta ask it: is there anything you can't do?? Seriously, you rock my face off with all your talents. Lovely, lovely stuff, lady. xoxo
ReplyDeleteLily! I love these ceramics. When I lived in Portland I belonged to a ceramics studio and spent every free moment trying to perfect my handle pulling technique. That studio is one of the things I miss most about West Coast living, recreational pottery classes here are prohibitively expensive (like a lot of other fun things) ha. Celadon was always my favorite glaze, I can't wait to see what you did with it.
ReplyDeletelove it! i would like some for my indoor plants please :-)
ReplyDeleteYes! I've just started attending a shambolic pottery class, only one morning a week but it's just incredible! So magic.
ReplyDeleteWould you share some more glaze names and the like? I'm hankering to learn more. My teacher is very nice but misses whole chunks of stuff out.
I love your big nobbly pot best of all.
They're all so pretty, but I think 1 and 3 from the left are my favorites. They look so good next to the paintings, too. It's great that you found something to get you through the grieving process.
ReplyDeleteI've been fascinated by ceramics for a few months now and can't wait to take a ceramics class. I'm sure I'm going to love it and be super intimidated by it at the same time.
aaah those are beautiful! you're making me want to run with my ghost-appropriate smock to the nearest pottery wheel and just SPIN! <333 (my fav. is the one with the dots...so amazing!)
ReplyDeleteThat big one with the three-dimensional dots on it is KILLER! BRILLIANT! You can do everything can't you lady.
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ReplyDeleteoh my goodness! please tell me where you got those tillandsia/bryophytes! i've been looking for more exotic plants and like how strange yours look.
ReplyDelete-alison
nguyen.alison@gmail.com
Hi Alison! I get most of mine at Crystal's Succulents in the East Village in Manhattan (north east corner of 1st Ave and 10th St), but there are a few surprisingly great online options, too. I'll do a post on it soon! Where are you based? I have a few places in LA and San Francisco I can recommend, too.
DeleteWow Lily! Fab plants,and awesome artwork all around! I love, love the large pot with the dots- what fun!I am sorry to hear about your Nellie. Good thing you had something to dig your hands into and get some loving;)
ReplyDeletePOTS NEW PAINTINGS WANT TO HEAR ABOUT NEW PAINTINGS LETS DO IT.
ReplyDelete(Old painting, ok, old makes it feel bad, previously painted painting... has a whole corner to itself in the new house with a little table just for it. It's very pleased.)
YOUR NEW HOUSE NEEDS CHICKENS annnnnd one of my new paintings.
DeleteSo let's make that happen. New painting post to come soon. xoxo
My husband, the vegetarian, won't let me get chickens "because they are assholes." Luckily a few blocks over someone keeps chickens in their front yard. I enjoy their dubious choices greatly.
DeleteI love the new ceramics! Check out the work of Lucie Rie, she's one of my favorites. PS thanks for the Linda Ronstadt link, it totally made my afternoon at work today. The dancing alone is worth a few views :)
ReplyDeleteLisa, Lucie Rie is my new hero. NEW. HERO.
DeleteThank you!
Those would look bangin in a macrame hanger toooooooo! Portland (Maine, god why do I always feel like we are the slow half cousin to the other Portland)has a pretty cool pottery community as I am sure you have seen in your ramblings up here. Lots of awesome stuff to be found in junk shops and antique places.
ReplyDeleteA-B, point me in the direction of some killer macrame hangers, wouldja?
DeleteAnd P. and I are ready to move to Portland Maine any old day- we LOVE Portland! He has a few chef buddies who work there and we've gotten to experience the culinary explosion that's going on there in a few precious visits. It's truly amazing and rivals Brooklyn any day. Just sayin.
These are your first pots? Well, geez! You got the knack, girl. I probably shouldn't have ditched Ceramics so frequently....I love them all and the new paintings too!
ReplyDeletexoxo
cortnie
oh man, that pimply one is TOO GOOD! i want it now. what can't you do?!
ReplyDeleteWonderful ceramics, yay for clay!
ReplyDeleteThese are great! Back when I had access to a studio, I loved loved LOVED throwing pots. I suppose it's true to one degree or another with any medium, but it seems to me that clay really requires you to find that balance point between exerting your will on the stuff and letting it do what it wants to do, and I found the process downright magical. Can't wait to see your celadon pieces!
ReplyDeleteYou nailed it, Martinipants. A balance between "exerting your will on the stuff and letting it do what it wants to do"- beautifully put.
DeleteI'll second that "yay for clay"!
ReplyDeleteand a hoot hoot for Korean celadon.
nice pic i love that one .............
ReplyDeleteforex robot
interesting blog. It would be great if you can provide more details about it. Thanks you
ReplyDeleteMobile Flipbook Studio