Owls

I had some clay that was a bit dried out--not very plastic. Not good enough for most things, but good enough to make a couple little owls:



Four inches tall I think.



Five inches? I am bad at guessing these things. Tall and skinny.

Boston Avenue Holy Wow Creative Arts Class

Because I am "artistic" I was asked to teach a one-hour art class on Wednesday nights for mid- and high schoolers at my church (Boston Avenue United Methodist). Last week, we did clay tiles. I prepared wet 6" by 6" tiles for the kids to carve into or make imprints or whatever they liked.

I picked up a bunch of leaves because I thought it would be fun to make leaf imprints. Here was my example:



I'm going to finish these with red iron oxide stain, so the stain will really highlight the leaf texture.

The kids':





Aren't these cute?

Lamoni, IA rest stop tiles

On the way back to OK from Ottumwa, I stopped at the rest stop/Iowa welcome center near Lamoni and found these cool handmade terra cotta tiles on the building and around the grounds. I wonder who made them.









I really like how they did the lettering.

Indian Hills: Instructors and Students

A few pics from the opening on September 14th.



Piece by Jake Allee and myself.



Juston Rominger and his wall.



Me and some of mine (on top).



Opening night crowd.



Top shelf: works by Kendra Bogert. Bottom: by instructor Lisa Fritz.

Preparing for the show

Friday afternoon, my friend Juston Rominger finished building his installation of, what, we'll say 1,000 cups. Kendra Bogert and I also helped put up labels. Here are a few pictures of the show that opens today:



Juston



A couple of my pieces.



Kendra adjusting her beautiful work.

Ottumwa Courier article: A ceramics showcase

The Ottumwa Courier printed an article today about the show Indian Hills Ceramics: Instructors and Students, which I am in. It's not a particularly good article, and in the photo caption they called Juston Rominger "Jason". But it's nice to have coverage. I hope there's a good turnout at the reception tonight.

Read the article.

The show opens today and runs through November 5th at the Indian Hills Community College Art Gallery in Ottumwa, Iowa. The Art Gallery is at the back of the library and is open during library hours. Opening reception tonight at 7:00 to 8:30 p.m.

I forgot to mention in the previous post that water in the clay will also make it explode. Same reason--it heats up and wants to escape. Aaaand having an even thickness like I was talking about helps the clay DRY evenly.

I may not be updating on this blog for a few weeks because at about 2:30 this morning I decided I'm going on a little trip! I'll be in Iowa for a few weeks. So actually I may update because part of the reason I'm going to Iowa is to participate in a faculty/alumni ceramics show at Indian Hills Community College in Ottumwa where I went to school.

YEAH!