Open house at the studio

About 2 months ago, while walking in the woods, I badly sprained my ankle and was told to stay off it for a couple of months. It is not a piece of cake to work in the studio while not putting weight on one's feet. Nevertheless, student's work got glazed and fired, while I slowly put together a collection of dish ware, even tried some scraffito decorated urns and vases. To help out with all the studio work , I enlisted an apprentice, the wonderful Cindy who is a skilled cabinet maker as well as a jeweller. We are opening the studio to visits this weekend. We will be joined by another potter, the brilliant Claudel Hebert, as well as Gita Schneider with her Awakening Touch body products, Andree Chartrand and her beaded hearts, who'll also be making finger puppets with visitors, Pierre Corvione  and his beautiful semi precious stone bijoux, and Cindy will present her collection of earrings and hair sticks. There you have it, come one and all to initiate the season with us.

The poster was put together by Laurence Amelie Montpetit.

here is the autumn class

For some reason this photo did not accompany the previous post, but here you are.

Firing with the autumn class

Our autumn classes have come to an end with a successful firing and lots of happy pottery enthusiasts. We explored many hand building techniques and 2 different firings. Everyone was encouraged to find their own expression in whatever we were looking at. It is always amazing how given the same materials, the same techniques, on the same day at the same time we do such different things. Exciting. So many potters through time and the expressions are unique. The next class will start the 9 of February. For the interested contact me at 819-322-7096.

muffin recipe

When we are all in the studio, around 4 we pause for a cup of tea and a snack. Often the snack is a treat brought in by one of the students, but often I make up a batch of muffins. Here is my basic recipe:
1 cup large rolled oats
1/4 cup cornmeal
3/4 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup mashed fruit [banana, grated apple, pumpkin, etc]
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup mixed seeds [pumpkin, sunflower,sesame, walnuts]
3/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
mix lightly, spoon into greased molds [12 large]
bake at 350 for about 20 minutes
this is a loose recipe, feel free to freestyle

drawings

Drawing from nature is one of my favorite things to do. Sitting quietly, looking, our surroundings reveal themselves in ways we don't usually see. I am fortunate to live near forests, swamps, lakes and rivers, to have a garden. Here are some drawings from August's workshop.

August drawing/pottery workshop

We had a wonderful week of nature drawing, pots, pit firing, and conversation. Everyone left tired, inspired, with a box full of pots, and a notebook full of drawings. Here is our last day, waxing our work.

water-like glaze

Making a pot is the first challenge or expression, what to do with a surface is a whole other kettle of fish. What moves me very often is water. Running water, still water, over rocks, over leaves, frozen, melting......you get the picture. Glazes have an affinity to this visual in that they melt, run, flow, can be transparent. I choose to work with ash glazes for a variety of reasons. Ash is a local, non- industrial ingredient, it is interesting to explore what is right in front of us[me], and I like the not completely controllable properties of ash glazing. Ash has micro ingredients that contribute subtleties and surprises with each batch. Sometimes the surprises aren't happy ones like when the glaze runs off the pot and onto the kiln shelf, but more often than not bowl interiors have lovely pooling, swirls, especially if layered over pond clay slip. Just be sure to bisque the slip, to burn off gasses that make the glaze bubble.

Claudel Hebert at my studio

This Sunday, July6,

I will be hosting an exhibition of bowls by a local potter, Claudel Hebert. She has a collection of 40 bowls to show and each one is for sale for $25. They are all beautifully decorated. As well, Gita Schneider will have her organic body care products, and teas, each one better than the next. And my studio is overflowing with pots. We will all be there from noon on.

Basket type pot

After taking a weekend course with master"weaver of natural materials"Nathalie Levasseur, I have attempted integrating different materials into my work, mostly in the way of handles. It is more challenging than it looks, at least for my brain. This is a pinched pot with a found piece of wood, bound with some thin wood I found in the recesses of a studio cupboard. The glaze is ash and it is high fired. Photos by Laurence Amelie Montpetit.

Whenever I am looking for direction, the first thing that comes to mind is to go outside and draw. My garden, the forest are always sources of calm and clarity. Because I grow a lot of squashes in my garden, their shapes keep finding their way into my work. This is a pinched piece, barrel fired. The photo was taken by Laurence Amelie Montpetit during my show at Espace Genereux Montpetit.

yoga positions

With all the repetitive movements involved in making pots, I had developed some nagging issues in my back, shoulders, elbows and wrists. Osteopath visits were a regular in my schedule and were costly. One of the local yoga teachers offered a trial course of Iyengar yoga [all about alignment] for free on a platform beside a river. How could I resist? After a couple of postures, my back was breathing a sigh of relief and I have been hooked ever since. I was getting a barrel firing together a couple of weeks ago and decided at the last minute to try a few sculptures of people in yoga postures.

Tea pots

Tea pots are always fun to make. There is a clear function with specific demands like pouring smoothly, no drips, balance as well as lots of room  for interpretation. Here are some of the recent offerings.

Table cloths

A couple of years ago, I painted some canvas for gifts to family and friends. It was terrific fun, but I figured that was that. Awhile later, I started getting requests, and then some orders and now, I keep them in stock. Here  are a couple of the new ones.

Shrine to my parents

When my parents died and we had dispersed the ashes I still had a feeling for the need of a marker of some sort. After considerable ruminating, I remembered a book I had given to my parents on an artist whose work moved me, Andy Goldsworthy. His work is sculptural and very close to nature. This shrine is behind my kiln shed in a quiet part of our yard.