spring renovations

Well the season has abruptly changed from the interior quiet of winter to an explosively warm week to coincide with breaking down of an interior wall to expand the studio. Fortunately the weather was warm enough to leave windows and doors open while Liam , the genius builder, rearranged spaces, made doorways become walls, and walls disappear. The studio has doubled work space and we will lost the cramped feeling. The chaos of renovations is disruptive but exciting too. The next post will show the results.

ice curtain

Today, we snowshoed up the mountain to a rock formation called "le Bleue". Along the top of the cliff runs a trickle of water that slowly drips off the edge. In the winter this freezes and forms an ice curtain. You can even go behind the curtain into a cave of rock and ice. The ice varies in colour from blue to creamy yellow. The rock face is granite and I imagine the pale blue is from minerals migrating to the water, glaze made from granite dust makes this colour apparently, I've not been able to get the dust fine enough. The yellow is from iron in the earth on the rock. The ice is luminous, at least 6" thick. I will try to make a glaze like this, maybe nepheline syenite with ash. I get the creamy yellow with black slip covered with thick ash. The sun is strong and the ice is melting drip, drip drip, icicles down to the ground [snow].

winter

It is March and still snowing. We spend lots of time in the forest, walking, snowshoeing, and skiing. The landscapes are intimate, austere, I find them revealing of the bones of the forest. One aspect of perpetual interest is tree bark, each tree is different, each tree's experience is individual and the bark reflects this life. I striate my pots surfaces in much the same fashion. Here are some barks that caught my eye today.

time to get to work

Well, it is about time to get to work for real in the studio, I've been teaching a great group of student's to throw, and next week will start a group of handbuilders, but, I also want to start making pots. There are a few ideas floating around in my head, but it is always a leap to actually start working. Baskets are on my mind, as well as herons, rabbits and summer tea bowls. I want to explore of the local muds, we'll see what comes up.

last winter's class firing

We always finish a workshop series with a firing. Here is the unstacking of last winter's group firing. We had a lot of fun as you can see in the smiley faces. this was a great group of creative students.

winter courses

Well, it's time to start up the studio with some courses, for the first time in many years I am offering a throwing class. It is already full. There was just the time to think about it and it was full. So, if you are interested, sign up for the next one and reserve a spot. Hand building will start February 21 and will go for 10 weeks. This session we will look at sculptural aspects, appendages, figurines. We'll see what comes out, I can't wait. Sign up quickly, there are only 2 spots left.

winter in Val David

Today we have a crisp, COLD morning of -30, everything is still. Here is my vegetable garden covered in snow. It is hard to imagine it being any other way, but of course, in about 3 months I'll be planting seeds. How do I know this, because seed catalogues have arrived in the mail. I haven't started working yet, but I am readying the studio for classes. February will see handbuilding and throwing classes. Open studio will start next week. It will be nice to see everyone. In the meantime, stay warm.