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.

Exhibition Espace Kao

Today I am taking down the show and realized that I hadn't put up the photos of the opening, so here they are. It was a lovely day, October soft, lots of people showed up and sales were brisk. We served cider, dates, figs, cheeses, etc.The ambience was one of warmth and abundance.

Mini-spheres

My recent group of students [a terrific gang, I might add] were learning about pinching and as I was coaching I doodled and doodled and after a couple of hours found that I had a bunch of these little spheres. They are about 3" in diameter, highly polished and sitting in nests woven form grape-vines. I left lots of tendrils on the vines, and I have to say, these tiny sculptures are my favourites.

Leaves

Living in a foresty place, lots of time is spent surrounded by leaves. Everyday we walk in the woods and see leaves, and so leaves creep in to my work in lots of ways, sometimes drawn, others, carved. These are plates, cut free-style, all at the same time, about the same size and shape. In the firing, I put lots of salt and there is a lot of mottling. They are waxed with a food safe wax from Lee Valley[beeswax and mineral oil].These are part of my current exhibit at Espace Kao in Val David.