Jim and Nan McKinnell

Ceramic exhibitions don’t receive as much press as other art mediums here in Colorado and I suspect throughout the nation (if not the world).  Imagine my delight in seeing a full page feature story on ceramic icons Jim and Nan McKinnell in the entertainment section of the Friday edition of the Denver Post.   Even though they’re not originally from Colorado, Colorado claims them as their own after they settled in Ft. Collins, CO in 1970 after teaching and studying ceramics in many different locales.

A retrospective of the couple’s work is on view at the Beyers-Evans House Gallery courtesy of the Colorado Historical Society.  Included in the exhibition are 84 pieces of pottery from full scale work to miniatures just a few inches tall, as well as some of their pottery tools, correspondence, framed and loose photographs.  I’m intrigued by the artist couple - they both shared a love of ceramics and collaborated on nearly everything they made making it difficult to assign credit to a specific piece.

I’m looking forward to seeing the show and have been meaning to go to the Kirkland Museum, which also has a large collection of ceramics and pottery and is a few blocks away from the Beyers-Evans House Gallery.  The only downside of going to the Kirkland Museum is that no one under 13 is allowed entrance.  That puts the kibosh on going with my 10 year old daughter.

After looking for more information about the McKinnells, I stumbled upon the Smithsonian Archives of American Artists.  The Smithsonian has digitized many of their collections and the information is available online.  Isn’t that cool?  The site also has a written transcript of an interview of Nan McKinnell archived, but the audio is not available online.

Meanwhile, I decided not to read Thoreau again, because I’m going to listen to it instead while I work.  After cruisin’ the ‘net this  morning I found LibriVox, a group of volunteers whose goal it is to record all public domain books in the USA (basically anything published before 1925) and make the audio recordings available for free to anyone who wants to listen.  I found the full Walden audiobook on the site and am going to load it onto my iPod Nano.  A list of cataloged books in on their site, but can also be found under Podcasts in iTunes.

As to a Thoreauesque family experiment, I suggested the idea to my husband and daughter over dinner last night.  My husband is interested, but my daughter was sputtering like I just asked her to cut off her right foot or something.

Finally, my mom and a few others emailed me yesterday  to tell me that my blog wasn’t showing up correctly.  I checked it out in my browser (Firefox) and it looked fine, but then decided to open my site in IE after suspecting that there might be a compatibility issue since a similar thing has happened in the past.  Lo and behold, it looked like gremlins had eaten everything!  I checked the html code editor in Wordpress (I normally use the WYSIWYG editor) and some weird code was present.  It must have happened yesterday when I did a cut and paste of my post after I edited it in Word.  Luckily it was a quick fix and nothing serious.

Have a good week,

~Cynthia

Hand built relief printed white stoneware boxes fresh from the bisque kiln.

I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t been very productive lately when it comes to making any new work.  I am not sure if it’s the awful news of late and all of the political campaign noise that’s distracting me or if it is the result of my mom duties or that I have been questioning whether or not I should even make pottery.  To relate it in pottery terms, I feel like I have been looking for answers in a murky throwing bucket before the clay slurry has had a chance to settle to the bottom leaving clear water on top.  Maybe my inattentiveness and reluctance to enter my studio is a combination of all of the above. It’s not like I haven’t been thinking about clay either - it’s something more.

At this point, you’re probably thinking, “Oh for Carpe Diem’s sake, Cynthia, stop over analyzing everything!  Just do it already and start making work and posting pretty pictures again.” I’ve decided to edit the political, financial, religious and mom stuff out of my original post and am going to cut to the chase today.

Here is part of what it comes down to: I’ve been a little hung up on making things to sell to other people when I’ve been trying to live a simpler less consumer driven life.

The philosophy of “living simply“  has ties to Transcendentalism, Epicureanism, Conservation, Social Justice, Sustainable Development, Ascenticsm, Taoism, Buddhism, and even Anarchism. According to social scientist and author of Voluntary Simplicity, Duane Elgin describes voluntary simplicity “as a manner of living that is outwardly more simple and inwardly more rich, a way of being in which our most authentic and alive self is brought into direct and conscious contact with living.”

By now, you’re either fully tuned out, or you’re saying, “Get to the point, sister!”

In the past few months, I’ve considered selling all my equipment and doing something else - something more service oriented.  In the past few days, however, I’ve come to the conclusion that potters are part of an ancient tradition of making functional and decorative hand crafted work and are passing their knowledge to future artists.  A hand made mug does cost quite a bit more than a cheap mass produced one from China sold at big box stores, but that purchase is also supporting a lifestyle that very well could become extinct.  Now more than ever before, the arts are a necessary component of a healthy and balanced society. In a way, people like me as well as everyone listed in my blogroll on the right hand side bar, along with artisans around the world are sustaining an important tradition.  In essence, the act of making and purchasing hand crafted items is a conscious choice that fits well into the philosophy of living a simpler life.

One of the fathers of the movement, Henry David Thoreau wrote Walden while living in a simple cabin outside town as an experiment to live close to nature with minimal personal stuff in the 1800’s. While I know life is more complicated than it was in the 19^th C, and can’t really be compared or viewed in utopian or romantic terms, a place like Walden Pond sure sounds pretty enticing right now. Maybe my husband and daughter will be up for Thoreauesque experiment in the near future.

Either way, I feel like the clay slurry has settled and after letting my neuroses ferment for awhile, I realize that I am in the right place right now.  I haven’t been taking advantage of the 6 uninterrupted hours I have available 5 days a week, to make work while my daughter is in school.  All I lack right now is a little bit of discipline and the research stage has gone on long enough - time to start working in the studio.

Meanwhile, I took a close look at the work that I bisque fired the other day and am happy with the relief printed boxes and mugs.  The work didn’t warp or crack and the design is crisp.

That’s it for today,

~Cynthia

I’m always amazed at how generous the clay community is in regards to sharing information and techniques (which would make a good blog topic for another day).  I personally use the internet as my main research tool nowadays - it leads me to book titles, magazine articles, other artists and potters, tools, products to try, glaze recipes, tips, techniques and more.  After writing about my frustration of not finding a lead free commercial overglaze to silkscreen on to decal paper for work that comes into contact with food 2 days ago, a few people offered up suggestions in the comment section following my post and via email.  I think that their info is worth sharing in a separate post today.

Pauline from Wilmington, N.C. wrote to me via email and mentioned that decals are prone to scratching and metal marks from utensils, whereas silk screening onto wet or bisque fired clay using under glazes, and then sealing with a clear or transparent glaze creates a more durable surface.  Pauline teaches silk screening on clay classes and sent me her class handouts and also many different images of her process.  She has given me permission to share some of her images and information on my blog.

Silk screened hand built vases with underglaze and clear glaze over top, courtesy of the artist

An example of text silk screened onto bisque fired clay - very crisp, courtesy of artist.

Silk Screened Fish Plate - I'm impressed with the amount of detail in the fish. (I think the text above the image is a typo) Courtesy of the Artist.

Pauline also recommended using glycerin, which is available in drug stores, as a silk screening vehicle for under glaze onto both raw and bisque fired clay.

Here are some of her suppliers to make silk screens easily without having to build a screen from scratch:

• PhotoEZ Silk Screen sells kits, photo emulsion and pre-made silk screens for use on fabric, paper, clay, glass, and more.
• EZ Screen Print - sells everything you need to make your own silk screens.  This is the site where I purchased my supplies last year - no chemicals needed or special equipment.

She also sent me a few links to potters/ceramic artists who use silk screen methods to transfer images to clay or make their own decals that she shares with her students:

• Cul de Sac Design - Laura McKibbon
• Laura Zindel - according to Laura’s site, she mentions that her technique is a modern version of transfer ware.
• International Museum of Print and Clay - a collection of artists who use printmaking techniques on clay, including silk screening decals.
• Katie Parker - looks like she uses a variety of techniques including decals, sculpture, screen printing.
• Circa Ceramics Nancy and Andy use a Print Gocco to make custom decals for their work.
• Kuehn Keramik - not actually an individual artist, but a German shop that carries a wide variety of home furnishings including ceramic work.
• Annabel Faraday - a ceramicist out of Great Britain who silk screens maps onto clay.
• Liz Emtage Ceramics - makes really beautiful translucent silk screened porcelain lamps.

Pauline, thanks for the information and links.  While I recognized the work of some of these artists (and many are some of my faves), a few are new to me.

I also received a comment from Brian Fields (happens to live in North Carolina too) who gave me quite a gift in the form of a link to Reusch & Co.,  a local Colorado company (just an hour north of Denver) that sells lead and cadmium free overglaze, along with a variety of decal making supplies.  Here’s a link to Reusch’s products and catalog.  Reusch also provides a variety of technical information as well as tips on making small run decals. I’m not sure why Reusch never came up in my searches in the past - either they’re not using key words effectively or haven’t worked on SEO.  Or, maybe I wasn’t using the right search terms.  At any rate, thank you Brian!

Brian also mentioned Bel Inc., which I had already discovered but sort of ignored.  They make custom decals, sell decal making supplies for a variety of applications including ceramic work, and also sell on glaze ceramic inks.  I think I skipped this one because there’s a little disclaimer on the bottom “according to our testing results, the soluble Pb and Cd remains in trace (Please refer testing reports).”  The problem is that I never found those reports online and kept searching.  I suppose I could research acceptable lead and cadmium levels in pottery.

I plan on ordering a small quantity of on glaze from Reusch and will try my hand at making some silk screened decals in the near future.  I also think that it might be interesting to combine silk screening on raw clay with underglaze and decals over glaze for a layered effect.  The trick would be to keep it interesting while not overly busy.

Michael Kline, who happens to live in NC too, also wrote that he met Andy Brayman, who is both a ceramic artist and the owner of Easy Ceramic Decals at an Arrowmont conference .  Andy will take your original art and create custom decals for you to use on your work which will save you precious studio time to concentrate on other tasks.   Andy uses a special printer that he found in Europe that is able to produce polychrome decals and his prices are very reasonable for a small run.

One additional thought from me, ceramic decals have become quite popular in the last few years.  It’s hard to open a ceramic magazine or book without seeing the process in use today.  I’m probably a little late to the party - or maybe it’s only getting started.  I’m not sure - feel free to weigh in.  I want to use my own imagery and am looking for a way to combine 2D art such as drawing/photography/painting and ceramics in a more efficient manner to finish my work.  Many printmaking techniques have been used for centuries for ceramic decoration, so in that sense, this isn’t a new or trendy phenomenon.   I suppose at the end of the day, it’s how a person uses the technique, rather than the technique itself that matters.

Finally, did a whole lot of potters find some type of clay nirvana in North Carolina?  Am I missing out in something?  If so I had better think about relocating so I can drink some of their Kool-Aid!  Just kidding, I know North Carolina is a state with a rich clay heritage and appreciation of fine craft.

Now that my post is written, I’m signing off for the day - at least until after dinner tonight.  I have some work to do.

~Cynthia

Follow up note:  I use the terms “on glaze” and “over glaze” interchangeably.  Which is the more accurate term - or are they one and the same?

All this time, I’ve been googling over glaze, china paints, ceramic ink, decals, silk screening decals for ceramics and other possible combinations - but a quick search for “on glaze” and a mother load of new results appear.  Try searching onglaze,   on glaze or on-glaze (insert or delete the space between on and glaze, add hyphens etc.) and thousands of new search results are returned.  You could narrow the same search to “lead free onglaze” and include even narrower search terms until you find relevant information.  Doh - but even after perusing 5 pages, I still haven’t seen either Reusch or Ferro in the results.  Lesson learned - use multiple search terms to get the most bang for your time and effort.

Last note:  It’s a bit of synchronicity that the daily email from Ceramic Arts Daily features China Paint and Overglaze by Paul Lewing today, which after looking at the table of contents includes a chapter on making overglaze enamels from scratch.  I looked for the book in the Denver Public Library database, but it’s not available, but I was able to request the book via inter-library loan.  The closest copy is at the University of Colorado at Boulder library - I always forget that we can borrow books from anywhere in the world using World Cat which is available through the library’s online interface and now also on Facebook.