Bags, Brats, and Beers

While the first round of bisque kilns were firing, and the last round of pots were drying, we had a Pre-Firing Potluck, and Double Elimination Bagg-o Tournament. Team names included:

BAG to the Future, BAGney and Lacey, Jake and the BAGman, BAG in Black, and of course Bilbo BAGgins.

Josh, Cathy, Bobby and James in the cheap seats.

The backyard of Casa de Stout y Brisco

Ben and Andy on the porch

Lindsay and Missy in the kitchen

James and I sizing up the competition.

Photo Credit: Steve Posch

pot shots (symposium 2010)

Matt's lidded jars in progress

Some of Patrick Houston's flowerbricks

Josh slabbing building with some Logan Clay

Faceted forms from Schweiger

Missy attaching a handle

Small cups from Lindsay

Photo Credit: Steve Posch

Days 1-3 : part 3

Josh and Bobby hard at work on Cross Tray

Lindsay making stacking jars

Missy in the studio

Matt finishing out some altered bowls

Photo Credit: Steve Posch

Pots in Production

We used many different clay bodies during the symposium, one of which was a local iron rich clay mined in nearby Perry County. It was sourced from Logan Clay, one of the last remaining ceramic sewer pipe factories in the country. This clay has a greenish cast when raw, and fires to a nice chocolatey brown with large iron burnouts. We tried three different recipes that used this clay, with excellent results.

Photo Credit: Zach Nelson

Days 1-3 : part 2

Photo Credit: Zach Nelson

Days 1-3 : part 1

Everyone arrived in town on Thursday, and after a great potluck at Natalie Tornatore's house, we got down to the serious business of making pots.

Photo Credit: Zach Nelson

Summer Woodfiring Symposium 2010

The next series of posts will chronologically highlight the Summer Wood Firing Symposium, beginning with images of the four visiting artists and participants making work, followed by glazing, and finally images from the firings.

The four invited artists were

Josh Copus, Lindsay Oesterritter, Matt Hyleck, and Missy McCormick.

The Symposium was from July 22nd, through the 31st, 2010.

We invited these four artists because they are young, emerging potters at the beginnings of their careers. Each of them come from divergent backgrounds and were influenced by varied traditions, and approach woodfiring as well as pottery making in different ways. We anticipated that their work would complement and contrast each other, and create a dialogue between practices, methodologies and philosophies. The purpose of this Symposium is to highlight the nationally competitive woodfiring facilites at Ohio University, provide an opportunity for students and community members alike to experience the woodfiring process, and see firsthand how professional ceramists work. We will also be exploring the use of local materials, such as unrefined clay from Logan, Ohio.
The National Invitational Exhibition was held in conjunction with the Symposium and was open to the public, and showcased the work of 25 nationally recognized artists working within the wide spectrum of both craft based approaches as well as sculptural ceramics.