ceramics

New year, full moon, crazy color!

| miketillson

ACTIVITIES

Friday after school was the Lunar New Year celebration. The Peninsula Pottery showed up and had a table. They offered ceramic snakes for the year of the snake. They also had fortune cookies glazed in red and magnets of other animals from the zodiac. The snakes and all turned out positively and it was a positive experience for Matilda who hosted the table.

Otherwise, it’s been a mid-quarter grind with multiple loading of Kilns, firing of Kilns, unloading of Kilns. Student work has been fun to see, we have the typical breakdown of skill levels, and interest levels.

I’ve started promoting a Mug Club hosted by the Peninsula Pottery as a fundraiser. We will give graduation mugs as a thank-you gift for a donation. Mugs will be limited to a run of 50. As we navigate this inaugural fundraiser, we will learn what roadblocks we face. It will also be interesting to see how we move ahead.

I’ve also made progress on rocks as a glaze. Taking a rock and crushing then milling it into a fine powder. Check out the pictures of the process below.

November 2022

| miketillson

Both so much, and seemingly so little, have happened since August.

A great first quarter at school with some fun new students, continuing students, and unique projects. It has felt long at times, but now we are looking at Thanksgiving break this coming week.

As I look back since the August update… The gallery show with John Eames and our etc… project was a great learning experience. I had committed (to myself) that I would participate in the More the Merrier show at the Art Ark and so working on that has been a good learning experience too. The closing reception is December 2nd and I have learned a few things from the opening reception that I can carry forward.

more the merrier, art show postcard. reception dates and artist list
More the Merrier 2022

This has helped me with my regularity of working for myself. It is still very sporadic, but I am starting to get some ideas on a workflow that is realistic for where I am in life. I also appreciate that I do not have to make a living and don’t feel a strong desire for a “side hustle”. I enjoy making work, that turns out to be an eclectic mix of what I have started calling sketches. I have also been able to share this experience with students and talk about pricing, what people will pay for artwork, and topics around sales.

I am working on putting some abandoned artwork up in conjunction with the Peninsula Pottery and trying to clean out the studio as well as have some donations for Second Harvest.

Thank you for checking this out, feel free to reach out with questions or comments.

Mugshot Monday & other collections.

| miketillson

I think it comes down to collections… that don’t take up too much physical space. As a kid, I collected stickers, M.U.S.C.L.E.Men figures, and business cards among other things. Now, it’s images of shapes or objects that catch my eye. 

Here are some mugshots from the past, just a few to get us going. A while back I was taking these of all the mugs, the good and the less than good. I have a new collection starting that I shared with a friend who pointed out it was like the water tower images from Hilla and Bernd Becher. I hadn’t heard of them before, but am intrigued to look closer at their work. I relate it more with that of Sol Lewitt’s PhotoGrids. I have a few books worth of Rounds that I have been collecting over the years too.

  • mugs