my mama's table: March 2015

throwing bowls

One of the assignments for my tableware class at RISD is for the students throw a bunch of bowls, hopefully coming up with a shape to make a mold from. The assignment gave me an opportunity to sit down at the wheel, and throw for a few hours. It’s been years since I have thrown, and it took me a while to get my groove back. The result is a collection of blue bowls, all have a different matte glaze on the outside. And a few shapes I even want to make a mould from and cast in porcelain.

freshly thrown

trimmed

glazed

dusk at the studio

pinch pots

While teaching at RISD, I got to pinch a few small things, an inspiring break from my daily slip-casting process. Working with stoneware was also a nice change. Stoneware is not as finicky, not as snotty as porcelain. Plus stoneware can handle lovely matte glazes that tore my porcelain to shreds.

hand-building tableware at risd

I was honored to be asked to teach tableware in the RISD Ceramics Department this semester. The first project was to pinch, coil, and/or slab-construct a breakfast set. The students' enthusiasm for working with clay is inspiring. The result is usable sculptural objects, unifying art and function, with each student having a distinct approach, a unique visual voice.

The students considered how they eat breakfast, or what kind of experience they would like to have at the table, and created forms to reflect those concepts. The hand is clearly visible in every object, creating a strong connection between the artist and the user.

The work shown below is in the leather-hard, or bone-dry stage (my favorite and most fragile). All about the purity of form and touch, unglazed clay shows off its folds, dimples, and wrinkles.