Come on ride the train train, the choo choo train!

We are currently at hour 39 of firing the train kiln @ St Pete Clay. I awoke shocked at 4:15 when Dani called to see where I was for my 4:00 am shift. As I sped off to the kiln I ran past the local Duncan Donuts to find it closed, what a cruel world. All that meant was TJ and I rocked it in the High Life until 8:00am or so when I remembered the Double D. As I left to give Melissa the car we had 9 bending in front with 6 down hard in the back. Not to shabby. ETA for finish is is around 9:00pm tonight. I am really happy with mine and the other AIRs' interest in wood firing. It is something I have always enjoyed but never committed myself to. TJ was shocked to hear just a few months ago I was making colorful bears and unicorns and surrounding them with sugar, chocolate and corn syrup. For what ever reason I do not have the desire to continue with that body of work. Maybe it is the new place and new people. All I know is that style of work was right for where I needed to do at the time, and not just because it was grad. school and I felt the need to be conceptual or all thinky about my work. It is something I have thought a lot about in the past few weeks.

Next week Long, Reitz and Balistreri come down to make work for a January Anagama firing. I am really interested in meeting Reitz and Balisteri. I talked clay with Reitz on the phone the other day before Googs and I made his clay. Long on the other had I can handle.....more clay, more beer.

time to go

Dear Blog

Hello blog it is me Adam. It has been a good time so far in St Pete, Fl and wish that I had been more diligent in posting over the last two months or so. I am not taking slides for a few days so I can even really show you what I have been up to. Matt, Dani (both AIRs) recently fired the Train Kiln had a mountain of success. The firing lasted just over 48hrs and had lots of beer and cooking out. There was a Rudy Autio piece in the kiln and that was cool and the fact that it is cracked in half will be remedied soon. At the beginning of November will firing again and I will have a fresh body of work that has been racing thru my mind for the last couple of weeks.

talk to you later!

Two Weeks

Well, in about 12 hours Melissa, Alien and I will have lived in our new apartment for two weeks. It is kind of surprising that 14 days have already passed. Not much has changed, but it is much hotter. I have been working in the studio for a week or so now and I think headway is being made on new functional work. Like everyone, the idea of sustaining life by my creations is my goal, but the need for a joe job is immediate. I do have an Etsy account and working on packets to send out to galleries. Luckily I have to reshoot all the work I made over the summer @ Ole Miss since my external hard drive crapped out and I lost everything. The good news is they were digital, aka free.

I made bread tonight and that was fun. I think it was the beginning of the summer when I decided to make our bread apposed to buying from the man. That of course turned into making naan because we cook Indian style meals often. Mayo is another thing I make for us, and when I find a mustard seeds in the area mustard will be made as well.

back to the studio in the morning

T Minus 12 Days and Counting

Well, we are now under the two week mark. Not much left to do but get the truck, pack the truck and then drive the truck for 14 hrs. Even with this tight deadline I am still creating new work, and at this moment it is functional. Mugs, platters, bowls, batter bowls, baskets and that sort of hoop la. It has been an interesting experience since I have never worked with low fire functional ware. I have used Majolica a few time, but now it is slips, copper washes and a few simple glazes. The drawings and carvings on the surface are simple and often I am uncertain why at the moment. Wall paper, pinstripes, old TV screens and checker boards are some of the things are turned into simple line work. It has been fun and a nice break from the sculpture that was being created for my thesis show, but I am getting the sculpture itch....

Once I get situated at The Train Station I will get back on the sculpture horse. I have a few ideas that need to be translated to paper first, but they make me laugh. One of the undergrads, Andrew, knows a guy who has a surplus of molds to dispose of and hopefully I will get the ones I have asked for. A few bears, dolls, a donkey and a unicorn. Do not really know why he had to ask if I wanted a unicorn mold, but luckily he did.

A few years ago, three to be exact, I might have turned my head at the use molds like this. As it turns out, three years of intense focus, making and believe it or not, writing!, has aged and changed my opinion. I have been pondering a series of blog posts about my reflections of graduate school and and the positives/minuses. Could be fun since I want to be a serious blogger for what ever reason. Oh, and I will also try to chronicle my St. Pete Clay experience!

see you on the flip side

not that school is over i have a lot of spare time and only a tire. Any who, I intend to be a full on blogger and tweeter!

I have a future....kind of

After months of job rejections I have finally stumbled upon a residency experience. Come August I will be an Artist in Residency at...... St Petersburg Clay Company in lovely St Petersburg, FL. (gulf side). I had the pleasure of working at St Pete Clay for two weeks in January as part of an intersession class with Matt Long. At the time I was about to start my final semester as a graduate student @ Ole Miss, but that is so last season.

Now Melissa, Alien and I are on the task of finding live quarters and jobs. The only problem is, it has already hit mid 90's here. My thick Ohio blood might just make me over heat and combust.!!

Sweet Shenanigans

New thesis work for you viewing pleasure