“The extent to which we take everyday objects for granted is the precise extent to which they govern and inform our lives”.

                                                                                               

Much Depends on Dinner (Margaret Visser, 1986, 11)

nature AND nurture

You are not only what you eat, but how you eat it too.

—Michael Pollan, from An Eater’s Manifesto

What are domestic objects, if not tools for self care? A vase of freshly cut flowers, eggs in a basket, berries in a bowl, bread on a plate, water in a cup. Survival requires energy, provided by food, and hydration, provided by water. Dishes are the tools we use to fortify ourselves daily. Handmade pots are dynamic objects that have the ability to affect their users’ sensibilities as well as the spaces in which they rest. These carefully rendered tools can and do remind us of the importance of our connections to one another, to our families, to our communities.

connection and disconnection

On reflection, one must conclude that in bringing cheap and useful goods to the average household, industrialism has been of service to mankind—but at the cost of the heart, of warmth, friendliness, and beauty. By contrast, articles well made by hand, though expensive, can be enjoyed in homes for generations, and, thus considered, they are not expensive after all.

—Soetsu Yanagi, Int’l Mingei Museum

The shift away from personal or familial accountability for the production, preparation and serving of everyday meals perpetuates food as a commodity and this in turn often distances us from being aware of food’s social significance. For many people, there is little love left in what we eat everyday or how it is prepared and served. We are often disconnected from it because it is no longer necessary that we be so directly or intimately involved in its production or its presentation. My perception is that the value of nutrition has been reduced to the styrofoam cups, foil wrappers, and plastic containers that are thrown in the garbage after a cup of coffee, a burger, or a TV dinner. In my opinion, the implications of this reach far beyond the necessity of physical nourishment. Sadly, the convenient consumption of disposable goods has become our social fabric. We effectively belong to a ‘throw away’ culture.

flux capacity

What we search for is a kind of order and logic in what is the chaotic and illogical experience of being alive.

                                                        –The Orchid Thief (Orlean 2000, 289)

My perspectives shift as I live new experiences and absorb new environments. They can also change upon introspection or retrospection. My pots are extensions of me. Making pots is the best way for me to express the perpetual flux that is daily life, especially with regard to domestic intimacy— care for myself and for others, too. Raw materials come together and flux under the pressure of heat and time and emerge with inherent kinetic impact from that process. This kinetic impact, or potential, is what gives the work a dynamic presence even when the pots are at rest. Volume in combination with kinetic impact creates pottery that begs to be used. The persistence and insistence of time is addressed in the layers of ceramic materials and how they sort themselves out during manipulation, application, heatwork and in the home.

in the between

I have a difficult time getting started and a difficult time stopping. It’s a perennial challenge for me to dedicate time to self care; I’ve found that it requires flexibility and adaptability, resulting in constant shifts and occasional redefinitions. Through my studio practice, I put these things into perspective: I consider balance between form and surface as well as the significance of how form interacts with a hard surface when at rest and, more organically, with the body when in use. The architecture of my pots highlight balance through a sense of tension that manifests with curved bottoms or small feet. It’s constant work to maintain a balanced lifestyle and these are my reminders.

a sensational dialect

Sensations are unfiltered responses. They are the closest things to truth that I know. I continue to be amazed by the insightfulness with which my senses ground me in the reality of who I am and what I do.

—thesis excerpt

Through the sensory based aesthetic of my tableware, a way is revealed for others to acknowledge and celebrate everyday moments. When used, a pot becomes an important part of a daily ritual that has, traditionally, not only sustained us, but cultivated relationships with family, friends, and communities. So, if our busy lifestyles do not allow us to share meals with one another ‘en famile’, the aesthetic qualities—visual and tactile layers of information—of these pots will act upon our senses: receptiveness of form, depth of surface, and color associations translate ideas into possibilities for meaning. In this way, they can reveal our connections to others, to our experiences, to ourselves.

Articles and Recorded Content

CLAYflicks (online) OR

ceramic arts daily DVD

Slab Building and Glaze Color Exploration

Thin slabs are challenging because they are prone to warping. Try working with them when they are soft, and the challenge increases. In this video workshop with Birdie, you’ll learn the mechanics of rolling and working with extra thin slabs to make lightweight forms. You’ll also learn how to create soft curves with a rib and a banding wheel, avoid cracking when joining soft clay to leather-hard clay, as well as tips for finishing rims and seams.

Pottery Making Illustrated

Birdie Boone’s Belly-Bottomed Dishes

I once read that certain monks had an eating habit that restricted the amount of a meal to what would fit into the volume created when both hands were cupped together. I looked down at my own cupped-together hands to see just how much food I could eat were I a monk, and I realized that hands were the original vessels used for consuming sustenance, and that the next best thing would be dishes that fit just so into that curve formed by two hands cupped together. Since then, 'belly-bottomed' dishes have become a significant part of my work.

Pottery Making Illustrated

Three Element Plates

For several years I’ve been making variations of this plate. It’s a set of 3 elements: the plate face, the girdle, and the foot. The plate size and shape are easy to vary. For this wide and only somewhat flat, heavy-ish plate, elevated on a small-ish foot that’s easily more aesthetic than stable, gravity’s effects are unavoidable. Many flawed attempts have led me to solve for a higher rate of success. Timing, I found, makes all (well, most of) the difference. From wet clay slab to dry greenware plate, each step is best executed at a recommended firmness and this will be noted as needed. I’ll also highlight certain details that need a little extra care and explain why.

Pottery Making Illustrated

An Introduction to Color

Johannes Itten, who developed and taught the first color course at the Bauhaus in the early 1920s, thought of colors as “primordial ideas.” Indeed, one of the reasons color is so powerful is that it can trigger a visceral response that is at once both personal and universal. You don’t need to know glaze chemistry in order to develop color in glazes. Certainly, knowing the chemical properties of a glaze can be helpful for making considered decisions about which colorants to use and which not to bother with, but it isn’t necessary. As you test, you will learn it empirically by looking at the results and seeing how the colorants are reacting in combination with one another as well as how they are reacting to the materials in the glaze recipe.

Tales of a Red Clay Rambler

184: Birdie Boone on the emotional qualities of color

Today on the Tales of a Red Clay Rambler Podcast I have an interview with Birdie Boone. Working from her studio in Abingdon, VA she creates hand built tableware glazed in rich translucent colors. Her research into rare earth colorants has led to a broad spectrum of colors that are uniquely subtle and emotionally impactful. In our discussion, we talk about the connection between emotion and color, engaging with constructive criticism and working with rare earth colorants.