We did cone 10 and raku firings just in time for the holidays. Below is a sample of some of the work that came out, done by a few of the school's talented and hard-working students. You can always browse more at the gallery.

Olivia Burton spends a lot of time in the studio, and it shows in her work. This is raku fired.

Taras Telyatinskiy (by the time you say that three times fast he will have made another piece) was experimenting with horsehair raku. In this process, the pot is fired to around 1300 F, then quickly pulled from the kiln with tongs. While it is still hot, horsehairs are draped across the surface, where they burn and curl and leave rich black squiggles and smoke marks. You only have 30 seconds or so to work, so you have to be quick.

Half of each class is hand-building animals right now, from chihuahuas to tigers - some fun stuff coming soon. This is my demonstration piece, not yet fired - first time I've done this myself. It's around 23" long and 25" high right now (it will shrink), built hollow using soft slabs of clay; it's going to be a tight fit getting it into the bisque kiln! More pictures in a couple weeks when things are glazed and finished.

I am dedicating this school year to MAD SCIENCE - MWAHAHA!

Be prepared to have fun, and maybe a few explosions! Wait and seeeee what I'm going to build, and the things we're going to try . . . Join the madness! Fire! Smoke! Steam(punk)! Chemistry! Pottery! Cartooning! ART! Cookies!

Friends, by Kristine Lee

Untitled, 2009. Stoneware fired to cone 10, approximately 12" high.

Margaret's not even taking art right now - one of those geniuses too busy being smart and talented in a hundred other areas. But, when she finds time for art, it's worth showing.

Naomi, my T.A., has been exploring handbuilt cup forms with nice results - click on the picture to check out a few more. Right now, whenever I don't have her doing chores, she's working on a series of small creatures that look equally promising. Check back in a few weeks to see.

Work by Jesse Martinez from our last raku firing. Click on the image to see more of Jesse's work.

M. C. Escher

During one of our first classes, somebody mentioned Escher's name for one reason or another. When I was making one of my pinch bowls, the outside texture and the dome form made me think of a stone dwelling of some sort, and how it might be interesting to carve stairs going up the side. Of course, up is a relative term depending upon whether the cup is sitting right-side up, being used, or upside-down, sitting in a cupboard. Inspired by Escher, I made the cup feet into little round houses, each with two doors and two windows and stairs leading from the doors: one right-side up when the cup was, and the other right-side up when the cup was turned over.

The idea of stairs and creating little worlds inside the pieces carried through the rest of my work in the class.