Mother Potter

 Ya'll, I had a baby. It's perhaps the biggest and by far the best project I have ever done, and it seems to change constantly. Having a child has put me in my place and taught me that I am not really in charge of my life, but also to step back and realize that I don't HAVE to fire a kiln every month, or get torn up that I am not in the studio every day. These revelations, as much as they make sense, have taken me a long time to really accept.

My one year old!

Mattias, my son, turned one last weekend and I have been reflecting a lot on the last year. To be honest, this past year has been mentally challenging to me on several fronts. As a female potter, I had several, if not numerous, people ask me before my baby came whether I was going to give up pottery entirely. I've had people assume that when the baby came, I wouldn't be doing any shows, firing any kilns, or selling pots. Perhaps it's a bit of feminism embedded in me, but all of those things were things that I did NOT want to happen, and I would bristle a bit every time someone would assume a mother has to give everything up once baby comes.

Sleeping baby with arcs of wadding.

Making dishes! 

I was blessed at the beginning of my motherhood roller coaster that my son gave me the opportunity to make lots of pots. I got to fire with other potters in three kilns over the spring and summer.

Anne Partna of Blue Hen Pottery with Mattias at a firing of her kiln. 

Mattias in front of the freshly fired kiln at Joseph Sand Pottery. 

It was a good opportunity to introduce my son to new kiln designs, for him to meet new people, and for me to feel like I was kind of in the groove of things. When I couldn't get lids for jars finished for almost two weeks (having to keep said jars damp the entire time), it was nerve wracking. That case, especially, showed me patience. I did one show at the Old Salem Pottery Fair on the Square.

Mattias an I next to my kiln.

However, when I got to load up my own kiln, though, that was a totally different experience and feeling. It was exhilarating and cathartic, kind of like giving birth to a child.

New vases in 2016.

Baskets.

I've been back in the studio this year, but I may be stepping back from my schedule that I kept several years ago of firing every 4-6 weeks. Perhaps I will only fire 2-3 times each year, but I have decided that it will be better to concentrate on my new family member and use the time I have in the studio to make pots that I enjoy or want to try out. Stay tuned, there's more news to come. Here's to life's adventures!

Missing in Action

My own kiln, recently fired, November 2015

 It is sort of embarrassing to see the date of when I last made a post! Dear Readers, I thank you for bearing with me. I promise there are some great photos to come, and of course, perhaps a baby update (with photos)!

Freshly-thrown pieces of pottery.

I have been intermittently making pottery  and finally fired my own kiln this past month. Firing my own kiln was an amazing experience just from the standpoint of filling the kiln with all of my own pottery and doing an activity that I so thoroughly enjoy. 

Porcelain ornaments in the recent kiln firing.

I have a show coming up on Sunday, December 6th at the Greensboro Farmers Curb Market. That is always a fun show with great crowds and vendors. Come by for a visit!

Below are some photos I made of pottery I hope to get listed on Etsy this week. Stay tuned.

One of my conclusions after taking the above photographs was that I like the Farmall tractor as a background. I like the color contrast and the linear features. 

Facebook photo from the MESDA Facebook page. Robert Leath installing the Edgefield ceramics section,

Facebook photo from the MESDA Facebook page. Cases not yet on the pots in part of the gallery. 

My work at the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts (MESDA) continues, and I moved into a position in the research department. Installation of the William C. and Susan S. Mariner Southern Ceramics Gallery at MESDA was completed about one month ago. When MESDA's director, Robert Leath, said that this is the leading exhibition of historical southern ceramics, he wasn't kidding. 

Completed installation and photo of the opening for the new gallery. Facebook photo from the MESDA Facebook page. 

 People who attended the opening of the gallery were in tears to see the gallery, and stunned by the breathtaking display of the South through clay. It really is a sight to behold and I am fond of visiting the pots during my work day just to say "hi."

My son, Mattias, testing out the space in a cardboard box.

My son, who is getting SO BIG, has taken a liking to cardboard boxes, and I foresee him wanting to help with all of my packing for holiday pots! Thanks to all of my readers for sticking with me, and I hope to get back to writing about some more of my research and pottery adventures!

A Little Kiln Christmas

A very kind person with a kindred interest in pottery history and kiln furniture sent me a wonderful package recently. It contained sherds and kiln furniture from several pottery sites in Missouri.This is like Christmas for a nerdy person like me.

 What's even better? Nearly every piece in the box was individually wrapped!

 There's an assortment of pieces from two creek banks on the eastern side of Boonville, Missouri. As I understand, there were a number of potters working along the creeks including Marcus Williams, George and Nicholas Valrath, Nicholas Lauer, H.W. Valrath, J.M Jegglin, and August A. Blanck. These potters worked at various times, but between the 1830s and the 1890s. The pieces from these various potters' operations tell so much about their kiln firings and their pottery production. Here are a few short highlights:

 Who wouldn't be excited about a brick?!

 It's not just any brick. It's likely a brick from a kiln as several surfaces on the brick show layers of wood ash and likely salt fumes.

 In the photo above, check out the cross section of a thick layer of salt and wood ash built up on one side of the brick.

 The above piece seems innocent enough, but it is so incredibly exciting to me.

 It was a piece of kiln furniture that was at the early stages of its life going to be cut up into smaller pieces of kiln furniture. The cut pieces of kiln furniture that I was sent tended to all be about the same thickness.

 Above is a rim showing the mark a small square piece of kiln furniture left on a piece when it was used in the kiln firing. In the roughly 35 different pre-1860 stoneware kiln sites I have looked at I have only seen small square pieces of kiln furniture used at 3 or 4 sites, and have observed it on some pieces of intact pottery. It's a tedious process making small squares (I know because I use them!), but they seem to serve a good purpose of covering a small area on the surface of the vessel, which makes it less likely that the pots would stick to one another along with the kiln furniture.

 I was almost giddy when I saw the piece above. Can you guess what it is?

 Hopefully the two views above may give you a better idea. It's two rims that got fused together with glaze. However, they were two rims from two bowls that were stacked, nested inside one another!

 These bowls were similarly glazed to the bowl above- the underside of the exterior rim was dry, allowing the bowls to be nested inside of one another during the firing. I suppose if the base did not come in enough though, or the dry section of the underside of the rim was not wide enough, the glaze would fuse the pieces together. I sure hope there was not a large stack of bowls that suddenly became one giant stack!

 The two photos above are great to see because it tells me something about the kiln firing. On the rivulets left by the wood ash and salt you can see tiny crystals. Crystals don't typically form on the surface unless the kiln has been cooled very slowly. When my kiln was first built and a little tighter, I recall having this occur just once on a few pieces after a heavily-salted firing. The kiln took a few more days than usual to cool and I got some crystals.

 Though most kiln furniture was likely made during the loading and rolled and shaped to fit each various piece going in the kiln, the plethora of rim shapes and various shapes of kiln furniture made up never ceases to amaze and amuse me.

 This particular piece just happened to nicely fit onto one of the rims in the box, so though it probably was not used together during a particular firing, it is possible that the two shapes came from the same pottery shop, so the kiln furniture would not have varied much from firing to firing.

Though not made ahead of time like the flat, cut pieces could have been, the little barbell-shaped pieces below are always great to handle because you often get to see a lot of fingerprints on them.

 Check out this post from a while back about making this shape of kiln furniture.

 Jug stackers are always fun to find because it definitely gives you an idea of what the jugs would have looked like as a result of using them.

 In other notes, we are avidly getting ready for our farm open house and pottery sale in a few weeks, so come visit if you are in the area!

On the Farm, New Pots, and Motherhood

The farm is in full gear as the weather has heated up and our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is into its fourth week.

 Mike is working on developing beds for permaculture which will enrich the soil with perennial vegetables, fruits, trees, and bushes, and help retain water on the farm.

 We split two of our beehives recently and now have 5 hives if all goes well. We are really hoping that for the farm open house in June we will be able to harvest some honey to sell again this year!

Joseph, Matthew Kelly, and Curry at the front of the kiln.

 Joseph's kiln firing went well and he had a great pottery sale with some beautiful pots. I was pleased with the work I put into the earlier part of this year getting things made and into Joseph's kiln. Here are some new pots for the spring:

Mugs

Vases

Compost Crocks

Wine cups

 I was reflecting this past weekend as I celebrated my first Mother's Day (Hallmark holiday, I know, but it was still sweet), and realized I have a lot of pots in stock and my little person is growing VERY quickly. There's a saying that the first three months of child's life is sometimes called "the fourth trimester" and I believe it. There's still a lot of soothing, cuddling, bouncing, some fussing, and a lot of development for your arms and back with lifting (he's sleeping well though, I promise!). We've just passed the three month mark, but much of my days seems to be spent like this:

Don't get me wrong, I love it! However, it does make you step back and assess things. So, I am going to not push myself to work like a crazy person and fire my kiln in June, but rather get a few things done and in a few other kiln firings with other potters, help to get projects on the farm going/done, and watch my son change daily in front of my eyes! He and I both will be at the Pottery Fair on the Square this weekend at Old Salem, we will have our June open house and pottery sale, and he is at the Greensboro Farmer's Curb Market most Saturdays, so come visit!