Blackened lungs, warm hearts

Posted on June 26, 2014 by Kira Call Ceramics

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Blackened lungs, warm heart.

Mercy comes from unexpected places.

Friendship is a kind of mercy.

 

Full belly, warm bed,

No bugs bite me at night.

Therefore I am blessed.

Blessed by who?

Fate? Luck? Or the least likely,

Good intentions.

 

Free country, for the most part.

I do what I want.

Some rules are broken in justice.

Some are respected for best intentions.

 

Destined to leave, I will miss this ground.

Cold people, safe streets, mountains above.

Cozy and surrounded by familiarity,

I won’t make new footsteps here.

I must move on.

 

Leaving makes things raw,

Past ignitions surface like dying fish.

I see everything at once, like white noise,

Salt and pepper on the screen.

 

Like good curry, everything simmers.

People I’ve met are just passing ghosts.

Letters in words, words in lines.

 

Blackened lungs, hidden intentions,

Everyone has them.

Warm hearts are buried

In disguises so rough,

Those with social cataracts don’t ever see.

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I can’t take silence. I’m just like you.

Posted on June 22, 2014 by Kira Call Ceramics

Free to be in America, free to color my hair.

Free to drink iced tea ll day, no one will care.

Free to criticize what I don’t like, free to not share.

Impossible to contain freedom of speech, impossible to bear

Silence.

The one thing no free person can stand– silence.

No phone. No words. No to-do list. Just the echo of the thoughts in my head.

Silence can be sweet, like new romance or sweet chai tea–

Or it can be bitter, revealing everything I deny in raw honest purity.

Oh silence, a sigh, then silence.

I keep the silence out with whatever I can.

I make noise by all means at hand.

My iPod, always plugged in, like a drug IV.

Netflix, when I’m at home, protects what I see.

If not that, then some other means.

I can’t take silence, I can’t face that kind of clean.

 

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Everything will be new again.

Posted on June 22, 2014 by Kira Call Ceramics

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Photo: New water bottle design. I need/want a ceramic water bottle, so it gave birth to inspiration. I will definitely be keeping one of these for myself. I am using my new “watercolor” technique on most of my work lately, and I have finally started illustrating local orchids. The water bottle on the right depicts a coral root orchid… local to the intermountain western North America area, but I gave it rattlesnake plantain orchid leaves just for fun.

Today is a writing day. I woke up and felt like I should write, but instead I got ready for the day and rushed to the studio. It was a great day: I put in 8 studio hours and took a break to spend time with my mom. She bought me sushi and lychee fruit– it’s in season! Finally. I got a lot done in the studio and feel a good sense of accomplishment for the day.

The time is edging ever nearer to the time when I pack up my car and drive across the country to my next adventure. I am so excited for my new job and new surroundings. I can’t wait to meet a whole circle of new people and have so much studio time to be able to develop my newest ideas. At the same time, I can’t help but feel a little sad to be leaving the place where I spent the last 5 years of my life, and the great studio at USU where I have been spoiled. I have had experience making work in another studio and trying to make it work when I didn’t have a studio at all, but I know I will miss all of the materials and technology at my fingertips. I didn’t ask if the studio in Massachusetts has a salt or soda kiln because I haven’t been using them here lately, but I’m probably gonna be in shock when I get there. My new work doesn’t require much in the way of specialty kilns… just cone 10. But I like having the option of being able to test things in different kilns if I want.

On the up side, I will be a “top dog” in my new environment– there are no grad students and I get to be in charge of the work study kids. It will be strange at first but I think the confidence boost will be good in prep for grad school. It will also be lonely. The town is full of older people and younger kids who probably live on campus or out of town to go to school, and I will be older than all of them. In a way, it might feel like Australia a bit at first– everything will be foreign, the weather will be nice, the air will be humid, and I won’t know anybody. This time around, I will have my car and fuel stations will say “gas” “per gallon” instead of “petrol” “per litre”. Hopefully I won’t be as discombobulated as I was when I set foot in Brisbane last June.

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#JailhouseArtDemo Pottery Throwing Video!

Posted on June 12, 2014 by Kira Call Ceramics

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3i0eBBJYME

 

Hopefully the link works… this is my newest throwing video, the one that I will be using for my #JailhouseArtDemo 🙂 in the video I am “throwing” a cup on the potters wheel. Of course I’m using porcelain 🙂 I’ve decided the best way to do the art demonstration in a jail setting is to show multiple videos of me working in my studio, rather than trying to get all of my sharp pointy tools approved by the sheriff. So here goes! If the link doesn’t work I’ll delete and try again.

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Dem Bowls Got STYLE.

Posted on May 22, 2014 by Kira Call Ceramics

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So I’m drawing a new kind of orchid on my work lately– I want to explore the world of slipper orchids, and then tiny local orchids. Once the weather starts warming up I will go to my known orchid spots in Wyoming and take some close up photos of the coral root orchids. Until then, slipper orchids are an attractive curiosity 🙂

I finally made enough work to fill a small electric kiln for a bisque firing this week, which means I’m that much closer to being able to fill the Blaauw kiln again– especially considering I won’t be putting stuff in the top because it was so under fired last time. I have so many things that need to be re-fired that I could probably glaze this stuff and fill the Blaauw tonight if I felt like it. The thing is that I’m going camping in Montana this weekend so I kind of have to get ready for that and I don’t know if I could get everything glazed after work tonight. I guess I could start glazing…

 

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Oh, all this talk of firing reminds me, I want to photograph some of my newer work for the Ceramics Monthly entry. I have photos of nice work, but it’s not as cool as what I’m doing now, and I would like to show off my most recent work 🙂 So I guess I better rush a bit more to glaze and fire– after I get back from camping 😉

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Throwback… Wednesday! King’s Park Botanical Gardens

Posted on May 21, 2014 by Kira Call Ceramics

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I got a new battery pack for my camera! I know it doesn’t change the quality of the photos, but I was just so excited to be able to pull out my camera to take a picture of something as simple as the grass on a hillside without worrying about my battery dying. While I was in Australia at the King’s Park Botanical Gardens, I had to decide whether each thing I saw was worth taking a picture of because I had to choose. Unfortunately the camera was dead about 2/3 through the gardens. It kept threatening to die almost from the start, but I somehow tricked it into being resurrected about 50 times. Now I don’t have to worry about that 🙂 I guess since I mentioned it I should share a few of my King’s Park photos:

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My camera is incredibly capable of taking good photos, given the right subject inspiration. King’s Park was overwhelmingly inspiring- these yellow grevillea flowers were brilliant and magnificent. They are one of my favorite Australia native flowers. I couldn’t get enough photos while I was in the grevillea gardens. That’s when my camera finally decided to die for good, but I got a few precious shots anyway. I didn’t capture the orange grevilleas unfortunately 😦

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I’m not sure what this sweet little flower is, but I’m pretty sure it’s a monocot. The water droplets really stood out to me. It was a rainy day with subdued clean light, perfect for capturing details like this.

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And of course, the brilliant protea flowers. These are different than the ones I have been illustrating on my pots, but no less beautiful. I have been thinking about drawing some Australian proteas on my work.

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The eucalyptus trees were showing off, begging for their photo shoot. I couldn’t get enough of these dazzling flowers tucked away in the minty blue leaves. These eucalyptus trees are characteristic more of the western side of Australia. I didn’t see trees like this one anywhere on the east side. I saw lots of myrtle and tall lanky gum trees, but not gnarly showy ones.

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I will end the photo show off with a petite little pink grevillea flower. The water droplets were definitely working in my favor that day. Here you can see the intricate and complicated structure of these magnificent flowers. They are a challenge to draw, which makes them even more tempting as an art subject 🙂 I need to do some more photography here in the states. I will take my camera hiking next time I go!

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Updates

Posted on May 20, 2014 by Kira Call Ceramics

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I’ve made a few changes to my blog today. I added some more buttons (me finally trying to detangle the technology that everyone else seems to have figured out ages ago) including a link to my Instagram account. There might be overlapping photos, but I try to tell the story behind the photos on here. I usually post studio sneak peeks more often on Instagram than on here, so for those of you itching to see more photos of my works in progress, click the link! (and follow me 🙂 )

I added a link to my facebook ceramics page as well. Support is much appreciated… so click like! I am going to apply for the Undergraduate Student Showcase for Ceramics Monthly here soon, and I will probably post on facebook about it first. I still can’t figure out how to quick link my etsy shop, except for this temporary button I found:

<a href=”//www.etsy.com/shop/KirasPotshop?ref=offsite_badges&utm_source=sellers&utm_medium=badges&utm_campaign=en_isell_3″><img width=”728″ height=”90″ src=”//img0.etsystatic.com/site-assets/badges/en/en_isell_3.png”></a>

 

Anyway, the top photo is just some pretty smilacina I found while out on a walk the other day. Smilacina is so photogenic 🙂 I’ve been taking my guitar with me to parks and on walks and hikes lately. I love the warm weather, and as long as it’s not raining I see no reason not to take my Cordoba along. Which brings me to talk about the next photo:

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I know I’ve mentioned in previous blogs that I’m a songwriter of sorts. There are links scattered around in my blogs as well. This drawing is me brainstorming cover art ideas for the off chance that I someday record the songs I’ve been writing into an album. My friends keep telling me I have to come out with an album now, but I still don’t feel like I have enough songs yet. And I have at least two very different styles, different enough that I want to split the songs into two albums if I record them.

10385137_10203762602853708_1127907951_nI feel like my more upbeat “spunky” songs with fun narrative lyrics should have a more cartoony cover, like this one. The background foliage and the water dragon at my feet reference my time in Australia, which inspired a lot of the stories in my songs. I have a couple of songs that I wrote this week that I will do rough recordings of, and might post on here if I remember 😛 Find me on SoundCloud.com if you really want to listen to my songs: Kira Clapton is my stage name 🙂

P.S., I apologize for the shameless self promotion post, but since I’m out of school now, I really should focus on promoting my artwork. School made it easy to be in some kind of spotlight what with the school related exhibitions and such. Now I have to rely on word of mouth 😉

 

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From Doodles to Dream Bowls

Posted on May 18, 2014 by Kira Call Ceramics

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I’ve had so many new ideas lately that it’s hard to choose just one to roll with. I haven’t been doing much in the studio this week. I did make some bowls to try this new decorating idea, but I feel like I need to fire a kiln or something to get motivated. At the same time, I’m almost too content to sit at home and relax like normal people do on Sunday. I still have to workshop to plan for– I did write a brief history and explanation of ceramic art, including descriptions of the basic making techniques. I just have to finish explaining wheel-throwing and then I will send the info to the jailhouse education instructor. After that, I need to write my power point presentation and record some demonstration videos since my tools at the actual jailhouse will be limited. I won’t have a potter’s wheel and they said not to bring any sharp objects… which rules out most of my tools for hand building and decorating as well. I wish there was a way to have a pottery wheel there. I doubt I can take one from the studio here…

Anyway, my new decorating idea is working out fine, but I’m having trouble deciding on how to place my drawings on these bowls. I don’t really want to stick with a radial design around the foot, even though it does look nice.

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The first step of my new idea was to order some 2 oz. plastic spray bottles. Next, I filled them with watered down Amaco velvet underglazes. I was surprised at how easy it was to spray the underglazes through the bottles. They do settle fast so I’m always shaking the bottles up again before I spray, but the results are almost identical to my water color drawings! 🙂 Which is what I’m going for.

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I designed this bowl to be close to the drawing of the radial protea design, just to see how it would look in 3D. The ironic this is that I’m bored of wheel throwing lately, but I’m supposed to be the wheel throwing instructor for my new job in the fall. Maybe I need to try some other clay out. Porcelain just isn’t fun to wrestle with on the wheel. I do still make bowls and cups on the wheel with it, but lately I just want to hand build flower vases.

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The Summer Chapter BEGINS!

Posted on May 8, 2014 by Kira Call Ceramics

boner burger

Yes, I am going to start out with a cheesy food photo. Since classes, graduation, and moving have been done, I’ve been having a little fun. My roommate’s roommates left some really nice local ground beef in the freezer, so I decided to make burgers from scratch– including the buns. I had a friend over to share it with who was all too grateful to partake 🙂

Lately all I’ve had to worry about is working at the herbarium and keeping the future in mind. Oh, and car troubles/registration, of course. I was without internet at home for about a week, and have been trying to get settled in, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been making studio progress as well.

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This was the climax of my glaze testing this semester: I formulated it by throwing the base glaze I was working with into DigitalFire Insight and changed the fluxes out completely, just to see what might happen. It’s not copper blue, but it really is a beautiful accident. Maybe as good as chocolate chip cookies 😉 I will keep testing and trying to get the copper blue I’m after, but I will be keeping this glaze around.

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I’m also using new subjects for decorating: this is a cannonball tree flower. They are incredibly strange and beautiful, so I am automatically drawn to draw them 🙂

In final critique last week, a friend suggested something I had never even thought of before. He suggested doing a color wash on the bare clay before applying the wax resist to carve my drawings through. I took the advice seriously enough to apply it, and it has me going a whole new direction. It is tying my work even closer to my watercolor drawings– I’ve just barely started using a spray bottle to get a more similar surface effect, and I’m excited to see how my newest ideas turn out. I think I just want to make enough to fill the Blaauw again. The top fires so cold that the tech told me to take a shelf out because the pots on top would be so under-fired. Here’s a quick photo of how the spray technique went the other day:

sprayed mugs

P.S., dunno if I mentioned on here that I got the tech job back east that I applied for, but I’m not there yet. I’m staying in Utah for most of the summer.

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Free-Flowing Flowers

Posted on April 21, 2014 by Kira Call Ceramics

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Oh, how I long to be free to just flow with the undulations of the day– the rising and setting of the sun, the passing of the clouds. Right now, I can’t just flow. I have to be locked into the clockwork of a rigorous schedule. I did it to myself, but I know the payoff will be worth it. I can’t help but wish I could just go to the park with an iced tea and my guitar while wearing a sundress. I found a new way of working that lets me express my desire for flow. This is just another experiment branching off of my main work. I made two or three cups shaped like this while in Australia last year, but I decorated them a little differently with Grevillea flowers. It was still done in a loose brush-work kind of way. They ended up being some of my favorite pieces I brought back with me. I love to enjoy my morning cup of coffee out of them. They are loose and playful, yet smooth and delicate, while also strong and rigid, somewhat like dancers. The forms have so much movement, it feels like it could lift off the ground if I just played the right music. With these cups, I really wanted to practice my brushwork with my handmade ink brush. I’ve been making the cups out of pure white porcelain clay using a soft slab technique. I wanted to retain the soft fabric presence of the clay by letting it “billow”.

The spring sale is this week, and I am less prepared than I have ever been before. I’ve had so much else going on that I’ve been neglecting studio things. I wanted to fire a kiln last week, but it’s one of the class kilns and it’s right in the middle of getting their final work fired for critiques, so I have to wait. I am hoping to load Friday or Saturday. The main craziness should be over by then. In the meantime, I need to figure out where to put all of my bisqueware during the sale. :/

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