Master Workshop Program

by | Feb 19, 2010 | Uncategorized

Teapot by Sequoia Miller

ALTERED POTS WITH SEQUIOA MILLER
Saturday/Sunday, April 17 & 18, 2010 | 10:00 am – 4:30 pm
Fee: $190 non-members, $180 LAC members Join us as we welcome Sequoia Miller to the Lee Arts Center to conduct a fast-paced workshop that will show how he makes many of his signature wheel-thrown and altered pottery forms. Sequoia will make four-footed bowls, altered vases, lids for jars taken off-round, and complex assembled pouring forms like teapots and pitchers. Sequoia will also show approaches to glazing and decorative surfaces that can enhance and redefine forms, as well as discuss ideas for keeping studio work dynamic and lively so that each pot is a continued exploration. A slide lecture will complement the studio demonstrations. Sequoia Miller was raised in Maine and New York City, and is now a studio potter based in Olympia, WA. He holds a BA from Brandeis University in Russian History and Art History. His pottery has been featured in numerous publications including Craft in America, Ceramics Monthly, The Studio Potter, Clay Times and the cover of Clay Times. Sequoia teaches occasionally at a local community college and at craft centers nationally, including Arrowmont School of Craft, Penland School of Craft, and Haystack Mountain School of Crafts. Sequoia’s work is featured frequently in craft stores, galleries and kitchen cabinets around the country. He will be showing his work at the Smithsonian Craft show this April 2010 in Washington, DC.
More information on the artist and his work.

INTRODUCTION TO PRECIOUS METAL CLAYS: BRONZE CLAY WITH ALFREDO RATINOFF
Thursdays, May 13 & 20, 2010; 6:30 – 9:30pm
Fee: $ 95.00 non-members, $ 85.00 LAC members Precious metal clay by Alfredo Ratinoff
Bronze has been used since ancient times in all different cultures to create everyday objects as well as fine artwork; this wonderful and almost ever lasting material was discovered thousands of years ago and used in almost every culture since early times to present day. Artists and sculptors used bronze because of it’s timeless beauty, but it often required a complicated process to fabricate a finished piece. Recently a new material called ‘Bronze clay’ was introduced to the market; it consists of fine bronze particles held together with an organic binder and after firing in a kiln becomes solid bronze.

Learn about this new material as Alfredo Ratinoff discusses the technical aspects of bronze clay; how to work with it, firing techniques and metal finishing like polishing, burnishing and coloring with acid patinas and paint. Participants will create a small piece with bronze clay; discuss concepts of design and learn a variety of techniques to create visual texture and interest. This is a great class for clay artists, potters, jewelers or anyone interested in exploring a new type of clay that can be used as an alternative media by itself or as an additional element to enhance once fired clay, plaster or any other art medium.

Alfredo Ratinoff was born in Buenos Aries, Argentina. He studied at the National School of Ceramics in Buenos Aires, and then in Madrid, Barcelona and Florence. He specializes in large scale ceramic mural installations and recently has expanded into other art mediums as in printmaking and precious metal clay. His work has been shown both nationally and abroad and he has done numerous commissions for both private and corporate collections. Alfredo is currently an artist-in-residence in the ceramics studio at the Lee Arts Center.
More information on Alfredo Ratinoff.

More info and registration.

“Making Through Living—Living Through Making: Studio Pottery in 2010” NCECA Pre-Conference

by | Feb 19, 2010 | Uncategorized

All of this NCECA news floating around is reminding me how much fun NCECA is and how sad I am to not be going this year. It’s been forever since I made it down, Portland was my last one…sigh…next year hopefully. For all of you lucky ducks going here’s more preconference stuff to check out:Preconference for NCECA 2010, Philadelphia

March 29 and 30, Montgomery County Community College, Blue Bell, PA
Co-hosted by Michael Connelly and Alleghany Meadows Conference qualifies towards ACT 48 Hours. This inaugural conference at Montgomery County Community College will focus on contemporary issues in utilitarian pottery, including sustainability, creativity, content, form, marketing, idea generating and social outreach. Demonstrators will also give slide lectures about their work. There will be a keynote address by the editor of Studio Potter Magazine, a panel discussion about Living Through Making, and a panel discussion on Sustainability in Ceramics. Presenters, Speakers and Panelists include Mary Barringer, Christa Assad, Andy Brayman, Ron Meyers, Ellen Shankin, Ayumi Horie, Julia Galloway, Alleghany Meadows, Steven Lee and Michael Connelly. The conference will also feature Artstream Nomadic Gallery. A part of the conferences focus will follow Montgomery County Community College’s commitment to integrating sustainability into the curriculum to better serve students, professionals and the greater community. Integration of “green” components across the curriculum for students in a wide variety of programs, from physical sciences to allied health, social sciences, and the humanities will have the greatest impact in the long-term reduction of the carbon footprint of our community. In addition, this conference will have a focus on “Green Kilns” and technologies for ceramic artists, which Dr. Stephen Grieco and Michael Connelly are currently seeking funding for a future kiln project at MCCC. It is, to the best of our knowledge, that the Montgomery County Community College’s “Green Kiln” will be the first at any college or university in the country. The demonstrators and presenters will be among the artists represented by the Artstream during its 2010 Spring Tour. Venues for the tour will include the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO; Wabounsee Community College, Sugar Grove, IL; Illinois State University, Bloomington/Normal, IL; NCECA Preconference, Montgomery County Community College, Blue Bell, PA; NCECA 2010, Philadelphia Convention Center, Philadelphia, PA; New York State College of Ceramics, Alfred, NY, and other venues TBA. Directions from Pennsylvania Convention Center Go to: Market Street East Station (12th and Filbert Streets) Take: R5 Region Rail to Lansdale/Doylestown to Penllyn Station (40 minute train ride—Bus stops at Penllyn Station) Take: Rte. 94 Bus to the College (5 minute ride) Septa Schedule

Good news for Canadian self employed artists:

by | Feb 19, 2010 | Uncategorized

Employment Insurance special benefits for the self-employed

As of January 31, self-employed Canadians are able to register for the Employment Insurance (EI) program, which will extend to them maternity, parental, sickness and compassionate care benefits, collectively called special benefits. The Fairness for the Self?Employed Act extends EI special benefits to self-employed Canadians. This measure responds to the Government’s 2008 pledge to help provide improved economic security and support for all those who are self-employed. With these changes, self-employed Canadians will be able to voluntarily opt into the EI program and receive special benefits. Overall, the special benefits for self-employed individuals mirror those currently available to salaried employees under the EI program.

For the full article follow this link
For more information on the Employment Insurance program, visit www.servicecanada.gc.ca/self_employed_workers.

Exhibition: An Affair to Remember – Mariko McCrae

by | Feb 19, 2010 | Uncategorized


February 27 – April 10, 2010
Exhibition Reception: Saturday, February 27 from 2-4 pm

Mariko McCrae is part renegade, part court jester, part activist and community builder, but indeed – all artist. Her work is founded on historical ceramic tradition, but consciously subverts away from the norm of form and function, which is an important critical practice in establishing a contemporary way of working with clay.

McCrae completed her BFA at ACAD in 1995 where she was the recipient of the Board of Governor’s Award and the Governor General’s Award conjunctly. In 1998 McCrae graduated with her MFA in Ceramics from Kent State University, Ohio. She has taught at the Red Deer College Summer SERIES program, University of Manitoba, Ohio University, University of Michigan and been a guest lecturer at the Emily Carr College of Art & Design, Nova Scotia College of Art & Design and New York University to name a few. McCrae has participated in artist’s residency programs at the Banff Center for the Arts and the International Ceramic Center at Grimmerhus, Skaelskor, Denmark.

“An Affair to Remember” is based on a story written by McCrae. Through Duncan Gare, the second character that she has created during her career as a ceramicist, she comments on the lofty topic of mass production, consumerism and recycling. Duncan Gare (a combination of two hobby glaze manufacturers) personifies the struggle between good taste and bad, manufactured versus handmade, craft versus art, and in turn the battle between high art versus low.

Website Link.