Shiny New Blog and New Molly Hatch Exhibition

Time for a change I reckon. Hope you like the looks of things around here. I was in the mood for something a bit brighter and cleaner. Looks like Blogger might have a few hiccups in the new design template and I’ll try to get that sorted asap.

In the meantime check out the amazing new work by Molly Hatch on exhibition at the Clay Studio in Philadelphia. View the show online here.


And check out the blurb about it on Design Sponge here.

PROTOtype symposium windup


Way back in February (see original post here) I posted about an upcoming symposium on the idea of the Prototype (PROTOtype: Craft it the future tense) co-convened by the Victoria and Albert Museum and Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design at the University of Dundee. Well the symposium has just winded down and thanks again to the wonder of the internet those of us that we’re able to make it in person can check out a bit about the events and talks on the CRAFT RESEARCH Blog.

Looks like yet another amazing symposium challenging contemporary notions of craft research and boundaries between different creative industries.

Can’t hardly wait…Medalta is calling…

It’s no secret that I’m dying to get to Medalta in July for a month at their amazing residency facility. I’m barely keeping focused on all the work I need to get finished before I can pack up to go, as I’m so excited. I’ve been storing up ideas for new figurative work to sink my teeth into and I’m looking forward to truly having the time again (sans 2 yr old) to do some crafty arty thinking and producing.

And it’s not helping my impatience to be hearing tidbits here and there through the blog, twitter and facebook sphere from the folks that are there right now in the midst of an amazing residency with the incredible Robin Dupont.

I’m drooling over the pics that the lovely Rose Bauer has been posting on her blog Skiing in the dark. Rose not only makes amazing work (one of my most favorite cereal bowls of all time) but she is a true tease to me this month : ) ….my turn will come…

Upcoming Artist Presentations @Medalta

Thursday, June 10

Guest Artist Robin Dupont
Monday, June 14
Participating Artists – Part II
Monday, June 21
Les Manning and Aaron Nelson
Translucent porcelain cups by Artistic Director Aaron Nelson.

Aaron Nelson ceramics
Work by Les Manning.

Les Manning
Robin DuPont
Wood-fired teapot by Guest Artist Robin DuPont.

Visit the Medalta website here for more info.

Upcoming film screening of The Leach Pottery

The Leach Pottery
6 pm, Thursday, June 24, 2010
Influx Room, Regis Center for Art
University of Minnesota
Admission: FREE

A special screening ofThe Leach Pottery, narrated by Warren MacKenzie, and restored and released by Canadian filmmaker Marty Gross.

This film, given to the filmmaker by Bernard Leach and his wife Janet Darnell Leach in 1976, records virtually every aspect of pottery making at the Leach Pottery. It has been restored and edited by Marty Gross, a filmmaker noted for his films of Japanese potters and potteries. Gross worked with Warren MacKenzie to provide narration for the film, as well as to add footage shot by MacKenzie when he was in residence at the Leach Pottery in 1952.

Marty Gross and Warren MacKenzie will be present for the event. Following the screening (the film is about 50 minutes), they will discuss the history and ideas in the films with each other and with the audience.

Marty Gross is a ceramics enthusiast who has brought that knowledge and passion to the public through films about ceramics and their makers, as well as through the Marty Gross Studio, a private art school for children in Toronto, founded in 1971. He has made and restored numerous films about Japanese craft, culture and history, including documentaries about the theater form bunraku, and the pottery villages of Onda and Koishibara on the island of Kyushu, and of Mashiko, where Hamada and Shimaoka lived and worked.

Warren MacKenzie worked at the Leach Pottery from 1949 to 1952, and then returned to Minnesota to teach at the University of Minnesota. While he taught at the University and after his retirement, he made and continues to make thousands of pots every year, which he intends to be used in the daily acts of serving and eating food—or containing flowers or paper clips and pencils. His pots may be found at Northern Clay Center, as well as in cupboards and display vitrines around the world.