arianejimison.com

I finally made the plunge yesterday and created a real working, not-so-lame, website. Check it out. www.arianejimison.com This means that I finally have a way of selling my work without paying high commissions. I'm really excited to see how it all works out.

I think this is an appropriate time to reveal my secret weapon in this endeavor I've embarked on. Yes. It's Rachel. Rachel Kalenberg has been my collaborative partner, an inspiration, my financial supporter, and my best friend. We're also getting married in a few months, so there's that too. I really want to say a big public THANK YOU to Rachel for all your help, support, patience, understanding and for helping to create this beautiful vision of our life together. It's better than I ever could have imagined.

And I have a mighty imagination.

Down to Earth

These mugs were all going to be brightly colored SPACE MUGS, but the initial firing got too hot, and only certain glazes would stick. Thus. Down to Earth Mugs. I'm pretty proud. They are hard to tip over. Because their bellies stick out (not unlike my own) their rims are protected from chips, and they are very comfortable to use. They hold about 10oz. of coffee (chai, tea, tang, whatever) and when I hold one, I somehow feel sophisticated. If they make ME feel sophisticated, just imagine how they will make a sophisticated person feel.

Special.

You can't spell demonstration with out "demon"

Yesterday I had what I thought was going to be a "little" pottery demonstration at our public library. But it turned out to be a big one, with over 130 people watching! They told me there would be over 100, but I guess I didn't believe it. Librarians never lie.

It's been gloomy, cool and rainy for days, and even yesterday morning, but when it came time to load everything in the car to go, it was HOT and humid. And after the demonstration when it came time to unload, it was even hotter. Of course after all the work was done, it rained heavily, and cooled everything off. It is my theory that the pottery gods don't look kindly upon self-promotion, or using pottery as comedic performance art, or something? My pottery wheel weighs at least 150lbs. and then there's: clay, tools, a chair, a bunch of finished pottery to have on display, extension cords, water bucket, towel, sponges, and a dolly to carry it all, and it all has to fit in this tiny car (it is not parked in my neighborhood in this picture). It's all heavy, and the wheel is especially awkward to get into the back of the car by yourself. AND IT'S HOT! I'll stop whining, you get the idea.

After I was already running a couple of minutes late, and was half way to the library, I realized that I forgot to get clay. When I finally got to the library, my new studio assistant John Morgan, was there to help me set-up, and it all went very smooth after that. John took pictures, and since he is in one of them, I assume he had some help. I guess I should tell you, I now have a studio assistant/apprentice!My brother's girlfriend Sara Morgan kept telling me that she had a brother who wanted to get into pottery, when I met John we really hit it off. We made a deal to trade his work time for studio time. He's an amazing helper and I think I can help him too. I'm excited to see what he creates in the near future!

Back at the library. At first the crowd of children were all nicely arranged around the tarp, but it soon turned into a cozy little circle, with lots of questions, and requests and fun facts from them, such as, "My dog's name is Jerry." And they asked for great stuff, like, "Can you make the moon?" and pizza, one kid really wanted me to make pizza, and another kid was petting my arm.

At the middle of the demonstration, I stopped to explain some of the ceramic processes, I showed a bisque piece (fired once but has no glaze on it) and it so happens that it was a bowl with wings, that can also be used as a space helmet. So I modeled it for them, with a raygun. (You'll have to click on the picture to see this)

Speaking of RAYGUNS! My good friend and sometimes collaborative partner, Melissa Wickwire has said that she will help me make holsters for my rayguns. I cannot even believe it. I will have so much more fun in the kitchen now with my new raygun salt & pepper shakers! PEW! PEW PEW!

Today, I'm pretty sore, tired, whiny, and lethargic. I have a headache that could kill a normal person, (one without a space helmet). All the excitement yesterday must have been too much. Which leads me to say, you can't spell demonstration without "demon".

IT WORKED!

I'm extremely happy and excited to report that the test firing was a success, the glaze stuck, the cup looks great. Well, I only glazed the inside, so it's looks half great. I'm off to glaze the rest of it and all of the other pieces I thought I might have ruined.

I made a beautiful large jar/canister last night, I'm jazzed about going to work on it, so this is it for today, lots to do!

Ups and downs

I had my first miss-hap yesterday. My kiln over-fired, and did not shut off when it was supposed to, so it got way too hot, and I lost 16 pieces. I think. I'm firing one of those pieces right now to see if the glaze I applied sticks to it, or if the clay has become too mature, the glaze could just slide off the piece when it gets hot. WE WILL SEE! I certainly don't have my hopes up.

I did throw 16 new pieces yesterday, so at least it feels like I've already made-up for the loss. I made 8 large, curvy tumblers, 4 small wine cups, enough parts for a pair of raygun salt and pepper shakers, an espresso cup, and a bowl with a hollow rim.


I was also recently able to photograph the last project that I had my college class do. It's a bit of a version of "exquisite corpse". I had everyone make parts and pieces, without much direction other than they had to make at least 5, they could be spheres, wheel thrown pieces, coils, slabs, clay pizza, or whatever. After about 20 minutes, we put the pieces outside to firm-up. We then chose words randomly out of random books, and put together a sentence, randomly. That sentence became the title of the piece, and we then constructed the sculpture to fit the title. They learned about gesture, narrative sculpture, and team work, as well as how to collaborate and "let go" of one's work, as no one was allowed to use pieces that they had originally created.

The title of this piece is, "The Spooky Cow Danced on Florence's Tongue

Many people took one look at this piece when it was still in clay-form, and said that it could never make it through a firing, and yet, Florence persevered. After she was fired, we rummaged through the AVA Community Art Center's fridge & cupboards to find mustard, many teas, fruit punch, and coffee, which we brewed, and painted onto the sculpture, when the tea was too weak, we added watercolors. It was crazy, kind of smelly, but a lot of fun. When I get the kiln built this summer, I'd like to cement her to it.


I know the picture of the spooky cow is very blurry, but I thought it was such a funny picture, I just had to show it off.

Oh the woes of having a small kiln! I'm getting quite the collection of "pieces waiting to be fired", and yet it seems I fire CONSTANTLY! I'm a little nervous about getting the next electric bill! Here's the latest kiln load of finished works. Though my kiln is tiny, I somehow managed to fit all of these in one load.





10" Bowl











This is a piece simply entitled "Stone". As you can see, it has a large turquoise necklace draped on it. Jewelry artist Maria Stiles and I have a couple of shows coming up, and this is one of our promotional photos. I love these two pieces together! Pottery should wear jewelry more often.





















13" Carved Platter

The tree silhouettes are actually carved into the clay, then glazed brown later. This is a very handsome platter, but I think it would look best with a roasted chicken or turkey on it.















"A Pitcher of Wyoming"

I experimented with watercolor techniques for this piece. I especially love the flock of birds "flying off the handle". HA!




















And this piece is of particular significance to me, as it will be the centerpiece at my wedding in a few months. It is wheel-thrown, hollow, and to me symbolizes the idea of two people being individuals and at the same time being joined.





















Carved Brown Vase
14" High


I honestly didn't plan on keeping this one. It came about on a late night, I didn't cover it, it dried out, but I hacked away at it the next day anyway. Then so many people commented on it, I thought what the hell, why not! Now I love it!












This bowl didn't get fired in this last batch, but I'm sending it off to New York next week and I had neglected to get a photo of it. It is 14" across and is a 10- quart Salad/Mixing Bowl, and it is being sent to my good friends David & Iralda Nicholas along with the 10" bowl shown above.