Little Translucent Gem

I am working on making my etsy descriptions especially enticing...Perhaps this is a bit much, though. Hm.

I almost don't want to part with this cup, but I am sure that its perfect home is out there. It is, (if I don't say so myself!) kind of a sublime piece. I really love it. I made this little handful on the kick-wheel (and then hand-carved it) on one preternaturally balmy and magical evening with a warm breeze blowing in through the open windows of the studio located in the ruins of an ancient castle in the unbearably romantic walled village of Puycelsi, in Southwestern France. Our incredible friend Q. generously shared some of the most luscious porcelain he had on hand (Studio LaGrane--www.studiolagrane.wordpress.com) where my husband Lee and I were doing an artist-in-residency. We then fired the works we made in Q.'s kiln for four days, most without any applied glaze, including this beautiful cup. Held up to the light, it is translucent.

All of the colour--those moonlight grays, the smattering of crystalline, and the peachy blush--is derived simply from the interaction between the wood, the flame, and the minerals in the clay.

This piece is entirely food-safe, totally non-toxic, and suitable for daily use. It is made with porcelain and high-fired, and as long as it isn't dropped on a tile floor (for example), could last many lifetimes.

it is approximately 4.5 inches tall, and 2.5 inches wide.

For more information on our life and work (as well as photographs of and the story of our journey to France) please visit www.burntnormal.com

Have a wonderful day!

Sincerely,

Yolande

Bricks are Very Patient

(above: close your eyes and imagine a beautiful anagama kiln right there, climbing up that little hill)

(above: Bricks and firewood and oh my!)

Well, I mentioned the other day that the weather was was going to be warm...and then of course the next day it snowed! I was a bit dismayed, I have to admit. But thankfully, it is mild again, and we have been promised an upcoming week of above 10 degree celcius weather, straight across the board. Of course, one can't believe everything one hears...but everything is quite suggestive of spring. The kids and I took a little jaunt down to the river and the sun bounced off everything, and we left our gloves at home, the birdsong was deafening, and I had to work very hard to convince both Horus and Treva that swimming still was not a good idea.

Lee and I have been planning like mad, and we have finally found a source of bricks from a company in Ontario--and available at a more economical price than anything else we have found (do you want to know? I forget the name, and the notebook is downstairs, and the pregnant lady is already in bed, and exhausted. I'll update, though, I promise!).

The snow did look beautiful this morning against the bright sky. And as I was walking across the yard to the studio in order to trim my bowls, I stopped to survey our kiln-site, and the bricks from our bourrigama, stacked by the long low former blacksmith building (The Forge!). And yes, the neon sign on the side of our neighbour's home really does read "Jesus Saves".

It occurred to me just how luxurious it is that all of the bricks are right there, where we need them to be. For the past five years, we have been building kilns and tearing kilns down, and much of that work has consisted of...moving bricks around. Thrashing through burdock roots at the old pole barn in Carleton County, and digging the Prairies and BEs out of eye-high weeds behind the rotting volkswagen van and farm equipment. Chain-ganging bricks up the hill and back down at the Little River Anagama. Now here we are, in Queenstown, and we have already done the work of transporting the bourrigama bricks from Knowlesville. As soon as the snow is gone, and we have added a couple of truckloads of gravel to our foundation (it's a bit wet, still), we can begin. And the bricks that we order from Ontario will *magically* be delivered. Right. To. Our. Studio. Holy crow. Yup, It is almost hard to believe how luxurious this is going to be.

Our kiln plan is pretty much done, but Lee won't let me post a photograph of our drawing quite yet. Soon, though.

Next week we do a fast woodfiring at our friend David Eastwood's. Which is good. Because we're really broke, and firing pots means having pots to sell...

Incidentally, we have had lots of questions as to when we will be posting more work on etsy. And the answer is, very soon, and with more regularity.

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend.

Yo

New Etsy Listing--Vase by Lee

Just listed this guy. Find it here, at our etsy shop.

Lee throws a Stein

Wow! This worked, too!

Yo Throws a teabowl

Ooh! It works! That's me! Neat.

New Blog!

Above: David Eastwood of Hampstead, NB, firing his Olson Fastfire--sparks!

I just wanted to let everyone know about a new site that I have started, dedicated to the woodfiring potters of New Brunswick. This page was inspired in part by the fact that there will be a really exciting five-person exhibition coming up in December 2012, at Gallery 78, featuring the work of Ghita Levin, David Eastwood, Darren Emenau, Lee Horus Clark, and myself. We all have very different approaches to the art of woodfire, so it should be a very diverse, dynamic show.

However, NB also has lots of emerging ceramic artists who seem to be very interested in woodfiring as well, and especially thanks to the open-heartedness and generosity of David Eastwood, there have been quite a few collaborative firings that have happened over the past few months.

More on all of this soon!

Yo

Renewal: Spring Thaw

Our studio, yesterday. The weather is changeable, but generally warmish, and wet. The snow is nearly gone--early, for New Brunswick. We will be able to dig the foundation for our new Anagama soon.

I went to the studio yesterday, for the very first time in a couple of months, and made a large vase that I'm quite happy with--below.

His and hers: Lee's vase is on the left, mine on the right.

Moving forced us to deal with lots of boxes of things that had been put away...including pottery. The cup, above, is an oldie of mine. It's a lovely little piece, though--from, I think, 2008. I'll be putting it up on etsy in the next couple of days.

And I wanted to share this absolutely stunning piece of Lee's. I think it was made in 2007? (or 2006), and was fired in the Little River Anagama. See what I mean about this guy?

* * *

Well. It has been a long time, hasn’t it? Months, in fact...In some ways, lots has happened, but we still have so much to do, so far to go. This *is* life, isn’t it? Silly. There isn’t really anywhere to go, Yolande. You are you, are me, are us, are them. Ok. Here I am.

The fact is, (as many of you, I’m sure, were aware--long before I was, probably) I needed a break. Moving is always a bit hectic and stressful. But in many ways, we weren’t just uprooting our family, our studio, our kilns...we were also facing some harsh realities about our work and our approach to how we went about making, and living, and now, readjusting to re-locating in Queenstown, and in a sense, to being in the world. Moving.

I had resolved to take a short hiatus, and to begin writing this blog again after a series of landmarks had been reached: our home is set up; our studio is renovated and ready to go; our gallery is open and operational; our new website is up and running; our kiln is built and firing. Oh Yo. When will you ever learn. These things may *never* be completely ready, and certainly not when you desire. It’s ok. Here I am. None of these things are done, but we are in motion, and it feels good.

These past few months--this mild winter--have been a period of reassessment, convalescence, and then, in a small way, reawakening.

I worked quite a bit during the end of 2011 and 2012, doing jobs that took me elsewhere; teaching piano, working at the library. Lee stayed home with the kids. I pushed it all, as usual, too much, and then I crashed, and was sent to bed, big time. For essentially a month, I was confined to my room. Lee cared for me, and Horus and Treva, and the household. I am told, that at the apex of my sickness, in a state of fevered delerium, I often became hysterical--babbling and crying over...pottery, especially (as well as my mother, the pear-tree in the backyard of my childhood home, along with other obscurities). But when I finally came out of the haze, I took some time to think about where we are going, what we need for ourselves and our children--all almost-three of them (this new one is kicking and spinning--he/she will be out in August, just a few days before we leave to g to Vancouver--see below!).

This way. The empty studio beckons. Cool clay, hot fire.

So Lee and I sat down and talked about pots. And bricks, and rocks, and dirt, and kilns, and colour. And the kind of life we want for our children. And I tried to be patient with the challenges Lee has with numbers, and planning and...remembering....And he tried to be patient with my propensity to over-plan, and my impatience, and the challenges I have with, well, numbers...And it's ok.

And suddenly, it was spring. It *is* spring (or almost-spring--spring-like).

So here we are again. In the real world. (!) I feel like I’ve come to, a little bit. Nothing is perfect. Old irritations remain, but I have a slightly new perspective, new hope, new energy and inspiration.

And I’m pretty excited about our new kiln. It was humbling to take down the bourrigama two years after building it, especially since we were so blatantly faced with the reality that...it wasn’t a very good kiln, really. We had a couple of ok firings, and lots of gorgeous individual pieces came from it... But Lee and I were both essentially disappointed with the design.

Now, our anagama is going up in a matter of weeks. Just in time to fire a couple of times in order to create two bodies of work: one for our two-person (Lee and I) exhibition in Vancouver in September, and then again for an exhibit here in Fredericton of work by the five potters in New Brunswick for whom woodfiring is a focus: Ghita Levin, David Eastwood, Darren Emenau, Yolande Clark, and Lee Horus Clark.

Once again, it’s a bit of a crazy plan. Once again, we’ll be ok.

I have been reading lots of the musings of other potters lately, and thoroughly enjoying all the fb pottery photographs, and all the wonderful blogging going out out there in the virtual world. While I am pretty ambivalent about the internet much of the time, pottery-related web stuff is the good part. There is so much gorgeous pottery out there, and I have resolved to dedicate more time here, on our blog, to looking at, writing about, and celebrating the work of other potters that Lee and I find inspiring. The more great vessels that come into the world, the better. I’m happy to be back.

Sincerely,

Yolande