Cub Creek Wrap-Up

2011 August 11

A lot has happened since my last post. Aside from farming long days at the formidable Fertile Crescent Farm, my residency at Cub Creek Foundation culminated in July with the firing of the new anagama affectionately dubbed the Johnagama by the residents in honor of Cub Creek’s executive director/ permanent resident artist/ master of culinary arts, John Jessiman.

The old proverb that many hands make light work leaves you doubting that John Heywood ever built a kiln. Notwithstanding the brutally humid summer heat, residents and workshop guests labored to construct the new kiln in one week’s time. This was the fourth and the largest kiln building project of my six months at Cub Creek. In addition to the Johnagama, I lent a hand with an adjunct wood-fired soda kiln, as well as the with the demolition and reconstruction of a gas kiln and a wood-fired salt kiln.

Unfortunately I will not have a chance in the immediate future to fire these kilns, but I did have some successful pieces from the inaugural Johnagama firing despite uneven temperatures and light fly ash. The amorphous form below is one of my familiar shapes that originated during my time assisting Tom Spleth at a Penland concentration last year. The addition of paper fibers finally solved most of my issues with cracking and green strength. This piece reached cone 12 high in the front chamber.

Another familiar form, the amorphous sculpture below was revisited as a starting point for my experimentation with press molding the indigenous red stoneware. I am delighted to say that there is no discernible loss of detail between it and my slip cast editions of this sculpture, which opens up innumerable options in clay bodies. After such a hiatus, I am very happy to welcome plastic clay back into my life.

The sculpture below is the start of a fractal-based series. By joining two of the press molded forms pictured above, I am able to create forms that appear organic but possess a quality of control. The pipes that intersect the form were hand built and work in combination with the indigenous clay, molding technique, and atmospheric firing to reference the relationship between the industrial and natural worlds.

Finally, here is a stripped down form I experimented with to convey a similar theme. This piece was press molded and hand built. I may continue to develop this idea and the fractal series once in Mendocino. Otherwise I will be prototyping new molds because I put most of my molds out with the trash at Cub Creek. Cheers to a fresh body of work in the near future.

I am at Penland now preparing for their annual auction and then hitting the road for a few weeks as I traverse America to Mendocino. I’ll try to update with pictures of my journey sooner than later. A final word of thanks to John Jessiman, the other Cub Creek resident artists, all of the workshop participants and to all of my farm friends for shaping my experience in the (un)Commonwealth of Virginia. And thanks to you for reading!

California Scheming

2011 June 4
by Tim Ayers

I just wanted to share some great news. Recently I juried into the Mendocino Art Center’s Artist-in-Residence program. Its a nine month residency beginning September 1st. I am really excited to travel west for my first time and to be at residency that supports multiple disciplines. Needless to say, I am anticipating this transition daily.

The Mendocino Art Center is situated 150 miles north of San Francisco overlooking a rugged expanse of the Pacific Ocean in the charming coastal village of Mendocino. A haven for artists since 1959, today the Art Center is a highly regarded artistic and educational institution offering over 200 retreat-style workshops each year in ceramics, fiber arts, fine arts, jewelry and sculpture. The art galleries feature monthly exhibitions spotlighting the creative works of local and national artists. The Mendocino Art Center continues to be at the heart of what makes the Mendocino Coast an enchanting and vibrant place to visit. Rejuvenate your soul and rekindle your spirit in this unique, retreat-like setting.

In the meantime, I have so much to wrap up here on the east coast and so many plans to make for my cross country adventure. September will be here in no time. More soon. Thanks for reading!

photos from http://www.visitusa.com/

Forthcoming Kiln Building Workshop With John Jessiman

2011 May 15
by Tim Ayers

June 4 – 10 The Cub Creek Foundation Kiln building workshop will be conducted by John Jessiman. John has built over thirty kilns of varying types during his career. The event centers on the construction of a 100 cubic foot Anagama type wood – firing kiln. The workshop will begin with a discussion of refractories, construction and fuel options and is intended to be educational. Involvement in the workshop will take place over six days and participants are expected to participate for the entire event.

* Discussion of refractory options

* Fuels and burner systems

* Exhaust requirements

* Design options

* Develop drawings for kiln

* Layout footprint of kiln

* Create centering form to construct arch

* Build kiln

The workshop will offer an opportunity for participants to learn about and participate in designing and building kilns. There is no tuition for the workshop. Knowledge and experience will be exchanged for the work efforts and energy. Meals will be provided. Camping with access to bathrooms and showers is available. Registration is limited to 10 participants. All applications should be sent to Jessiman@cubcreek.org

Cub Creek Update

2011 April 22
by Tim Ayers

As usual, I have a lot of irons in the fire. Lately I have been casting less and exploring press molding with hand built elements. After a year of casting almost exclusively, I am enjoying the pace and the familiarity of plastic clay along with all of the freedom it offers. The sculptures below are made with the local clay, which despite its unrefined qualities has been very forgiving considering my lack of experience with handbuilding. Still, I am adding paper fibers to my clay for the next round of this series.

Tests, tests, tests. I’m about to fire my 40th clay body test since arriving at Cub Creek. We have both a white and red stoneware body on the property. I really like the red body, which fires to a slightly metallic black with deep purple and muted red flashing. I’m honing in on the balance of fill, flux, and clay now in an effort to vitrify the red clay without sacrificing too much plasticity.

I’ve been prototyping some new forms. Doodling a lot and dabbling around with plaster.

We recently tore down the gas salt kiln and the soft brick gas kiln. The soft brick kiln has already been rebuilt and the new wood salt is well underway.

The new wood salt kiln will have two fireboxes to either side of the stacking space. The arch is going to be made entirely from castable refractory and should be cast very soon.

More soon… thanks for reading.