Webb Pottery Studio

Blog Action Day is an annual event held every October 15 that unites the world’s bloggers in posting about the same issue on the same day with the aim of sparking discussion around an issue of global importance.

I remember as a child going to Man and His World (the site for Expo ‘67, the 1967 International and Universal Exposition) in Montreal, and visiting all the international pavillions. I remember in particular the American Pavillion and always seemed to gravitate to it whenever we visited.  It was a huge, clear panelled geodesic dome structure that really stood out among the rest of the buildings.  It being so long ago,   I admit, memories are a little vague, but I have fleeting images of the experience such as the sun blaring through the glass.. vegetation lining paths on the ground level.. futuristic bits of art and culture.. stairs going up to a different level where screening rooms with films about acid rain, air & water pollution, the depletion of the ozone layer, etc. , etc, were shown.

I know I was young, but it obviously left an impression on me, because I still remember it.  The warning was clear that we should be very conscientious of how we live, how we treat the environment, and take care of the world around us, or the fragile natural world as we know it will be lost for future generations.

Despite what certain special interest groups tell us and want us what to believe, I think its naive to think that the climate change is not real and that we can keep on the way we have been.   Human activities might not be the only reason why global warming is occurring, but it is occurring nonetheless. The exponential growth of human populations and industrialization has had a huge impact on the ecosystem and has undoubtedly helped to expedite climate change.  We’ve known about it for a long time but denying a problem does not make it go away.   On that note…

Over the last few days, I’ve tried to think of how life at our studio might relate to the global warming. Thinking back, most of the changes we have implemented in the past few years were for economic reasons, but they have spinoff benefits that are releva for the  environment as well.  In the past 9 or so years, the cost of propane (we glaze fire in a gas kiln) has more than doubled and the cost of raw materials and shipping has gone up by at least 1/3.  Working smarter and more efficiently , obviously, has become all that more of a priority.

THE KILN

When I think of climate change and how it relates to pottery, what first comes to mind is my kiln which uses propane.  A fuel burning anything is a potential area of concern when you are trying to reduce your carbon footprint.  One thing working in our favor is that  our studio and kiln are located on a treed 5 acre plot of land.  A friend yesterday reminded me as well that propane does burn more efficiently and releases less particulates and pollutants into the air than, say, a wood kiln or even a salt kiln.

So working with what we have, we have tried to make some changes to help it fire more efficiently and use less fuel.  A big change we made about a year ago was getting some of those new nitride bonded silicon carbide shelves which are much thinner (and lighter) than regular kiln shelves and take require less energy to heat up. (When you fire a kiln, you heat everything in the kiln.. the pots, the shelves, the posts… everything. Anything extra you have means that much more energy consumed.)  So anyways, we did that and replaced the flat top with an arch and I was delighted to discover that the firing took a fraction of the propane it did previously.  Something else that we just did this last firing is reduce the pressure at the regulator on the propane tank. Again, much less propane was used. Brilliant. More firings for less and what fuel we did use what burned that much more efficiently.

NATIVE CLAY

Like propane and natural gas, the cost of raw materials has shot up.  Thankfully we dig most of the clay we use locally. We do this for a number of reasons. Besides the fact that it is very responsive and throws beautifully, it being so readily available and so close to the studio definitely works in our favor. Since we process it ourselves, it is a little cheaper plus we don’t have the additional expense of shipping it down from places like Ohio, Atlanta, California, and some other such places where clay is commercially processed and distributed from.  The environmental impact?  Well, one benefit is there is one less truck on the road and therefore less emissions released into the atmosphere.

OTHER THINGS

We usually have to travel away to do art shows and fairs, so for a number of reasons, we’ve lightened up the weight of our show display so when we do have to travel, its a lighter load and hopefully less wear on the vehicle, less gas, and less emissions.

Shows, Quality not Quantity -  What with the economy, rising show fees and travel expenses,  and the uncertainty of shows, like  many craftspeople,  we have been forced to be a lot more selective about where we go and what shows we do. Consequently that often means travelling less and sticking closer to home.  The internet has also made promotion to a broader audience without travel possible.

At home, I am trying to make changes as well. I switched (mostly out of necessity) from a large SUV to a Toyota Corolla which helps consumption, and switched out all my light bulbs for flourescents or compact florescents bulbs. My gasoline and electric bills have both gone down considerably as a result.  There’s always room for improvement though. I started the summer with plans for a big vegetable garden, but this year with things that come up, as they seem to do, the more invasive weeds just took over. But there is always next year, when I hope to have better luck with planting in raised beds.

So no matter what your lifestyle or how small your operation is, changes to our lifestyle and how we work are possible. Even small changes can have a positive effect on the environment.

Alabama Public Television, a few months ago, had aired their wonderful two-part documentary Alabama Craft: Tradition and Innovation, which featured seven notable and talented craftspeople  from across the state, and their work.

From July 16th through August, APTV is hosting an Online Art Auction via eBay, featuring work by the artists in the film as well other contributing Alabama artists (including yours truly. My piece, pictured here, will come up for auction Aug 6th).  “All of the funds raised will go to support the education mission of Alabama Public Television, and help us continue to make films like Alabama Craft.”

The list of artists include: Mozell Benson (Folk Quilts), Cal Breed (Glasswork), Jerry Brown (Folk Pottery), Steve Dark (Folk Pottery), Frank Fleming (Porcelain Sculpture), Ham Allen (Folk Pottery), William Gene Ivey (Instrument Maker/Fiddles), Bettye Kimbrell (Heritage Quilts), Cam Langley (Glasswork), Bruce Larsen (Mixed Media Sculpture), Charlie Lucas (Folk/Mixed Media), Bertice McPherson (Ceramic Sculpture), Eric Miller (Folk Pottery), Steve Miller (Folk Pottery), John Phillips (Metalworks), Tut Riddick (Paint), Charles Smith (Pottery), Anne Webb (Pottery), and Yvonne Wells (Quilts).

To learn more about the auction, the artists, and the art, please visit the   APTV Online Art Auction Home page.

Make your bid today to support a great cause!

We were contacted last fall by the folks at AlabamaGoods.com who wanted to add some of our pottery to their shop online.

Opened in 2007, the  AlabamaGoods.com site is focused on selling items from Alabama, ranging from pickles to pottery to clothing items.

Pictured here, our stoneware pottery mug has been paired up with some O’Henry’s Coffees‘ Sumatra Gold Roast and offered as a corporate gift box set on the AlabamaGoods.com site:  http://alabamagoods.com/clay-mug-coffee.html

Can you believe that it will already be December 6th tomorrow?

Don’t forget to join us at the  Mobile Botanical Gardens between 9 am and 4 pm for the Coastal Artisans’ 3rd Annual Christmas Art Show and Sale.

For more info about the artists and directions to the Gardens, please visit: http://thecoastalartisans.blogspot.com

I love the look of pots all laid out whether they be green ware or pots  waiting to be loaded in the gas kiln, as these are.   The mugs almost remind me of a regiment of soldiers, or a tightly packed school of fish all swimming in the same direction.

I’ve been finishing up a gas firing this morning, busily trying to keep the gas tank from freezing up until the propane truck finally makes it here this afternoon.  We’re cutting it pretty close though.. down to less than 5% in the tank and I have the garden hose dribbling some water on it so I don’t lose gas pressure completely.   Thankfully though,  cone 9 is bending evenly top and bottom so we’re in the home stretch.

I made a little adjustment to the way my target bricks were positioned this time (an experiment) in hopes of making the firing more efficient.  Evidently it has had some effect because the last time the kiln was stacked similarly, I had a good cone or 2 difference from top to bottom .   I guess I’ll only know for sure once the kiln is opened.

Looking forward to this kiln opening. I have several pots in there with clay from our new clay deposit I mentioned in my last post.

A couple of weeks ago we had a dumptruck load of clay delivered from the new clay deposit.  I guestimated the pile was around 5 tons or so, but as it turns out, our neighbor, who drives for the same kind of truck, told me one of those trucks heaped up with clay like it was, holds something closer to 27 tons (or more?)!!  All 27 tons, just for the cost of trucking it to our studio not 15 - 20 miles away.  (If you have bought commercially prepared clay, you can probably do the math for what the equivalent would be).

We’ve left the dumped clay uncovered and open to the elements now for two weeks or so, in order for the rain to wash away a little of the residual sand off that was picked up in the dump truck onto the clay’s surface. The mound is already starting to turn from a reddy orange to more of a amethyst-y pink clay color.  Yesterday I broke apart a clump  to reveal a piece of nice, clean, sandless solid clay.   Since the time the of the delivery, three or four batches of clay have been mixed.  I have thrown some of it,  and the rest I have left to age a little more.  ..well, until tomorrow, at least, when I start my throwing cycle again.

Before it was time to mix the second batch, though, Lowell took me out to the new deposit site for the first time to help gather some dryer clay for the mix, since the clay we already had at the studio was still a little too damp to crush to a powder.  So off we went..

We drove for about 20 minutes down familiar roads and around familiar turns, when all of the sudden Lowell turned into a little dirt driveway entrance.  It was a lot closer than I thought it would be.

Well!  I thought the truck load that was delivered was a lot, but I saw where it was excavated from and it took barely a dent out of the mountain that lay before me.  Here is a picture of what I first saw.  It stands about 20 feet high and is at least 60 feet long .   Its mostly pink clay, though there are layers of white, and red, and a layer further in the middle of some dark shale-like material which I assume is the remnants of decomposed vegetation .

I was chipping away dry surface clay and filling up my bucket, as  the fog gradually cleared.  It was almost like a dream.  Off to my right, was another clay mountain .. and yet another further on.

Here is a photo of a hillside that had been excavated with a backhoe.  Sorry,  I couldn’t get the entire hill in the shot but you can get an idea of the various strata.   This layer starts down about 6 feet from the surface and, in this spot, is about 4-6 feet thick.

I’ll try and post more pictures as I can.

Several years ago, when I was *very* new to clay, I attended my very first clay conference.    It was really my first introduction to the clay community.  I remember it being a wonderful and unforgettable experience.  I got to try rakuing for the very first time at the preliminary workshop hosted by Ottawa Valley artist Leta Cormier in her, as I remember, extremely immaculate studio.  I also got to take part in my first mug exchange in which I remember receiving a lovely salt-glazed mug by potter Jackie Seaton.  My name was even drawn and I won some nice oriental brushes. But that was not all (and this was the pinnacle for me), John Leach, of  Muchelney Pottery, was the main presenter.  His pots were like nothing I had seen before (I told you I was new to clay) and I was impressed by what a real person he was … very gracious, generous, and down to earth. He left a lasting impression on me.

I recently discovered John’s brother Simon Leach has posted a series of videos on YouTube over the last year or so, showing demos, kilns, visits back to England and to friends’ studios, his philosophies, etc etc.  What I like is he presents things face on and shares his victories and disappointments, the good and the bad,  taking it all in stride.  I don’t think a lot of people are aware how hard it can be to be a potter and that things, quite beyond your control, can go extremely wrong after many, many hours of hard work, and all for naught.  Here is the 2nd of 2 of Simon’s videos taken while unloading Seth Cardew’s kiln:

This photo was from last night before I started glazing.  Oh yeah, there’s a ware rack outside the shot besides this lot as well.  I am glad to say its now all glazed and in a lit kiln, finally.  I’m relieved.  In the morning I’ll load another bisque load, now that things are finally dry, and probably fire the gas kiln again Wednesday night.

The weather is fantastic tonight.  Clear skies, 73 F, and (a rare occurance) no wind blowing across the clearing toward the kiln (and burners).  How nice for being out by the kiln and firing!  This is a relief after a summer of incessant rain. I was getting so tired of having to wear my muck boots seemingly everywhere to trudge through orange mud and puddles, not to mention having to deal with the headaches of trying to navigate my car strategically up our driveway without getting sucked down into a pot hole and stuck!  Anyways, everything is drying up nicely and I am back to wearing flips and birks.

I’ve mentioned before that we’ve been working on expanding the studio for a while now.  Its actually been an ongoing project for a long time.. scrape together a few dollars, buy a few more boards and nails. I would just love to be able to have all the materials on hand and get it done in one fell swoop so I could get back to some sense of order and normalcy, and maybe take on some students again, but for now, this is the way it is.   This afternoon Lowell headed off to the recycling place in town to trade in some cans and metal stuff that was lying around, to clear up around and get a little pin money, I suppose. Well evidently he ended up having more than I thought because he came back with these.  “These will look great in the studio upstairs!”, he said, with a big silly grin across his face.

So Its Tuesday night (Wednesday morning), its 12:20 am, and I’m up waiting for the cone to bend in the bisque so I can turn it off and go to bed.  Grabbed a cat nap a little while ago and though still a little bleary eyed, ready for the final stretch.

No matter how organized you *think* you are, the last 2 weeks leading up to a show tend to be somewhat more tense than usual, what with trying to make sure you have enough fired and hoping everything makes it through the firings okay (can you ever have enough pots?!).  With the studio more or less a construction zone, I have to work around the weather forcast  when it comes to glazing and other related outdoor activities.  Potting is a lot like a well coordinated dancing act.. timing is everything.

The first fall show is just over a week away.  The roof is finally on the studio (yay!) though rain can still blow through a bit from the sides, and I am still working out the house and around everything else.   Pushing things through the bisque as I can, relying soley on the small electric kiln since our other 2 larger ones are out of commission due to faulty bits that still need replacing.  Coming to the realization that tomorrow or the next day are probably my very last throwing days for the show Oct 4 & 5 (The George Ohr Festival in Biloxi, MS) and after that its just glazing and firing and hoping for good weather!   Doh.. forgot to order that replacement part for the canopy.  Tomorrow.

…And so show season begins!