Eva Funderburgh

So now that I’m back from the firing, and have had a bit of sleep, I think that this was a pretty good firing.  It will be completely fascinating to see how it turns out, but I’ll have to wait until we unload on Nov 1st to see what it looks like.

I still find it weird how hot we got.  Normally, we might have cone 13 down in front, 12 in the middle, and 11 down in back.  Having 13 downs through out the kiln, is unusual, alarming, and a bit awesome.  I feel like shutting it down early was the right thing to do, though.  The risk of going on and getting everything too hot, were greater than any downsides of shutting it down 15 hours early.  I think that since we started side stoking early than normal, there won’t be much of a difference in the amount of ash especially in the back of the kiln.  However, there’s just so many variables (very tightly packed kiln, no stoking in the far back port, very hot, short firing, early side stoking, heavy reduction cooling in front, but we forgot to seal off some of the air to the middle) that it will be hard to figure out any cause or effect.  Well, no sense in guessing until Nov 1st.

In the mean time, I’ll take some time to tackle all those less glamorous tasks in the life of an artists: sales tax, expense receipts, website maintenance, and dirty laundry.

The firing is just over a week away.  I’ve been pushing pretty hard in the studio, and am quite satisfied with what I have.  I think I should have enough pieces to supply both my galleries, and our holiday sale. I’ll just still have to keep pushing though, to finish every piece that I possibly can. Here’s another peek at my drying shelf.

Here I am, working away.

We’ll be unloading the kiln on Saturday, November 1st, and it will be my goal to have most of everything photographed by Monday the 3rd.  That means that it will be a super busy weekend, but I have to send out some slides on the 3rd, anyway.  If I’m going to be applying to something, I’d like to use my newest work, even if it does mean spending another weekend in the studio.

Oh, funny thing.  I can tell it’s starting to be winter now.  Between the colder weather and the extra time in the studio, my hand dry up and take the texture of sand paper.  It’s sort of a joke, that every potter is an expert on hand lotion.  Everyone will tell you what the best brand is (always different), and why. In my opinion, Eucerin Plus Intensive Hand Repair Cream (Not the Eucerin Plus Intensive Dry Skin Repair Cream) is truly the way to go.  Here’s my winter hands, pre-lotion.  If you want to be creeped out, check it out at full resolution.

That’s how long I prefer my fingernails.  It drives me nuts when they leave little fingernail marks in the clay. Also, if they aren’t that short, they get clay stuck under them.  I’m so used to them being like that that if they were longer I’d probably accidentally scratch my eye out or something.

For months, Florentia Clayworks (our studio), has been discussing repainting our building.  We’d shuffled paint chips, negotiated with the land lady, and talked with neighbors.  We’d talked about where to get paint, who would pay for the painting, and yet, had never made progress.   However, all that changed about two weeks ago, due to a chance meeting of studio mate Randy, our land lady, and the local muralist Ryan Henry Ward.  With in two days the walls of our drab and tagged studio blossomed into beautiful blues and purples.  Now more or less complete, our studio is covered with awesome monsters with hollow heads, and giant birds.  Neighbors who had overlooked us for months began to wander by and ask about us.

To celebrate our new look, we’ll be participating in the Fremont First Friday this week. I’ll be there from 6 to 9pm with snacks and drinks! If you’re in the area, I recommend swinging by and checking out the new look.  I won’t have any new work yet, but you’ll be allowed a sneak peak at what’s lined up for the next firing, if you want. I’ll see if I can get Ryan, the muralist, to join me for the art walk, but he might already be off working on a new building.

Getting started on the mural

This is just to remind folks that the Washington Potter’s Association art show at the Tacoma Art Stop will be having an opening tomorrow night.  It’s looking like it will be a fun show, with 20 some different clay artists.  Two of my pieces were selected to be part of the show – Stilt Beast and Flora Beast #2 – Grazer.  If you’re in the area, I recommend stopping by!

The opening will be from 5 to 8pm on this Thursday, Sept 18th.  The website appears to be down, but  here’s a link to their place on google maps.  If you happen to be going through the area at another time, the show will be up until October 17th, Tuesday -Fridays 9:30am – 5:30pm, Saturdays 9:30am – 4:30pm.

I’ve been starting to prepare for a wood firing next month.  It will be my only chance to fire pieces in time for the holiday season, so I’ve been working pretty hard to get ready for it.  However, I’m quite happy with what I’ve been putting together.  Here’s a shot of the one pieces in progress.  In this shot, I still need to finish the horns, teeth and all of that, but still, I really like its movement.  I’ve since finished it up, including the fruit.  I used a different clay for the fruit, one that will turn black or purple, or maybe just brown.  I can’t wait to see how it comes out.

In this last week, I decided to shuffle all of my work between my galleries.  I just took most of the stuff from gallery A and gave it to gallery B and so forth.   This just keep everything fresh for everyone.  Part of the fun of this (besides trekking all over Seattle with a suitcase full of critters), is that most of the work I have for sale in my studio has been refreshed too! The new list of pieces for sale is up on flicker.  Stop, browse, and have yourself some fun!

So the Pittsburgh show went very well.  I’ve sorted through my photos of the trip, and now have the best of them up on flickr.

The gallery was great, and it was really fun to meet Jamie and Kat, who organized everything. I was also extremely honored to have my work featured on the postcards, as well as an advertisement in The City Paper, a local weekly.  Below is a picture of the Society for Contemporary Craft.  It’s located in the strip district, an old warehouse district of Pittsburgh.  Now days, the area is mainly know for having the best ethnic groceries and food wholesalers for anything you could think of, all crammed into one 10 block stretch.  Well, known for that, and for an awesome gallery or two.  I highly recommend checking out the whole area if you’re ever in the ‘burgh.

The opening went quite well!  It was a great time all around, and very well attended.  It was also great to be able to see the work of Joshua Longo and Toby Fraley in person.  I got to meet Toby, who’s a pretty cool guy, but Joshua was off touring with a band or something, and couldn’t make it.  All in all, totally an awesome time, and thanks to everyone who showed up.  The show will be up for a bit, or until they sell all the work.  However, judging by the rate the pieces have been selling, that might not be that long.

The Society for Contemporary Craft also had me give a demonstration on creature making, the next day.  It was a new experience for me, being the first time I’d ever done anything of the type.  The strangest thing for me was trying to cram work that I would normally do over the course of a week or two into three hours, talking the whole time.  It meant I had to work with the piece much softer than normal and I had to fight with it some, but it worked out in the end.

The opening for the Society for contemporary crafts is tonight! I’ve stopped by the gallery a few times in the past couple days and everything looks really really awesome.  I’m really looking forward to tonight!

Also, it’s looking like Saturday will be a lot of fun also.  I’ll be doing a demonstration from noon to two, and I think Toby Fraley might also.  Feel free to stop by.  What with the strip district being its hoppin’ self, thing should be pretty awesome.

Coming up in late July, I’m going to be having a show at the Society for Contemporary Craft in Pittsburgh, PA.  Joshua Longo, Toby Fraley, and myself will be the features artist in the SCC’s shop.  A lot of my new work will be there, and I’ll be flying in from Seattle for the opening.  I’m pretty excited about it.  It’s a great place, and I’m really like both Joshua and Toby’s work.  Here’s the details for the opening reception

Opening night reception!
July 25, 2008.  5:30 -8pm
Society for Contemporary Crafts
2100 Smallman st, Pittsburgh, PA

please RSVP at 412.261.7003 x17

I sorted through all of my photos from this last firing, and they’re now up on flickr. (There’s fewer than normal since I was having so much fun taking timelapse movies.)  Enjoy!