Jemerick Art Pottery Blog

Sunday, June 16, 2013

Double necks to Lakefront

We are almost finished glazing and firing our pots to take to the upcoming Lakefront Festival of Art on the grounds of the Milwaukee Art Museum. It's a special treat because in 1975 we went to this fair which was one of the first really high quality art fairs we were juried into. I wish I had a photo! There we were with our triple decked outdoor stand loaded with beautiful functional high fired stoneware. I remember working madly on finishing the macrame for the hanging planters!! and Dave Brubeck playing at the fair.... It earned an especially important place in our careers because we made $2,000!! and mostly in cash!!! unheard of! It was the reason we were able to put a down payment on our first studio and house in Lone Tree, Iowa.
So now we return and will bring Steve's double necked pots. We are firing our last kiln load tonight but here are some photos of the first three:

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

How the doubles were made

The process of making the double neck pieces involves first throwing a form before cutting off the neck and putting it aside. A second smaller neck is thrown and allowed to set up. Then the smaller neck is attached to the original pot and allowed to set up.

Two different pots setting up.

This is the smaller of the two above uncovered.

Adding coils to the attached second neck.

Adding coils to the original neck which was cut off and set aside before the second neck was thrown and attached to the bottom of the pot.

Reassembling the original neck over the second neck.

The two necks are joined, spaces cut out between the outer leaves and marks made for further sculpting.

This then is how all the pieces in the blog entry 'Seeing Double' were made although this particular pot is still drying and is quite a bit larger than those shown below. Once it is fired, we'll post more photos.

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Seeing Double

Steve has been on a creative binge. Taking off of an idea he worked on a while ago, he has exploited the double wall theme recently. Some of these are great now; others are asking to be remade much larger. All are really wonderful...

This one really begs to be large!!!

3 April Firings

Our cycle starts with the wedging and weighing of the clay and ends with the opening of the kiln cooled from the firing. Here are photos of the three firings we did in April:

First the orders...

New work creeping in...

Another mixture....

I'll post closeups of the new pieces soon!

Friday, April 12, 2013

New website page

As Steve and I slow down a bit from our usual hectic fair and orders schedule, we have found ourselves in the same boat with many other craftspeople in this digital age. The shows are a wonderful hands on method of meeting and communicating with our admirers. Their value really can't be replaced. The wholesale shows have been invaluable for exposure to gallery buyers. However, we are currently planning on capping our show exposure to 4-5 this year.
So how to get the work out, as they say? Quality web exposure has become quite allusive. The process resembles a prolonged and vague chase after a carrot. The options available to us as consumers are increasing in numbers. The ability of a small business person to skate on this surface is tenuous at best.

Still, this is the world we live in. Our survival depends on our developing a loyal following either locally or nationally. Hand made pottery for the hand made collector.

To increase the exposure of more of our one of a kind work, we'll be placing some more of it on the website. I've started already with adding a separate page entitled 'NuNouveau'. The name itself is derived from my being inspired by the original Art Nouveau movement, especially manuscript illustrations. There are many other influences of course, botanical forms and travel/cultural exposures. I've been making these pieces for a while and actually some of my very first work in clay was along this line of fantasy. On the current page you will see just a few pieces but several views of those pieces. Once they are purchased, they will be removed.

In the near future, I'll be adding and subtracting from the 'More' page bringing it more in line with our stock and reflecting more of Steve's experimental pieces that we usually only bring to shows.

So, fix yourself a cup of coffee or tea and biscuit and take a look at our NuNouveau page, accessible from the Showroom of our website www.jemerickartpottery.com

Current from the studio

We have been working... orders taken at Baltimore, prep for a show in May in Reston, VA and some time for a little experimental work. We are firing a bisque tonight but before we get too far into the firing part of the cycle, let me share some of the making with you.