Back in the saddle again - throwing pots!

I began my relationship with clay on a pottery wheel, way back in high school. My first 2 years in college were devoted to learning the basics and spending as much time as possible in the pot shop. But then I transferred to Alfred University's College of Ceramics, and my clay inclinations moved towards wall sculpture and hand building. That led me to tile making and that's where I've been for....well, a really long time. But I've had a wheel in my own little studio space for a long time and I'll occasionally throw a pot or two. That was until last summer when a friend asked if I would teach her daughter how to throw. I dusted off my wheel and began to throw again, and although it hasn't come back as easily as riding a bike, I'm finally remembering things I used to know.

My student, Alli, visits me once a week after school and we just enjoy clay in any way that grabs her on that particular day. But I've been making a habit of throwing for about an hour after she leaves, and I'm beginning to think I might just have to find more time than that.

Over the last few weeks my goal has been to make small ice cream bowls for all my nieces and nephews for Christmas. My first 10 bowls have come out of the bisque and they look as though they might hold one tiny scoop....oh well, back to the drawing board.

Set up to throw some small bowls.

Bowls that will hopefully hold a whole ice cream sundae!

I'll trim them tomorrow and glaze them next week. I'm looking to use bright colors on top of a glossy clear on the interior of the bowls, and I might even play with some decal over the glazes. I'll use the tiny first bowls I made as testers. Now this will be fun that I might get addicted to!!

L'esperance Tile Works - Stories from the Studio - 1979 - 2010

Since this week marks the 31st Anniversary of L'esperance Tile Works, I thought I'd share a bit of my ancient history! I knew from an early age that I wanted to be my own boss and that clay would be my creative outlet. Who can say where hard work and stubbornness rule the day or how luck plays a part in the direction of one's life?


However I got there, I finished my BFA in Ceramic Art at Alfred University's College of Ceramics, and headed off to The Moravian Pottery and Tile Works in Doylestown, PA. It took me all of 1 hour to make the decision to spend the rest of my life making tiles....and I've been able to keep to that decision for 31 years, so far....and counting.



I headed back home and had a dba - L'esperance Tile Works - within two weeks. My first tiles were influenced mainly by the style of Henry Mercer, who founded The Moravian Tile Works. Following his lead of using local clay, I dug my clay from an out-cropping that borders along the Hudson River, just north of my hometown of Lansingburgh, NY. It's a red brick terra cotta, and was the only clay that was used in the studio for the first two years.

In 3 years I had 3 different studio spaces, but ended up in Albany, NY for the next 18 years.

That's all for now.....more to come. And if you'd like to check out my post that tells where the name L'esperance came from, find it here.

The Beauty of Clay at the Everson Museum of Art

Earthenware Jar by Shin Sang Ho, 1987

This piece is so exquisitely beautiful, the details remind me of nature at it's creative best. No description of the decoration or technique used were provided, so my best guess is that the "florets" or "snowflakes" are slip paint or inlay.

Shin Sang Ho had a retrospective in 2007 at the Clayarch Gimhae Museum in South Korea which focused on, of all things, his tiles!

More inspiration from the Everson tomorrow!