.ekwc residency : Lighton Exchange

Afterword: Arriving home in San Francisco

2007-09-02T14:30:00.002-07:00

Seems impossible to capture in story the full influence of our combined residency in Den Bosch at the .ekwc. Drawing from the strengths discovered, and the exchange, Sarah and I meet for a working dinner when we’re back in San Francisco. We’ve not had a chance to brainstorm an appropriate title for the work during the flurry of tasks and exchanges.

We are entering the piece into the Taiwan Ceramics Biennale 2007 and begin to reconnoiter how to create a life for the pieces we’ve sorted as inside/outside panels, artist proofs and experimentations.

Dinner at Fire Fly is a delight. We refine the title from “Ties that Bind Us” to a simple, stand alone description with a taste of poetic nuance.

Ceramic Skin: Transforming Light and Space

Pearl is a natural

2007-09-02T14:30:00.001-07:00

Somehow we fit into our last week pottery projects with Pearl, shopping, family visits, dinner and much appreciated from Sarah’s family. Each aspect of the exchange and shared work enriches the experience and connection.

Collaboration seems fluid when each is willing to express our personal inner dialogue. Learning how the other listens’ deepens the connection.

Continuous learning is possible on this topic.

Side Tracks: Plaster Room

2007-09-02T14:27:00.001-07:00

Recognize that .ewkc has so much to teach concerning casting. I regret not selecting a less familiar path when we elected to use plastic clay for our slabs. I may have learned how to use plaster and slip while here. In an attempt to learn the basics, I make an outside panel and cast a plaster slab. Watching Marlise is a great beginning place. Hope to retain the essential details when I again attempt working in slip/plaster.

Reflections on Combined Residency with Koos and Staff:

2007-09-02T11:13:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, a day of “Rest after our Final Presentation, Sarah and I meet with Koos de Jong, director of .ekwc, Marianne Peijnenbur, staff advisor and Anouk Rooth, PR intern. When we asked what would they tell us, we’re told the meeting is for listening only. They want to know our experience.

Koos asks good questions. He first wanted to understand the shift from our initial idea when applying to .ekwc, our expectations and then the reality of our experiences.

We closed in early on conceptual idea – arriving in June with a clear direction and proposed design solution; make a translucent panel for an architectural skin, Use space to define an experience using light and surface.

I had a base understanding we’d use porcelain either as a slip or as a slab. The particulars of scale, how we’d manage to achieve flat, thin translucent “ceramic skins”, and what was possible, eluded me.

In my mind, we “Stop Experimentation” when we came in June for the longer of our two stints at .ekwc (nine weeks) Day one upon arrive in June, I attempted “scale” – the panel weighted 3 – 4 x’s the final panels, was not translucent, but demonstrated could make “large panels” _ 30 x 50 cm.

However, even the last panels we made less than one week from the final presentation, uncovered subtle shifts in working methods, hand positions, details and potential refinements. During our talk with Koos, I sketched a diagram attempting to define the profound transformations of being in a combined residency. {see adjacent pdf}

Visit to Wienerberger: Sustainable Brick Manufacture

2007-09-02T11:05:00.000-07:00

Often in the last weeks we find ourselves “off track” or not working directly on the panels. These side ventures keep us fresh and energized.

.ekwc has made arrangements for us to meet Geert Segers from Wienerberger. As Geert Segers states after I describe our project working with bone china, making translucent panels 1. 8 mm in thickness, we move tons of clay each day.

Our journey to the factory one day during our last week at ekwc, reveals a deeper understanding of how sustainable Wienerbergers’ practices for processing clay, creating building materials and a vision to lead in providing solutions for the Netherlands commitment for zero carbon foot print by 2010 is evident in all facet of the factory tour.

As well, we see first hand a large dike, and begin to decipher the landscape in a renewed eye to water management. Everywhere, one can now decode the dikes from simple canal banks, to the small bumps between rows of trees lining a marshy wet land between the two parallel lines.

Packing: 3.5 cubic meters of fragile bone china

2007-09-02T11:03:00.001-07:00

Packing begins in earnest early on Thursday morning. We have several staff advise us over the weeks to set out to pack 76 extremely fragile panels. Nothing has prepared us for the monumental task, nor given us confidence that our strategy for packing will provide safe passage.

We plunge forward, gaining confidence, methods and a reasonable progression toward completion. We leave behind all the offering bowls I’ve made, and multiple panels. At 3AM, we take multiple seconds panels to the trash receptacle. A cathartic activity after the stress of uncertainty, fatigue, endless meters of bubble pack and tape.

Final Presentation Night Arrives:

2007-09-02T11:01:00.000-07:00

Since we are on the top floor in the far back studio, we place a vase of flowers, a few ceramic pieces done during down time in the studio on tables at the top of the stairs. Yoko’s studio display is staged on the top of her packing crates. Brilliant use and representation of the transient nature of our time at .ekwc. Meeting everyone will continue to influence for years to come.

The center is a buzz with friendly faces, mostly inside participants and local individuals who are familiar with the center.

Sarah, Yoko, Zhei Fei, and I have prepared a meal that we begin with shared bowl soup. Then we eat and share tales into the night. A wonderful closure to the days leading up our final presentation.

Nature of Collaboration:

2007-09-02T10:59:00.000-07:00

We talk a good deal about collaboration. We’re struggling to understand the best practices for sharing information, contacts and connections.

I believe each of us brings resources acquired over a lifetime to our project. Each exploration completed during the thirteen weeks, the networking from Sara’s time as an architect, my year at the ornamental iron works, as well as our family orientation yields the days events. We bring intention to the focus of today’s task, yet our backgrounds can turn a simple exchange into a loaded miscommunication.

Steel Cables: Hanging the final panels

2007-09-02T10:58:00.002-07:00

We find the task of building the steel cable structure more detailed and nuanced that anticipated. We’ve come a long way to simplify the design and connections, but the shop offers only fundamental tools to complete the task. A drill press, simple cutting tools for the cable and a vise grip with a design that grips without adjustment no matter the diameter of the material one wants to hold.

Setting up the cold rolled rods, requires a gig, simple rubber o rings one finds in faucets. These rings allow us to space the cables acting as stops as well as hiding the PVC grey pipe. The use of plastic pipe helps to reduce the shipping weight, as well as makes assembly more pleasant. The sound of metal on the bone china is a worse sound than finger nails on a chalkboard.

We each climb ladders when we hang the cables and level the system. We are suspended between the need for alignment on the outside panels to create a clean gap of 2cm between the cable and panels and the hand made nature of our panels. In the end, we are able to shim the panels and change out only a few to obtain an overall calm effect.

The best shim material we discover is white foam with grooves, used for weather stripping. A trip to the hardware store across the canal from .ekwc, affords another view of Zuid Willemsvaart. Funny how as simple a shift to across the street can change one’s vantage point.

Graphic Design Comes in Handy:

2007-09-02T10:58:00.001-07:00

We compose an announcement to post as an invitation sent out by .ekwc and to offer as an introduction to our work that evening along with all the details of setting up and finishing our project.

Yoko Inoue

“Water Gets No Enemy: A Wishing Well” I explore the hidden connotations of banal commoditized objects that construct the emotional layers of life, compassion and personal attachment.

At .ekwc, I created a series of work made by combining porcelain casts of commercial plastic water bottles purchased at local supermarkets and mass produced Buddha statues that I found in the exotic-souvenir shops and discount stores in Den Bosch. This work explores the amorphous border between commercial corruption and spiritual purity.

Unifying these two things through the casting process allows base and spiritual notions about them to compete and intertwine. Through the forces of globalization, everything is a commodity for sale, even water, which was once considered sacred and a common heritage. Nothing remains without price tags. Through this work I hope the viewer might regain a deeper understanding of water, its transcendent nature, as the essence of life itself.

I wonder how human consciousness is given shape by images.

Carol Koffel _ Sarah Willmer

“Ties that Bind Us” features the Hand, Mind and Heart of the makers. In an age of increased social isolation, globalization and explosion of digital technologies this installation transcends the perfection of machine made ubiquitous products.

Three to six bone china panels, 35mm x 60mm, are suspended from steel cables creating an architectural skin and interior divider. An “Outside Skin” with finger rhythm hammered surfaces becomes a plane to capture and telegraph lighting conditions. An offset parallel plane of “Inside Skin” drapes as if shifting winds ripple fabric that binds humans.

The translucent interior divider has a metaphysical presence and highlights the unique physical characteristics of ceramics; fluidity, translucency and tactility as an architectural skin.

One Day in the Life of .ekwc Kiln Room

2007-09-02T10:49:00.001-07:00

The kiln room is buzzing with activity, heat rising into the three-story space, warming most of the building. We’ve taken to eating dinner outside, as the kitchen is stifling hot.

Thinking and taking time to be quite and still when stacking a kiln is essential. Ly creates a culture of stillness and slow attention to detail that I hope to hold always. She is a wealth of information and potential solutions to the multitude approaches seen daily or yearly in the center.

Ly and Bart survey the scene and strategy for transferring his large mural pieces. He’s made these in an open studio zone on the first floor on large canvas. The idea was to transfer these to the kiln stack – leaving the canvas to burn. Yet, when he worked with the clay englobe – he’s gotten it on the canvas, preventing successful firing without damaging the kiln shelves.

Pieka and Madekia are stacking the biggest kiln. Since the top shelves are far out of reach, Ly styles an ingenious cherry picker from a huge plastic bucket, long nylon straps and the hand forklift. Creative solutions abound as we each solve the delicate task of maneuvering dry clay pieces not yet fired.

Yoko’s kilns are stacked and unstacked in succession so one can hardly track the details of how many pieces she’ll have for the final installation. Our final presentations occur on the same evening, at opposite ends of the building.

Remembering the Details:

2007-09-02T10:47:00.000-07:00

Our photo shoot went well. Cox, our photographer has an excellent eye for detail and composition. We complete the photos in the morning, manage to unstack the kilns and participate in others progress at the center.

RE-Entry into Life OutSide .ekwc:

2007-09-02T10:45:00.000-07:00

Home to sort details and start up life after the cloistered existence in Den Bosch. No longer are my days focused on a single unifying journey. As I retrace the week leading out from the last blog entry to our final presentation, packing and departure from the combined ekwc residency I recognize how many thoughts and experiences I’ve gained. Time shifted somehow during the combined residency, and I hope to look out from these new lens ground during my thirteen-week commitment.

Among the diverse self directed work I’ll start seeds for the following action: final presentation for the Lighton Grant, re-model my garage for ceramics completing the transition from ID consultant, help Rachael with her TIC unit, commit to Thesis Prep course at AAU, move my mother into an Alzheimer unit in New Jersey, enjoy friends, explore the city’s offerings, etc.

August 30, 2007

2007-09-02T10:40:00.000-07:00

August 30, 2007
@ 30,000 Continenal flight 1702
returning home from placing my mother in an Alzheimer Unit

Cultural re-integration confronts me as I arrive in San Francisco, change out Euros for green dollars of the same size, color and net worth. Never one to translate either millimeters or Euro, I’ll re-enter life in the tree lined, hills, cloudless skies and wooden structures where I inhabit a Victorian built in 1892, full of my possessions.

Almost three weeks have passed since I landed at SFO. I traveled in a daze on one hour of sleep, searching for my flight information only based on a confirmation number.

I arrived at the gate with two liters of wine and one half liter of Jeneve. Shocked as the attendant placed these into the refuse bin. Where had I been? What was I thinking? Since the Jeneve was in a special ceramic bottle featuring a photo of the bridge at the corner of Zuid Willemsvaart, I returned and fished it out of the trash, emptying the contents over other’s absent mindedness.

Gathering steam and process

2007-09-02T10:39:00.001-07:00

Full day of kiln stacking – two – arrangements for photography and obtaining additional pieces of metal to assemble the piece tomorrow. We’re preparing for a photo shoot on Friday morning. Guess somewhere we’ll fit in unloading the kilns – as we have a portrait shoot and a product shot completed.

July 30th August 1st - Post Published

2007-09-02T10:36:00.000-07:00

Went to open Microsoft Word and hesitated to write a blog entry. But reconsidered, as I realize there are zillions of cultural, artistic germs and details, I will in short order forget.

The photos I take almost daily will remind me – but writing works to keep memory alive. Emails with close friends and family keep the connections open. I sent Leslie –a textile designer an invitation for an open – being held July 31st; and never noticed it was for a NYC gallery.

Informal Discussions are Fertilizer:

Hela (her folding bicycle is 40 years old and called a gazelle) came into our studio, a new part time assistant – on Tuesday to inquire about our work. She stayed the better part of an hour – exchanging conversation. We talk of art – then arrived at the question – What is art? Close to the question I shared in Amsterdam at the gallery Binnen – What is beauty?

I remain committed to defining what I call universal concepts. Yet, I discover along the journey each individual frames concepts biased on their personal lenses.

Talked about luminosity with Jacob – after his participant chat. I wrote/sketched two pages of notes I hope use as stimuli for future explorations. When discussing the chat with Sarah later, she observes Jacob is a blend of inventor, artist and designer.

teaching Bart

2007-07-31T11:40:00.000-07:00

We sat down at 8:40 and www.blogspot.com is in Dutch - Had to go to my computer.

Three Weeks Sprint to Final Presentation

2007-07-18T14:52:00.000-07:00

As I return to Holland from a much-needed rest in Italy – another side story – I can sense the need to bring closure to all the mini decisions we’ve made over the past 12 weeks.

I understand in principal each facet, and now continue the perspiration to bring to completion a polished piece.

Submitted the Announcement today to the PR arm of EKWC so they can post it to their mailing list. Here ie the text.

“Ties That Bind Us” is an installation featuring the Hand, Mind and Heart of the makers. In an age of increased social isolation, globalization and explosion of digital technologies this installation transcends the perfection of machine made ubiquitous products.

The translucent interior divider has a metaphysical presence and
highlights the unique physical characteristics of ceramics not obtainable using other materials: fluidity, translucency and tactile surfaces.

A cable system hangs thirty-six bone china panels, 35mm x 60mm, creating an interior divider of two parallel architectural skins. A structured “Outside Skin” where finger rhythms hammered the surface and subtle vertical hole patterns become a plane to capture, transmit and telegraph lighting conditions. And the offset parallel plane of “Inside Skin” drapes as if shifting winds are rippling the
fabric that binds humans; no matter the cultural bias.

A collaborative project by Carol Koffel, visual artist, and Sarah
Willmer, architect, during a combined residency at EKWC,
s'Hertogenbosh, Holland.

Completed in 2007

We do not have contacts here in Holland – so we can rely on their world to learn more the next steps.

Off to Philips Lighting Center tomorrow to learn more about potential method for lighting the installation - then meeting on Monday with Simone Maase – that teaches at Eindhoven University, works in clay as well as lighting.

Sharpened a metal punch today to solve the issue with how best to drill accurate holes in the metal pieces, etc.

Up late waiting to close the damper on the Kiln # 7 – and electric kiln – that has a special catalytic system so one can burn out any material. Me – I just selected it since it is the smallest one. I am running experiments for how best to fire the bone china breast molds – to retain the form. I’ve made boxes as shrink slabs (may not work as these are not from the same clay body) and to hold material to block the bone china from collapsing.

One experiment is to use Alumina Oxide - which will not stick to the back of the breast mold – the other is sand. Will take photos as I unstuck on Thursday night or Friday morning.

Stack Kiln #1 again to test another alternative method of making the outside panels. The top loop collapsed without support – and the insertion of a tube is not too clean. This time I’ve inserted a small slab before turning down the loop. I think it is the best solution – but before going forward, I want to fire three to see the result.

More later, it is now past midnight and Kiln # 7 should be at 500 degrees C; time to close the damper.

2007-07-07T13:35:00.000-07:00

Hard to capture the wind, constant shifting of the sunlight and the sense of discovery when one rides out into the countryside, no map, or plan. Maybe these reveal some of my experiences, alone pacing myself for the nine-week residency. Past the halfway point now. The Church Bell struck 10 PM. The June night where I captured the fading sun – is now around 10 – 15 minutes earlier. Thank goodness I do not wake each day at 4:30 or so any more with the dawn birds. There are no longer dusk birds singing.

I will return tomorrow with the jig I’ve concocted of wood to seek Aries’ ideas on how to make it more accurate. The holes I am drilling do not always hit in the center of the cold rolled steel rods, since Arie has a studio in the garden for working steel. He built a small studio space for Corry, with quaint steel doors.

Dedication to Liefde

2007-07-07T13:28:00.000-07:00

Riding in the “Brook” where in ancient times the town’s people could flood the wetlands for self-defense, I took a self-portrait while riding. I thank Dallas both for teaching me that is possible, but also for the wonderful transition in my expression, as the second photo is dedicated to his presence in my life.

Found out that Lief - meaning willing in middle English - is also a Dutch word meaning sweet. It can become a verb by adding De making the meaning love. There are poems screened on the second story walls of many buildings in Den Bosch. Near the catherdral, there is one about love, that I should photograph. I've always wanted to screen print words on my walls.

Next supplement to production work, will use the screens I've brought along from SF.

2007-07-07T13:25:00.001-07:00

A women in the last house, came outside asked of my purpose. I told her the front entry was beautiful. and I was from San Francisco. Then I continued to explore. There was a sign across the small alley that caught my eye. It announced this was the site of a pottery in the mid 1780’s. The women emerged from her home to say; you cannot read that plaque.

Turns out she works in clay and is does stone sculpture. Her husband, grown son and I shared coffee and stories of life.

Country Visit

2007-07-07T13:24:00.001-07:00

After morning papers, miss the quotes from the Artist’s Way – but find writing / drawing in my journal good breakfast companionship. My cloistered life is settling into a rhythm juxtaposing production, artist exploration and venturing into the local countryside, working a bit after dinner; welcoming the evening light. Studio 9 is illuminated by an emergency exit sign and my computer screen.

I rode father today and arrive across a canal into a small neighborhood. As I was taking a photo of several houses – a brass doorknocker, modern Dutch version of lace curtains, and a sweet garden entry.

Past the Halfway Point

2007-07-07T13:03:00.000-07:00

Woke this morning and realize my deep exhaustion despite nine hours of a good sleep. Discovered I need to pace production studio work. Completed the 100 Kilo’s of Bone China mixed in January today as I completed the last inside {if the firing of these goes well} production panel. Also discovered an “extra” section cut off from each slab, is perfect slab for a series using my plaster breast cast. Alternating production work with series of art concepts. Allows my mind to flow.

I retired the lace found in April at Shelly's wedding tonight. The photo taken shows the oil staining and clay penetrating all the pores of the fiber. The composition is remarkably like the most recent breast draping. Sensual and Suggestive.

2007-07-01T15:09:00.000-07:00

Way past midnight - still connected via technology, people and places.

2007-07-01T15:04:00.000-07:00

Wonderful summer day. Sarah leaves for SF Wednesday. Giving us two days. Plan to make three kiln loads; finishing the inside panels, start the outside panels and mock up the cable and mounting system.

A trip to the hardware store is an adventure. One takes a number upon entering the store, and can explore the displays. Then an individual waits on each of us, helping to source and fetch any product one wants to purchase. After we purchased set screws, tap, drill and cables, there was a larger than normal group of shoppers waiting for the staff.

2007-07-01T15:01:00.002-07:00

July 1st – Beginning of 4th week

Started “production” of the inside panels yesterday. We realize that each panel will be unique. Still struggling with the moisture content of the clay as well as the shrinkage. The panels seem to expand outward at the bottoms as they dry. Creeping outward – despite checking them against the template several times.

We drap the clay over a steel pipe wrapped with insulation foam from plumbing pipes to form top of the panel. We found these can be removed after 2 – 4 hours. Any more than 4 hours, and the bone china will have shrunk too much to allow removal.

We began templates today for the outside series of panels. We’ll mark a code for punches/holes, etc at the top and bottom.

We’ve discovered how to each work the process, individually doing parts and doubling up only on several parts when it takes four hands.

After two hours of hard labor, we took a break and rode bikes into the “Brook” zone south of town. Going further than other times and on a different route, we happened upon government buildings of modern architectural style. There were pre-cast concrete panels – with a rhythm and repeated pattern – flipped. Similar in concept to conversations we’d begun about the outside panel. Good to take a break, for exercise, sunshine and visual stimulation.

2007-07-01T15:01:00.001-07:00

Koffel / Willmer
ekwc studio 9
Participant’s Chat 06.27.07

Project: Translucent Ceramic Screen
Rain-screen or interior screen divider for architecture.

Design Concept
• The bone china ceramic panels highlight the physical characteristics of ceramics not obtainable using other building materials: fluid, flexible and simultaneously translucent.
• The focus is on the aesthetic possibilities of a layered wall; the wall distinguishing inside and out, the moment of the threshold, the light transmittance from the sun, the pattern of light on the wall, the floor.
• The installation represents a single possibility.
• Other clay pieces will be developed to suggest other forms the translucent ceramic wall can take.

Goals
To develop a prototype with the industry for real applications both inside and out. Issues under consideration:

Characteristics of Ceramics
• Has unique physical characteristics such as fluid and translucent.
• Transparent to radio frequency opens the building to be fully wireless.
• Can be an antenna.
• Can be self cleaning.
• Conducts electricity.
Product Development Issues
• The thin ceramic panels need to be veneered onto a honeycomb, resin or polymer backing to give them strength.
• Size limitations
• Building system structure for panel support i.e. steel cable or frame sub-structure.
Architectural Uses / Issues
• Sunscreen, rain-screen
• Interior privacy wall, lobby divider etc.
• Multiple geometric forms possible.
• Has both functional and ornamental characteristics.

2007-07-01T14:41:00.000-07:00

June 20th

My Dad died today on the east coast. I will be returning for the memorial service. Not completely unexpected as he was 85 years old. Gave a eulogy at the service.

Linda, a good friend sent me the following, an apt metaphor for life’s cycles.

In the metaphor that we are all drops of water in a river I thought that death is really just an evaporation of one of those drops - the transition from living to not, a simple, peaceful, unexplainable phenomenon, one drop evaporates and is no longer in the river but it is not gone either, it is in transition, maybe to come down as another drop of water in another river in another place.

Sarah keeps up the firing, mixing of more bone china, holds are participants chat and explores a fishing village while I am back east.

Images of our test panels from kiln # 1 - first firing show promising results. We will be exploring lighting. The sunlight gives the best translucency! Any ideas on how to best light the panels.

2007-07-01T14:36:00.001-07:00

Process: I’d never made many slabs before embarking on the rain screen _ architectural skin proposal Sarah and I’d submitted to ekwc. Seems a simple enough task. We’ve honed it and are taking one page of detailed notes to track the variations in process, so we can learn how best to achieve our goal of 36 panels for our installation I’ve begun to call – “ties that bind us.”

The full-scale mockett has been instrumental in detailing the end goal. We’ve changed the panel proportions, based on available kiln shelves. Realizing the process would require up to 18 shelves at a time, to optimize our schedule. We can make 5- 8 panels a day, depending on our endurance and the complexity of what we do after the initial rolling out process. These dry within a day but so far we’ve only been able to fire one time per week, due to the other participants kiln requirements. We’ve decided to stick with Kiln # 1 – that holds 9 panels. We could switch to Kiln # 4 – and fire all the panels at one go – but this seems a larger risk – and perhaps less predictable. We chose to fire in Kiln # 1 – nine shelves of 45cm x 60 cm x 4cm thick.
We apply alumina oxide mixed with 3% bentonite each firing to insure that the panels can be moved during the making and do not fuse after firing.

2007-07-01T14:35:00.000-07:00

2007-07-01T14:31:00.000-07:00

Rotterdam the weekend before had been a great adventure. Ekwc hosted a Brick Exposition from work completed in the past year. We’d known some of the artist during our stay in January.

A walking tour of Rotterdam to Rem Koolhaus’s Kunstaller, a Corbusier exhibition at NAI and other building of architectural note completed the day’s jaunt.

Enjoy the images.

2007-07-01T14:30:00.000-07:00

Three café /bars held a round robin of performances, music, theater and street mime. Wonderful evening, sitting outside under the canopy of the café, drinking a red wine, coining our favorite phase of the week, “how very Dutch”, not noticing the rain falling, and then walking home without umbrellas.

2007-07-01T14:29:00.000-07:00

Time for my blog update, to collect photo’s, resize them and begin to formulate stories. One on culture, Den Bosch and people, another on the journey to Rotterdam, and then process photos of our work in studio 9.

I’ve walked into Den Bosch multiple times, but Saturday evening after making panels all day, we are heading into town as “locals” with Christine. I notice, perhaps not for the first time, name plaques on the building up above the entry doors at the 2nd floor level. I comment upon these. Christine volunteers an explanation. At one time, before Napoleon, buildings in the walled town were named. If you came to the village, you located someone’s home, by inquiring after the home of the trumpeter or baker, etc. These signs still note the home of …. then street numbers and now the reference might be, take the alley near the T-Mobile shop.

2007-07-01T14:25:00.000-07:00

June 25th

I am on the airplane returning the east coast for my Dad’s Memorial Service. He died of old age but it still arrived with a jolt. During my time away from .ekwc, Sarah will continue to work the details.

The plane is another sort of meditation practice. As we arrive near Newark, NJ, the women next to me comments that I must travel frequently. She notes my rhythm of reading, journaling, sleeping and computer work. Gentle fluid time for self.

Caught Up - June ReStart

2007-06-19T10:05:00.001-07:00

June 19th

We prep for a kiln firing tomorrow. Kiln #1 is the perfect load. A gas kiln because the circulation of the atmosphere is the best for drying the thin slabs. These 3 mm slabs dry so fast that by the day’s end, the 1st slab of the day is bone dry. We’re wondering if the elevator that carries the carts up from the ground floor is too rough a ride for the slabs. I rode down, even persons are verboten – it is dark inside {no problem there} but the jolt at the start and the landing are not too soft. How do we know if the slabs will survive. It think if we put the cart on rubber or a foam float this should work. {there is a sign – “no delicate work” on the outside of the lift.

Then the next kiln is not til 6/27; one week. Hopefully we will have success with this series of slabs. Other ideas would be to mix the dry bone china with 50/50mix of oil and alcohol to replace water as a binder. This could be problematic, if the alcohol evaporates over time?

Experiments today are best covered by photo’s. We’re set for the feel of perfect water ratio – almost too sticky to handle. Then we learned the interfacing in critical to holding the slab vertically when we transfer it to the kiln shelf. One of the Inside slabs fell onto the shelf – crumpled completed in a folded section. Spread it out – to see the effect to “dropping” the slab on the cracking upon exposure to heat.

Now to set up for posting – before dinner the weeks writing and photo journaling. It is glorious sunny evening, but I’ve been working to find time to post the blog – as this is a new rhythm to the days, for the past four or five days.

Nerves of Steel _ Supple Muscles

2007-06-19T10:01:00.000-07:00

As a team - it is much easier to make slabs - so many steps to roll out one that is 46cm x 68cm by 3mm thick. Then make a texture using the rhythm of a musical piece and our fingers.

If we slide three layers of the thin foam beneath the slab, there is a sweet resistance, if not – just a hard surface to absorb our presence. Subtle, yet effective in saving muscle energy.

Step One through….

mix Bone China – add .5 % of flax fibers – mix “wet”
age 5 months
drop from waist height to floor 10/12 times – excite it
wedge_ on plaster slab– up til 100 rotations – or until it starts to have smooth feel with resistance
slap out to 25/27 cm in a loaf
skip slap it out to slab of approx 18/20 mm thickness
place on piece of muslin
roll out using plywood on either side slab
46cm by 28 cm – cut straight edges on slab
transfer to slab roller – place on roller to align to stack of stretched canvas, muslin, interfacing –
cover with plastic wrap – thicker/stiff mil sprayed with fine mist of 50/50 oil and denatured alcohol

Roll – only in forward direction – til 3mm thickness
Cut using template for slab – texture - both sides, etc.
Using a chamois – compress the edges of the slab
Then, ”Do your _thing. . .”

NOW is the time to make it delicate – inner - outer expression of context, energy, expression, mystery, nuance, drape and connection.

Finger rhythms require foam below, and well defined fore arms

Draping the slab as if it were fabric, two sets of hands and nerves of steel – direct and firm conviction.

Failure - Means Learning

2007-06-19T09:59:00.000-07:00

Slab rolling has a steep learning curve as well. This little bunch of wrapped clay, poising as an innocent present, is the fourth failure to make a slab, despite weighting out 1 kilo more clay than the previous two successes! Proves that trying harder is not always the route to success.

Voila – the issue we happen upon after an hour plus of failure {some how failure seems to absorb more than 8x’s the energy and 3x’s the physical time of FLOW (success) time} the moisture in the clay influences the outcome etc.

As I wedged the first 3-kilo lump, my intuition said, hum – stiff clay. Yet, it took four failures of rolling slabs - and finally this obscure fact rose with my sweat and exhaustion to consciousness.

Now that I write about the day, I realize there is a small device to measure the resistance of the clay {a function of the % of moisture} I played with in January. This too was a detail I did not recall or realize was an important data point collected.

Moments Taken to Capture Beauty

2007-06-19T09:56:00.000-07:00

Five kilos of bone china borders my current physical strength to wedge, roll and prepare for a decent slab. At 3 mm thickness the wet slab measures 60 x 80 or close. This maybe the size limitation.

Testing slab four refined technique one. Results after the firing will let me know if it is a useful production technique.

Layers of boards, stretch taut canvas, a veneer of plywood behind this with a muslin layer, interfacing, bone china, interfacing and a canvas top stack like a wedding gown procession. The slab roller is like a big press without heat.

June 16th
First morning I woke knowing I’d slept, jet lag has moved over to Sarah’s side of the room. Later in the day, she is able to tell me dawn arrives at 4:30AM, and the birds are loudest at the start of the morning light. Yes, I say, I know.

Tonight after dinner, we print out the plan of how the panels with layout, 3 high by 5 wide – with two layers – off set by two panels, etc. This means a count of 30 panels (hoping we can make 1/hour – that means around a week for ‘production’)

But onto a more romantic view of our time here, lived in the moment. Looking outside between ripping the edge of paper for our full scale mock up – the light is spectacular – for moments – between opening a window to capture one view – without the glare of glass – and then attempting through the glass for a better composition of the clock tower – the light has faded in brilliance. An invitation to be present for the special movement of time and sensing one’s presence in the moment.

Moved the slab roller into the studio today that meant we moved everything around. The entry zone is for clay – and wet work, middle section for displaying our mock up – and the final and then the end zone near the stairs for our clean desks. Our linen cloth on the work surface is most elegant with freesia and starburst of purple flowers gracing the centerline.

Full Scale Mock Up

2007-06-19T09:54:00.001-07:00

.ewkc is a cloister of sorts. My day was composed of simple movements from the single room and studio. It all seems so practical yet full of details.

Preparing and working to find flow. Resting three or more times today; stopping to eat then taking time to read, connect with home, cat nap and or stretch.

Over the past three days I’ve started to set up a rough full scale structure using pipes, string and interfacing, paper or thin sheet of packaging foam, for the panels. Slowing building an awareness and presence. For here the details can arise.

Learned direct frontal approach is most striking. Viewing the ‘straight edge outer skin’ hung parallel with the room’s walls gives the viewer a contextual norm. The translucency hints at an inner layer or something beyond expectation.

If the viewer first encounters the opening “V” inner skin, the funnel sucks any perception of layered mystery. As well, the non-parallel panel is jarring, unwelcoming; initiating resistance.

Light from behind, is essential. The studio receives morning light, offering directional source. Keep coming back to how a simulation of time would be sweet.

Hoping contact at Philips for LED lighting will yield a source for an innovative lighting solution.

Each night so far, I finally sleep a jet lag fitful rest until hearing early birds and seeing the soft dawn light.

2007-06-19T09:52:00.003-07:00

Tomorrow passes in a fluid series of details mostly practical and impractical. – No Photo’s yet.

I design a prototype hardware system for the panels and figure out how to fabricate interconnect for the pipes and cables.

Off to a hardware store for supplies on a rickety blue five speed bike. When I left the shop, I turned and encountered a void where I’d parked the bike. Returning to. ekwc, via bus, I sourced and repaired a bike in the back corner that is rustier than the one I’d thought no one would steal.

The sales man at the bike shop said there are over one million bikes sold each year in Holland and around 800,000 stolen. I bought a 37 Euro lock, an inner tube and tier stems. The bike has rear hub brakes like my first bike in Ohio circa 1961.

In the evening, I rejoined the community of Five Rhythms in Den Bosch. Ingrid, who mixed the wave – played 28 minutes of drumming. I was one of the few who danced the entire piece. My body responded to the nuanced rhythms, and I became aware my entire body can participate when I finger hammer the bone china panels, not just my hands and fore arms.

2007-06-19T09:44:00.000-07:00

Finger rhythms on the one maybe best done for each slab – not a molded pattern. Good exercise especially if the music has counterpoint rhythms.

As dusk fell, then under the emergency light, I set up the last of the studio today. Unpacking the work from January and pinning up the Idea Wall; artist’s _ architecture _ materials _ methods _ philosophy.

Outside details and Inside details that offer an invitation for expression of internal life sheltered by exterior facade of a building; graced by the shifting light and time of day and the energy flow of connection.

Studio set up for the first round. When Sarah arrives, we discover our shared intrinsic spacial refinement. We balanced the desks/surfaces and tools around – preserving the best lighting for the area where we will stage the mock-ups and final.

2007-06-19T09:43:00.003-07:00

Bone china made in January is supple and a bit too wet. Drying on plaster after an initial drop to the floor, spiral wedging – then more wedging. Seems that 4 – 5 Kilos’ is a good chunk to make a 40 x 60 cm slab.

Specific materials and tools make all the difference. The interfacing I purchased in the US is too flimsy, falling apart. Guess we can make a full-scale mockup to determine actual proportions.

Found a good back saving device that has a lift, for moving panels from roller to storage to kilns. Simple and essential _ Thinking versus sweating.

Studio 9

2007-06-19T09:39:00.002-07:00

Day One in Studio 9 _ June 12, 2007

Attempted Scale today. Chasing time and uncertainty. If we fire a panel early in either Neil or Bas kiln loads (neither are firing to 1280 but close enough) to determine if the panels at scale will crack, warp or slump. Will attempt two more as soon as Bas indicates his shelf size for kiln # 1 – the tower.

Using the upstairs heavy-duty slab roller. There is not an adjustment for the thickness of the slab, but trial and error method to insert a thin sheet of plywood or canvas as an adjustment.

Cloistered Life @ .ekwc

2007-06-19T09:34:00.000-07:00

Moving through space and time, seeking rest in another time zone, and entering a cloistered life. A stiff twin bed tucked into a simple attic space pushes the shift in my reality. Life simplified to basic elements of shelter, food and exploration of my own art tinged with the practical doer while mixing in an undercurrent of a designers’ logic.

I will slip into a time of self, sleeping alone, eating in a group at the evening meal, food I do not control or influence. Then rise the next morning to begin again the work of yesterday. Walking a path thousands of miles distant, documented with photos.

WeekOne

2007-06-19T09:32:00.000-07:00

The cathedral bell rings one time, and my jet lag combines with thoughts. People left behind in San Francisco, last visits and element of my life there in progression. I’d prefer to write to each person my thoughts, yet there is a universal element to my experience.

Like entering a cloister dedicated to an aesthetic life. Exploring art and expression with clay as a material. There are nine residences here presently. Mostly youth defined as those under thirty. I believe I am the elder or perhaps Niki who is an exhibited sculpture from Tilburg. Bas is here still finishing his six months of back-to-back residences.

2007-01-28T01:36:00.001-08:00

Oh – must thank Klaus Osterwald for the boxes that will make my last week at .ekwc easier. These have been featured in my glaze test altar as well.

Klaus – I think of you often each time I notice a sound of life. Thank you for heightening my awareness of the gift of sound in our lives!

2007-01-28T01:35:00.001-08:00

Off to my last day of working wet clay, mixing flax into a new sample batch of bone china (this may work better than the paper to strengthen the wet clay, without stiffening it’s memory) doing a trial mix of glaze into the bone china clay in an attempt to glaze only one side of the panels – and setting up for kiln firings tomorrow. ( maybe two kilns – one with glaze one with sand as a slump for bone china objects that deflect in the firing process if left unsupported. Could be a long day here in .ekwc. Glad Tanya is cooking tonight.

2007-01-28T01:31:00.000-08:00

2007-01-28T01:30:00.000-08:00

Then I was off to Rotterdam. Arriving in the train station was a bit like a mini NYC subway experience after Delft. Still surrounded by the familiar Dutch mass transit vernacular – somehow people’s movement and everything said – Metropolitan”

I was happy to escape to NAI – Netherlands Architectural Institute. A fifteen-minute walk along a symbolic canal glazed by a thin sheet of ice. I spent five hours reading in the library there. Perched on the second floor looking out over future museum park, books piled up around me. Incredible resource. I explore the boundary between public private _ mind and body; construction of skins, philosophy of urban design, Droog, etc. One could stay for weeks. At the opening of Architecture of the Night, that night, someone asked if I’d accessed the archives? Not yet. I was given a pass for one year of free entry. What a host country!

2007-01-28T01:29:00.002-08:00

2007-01-28T01:29:00.001-08:00

Delft Factor lent some hints for our project. I studies the gentleman spraying glaze (he rotates the object and moves the spay gun left to right gently locating it close to his head for distance) the plates are mass produced using a press – see the air hose on the metal band that contains the plaster mold) The self guided tour also featured a rich history of terracotta tile works, a simple demonstration of the hand painting ( is the cobalt mixed with India ink to give it a more visible viscosity for the “water” color sort of look)

2007-01-28T01:27:00.000-08:00

Delft is a city of bicycles. On my walk over to the Royal Delft Factor, I came across a sign for bikes. Wow, Rotterdam, my next destination was listed. How small is Holland?

2007-01-28T01:26:00.000-08:00

Deft as an escape from working at .ekwc, was rich in experiences. Galerie Terra Delft, www.terra-delft.nl founded by Joke Doedens and Simone Haak is a haven for ceramics. Joke ( be sure to hear this with the Dutch phonetic alphabet) Michael Cleff , the featured artist, showed intimate architectural domains, Marta Nagy a Hungarian artist par excellence, Beatrijs van Rheeden, www.craftscouncil.org.uk/collect (an international art fair for contemporary objects in London) multiple others and a related story of Hein Severijns’ fifty year quest for perfection _ moral: “I may have found it but not been able to see it in the moment.”

2007-01-28T01:25:00.000-08:00

Week Three of the Blog _ Life has a small routine. Small as intuition and a fickle creative muse guide my rhythm … try it. A robust imagination manifests reality far beyond how actual objects appear but there is lies the challenge and impetus to continue.

Any way, what a gift to have life’s details represented by a few simple objects; keys (we are in essence locked in at .ekwc making keys essential for moving from my single room to the work center or even out into the community) Glasses, since I am an “older” women (one side benefit is waking up in the middle of the night, l see captivating shadows cast on walls/ceilings _ a visual element I attempt to capture via these translucent panels) and of course – Hand Cream (clay sucks the water from your hands and daily showers can take it’s toll as well)

2007-01-28T01:22:00.000-08:00

Antra and Rick Borofsy - On Intimacy

Giving and Receiving

Giving:

Gathering: having something to give that is available and precious truth of one's present experience
Offering: something of one's feeling, need authenticity with integrity and attention
Aiming: focused attention on where the giving is going - direction and intention
Releasing: to be complete - one must release what is given - doing it creates a surge of energy, excitement, joy, freedom and ease

Receiving:

Reaching: reach out to find, select and take from what is available - evokes a desire and longing
Reading: opening one's self to receive - evokes feelings of hope and anticipation
Accepting: accept what is given - expanding one's self - creates experience of love or compassion
Assimilating: to feel nourished, we need to digest what has been given, taken in making what is received one's own when assimilation happens, feelings of gratitude and satisfaction arise

2007-01-28T01:21:00.000-08:00

Re-Entry to .ekwc was smooth. I woke up Saturday morning; made oatmeal focused on a working day. Instead, I rode off for a 5 Rhythm’s Dance with instruction in Dutch. Mostly I understood via body language and the similar sounds of things like hand, elbow and shoulders.

A remarkable meeting with a gentle man Syven, who’d dreamed of meeting a women with dark hair, and blue grey eyes a month earlier.

As part of the instruction we chose a partner and then danced for each other. I was one of the last to chose a partner, as I did not understand the Dutch instruction and Syven indicated English was not a natural means for communication. Yet, our exchange was deeper than many one has in a lifetime. Via simple body language, he saw an ancient being offering a universal essence of life. A heartening gift to receive.

2007-01-25T03:40:00.000-08:00

Christine Jetten, a participant for the brick project, an adminstrator for the local Den Bosch Design University and kindred soul setting with Lydia the kiln # 7 up to fire. This electric kiln has a catalytic converter to burn completely anything odd sort of thing we devise to put into it. Rumor has it that someone put a moped into it – other just toxic foams.

Christine and I found out we both share a passion for De Bono, lateral thinking and creativity when I was out doing “errands” ( an English word new to her) and mentioned an email I received from a great friend, Kimberly Wiefling (who is substitute teaching a class at CCA for me on Leadership, while I finish up my last week of my first stint here at .ekwc) about wearing multiple hats.

See Six Hats of De Bono

http://www.valuebasedmanagement.net/methods_bono_six_thinking_hats.html

01.25.07

Today I am off for a two day R & R break after 21 days here. I will go to Delft (trains leave every 3o minutes, 10 minutes past the hour) Then onto Rotterdam and the NAI where I will read and attend an opening lecture for the exhibition, Night Architecture.

Mostly we work it seems. I have taken a walk or gone on errands into town for essentials, like tooth paste because indeed the tube (this one was only a 2 inch $1 sample) could only be squeezed for three days running after it was “gone”.

2007-01-25T03:39:00.000-08:00

So easy to become distracted!
.ekwc participants – projects and resources! This glaze has silcon carbide in it – at 4% - and iron pretty cool effect, but alas not translucency, my goal.

> QUOTE OF THE MONTH_> "In this world there is only one YOU. Don't you dare_> change just because you are outnumbered!" - Charles_> Swindoll

2007-01-25T03:37:00.000-08:00

Today’s discussion about the pieces that came from the bisque focused on effects we could see from the kiln.

Yes – continue even with the “failures” as we will learn something from the completion of the cycle of clay process.

If you fire Frit 3221 combined with bone china clay up to 1260 C – at a 50/50 ratio that is meant to mature at 1000 C - you can create a real mess – or maybe it could be art. The one on the right looks a bit like an anthropomorphic female/male. Guess this maybe one reason I am currently single.

Become more mindful of the subtle elements of making:
• Try rolling out the slab in several stages – rotate and flip the slab between
• cut the slabs width wise – since the stresses are in the length of the slab
more streach this direction
• using a less shape knife leaves a nicer edge to the tile
may reduce the need for sanding the bisque
• try using glaze on the leather hard pieces –
move them to a kiln shelf after they are bone dry using a board
• 1 mm slabs dry in one day
how fast can we fire them beyond quartz conversion
does reduction change the translucency
what is the influence of time – between 1100 – 1260 C
• try using sand to fire instead of a shrinking slab brushed with alumina
• thixitropic properties of slip – activate this using a massage probe – or concrete probe – result seems to be a very smooth surface – no need to glaze it then
Experiment with timing for slabs
Record it all – then evaluate best practice
Run experiments where hole are filled
Soft clay – mix clay w/glaze to fill holes – brass tube size for now
C 75 / G-25 _ C 50/G-50 _ C 25/G-75
Leather hard – Dry –Bisque
Same w/Terra Sigilatta
Try putting Talc on the mold – before making an impression -
May put just enough residue of talc on piece to achieve brightening effect

Find out where to place rings in the kiln to measure the exact temperatures achieved

T – testing for clay shrinkage and strength

Try a sandwich with lace inside of two slip slabs
If, one uses a wet knife to cut the slab or slip – it may not tear as much

Try .... to sketch these out clearly so you can remember where to being again in June - the next time or maybe on Saturday morning when you return from Delft/Rotterdam - Yes - they could dry before the last kiln on Wednesday!

2007-01-25T03:34:00.000-08:00

Andrea and Marianne came into my studio this morning and we began to review our work so far. Twenty-one days into my stay. My hands and mind have learned and started to practice new skills. Thin 1 mm bone china slabs a little larger than half sheet of A 4, roll out quickly and can be manipulated. I explore how best to tear the edge, do I want the texture of interface .ekwc has provided, can I shake the slab to gain a supple soft draping?

Each day my hands become more familiar and confident. Tonight , Wednesday, I danced with the five rhythms dancing group in Den Bosch. My body moved with the music, fluid like the wind in grasses. Can the clay reflect this kinesthetic knowing expressed so easily? Would this be a thing of beauty to add to the translucency we seek in the panels? Can something so still as a building reflect the influence of rhythm and wind?

2007-01-25T03:33:00.000-08:00

Loaded kiln # 3 – 60x60 interior shelves with three supports laid in parallel to shelf fluting. Much easier to stack the kiln on the floor outside, then Peter lifted the stack with a manual fork lift into the fully computerized gas kiln built by Gerald Blaauw – set on program 40.; 1060 degree C – 24 hour cycle.
Features high velocity burners for optimal energy consumption, etc.

Lunch Factoid: Did you know male lions sleep for 22 hours per day? Females do all the hunting and that mating is a winter sport?

2007-01-25T03:32:00.000-08:00

Learned about the potential to “squat houses” here in Holland. If a house is empty for more than one year, you can legally occupy it. We are a diverse group, sharing dinner each evening. Christine is a full time artist who’s made a lifestyle of residencies. Eva, is from Sweden, Akiko is a Japanese ceramic artists choosing not to join the Japanese traditional journey for becoming a ceramic artist, Tanya is from Germany working to fuse in casting process ceramics to metal, Bruce a mature sculpture taking a three month sabbatical from University and Bas, an aspiring Dutch designer, who is knocking off known Dutch Designers. He has an incredible memory for names. Each one rolls off his tongue, and speeds past mine at light speed. It would be hopeless for me to follow his path.

However, I did indeed find inspiration in his process; he is purchasing molds on E-Bay, from hobby ceramic outlets and is casting these as freaks, combining fish with frogs or some such combination.

Me, I logged onto the scrap pile at .ekwc and selected castaway plaster molds {beats E-Bay pricing} and started series of luminous rosette reflectors.

Day of playing with materials! Tomorrow – first full size kiln firing. I guess we’ll drive the forklift, carefully past the computer that is running the test for the 1500-degree industrial samples.

2007-01-21T14:29:00.000-08:00

2007-01-21T14:25:00.000-08:00

Beatrije Van Rheeden’s porcelain piece is the first piece in the opening that strikes me as incredible. It is in the front room of the Leigo Kunst Gallery. Beatrije is at the show and we exchange conversation about living in France, porcelain, children, and Dutch culture. Her work is inspirational. There are five or six ceramic artists featured. They gather each month to talk about PR and their individual vision as artists. Near the middle of the opening time, we all gather to listen while their visions are read. I am captivated by sunlight in one of Beatrije’s pieces and the individuals since “Andy Goldsworthy" is the only word I translate.

2007-01-21T14:24:00.000-08:00

Modern Architecture? Well, maybe considering the Gallery is a grand house built in pre-central heating, so this element is Modern.

I’ve started a fin detail sculpture as placeholder for a vertical membrane wall. A series begun several years ago, using a French pastry cutter. Guess we could stamp it by the thousands then press it to give 5 random “hand” distortions, connect it with a rod and volia – mass manufactured art.

2007-01-21T14:22:00.000-08:00

2007-01-21T14:17:00.000-08:00

The kiln builder came to .ekwc today, Sunday. He is running a test for a US based company for thin wall, very special ceramic filters in the kiln; up to 1500 degrees C.

Spoke of industry, design, kilns, teaching at Design Academy {Eindhoven as well as CCA, and Academy of Art} and a local Dutch company who are making thin wall extrusion. Mostly these are used as filter. Since we only want to filter light, should be easier, or perhaps possible.

Wonder if industrial ceramics needs new outlets for their products?

2007-01-21T10:48:00.000-08:00

"You can know things without touching them, without handling them, even without being there. You can feel things with your eyes. Observation is much closer to thought than words are."

James Turrell _ De Pont Museum, Tilburg
Wedgeworks III, 1969
Blue Fluorscent Light Installation

2007-01-19T13:54:00.000-08:00

Visited SM,s Stedelijk Museum, today as a rest. In order to leave the .ekwc, one needs a key. I’ve been working 12 - 14 hour days with powders, clay and reading art books. So, a design museum seemed like a good destination. When I arrived after a half hour walk from .ekwc, fatigue wash over me.

I took a coffee in the restaurant, done in lime green and purple. Not too restful an environment, but bold. The exhibit of emerging designers, was not too stimulating, but there was a research library. Browsing there in magazines, I found Chris Wright, who is doing amazing work with Bone China. Check out his web site – www.cone8.co.uk. Inspirational and challenging all at once.

I returned to .ekwc mind racing with possibilities. Yet, when I came back to the studio, to my 3 liters of bone china slip, a completely unfamiliar material, I began to walk more slowly; my procrastination style. Slow movement, mechanical measuring of colorants, tea breaks, anything to avoid failure in achieving imagined possibilites.

After one hour, of working the plaster surface, adjusting the water floating inside the plaster bat (make sure there is an ample set of bubbles rising from the surface before pouring slip) changing the air pressure (4psi) , timing for releasing the slipped slab ( be sure that it the surface water is gone, then wait one or two minutes – “later” seems to work better than too soon) the thickness (1mm or 1.5 mm seems to work – need to set up some sort of measuring method to release the proper portion)– and learning to lift one edge of the slab ( could one design a thin steel edge inset into the plaster surface or a longer thin metal strip) I lifted my first full slab! (only a 5 – 6” circle) ( oh, maybe the circle is a better shape than a square?) Persistence and constant fine tuning of motor skills and curiousty to understand what influences failure or success?

So, more glaze tests tomorrow morning. Marianna and I meet this morning to discuss the test so far and help me to make decisions. My mantra – KISS. She and I laughed at the end, as how I do not think it should be so easy. Just need to work out if I want to glaze the bone china. Going after a soft semi – matt transparent. I know that sounds like an oxymoron. But, clay does reflect the nuance of the maker. Ah, back to the start of this blog – Be nice to yourself, when tacking the unknown.

2007-01-19T13:53:00.000-08:00

When I went to the office to seek out a glue stick, Agate mentioned it was a good evening for the pub. I countered with, “good night to dance.”

Alas, she mentioned there is a local chapter of 5 Rhythms dancing. I’d asked almost everyone else if there was a place to dance) So, several hours later, I am submersed in Dutch world, dancing to European music in a room of twenty women and one lone man. Two hours, just like in SF, Portland, and Northhampton. I guess movement is universal. I know if puts an amazing smile into my soul.

2007-01-19T13:52:00.000-08:00

A sever storm was brewing, forcing me to stay in the studio. I had finished filling the kiln shelves for Monday’s bisque firing, so I turned to Dutch news headlines as collage materials.

2007-01-19T13:50:00.000-08:00

Been working hard since 01.15.07 on slabs in both porcelain and bone china. Finally can make an incredible slab from 1 mm thick – up to 4mm. One set, of slabs - 01.18.30 are a rolled as a club sandwiched. One piece of the least expensive muslin, thinnest interface then the bone china clay – with a leading wedge laid closet to the roller – a sheet of interface and then muslin, all on a piece of MDF. Sort of a stone soup formula. Then I remove the fabric on the top surfaces – flip it onto a kiln shelf – remove the other layers of fabric – for a naked clay slab as a canvas for ideas.

My muscles started to cry out on the 18th. Lifting kiln shelves above my head to store in the drying rack maybe the cause, but maybe it was the two hours of dancing done the night before!

2007-01-19T13:49:00.000-08:00

Be nice to yourself when tackling the unknown.

2007-01-17T14:28:00.000-08:00

only one gear is required - unless the wind is strong. then one would need the gear shifter on the frame

2007-01-17T14:24:00.000-08:00

best designed water system... we hose down the heated concrete floor and squeegy the water into the trough. the sink with three sections to filter off water, flows into the floor drain, too.

2007-01-17T14:22:00.000-08:00

Began my day thinking of DETAIL> So I took shots early of daily sights.

2007-01-17T14:19:00.000-08:00

Bruce Gernand, a sculpture from England gave a presentation last Friday on CAD tools. One concept was focused on the fable the tortise and the hare titled "festina lente" {make haste slowly).

Marvelous paradox.

2007-01-17T13:55:00.000-08:00

ID professors from University of Delft came this morning for the 10 AM coffee hour. Their presentation was of a new tool to stimulate colors and patterns on the surface of white objects. They had made a table, Skin 2.0 with a projector mounted below- an Apple video camera, and two paddles from an old gaming machine - to dial the scale of a pattern from either the project or the video camera that was shown on the white object.

Eva's sculptures were a part of the demonstration for how to simulate finishes.

2007-01-16T23:52:00.000-08:00

.ekwc suggests I work directly on the kiln shelves, (60cm x 60cm) to gain the best results. I test the boundaries of “working” directly on the shelves. In order to work a bone china slab at approximately 1mm thickness, I place a MDF board on the slab roller. Using a thin scrim cloth sandwich, I can transfer it to my studio. Then slice it to size using a plywood pattern, and before too long – onto the kiln shelf. There I incise, pierce, stamp, etc. Looking for transparency and the boundaries of manipulation. How dry, when will it warp, or will it crack?

Scrap slabs become vases if I wrap them around a simple pipe or I am also using plumbers insulation pipes left over from PierLuigi’s packing crates. If I then pour bone china slip into the “sleeve vase” – it makes a bottom in one simple movement. et - volia. Something else to experiment with and find out in a couple of weeks if my hand/mind and materials have some alignement to achieving the image in my minds eye.

2007-01-16T23:50:00.000-08:00

Stacked a test kiln this morning. It is fully computerized and there is a standard glaze program to begin one’s experiments. I’ve programmed 6 or was it 7 steps. They use pyrometric rings for each kiln to measure the actual temperature achieved.

I am testing for materials {cross between a glaze and clay} that will fill holes, a material {testing fluxes} that will give color to the porcelain/bone china without glazes or stains/oxides. I know that bone ash {i.e.: calcium phosphate} on Babu in SF, gives a very warm vapor fume, sort of like golden marshmallows. Would like to keep the panels closer to original clay sense than a glazed tile look.

Also – I apply terra stiglatta or “vapor fume” chemicals on dry clay. I am testing out hypothesis from last summers wood firing and Marc Lancet’s book on wood firing. Color development on cooling. Also soaking the kiln longer this time. Understand that bone china will give more translucencies if held for long periods of time at high temperatures. Of course, the equation of time over temperature does lead to warpage, etc.

Today, worked on making panels. Found out that the porcelain, VM 545 from Germany that is tinted pink – shrinks at a different rate than the bone china clay – BM 900. So, some panels will probably crack.

2007-01-16T23:49:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Eva, who is in the studio adjacent to mine, comes in carrying her Apple notebook computer. She is asking about English phasing in an artist statement she is composing in an email. We talk a bit. I read the first sentence – with the concepts of foundation and communication joined in the first sentence. I recognize she and I share a similar affinity to clay. Her forms are sensuous beyond mine – yet she describes tension and strain as the foundation.

{She is from Sweden, the mother of three children and is here for the second time. Must have an incredibly supportive husband. Four weeks away to work on her art.}

Good participant to share the small moments of conversation and exchanges of working habits. Follow one’s own path. So many others around on another journey

2007-01-16T23:47:00.000-08:00

Embrace the Wobble:

My work arises, from daily engagement, search for connection and movement toward synchronicity reflecting and announcing visible connections. Flowing forth, in a continuous abstract non-linear stream of intuition.

An iterative dialogue combining material, intelligence and transformation by fire. My pieces bear witness to passage of time. A vesper dedicated to touch. Solid metaphors, revealing my experiences; spiritual in nature, art poised as expression of my feminine spirit.

2007-01-14T13:29:00.000-08:00

Sunday 01.14.07

Connecting Threads_Trust in Creativity:

In a sense it’s obvious that in terms of the physical world scientists make the more fundamental statements, but artists and philosophers don’t have a less important job. They humanize, they find out what the significance of science is for human beings. At the point at which Einstein said there’s no such thing as matter he didn’t talk about the particles of things, he talked about things being a chain of events. …. I think you have to make images of objects, which are like thinking models to help you get through the world.
Tony Cragg – Sculpture _ Archimedes Screw – s’Hertogenbosch

Daily Experiences Living in Holland:
The sun is out today for the first time in twelve days. I ride the participants’ bike out twice between working sessions. It is my first day working with Bone China Slip. It is a strange clay body. Very lean hydrotropic clay. If I shake the thin scrim cloth I use to support the 1 mm thick slab – the edges soften. I hope to capture the fluid nature of clay. I am exploring the edges of material properties to gain a better understanding of the craft within the boundaries of slabs; both slipped ones and rolled slabs.

The process requires drying and firing to completely understand the boundaries. Ceramics embraces a paradox of time over temperature. Results interlink these two factors as a constant. The photo of a thermometer, apostrophe, and clock taken from the balcony ringing the kiln room, captures the process in a single image.

Technical References:
Used a vacuum pump to make slip slabs the last three days. It makes a good deal of noise so I’d prefer to work with out it. But am experimenting to understand it’s value in making thin slabs. We made a slab of plaster with an imbedded air hose within the slab. This allows us to suck water from the slip, and then send air through the slab to release the slab. One can make 1mm thick slabs. Who know if these are strong enough – but for sure they will be transparent.

I plan to experiment with these extreme thin slabs but sandwiching them over thicker slabs that have perforations or indents. Can we capture the spirit of light within? Or is it just a form of mental torture?

Photos of the studio and town are include for fun. Hard to capture life here, while living and working.

2007-01-13T01:35:00.001-08:00

January 10, 2007

Connecting Threads_Trust in Creativity:

Be sure to check the plug, or batteries, when things do not work.
{or see technical notes for how this is inspirational quote for all the mishaps of the day at .ekwc}

Daily Experiences Living in Holland:
We have set a pace to the days – hoping to find balance. Up early – tea in our room and paper/electronic work or reading/sketching. Today we are up at 7:30 AM to finish the introduction presentation to the staff and other participants. I’ve blocked in images and our portfolios over the last few days. As we both review the PowerPoint – we notice small mistakes – and basic bad forum errors. We do not have an Intro Slide. – Quick – photo of us at the .ekwc gate – holding the bars. This is a parody that references a conversation from last night’s dinner.

Klaus Osterwald, an established artist, said during a discussion about designers vs. artists – what out, designers would steal your ideas. This is funny since there is a wonderful photo of Klaus hanging on the bars of the gate, on the nearly forty five-degree staircases that leads to the kitchen and upper studios.

He laughs when we begin our presentation, grasping within seconds the nature of our gesture.

It is wonderful to share dinner each night. I especially enjoy the 12 – 14 people who gather each evening with only one or two individuals cooking for all of us. Being taken care of in the evening, frees us to read, walk or rest. Then, at some unspoken moment, some of us rise to clear the table and the 4-minute dishwasher cycle has the kitchen “clean” within 15 minutes. Many hands make for light responsibility.

Tonight, we tried creating strategy for glaze testing, mixing slips, and measuring chemicals.

Conclusion: Best to do this sort of activity when rested.

Oh – the plug reference came about when we attempted to run the slide show and the color space was way off. All the slides had a dingy yellow tinge. Like old photo’s of modern products/architecture. When trying to adjust the projector, the remote did not work. Marc, the technical computer staff member, found new batteries, and the notebook would not start – and the two prong French adapter - was not inserted into the power surge protector.

Details – details – details!

Technical References:
Glaze Chemistry Zen Koan:
Science _ No Science

- if one is mixing glazes – start with the obvious possibilities. One could test until the moon collides with the sun; but mistakes can sometimes lead to unexpected {hopefully fruitful results: I am a romantic dreamer, so I am thinking the story of Post It here}

We mixed bone china slip tonight – with the hope of spraying it onto folded paper structures. If, we could find a binder that would lessen the amount of water – then perhaps the lithographer’s paper we are using in the experiment. {goal makes the optapix (1%)– made the slip into a thick paste. Not the effect for this experiments – but could be truly useful in another goal to fill holes in a panel with transparent glaze.

Try it – Try anything – but keep an excellent paper trail! Evaluate later – when you’re rested.

2007-01-09T00:17:00.001-08:00

2007-01-09T00:16:00.001-08:00

Cultural Pattern_References:

Rains each day; so we discuss the slang.
Raining clay pipe stems
Dutch
Raining fat farm boys
German
Raining cats and dogs
American
Raining chair legs
Greek

Random Ideas_Uncertainty Explored:

Apple Computer patented case for cellular phone made from ceramics. Ceramic is transparent to wireless signals, enhancing the reception. There is also a patent from 2004 – for antenna embedded into ceramics; saving space and money.

Connecting Threads_Trust in Creativity:

"The average human being thinks that happiness lies in stability, in tying up all the loose ends and having things under control. But actually, happiness lies in being able to relax with our true condition, which is basicallyfleeting, dynamic, fluid, not in any way solid, not in any way permanent. It's transient by nature." - Pema Chodron

Daily Experiences Living in Holland:
We are working long days and being at .ekwc is absorptive. We sort of pinch ourselves and ask if we’re in Holland. The telephone, always a mystery in foreign country, speaks to us in Dutch. I wonder if I will learn Dutch while I make mistakes one failed call upon another.

We bought biologic - organic- fruits and vegtables Friday morning at the market. Several vendors who know their early customers, asked how long we are staying in town. Obviously we are Americans, and yet Den Bosch is not a tourist destination. As we walk meandering streets, exploring all smaller passages, town begins to loop into familiar buildings.

Our day begins when we leave the small 30 S.M. Thoreau sort of room with twin beds, a desk, two chairs and an amorior. We traverse a court yard and enter the work center door greeted by kilns of all nature.

Every thing one needs is at your finger tips – linked by orange three ring binders where we enter studio #4 – and the item we’re taking.

Technical References:

Lean clay: slip
Defloculant:
Fat clay: plastic clay
Add bentone – 5 x’s as strong at bentonite
{1.5% in our porcelain and bone china clay mixed on Sat/Sun}
Paper Pulp:
Add .5% to strengthen wet-bone dry strength

Metal and Clay fired at same time
“Defies the laws of physics,” Peter from .ekwc
Art or Industry viewpoint differs in the acceptance of the results

Filter Press the Plastic Clay bodies we’ve made in a dough mixer
> Edges of the clay cake are hard – center is soft
> Will time equalize the consistency or do we need to wedge it?
> Does the pressure of the pump affect the consistency?
Current setting is 30 – 40 {units- kilograms?}
>Water content is 50% - sort of can see finger trails in the clay slip before pumping into the filter. What is the correct texture of the clay slip?

2007-01-07T02:10:00.000-08:00

2007-01-07T02:06:00.000-08:00

2007-01-07T02:05:00.000-08:00

2007-01-07T01:58:00.001-08:00

Sarah, an architect, has a beginners mind. Precise yet imprecise, is her current refrain while listening, learning and working with ceramics.

"Being creative and being communicative are intertwined. Each is the living edge of the other. You have to be both receptive and expressive for either one to balance out. It's similar to keeping your will and your desire going in the same direction. It keeps your feet from losing their balance." Robert Piepenburg