Every artist I have talked to has told me that inspiration for their artwork just comes to them. I have not exactly had this divine instruction, but nevertheless have put quite a bit of thought and effort into being creative. During one of these "meditations" (i.e. on a bike ride in forest park) inspiration struck. To be fair (incase he reads this) my dad made the suggestion: biomimicry pottery. In past blog posts I mentioned how I was going to make ceramic swallow nests, and thats what I spent yesterday morning doing. I made 16 so that the hanging display can be 4x4. I am still not exactly sure how the pieces will be displayed, but heres what they look like (pre bisque or glaze firing).

The other exciting event in the ceramics studio yesterday was getting back my glaze tests. The ash glaze didn't get hot enough to melt and looks like this:

The other blue glaze that I made looks a bit better but is still uneven and too metallic for my taste.

Despite my failures with glazes so far, I went into the studio this morning and decided to make as many glazes as I had time and material to make. I ended up making eight glazes in a variety of colors. I glazed a bowl which each color and started the glaze kiln. I also loaded my unfired work (mostly bowls) into the bisque firing kiln so that they will be out and ready to glaze by monday. After making glazes I quickly trimmed a few bowls, mugs, and lids and then headed to Thurman street studio to meet with Amy Maule at 1:00. I had seen some of Amy's work at the Thurman studio and also at the ceramic showcase earlier this month. Almost everything Amy makes is wood fired which means it has no glaze on it and is put in a big kiln and the fire is stoked for between 2 and 5 days. A lot of the things Amy makes include legs. Here is an example of some of the wood fired, leg themed pieces that she makes. 

In addition to talking about the art she does Amy also told me about how she got started. After college she took a number of community pottery classes and just got more and more interested until now she has her own studio. Amy has a full time job as a librarian, so mostly works on weekends. I thought it was really nice to see how she has incorporated art into her life without having it be her whole focus. Here is Amy's website if your interested in learning more about her and her beautiful work: http://www.volvoxaureus.com/index.htm