These boots were made for walkin'

Since my last posting-l've been places...
Summer 2009 was an incredible summer-and a busy one-working as a Wilderness Ranger for the Forest Service

And teaching Art at The Canvas

I also had a show at the Silverbow in Juneau during the month of August entitled "Just for the Halibut" (http://www.silverbowinn.com/)

And sold artwork to Annie Kails (http://www.anniekaills.com/)

When I returned to Montana in the fall, I was excited to start creating in my new art studio. It has 15 windows-mostly south facing-with amazing views into the woods.

I love my kickwheel (Thanks, Canvas!) Tim and I brought it down from Alaska)

I needed clay, so my buddy Corey and I took a trip to Helena to Archie Bray...
(http://www.archiebray.org/)

And I picked up 750 lbs of clay (yeah, Josh--thumbs up!)

And then I went to work on insulating my kiln room.

Packing the first load into the kiln on Dipsey Doodle Lane!

I'm really excited about this new creation: Xtra Tufs!! Inspired by the world's greatest boot, I wear these things every day I'm out in the field for the Forest Service, and on days it's raining in Juneau. So, yeah-pretty much every day. Did I mention that every man, woman and child in Southeast Alaska owns a pair of these?

My first 2 ceramic XtraTufs were created as gifts for the world's greatest people: My Dad

And Tim (my husband)

Over the summer and into the fall I've had so much inspiration...

From the Museum of Modern Art....

(October: New York, New York)

To the World Wilderness Congress...

(November: Merida, Mexico)

To the natural world....

My boots have been places.

Playing with mud is fun!!

I love making art. When I'm in the studio, time stands still. Troubles doen't exist. I'm in a zone. I love creating art for the sake of creating art. I don't know what satisfies me so much, but I'm quite content playing with mud all day long.

I have been doing a lot of research-trying to teach myself new techniques and experimenting quite a bit. Here's what I've been up to!

Horsehair Firing:

There's nothing quite like the smell of burning horsehair.....

Last week, I experimented with horsehair firing. I had created some porcelain pieces (the white clay pieces), and after bisque firing them, I re-heated them up to over 1000 degrees and pulled them out of the kiln with tongs....


I laid pieces of horse hair on top of the hot bisqueware, and they carbonized instantly--leaving a beautiful black shadow of where the hair was placed.

Moon snails!!

Inspired by the shells I've picked up in Alaska, I'm very excited about these new pieces..........

I start by throwing a vessel (something that may look like a flower pot) on the wheel...

...and then I push the outside walls together, closing the form at the top

Afterwards, I cut the closed top form off the bat, let it dry out a bit, then flip it over and trim the other side, so it ends up being a closed sphere!

I then sculpt the wheel thrown piece, carving the outside and pushing from the inside of the piece...

Fish vases:

More fish vases! They're spawning! Soon there will be a whole school of them!

These tall vessels are first thrown on the potter's wheel, and then shaped by hand. I add on fins, lips and eyes, and carve in details, such as the scales.

Other stuff:

These are starfish that will be glazed and set on top of a mirror:

Another sea urchin (thrown hollow form) and more starfish.

Silkscreening on clay!
A new experiment: Silkscreening on clay! It was a complete success!!! (I LOVE when that happens!!)

This is a process where I transfer a silkscreened design onto clay using glazes.

I pull the glaze across the silkscreen with a squeegee onto a flat piece of clay...

The image from the silkscreen is transferred perfectly!

Soup Supper Fundraiser!

I am working with the Whitefish Middle School 8th graders every day for the month of February. I have proposed a grant, where the students will create 2 soup bowls in the week that they are in my class. They will get to keep one, and the other they will donate to the Flathead Food Bank (http://www.flatheadfoodbank.com/) annual soup supper dinner. This is a fundraiser where community members pay $20 for all you can eat soup, bread and dessert--and at the end of the meal--they get to take home the soup bowls! All proceeds go to feed local community members in the Flathead County (Montana). We are still waiting to hear back about the grant, but we decided to move forward with this project, as the soup supper dinner is happening at the beginning of April.

In the spirit of helping others less fortunate, I have decided to donate all of the money I am making from teaching this month long workshop to 2 worthy organizations: Save Darfur (http://www.savedarfur.org/) and the Red Cross (http://www.redcross.org/).

Do these kids look like they're having the time of their lives or what?!?

Thse are some of the soup bowls the first group of students made...

Stumptown Art Studio:

This is the studio I create and teach at in Montana: Stumptown Art Studio (http://www.stumptownartstudio.org/). Notice my "rock star parking" there in the front of the building (the bike locked up against the post)

Views of Big Mountain from the front door of the studio.

I have been adding new postings to this art blog, so feel free to scroll down to see it all, or click on the headings to the right under "Archives" to shortcut to the starfish, halibut or other studio work. Feel free to leave remarks by clicking on "(#) comments" at the bottom of any post (there's a little pencil icon next to this), then post your comment, go to "comment as" and pull down the drop down menu. Go to "Name/URL", fill out your name (you don't need to fill out a URL), and click on "continue"......or email me at: lydon_barbara@yahoo.com