Make It A Handmade Holiday

With the Covert Potters!  We will be showing our latest creations on the annual Fall Sale at Xiem Clay Center.  The sale opens friday night November 12th from 6 till 9 then 10:30 till 4:30 on Saturday November 13th.  Stop by our booth and say hi.  Free gift with every purchase!  Hope to see you! Follow the link for more info on the Xiem Clay Center

Ask a Potter ~ The Power of Attraction

Sometimes you just have to ask a potter to get an answer. So we will be putting members of the Covert Potters to the test. Check in with us from time to time or click “Get The Feed” down to the left to subscribe to get all the juicy tidbits on life, pottery and the pursuit of clay…

Let’s start at the beginning. Very good place to start… I’ll stop before the doe, rae, me – or not. Today’s question is: Do you visualize your Art before creating? Do you know what it will look like before you begin? What's your process?

Chris: I sit and let it flow. Rare is the occasion where I sit down with a preconceived idea and work it out.

Sally Anne: I usually visualize new forms/shapes before I create them. I first try to see it completely in my head, working out how it is to be made. Do I need supports? What clay? What glaze? What techniques? I like to have it worked out in my mind before hand, than as I work, I might have to change or re-think something to conform to the reality of the situation.

I like to think about new pots as I drive, at my day job or when I go biking. It gets me through the day. I see the thinking process as the arty part of what I do. And I can do it pretty much any where. But once I get with clay, I’ve pretty much know how I’m going to proceed with what I’m making. Then again, I tried to make my baskets by throwing the bodies and altering them. That was a grand mistake. I realized I could get what I wanted by cutting/darting and forming the bodies and handles.

Celeste: When I create sculpture or carved work, yes I visualize the piece from the start. I do not use thumbnail sketches because I don’t want to spoil the creative process and I often change the silhouette if the carving or the form does not want to adhere to my preconceived idea.

We’d love to hear your questions for the Covert Potter. Please email us with any question you may have and we will try to get them answered as quickly as possible! Thank you

Ask A Potter...Is It Love?

Ok, we’d all love to say we do this for the sheer love of art and clay, but let’s be real, one has to pay the bills. So, we sell what we love and home it goes to a happy place where it’s used and loved. Right? Today’s question is: Does getting paid for your art work embarrass you? If so, why? If not, why not?

Chris: Not at all. If your art is functional or non functional all that matters is that someone derives joy from what you made. If you create something that so moves someone else as to spend their money on it how can that be embarrassing?

Sally Anne: It’s weird for me to charge my friends. If I could, I’d just give it way to them for free, but then there’s the reality of clay, studio time, workshops… I get over it pretty quickly. I sell to make back my money and to get rid of pots. The more I have in my closet, the less I feel like making. And it’s nice to see what people will spend their money on, especially in these tough economic times. It makes me doubly appreciative of what I do sell. I’m not inexpensive like Crate & Barrel.

We’d love to hear your questions for the Covert Potter. Please email us with any question you may have and we will try to get them answered as quickly as possible! Thank you… read on.

Covert Potter Spotted In Nature

Enjoying a cup of tea?  Yes, look closely at the end of this clip and you will see a Covert Potter enjoying a morning cup of tea.  In a handmade cup! Enjoy handmade functional pottery anywhere!

ART From The Ashes ~ INSPIRE

Being a mostly functional potter, I really enjoy the nudge to just be creative and explore through clay. I usually do this when I wood fire. I have no set objects that I make for the anagama kiln. I start to play and see where I end up. I wish the firings were more frequent, so that I could push things farther in the process...

And then an other Art from the Ashes exhibit comes along.  Last exhibit I made two large hanging wall tiles. I had tried this before with horrible results: cracking in the bisque firing. I changed scale and the clay and made more. This time it worked so close to perfect. The tiles had small boxes to put artifacts from the Deukmejian Wilderness Park burn site. I chose wood, metal, bone and glass. I really enjoyed making.

The founder of AFTA, Joy, told me during the last show that she hoped to do another truly highlight all the talents of the AFTA artist. I was on it and got a few pod pieces into the wood kiln. The closed thrown forms fired amazingly well. I have inset copper flashing and glass into them. 

The thrill of the up coming “Inspire” show, is that we also get to exhibit non-AFTA themed work.

I went back to my wall tiles for one piece. I made a series of tiles based on my love of trees. I once again changed the scale. They are smaller: 6.5”x6.5”x1.5” I carved trees, branches, leaves and bark. I use oxides on the carved areas and glazed on a reserved area. I tried to invoke, sky, sun, night, snow and life with the glazes I chose. I’m really happy with the results.

I also included into the selection process some of my wood fired leaf bowls. And to round it all out, a tea set.  I’d like the viewing public to get a fell for all of my pots, and maybe a bit of me.

~Sally Anne Stahl