Blog for TeachinArt online art school - TeachinArt.com

10/7/2019

Neriage with Curt Benzle

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Neriage (neriagi), also known as agateware, is a Japanese word that describes the process of blending two, three or four colors of clay in a random fashion. The color range can be very complex or completely random. The clay is not glazed and gives an organic, marble look when fired.

Neriage with complex color ranges on the left and more random red and white colors in the image on the right.

Scraping the clay to get to the great colors.

Potters use this colored clay technique for handbuilding as well as wheel throwing.

Throwing colored clay on the wheel is more challenging because the centering process must be short and precise.

The longer it takes to center the clay or even for the throwing process, the more the colors mix or combine until there is almost no marble left.

Trimming on the wheel brings out the beauty of Neriage.

Wheel throwing with colored clay

Curtis Benzle is a professional artist and teacher with more than 40 years experience in ceramics. His fine translucent porcelain work is included in many private and public collections. Curt presents the colored clay e-course at TeachinArt.

Links:
E-courses (online workshops) at TeachinArt
Demonstrations, tips and techniques (Tips shared by teachers of TeachinArt)
Preview e-courses (take a quick peek into our online workshops)
Art Instructors (Meet our online art instructors)
Colored clay e-course (See more of the online workshop with Curtis Benzle)

10/7/2019

Artist expression of memory loss

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Dementia is a brain disease that causes a long-term and often gradual memory loss and decrease in the ability to think. It affects a person's daily functioning and family members have to learn to cope with something that they do not understand.

Marie EVB Gibbons is one of the online instructors at TeachinArt who teaches the online workshop, post-fired finishes. Her dad went through the struggles of dementia, and as an artist, she tried to understand what it means to loose your memory and mind. Here is Marie in her own words.

What is dementia?

I watched this video again - of me speaking about what I was trying to figure out about dementia, and I look at that now and think, wow, those were the good old days.
That is when my Dad could acknowledge his malfunctioning memory, but still manage to move forward, and live his life.

Now, my Dad is living in a memory care facility. He is in a constant state of not knowing, not understanding, not remembering.
Now, he tries so hard to gain an understanding of why. Why is he there. What has happened to him. What is being done to help him.

The saddest part - in my opinion, is that you can't explain to a person with dementia that they have dementia.
I think even cancer is a kinder evil. At least someone with cancer can understand there is an evil in their body, an illness.

A person with dementia cannot understand that their brain is dying, it is not working with them anymore, in fact it is working against them. The very thing (the brain) that helps one comprehend, is not an aid in problem solving and analysis, but a tool of distraction. It's like accidentally leaning on the delete button of your keyboard, and all of a sudden being witness to things just erasing, to become unaccessible.

When he doesn't know who I am, he questions if I am someone important to him. I choose to believe that this is proof of the heart's memory. That somehow, in his being, he knows me, but it is not in the traditional way of knowing. When I confirm that I am someone important, that I am his daughter, it brings him to tears, and to feelings of stupidity, and sadness. How can a father forget his child, his wife, his life. I try to comfort him with explanations that might make sense, to both he and I. I like the analogy of an air bubble. I tell him, "I am in an air bubble right now. You can't see the information that goes with me, but the bubble will pop eventually (and hopefully, for a little longer) and then you'll put it all together again, as it is visible, even if just for a moment.

I have to say, I don't know how to process and understand this. I'm trying, but I am not finding the right words, imagery, metaphor.

The best analogy I've come up with lately is "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" an old movie with a story line of aliens stealing peoples lives, replacing them with a 'pod' that resembled their physical body but not the same person.

That is dementia to me at this moment.

Something that has stolen my father's mind, life, memories, being. We have this physical body in front of us that tempts us into a belief that maybe, just maybe things could be OK again.

But, that is far from the truth. I find myself mourning a soul, being stuck with a body. It's such a conflict.

Links:
Post-fired finishes e-course with Marie Gibbons
E-courses (online workshops) at TeachinArt online school of art
Preview e-courses at TeachinArt
Demonstrations, tips and techniques

10/7/2019

Raku and mixed media with Claire Beck from Australia

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Claire Beck lives and work in the beautiful Gold Coast Hinterland region of Queensland in Australia, about 10 kilometers from the coast as the crow flies. She completed two of the online workshops at TeachinArt, Alternative firing with Marcia Selsor in September 2016, and Porcelain Handbuilding with Antoinette Badenhorst in July 2015

Rabbit Proof Fence - raku with sodium silicate and barbed wire. 2017

I have been doing ceramics for about 8 years – both sculpture and wheel/hand built pots under the initial tutelage of the wonderful Midge Johannsen at the Sculptors’ Society Gold Coast but now I teach from my own home studio and am Treasurer of the Society. I developed an early interest in raku after having done a workshop with the Gold Coast Potters Association of which I am also a member. Since then I have built and owned 3 raku kilns and do at least two or three firings each month. I did the Alternative Firing online course of Marcia Selsor and found it very useful since I also intend doing regular wood firings later this year.

Black Betty raku kiln

My current raku kiln is called Black Betty for obvious reasons. I usually fire to around 1,050 C. The first firing into which I put the more fragile pieces usually takes around 40 mins but from the second firing onwards the time reduces until its down to around 20 mins. I reduce for about 20 mins then spray a fine water mist over the pieces to cool them. To maintain lustre I spray pieces with automotive clear satin finish. I’ve had pieces outside for a couple of years which still show lustre using this spray. I have a small electric kiln in which I fire greenware.

I have entered a number of ceramic competitions and exhibitions and have taken part in several two and three people shows locally. Last year I won the Tony Palmer Sculpture Award for my piece Hark the Herald Angels.

I like to mix and combine materials. I started weaving natural fibres onto raku. From there I moved to combining natural timber with raku and now I use found metal objects with raku. I find raku goes with everything! I am very fortunate in that I have a wonderful partner who is happy to weld or wood turn as required.

Hark the Herald Angels Sing (naked raku and wire). Winner of the Tony Palmer Award at the Sculptors’ Society Gold Coast in 2018)

Our Lady of Perpetual Bliss - raku and found objects

Alongside - raku with found metal objects

When we bought out block of land (about 2 acres) in 2008 we loved it so much that we used to say “when we live here we’ll truly be living in bliss” and after a while when we started building our friends would ask “how’s Bliss coming along” and so our house, Bliss, was named.

Can you see why we call it Bliss?

Inside Bliss - I'm running out of room!!

My artistic endeavours really only started when I retired in 2010 with life drawing classes. From there I moved to printing where I won the Caldera Award in Murwillumbah NSW (New South Wales) for my piece Rainforest Cathedral.

Trophy Wife - ceramic with natural fibres

I teach a popular monthly class for the CWA (the Country Women’s Association) and after Easter I will start a regular weekly raku group at the Society’s teaching studio nearby.

I have held a couple of raku workshops up here at Bliss for the Society which have been popular. Everyone seems to love raku!

I guess the thing I love most about it is the immediacy of the art along with the (often) unexpected results you can get. I am not noted for my patience LOL.

The happy CWA Raku@Bliss group hard at it in the studio

I think my future probably lies in teaching. Funnily enough I used to teach computing as I came to the world of raku via decades working in the IT industry at various teaching colleges and Universities both as a teacher and as an IT Manager. Before that I worked in advertising and publishing and ran a gallery in a small tourist town in North Queensland.
Strange what paths our lives lead us on.

Links:
E-courses (online workshops) at TeachinArt online school of art
Demonstrations, tips and techniques (Tips shared by teachers of TeachinArt)
Preview e-courses (take a quick peek into our online workshops)
Art Instructors (Meet our online art instructors)
Alternative firing online course with Marcia Selsor (how to do obvara, raku, saggar firing)
Porcelain handbuilding online class with Antoinette Badenhorst (Learn how to get translucent porcelain hand made items)

10/7/2019

Handbuilding, slip casting, dipping and paper molds

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I was born in Watermaal-Bosvoorde (Brussels, Belgium) and spent my entire childhood in the pictoresque municipality of Beersel. We lived close to the famous medieval castle of Beersel and were surrounded by a beautifull nature and numerous local geuze breweries.
My educational background lies in engineering, science and research. At the free university of Brussels, I first obtained the degree of Bio-engineer in cell and gene biotechnology. That was followed by a PhD in applied biological sciences during which I focussed on sourdough fermentation. Thereafter, I started a carreer in the pharmaceutical industry, mainly as project manager. During that time, I continued taking several classes that brought me closer to my inner selve and passions.

Patricia Neysens from Belgium in the Genk Academy

It is no more than 10 years ago that I first experienced working with clay. The joy of creating, the feeling of clay on my hands and the peace of mind all this brought were truly overwhelming. About 5 years ago I decided to enroll in the ceramics program at the Genk academy of visual arts and media. Till today, the ceramics classes have continued to equipped me with skills and knowledge relating to the materials and processes of the discipline. Very soon it became clear that porcelain would become the ideal medium for my work.

L’impermanence – Dahlia (front), Porcelain, cone6 (1245°C), oxidation

L’impermanence – Dahlia (back), Porcelain, cone6 (1245°C), oxidation

Once a researcher, always a researcher, so I dedicate a lot of time to sample making and the testing of new techniques. For the making of my works, I rely on a mix of techniques: handbuilding, slip casting, dipping and the use of paper molds or other “carriers” to make individual elements which then are assembled into a – partly- intuitive final pattern.

Samples, Porcelain, water-soluble metal salts, cone6 (1245°C), oxidation

Samples, Porcelain, water-soluble metal salts, cone6 (1245°C), oxidation

My finished forms are mostly defined and inspired by the beauty, fragility and strenght of nature. I aim my sculptures to look elegant, refined and vulnerable and hope them to engage the viewers in their tale. To me my works are an instrument to express my own emotions and feelings.

I rarely add color or glazes to my work because I love the whiteness, pureness and translucency of porcelain. I believe that in some cases the combination of shape and a delicate play of texture, results in enough complexity.
In case I do decide to add color, I always keep a certain degree of sobriety in mind not mixing too many color palettes or by using coloring agents that enable me to obtain a subtle natural look and feel. Mostly I rely on the use of either pigments or oxides for the coloring of porcelain clay bodies. When I want to add subtle color to bisque-fired pieces (or even green ware), I prefer the use of water-soluble metal salts. All works are fired at cone 6 under oxidizing conditions.

Square bowl, Porcelain, cone6 (1245°C), oxidation

As a newcomer in the arena of ceramic artists, I want to thank Antoinette and Koos Badenhorst for providing me this platform and for sharing so much valuable information through their e-courses and TeachinArt portal.
Patricia Neysens completed the colored clay e-course with Curtis Benzle at TeachinArt.

Links:
E-courses (online courses) at TeachinArt
Preview e-courses
Demonstrations, tips and techniques
Our art instructors
Colored clay e-course with Curt Benzle

10/7/2019

Throwing, carving and altering porcelain

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One of TeachinArt online teachers, Antoinette Badenhorst presented a hands-on workshop at the Pottery Studio in Bryanston South Africa where she demonstrated the carving and altering process of porcelain.

She calls porcelain the "Diva of clay" and tells her students that they have to understand the character of the clay to really push it to it's limits.

Here are some of the characteristics of porcelain.

When fired correctly, porcelain has a glass like or marble appearance.
Porcelain has a weak green strength and should therefore be handled with the utmost care before the firing process.
Porcelain becomes very pyro-plastic (soft because of the heat) at a high temperature. Any thinner parts will collapse when pulled down by the weight of the heavier or thicker parts. It will easily warp or slump during firing. Potters will often times create ways to support a porcelain piece during the firing process to prevent deformation or make sure that the construction is very evenly done and well designed.

Links:
Understanding porcelain e-course with Antoinette Badenhorst
Porcelain handbuilding online workshop with Antoinette Badenhorst
E-courses (online classes) at TeachinArt
Demonstrations, tips and techniques
Preview e-courses

10/7/2019

Bone China by John Shirley

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John with his translucent work in South Africa

In 2000 while studying for my BTech in Ceramic Design I decided that I wanted to work in a translucent body (up until this time I had always worked with porcelain) but I wanted to try something I had not worked in previously.

It was then that I chose bone china as the medium I wanted to explore. This has really been an exciting journey and bone china is the body I still work with today.

The body is traditionally fluxed with bone ash and feldspar and stabilised with Kaolin. Fired to 1250C it produces a body of extreme whiteness and excellent translucency.

As a ceramist living in South Africa where the choice of raw materials is more limited and the quality is less regulated than in many other countries, I was determined to make a translucent body with local materials. This is where my choice to work with bone china really paid off. What I discovered is that the bone ash in the body acts as a bleach on any traces of iron present in the kaolin in the body. As the local kaolins are far from the extremely white kaolins available overseas this proved to be a real bonus.

Antoinette Badenhorst discussed the translucency of the porcelain and bone china soluble salts with John during her visit in Bryanston, South Africa

I started with the usual recipe of 50% bone ash, 25% Feldspar and 25% Kaolin which I made into a casting slip, as bone china is almost impossible to throw. Although my first results were not ideal they were very promising and I adjusted this first test. I tried many different kaolins. I changed from bone ash to tri-calcium phosphate which is synthetically produced. And within a few months arrived at a recipe that produced the results I was aiming for. With a few tweaks from time to time this is the recipe I still use today.

The body has a high shrinkage and a tendency to warp in the firing and although I have tried several ways to stabilize the body in the firing with various setters, I now accept the gentle warping produced by the firing as a part of the process.
Choosing to work with bone china for my work is I feel something that has worked really well for me and the work I produce with this body is quite different to any work I would have produced using the porcelain body I was using before.

Links:

Demonstrations, tips and techniques at TeachinArt
Click here for the video Antoinette interviews John Shirley
John Shirley website www.johnshirleyceramics.com
Antoinette's blog about difference between various kinds of porcelain

10/7/2019

How to prevent S-cracks in pottery

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Most potters at some stage in their career have struggled with s-Cracks in the bottom of their pots, and have asked the question what did I do wrong or how did this happen. Antoinette Badenhorst shows her pottery students one of the biggest culprits for this clay problem.

Antoinette presented Understanding Porcelain hands-on workshops on several continents and throughout the United states of America, and is now sharing this crucial information with students across the world in her online workshops at TeachinArt. You as potter, can prevent most of your S-cracks if you follow her advice and tips.

Links:
Understanding porcelain online class with Antoinette Badenhorst
Porcelain handbuilding with Antoinette Badenhorst
E-courses (online workshops) at TeachinArt
Preview e-courses at the online art school
Demonstrations, tips and techniques

10/7/2019

Glazing tips: Prepare your pottery for successful glazing

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If you are a potter, how many times have you found a lid stuck to a teapot or lidded box due to the glazing? How many times have you wiped off glaze that you should not have wiped off? How many times did you loose a lovely teapot because you had to break the lid loose from the teapot?

These pictures below are examples of the glazing challenges that potters experience when making anything with a lid on.

Glazing fault. The teapot broke when the lid was forced off.

Another glaze fault. The lid got stuck during firing and had to be removed with force from the teapot

Connie Christensen explains how to prevent some of the glazing problems that makes life difficult for potters. Her first online class at Teachinart (Faceted teapot set) was to teach pottery students how to throw a proper tea set on the wheel - using porcelain clay. She used wiggle wire as decoration tool for the faceting and demonstrated how to make you own can handle for the teapot.

She also discuss the glazing challenges and shows easy techniques to prepare pots for successful glazing.

Links:
Faceted teapot set e-course with Connie Christensen
Shino glazing e-course with Connie Christensen
Glazing made easy e-course with Antoinette Badenhorst (guest artist Lynn Barnwell)
E-courses (online classes) at TeachinArt
Demonstrations, tips and techniques
Our art instructors

10/7/2019

Tips for preserving paper clay with Antoinette Badenhorst

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Paper clay is many times used by ceramic artists to make the construction of sculptures easier. Antoinette Badenhorst demonstrates how she uses paper clay to create translucent porcelain vessels. Paper clay burns out in the pottery kiln and does not really affects the final outcome of the sculpture. It helps with the forming and sculpturing.

Carving with porcelain clay may be challenging because of the paper that is in the clay.

If you store the wet paper clay, it changes color and does not have a good smell.

The tip for storing paper clay is to roll it into a tile. Let it dry out completely. Store it as you will store normal tiles. No smell, no hustle, no coloring.

When you want to use it again, wrap it in a wet cloth like a towel. Let it soak in the water for about an hour. Unwrap the towel and use the paper clay as if you just made it.

Links:
Understanding porcelain e-course with Antoinette Badenhorst
Porcelain handbuilding e-course with Antoinette Badenhorst
E-courses (online workshops) at TeachinArt
Demonstrations, tips and techniques (Tips shared by teachers of TeachinArt)
Preview e-courses (take a quick peek into our online workshops)
Art Instructors (Meet our online art instructors)

10/7/2019

Painting on clay sculptures with Kathlyn J Avila-Reys

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I am an Alexandria, Virginia based artist that taught special needs students and art for 30 years for Fairfax Co. Public Schools. As a life long educator, I have planned and taught workshops for various local community organizations as well as for the Smithsonian Institution, the African American Museum of Art, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art.

Two of my most favorite workshops I developed and organized was in Oaxaca, Mexico for disabled women and in Ayacucho, Peru for women that had been victimized by the terrorist group, “The Shining Path”.

After my retirement, I missed teaching and researching new ideas to create lessons so I began taking ceramic classes, which I absolutely loved! Even though I had taught ceramics for elementary school students, the classes I took exposed me to a broader aspect of what I could do with clay. After two years of taking classes, I was asked to teach a children’s class, and then, to teach a creative hand building class for adults. As my adult class grew, I decided to focus only on the adults and once again retired from teaching the kids.

I have exhibited my work at numerous galleries, universities, and institutions. I have received a number of awards and certificates, as well as being selected to have a solo show entitled, “No Ordinary Woman”. The theme of this show grew out of my childhood interest in the women in my community, especially those considered to have “special powers”- whether real or imagined. Although I’m inspired by people I have encountered, my figures embody “familiar souls” that viewers can recognize regardless of where or when they grew up. Each of my figures is an expression of a unique individual, whose story is told through adornment, symbolism, and gesture.

Color, pattern, and texture intrigues me which promotes an open playground for ceramics and the ability to explore many of its possibilities. I have always been a doll maker, but the transition of making cloth dolls to ceramic figures has given me a broader enjoyment and satisfaction in the process of their creation. I love the idea of working with a medium that
challenges me to transform a ball of clay into forms and figures that become characters based on my life and imagination. Working in clay has become my mental retreat, my vacation away from the world, my hands are happiest when in the process of construction. My intricate style echoes the influences of African, Native American and Latin American cultures. I uniquely design my work with an ensemble of metaphysical symbolism and color, which then captures an aura of mysticism, magic,
and spirituality.

I create my sculptures through hand building techniques. I’m continually exploring the number of ways I can manipulate the clay to create very textural surfaces. I like the idea of being able to visually explore every aspect of the sculpture with curiosity and discoveries of what can be appealing as well as tactually stimulating. I’ll use all techniques of hand building, pinching, coiling, and slabs. I have an arsenal of approaches for the surface design, slip trailing, stamping, appliqué, and using nichrome wire are just a few of my favorites.

Although I do use traditional glazes to decorate my pieces, I don’t necessarily stop at glazes alone to decorate my work. I like to extend that yearning for texture into my surface treatments. I do a lot of experimentation in glaze combinations as well as other mediums of paints such as oils, enamels, acrylics, chalk paint, and latex. My sewing background has followed me into this genre in the area of mixing media such as dipping cloth into slip, adding non traditional elements to the clay body, even dipping metal into slip to create fragile appendages.

Finding Marie Gibbons class, Post Fired Finishes, has opened up a new door for me in completing my work. Even though I had been using acrylics in my work before, the paint left my work looking flat and plastic. I love how Marie has taught me how to add more dimension to my work with her layering style of colors. As an educator, I never feel like I know so much, that I can’t learn more. Learning new techniques excites me, it keeps the thrill of creating fresh and explorative.

The format that TeachinArt uses to teach their classes is fantastic, informative, detailed instruction on the technique, and sequentially builds on the procedure. Marie is down to earth in her approach to teaching, which left me feeling like I had known her for years. I have been highly inspired by taking this class and very appreciative for having the opportunity to take this class.

Links:
E-courses (online workshops) at TeachinArt
Preview E-courses
Our Art Instructors
China painting with Paul Lewing
Demonstrations, tips & techniques

10/5/2019

Natural coloring of wool at the Catto Center at Toklat

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Catto Center at Toklat in the Rocky mountains

Toklat, meaning “headwaters,” was built as a wilderness lodge and family home by Stuart Mace and his wife Isabel in 1948. Located near the headwaters of Castle Creek near Aspen in the Rocky Mountains, this serves now as a gathering place for cultural and ecological discourse.

With the help of Jessica Hobby Catto and her husband Henry, ACES (Aspen Center for Environmental Studies) bought Toklat in 2004 to preserve Stuart’s legacy.

Elena Gonzalez Ruiz, a native of Oaxaca in Mexico, and her family have been part of the Catto Center at Toklat even before it became an ACES' site.

She has been a long-standing Artist-in-Residence at the Center, traveling back to the Castle Creek valley each summer. Elena contributes to ACES’ mission by providing educational opportunities related to traditional and environmentally-responsible textile production.

According to Elena, they have about 7,000 people in her village with about 4,000 weavers. Most of the coloring and dyeing ingredients like the indigo plant are grown by her people. They count the minutes that the yarn is kept in the coloring bucket to get the colors needed for the individual carpets, handbags and other wool projects.

Links:
E-courses (online workshops) at TeachinArt
Demonstrations (Tips shared by teachers of TeachinArt)
Preview e-courses (take a quick peek into our online workshops)
Art Instructors (Meet our online art instructors)