Buckets

How do you label your buckets of clay and glaze?  I write on mine in permanent marker on the lid and on the side and tie a test ring with name and cone on it onto the handle.  Sometimes I even put a laminated recipe inside the bucket to be sure to be sure.  Tape dries up and falls off due to the heat and effects of UV.  Sometimes the marker fades or wipes off.

I was cleaning buckets yesterday and used this method of cleaning off the marker (or 'texta' to australians).  I wipe the writing off with a cloth and some methylated spirit or even insect repellant - note the Aeroguard bottle in pic.  I don't always have Metho around but always have the insect repellant.  It makes me wonder though, if it dissolves the Texta on contact - what might it be doing to our bodies when we spray it on?

I found a new source for buckets in a local restaurant - I may have to become a more frequent patron though .... mmm I'm not sure how economical this might be, one breakfast out might score me say eight buckets if I am lucky.  OK I am convinced, madness not to try, right?

Are you going to click on Mud Colony blog to see what all my clay pals are up to?

The ubiquitous FACEBOOK

I have a page on FACEBOOK.  I still haven't got my website up and going yet, I hope to get some new work made first  but meanwhile see you on FB occasionally perhaps    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Elaine-Bradley-Ceramic-Artist/185089588213875

Not 'Dutch courage' Dutch help!

Once Upon A Time .... (this will be a continuing story)

following a curious ad on a noticeboard in a little country supemarket this potter bought a very nice Heinz Welte German made kiln from an elderly dutch potter deep, deep in the Wheatbelt of Western Australia.  The lady's house, with its own airstrip, as ye do, was nestled almost invisibly in the countryside and so far from the local township we actually got lost for hours trying to find the main road again.  The kiln sits in my garage waiting to be relocated to a permanent spot and Henry uses it as a temporary shelf for various cans and tools.  Nobody else wanted her stuff - her entire studio full of ceramic materials and tools - nobody wanted to travel that far down so many twisty winding roads, to even have a peep.  Too hard!  It is near a place we visit often so we just happened to be nearby occasionally.  Health issues had turned her from potting to painting and she would have to return to Europe shortly because Australia didn't want her or her husband anymore because his job was not permanent and due to their age, although they'd lived here productively for years.  It is savage but true.  I bought a good few other items, but it was clear that the rest would go into the skip if nobody else turned up.  A month later, we hired a van from our neighbours, recently moved here from India, to pick up the kiln. Juliette (the lovely old lady) actually gave me almost all of her materials and bits because she felt they'd be properly used and appreciated - and that is the point of this post as you will see.  The Indian neighbours hadn't seen deep Aussie country like this before and were enthralled.  This is some of what I got ...

Now, here I am knee deep, literally, in the annual clear out of my little garden studio. Dead spiders are trapped and dehydrated on their own webs, rendering them unthreatening collateral damage of the hot summer.  Leathery dried, shrunken skinks and their abandoned eggs no longer upset me much, they get chucked on the garden beds as a kind of cathartic, karmic compost.  I haven't seen any of our blue tongue lizards yet this summer but a recent slithering movement under the lemon tree then under the avocado tree may have been a bluey.  I just hope it wasn't a rat or - Oh GAWD, a snake. That is what would most likely get me to reconsider Australia as my home.   We Dublin girls aren't all that tough you know.  

I am still unpacking all that Juliette gave me, figuring out what it is, and where it should go.  Bless her methodical and thorough ways, it was all packed carefully so it wouldn't budge or get damaged, the cardboard and polystyrene boxes are all labelled - in Dutch.  There's the rub as Shakespeare once wrote.  As you see from the photos, a tiny fraction of what I have, they are in Dutch and I cannot read, speak or even curse in Dutch.  I have one potter I can ask but if you can help, please do.  I have heaps more!  I have tried Google translate but it was not too helpful or relevant.

Juliette told me her Grandfather (or great grandfather) had been a very accomplished potter/artist, and I have a few things with his name on them so they must be very old.  I wouldn't be surprised if some of the things she passed on to me had been his once.  So you can see why it is a bit special and not just a 'good score'.  

Now where was I?

According to Blogger I have made 149 posts to this blog since I started with 15 drafts awaiting completion.  That's pretty typical I think, I love starting things, it is the process that counts and I don't always finish stuff despite my best intentions.  So where was I?  I was in Bali in early November for a few weeks of well deserved family holiday time.  I don't love Bali, I like the people but I detest the main hubs for holidaymakers such as Kuta where cheap hotels and markets are crammed together and it is all about Bintang tshirts and knockoff DVDs and Converse Trainers etc. not to mention the current trend of METHANOL LACED DRINKS in bars - the kind that KILL PEOPLE.  Given that tourism is such a massive income source for Bali you'd think they'd be more mindful.
We had a gorgeous hotel room in Nusa Dua, spent a lot of time together chilling out and the best part was the elephant ride, Gaelan and I shared one and rode behind the rest of the family on other elephants, hence quite a few of my photos are of pachyderm's rear ends.  How can you not be moved by being close to an elephant, they feel so ancient and deeply vulnerable.  These ones were well taken care of and well trained,  friendly and gentle and their keepers were keen to ensure visitors got a great experience at the park.

As for the mosquitos who attacked my ankles one evening by the pool as I sipped my first Mojito - I hope Karma has a good plan for them as I copped a nasty virus which remains with me even in January 2013.  If you noticed my absence (and I know one or two have) that is why I have been quiet.  I am flattened by this virus and gradually re--emerging.  My liver is inflamed and I have all the energy of an inert object like say a large Henry Moore bronze only not quite as lovely.

I have watched as potter friends went through the weeks of prechristmas push participating in open studios and markets while I sat at home making and selling nothing and able to do very little.  On the plus side my sons are getting easier to persuade to make dinner for the family and I feel really good knowing they are getting so capable in the kitchen.  Sigh.

ANNE WALMSLEY + ALANA McVEIGH

'In My Cupboard' - Anne Walmsley and 'Luminosity' - Alana McVeigh

I forgot to mention that I was out last week at the opening of this exhibition at Emerge in Beaufort Street, Mount Lawley.  An exhibition of Anne Walmsley's paintings and Alana McVeigh's Ceramics.  Very different media and styles and yet they sat well together in this lovely simple gallery.  I took a gal pal whom I know to be a bit of a collector with a really good eye - and yes, there were lots of sales that night.  Anne's works are a large series of vignettes of her kitchen cupboards which house the loveliest collection of china plates, bowls and cups you could wish for.  She told me that she usually works in installation art but it was pretty clear that her paintings were immensely popular - plenty of red dots for both artists on opening night.  I think that top image is the one I bought, if you read this blog often you'll know why.  I'm not very disciplined in galleries - and proud of it.

I was there to see Alana McVeigh's work, a consequence of her trip to Medalta in Canada and her immersion in that mountainous and snowy environment and the dazzling light therein, shows clear evidence of much time spent with soda firing potters there.  Soda fired porcelain, rich grey orange peel surfaces and hot orange flashes, fabulous stuff!!  I really enjoy such strong contrast  and this had it for me.  She was offered a place at Medalta International Artist's Residency in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada where she presented a public lecture on her PhD research and spent April and May working with senior artist in resident, Les Manning, director Aaron Nelson and 11 international artists.  Alana immersed in a Ph.D and this is likely to be her last exhibition of such work for a good while.  Definitely worth a look!  I've known Alana for years, we don't live far from each other, and often bump into her in the local supermarket - there's always time for a quick catch up and mutual encouragement, but it is really good to see the work in the flesh after all our chats.  I like this new direction.  I met Stewart Scambler top wood firer in the Post Office today while I was on the way to see Sandra Black porcelain goddess, funny small pottery driven world that I live in.

All photos in this post are from the website of Emerge Gallery, Beaufort Street, Mount Lawley Perth.  

PLEASE NOTE:
All text in this blog posting is copyright of Elaine Bradley, Ceramic Artist, Western Australia unless quoting from another source.  All photographs in this blog posting are copyright of Elaine Bradley unless otherwise stated.  No responsibility can be taken for external links.  Please report any errors in crediting photographs, sources or facts to the author in order to allow her to rectify the matter.  Your response or feedback is welcome.