Patty Rehn on fri 12 apr 96
I took a workshop from Steven Hill. He does beautiful work, obviously.
His work is very thick compared to Dennis Parks. Someone on the List (from
MT?) mentioned they had been to Tuscarora to work.
Why is Parks' work so thin and Hill's so thick? Comparing a mug of Parks I
own with an only slightly larger bowl of Hill's, the Hill piece is 3X as
thick. The bowl cost about 3X as much, too. The bowl is typically complexly
glazed, a signature piece. The glaze was both dipped and sprayed. The mug
has a nice rutile blue, with a wonderful little finger mark indicating it
was dipped to be glazed.
I loved the mug so much I was disappointed to discover that apparently much
(?) single fire work is so thick and clunky.
Ideas or experience?
Patty, in Central Oregon, where the grass is greening despite yesterdays
snow flurries
Karl David Knudson on sat 13 apr 96
On Fri, 12 Apr 1996, Patty Rehn wrote:
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> I took a workshop from Steven Hill. He does beautiful work, obviously.
> His work is very thick compared to Dennis Parks. Someone on the List (from
> MT?) mentioned they had been to Tuscarora to work.
> Why is Parks' work so thin and Hill's so thick? Comparing a mug of Parks I
> own with an only slightly larger bowl of Hill's, the Hill piece is 3X as
> thick. The bowl cost about 3X as much, too.
Steven addressed this at his recent workshop sponsored by the Fresno NSAL
chapter and the city college (they did a great job). During his
demostrations and 'chat' he specifically mentioned that throwing thin was
never a concern of his, as he felt his work was based more on the
visual form of the piece than how much it weighed. I too was a little
suprised when I picked up a few of his pieces, but after watching him
throw for two days it became apparent that his work would not have the
same visual impact if he were to make them 1/3 the weight.
As for his prices, yes I think that they are a little high, but after
watching a table full of work from the 'moderate' $48 8-10" plates to a
$250 teapot, disappear in a matter of minutes to a crowd of perhaps 30
workshop attendies (I don't know their finacial situations... I slept
in my car the first night to save money), the reason his work is
expensive, I think, is because he can sell it for that. (And he appears
to put a lot of effort into his work.)
Wouldn't it be GREAT to be in demand like that?
Karl in Eugene, OR
Feelin blue...
cuz the taxes are due...
art_selsor@vicuna.emcmt.edu on sat 13 apr 96
Dennis uses a sifting method among other things. But I would think
the thin vs thick could have to do with the clay body or the potters'
preference.- Marcia Selsor in Montana who visited Dennis Parks over
Superbowl weekend in January and got snowed in.(my first superbowl)
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