Marcia Selsor on tue 24 apr 07
Wow! What a great bunch of clay people. There were two younger people
on the scene actually from the Cleveland area:
Greg Aliberti and Freeland Southward. They worked over at the Terra
Vista Co-op. Freeland is best described as ethereal, soft spoken but
sharp witted.
His use of hammock molds and bean bags was amazing. He also hot glues
shapes of thin plywood into forms, casts and makes sinks from them.
Greg's personality is quite different from Freeland,. He radiates
intense energy and mischievous smile.
He works huge, setting up an 8' mantle with 2 x 6 and combing a
relief detail with a sawed piece of bead board paneling. Two very
different and unique approaches.
Angelica Pozo also from Cleveland and one of the original founders of
the Art Craft studios gave a Keynote slide talk fater the first lunch
discussing problems on site in construction areas and what horrible
things can happen to an installation after the fact.
George Wodieck spoke on Sunday about his experiences in Cleveland
area public schools and projects with kids.
Also in the ArtCraft Building, were Paul Lewing discussing business
practises as well as giving a china painting demonstration. Stephanie
Stephanson also demonstrated on the topic of tiles, but completely
different, using low to midranged fired tiles with carved and glazed
imagery which was cast in moulds. She gave an excellent run down of
types of plasters, what to use them for, various ratings of weights
of water to plaster, mixing times, etc. Also she pointed out how to
approach designing tiles for molds, how to design continuous borders,
plus contracts for commissions. Linda Blossom went into great depth
on variou membranes for tile installation as well as giving a sink /
counter top demonstration. Currently she is working on thin paper
clay using stains and oxides to pring from etching plates.
I gave demonstartions on a segmented arch, how to use a paper sleeve
wrapped around a sona tube then wrapping a slab supported by tar
paper. Also demoed how to design oval forms and cast them. For
constructing right angles, I showed a simple jig with slding boards.
The lunches were about the only time to meet participants and that
time was brief. There were many interested people attending and
actually paying attention which always makes the presenter feel good.
This area of Cleveland has 500 working artists. There is a huge
supportive arts community. The work in both studios was really
interesting and well done.
For these studios to sponser a workshop on such a foreign topic is
really saying something. I'd again like to publicly thank Lynne
Lofton and Mark Yasenchack for their hard work and generosity for
hosting this Potters Council event at their respective studios of
Terra Vista Studios and the Art Craft Building Co-op.
We had a great time meeting everyone. I love Cleveland! Thank you!
Marcia Selsor
http://marciaselsor.com
Paul Lewing on wed 25 apr 07
On Apr 24, 2007, at 4:24 PM, Marcia Selsor wrote
We had a great time meeting everyone. I love Cleveland! Thank you!
I second all of that.
I think the participants got about as wide a view of architectural
ceramics as it's possible to get. And the presentation styles were
quite varied as well. Greg, with some "audience participation",
produced a complete fireplace front, complete with columns and relief
accent tiles. Some of us essentially did the same demo twice, others
did steps on the same projects. I did very little actual working,
and just talked most of the time. Marci and Linda actually changed
the published program so that each of them did a whole day instead of
two half days. Although Linda might have wanted to do the two half
days, as she lost most of her voice about halfway through Sunday
afternoon.
I also want to thank Carolyn and Ginger from Potters Council for
doing such a great job. Too bad Carolyn had to leave early because
her daughter broke her arm. And Mark was the most helpful and
attentive host we could have asked for. And thanks to Bill Jones for
bringing all the books, including mine. We sold about 40 copies of
"China Paint & Overglaze", and I also want to thank everybody who
bought one. And let's not forget Sandy Miller, who got the ball
rolling enough that it had momentum enough for her to go back to her
studio and know it would happen.
Paul Lewing
www.paullewingtile.com
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