Dale Neese on tue 5 jun 07
Hello everyone..
Cooler and wetter than average here in South Texas. But the clay action is
really warming up. Unloading and waxing a load of warm bisqueware this
afternoon.
This years weather played havoc with a Tony Ferguson workshop I was to host
at my studio back in March I'd thought I would let you know about. Tony was
snowed in at home in Duluth the day he was supposed to leave and we had to
reschedule to the latter part of May. I didn't think he was ever going to
get to San Antonio. By no fault of his own, the plane was late making
connections so he waited in Memphis to catch a later flight in the evening.
The photography day one workshop was sold out. All of the participants were
satisfied with the rescheduled dates. 15 people was all I could fit into my
studio space for the day one Saturday session.
Tony presented information on how to photograph your own ceramics. Everyone
in attendance brought 2 pieces of their pottery to be photographed. Using a
dynamite lighting set up I purchased from Tony earlier, Tony patiently
photographed each piece while providing information on lighting as well as
camera settings he used to obtain some killer results. Tony took the time to
individually work with the participants photographic needs using their
personal camera. Tony also worked with photo editing with Photoshop and
projected the results onto a screen so everyone could see the editing
enhancements. At the end of the first day session everyone was enthusiastic
with the new information presented and could download their images from his
website. Sunday's session with Tony was all clay demonstrations, throwing
off the hump, stamping, trimming, teapots, teabowls, huge platters, cover
jar and bowls. I know Tony gave it his all and he was Totally exhausted
afterwards.
On Monday we played like tourists and visited the Alamo, Riverwalk, Menger
Hotel, Southwest School of Art and Craft.
Tony flew home to Minnesota to work on building an Anagama kiln for a
program group of "at risk" young children. Tony tells me that they are
really anxious for him to return from China to finish up the project so they
can fire their own kiln.
Where in the world is Tony Ferguson? He has just arrived in China for the
2nd Annual Invitational Nanfeng Wood Firing Conference and 500th year
celebration. You can follow Tony Ferguson and his daily activities with
really nice photographs by checking in to his blog site:
http://www.tonyferguson.net/China%20Blog.htm
I must say that the workshop with Tony was a pure delight to host. His
photography and clay skills are superb and they really come evident in one
of his workshops. No wonder he was invited to China!
Where in the world will I be this summer? Later this month to Nashville to
attend my friend Sylvia Hyman's 90th birthday party and Sylvia's
retrospective ceramic exhibition opening at the Frist Museum of Art in
Nashville Tennessee. Sylvia's clay work is just incredible!
July 4th holiday see me and my new work at the 38th Annual Rockport Art
Festival on the gulf coast of Texas and the16th Annual Texas Clay Festival
in Gruene Texas in October.
Happy Trails!
Dale Tex
"Across the alley from the Alamo"
San Antonio, Texas USA
Go Spurs!
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