PortCity Mud

A Quick Sgaffito Demo

admin — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 22:04:28 +0000

Here's a clip of Bruce Cadman putting on a funky off the cuff design on one of the bowls for this February's Souper Supper hosted by the TideWater Art Gallery.

Throwing Bowls For The TideWater

admin — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 04:47:37 +0000

Here's is a video that we made specifically for the TideWater's 2010 Souper Supper.

This is meant to give new artists and customers alike get a feel for the pleasant monotony of throwing 120 bowls for a project like this. Most people don't realize that it takes over 70 hours of work to create the bowls for each years event. WoW!!!

A Minor Fall From Grace

admin — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 04:12:28 +0000

12"h by 7"w, handBuilt teapot assembled from slip cast parts, low fired

The sad thing is that I broke this piece right as I finished shooting these shots.
Sorry Bruce...

Trent Burkett 30 * 5

admin — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 05:30:25 +0000

"30 by 5" is another top notch exhibition presented by the premier online gallery out of Iowa City, Iowa, AKAR. This is the current Who's Who Gallery of North American Ceramics.

Special notice this time though is the inclusion of local ceramic artist and Associate Professor of Ceramics and Sculpture at University of the Pacific in Stockton, Trent Burkett.

Here's the artist statement that was included in this exhibition...

Faceted Cylinder

My appreciation for functional objects ranges from the strictly everyday use of objects to the more eccentric and possibly sculptural aspects of experiencing objects. Their use can become obscured and inter-changed. My aesthetic incorporates the use of form and surface which employ organic/ gestural qualities as

Cut Neck Bottle

well as architectural / human invented forms. In this regard, I attempt to create a dynamic equilibrium between the sculptural aspects and the conventions of functionality. My experience with wood and salt-fired ceramics is important to my aesthetic goals. This process of firing with wood has solidified my understanding of the relationship between form, material, surface, and the traditions of firing. Currently, I dig and process most of my clay in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada. Working with more stubborn clays has challenged my working methods.

Wood Fired Faceted Bottle

The struggle to figure out a particular material and how it works is what holds my attention. Regularity in process and results rapidly creates boredom. Wood- firing is perfect for this very reason; it is for the most part unpredictable. However, with keen observation, one can build a palette out of the irregular and in a sense “casually mingle” with it to achieve desirable results. I also work with mixed-media to create singular objects as well as installations. The use of space as a medium in experiencing visual information is also a key element in my work.

Trent's work can be found at

Trax Gallery, Berkeley,

Also view online at http://www.trentburkett.com

Glenda the Good

admin — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 03:59:25 +0000

A really quick shout out to one of my favorite local artists…

Glenda Burns

She a multi-talented artist that excel’s in painting and ceramics. Her use of color in both media is reminiscent of the Fauves movement from the turn of the last century. My favorite aspect of her work is that it’s as fun and uplifting to be around as she is… Both brighten a room and cheer me up.

Guess that’s a darn fine mess of peas.

If anybody is in town, her opening is 4- 7pm Saturday the 14th at the Goodwin gallery on the Miracle Mile in Stockton, CA. I’d love to see you there.

San Joaquin Potters Guild’s Fall Sale

admin — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:54:19 +0000

It's that time of year again, the leaves are turning colors overnight, the fog is starting to roll in before everyone wakes up. I'm already boiling up water to set next to the throwing wheel. Seems a bit early this year. but, shruggs.A quick look over the fence and I see the local San Joaquin Potters Guild getting ready to host their 2 day sale at St Basil's November the 20th & 21st. The guild has a few new members that are definitely worth the trip out of the house to meet. Head on over Friday night 5:00 to 7:00 for the artist reception and meet everyone.

For more information you can head on over to http://www.sanjoaquinpottersguild.org/

Dia de los Muertos Fundraiser

admin — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 20:49:33 +0000

This is pretty cool…
I really enjoy sitting in on our local community college’s Art Club meetings. Not only is it good fun, but are they a great group of students and are smart enough to offer free pizza to everyone that attends too. Ceramic artist and sculpture professor Gary Carlos is the lead for the club and they are looking to raise a spot of cash to keep the pizzas flowing. They gave it some thought and launched into a group collaboration project making a collection of cups to sell on the main quad of the campus. The project was to create 40 cups using slabs and coils. The outer surface was brushed coated using a black slip that the students scratched designs through to the white body. This was a thematic project, so on one side we carved, a death’s head (the more festive the better), and on the other, a saying of one sort or another.

The kiln was unloaded today and the students got the thrill of enjoying unloading the still warm kiln and pawing through the results. This was a first for most of the students, but as planned, I don’t think it’ll be the last… wink wink…

Postscript... the students sold every single cup and raised over $250! Congratulations and I'm putting in a vote for pepperoni and mushroom!

Adam Field Workshop at UOP

admin — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 03:05:55 +0000

Last week, a handful of area potters had one of those rare and wonderful afternoons where they were able to sit back and simply enjoy watching a talented potter demonstrate rare and esoteric techniques that he brought back from travels far far away...

I have to admit, earth shaking personal growth just doesn’t seem to happen as often as I would like any more, (honestly, I'm trying to get a grip on personal growth in any case, it's way to distracting). It was through the kindness of the local University of the Pacific ceramics professor, Trent Burkett that I got to enjoy this wonderful treat.

Thanks Trent!

Personally, I’m a huge fan of “Going Really Big”. It’s really a whole different world that the macho potters and large scale ceramic artists live in… Adam Field is one of these potters. He’s a ceramic artist from Durango Colorado making a month long workshop tour through the area. This leg of the tour has brought him through Northern California in conjunction with his exhibition that runs September 12th through October 9th at TRAX Gallery in Berkley with established ceramic artists Sandy Simon and Robert Brady. You can get a peek at his line-up of works by clicking here. It’s a selection of beautiful high fired, flowing, incised forms. Flawless and beautiful...

What really got me going was that he apprenticed with the 6th generation master Onggi potter Kim Il-Mahn in Yeojoo, South Korea for ten months in 2008, learning the techniques of making huge traditional fermentation jars. Working in this scale, things get very interesting, and any opportunity to gain insight into any not so obvious common problems are golden moments. Carrying just a single piece through the entire process is a huge expenditure of time, materials, and attention. Adam was very open about sharing the details of the tradition he was exposed to and he expertly demonstrated the processes used to create these large coil built containers. It’s a process that, once mastered, allows a potter to create a 30+ inch tall jar relatively quickly, in about 2 hours. The downside is it takes intensive study and a whole lot of focused work to get a good grip on the processes involved. Of course, this is massive understatement…

I highly recommend checking out his website at http://www.adamfieldpottery.com/and while you are there, check out more of his videos. We’ve all seen pictures showing us the step by steps of this process, but it really doesn’t compare to actually watching the artist feed a coil into a new wall.
I’ve really have to share a few pictures from workshop…

Thanks Adam!

The Final Finish of this Summers “Hands in Clay” Exhibition

admin — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 03:31:00 +0000

What a great ending to this month's roster of SJPotter's Guild events! Bruno Kark and Tom Collins gave a top notch day long workshop in Joe Mariscal's ceramics room at Delta Community College.

What a fantastic day! Everyone had a blast to watching both of these amazing artists sharing many of their insights on throwing large. Admittedly though... I'm still finding a guilty pleasure in a long day spent listening to older more experienced studio artist's retelling their personal stories from the past 30 years of first hand art history. Oral history has always been a very decadent pleasure for me, but I'm beginning to see it as an "US Magazine" kind of thing. (I'm a total sucker for the old Volkus stories). There is so much West Coast history that you just can't find between the covers of Ceramics Monthly

I really would like to take this opportunity to thank the other principal organizers for this event... Gary Carlos, Joe Mariscal, Jeri Ross, Don Hall, Kathy White, John Nagle, but most importantly… I really want to thank Bruce Cadman for all of his help in keeping me motivated in getting this event off the ground!

Hey… the next event will be even better!

PS... Bruno, I'm telling you... the next big thing is going to be on-line nude ikebana vase throwing... I think you could really set the pace on this one... get in on it now and you'll define the whole movement!

A Whole Herd of Moo

admin — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 01:27:00 +0000

I've been a huge fan of gurruilla marketing for the past 2 decades. Knowing full well that locally, it's the small things that seem to make the difference in how new veiwers find my work. Over the past 20 years I've really enjoyed creating the new support medias that cater to my diverce nitche markets. It's been a gambit of stickers, wheat paste posters, silkscreened canvass, spray paited stencils, art magnets, postcards splits, and now... MooCards.

I'm sure good amount of you know exactly what MooCards are. For anyone new to the name, these are 28mm by 70mm duoble sided collectable bussness cards printed on a high quality card stock. You can buy them in lots of 100 with dozens of different designs in each lot. It's the Online market that makes this media such a success. Personally I find that the odd size contributes to the success of the media. People really enjoy the smaller size of the cards. And hey... different is good, and when it's combined with a decent set of designs... a good Moo goes a long way.

The reason I'm working to develope this media up into something that I can use is that I've been given an oppertunity to attend a black tie meet and greet as a guest artist at KVIE's pre-veiw event for their telivised Art auction at the end of August. (Obviously the orginizers have never met me...) This is a PBS fund raiser. I've not a TV watcher anymore, but my children are, and as an enthusiastic suppoter of Public Television, I'm thrilled at being selected as a contributing artist for this event.