Val Cushing

It is with great sadness that we have learned of the passing of Val Cushing. I was fortunate, as so many others, to have met him and hosted him for a workshop here some years ago. I was lucky to be a second generation student, that is, I was taught by one of Val's students, John Jessiman. Cushing's influence can not be overstated nor his generosity in freely sharing his knowledge and experience.

Brooklyn Clay Student's Rock and Roll Weekend

From 4:00 p.m. Friday afternoon till 12 noon today- whew!

We jammed as much as possible into our weekend workshop- a glaze and load Friday night marathon; Saturday's firings of the downdraft and the salt kilns; viewing our collection of turn of the century White's Pottery salt crocks and ware in Fountain Elms; cozy studio tour and demonstration; Veronica's mold making workshop and studio tour; salting the kiln (a better cloud); Gerber's Pub; trip to the Everson in Syracuse and Sculpture Space in Utica; Symeon's for dinner and of course the kiln opening this morning.

My sincere thanks to the Brooklyn students for your patience, interest and great enthusiasm. It was a pleasure and privilege to work with you guys. DOG!

Also great thanks to Cammi and Michael and Keith for organizing the trip and the workload. It is great to work with people who know their stuff.

You wore me out, so now on to a relaxing massage, drinking good wine (thanks for that and the card) and then on to the work week.

What a kick! Thanks again...

Bryan

New Year Horse Race

It took a few years, but we are re-energized. The coming year looks to be a good one.

We are very happy to welcome ceramic artist Veronica Byun to our department as Artist in Residence. She brings a wealth of experience and knowledge in ceramic sculpture. Originally from Seoul, Korea, Veronica is currently based in New Jersey. Her education includes degrees from Alfred, RISD and post Baccalaureate work at Syracuse University.

She has exhibited in numerous national and international exhibitions including the "54th Premio Faenza International Ceramic Art Competition," in Italy, the Taiwan Ceramics Biennale 2008, in Taipei, Taiwan and "World Women: On the Horizon," at the Baltimore Clayworks, in Maryland. She is represented by Loveed Gallery, in New York City.

Awards include residencies at Guldagergard Ceramic Research Center, Denmark, PrattMWP, and a New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship. Her work has been reviewed in numerous publications including Ceramics Monthly, Ceramics Art and Perception and The Philadelpia Enquirer.

This fall Veronica is teaching a ceramic sculpture course in our continuing education division and will be conducting a mold making workshop in November (more to come on that).

We welcome Veronica and are excited to be working with her. We will be posting images of her work in the near future.  In the meantime you may go to the link below...

www.veronicabyun.com

The itinerary for the June workshop will be-

Friday AM- Demonstration of throwing a vase for surface decoration; discussion of engobes for use in salt. Slides in the evening.

Friday Afternoon- Demo of bottles and other forms with the use of applique, stamping and color for  salt.

Saturday- Demonstration of larger forms for firing in salt. Ideas for experimentation; Slides of my work in the evening.

Sunday- Workday

Following Friday- glaze and load kiln.

Saturday- Fire kiln with salting party in the evening.

Sunday Evening- Kiln opening and critique.

Exact times for the above will be provided to students once course is assured of running.

Spring Firings- Salt Is In The Air

Salt Vapor Shrouds the Campus
Photo by Nancy L. Ford

We are again offering a June Workshop. We will be exploring the use of color and surface fired in a salt kiln. More information and the itinerary for the workshop will be posted in April. For now, stay warm! I am kicking around the idea of including a second firing of some work for the surface effects as seen in the piece below.

Salt Fired Bowl- refired at ∆10 Reduction
for  Carbon Luster

Brooklyn Fire

We just received news of the devastating fire last night on the Pratt Brooklyn campus. We don't know exactly what this means for those students who lost work or for that matter how long it will take for the campus to recover. We on the upstate campus are ready to help in any way...

Vapor

the Altar

We were firing the last salt kiln of the year and had vapor everywhere on campus (a heavy humid day). The inside of the empty anagama was foggy...