Penland's wood firing 3/27/09

The best part of a long firing is having lots of advisers, as well as lots of shifts of people loading the wood!

Greg, Mike, Rachael and Tai discuss how the temperatures vary in the different chambers.

Tai is about to close these openings with some kiln-shelves as well as the bricks.

Rachael, Yena, Ethan and Tai...looking up the hill from the bottom chamber.

The main port for feeding wood into the fire chamber...lots of wood!

After each stoking, there would be black smoke coming out the kiln through some holes (left open on purpose)...but most of the smoke went up the chimney! The fire chamber is on the left, with 2 humps of main chambers full of pots going up the hill toward the chimney.

Behind the observers is "The Pines" dining hall.

Bill checks the cones in one of the side "peeps".

Lots of sitting around while the kiln slowly rises in temperature. This shows the top chamber, and the "secret chamber" that leads into the chimney.

Susan seems excited about something while nothing phases Mike.

Tai is pulling out some shorter wood, with the meadow in the background showing the day-long rain. (I don't think they call it a meadow...but maybe)

Yena, Greg and Tai have a moment's discussion.

Checking on the dampers at the foot of the chimney...Rachael, Bill and Tai.

McKinsey was outside checking on the chimney smoke after each stoking with wood. This became a pretty wet part of the day with rain almost constant.

Pitcher-maker Greg has a couple of finished pieces...and

he's still throwing a few more.

Thanks everyone for letting me watch an eventful day at a great craft school!

Energy Xchange and Spring cometh

Here are some crafts-people at work, some cows doing what they do best, and some flowers and buds saying it's spring at different elevations here in Western NC.

Ian Kessler-Gowell gave us senior visitors a great demo of glass blowing...

Including the full process from beginning to breaking...unfortunately. It was a nice piece until he clipped it from the "stick that you blow through" which must have a name...and it tilted and he was actually juggling it but made sure not to use his hands, just his tools...and then it didn't bounce when it hit the concrete...and some of the shards hit one of the women's suede boots which started to smoke...but she shook them off!

In the pottery studio... are some of the pottery pieces by Ross Edwards, who wasn't there last Fri. when we toured. He uses plaster molds to make similar shaped pieces. The glass furnaces and the glaze kiln are run totally on the methane recovered from the 9 acre landfill near Burnsville...a great model of using the unrecovered gas that exists abundantly in all our landfills!

This is the early spring look that I have around my home...just the beginning of red maples giving a little color last week.

And our local forsythia was just beginning to blossom at the elevation where I live.

On Hwy 80 north leaving Burnsville, we found some lovely white cows, which apparently are special to someone! They seemed pretty placid!

Here Lindsay Rogers (no relation that I know of) is making handles for some mugs in her studio area. There are other potters and another glass blower in the 2 studios.

I ran out of juice in my camera batteries, so didn't get pics of the fish and aquaculture gardens, nor the little gallery.

In Burnsville there was a dogwood (I think) just about to burst.

This daffodil lives by Lake Tomahawk in Black Mountain, where the warm water and the sun have pushed spring to already be there.

While in my yard, I think these little guys may be some mini-daffodils. They may never open, since we've had some freezing nights lately.

We were glad to eat inside rather than on the patio at the Garden Deli in Burnsville. The bright sun didn't quite warm up the cold mountain air.

These lovely quilt squares hang in various areas throughout Burnsville.

And this lovely trump l'oeil mural is right on the square in the middle of town. We all admired it... "We" being the 15 folks who visited Burnsville and the Energy Xchange with the Black Mountain recreaction deptartment "van clan". Thanks for doing the driving, Renee!

We drove around the square, seeing the court house, some offices and shops, and the lovely historic hotel "New Wray" for which I still have trouble remembering the name.

Today (Sat) I went with some other women from my church to join the women of the UU Church of Asheville for a lovely breakfast/brunch. I met a nice woman who works with International Link and I volunteered to help teach some people English as a second language. So I'll be going to a mini-training for their programs in a week or so. It was great to finally get to see the Asheville church, and meet some of the women from it. I have been somewhat shy of walking into such a big church, after becoming so comfortable with the little one here in Black Mountain. But now I won't feel so lost.

The other big event this week was receiving a picture from my sister of herself and her new kitten. I was so glad that she felt like sending it, but I must say I thought she was clinging to what she looked like in her 30's...rather than growing into her age gracefully. But it was just one picture. Maybe she doesn't wear all that makeup every day. For me, comfort takes the first choice in my looks.

comments are welcome! If you can't post them here, write me at goddessinclay@gmail.com.

Beautiful pottery/sculptures

Here are some more of the pots that are in the Mezo-American exhibit at the Mint Museum in Charlotte.

I liked these polychrome paintings on huge platters. And if I remember my Art History correctly, the indigenous people in the America didn't have potter's wheels until the Spaniards arrived. So my guess is these were coil built. SOrry I didn't copy the blurb under them, but it didn't say how they were constructed or painted anyway.

Warning! This is gorey as any movie could be...and it's in a museum. I can only say, when you get to looking at the figure, it sure doesn't look like the description. (Figure is after description, so you can skip the reading if you want).

Again, the description comes first...

Isn't it great to see a woman holding a child, with red paint on them? Before the Christians even arrived and turned every female that was honored in art into Mary?

Next there are a couple of Mayan gods/goddesses on a cup. I take issue with the description of what the old god is doing to honor the moon goddess. Perhaps the cup was formed for priests/priestesses to laugh over when drinking their morning cuppa. But to me if you're going to the trouble of drawing your dieties on cups, they probably would be doing a ritual, giving homage to those great goddess breasts. Just my interpretation.

That's all I have time to download today...there are still some more early American Women Potters works I want to share. I must admit, I skipped the early craftspeople who just made jugs and bottles which are kind of 'nondescript' and only took pictures of what I liked.

Ceramics of and by women - pioneers in the field

The joy I found in this pot, was its imperfection that had been turned into a masterpiece...like many of the pots from the hands of the community members in my dear studio here in Black Mountain.

Kate Sears has her pot sitting next to the only one by Adelaide Alsop Robineau at the Mint Museum in Charlotte. I'll talk more about Robineau later.

I love the simplicity of this design. Many of the pots that are decorated so beautifully were apparently "blanks" that women would paint upon, rather than actually throwing the pots themselves. It wasn't clear on most of the ones I saw whether this had happened or not. Perhaps that's why the term "decorator" is used next to Naomi Walch's here.

In Art School in the 1980's I had trouble finding early ceramists who were women in Art History books and periodicals. Most of those I found were considered women hobbyists, who had nothing better to do than learn how to paint ceramics, as an alternative to doing various kinds of sewing. They often were extremely skilled, but the Art Community (those who use a capital letter on the word Art, didn't think much of them. I kept digging, and finally found that there were many talented women creating new glazes, sculpting, carving pottery and experimenting (often alongside their husbands and children) in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Fanny Levine, Decorator, "Bowl with Geese" 1914, earthenware. (Saturday Evening Girls)

Saturday Evening Girls Pottery was a part of a settlement house program for young immigrant women in Boston. Decorating pottery was not only a diversion for these young women, but also provided them with a means of support at a time when jobs for women were limited.

Most of the American pottery displayed at the museum was earthenware, but this was one piece that is stoneware, circa 1915-1925, from the Fulper Pottery (1814-1955) in NJ.

This is one of the ceramics periodicals started by women. Edith Harwell is depicted on the cover in her Mint Museum Art Studio in 1936. In 1931 she set up a pottery at her home near Charlotte, NC, named Pinewood Pottery.

Soon after, the museum asked her to demonstrate pottery making, and she moved her studio into the basement of the museum. She remained with the museum until 1938 when she and her husband moved to Fairhope, AL.

Thelma Frazier Winter (1903-1977) studied at Cleveland Institute of Art and later taught there and in the Cleveland public schools. "Dancing Figures" was created around 1945. She was the first prize winner for another sculpture in the Ceramic National, an annual exhibition founded in 1932 in honor of Adelaide Alsop Robineau. This was the first time the prize was awarded to a woman.

This Tulip Form Vase (earthenware) was created (circa 1905-15) by Fernand Moreau, Designer, at TECO, (1887-1930) in Terra Cotta, IL

But since I was also looking for the Goddess in Clay...here are some of the MezoAmerican sculptures, pots and figures the museum exhibited.

This Peruvian figure is actually carved in volcanic stone. To me it looks like any mother of twins, who should be immortalized as a goddess! The museum has some interesting definitions of female figures holding infants...suggesting they are representative of ancestors holding newly chosen leaders.

OK...here is the piece I came to see. Robineau also was known for developing many great glazes, experimenting in her pottery, as well as carving in porcelain. This piece was finished late in her life, and isn't as fine as many I've seen in other museum catalogs. She's best known for her scarab vase, which I think is at the Metropolitan Museum in NY. I was truly inspired by her rich flowing glazes (which even puddled on the kiln shelves) because they made glass look like watercolors.

This is a tiny piece of her work...but exquisite still.

Another thing Robineau did was publish a periodical "Keramic Studio" in Syracuse NY.

She started this magazine to provide advice on china painting. When that medium failed to gain respect in the artistic community, she advised her readers to become potters. She heeded her own advice, becoming the first woman to learn the potter's wheel and launch a career as a studio potter.

This Seated Female Figure is from Costa Rica, from 500-800 AD. It is pottery with brown, black and red slips, manganese dioxide deposits. I love

her pose.

Pre-Classic Mexico gives us this "female figure" from 350 BC to 250 AD, with designs painted on her in brown pigment.

Whether "Female Figure" is truly a goddess is of course something the people who made them knew, but we can only guess. The MezoAmerican figures in clay include many males as well as females, unlike the Pre-historic Mesopotamian figures which were primarily female. But my thought is that there must have been something special in the minds of the artists who created these forms, and it could well have been a concept of how these female figures reminded them of a higher ideal - a goddess.

The directions and elements

The 4 elements pot, showing the side of fire. To the left is water as a waterfall, and to the right air (a butterfly)...and on the opposite back side, a cave demonstrates the element of earth.

Where do you learn how to cast a circle with calling the 4 basic elements and the five directions?

Celtic paganism has been rediscovered in the last century, and is built upon the best of imaginary rites that probably have a few roots in the rituals that existed prior to the Burning Times of the Inquisition. Neo-pagans everywhere use somewhat the same ideas, calling upon the 4 cardinal directions with attributes that are similar to each. The 5th direction is center. North American natives have their ways...and we borrow from them many times. A Medicine Wheel has the four basic directions, as well as many others.

When asked about why a circle has the directions called, and where that came from, I referred to several of my favorite sources...but there are many more. Starhawk was my first teacher, in "The Spiral Dance." Barbara Walker gave many easy to read rituals, and Patricia Monaghan offers delicious descriptions of seasonal celebrations. These yearly holy rituals are designed to create sacred space.

Sacred space is simply a space apart from the regular world of our duties, obligations and sense of self. We can get in touch with a deeper Self when we set aside a place and time to cast the circle. If you get a sense of spiritual renewal when meditating or in church, this is very similar...and doesn't depend upon a mandated method of procedures. Each circle becomes the place and time that the participants create...and each is totally different.

The basics are the elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water, and what these elements suggest to us humans.

Photo by Annie...thanks for reminder of our fire pit for Imbolc this year.

Fire is a source of heat, our passions, and represents the direction of the south.

A goddess of old, whose wings suggest the air element. Air is the element of quick movements, communications, and our breath...and comes from the East.

The water element is delightful, whether to drink, play with, or just look at. Water also reminds us of how we float in our dreams, and is represented by the West.

Earth element reminds us of chemicals, rocks, concrete, mountains, and the wisdom of the Earth Mother. The north is where to look for the Earth element.

Center of every circle includes the third dimension of a circle...creating an orb or sphere by going up and down, not just around on a flat plane. The Center is grounded where our feet stand, as well as gifted from the heights that extend into outer space.

I've been part of many circles, and it wasn't until I stopped reading someone's scripted "calling of the directions" that I learned what they really mean...different things to each of us, different suggestions each time a circle is cast. The whole idea isn't to do things "right" but to express your inner self in creating a place for having something special. We each are responsible for that creation, and for how special it may be.

Of course, this is just one woman's opinion!

snow day

I think those are cat paw prints...but I began to think perhaps a coon had come visiting. I've never seen one here. I think their paws are slightly longer than the little rounds that cat toes have.

Anyway, it's been below freezing all day, and we just had a few fluries again this afternoon, though the sun was warming the walk enough that some of the snow next to the house melted. But now it's getting dark, and will be colder yet.

So I'm really tired of being on the computer, doing various work related things, which felt like I accomplished something. Moving little bits of data around is a soothing almost mindless task. Of course making mistakes proves I'm a bit more mindless than the task required!

So I'm going to have dinner, watch news, and maybe do some knitting. I need to move around...whow my stomach is complaining that I've sat in one position most of the day!

I'm sorry the class had to be cancelled because the roads aren't all safe...though I imagine the main ones are. But my driveway is probably the worst one I'd have to tackle. Glad to skip that. But the class has been rolling really well, so the momentum may fall back a bit now. With 20 women coming, that's not the end of the world. Only one person chose to do something else with her time since our first class. We even have several people who keep saying they want to join us. I don't know how they'll feel about coming into the group now...but I know it will be ok with me.

past Imbolc

As the wheel of the year turns from coldest darkest days to Bridgett's bringing forth light again, Imbolc just passed and I am glad to see that the sun doesn't set quite so early. And when the cats wake me up, often the sky has started to be light outside. The ice had almost melted yesterday when I walked around the lake (not when this picture was taken...!)

I am quiet now, and finding my way into being householder, keep my cozy home comfortable and clean. This is the hardest thing I'm currently doing...being aware that my environment that I make is also a creation, not just a "maintenance." I give this to myself as self-love. I need that a lot these days. Usually January/February are the times I get depressed each year. It was good to sit in sunshine for 2 hours yesterday during the ritual.

I was so happy to be part of a ritual at a new friend's home for Imbolc. The smoke from the fire bothered me a lot of the time, but hey, I was just being gifted as the goddess chose, so I took what came my way. And I'm going back to sing with some women at the dark of the moon.

My lovely new friends who live near me on Allen Mountain invited me to a Super Bowl party. It was fun, though several of us were definitely not football fans. I brought my knitting and was the only single person there, as well as the oldest, as well as a pagan with this little goddess symbol on my brow that I'd forgotten (purposefully perhaps) to wash off after the Imbolc ritual. At any rate, I didn't know anyone but the hosts, but then realized I'd met most of the others there, or they were friends of people I knew. It felt like 6 degrees of separation time...mostly through UU, but some through the BMCA (Center for the Arts).

So by the time I closed my eyes last night, I'd met several dozen new beautiful people at the two events I attended. And I had conversations with a lot of them. I also liked that I was following my own beliefs, even around the football crowd. The women seemed interested in hearing about Imbolc and Bridgett.

So to support these beliefs, I'll continue to work on the Cakes class, and hope that we (Byron and I) can provide the 20 of us women with an avenue to serve our own budding feminism and curiosity about the goddess in her many forms.

Snow is forecast for tomorrow, but the weather feels like it's immanent.

Keptain has had a good appetite for the last several days. Perhaps my own rice/chicken mixture added to the cats' food has helped. They both greet me with eyes that say they are starving, and can each put away a small meal 3-4 times a day. As often as I put it out, they chomp it up. Muffin has shown lots of weight gain, but Keptain hasn't. But he's also not having as many hair balls, so that's good I guess.