11 Weeks and Counting

The year is 1998; the OPA President is Mary Walyer and Mark Heimann is the Chair for Ceramic Showcase.  Empty Bowls was another great success at the Blues Festival and added a donation of over $13,500 to the Oregon Food Bank, Clay in Education had been involved with some great projects which included classes with the Native American Summer school program, Children's Club, Portland YMCA day Care and the Kids Play area at Art in the Pearl.

and this was published in Ceramics Monthly, in February 1998:
"Contrary to popular opinion, form does not follow function.  Form follows forlorn hope."

I asked Patrick about his process in creating the piece that was awarded Best of Show 1998 and this is what he had to say:

Best of Show 1998
Patrick Horsley

"1998 Best of Show piece called 'Large T-Pot/Purple' grew out of a thrown oval lidded casserole that I made a few years before I turned it into a teapot.  The body of the teapot was thrown with no top or bottom, then floated on some water and altered.  When leather hard I cut the profile of the image of what I wanted it to be and reassembled it and made a new top and bottom from thrown slabs and added that to the body.  The knob is thrown like a child's toy and trimmed and plugged into the lid.  The handle and spout were extruded.  The spout was a hollow extrusion and the die was made from washers and a u-bolt.  The parts were then laid out on a ware board to stiffen up.  Holes were then cut into the body and the parts were plugged in.  A solid piece of clay was sculpted as an extension of the body like a tail.  The T-Pots take about six to eight hours to make.  


This T-Pot was sprayed with a copper slip and then sprayed with a high clay, high barium matt copper carbonate glaze.  I like my work to absorb the light not reflect it.  


I see my pots in profile; more two dimenstional rather than three dimensional. 


 I have a number of teapots in both private collections and in museums and have been awarded Best of Show in other venues."

20 Weeks and Counting

The year is 1985 and Ceramic Showcase is in its third year with Jeanne Henry as the Chair of Ceramic Showcase.  1985 brought change to the organization.  Originally known as the Oregon Potters Cooperative, the name was changed to what is now known as the Oregon Potters Association.

Best in Show 1985
Patrick Horsley

Best in Show 1985 was awarded to Patrick Horsley.  Patrick has been a member of the OPA since its cooperative days
and he continues to be active in the ceramics community.  I asked Patrick to tell me about what inspires him and where he draws influence and this is what he had to say.

"My work has always focused on the idea of vessels and containers;  the bowl, the plate, lidded containers.  I also have a strong interest in glaze chemistry, color and texture and its power to engage the viewer and suggest a final function; utilitarian or non-utilitarian.

I have made pottery full time for forty years without a lack of ideas and things I would still like to explore.  The clay and the fire seem endless in their possibilities.  I work from drawings, closer to small scribbles on three by five cards,  that I pile up as ideas emerge from landscape, both natural and manmade, from history, and sometimes even from other potters, both old and new.  Pottery and clay are a much more complicated medium then people would expect.

The challenge of my work is to combine the many elements (handles, feet, spouts and lids) into a work that dances and presents a new view and image of a familiar form.  My primary interest is in the process and the physical dance of making the pots."

Era Messages: Selections by Garth Johnson-MoCC

January 27, 2011 – July 09, 2011

Curated by: Garth Johnson

Museum of Contemporary Craft invites artist, writer and educator Garth Johnson to curate an exhibition drawn from the Museum’s collection. As Johnson’s curatorial debut in a museum environment, Era Messages focuses on works from the 1960s to 1980s that exemplify particular moments in the history of craft. As Johnson explains, “This exhibition seeks to examine work that is timely rather than timeless – craft that is evocative of its era rather than existing in the netherworld of timelessness.”

Garth Johnson is an Assistant Professor at the College of the Redwoods in Eureka, CA. He writes about craft, blogs at ExtremeCraft.com and is the author of 1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse. His DVD, ReVision: Recycled Crafts for Earth-Friendly Living, was released by Eyekiss Films in 2009. His artwork was also recently featured in a solo exhibition at the Clay Studio in Philadelphia, PA.