Peggy Loudon

I'm feeling girly today. Maybe it's the Mazzy Star playing in the background, who knows.

I love Loudon's graceful pots and I think what dazzles me the most is that even though all the scrapping and stitching on these posts should feel rough, it doesn't. These pots feel delicate and wistful, perhaps due to the gentle colors, the simple shapes, and the thin walls.

They are so lovely.

(images via artist's website with permission)

Thank you, thank you!

Hi ya'll!

I just wanted to say thank you and tell you to give a look over there to the right. My Kickstarter Project has reached over 90% of it's goal in less than half the duration of the fundraiser. I am so grateful to everyone who has pledged and the buckets and buckets of support I've received for this series. I am so incredibly excited to get started on this work, but I have to wait until December. In the mean time I'm preparing everything I can... Making shopping lists for different stores, painting mixed media works to exercise my color thumb, and of course getting started on the rewards.

The best thing about this whole Kickstarter business is that it has actually inspired me beyond my initial ideas. I'm thinking about textiles, painting, clay, all in a new exuberant light thanks to the success of this project and the generosity of my backers.

There are still 35 days before the fundraiser ends and only $120 before I reach my pledge goal. I know I'm going to reach my pledge goal before the half way mark, I can just feel it, but that means there will be a whole month of fundraising time without any goal to meet. 

Sooo... I'm putting it out there. Any extra contributions, beyond the $1500 goal, will go to fund a following series in clay. You all know I'm stocked with supplies for ceramics, so any extra money would fund membership dues at a local ceramic studio. Not Made in China is an awesome little studio here in Albuquerque, NM and they offer monthly memberships for $107 that includes clay, firings, and equipment usage. Any donations beyond the Kickstarter goal will be used to help offset this cost.

So here's your chance (Mud)Bucket readers, to support a textile art turned ceramic art project. What is the ceramic series going to be you ask? Well, it's still developing but the essence of the work will be "service," or at least that's what my sketches tell me. (And keep your eyes peeled, once I reach my goal, a new reward will be revealed.)

Thank you again, everyone, for you help. And your unending support here on (Mud)Bucket... you all are the best readers a clay-obsessed blogger could wish for.

Myungjin Kim

I have been an admirer of Myungjin Kim's work for a very long time. I'm sure you can see why. These works of art are whimsical, ethereal, charming, and reflective. Not to mention skillful. Insanely skillful.

(images via accessCeramics with artist's permission)

Video: Ceramics- A Fragile History

BBC presents a three part trilogy about the history of British ceramics. How awesome is this!?!
Part one is above, part two below.... Part Three airs tomorrow and should be available on YouTube shortly thereafter.
So awesome.

Video: Agnes Martin

Agnes Martin Interview (20:00 version, 1997) from Chuck Smith on Vimeo.

Agnes Martin is one incredible lady and a brilliant artist. I first saw her work last winter at the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe. I would have never expected to fall so hard for what really is just lines, lines, and more lines, but I did. What is it about the grid?

It makes sense, though, when I consider other artists I love who exploit the ever-evolving line- potters like Nicholas Bivins and Emily Schroeder and Rob Sutherland.

Anyway... enjoy the video, hopefully you'll learn a thing or two. 

Scott Bennett

I love the shape of these bottles and the textures and colors of the glazes. It can be difficult at times to find a real balance between surface and form and to build a mutually supportive relationship between glaze and vessel. I find these pots to be simple yet very successful examples of such a relationship.

(images via Red Dot Gallery used with permission from the artist)

Open 4 Discussion: A Disclaimer

Hello everyone. 

A recent experience with Blogger has let me know that I need to make something about this blog clear. 

I began this blog initially as a way to educate myself about contemporary ceramics. I decided to share my experience widely with readers because I thought there might be other ceramic artists and ceramic art students with the same thirst for knowledge as my own. You see, from my experience, students who wish to study ceramics usually have very little, if any, access to information about or exposure to the contemporary ceramic art scene. I've actually been quite shocked by how little we know about each other at times, and I see this blog as a small piece of the solution to that sort of isolation. I think we can become better ceramic artists by knowing more about our fellow potters and sculptors. And we can become stronger artists in general by having a stronger understanding of our place within the larger art scene. 

But recently this blog was reported to Google for infringement of an artist's copyright. Now, I greatly respect every artist's work as their own, but I suppose I find myself in the school of thought that if you make art that you want the public to view and ultimately purchase, well then, images of your work that are within the public realm are then for public viewing, most especially within an educational context. Now, I know that my school of thought is not shared by everyone, and probably not even the majority, but I'd like to think that all of you readers appreciate the exposure to other artists that has been facilitated here on (Mud)Bucket. This is why I have had a disclaimer posted on this site to let folks know that if they wish their work not to be shared on this platform, that I would be glad to remove it. 

With that said, an artist recently chose to report me instead of emailing me directly. I'm not sure why I wasn't contacted first, especially with the disclaimer considered, and truth be told, my ego was a little bruised at first. I have no ill-feelings towards the artist who reported me, they were acting to protect their work and I understand that, though from what I'm unsure. If you have ideas on that, please speak up in the comments section. 

When I began this blog I was sharing artists at such a rate that I didn't feel I had time to contact each artist before sharing their work. The blog has slowed since then but my life outside the blogosphere has intensified greatly and I still feel that my time for this blog is rather limited. I have always, however, had a desire to go back through the archives to try and contact all the artists whose work I've shared on this blog, as I do feel it is important for them to know and have a choice of where their work is viewed. I thought the disclaimer would be enough until I was able to begin that task. I see now that it was not. 

Since receiving the notice from Google, I have edited and moved the disclaimer to the top of the page to make sure it is seen by everyone who visits (Mud)Bucket. And I have decided to begin the task of contacting the artists (or their estates) shared here within this blog. Now, this could mean that some content will be permanently removed from the site, but I have faith that most artists won't be so inclined. This task will be lengthy as there are over 300 individual artists that need to be contacted. If you are interested in helping, the biggest thing you can do is let me know if there are images of yours on this blog and whether or not you would like me to remove them (use the search bar if you aren't sure). If you have time, or perhaps students with time, and would like to help me with this process, send me an email. I would greatly appreciate the help. 

In the mean time, things should continue as normal here on the blog, by which I mean slowly but steadily. Please chime in with any ideas or opinions that you have on the issues of copyright and education and on exposure to contemporary artists. This is an open forum.

Thanks for your understanding.

Nicholas Bivins

Wow, I just found this post way back in the unpublished archives. I can't believe I never shared Nicholas Bivins' work on this blog. He is one of the most talented new potters on the scene. I love how modern his shapes are and I'm really impressed with how he has redefined the idea of a service, or set of dishes. The bonus, his glazing and surface design are killer. 

(images via artist's website)

I'm Launching on Kickstarter!

So... I know it's been quiet around here. I've been trying really hard to maintain a creative practice at home and too much blogging (reading and writing) takes away from that. My creative energy is a-bloomin', though. I've been craving clay more lately than I have in a very long time. Hiatuses are good sometimes I guess. But this isn't exactly a hiatus anymore. 

There's big news.

I'm launching a Kickstarter Campaign, today, and I need your help, (Mud)Bucket Readers.

For those who aren't familiar with it, Kickstarter is a web-based, grassroots fundraising tool for creative projects aplenty. Individuals propose and then list projects on the Kickstarter website where friends, family, colleagues, acquaintances, and strangers alike can pledge different contributions to the project in exchange for a series of rewards. The pledges are collected in an 'all or nothing' fashion, so each project is accompanied by a monetary goal which must be reached before the project creator can reap the benefits of the fundraiser. This protects both the project creator and its supporters, and ensures that no projects end up half-assed. I like that.

I've been working on this Kickstarter Campaign called 'Ladies Work' for the last couple weeks and I'm finally ready to launch. It is a textile arts project that I am very excited for. How does a textile arts project relate to a ceramic arts blog, you say?  Well, to put it plainly, I hope, through the production of this textile series, to develop a stronger point of view as an artist which I will then feel more confident translating into the different mediums I love to use- including clay. (In fact, this whole series was originally inspired by the workshop I took with Diana Fayt earlier this year, fancy that.)

The obstacle that I've come to in my ceramic work is that I feel I don't have a solid path to follow. My work has been very weak on many levels and for the longest time I couldn't figure out what was going on. I thought maybe I really didn't love clay as much as I thought. WRONG. I thought maybe I just wasn't any good with clay. Again, WRONG. And then I thought, well maybe I just don't have anything unique to offer the world as a ceramic artist. WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG WRONG. I have since realized, through the pursuit of my textile work, that I do want to work in clay and that I do have something unique to offer the kiln gods. If it is through the consistent exploration of multiple mediums that I remember these facts, then so be it. Isn't it funny how that works?

So... I am asking you, readers, to help me with this project. We have until December 1st to reach the pledge goal of $1500. If you can pledge, thank you from the bottom of my little potter's heart. If you can share this Kickstarter Campaign with your friends, family, studio mates, and blog readers, again thank you from the bottom of my little potter's heart. If you can do both, I will explode with gratitude like a pot full of plaster in the kiln.

Thank you so much for reading this. For more information please visit my Kickstarter page, where you can pledge if you decide you'd like to contribute and where you can find the video above to share with your friends and readers.

I hope this project inspires some of you to try your hand at a Kickstarter project as well. If it does, please let me know. I'd love to support you, too.

Pledge to "Ladies Work"

P.S. If you'd like to see some of what this project will fund, check out my board on Pinterest.