Alfred University Summer Ceramics, Sunday July 9th
Sunday was a clear, cool, low-humidity, glorious summer day in Alfred. I spent as much time outside as possible, but I did make it to the studio in the morning to remove the plastic covering the drying “circle mold” plates. Today was the Alfred Farmers Market, complete with live folk music, farm fresh produce, meats, honey, and crafts. You could sense the warm welcome from the locals.
I spent much of the day glazing eight bowls. I experienced difficulty, as some of the glazes appeard to be too thick — but not being familiar with these glazes, I’m not sure.
In addition to the outdoor wood, salt, and soda kilns, indoors there are numerous kilns housed in a vast, cavernous kiln room, with a high ceiling and brightly lit by large skylights. The video clip below is a tour of a portion of the massive kiln room.
After supper, the wood kiln was unloaded, which had my two pitchers. WOW, what a cool effect the wood fire had on the pots. The hue of the glazes indicated a reducing atmosphere and the hot gases developed a lovely brown glaze on the unglazed regions. I was very pleased with the results!
In the evening I attended the opening concert for the 4th annual Alfred University MostArts Festival. MostArts is a week of solo performances, chamber ensembles, and evening concerts by a full symphony orchestra. The centerpiece of the event is the concurrent Young Pianists Competition, with finalists from around the country. The highlight of tonight’s performance (Smetana’s Vltava, “The Moldau”, Liszt’s Piano Concerto No. 1 in E flat major, and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8 in G major) was the piano concerto played by last year’s winner, young Derek Chung, a rising junior in a Chicago-area high school. He played with passion and a depth that was striking coming from someone so young.
The confluence of music and ceramic art during summers at Alfred enriches the soul.
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