Alfred University Summer Ceramics, Thursday July 13th
This morning I trimmed and applied black slip to the mugs, trimmed two bowls, and made another plate using the bisque mold — this time I added a spiral to the square-and-triangle design. Two slipware teacups I had in cone 10 oxidation kiln were now out of the kiln. We also hosted a visit by 20 school children, who came to learn about ceramics. In-Chin, with affection and generosity, gave the students a demo, and then he proceeded to make a small bowl for each child as a gift. The children will glaze the bowls after they are bisqued and then fire them when they return to their school.
In the afternoon, after trimming three plates and removing surface slip from the mugs, I took up the challenge by my studio neighbor to throw several plates at once. So I threw nine plates with abandon. I used a new method that she showed me to more easily create the first flattening of the clay; throwing a plate is much faster for me now.
The MostArts Music Festival is now in the midst of the young artists piano competition. There are eight finalists; in school they range from 8th to 11th grade. Thursday and Friday night the finalists perform Mozart piano concertos in a public concert. In addition to the judges’ evaluation, the audience can vote for a finalist to win a special audience award. The audience award for the night went to a rising 11th grader from Union Catholic High School in Scotch Plains, New Jersey — of course she got my vote!
