Half Moon Bay is foggy and stunning. Here’s a view of the pacific from my early morning golf outing.
San Francisco
My wonderful, beautiful, fantastic wife and I are in San Francisco celebrating our 10th anniversary.
I haven’t been here since I was in college so I’m looking forward to exploring the city a bit. Got ourselves a pretty fantastic view from our room!
Snack/Cocktail Plates
Nearing the end of the making cycle here as I approach the Bayou City Arts Festival in Houston. I’ll be there on Saturday and Sunday 10/8 & 10/9. I had a really good show there last year and I’m feeling really good about the work that I’ll have available there. Granted, none has been fired yet but we’ll know soon enough about how it all turns out.
Snack/Cocktail Plates
I have another dinner order to start working on after Bayou City so I thought I’d use these little plates as test pieces. They’re about 4″ across…perfect for a cocktail party.
Posted in plates on 09/21/2011 01:56 pm | Comments Off on Snack/Cocktail Plates
After….
All cleaned up….
My favorite part of working like this is that now I’m all done with the major decorating work. These will dry and wait for my next bisque firing (tomorrow). When they come out bisqued and static and hard all I’ll have to do is glaze them up. Also, I can throw these in my electric kiln with a clear glaze, a gas kiln with a celadon glaze or a friend’s wood or soda kiln with a liner glaze. All the deco is done and it will work in any type of firing….streamlined productivity!
Posted in Uncategorized on 09/20/2011 08:04 pm | Comments Off on After….
Before…
The after shot will be up soon….
The funny thing about the way I work is that I’m a mess. My intention is to have a nice clean, crisp, sharp line for my deocrations. In order to get that, I use a modified mishima technique where I carve into the leather-hard clay (I typically use an x-acto blade). As you can see, the before is messy with a big splat of black slip all over the piece. I’ll wipe that away with a clean, damp sponge as soon as the slip dries a bit. If I’ve done it correctly…I’m left with a nice sharp line. I won’t even show you what my wheel looks like after a 3 week cycle of making…talk about a messy!
Like watching slip dry...
Posted in design on 09/20/2011 05:16 pm | Comments Off on Before…
Bowls in Progress
Thrown, trimmed, decorated, and waiting for the kiln.
Soup/Cereal Bowls
Medium Serving Bowls
Posted in bowls on 09/19/2011 07:00 pm | Comments Off on Bowls in Progress
ACL Festival
Three things you may or may not know….I absolutely LOVE Austin…I LOVE music…and…I’m not a big fan of crowds. My love of Austin won out this past weekend and I spent 2 pretty full days at the ACL Music Festival. I fully enjoyed myself and caught some great acts including: Ha Ha Tonka, Delta Spirit, James Blake, Big Boi, Kurt Vile, Nas, Pretty Lights, Kanye West, Coldplay, Telekinesis, The Antlers, Young the Giant, Cut Copy, TV on the Radio, My Morning Jacket.
We also waited to see Stevie Wonder who was Headlining Saturday night but he was late and when he did come, I was off to the side of some 60,000 people 50,000 of whom couldn’t really hear him. That was the one big disappointment. I mean, how many chances do you get to see someone like Stevie Wonder play live? I can now say that I saw him play…but I definitely didn’t hear him. The reviews from those who did hear him were very, very good.
I also missed out on seeing some bands that I was really dying to see. Some because, it’s just too much and others because Sunday daytime was spent being a soccer dad to all 3 kids and their games/practices. We almost went back to catch Arcade Fire close it out Sunday night but my fear of crowds won out and the thought of heading into a park with 70,000 folks was too much. That’s the major disappointment as it’s the 2nd time within a year that I’ve missed them play here and apparently Win Butler ended the show with, “Thanks…we won’t see you all for a couple of years so take care of yourselves.”
Other missed chances were: Chromeo, Cee-Lo, Iron and Wine, Alexander, J. Roddy Walston, Phosphorescent, Dale Enhardt, Jr. Jr., Mariachi El Bronx, The Head and the Heart, The Walkmen, Broken Social Scene, Social Distortion & Elbow.
Luckily, it being Austin…we’re not too far away from more great music. Next up is my favorite festival of the year…Fun Fun Fun Fest. A mix of Indie Rock, Hip-Hop, Dance/Electronica, Hardcore and Metal. Until that…it’s time to get those 3 glaze kilns fired so I have some nice new work for Bayou City Downtown.
Productivity
Photo from flickr
This is a weekend that I’m reminded of how I both miss Cape Cod but also LOVE that we’ve moved to Austin. Labor Day weekend was always the end of our busy season but also brought with it the most beautiful time of year on the Cape. Full of warm days, crisp evenings and the time when all the locals enjoyed the bounty of Cape Cod.
We spent a wonderful summer on the Cape as tourists again and as much as I loved having Kreeger Pottery on the Cape I have to admit, it’s a pretty fantastic place to play tourist. I spent more time on the beach this summer than I did in the entire twelve years that I spent living and working out there.
Alas, we’re back in Austin and happy to back in the swing of things. Kids are back in school, I’m cruising again in the studio and we’re slowly adjusting to the ridiculous heat. Granted, since we were hiding on the Cape for most of the summer, I don’t feel I have the right to complain about it….but…it was 112 degrees a few days ago.
Busy week in the studio. Glaze firing soon!
It’s going to be a busy fall as I catch up with everything I should have done over the summer. I’m happy to be in this vibrant city again and enjoying the energy I’ve found hiding in my studio.
Dining In
One of the main things I wanted the new site to show was the context of my work. All of my work is meant for use in the home and most of my work is meant for either the kitchen or the dining table. My work continues the long relationship of pottery and food. When early humans first started a life of agriculture, they needed more than just the skills of farming. For thousands of years pottery has served the purpose of storing, cooking and serving food. In modern times industry has arguably served these tasks better and more cost-effectively. A rectangular glass storage container with a plastic top typically holds my leftovers and a cast-iron pan does most of my cooking.
For the most part, handmade pottery serves a purpose larger than just the task at hand. Today began with a cup of coffee in a Steven Godfrey mug. My morning ritual of coffee to start the day is somehow greater than just a cup of coffee now. Would I appreciate the details of the machine made cup at the local diner as much. Would I be as aware of the handle of the mug at my favorite coffee-house? My daughter picks out the same bowl every morning for her cereal. It’s a small bowl by Lisa Orr and she looks for it each time she opens the cabinet door. At 4 years old she already sees the beauty in a piece and deems it necessary for her meal.
For handmade pottery to be necessary in modern times is solely a choice. Many of my clients say that they can’t start the day without the mug they’ve bought years ago, or can’t envision a dinner party without pasta served in the large serving bowl they’ve had for years. It’s an easy choice to make and with well-made pottery, it’s a long-lasting choice that quickly turns into a necessity.
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What’s Missing?
There’s one thing missing here on the new site…
But, it won’t be missing for long. Over the next month or so I’ll be working behind the scenes to finish the build-out on the Kreeger Pottery online store. It’s going to be integrated right into this site and will be safe, secure and as beautiful as the work itself.
I’ll be launching in late Summer and stay tuned to the blog and newsletter to stay up to date.
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Posted in Uncategorized on 06/15/2011 08:22 pm | Comments Off on What’s Missing?
916 Springdale Rd. Building 2, Suite 104, Austin, TX 78702
