Cornell Pot Shop

The Cornell pot shop sponsors an end of term exhibit and sale, and this is my first. Cornell runs an open studio with wheels and kilns for anyone to sign up and use, and I took an advanced class, which was fun! The sale started Monday and goes through Thursday in the student art gallery in the union. I had 14 pieces out, and had sold (as of this morning) 8 of the 14, and I added 7 more freshly baked pots. Hopefully there will be more sales, but that's a good start! Here's Missus Pottersblog, and some of the green and blue pieces you see here are mine, but there are hundreds of pots by students, professionals and teachers for sale this week.

corkers!

(corkers, before cork and after cork by Gary Rith)
My old pal Newt out in Minnesota ordered a bunch of wine cork toppers, which needed to include both bunny and dachschund. Red wine is very good for your health, especially when the cork makes you giggle.

blue and white marbled flower pots

(unglazed blue and white marbled flower pots by Gary Rith)
You saw me making them yesterday, then they were once-fired to 2163 yesterday afternoon, now here they are!

ugh, weeds

(busy gardening gnome by somebody else, ordinary blue vase by Gary Rith)
So, yesterday after I got some teapots and wine corkers and bowls made I went out and got lawnmower gas and water filters and went down to the dungeon, I mean basement, replaced the water filters then changed the oil in the lawn mower--so pretty outside!--and then cut the grass--I love dandelions in the yard, bright yellow, but anyway, then I had to do THE BIG WEEDING around all the plants and gardens out there, and that's when you start to hate dandelions and all the other healthy weeds thriving in the garden and then at night I was totally beat and slept the sleep of the righteous although I dreamt I was architect to the stars, and was going to redesign the Guggenheim museum into somebody's house.

My Morning Jacket

Live in Austin. Most would agree: sounds good.

fuggedaboutit

(inspirational plaque by Gary Rith)
I don't know exactly why I make these inspirational plaques, 'be joyful' 'relax' 'be loving' or the more recent 'be grumpy' and now this, but it sure is fun!

water

Tink's photo challenge this week is water and one. I have the water part. I asked the missus to snap a shot of me throwing, where you use quite a bit of water. This particular pot is special, which is why my hands are blue. Lemme explain. The missus wants very large flower pots, unglazed, and I thought I would make them white marbled with blue streaks. So I got blue all over. The finished monsters are in the lower shot, and the tiny fired pot in front shows approximately what they will look like when fired. I just noticed that my shirt matches this whole thing nicely....

Are you gonna be my girl?

By Jet.

almost famous

WELL! I got a call this afternoon, something about the Ithaca Journal, their website, and a video interview of ME. I said come over, and prayed they were not axe murderers.
The newspaper is sponsoring college students to do a journalistic interview with a working artist. The final video cut will be put on the Ithaca Journel website in a couple of weeks. These two 20 year olds were amazing--lights, camera, interview, action, now back to edit. They were so capable and smart, they could have been already working TV newsmen.

Small potatoes, no fame, but a little bit of fun.

thanks pardner!

Got a little sumpin from W today, via the IRS. Thanks George! I'ma gonna go get me some peanut butter! Dangitall, wish we could vote for ya'll and Dick in November.

election 2008: VOTE TODAY

My old pal and neighbor Lis Garrett tells me I look like Peter Macnichol (top pic-I have no idea who that actor is), but in the past people have said I look like Tom Hanks, Michael Keaton ("I'm Batman"), or my favorite, Kevin Kline (compare his pic to mine in 97 with the 'stache!!!!!!!!!!). Lis (bottom pic) goes on to say people say she looks like Julia Roberts, which is true. A very small Julia Roberts!
OK, do I look like any of those guys up there?

Me: spreading the joy, banishing the grumps...

My old pal kcinnova writes to say this reminds her of me. And my mission in life.

Baby turns Three

(Penny on day one, April 28, 2007, with Mister and Missus Pottersblog)
So the story goes like this. I volunteered at the SPCA, and during my orientation, April 28 last year, the manager showed us this cute little 13 inch pure bred beagle living in her office (the count that day: 2 rottweilers, 13 pitbulls in the cages, one tiny and sweet little beagle in the office). Penny ran out to our group and kissed everybody, her little tail and bottom wagging all over. I already had 2 dogs at home, but I asked if I could bring Penny over and introduce her to my wife at work, and of course, my pleading eyes and Penny's pleading eyes won her over in a half second.
I took her home to meet our dogs, and in one second flat she was under our fence and jumped into the river to chase ducks. Thank God she hadn't gone up to the street, but I buried steel mesh all around the bottom of the fence, and she hasn't tried to escape again.
We named her Penny, partly because my mother had once had a beagle named Penny, partly because the shelter called her Aspen, partly because we had a beagle mix named Petey and partly because it was our black lab Jack's mother's name.
Penny is very special, one of those individuals who totally warm your heart. She is so lively and fun yet adorable and sweet, just what this old house had needed.
She had been found in last year's mid-April snow storm, evidently having just given birth to a litter of puppies. No puppies or owner was ever found, and she was sent to the SPCA to find a family. Our vet guessed she was two. So we celebrate her birthday on her anniversary with us.

Monday Monday....

(relief plaques by Gary Rith)
Hey, I'm in an ecstatic mood, actually. But anyway, just as Oscar the Grouch makes you laugh, listening to the advice of these guys can make you laugh.

worms!

Having enjoyed 2+ hot and dry weeks, all the trees and flowers are popping out very early this year. Finally last night was some rain (this is damp upper New York, not Arizona!) and it is foggy and brilliant green outside. It is early and there are thousands of robins hopping around eating worms. Yesterday, it will be noted about this famous black thumb, I did a little weeding around the yard, preparatory to a very big weeding session sometime this week.
Dreamt extensively that I was trying trying TRYING to get some coffee, and finally found a kiosk and ordered a double espresso and was waiting forever for it and....cr#p, I never got it, and just woke up and made my own.

sugar bowls, yes SUGAR BOWLS

(by Gary Rith)
These guys are shipping out to a gallery in New Hampshire today, along with some of their choice friends.

Big Audio Dynamite E=MC2 live

My favortie 80s dance tune LIVE!

for Ben and for Emily's god-daughter

(pots by Gary Rith)
So, me and my pal Ben Marlan are cooking up a joint project with (probably) the upper teaset. He will sculpt and paint some type of cabinet or special niche for it.
The lower teapot, with two cups goes to Emily's god-daughter in Jersey City. Turns out Emily and Courtney and the little girl went to American Girl for a teaparty. You sit in the tea room, ask for the company of one of the dolls on the wall, who joins you, then you have tea and cakes for real---apparently the little girl is now mad for tea and tea parties.

KILL BILL

Alright, we saw KILL BILL VOL 2 last night, which was longer than the first, and different (fewer ninja types, more snakes!), although it completes the story.
Was just discussing this with the missus:
me: you know, Daryl Hannah is so cute and sweet, this is quite a different role for her
missus: yeah, she was really evil
me: yeah, sadistic, she kicked a$$ with a smile
missus: she even giggled
me: of course, she was some sort of something in BLADE RUNNER

Tarantino has a way of combining horror, shlock, shock, junk martial arts movies and fun, yes fun, into this, I give it 10 big thumbs up out of ten.

a petite portion of pagan metal, or whatever

Heaven Shall Burn and their tune 'Endzeit'. Music that appeals to very few people. You have to say 'oh, extreme music for social activists, from Germany!'.

anarcho-punk pottery blog with piggies and PETS

(Spike, and Buster with Penny)

unloading the kiln and the treats inside

(pots in the kiln, coming out, by Gary Rith)
Superb firing. Christmas morning, birthday cake and the the Easter bunny all at once!

Rush

STRANGE BREW, of course, brings back memory of Geddy Lee and the band Rush, which was a pretty big deal in my high school days. Link to 'Tom Sawyer' live which sounds mighty good, then you realize Big Audio Dynamite did a rather awesome dance tune called 'Rush' and so did the Finnish metal band (goth? Scandanavian metal? Pagan metal? sure...) Poisonblack

anarcho-punk pottery and me

anarcho-punk from wiki: Anarcho-punk has been highlighted as one of the social phenomena which took anarchism in the direction of identity politics (or "lifestylism"). Some argue that style became an essential ingredient of the movement, sometimes obscuring other factors, although others would reply that the performers who aligned themselves with anarcho-punk in fact embraced a wide diversity of approaches in both format and ideas. This would appear to be borne out by the range of anarcho-punk artists and performers. As well, it is often argued that the fashion was simply representative of the ethics associated with anarchism, such as anti-corporate, do-it-yourself beliefs.

I have been in a wild mood lately. Well, maybe most of my life. Its nice there's a label I can put on it, and anarcho-punk sounds so serious, leavened with piggies it makes a person laugh.

anarcho-punk with piggies

Time to let my true colors shine.
Will they get it? Just a wee little joke...with a new purple background, yeow!

fuggedaboutit

(grumpy plaque by Gary Rith)
How do you spell 'fuggedaboutit'? 'Forgeddaboutit'? I was thinking that's what these guys will say.

noble sunshine

(pieces and finished mugs by Gary Rith)
It remains glorious, hot and sunny. Early yesterday I threw some racks of mugs, set them in the sun for a little bit, they dried halfway, finished them all by 4. I love it: clay to finished mugs in one afternoon.

STRANGE BREW

My wife was out for the evening which, as you know, is license to watch the dumbest movies possible. It's the CADDYSHACK principle. Ie: some movies guys find funny and their women are merely puzzled and repulsed, finding no merit in the choice.
So, last night I watched that Canadian Classic from my youth, STRANGE BREW with Bob and Doug Mackenzie. It is utterly terrible and ridiculous, earning 9 thumbs down, maybe 10 thumbs down, out of ten. I would be embarrassed if I was Canadian. Just the thing for a bachelor evening.

purple piggy mugs

(mugs by Gary Rith)
I dreamt I was at a critique of my work and I was quite excited. The items I had made were quite abstract and artsy fartsy, not something I would appreciate while awake! I am a whole different person at night.

beagles and such

(mugs by Gary Rith)
Extra busy morning with glazing a bunch and starting the kiln. Is it OK to have lunch at 8:30 in the morning? Question asked and answered: that chili looked good. (the life of the work at home guy, yeow!)
Remains unusually hot out there. The weeds all around the yard are doing very well, and I am thinking that if work goes well today, I will do my yearly weed job.

she's mighty good at this: on to Indiana and NC

I am so pleased to have a primary season that matters, as long as they keep things about the issues and the nastiness waits for the republicans. I hope young people are paying attention, because I don't think we're in good shape, and we gotta tell the people in the capital and White House we're sick of flushing our economy down the Iraqi toilet.

busy fiddling around

(teapots by Gary Rith)
So I asked myself 'what if I threw a circular hoop but it was a hollow tube and I chopped off a bit to make a spout?'. I did it once, then again! The teapot on the right is all circles, which is a pleasing theme, visually, but the elephant teapot is the result of a little of this and that. After ths picture I chopped off part of the spout, it looks better.

Catemenia:

Scandanavian metal, maybe Finnish? Expanding our horizons!

when Greg and Suzette visited from Ontario....

(Gary Rith's hands finishing a vase on the wheel, Greg Hounsell of Kingston, Ontario with a table he made for us from scratch)
Greg visited a week ago, and blogged pics of the trip. Can you believe this dude made us this table and took pottery in trade???

pair of bowlies

(purple and baby blue bowls by Gary Rith)

windy, five, and Tink's photo challenge

(photo of Mr Pottersblog and Jack by Missus Pottersblog)
Sunday was wicked windy, and I got out my shark kite. Nice!
Tink's photo challenge this week is windy and five. I've had too much fives, thanks to the Montreal Canadiens.....(see below)

windy!

(pots by Gary Rith, and laundry!)
It has been so hot and dry for over a week, I'm amazed. People in Florida, Texas, Arizona may not be surprised, but 80s in upper New York in April? For the rest of the month? Definately the hottest April on record.
It is sometimes fun, as a potter, to throw something on the wheel and also finish it that day. (here you see teapot parts and then the wild finished teapot, then some bowls, plus the laundry!) Usually you throw it today, and trim it tomorrow, but if I set the fresh items on the back deck, wash the dishes, clean the litter box, check email, voila!
The wind and sun this week has been drying tings outsde so fast I can finish them the same afternoon.