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Friday, March 20, 2009

Michael Cardew pottery


Here's a cute little bowl that I got from the Michael Cardew pottery years ago. I always loved his work and it was a joy to visit the pottery and meet him. It was soon after Leach and Hamada had passed away - two of my other early, pottery heros, and I was determined to meet Cardew while he was still on this earth!

He was picking some lettuce in the garden when I arrived and I commented on his nice, big garden and he said he couldn't make it bigger because there would be no time to make pots. He loved the fact that I bought pots on their own merit without turning them over to see if they had his signature. There weren't many pots in his little shop but there was a new show of his work in town and we headed there after our visit.

The plan for yesterday went a bit awry when two elderberry bushes arrived in the mail. Fortunately I was feeling a bit better and it was warm, so I loaded up on vitamins and headed for the wood shed, retrieved my shovel, mixed up peat moss,mushroom compost and planting mix and headed down the hill to dig two holes. That area of our property is high clay but the only place I have left that is sunny enough for them. Elderberries need good drainage so I dug deep holes.

The bushes are soaking now, as recommended and I'll plant them this afternoon when it's warmer.
It was 28 degrees when I walked the dogs at 6:30. Fortunately we brought the more tender seedlings in the mudroom for the night. I covered my planter full of lettuce seedlings with one of my jackets; but it too, seemed to have survived the cold. We'll bring that in tonight!

Yesterday wound up being pretty productive. I did a lot of work on my sketchbook and did a lot of glaze notation and have two piles (cone 6 and cone 10) of glaze recipes I want to test and worked on the computer while watching some of the college basketball (Jim is a big fan), and then meditation before bedtime.

This morning I'll head to the studio after breakfast. I have to water the plants in there, and do a lot of tidying. It's colder today than yesterday with an expected high in the mid fifties, but not till 3 o'clock, so I'll probably wait until well after lunch time to plant those elderberries.

Till later,
June

5 comments:

  1. This pot is really a great one. I love all of it's parts. I might have to visit it (as well as all of those beautiful Oribe pieces you have). There is only so much information one can glean from a picture. I so appreciate you posting these pots from your collection!

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  2. I also have two wonderful teapots from the pottery; but I've had trouble photographing the darker one and reducing the glare from the gloss glaze. It's has what looks like what may be an under reduced persimmon glaze over an incised fish design - really lovely.
    Come over anytime. I'll have wine waiting.

    Some of the pictures I've posted in the past, just don't do some of the pots justice. I also have a couple of pots that are probably too big to fit in my ez cube - a beautiful, large, salt glazed pot from New Zealand, and a gorgeous, ash glazed jar by Tom Clarkson. Actually, that one may fit in the cube. I'll have to check it out. I'm at the point of having to take more pictures of the remaining pots in the collection.

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  3. What was the hardest piece you ever worked on and ask jim What team is he going for and is he doing the bracket?

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  4. No, he doesn't pick that much. He has his 5 or 6 favorites that he likes to do well. He's always liked UCLA, but doesn't think they're good enough at the moment, so he's rooting for North Carolina and maybe Duke.
    I'm glad he knows what a bracket is. I had no idea! LOL
    Hardest piece I ever worked on - I really can't say. Some pieces with more components take more time, but not difficult - just time consuming.

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  5. my sister's friend made a certain sculpture and it was given to my mom and she gave it to me. I'll try to post it on my blog tomorrow night after work if this UTA reserves weekend don't kill me first. LOL

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