role they offer in his life…a space for musing, reflection and exploration…a way to rediscover the person he was at a given point in time, now past.
Meg shares how to mix paste paint and prepare our paper by dipping it in the vats of water, so that the paint will glide smoothly over the surface. One of her first gestures is to immerse her fingers directly into the mound of glistening paint. She does this as though she were caressing her favorite pet or a slurry of gold. There is a sense of pleasure and gentle glee as if the materials were alive and expected to be nurtured.
Paulus also demonstrates a variety of tools and techniques that create the illusion of wood-grain or reticulated patterns that evoke textiles or baskets. Soon we are all selecting papers and paints and working on our own pieces. (View Image) With paste paper, we are learning to not belabor the point. The idea is to work quickly but not breathlessly. By brunch we've already filled one drying rack with juicy papers and the second rack fills even faster after we've eaten and walked.
By 3 pm, we've already accomplished so much but it's time to head for the clay studio where we meet Matt Pogatshnik and John Britt. They talk to us about glazing and show us the wood kiln. The kiln follows the incline of the hill but is divided into three specific chambers for wares and a fire box at the front. There are also stoke holes in each chamber that we learn we will feed as the kiln climbs in temperature working from the lowest end of the hill to the highest. In the glaze room we review a log from a recent firing, which breaks down the rate of temperature climb and corresponding notes detailing the amount of wood added at what location and time. (View Image)
We learn to keep glaze off the bottom surface of our pots and where lids meet lips and flanges. Wadding is brought out: soft white putty made of flint and kaolin, small balls of which we will glue onto the bottoms of our pots to keep glazes formed by fly ash deposits within the kiln from fusing our posts to the shelves. We head to dinner exhausted but excited. Afterwards we return to the studio to finish glazing. (View Image)