Pottery, Pho, and Sushi

Today has been one of those types of days - - - nearly perfect contentment all day. When I woke up, the rain was falling and it was nothing short of miserable outside. My family had to set sail back to West Palm so after an early goodbye (well, I consider noon early...) I headed over to Alexander Hall, the building that houses SCAD's painting, ceramics, and print making departments. My mission: create forms for a Raku session I will probably be attending this coming week.

This quarter I am taking the intro to wheel throwing class, which has turned out to be one of the most fun classes I have taken through all four years at SCAD. Out first project was four or five weeks of making mugs (twelve in total at the end, I have fourteen). This meant we had to learn how to throw basic cylinders, which turns out is a whole heck of a lot harder than it looks. To answer everyones question, YES I HAVE SEEN GHOST, or at least the art in the beginning with the wheel throwing shenanigans (this is especially directed at the Tam, one of my best friends). After we throw the cylinders, we have to let them dry until they are "leather hard," at which point we trim them and make them look at least a little bit prettier. Then we carve, add handles, glaze, and bisque fire the mugs. Afterwards, we add over glazing and fire them again. They should be out of the kiln and completely done by tomorrow, and I can't wait to show everyone what I did. They aren't amazing, but I think they're a great start.

Our second project we to throw eight bowls. After cylinders, this was a piece of cake. Thanks goodness, because I only had about three days to complete them! I attended the music festival called Wanee Festival with my dad and some friends, and upon returning and noting the due date of the bowls I became a little frantic. I threw them within a few hours and had them trimmed, and all but one got into the kiln on time.

Today I spent four hours in the studio making forms for the Raku session. I had never heard of Raku until recently, and now I just cannot wait to fire these forms! I made some simple vase-like structures rather than any food/drink vessels because the Raku firing process yields pottery which is not food-safe. For those of you who don't know, Raku is a very old Japanese pottery technique involving a whole lot of fun. Special clay is used to create the forms which are bisque-fired as normal during the first step of the process. Afterwards, a special kiln is used to heat up the ceramics pieces to red hot temperatures. The pieces are then taken out using tongs and put into a garbage can full of combustible materials, like sawdust and newspapers, and the lid is closed. Everything then catches fire, and the glazes become cracked and metallic and just awesome in general. If you google "Raku pottery" and search images, you will find plenty of examples. I can't wait to participate in this!

As soon as I can afford it I would love to have my own kiln and potter's wheel. Pottery has turned out to be so much more fun than I ever thought it would be. Growing up, I always tried to be a 2D artist, but I think it turns out my strength really lies in 3D projects. I prefer to do design projects in Revit, where I can see a 3D model of my space at any time; I work better building study models than countless sketches; pottery is more fun than painting to me. In fact, I think I will head over to the studio again tonight to throw some things just for fun. I want to be able to throw larger vases (about 12 inches) by the end of the quarter. I even think it would be great if I could get a pottery job in Crested Butte this winter. Who knows!

Now, let's not forget the food. Pottery is great and wonderful and I love it, but I love food just as much. As if my day wasn't already going great today finally throwing a few forms that I actually like, I was able to find somebody to get Sushi with! I had been meaning to try out Ta Ca, a restaurant here in Savannah, for a few weeks, but it can be hard to find people who both have money for restaurants and do not have too much school work to go out! My good friend Brittany and I ventured over to Ta Ca today and had some super yummy sushi and pho. Had I known they served pho, I would have been there sooner. The food was SO GOOD, and i recommend everyone try it out (if you are in Savannah)!


Now as I write this it is 7:30, the sun is setting, and I am enjoying the warm breeze from my balcony. Life is good. Very, very good. Hope you all have had as wonderful of a day as I have, and thanks again for reading!

-Hill Dawg