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*Registration
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Dear Friends of Good Dirt, Summer is upon us at the
studio. The kids have arrived for summer camps in the mornings.
This first week has been fantastic, with two great groups of kids and some
awesome clay projects. Summer adult classes are just around the corner
and the schedule is now posted. I’m really looking forward
to teaching the teapot class on Tuesday evenings and working with beginners
on Thursdays. Carter Gillies will be doing an intermediate wheel class focusing
on the bottoms of pots (trimming, applied feet, etc.) on Monday night and a
beginning wheel class on Wednesday night. Shelia Bradley who regularly
teaches the Friday night Try Clay class will be sharing her techniques for
forming pots and her magic for decoration in a Sunday evening beginner
class. Last but not least is a sculpture and special projects class
with Caryn van Wagtendonk for both new students interested in working
sculpturally or figuratively and also for her ‘regulars’ who need
help finishing up projects from previous courses.
Next Wednesday will mark the
opening of a new gallery exhibit on wood-fired pottery with work recently
pulled from my new train kiln fired earlier this week. The firing
lasted 56 long, hot hours, and I am at present on pins and needles in
anticipation of the kiln opening this Sunday, June 1. We’ll be
getting together Sunday afternoon to unload pots, scrape shelves, etc. and
then to socialize over a pot-luck supper on the deck. If you’d
like to attend, please give me a call at 706-355-3161 or 404-697-1491.
Unloading will be rain-or-shine, but supper on the deck will require that the
thunderstorms hold off until later. I plan to display pots in the
gallery that represent the glorious surfaces wood-firing has to offer
alongside some of the more spectacular accidents and mishaps this
unpredictable firing process often produces. You can expect the show to
be up by Wednesday, June 4, so if you can’t make the kiln opening on
Sunday, you can still catch the highlights and have an opportunity to
purchase some of the new work.
If you are interested in signing
your kids up for summer camps, especially in the 4-6 yr. old age group, I
encourage you to get your registration forms in as soon as possible.
Feel free to call me and check on availability, or just send in the form and
I will call you for an alternate selection if your week is already
full. If you want to sign up for a week that uses the potter’s
wheel, you should send in that registration immediately because the number of
spaces in those camps is more limited. Thanks for your understanding.
All in all, it promises to be a
busy and exciting summer with some great classes for beginners and more
advanced students alike. We’ll continue to get new things in the
gallery and hope to provide inspiration for all those summer wedding gifts,
Father’s Day mugs, etc. I look forward to seeing you and your
kids this summer as we keep the creative clay juices flowing. Sincerely Yours, We rebuilt the arch on the gas kiln,
added more insulation, and reconfigured the bagwalls
two firings ago. So far, we’re seeing some great energy
savings. The firing time has been cut from 12+ hours to around 8
hours. The results so far are encouraging and we’re reducing our
output of greenhouse gases. It’s a modest improvement, but
significant nonetheless. Finally,
I’d like to report on our successful trip to Ecuador last month.
Kim, Rowan and I visited the village of Yunguilla
high up in the Andes Mountains to help a women’s craft group expand
their activities into pottery making. We modified an existing adobe
oven into a functional earthenware kiln and successfully test-fired it with
wood. I taught lessons on the potter’s wheel, which consisted of
a car axle, complete with tire, turned on its side and attached to a small
wheel-head. While a challenge, it was comforting to know how little
technology is actually needed to produce pottery. Kim taught some handbuilding techniques, and Rowan helped out as only he
can. One of the women became fairly proficient at making flower pots in
a very short time. Their goal is to produce unique pots in which they
will plant bromeliads and orchids that they propagate to help raise funds for
the community. We learned a lot and had the amazing experience of
living with a family in the village, enjoying their cuisine, and experiencing
the amazing scenery and wildlife of the Andes at around 10,000 ft. elevation. We also
visited the main lodge on the Maquipucuna Cloudforest Reserve and constructed a pizza oven form out
of split native bamboo. I hope to return next year to build a cob oven
over this form once they relocate their kitchen facility. I would
highly recommend this lodge to anyone interested in birding. There are
over 300 species in the area and they have an extensive network of trails to
access a variety of habitats for observing them. Best of all, the
naturalists and reserve managers are gracious and welcoming hosts, the
accommodations are ecologically appropriate and comfortable, and the scenery
is spectacular. Give me a call or check out http://maqui.myweb.uga.edu/ to find
out more. Many thanks to the Maquipucuna
Foundation for working out the logistics of our visit. I look forward to
continued collaborations between Good Dirt and both the women’s craft
group in Yunguilla and the Maquipucuna
Foundation’s efforts in conservation and sustainable development. Sincerely
Yours, Rob
Sutherland |
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The
Gallery @ Good Dirt showcases functional and sculptural work by studio potters
from Georgia and beyond in an elegant, natural setting. Collectors will find an exciting range of
styles, colors, and firing techniques on display throughout the year. The Gallery embraces the diversity and
extraordinary quality of work from this region and is dedicated to educating
the public about the processes involved in its creation. Because the Gallery represents unique works
of functional art, our inventory is constantly changing as pieces find new
homes and new kiln-loads of pots arrive.
Be sure to stop in often to witness the impressive creative output of
the potters represented by the Gallery @ Good Dirt. |
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GOOD DIRT hosts birthday
parties, sorority/fraternity functions |
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