Category Archives: Hungary 2010-2013

Problems with ankles

Polar Bear and Seals
Weak ankles,
kept the heads
more weak ankles
and more
trash pile
More snow too
A pretty walk
Few people out as snow was blowing into the face.
started to clea a few days later
A fav building near by

I have been trying to incorporate the bodies and architectural backgrounds, and have longed to use the hands up babies as caryatids. Here is a goup holding up a friieze, but obviously there is too much weight, and is so top heavy that it snaps off the babies at the ankles. Making it upside down still presents difficulties…so I took pics as the babies holding up the frieze was still standing, and then had to tear it down. It seems irresistible to add a few Canadian animals to the Euro-mix. Now I will try and place the babies inside the walls, and throwing in some modern architecture too….These are time consuming to construct, and I am not sure whether they are worth the trouble in terms of conveying what I want

We had more snow, a blow-in-the-face snowfall, but makes for great pics. Its snowed for 2 and a half days, and took another day or 2 to clear off.

Week 2, getting settled, making a palette

It is now Good Friday, and I am in my 3^rd week. Mary has just arrived in London for 10 days before coming here.

I have been working 10-12 hours a day before heading off to dins, most nights, with David Vladimir Wolf, from Israel, and Kahlil Irving, from Kansas City Art Institute, both exchange students.

It took 12 full days to break down the clays to make slips, add colourants, and make the tests. I used both Herend, high-fire, and the white Creaton, mid-fire, as bases. I used about 10 small babies as tests, and a couple of mid-size babies. I also made tiles with the tests. [Klara found some of my old tests on the red Creaton, from 2010, that I had left behind. I will also leave these behind for anyone who prefers slips to glaze.] During those 12 days I also made about 13 moulds, 25 casts, and a couple of pieces from the casts. But I would note to myself, that 12-14 days are still needed to establish the beginnings of a palette…and they are only in a bisque kiln now, not gas fired yet. So everything I do for the next week is done on faith that my mixtures will fit and the colours will be acceptable.

Last night, despite being exhausted form making countless grant applications this month, Emese took David, Kahlil and I to a concert at the Helyszin Reformatus Ujkollegium , the handsome Calvinist School, on the Square, where her son attended. The Turkish ambassador had arranged a concert with, Sefika Kutluer, and Varallyay Agnes, a Turkish flutist and an Hungarian pianist, both wonderful players. The hall was packed, with dignitaries and music lovers alike. Ms Kutluer’s flute has a round rich tone, and we parituclarily liked the Turkish piece by Ekrem Zeki Un. Cultural events in Kecskemet are so well attended, and with people who are involved and interested.

This weekend, I am alone in this building, which is novel, and rather nice, and David and Kahlil have the student building to themselves, as everyone has gone home for the Easter long weekend. I look forward to a lot of bells on Easter Sunday

Ist week, March 2013

It has been like a home-coming, with easy flights, and Steve waiting at the Budapest airport. The drive was long enough to get caught up on some ICS news, and suddenly back in the courtyards and saying hello to old friends. I was given the same studio, with a space for Mary when she arrives in a month. It seems remarkable to be back and how familiar it feels.

There was huge hustle and bustle that afternoon, as Roswitha Geyer was preparing food for Imre Schrammel’s opening that night – to mark his 80th birthday. It was unexpected to see them both here. A huge crowd arrived by 6 pm to the Museion Gallery. After seeing the exhibition I went off to Kisbugaci Etterem for goulash and beer.

Next day started right away with mould making – brought 4 babies with me, and then will make moulds of ‘city’ components – sidewalks, walls, trees etc

Snow started on Thursday night, and we were nicely snowed in for the Hungarian Holiday of the Uprising on March 15th [1848]. All celebrations were cancelled. I had to do a second set of moulds but have been casting away. I look froward to compiling the mould images this next week.

Preamble to Departure – March 2013

One week to departure on March 11, hard to believe I’ll be back at the ICS. I am part of an exhibition with Darcy Grenier and Jinny Whitehead, curated by Linda Lewis, opening March 9th, at the Deer Lake Gallery, of the Burnaby Arts Council.

Linda Lewis with Jinny Whitehead, Mary Daniel and Denise Jeffery

The Last Week

The ICS will be holding its third International Triennial of the Silicate Arts in August 2011. The deadline for applications is March 31st, 2011...go to www.icshu.org to find out more.

I have just written an article on the ICS and it is being published in the October 2010 edition #31 of Technical Magazine [Ceramic, Arts and Perception]. The article describes the facility, the history of the ICS, and the city of Kecskemet. Note; In the article the DEADLINE for the Triennial is incorrect, it has been changed to March 31, 2011.

In March 2011 Elaine O. Henry will also be writing and publishing an extensive article on the ICS Collection in Technical Magazine. Check out www.ceramicsart.com.au

It is time to close this blog. Heartfelt thanks go to Mary Daniel, [see her blog www.marydaniel.ca/blog ] . She enriched my experience through her wonderful companionship and many discussions about ceramics. We look forward to returning.

For contacts and names of other residents go the the previous page, “Some of the people and events at the ICS.”

Betul and Margaret wave goodby - a few tears. We dragged our suitcases to the railway station...mine lost its damm wheels...so drag is the operative term.
My calender is all filled up....no choice.....time to go.
Packing up. We were not ready to go!
My dog from the 2008 Triennial Exhibition, lounging in the cellars. Next Triennial...August 2011!!
Fabulous dog by Susan Halls, guarding the door. Bibo and Jona spend a lot of time down here.
Heading down into the cellars where the ICS Collection is housed. The cellars are deep and very cool...great in the summer and hard sledging in the winter.
Everyone came to our show, and we were pleased that even though they had seen this work in process they spent time to look at everything in a 'gallery' setting.
Last visit to the Loft Gallery
My part of the studio, with food and wine for the opening.
Mary's room all lit up and ready for the Show.
Our rooms were all cleaned up. We have put together an exhibition for everyone at the ICS - The Trunk Show.
Terry Yip [Tbones] arrived for my last week. We are at train station heading to Kecskemet. I am pleased he has come and shall be glad of his camera-eye.

Thanks to Mia for helping with this blog. Kits Media

Some of the people and events at the ICS

Imre and Rothwita did a final raku firing after their salt kiln.
The Queen of soups. A few days after our Goulash party/feast, Gamze, Tamar, and Izzet, the foreign students, all left for their homes.
Our last evening, a pot luck supper, finnishing with the terra-misou from Cezar's. Mary,Terry, and I were joined by Roswitha Geyer, Imre Schrammel, Margaret, Batul, and Kazu.
Mary and Jona Gudvardardottir chatting.
Gamze and Balazc In the daisies, looking at Batul's porcelain balls of yarn.
The Lesc, a special outdoor soup made by the students of Sopron University...delicious !
Margaret using her new cast fish for this last piece.
Roswitha, Mary and Margaret admiring Batul's metallic porcelain, from her smoke drenched raku firing.
Kazu had a routine of pouring dozens of cubes a day, working towards a large installation at the Budapest Muesion Gallery in July.
Our third dinner, and Kazu gave his presentation.
Margaret's beautifully organized technique for feeding many people.

Our time at the ICS is drawing to a close and Mary and I are very grateful for being able to study and work at this remarkable facility. As wonderful as the facility is , it is the people who make it really work. The exemplary Staff have done everything they can to assist us with our work, and we have become good friends. the same is true of our fellow artists. we all shared information and experiences, and assisted each other when ever possible and will remain in contact.

Betul Aytepe has just moved to Cappodokia to teach at the new Ceramics Department at the University. She seems to love it and I saw on her facebook that she has just won an award.

Margaret Kenway Haydon is the Head of the Ceramics Department at the Wyoming University, and hopes to travel to Russia to continue her studies on her beloved, but endangered sturgen fish

Kazu Kukita has started a ceramic residency in Denmark, and will continue to search for a perfect place to build a studio.

Ed Bentley of Cumbria UK, continues to run his successful mould design business, see www.bentleystoll.com.

Contacts for the Danish recycling artists can be found on the “Danish Invasion” page.

‘Reminder to check out Mary’s blog at www.marydaniel.ca/blog.

Technologies learned at the ICS

Kazu's Cubes - a day's work, drying. These were initially planned to be an installation.
After building a structure of his cast cubes, and while they were still damp and soft, Kazu opened up the shape with his arm. A wonderful demonstration of how a piece constructed of rigid and predictable forms can be altered to an organic and dynamic affect.
Balazc and instructor from the Sobron University experimented with hot glass being pushed into a press mould. There were other glass kilns that were used for slumping.
An example of the deep raku oil reduction - ICS style... deeply reduced porcelain from Betul's raku kiln.
Example of Mary's screens on her cast boxes, or pillows, as she calls them.
The giant stone table was a great asset.
Metka wanted to make a tea tray. The metal shape reflects the side profile of the tray and had to be grafted, traced, cut, and then fixed in place by making a plaster handle.
Steve showed us a screen within a screen method for making a flat and tight surface for the photosensitive emulsion.
This is the first part of the mould made for casting Mary's square bowls. There is a base piece as well, and the casting slip will be poured through the smaller opening.
I wanted to learn how to use the architectural images to make decals to transfer after bisque.
It became apparent that many of the processes of plaster mould design and making, were still done by hand. Success depends on excellent hand skills and a good eye. Ed is carving a foot ring on a form. This carving must be done while the plaster is still malleable.
When too much plaster is made, it is usually thrown out...I made shapes with it, to see how much playing around can be done in a short time!
Ed Bentley is a plaster designer, www.bentleystoll.com from the UK. Here he is demonstrating sledging. He is altering the shape of the wet plaster with an edged shape-making tool that he designed and made for this shape.
Ed is demonstrating how to separate 2 sides of a mould, while it is still soft, using a string instead of shims.
How to graft square bowls. This diagram also helps design the shape-making tool that forms the side profile.
Mary's porcelain stackable cast bowls on the left, the fired result of a non circular shape mould - first grafting, making a shaping tool, sledging, then casting.
All the images I am using are from architectural photos I took in Canada - Vancouver and Halifax, Hungary, and Germany. The screen material is soft, and I can wrap it around the shape of a piece, and still get a fairly sharp image.
A clutch of shape makers made by the members of the class for their individual moulds.

The Baby Metaphor – main bodies of work.

The narrative reflects some discontent regarding dog behaviour in my absence.
A larger version of the original baby, balanced to stand, which it does very well. In this picture it is still green with layers of terra sigalattas. It was fired in the gas kiln and came out brown, like a 'brown' pot.
This piece was fired in a gas kiln, again with a combination of terra sigalattas. There was little flux, and less interaction with the firing. Janos Probstner and Imre Shrammel selected this piece for the ICS Collection, as well. Janos said he liked my crazy dogs, and that this one was magic. A good moment!
Press-molds, embellished with decals, and wire inserted into hundreds of holes for little his and her wigs. These were selected by Janos Probstner for the ICS Collection!
Here is a small group of press molded and embellished babies, still green.
The Big Pink Baby became The Golden Boy - one of those surprises. During the wood/salt firing it was showered with much ash and not overly reduced, so the sigalattas shone through. I had thought they would be paler. Though the result is a beautiful surface - intent overcome by the fring? - lucky or unlucky ?
The baby was pivotal for my residency. This is the first mold, that Klari helped me to make. I made 3 more, one for press molds, and 2 more for casting.
I slipped this little piece, made in 2009, into my pocket - just before heading out to the airport....strange how these things transpire.
The babies from the press molds had a different affect than the cast babies. They became individual pieces as opposed to being an image for a metaphor, as the cast babies became.
These are very thin porcelain casts of the baby - absolutely translucent. Must find a way to set them up against the light.
In this photograph the value of the baby, as object, has changed. It is now an image, and belongs to the 2 dimensional realm. Now the image could be used for a silkscreen or as a decal to be placed on an object
This was my first large piece made at the ICS , and because of the small original baby, I decided to make a large baby instead of a female form. After this I concentrated on the baby as the foundation image for the residency. This picture ws taken while the piece was still green with layers of terra sigalattas drying on its surface.
These too, transformed in the wood-fired salt firing. It was neat to see that the pink stain that I had added to a white terra sigalatta, survived the heat and reduction.
Another attempt to incorporate baby and dog image. The intention is to have a seamless flow between the two . This photos was taken within the first 2 or 3 days of starting the piece. It is still soft and being worked on.
I made five large pieces - one of a kinds - quite separate from the molds and multiples. Working large is another way to become aquainted with the clay ad its properties. There is also the sheer pleasure of making a freestanding, single-minded piece. The surface has terra sigalattas from the Creaton clays used at the iCS, with a reversal of white in the creases, gas fired. This piece was chosen by Imre Schrammel and Janos Probstner for the ICS Collection.
This was where I was headed, and I simply ran out of time. This is an image of one arrangement where different casts and back-drops with architectural featuires - silk-screened or as decals, were put together in a scene or a narrative. The ICS provided the facilities to learn about mold making, silk-screening, and decal making. I want to use these processes to integrate figurative and architectural elements. This was the idea behind the Grant that I received from the BC Arts Council.
Ideas were pouring in at the end, about ways to use the different molds I was making, and also incorporating the idea of architecture.

The Salt firing

Just before heading for the plane, I put this little piece, made in 2009, in my pocket. This simplified baby became the fulcrum for the residency and I will continue to work with it when I return to Vancouver.
The Big Pink Baby, became The Golden Boy, the terra sigalattas transformed in the wood-fired Salt firing. Surprise!!!
My last big piece made at the ICS. Terra sigalattas on the surface. I think she is at her best unfired. This time the result was quite dry. I hope to be able to do more surface work on her when i get back to my home studio.
Shortly before the end of the residency. A vignette by my window, showing the different scales of the cast forms and the handbuilt.
Another baby and dog combo. Still green.
the slip cast babies are beginning to pile up.....they seem to work well as multiples.
Yet another howler...looking a bit like a dinosaur.
Preparing for the salt kiln, the slip and sig area get chaotic.
The howers are finished, with a combination of slips an terra Sigalattas, and ready for the Salt Kiln.
Work continues , and time marches on. we cannot believe how quickly each day, each week, passes.
The kiln could have gone hotter and the results is that the ash remains unburned inside some of the pots...Mary lost a few.
Because my figures were standing, and were at the top of the kiln, the ash melted beautifully on the terra siggalattas
but she also got a few spectacualr results, showing her deft hand with colour and line.
added lots of wood.....but we found out later, it is a matter of timing with allowing the wood to produce the heat by burning thoroughly, rather than just pileing on.
The students from Sopron fire through the night till 6am, for us. they were supposed to get the temp up to 1000c by 6am when Jakab arrived to check...they tried...
Margaret is in with the fish, to her relief!
First salt at 1200c....about 10k was used over the last 3 hours of the firing.
and then considers her options....more wood...now or more wood later....
The big smoke

Kilns, Kilns, and more kilns, and hot spots

Baby and me....the shelves didn't topple...
The salt kiln is like a huge salt pot
Opening the next day
Our first gas kiln at the ICS, my first since 1982