Two plus years after returning to Gainesville’s Duckpond neighborhood, pots are finally emerging from my new home studio.
The studio was work-ready as far back as August of last year, but for reasons I didn’t understand, I couldn’t get myself on the wheel. Initially, I blamed it on the space’s lack of windows, beyond the new mini-blind French doors. Eventually, I realized it was all about not wanting to christen the new studio with old forms.
Looking for inspiration, I spent a few weeks perusing some old books, including several of the the 500 pots series, and Kevin Hluch’s The Art of Contemporary Ameircan Pottery, which I still think is the best multi-form, well-illustrated pottery book around. But, no spark.
Then, somewhat magically, at Thanksgiving dinner at a good friend’s house, I spotted a very old pot of mine that I had gifted him some two decades earlier. It represented a lazy, almost comical attempt on my part to reproduce a faceted jar that I had seen demoed in a workshop, in the very early 2000s. Ding!!!!! I was on my wheel the next day, with clay on the wheel and a modified wire cheese slicer in hand. After a ton of failed attempts, some keepers finally emerged.
I’m still struggling with the lids for these jars, which I want to echo the rhythms of the bodies, and I still haven’t solved how to get excess clay out of the bases of similarly faceted mugs. But, those are fun challenges that didn’t prevent me from having a satisfying number of both faceted jars and mugs in a bisque fire last week, the first in my Gainesville studio, and the first anywhere in 3 years.
These pots, and more, are destined for a couple of glaze fires in the Dinkelmeyer family gas kiln in Alexandria, VA this summer.
All told, it’s satisfying having this facet of my Gainesville life now percolating nicely.
First pots emerging from new Gainesville studio
/in In the Studio/by johnsnyderThe studio was work-ready as far back as August of last year, but for reasons I didn’t understand, I couldn’t get myself on the wheel. Initially, I blamed it on the space’s lack of windows, beyond the new mini-blind French doors. Eventually, I realized it was all about not wanting to christen the new studio with old forms.
Looking for inspiration, I spent a few weeks perusing some old books, including several of the the 500 pots series, and Kevin Hluch’s The Art of Contemporary Ameircan Pottery, which I still think is the best multi-form, well-illustrated pottery book around. But, no spark.
Then, somewhat magically, at Thanksgiving dinner at a good friend’s house, I spotted a very old pot of mine that I had gifted him some two decades earlier. It represented a lazy, almost comical attempt on my part to reproduce a faceted jar that I had seen demoed in a workshop, in the very early 2000s. Ding!!!!! I was on my wheel the next day, with clay on the wheel and a modified wire cheese slicer in hand. After a ton of failed attempts, some keepers finally emerged.
I’m still struggling with the lids for these jars, which I want to echo the rhythms of the bodies, and I still haven’t solved how to get excess clay out of the bases of similarly faceted mugs. But, those are fun challenges that didn’t prevent me from having a satisfying number of both faceted jars and mugs in a bisque fire last week, the first in my Gainesville studio, and the first anywhere in 3 years.
These pots, and more, are destined for a couple of glaze fires in the Dinkelmeyer family gas kiln in Alexandria, VA this summer.
All told, it’s satisfying having this facet of my Gainesville life now percolating nicely.
2022 Holiday Pottery Sale
/in Sales/by johnsnyderI’ll be selling my pottery on Saturday and Sunday, December 3-4, at my home, 560 NE 7th Av. Sale hours will be 10-4 on Saturday and 1-4 on Sunday.
The sale will include two mug styles, the likes of which you may have encountered at Vine Bakery. I’ll also have grain/soup bowls, serving bowls, and cap lid jars, each in various glaze schemes.
After to a two-year pottery hiatus — due to the two years it took to get a studio in shape after my move back to Gainesville — my offerings won’t be as robust as I’d like, both in terms of quantity or (my) A+ quality. But, hopefully, you’ll find something you like, something someone else might like, or just familiarize yourself with my work, for future reference.
I’ll be able to accept cash, checks, Venmo or credit card (Square with 1.25% fee).
I hope to see you here.
John
PS – If you got here via the Duckpond Neighborhood Newsletter ad, thanks for getting your magnifying glass out to read the web address!
Covered jar in national Shino show
/in Exhibitions/by johnsnyderA tall covered jar of mine is currently on display in a show called Inspired by Malcolm: A Passion for Shino, at the Sandy Spring Museum, 15 miles north of Washington, DC. The exhibition is dedicated to the Japanese glaze Shino in general, a specific type of Shino glazing and firing technique, and the potter who discovered it.
The exhibition honors the memory of Malcolm Davis, a Washington, DC-based minister-turned-potter who developed and perfected a type of Shino glaze (and glaze firing) called carbon-trap Shino. It’s known for dramatic interplays between cream, orange/red and black colors on mainly porcelain ware, with the black color produced when carbon is “trapped” in certain areas of the glaze.
My entry in the show, glazed with Gold Shino, was thrown and fired during a month-long workshop at Alfred University, in Alfred, New York, in 2015. Given that the workshop presented me with new surroundings, new wheel, new clay, a new glaze, and gas kilns fired in rushed circumstances by graduate assistants, I felt really good about getting this pot out of the workshop. Thanks to Sandy Spring Museum, and show curator Matt Hylek, for including my pot in the show.
The exhibition is scheduled to run until September 5, 2021.
Rescheduled Mugs for a (Senate) Majority/Turn Georgia Red Clay Blue Fundraiser
/in Fundraiser/by johnsnyderI will have my mugs available at my house — 560 NE 7th Av — by appointment, between now and next Saturday, at which point I will make my remaining mugs available at an Art Alley event, described below.
For more information, contact:
Sara Truman (Studio TM Ceramics), @ sbtruman@gmail.com
Allison LeBaron (Art Alley Studio) @ ArtAlley717@gmail.com
Sara Truman, Studio TM Ceramics
Sara Truman, Studio TM Ceramics
Allison LeBaron, Art Alley Studio
Allison LeBaron, Art Alley Studio
John Snyder
John Snyder
First Seylou bowls delivered
/in miscellaneous/by johnsnyderAfter about a year of work, on an off, working on form and glaze, I finally delivered 8 grain bowls and 16 soup bowls to Seylou & Mill, in DC’s Shaw neighborhood.
I approached Seylou co-owner Jessica Azeez about 11 months ago, to see if she were interested in engaging in the kind of relationship I have with Gainesville, Fl’s Vine Sourdough Bakery: I supply Vine co-owner Teresa Zokovitch with mugs for customer use in their cafe, and Teresa allows me to periodically sell my mugs at Vine.
Although Jessica did not need mugs, she did want small bowls for soup and largish ones for grain bowls, both of which she intended to introduce on her menu in spring of this year.
Of course, the Coronavirus had other ideas about spring menus and much else, but I kept working away on the bowls. After two prototype phases — with Leach White glaze over Laguna Dark Brown clay — and a couple of test firings in the District Clay Center kiln, I finally got two sets that I am very pleased with.
Jessica, a very new mother, was also pleased with the bowls, which arrived at a major juncture for both of us: the birth of her first child and the cusp of my move from the DMV back to Florida. Ultimately, though, we agreed that we will adopt a relationship that mirrors what I’ve had with Vine for the last 5 years: I’ll continue to provide Jessica and Seylou with pots, and I’ll do mugs sales at Seylou during periodic visits to my old stomping ground. Baby Nia seems very content with that arrangement!
Five mugs accepted for Cup: The Intimate Object XVI show
/in Exhibitions/by johnsnyderFive of my mugs have been accepted for the Cup: The Intimate Object XVI exhibition at Charlie Cummings Gallery, October 2-30, 2020. Five of my mugs were accepted for the same annual show in 2015. The five 2020 mugs are stacked below.
Jar accepted for regional Shino show
/in Exhibitions/by johnsnyderA tall covered jar of mine has been accepted for inclusion in the Inspired by Malcolm: A Passion for Shino exhibition, scheduled for June 10 – September 5, 2021, at the Sandy Spring Museum, Sandy Spring, MD.
The exhibition honors the memory of Malcolm Davis, a Washington, DC-based minister-turned-potter who developed and perfected a type of Shino glaze (and glaze firing) that is known for dramatic interplays between cream, orange/red and black effects on mainly porcelain ware.
My entry in the show was thrown and fired during a month-long workshop at Alfred University, in Alfred, New York, in 2015. Given that the workshop presented me with new surroundings, a different wheel, different clay, new glazes, and gas kilns fired in rushed circumstances by graduate assistants, I felt really good about getting this pot out of the workshop.
The show was originally scheduled for this summer, but fell victim to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Spring 2020 mug sale @ Vine
/in Sales/by johnsnyderI’ll be selling mugs at Vine again, from Feb 19 to March 3. Instead of specifying specific days and time periods, I’ll be available to interested customers “on demand”: via phone or text, we’ll agree on a time to meet at Vine to view my mugs.
I’ll be selling various styles of mugs, with an emphasis on my new altered Temodust style.
Pricing will range from $22 to $18 for non-students and $20 to $16 for students. This year, I will be adding a $.50 per-transaction surcharge for credit cards sales.
Fabulous firing!
/in firings/by johnsnyderIn mid-September, Jennifer Dinkelmeyer and I pulled back the door on her little Bailey kiln, chock-full of my work, revealing one of the most beautifully fired array of work that I can recall. Jennifer and I were present during the firing, a few days earlier, but it was all Jennifer’s firing. THANKS, Jennifer!
ALL! the work in the Still Kiln Warm portion of the Gallery is from this firing.
Mystery glaze?
/in firings/by johnsnyderIn the previous post, the second photo, taken at the 2015 Alfred workshop, includes several pots of mine: a tall jar, a platter and three bowls. Those bowls are also pictured immediately below:
The bowls’ liner glaze is a “teadust” glaze, and if you squint really hard, you can detect subtle hints of green “dust” amidst the otherwise almost black background. A glaze list provided to workshop participants included a “temoku teadust,” which I figured had to be the bowl liner. So, I mixed a batch, glazed several mugs with it, and included them in a late-May glaze-firing in Jennifer Dinklemeyer’s kiln, in Alexandria. I expected, of course, a subtle temoku teadust. Instead: voila!
I’ll have to experiment to figure out if, in fact, the bowl liner glaze and the glaze on the new mugs are one in the same and, if so, how to get the different effects. My hunch is that it is the same and glaze thickness is the key variable. If so, I’ve got a very dynamic, and compelling, new glaze to fire.