A Good Time Was Had By All

Be forewarned, it's a far piece out a country road before you arrive at Cub Creek. Luckily, I had an excellent travel partner. We arrived on Friday afternoon and were met by two of the full time residents. They pointed out the kilns and clay studio, then gave us permission to snoop, which we did. It's a very nice set up and lots of clay activity is evident everywhere you look. Once we had looked at the kilns and pots, we headed up to where the residents live. If you are a young potter looking for a residency, I would suggest you check out this place. A few years back, the 4000 square foot plantation home, which had been Cub Creek, burned to the ground. After regrouping, John H., the founder and energy behind this foundation, rebuilt. The new resident housing is charming and cozy with room for six with the two kitchens being a nice addition. The clay studio is still fresh and has a nice open layout.


Now, about Chris...

Chris graduated from Alfred in the early 70's, worked alone in his studio, went on to teach at the 92nd Y, Parsons School of Design and he recently retired from his position at Dartmouth. His ability to speak so articulately about his work and how it's evolved, while simultaneously making his work was very impressive.


Chris makes his work in several stages. Throwing a series of bases, allowing them to stiffen a bit and then adding coils. His coiling technique is somewhat unusual. Rather than adding long continuous coils, he adds shorts coils asymetrically, which gives his pots their organic, undulating shape. He uses this approach with both stoneware and porcelain, then fires them in his very large wood kiln. He also manufactures field tile and employees several interns, who are kept fit by the constant movement in the studio.


Going to a clay workshop is sort of like watching a cooking show. It's nice to see someone who is able to make fabulous things look approachable and also to hear of stories on how to manuever around avoidable pitfalls...

Some hot tips I learned that may help you too...

1) How to glaze the inside of a large pot without picking it up? Buy a water pump for a blow up pool and a shop vac. Place pump in glaze bucket, pump in glaze, have someone standing by with shop vac, and voila!

2) Once that big pot is glazed, it needs to be loaded in the kiln. How to protect the glaze during handling? Mix a 50/50 mixture of elephant glue, available at the local craft shop, and spray it on the piece. This creates a hard shell that burns out during the firing-brilliant!

3) Wood-fired pots must be placed on wadding to keep them from fusing to the kiln shelf, but sometimes the wad will flatten out from the weight of the pots and cause headaches. What to do? Mix wadding mixture and roll into log. Slice into marshmellow sized pieces and bisque fire. Then your large pots can be tilted back, the wadding slid under and your ready to fire.




Those are just a few of the gems I learned.