Light

Playing with light.

Orb on Flotone graduated background

Orb on newsprint

Newsprint on orb

JMM 2019

I'm delighted that this Klein bottle representation* found an appreciative audience at the 2019 Joint Mathematical Meetings (the American Mathematical Society and the Mathematical Association of America) in Baltimore, where it won an award for "best textile, sculpture, or other medium." Hooray for clay! The gallery of exhibited art is here.

(*Since a Klein bottle has only one side, it can't actually have holes; those come from the artistic license of living in 3D.)

Photographs of a spotted teapot

Thanks to penguin-photographing needs, I've finally found a practical location for the Flotone graduated background. The background is taped to the living room wall, tucked away into an otherwise unused corner. It drops onto a small table that S made years ago for plants, but that we use now to semi-hide Kapla blocks and Space Chips. I leave the bottom half of the background rolled up against the wall when not in use, and I unroll it and tape the edge to the table when taking photographs. The table sits next to a large south-facing window that looks out onto the porch, so the space gets natural light but is shielded from direct sun. This set up works reasonably well for daytime shots, but sunlight from a west-facing window sometimes casts undesirable shadows. If I'm feeling energetic, I tape a big piece of cardboard over that window; otherwise I work around the shadows. Nighttime sessions are better: I set up my snazzy 55W bulb in its diffuser and have more control over the lighting.

Below are some nighttime shots of a non-penguin. As my holes addiction wreaks havoc on my wrists (and would wreak havoc on a teapot), I'm experimenting with spots. I think I showed admirable restraint in this piece.

DT-MSH/TC Klein Bottle revisited

Longtime follower(s) of this blog might recall the DT-MSH/TC that I made in 2010; it waited patiently until 2011 to be fired, emerging from the Cedar Creek wood kiln covered with strange bubbly crusty purple stuff. Thereafter, it sat high up on a shelf in my study, hidden behind a bunch of other pots: too much work to throw away, but too ugly to look at. And then, last month, neighbor-potter Julie Jones said she had a little space left in her ^10 wood kiln and asked if I had anything I wanted her to fire for me.

Behold: no more bubbly crusty purple stuff! Thanks, Julie!

New areas in hole appreciation

I'm working on a paper on different ways to tune ocarinas and needed a symbol to distinguish the total area of all open holes, A_t, from the area of a single open hole. While tempting, somehow A_hole didn't look quite right.

Art for the dieting prohibitionist

Every once in a while, the recovering addict shamelessly returns to her addiction.

 
I am making work for Claymakers' first ever national invitational gallery show. The show will feature ~200 beer steins by 65 artists from 25 states across the U.S. and Canada. "Steinzeugkrug: Present Day Interpretations" runs Oct. 4-Nov. 16, with an opening reception on Oct. 4, 6-9pm.

Here are some low-tech preview shots of my work (oddly blue images that don't at all accurately reflect the blueness of the slate blue steins).

The Frances Willard (a Maß)

Another Frances Willard (aa a Maß)

A Frances Willard and a Carrie Nation (a Maß und a Hoibe)

Two Carrie Nations (zwoa Hoibe)

Obviously, these steins aren't wholly holey to please the prohibitionist: they're meant for beer lite.

A Carrie Nation burning bright

Another Carrie Nation. The Frances Willards still need candle hangers.