Foto Friday: Oh pumpkin!

Would you like a trick or a treat. Well first I will show you a trick. Then give you a treat. It may not be exiting but I decided to post a scan of a drawing. Yeah it may not be a true photo but 'm posting it anyway. I was going to throw this drawing out then I realized it looked like a view of a lidded pot from above. But I also have a video treat for those of you out there who have taken the time to read this blog post. I hope this is video spooky enough for you on this halloween weekend. 

How To Turn A Pumpkin Into A Camera from NPR on Vimeo.

Back in the day

Ex's, creative photography (or any art form) and the web can be tricky. And I'm not sure how to deal with it. If you have paintings or drawings do you destroy or keep them. It's not like a snapshot of the
two of you that you can casually throw out or delete.
I have always felt awkward about this subject and I think most people do. The problem is that a lot of my work is often autobiographical. I have created a new set on flickr of some old photographs that I took with a pinhole camera made from a Christmas cookie tin. I posted one of them the other day and I have a few more to go. There is one with an ex that I haven't seen or talked for 12 years. This was taken before the web was popular and I obviously didn't have a flickr account or a blog were I often post my work. I think it is small and blurry enough to keep her anonymity. Though when I took them she knew there was a possibility of them being exhibited. http://www.flickr.com/photos/ceramic_landscape/sets/72157625232498958/ 

You blocked the sun

More flickr fun. Sources for inspiration can be boundless. Figure and ground are at play here. The act of concealing or a reversal of roles?

Foto Friday

I've read about issues with facebook lately. People seem to be bothered by the photo memory feature on the site. Many felt hurt that they were constantly faced with photos of ex's and couldn't stand it. I thought it was a bit annoying, it's nice that facebook decided to take it down. I was sorting through some old photos the other day and thought I should post them here. I have a large amount of boring photographs which make the process tedious. I've been holding of on dealing with them. This picture was taken in 1998 with a Christmas cookie tin converted to a pinhole camera for a photography class at BealArt. It's not the best shot of mine from that group but it is one of my favourites.

More photography issues

You have probably noticed I enjoy photography. Almost too much at times. I have been sharing some of my photography in the past few months with my blog. They are scattered all over the place; I feel like I don't even know how many Flickr accounts I have out there. Though it seems easier to be able to separate my work and make it easier for people to see the pictures they want and not mix up my other interests. Here is a post by the potter Kyle Carpenter briefly showing an example of how to do a quick and easy "studio" set up. http://carpenterpottery.blogspot.com/2010/10/i-got-this.html http://carpenterpottery.blogspot.com/2010/10/photographing-pots.html

The Pledge

THE PLEDGE: Everyone deserves to be respected for who they are. I pledge to spread this message to my friends, family and neighbors. I'll speak up against hate and intolerance whenever I see it, at school and at work. I'll provide hope for lesbian, gay, bi, trans and other bullied teens by letting them know that "It Gets Better." http://www.itgetsbetterproject.com/

Here is some info from the it gets better project website. This is an important issue that needs to be discussed in society openly for all youth LGBT or straight.

Justin Aeberg. Billy Lucas. Cody Barker. Asher Brown. Seth Walsh. Raymond Chase. Tyler Clementi. All the names of American teenagers who in recent months have taken their own lives after being bullied in school.

Statistics

• 9 out of 10 LGBT students have experienced harassment at school.
• LGBT teens are bullied 2 to 3 times as much as straight teens.
• More than 1/3 of LGBT kids have attempted to commit suicide.
• LGBT kids are 4 times as likely to attempt suicide then our straight peers.
• LGBT youth with “highly rejecting” families are 8 times more likely to attempt suicide than those whose families accept them.

Wow look at that.

The lighting is bad but I think you can tell who is in this pic. I just wanted to post something completely unrelated to ceramics. Though finding surprises where you least expect them is not uncommon in ceramics. Any one who has fired in reduction can attest to that. But any type of kiln firing is possible of
producing great and horrible surprises. I would dread the possibility of opening a kiln to find my maiolica covered in white spots often caused by firing a few degree too cold or not holding the correct temperature for a sufficient time for the glaze to heal slowly. Go to this website for this simple alteration to any of your photos http://polkaroo.tvo.org/polkaroo/index.php. I hope you have fun being Polkaroo'd.

Always losing her pocket-handkerchiefs!

I had some fun at the library today. I finally renewed my library card in Toronto, now isn't that exciting. I found some books with delft ceramics and I will finally work on that series of tin glazed blog posts from a few weeks ago. I have been thinking of narrative and design lately. I was completely
thrown of the coffee cup project but will get back to that soon. I had spent a week in London visiting family and it changed my focus on things. Every time I visit family I am reminded about the importance of family in peoples lives. While I was wandering around the art and design bookshelves I found a book about illustrating children's picture books. I thought it would be interesting to write and design some books for my niece and nephew as Christmas gifts. One would probably be about fishing for my brother and nephew. Another book may be related to ceramics. I'm not sure how to write a story about ceramics that is short and interesting for children. Neither my Niece or Nephew are old enough to read yet but they do have several picture books. A cautionary tale covering the dangers of free silica may be interesting?

 I wandered over to the children's section of the library to look at a few picture books and was surprised by some of my discoveries. I was a fan of Beatrix Potter when I was younger and was surprised to read the part where the mother rabbit warns her children that their father was baked in a pie by Mrs. McGregor. I do remember enjoying the illustrations in the books. I loved the little world of animals created by Beatrix Potter. I may write a story about stories coming to life in painted ceramics…

‘The Tale of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle’ by Beatrix Potter http://www.peterrabbit.com/us/potters-world.asp

Location Unknown

Here is a great resource for everyone to check.
http://www.paulmathieu.ca/  Here is a brief excerpt from his site.
"My work is an investigation of the role and function of ceramics within culture in general and art in particular. I see ceramics (and pottery) as an independent, autonomous and specific art form and it is this specificity that my work explores, around concepts particular to craft practices, like decoration, function and containment, in a unique relation to various contexts, to time, to history and to human experiences."

A world of intimate moments

I am not at home so please excuse the poor quality of the images. I was shooting at high ISO settings because I did not have my tripod with me. I also do not have access to my usual editing software which does a better job hiding the noise from high ISO shots. I had originally set out to do some research at my hometown's central library but was distracted by the weather conditions and photography. I needed some time to wander today. I find the process of taking photographs and viewing photographs to be conducive to meditation.

"I could beginne againe to court and praise,
    And in that pleasure lengthen the short dayes
 Of my lifes lease; like Painters that do take
    Delight, not in made worke, but whiles they make;"
- Elegie XV by John Donne

 

 

An unexpected surprise

"A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you the less you know"
-Diane Arbus

Sometimes you just need to set up your tripod with your camera on and just let it do what it will do. Here are some fun photos to share with everyone. Now I was involved but I cannot take credit for the photographs I was just a guiding hand.

"There are always two people in every picture: the photographer and the viewer."
- Ansel Adams

My 2 year old nephew Grady is the photographer.

I grabbed these quotes from a website so I am not sure they are accurate.