This is your last chance.

Warren MacKenzie on Ebay

Here are some beautiful pieces of ceramics being sold for a great cause. The recent events in Japan have been tragic. Potter Ayumi Horie has responded by helping to organize an auction of pottery on Ebay. Ebay link here I was surprised to see a Hamada Shoji vase amongst the items. I think I have mentioned him before in one of my posts and I have an unfinished post about him and teabowls. Shoji vase link here The auction closes in 5 hours so if you have a moment you should check it out. Here is a New York Times article about the auction link. I just wanted to post these images of pieces that I liked from the auction.

Shoji Hamada on Ebay

Ron Meyers on Ebay

I never had confidence in you

First of all before I start this post I would like to say that this winter has to end. It's officially spring and it's time the snow went away. It was shocking to see the snow on the ground this week, in the eerie blue light of the morning. So this blog post may be a poor attempt at humour. It is what it is. Well, it was eerie with the snow on the ground.
 Okay now to get to the point of this post. Not only did I not have confidence in you to be honest I really never even liked you. Now that may not be surprising to those that know me and I'm fairly certain that you don't care. I just feel like I need to get this off my chest. Id like to express how I feel about you, I mean how I really, really feel about you... Stephen Harper go fuck yourself! The Government of Canada fell today with a non confidence motion. It was the first that a parliament has ever found the sitting government to be in contempt of parliament. The 'Harper Government' has been lying to parliament about the cost of some of their programs as well as facing several corruption issues. One of the bills they had before that where they were under reporting the actual cost of was their "get tough on crime agenda". Ironically several members of the party are facing jail time for breaking the election laws in the 2008 general election. Here are some Rick Mercer satirical videos about Canadian politics. Let the gong show begin.

A show to go to.

A former student from Sheridan Deborah Freeman has a show you should consider going to. I will probably not be able to get to the opening but it will probably be a lot of fun to attend. She is highly skilled functional potter with work that has a great personality and attention to detail. Deb was a big help to me when I was in my second year at Sheridan. She was in her third year then, she was always available and willing to answer my stupid and repetitive questions. Here is her blog. http://deborahfreemanceramics.blogspot.com/2011/03/handy.html

HANDY: An Exhibition of Functional Craft

March 17 - April 10, 2011

Ontario Crafts Council Gallery
990 Queen Street W, Toronto

"But I've never been a saint..."

 Just like getting your clay to centre on the wheel your life may flow with more ease if you find a centre within your self. When you sit down to throw form you make is simple to achieve when the clay you are throwing is centred on the wheel. You find that you are not struggling against but being what it is to become.

      Step 1: 
       Focusing upon an ordinary pebble or twig. For this session, 
       set out a small pebble in front of you as your meditative object: 
       and just stare at it one-pointedly, letting your awareness neither 
       stray from it nor identify with it.

Here is some brief background information to place the images into some context. Esoteric Buddhism is the type of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and preceded Zen Buddhism in Japan. I have included the first step in the development of mahamudra which is the practice and teaching that leads to the realization of one mind in Esoteric Buddhism. During the Kamakura period in Japan Zen Buddhism began to replace esoteric forms of Buddhism. Here is a mandala and some ceramics from the same time period. The rustic and simple forms produced at kilns sites like Tamba later became the inspiration for wares created for the tea ceremony.

Here is a Woodfired Tamba jar from the Late Kamakura Period (14th Century)
14in. (35.7cm.) high. Tamba was one of the 6 ancient kilns sites that were founded in the early Kamakura period in Japan


Lousy Reputation by The Stills

To kiss the sleeping muse

Google informed me that today was Constantin Brancusi's Birthday. He would have been 135 years old today if he was still alive. He is one of the most interesting modern sculptors in my opinion.  Here is a little cup he made in 1918.
You can find some of his work here or here as well as many other collections. Some craft readers may be interested in looking into to his Romanian folk inspired wood carvings and wood door frames.

These images are from the Centre Pompidou collection.

Expected Delivery

This is a video that was requested by one of my readers. Probably because it is a bit embarrassing for me. I decided to send some videos to a friend to edit (The same person who was asking why I didn't post this video). I have been lagging behind on the editing so she agreed to try it. I hope she has some fun with it and gives us something we will all enjoy. Here is a screen shot from the Canada post site of the DVD on its way to Jenny. Yeah I know it's not very exciting but I think it's fun to be able to track your parcels. I mean it's winter.

Well here is the video. I was taking photographs of the work as the kiln was unloaded. And of course I have lost those photographs.

It's about time to finish those drafts

The year is coming to a close. I found that blogging this year was an interesting experience. I enjoyed sharing my ideas and interests with you. This blog has had ups and downs, some posts are more thoughtful than others(and will probably be edited and expanded). I have tried to use it to express a part of myself that I usually don't share with many people. It often veers off with seemingly random bits from the Internet with intermittent moments of focus and clarity. Though I did notice I have to go through and update some links and add further commentary. I also have a few blog drafts that I need to finish off. I will hopefully get to those in the next two weeks.
 I finally made some progress on a series of paintings that I feel are worth sharing with people. I was trying a few new directions and was unsatisfied with any of the new paintings. Until I decided to continue a series I started before going back to school. Only a handful of people had seen those paintings and they have stayed in London since I left. So those should be showing up in the coming weeks ahead.