Clay Demo at Hutch Studio

The magic in a potter's wheel.

"A Clay Demonstration at Hutch"

This April I wanted to have art demonstrations at Hutch that went beyond the makings that occur there every day.  Something that would be extra special or even possibly magical.  The first thing that popped into my head was the Thread drawings of Kristin Loffer Theiss aka my wife, which are amazing beyond words to witness in person.  I really wanted to do a demo myself as well but watching me work on my ceramic sgraffito sculpture is probably like watching grass grow in the desert.  So I thought it would be fun to make something completely different and do it in a way that would be a fresh and new experience for me.  When I think of magic what first comes to mind is a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat.  I thought pulling a rabbit out of a potter's wheel might hold a bit of magic as well......if I could pull it off that is.  Kristin was there documenting the demo with about 200 to 300 photos,  making sure that there wasn't any slight of hand trickery on my part.  She later put together a great post for her blog.  I invited her to be my very first guest blogger and she lovingly agreed.   Here it is......enjoy.

A few weekends ago, I had a chance to spend a little time at hutch studio. Chris was giving a demo in clay & hung around a bit to shoot some photos of the event. 

Here are a few glimpses of how he displays some klt:works items. It's always a treat to be able to see my work in that space.

Chris set out to do something that he had never done before...to throw a bunny on a wheel. Sounds cool doesn't it? It was really quite an interesting thing to view. It's the type of thing that only someone with his experience, could pull off with a crowd of people watching. Not to mention, the shop was actually open. So in between working on the rabbit, he was helping customers! 

The atmosphere at hutch studio is really wonderful. It's calm & creative with a sense of wonder in the air of what cool discovery might be around the corner. Chris has created playlists by subjects that are always playing - songs about  water, hands, boats, birds... etc which just adds to the "hutch" experience. 

So this is the final product! He (or she) was just unloaded from the kiln yesterday. Chris literally pulled a bunny out of his sleeve that day. Amazing! What I love the most about it, is the process & that he had absolutely no idea what was going to happen. I admire that...it is my favorite way to work.  Chris has demos & workshops set up all of the time at hutch & if you are in the area, I highly recommend attending- they are quite inspirational. Stop by the hutch studio blog or FB page to keep an eye on what fun new project is being worked on. 

She's a great blogger wouldn't you say?  I would.  I wanted to wrap up this post with a couple of photos of the finished rabbit from that demo and another that I made in later demo for my ceramic class at Skagit Valley College.  They are both at Hutch so stop on in for a visit and some magic some time.

"Wild Hare" sitting, Brown Clay, Slip, Frit.

"Wild Hare" on all fours, Brown Clay, Slip, Frit.

"Wild Hare" on all fours, Brown Clay, Slip, Frit.