This lady who has an interest in #pottery and local clay found my blog posts and got in touch with me. She’s a 3rd generation Floridian and grew up believing that there’s no #clay here, which is a very common misconception. She came by to visit yesterday and brought a couple of clay samples she’d found. I offered to test fire them for her because she doesn’t have a kiln yet. I just placed them in the test kiln and I’m excited to see what happens. Will post results tomorrow! #WildClay #Florida

My new crackly pot inspired another blog post because 500 character just isn't enough. "The cracks are unpredictable but beautiful, like a dried lake bed or elephant skin. They’ve come to feel like a map of this place: a visual echo of our fractured geology, our sinkhole-prone foundation, our porous aquifers and eroding coasts. The fragility of the sig surface mirrors the fragility of the land itself."

Pottery by Osa

Fractured, Fragmented and Fragile

"The cracks are unpredictable but beautiful, like a dried lake bed or elephant skin. They’ve come to feel like a map of this place: a visual echo...

#pottery #ceramics #wildclay #Florida #environment #land #clay

I was invited to make pieces for an upcoming ewer show. The concept was inspired by the gallery owner’s experience beginning to #garden with his family, enjoying the bounty daily, and using #handmade ewers to drizzle olive oil and vinegar over fresh veggies. I love making pots that pour, so the prompt was a welcome challenge, allowing me to combine multiple elements that I’ve practiced over the years. How would you use these pots? #pottery #ceramics #beautility #FormFollowsFunction #WildClay

I recently visited my birthplace. We moved away when I was 5 and I hadn’t been back in decades. My parents are immigrants so we have no familial connection to that place. My parents also sold the house I grew up in so sometimes I don’t feel like I’m from anywhere. I brought home a tiny sample of birthplace #clay to make art with so that I could try to process and heal this disconnect. I’m curious if you have a connection to your birthplace and if you could explain what that’s like.

“I have thought a lot about the Western attitude toward the natural world and wondered at what point we began to think we had outsmarted it. I think it was the Enlightenment, and though I can hardly speak ill of the Enlightenment, that new mindset combined with the industrial revolution started a process of seeing #nature as a resource rather than something with its own deep wisdom.” #geology #MarciaBjornerud #TurningToStone #Atmos #environment #climate

Atmos

Why One Geologist Thinks We Should All Pay More Attention to Rocks | Atmos

Professor Marcia Bjornerud urges us to understand rocks as records of earlier versions of the planet—and as a call to protect its future.

A 12 yr old Black girl came to my Juneteenth workshop and sculpted this small terracotta bust—focused, joyful, sure of herself. I had just returned from #AugustaSavage’s hometown the night before (see previous posts). As a child, Savage was beaten for sculpting #clay animals. (Her dad was a preacher and saw them as idols.) She faced endless obstacles over her lifetime, but kept creating. Seeing this young artist reminded me: her path is clearer now because of those who came before. #KidsArt

I love this part of the process. I lay out test tiles to coordinate the different hues I’ll use to decorate my pot. I also look at finished pieces to help jog my memory. I’m using several different materials to decorate, from #wildclay slips to glaze and introducing new materials all the time. This planning process helps me keep it all straight in my head. And the sandwich will power me through the afternoon. #pottery #ceramics #studio

Attaching a tall neck to the base of a pedestal vase: 1. Let the base dry to leather hard 2. Recenter it on the wheel, slip & score around the opening 3. Measure the diameter of the opening with calipers 4. Throw a short, thick cylinder that matches the diameter of the opening 5. Cut that cylinder off the bat and move it to the leather hard base. Center it on top. 6. Throw downward to attach the cylinder to the base. 7. Pull the clay up to desired form. #pottery #wheelthrowing #ceramics

I wasn't sure they'd include my gripes about Instagram and my shoutout to the Fediverse, but they did! Otherwise, it's about the usual: #pottery, my #punkrock roots, combining #African & #Indigenous ceramics legacies with Western studio #ceramics, etc.

Osa Atoe | Art | Flamingo Magazine

The youth #clay workshop we held during today’s #Juneteenth celebration was such a fun way to pass cultural knowledge to the next generation. Kids learned coil building and were taught how pottery skills were traditionally passed down through the family by women to their daughters, nieces and granddaughters in Nigeria as well as many other cultures around the world, including those Indigenous to the Americas. And of course, everyone got a chance to play the udu. #pottery #ceramics #KidsArt