People have asked me what it is about clay that I love so much.  There are many reasons why I love to play in the “Mud”.  One of them being the longevity that it offers to my art.  There is a story in one of our local newspapers about a discovery made recently in the Manti-La Sal National Forest.  1000 years ago someone set a ceramic bowl down under the cover of a boulder and this man found it.  While the bowl was not in perfect condition it is still in the form of a bowl.  It is amazing to me to think of the hands that created it, to try and imagine what they thought while making the pot and question if they thought about how long it might be around.  Most other art mediums are so temporary compared to the potential life of a ceramic object.

I have always wanted to create something lasting that would live on long beyond my own mortal lifespan.  a 1000 years from now someone could come across one of my sculptures or wheel thrown vessels and wonder at it the same way I wonder at the object found in the forest.  It is inspiring to me.

The story can be found here.

– Jerel

The UVU Ceramic Artist Association will be holding their Semi-Annual Pottery Sale December 7 & 8, 2009.  The sale will be held in the Ceramics Studio (GT 340) on the UVU Campus.  Work will be sold by CAA members and invited guests.  I hope you can join us for the sale.  I will have some of my work available for purchase at the sale.

– Jerel

I have had a pretty busy Summer unfortunatley it has not all been with my hands in the mud.  I really have no excuse for not updating this blog with more in the past, but will make an effort to do so in the future.  This past summer I worked on converting our garage into a studio.  I built a wedging table and installed some shelves for drying my greenware.  After that was completed I happily started throwing pots.

School started again and its off to the races.  I will be doing my BFA show this Fall, the time is short and I only have a couple months to finish all my work (you know what I was supposed to be doing all summer long).  I will try to take some pictures of my progress and post them here.  The clay I will be using has finally matured and has been wedged and bagged and is now waiting for me to start sculpting.  It was fun to mix and prepare.  I had Esperanza my daughter and her friend mixing it with their feet while I dumped the clays and grog onto the tarp, they had a great time.

– Jerel