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ABOUT ME
A very long time ago, there was a Papa-San, Mama-San, Su-San and Baby-San. While my father was stationed in Hawaii, 3 more babies were born before it attained Statehood. My mother continued to call me Su-San the rest of her life. To this day all of my pots are signed SuSan.
In 2001, I attended the first Susan meeting. We had our name in common and met at Susan Creek on the Umpqua River. A hike up Susan Creek Falls helped inspire a show of Susan artists. A photographer, fiber artist, three painters and me, the clay artist make up our present group of six. We look forward to our third show together as the Umpqua Susans, this coming November 2011, at the Douglas County Museum.
Just after July 4th 2009, I took down the gas-fueled kiln I had been using for over 25 years. With the guidance of kiln builder extraordinaire, Howard Keifer, I built myself a hybrid kiln fueled with wood and gas. I laid bricks in all sorts of weather, from heat wave to near freezing, for nine months. By using two fuels simultaneously, I found that I use significantly less of both of them, and fire the kiln myself. The pots from this 'hybrid' kiln are a new direction for me in my pottery. I like using fewer glazes, and letting the flames leave their marks on the clay. Different clay bodies give a wide variety of resulting colors. The few glazes I will be using react with the wood ash differently depending on their location in the kiln. Light and dark clays on the same piece yield beautiful contrast on the same pot. I am very excited about all the new directions I can take with my claywork.
For anyone interested, I blogged my kiln-building progress: http://susansnewkiln.blogspot.com There are many photos that accompany my trials and tribulations during this project.
The first firing fueled with wood & propane was very successful. I posted photos on Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/51536090@N08
In this rural area I have lived for the past almost 30 years, a sign of gentrification has arrived in the form of a winery about half-way between my home and the 7 miles I am from the I-5 Interstate Highway. MarshAnne Landing Vineyard, Winery, Tasting Room and Art Gallery is a beautiful addition to our countryside. I met the owners when I brought my artwork to their gallery and offered to pour wine for them, if they needed help. A few months later, I was called and worked at the winery for three years. With the success of my 'new' kiln, I am retired from the wine business & pursuing my clay ventures with a renewed eagerness.
I love to 'play' in the flower garden. Pulling weeds is peaceful and meditative to me. I am trying on keep my garden smaller and more intense, but things keep getting away from me. The more I garden, the more I appreciate people who 'really' garden. My flower and vegetable gardens keep growing. I'm sure that is a good thing. It is very satisfying to grow the vegetables I eat, and the flowers I display in my vases.
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I graduated from the University of California at Irvine, then discovered pottery afterward. My first clay class was at the Maude Kerns Art Center in Eugene, Oregon. I returned to California, and kept taking pottery classes. Eventually an instructor got tired of my badgering him with questions, and encouraged my return to California State University at Long Beach to learn glaze chemistry and kiln firing as well as increase my throwing proficiency.
In the ensuing years, I took many workshops from noted potters as Harry Davis, John Glick, Karen Karnes, Nils Lou, Tony Marsh, Robin Hopper and Robert Turner. Another early influence was Paul Soldner (while potting at Anderson Ranch, Snowmass, Colorado).
I learned to handbuild with clay after a severe shoulder injury prevented me from throwing on the potters wheel. In early 1990's I took classes at Sierra Nevada College in Incline Village, Nevada. It was there that I discovered wood-fired kilns, and rediscovered raku. More workshops, included: Paul Lewing, Warren MacKenzie, Stephen Hill, Catherine Hiersoux and Yoshiro Ikeda.
In the 1990's, I enrolled in classes at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon where I enrolled in Drawing, Design and Sculpture classes. As much as I wished I had taken these classes 30 years earlier, I found it is never too late. Invigorated with learning, I attended graduate courses at the University of Oregon. I was fortunate to take classes and seminars from George Kokis, before his retirement.
I keep taking workshops, including Jim Romberg, Leslie Lee, Dennis Meiners and Katy McFadden, as learning never ends. Most recently, I learned how to paint and fire metallics & lusters on finished pots from Chris Kienle. Not all new techniques and methods get incorporated into my artwork immediately or at all. It is hard to categorize what influences my artwork most. Life, nature, history, philosophy, travel have all helped to keep my senses open and aware.
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I've taught clay classes to children and adults in parks and classrooms. It's amazing what one can learn from beginners, especially the children. They don't know the rules or boundaries of clay, and try whatever jumps in their mind. As I guide them to what I know clay can do, I make mental notes to experiment with variations of their attempts.
I have taught classes that ended with a raku-fire at my studio. These are always the most popular classes.
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1999 - Clayfest - Beyond Functional Work - Award
2000 - Finalist in North American Bonsai Pot Competition, sponsored by the National Bonsai Foundation and the Tagaki Museum of Tokyo, Japan, at the U.S. National Arboretum
2000 - Clayfest - Functional Pottery - Honorable Mention
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