Snapshot: Lotuses & Dragonflies on raku

Lotuses & Dragonflies
Raku Vessel

Anne Webb, 2007

Webb Pottery & First Saturdays Art Market, Mobile AL

No, we haven't fallen off the planet, just everywhere but the keyboard.
Here are a couple of shots of some raku pots I snapped at a show this weekend. Stylized dragonflies and lotuses bottle & a sweet bay magnolia jar.

Other news.. this spring's last First Saturdays Art Market will be at Cathedral Square in downtown Mobile on June 2nd from 9 am to 3 pm (NB relocated from the Royal & Government location). There will be pottery and painting demonstrations, and starting at 7:30 am on the other side of the square will be Mainstreet Mobile's Market on the Square farmer's market. Hope you are able to join us as we go out with a bang.




(fyi This jar is one of the completed pieces from my February 3rd blog entry, where it appeared in unglazed.)

Pottery Up on the block

One of the pieces we have up on ebay this week:

Raku Pottery Plate
Incised Spiral Design
approx 11 7/8" W

by Anne Webb, Webb Pottery

ebay Item 130082820501

To view all our auctions, search for our
ebay ID: webbpots

Webb Pottery Raku Vessels on eBay this week

Raku Jar with Stylized Peacock Feather Design
8.5" H x 5.25" W
by Anne Webb
Item #130079977793








Raku Bank with Art Nouveau Stylized Bees
3" H x 4.75" W
by Lowell Webb, decorated by Anne Webb
Item #130079980946

Raku pot in progress....

The only pictures of designed raku pottery I've had up on the blog have been finished ones. I thought it might be kinda cool to see what these pots look like in their raw state.

Here are a few I've been working on that are still very much in progress. One has an iris design and the other, bay magnolia. After studying a subject, whether it be a peacock feather or a particular flower, and making my sketches, I visualize the design layout then carefully carve it into the surface of the "leather hard" clay.

Carving a design into clay is much different than drawing or painting it. The positioning of the tool initially can be tricky and carving, like anything else with pottery, takes practice. After you spend all that time and effort making that pot -- throwing, trimming, and waiting for the clay to be just the right consistency-- you have a lot invested and you don't want to mess up. Once you lay your tool into the clay and make a cut, there is no going back or correcting it, so extra care needs to be taken.

After the carving is complete, the pot is left to dry usually for about a week or until it is "bone dry". It is then bisque fired, glazed, then fired raku kiln. (Please see my post from July 18th for a description of the raku process).

I will try and post pictures of these pots again once they have been glazed and fired.

Webb Art Pottery Stylized Art Nouveau Oleander Design - Raku Vase

Vase with Art Nouveau Stylized Oleander Design
Incised design, Raku fired

Approx 12"H x 6.5"W

Anne Webb, Webb Pottery, 2006


Recently listed on ebay: Item #130030461617

Webb Raku Art Pottery on eBay: webbpots

Peacock Feather Motif Vessel
Approx 4.5" H x 3.75" W

Anne Webb, Webb Pottery, Magnolia Springs, 2006

This vessel was recently listed on ebay:
Item #130017712794
under Art: Self-Representing Artists category

NEW WORK POSTED ON OUR WEB PAGE
If you would like to see more raku pieces, please visit our web page and click on the "Original Art Works" section.

Thanks!

Raku Pottery Vessel

Purple Tulips, Stylized Floral Design
Approximately 9.5" H x 5.5" W

Anne Webb, Webb Pottery
Magnolia Springs, 2006

So about our Webb Raku & Stoneware Pottery...

In the past few months, I've posted pictures of some of our pottery here on the blog and on our web site, now here is a little info about it.

All our raku vessels, are individually formed, carved, brush-glazed, and fired, using an American variation of the Japanese firing technique known as raku.

A glazed pot is heated to approximately 1825 degrees Fahrenheit. Its then taken from the kiln while its still red-hot, gently placed in a bed of pine shavings, and then covered (as you can see in this picture, we use a wheelbarrow or on other occasions in a metal wash tub as our pine shavings receptacle). When the oxygen in the air surrounding the pot is depleted by the flame, the flame then looks to the glaze for more oxygen molecules to consume. A chemical reaction may take place in the glaze, causing spontaneous and random flashes of color and metallic lustre. As the pot cools, a random crackling (or crazing) of the glaze occurs as the clay and the glaze expand and contract at different rates. What also happens is the carbon from the burning shavings fuses to all the unglazed surfaces and cracks in the glaze, turning them black. The piece, still hot, is then extracted from its bed of shavings and is quenched (or rapidly cooled) with water. Doing so not only cools the pot to the touch, but sets the colors before theglazes have a chance to reoxidize. Some of the results can be quite spectacular and its easy to understand the allure of pottery fired in this way. No two peices ever turn out completely the same and every one, in its own way, is one-of-a-kind.

The majority of stoneware clay we use for our functional pottery is from abundant native Alabama clay deposits, usually found within just an hour's drive of the studio right here in Baldwin Country. The deposit Lowell working on here is right along a local roadside. The clay that seems to work best is whitish or, better yet, almost a bubble gum color. It fires the highest and has the least amount of impurities which is perfect for durable functional ware. Our functional pottery is individually formed, most of it on a potter's wheel, is individually decorated, and then high-fired in a propane fueled gas kiln to approximately 2400 degrees Fahrenheit.

I'll have to cover in future posts some of the primitive-fired pieces we do as well as the ongoing journey of the building of our small wood kiln using recycled materials...

Pottery & Art: Rick Tino's Gallery's Official Grand Opening & Open House, Memorial Day Weekend, Gulf Shores, Alabama

This afternoon I made a trip down to Tino's Fine Art & Frames to deliver a few pots and was really impressed by all the new work that is on display. The gallery is looking FULL. Rick was busy hanging and arranging work and making the last minute preparations for his official Grand Opening & Memorial Day open house this Saturday from 2 - 8 pm. The public is welcome to come out, enjoy the art, and meet the artists. Refreshments and nibbles will be served.

I was excited to see that there are three new artists who now have work in the gallery. Talis Jayme (watercolors, acrylics, & pastels), Gary Reynolds (Fractal Art), and Erik "Turtle" Olsen (Metal work sculpture).

In addition to the open house, the neighboring Sunset Cork Room will have the wonderful Lisa Zanghi providing their live entertainment that night.


So come out and finish the day off with some flair. Hope to see you there!

Tino's Fine Art & Frames, 2200 East Second Street, Suite H, Gulf Shores AL 36542
Phone 251- 971-TINO (8466), Email: groktino@hotmail.com
Gallery Hours: Monday - Friday 9am to 5:30 pm, Saturday 9am to noon

Raku, Tino, PIAA & Orange Beach

Raku Art Pottery Vessel with Magnolia Grand Flora Design

Approximately 10.25" H x 8.5" W

by Anne Webb, 2006

Come and see us, Anne & Lowell of Webb Pottery at "Art in the Park", Foley, Alabama, May 13-14 (mother's day weekend). We will have mostly our functional stoneware pottery made from native clay, but also plan on having a few art pieces, and some of new Lowell's pit-fired wall plaques.

Some sad news, the Pleasure Island Art Association (PIAA) in Orange Beach, Alabama, has officially been dissolved. The good news, though, is that the City of Orange Beach has generously offered to completely assume the responsibility for the Center and take over the operation of the gallery and gift shop previously made available to the P.I.A.A.. Among other things, much needed and overdue upgrades and repairs are finally being taken care of, and they are even planning the construction of a new state-of-the-art studio teaching facility sometime next year, which is very exciting. They will continue to hold the spring and fall art shows and encourage local artists and the community to take an active part. In the meantime, the gallery and gift shop are still open. If you are in the area, please drop by. For more information, please visit the new
Orange Beach Art Center website.

Also don't forget to check out the article on Rick Tino and the Tino Frame and Fine Art Gallery in Gulf Shores on p. 36 & 37 of this month's The Pelican, a weekly community newspaper for our part of the Gulf Coast. Rick will be holding a gallery open house on the Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend, where you can see first hand work including stained glass, funky folk art, pottery, painting, and some really wonderful blockprints and handmade raku tiles. More news to follow on that, but don't forget to mark your calendars! Hope to see you there!

"Peacock Feather Motif"
Raku Vase
by Anne Webb, 2006

Height: Approx 8 inches

Rick Tino's Gallery in Gulf Shores, AL

Last weekend we took a ride down to Gulf Shores, to check out and take work to Rick Tino's new gallery, Tino's Fine Art & Frames. Rick, who lives in Gulf Shores, has been dealing with various frame shops and galleries in the area for years. He noticed that increasingly these places have been gravitating toward selling mainstream art, prints and work that one could find anywhere else.

So when Rick decided last year that he wanted to open a gallery again, he wanted to offer something unusual in a market that increasingly lacked distinctiveness. In his words, his vision was to create something less commonplace, an "oasis for beauty and things that are well made by local artists."

Rick has invited artists who he feels would help him achieve his vision, offering an eclectic range of work from quality functional pottery to one-of-a-kind two- and three-dimensional works of art. Featured local artists are Laura Hensley(Glass), David Atwood (Glass), Chris Hartsfield (Realism Painter - Watercolor & Giclee Prints), Tommy Cannon (Oil) , Sea Oats Studio - Steve & Dee Burrow (Stoneware Pottery), Wilodean Brown (Pencil, Pen and Ink), Anne Webb & Lowell Webb (Stoneware, Raku, & Primitive-Fired Pottery), and Rick Tino (Acrylic, Watercolor, Gouache).

Feel free to contact Rick for more info, directions, or better yet, drop by when you're in the area!
Tino's Fine Art & Frames, 2200 East Second Street, Suite H, Gulf Shores AL 36542
Phone 251- 971-TINO (8466), Email: groktino@hotmail.com
Gallery Hours: Monday - Friday 9am to 5:30 pm, Saturday 9am to noon