Below I’ve listed the classes that I will be teaching in the fall. If you’re not interested in soda, or aren’t at the advanced level yet, there are tons of other classes to take (clay and non-clay, although you know my preference:) .

Advanced Topics in Soda Firing: Surface Decoration
Level:Intermediate/Advanced
LAC members $340 / Non-members $350
Soda Lab Fee: $60.00

Class description:
This class will focus on color, pattern, texture, motif, and the development of a personal style for your soda fired pots and sculpture. You will use glazes, flashing and colored slips, stains and oxides to experiment with a wide variety of techniques which include resists (wax, latex, paper and tape), stencils, spraying and brushwork. In addition to concentrating on surface, hand building and wheel throwing demonstrations will be presented. All students are required to share loading and unloading of kilns on evenings outside of class

Advanced Wheel: Throwing and Altering
Level: Advanced
LAC Members $ 340/ Non-members $ 350

Class description:
This class is for the proficient thrower to take their wheel work to the next level. We will push, pull and cut the clay on and off the wheel to create new forms on and off the wheel. We will use the wheel to make the basic forms, and then incorporate hand-building techniques to build forms that are out of round.

Student Information:

Class fee includes:

• 25lbs of stoneware, terra cotta clay, porcelain or soda clay.
• Glaze materials with over 200 glaze combinations
• Gas, soda and electric kiln firings
• Generous open studio time!! Come in 12 hours per day; 7 days per week (10am-10pm).

Please Note:

• Tool kits and additional clay are available for purchase.
• Don’t forget to dress-for-mess and bring an old towel to class.

Getting there: You can drive (ample parking). You can ride a bike (lots of bike racks). You can take the Brown Line to the Montrose Stop. You can take the Montrose bus to Ravenswood. You can take the Metra to Lawrence. Etc…

There is a lot to see, so I thought I would give you just a brief “virtual tour” to entice you to stop by on your next trip to the windy city.

On the first floor:

• Lillstreet Gallery (ceramics and jewelry)
• First Slice Cafe (lunch or coffee)
• metals department (2 classrooms)
• kids department (2 classrooms)
• ceramics department (6 classrooms, 44 wheels, 2 gas kilns, 1 soda kiln, 1 spray booth, 5 electric kilns, 2 slab rollers, 2 extruders, etc…

On the second floor:

• Studio artists (29 clay artists, including my studio in 205 west and 8 metalsmiths)
• First Slice kitchen
• Lowitz and Company
• studio gas kiln
• studio electric kiln room
• ArtReach office
  

On the third floor:

• more studio artists (clay, jewelry, printmaking and photography)
• glass department
• printmaking department
• textiles department
• painting and drawing department (2 classrooms)

The building is open for visitors to wander around. Explore the classrooms, visit the studios, shop in the gallery. The studios don’t have regular hours, but if you stop by, there is probably something open! There is no way I could actually show you everything, so you’ll just have to come see for yourself.

Interested in making a day of it? Other things to see and eat within 2 blocks:

• Architectural Artifacts
• Hazel
• Spacca Napoli
• Angel Food Bakery

And some things that are pretty darn close, but you’d probably want to hop in a car, on a bike, on a train:
Haus
Old Town School of Folk Music

If you’re making a special trip to Lillstreet, send me an email to let me know you’re coming so I can make sure that I’m there to meet you! I live quite close, so if I’m in town, it’s pretty easy for me to meet up with you.

Feb. 16th, 2008
I’m so excited to teach a workshop for Earlham Alums! I learned to make pots at Earlham where ceramics was highly supported by the students and faculty. Over the years of having a studio at Lillstreet, I’ve had a lot of EC alums visit me. Their support of clay as students at Earlham has transformed into a life long appreciation of handmade pots.
If you’re an Earlham alum in the mid-west, I hope you can make it to the workshop. Or if you know someone else who is… pass it on!

Join fellow Earlhamites, parents, and friends of the College at Lillstreet Art Center for a hands-on workshop with Emily Murphy ‘99. Each participant will have the opportunity to learn hand building techniques and create his or her own mug or vase. Pieces will be fired and available for pickup approximately 2-3 weeks after the event. All work will be completely non-porous, food-safe, and microwave and dishwasher safe! We will gather at 11:30 for pizza and an opportunity to hear an update from campus!
 

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Another Cup? at Baltimore Clayworks curated by Deborah Bedwell.
Jan. 12 – Feb. 23, 2008

I was excited to be invited to be a part of this exhibition. See the pictures 0f the show here.

An invitational exhibition featuring cups from established and emerging ceramic artists. The curator, Baltimore Clayworks’ Executive Director Deborah Bedwell believes, “… that a beautifully made cup, which satisfies its utilitarian and/or artistic intention is exactly what our culture needs and answers the question “Does the world need another cup? 

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Yunomi Invitational at Akar
I have also been invited to be a part of the Yunomi Exhibition at Akar. I’ll keep you posted when the show is online. Right now the pots are in the mail, on their way to Akar.
They have the tea bowls from last year’s exhibition online. Take a look, there are some amazing vessels!
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My plan has been for a long time to redo my main website: sodafired.com
But everything else gets in the way (like making pots, my blog, etc…). But I am trying to at least keep some of the info updated.
Here’s the latest:

updated artist statement

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A new class session at Lillstreet Art Center in Chicago began a couple of weeks ago. Spring session starts mid-March. The classes I’m teaching will be the same next session, but with slightly different days & times.

Advanced Wheel – Throwing and Altering
Tuesdays, 6:30 – 9:30pm

This class is for the proficient thrower to take their wheel work to the next level. We will push, pull and cut the clay on and off the wheel to create new forms on and off the wheel. We will use the wheel to make the basic forms, and then incorporate hand-building techniques to build forms that are out of round. 

Advanced Topics in Soda: Investigating Materials
Wednesdays, 7 – 10pm

This class is for advanced students who have had some experience in soda and atmospheric firing, and are looking to investigate the process more deeply. We will be focused on exploring and understanding different clay bodies and dozens of slips. We will look at slides for inspiration and will identify particular finishes that are interesting and exciting. From there, we will study individual materials and how they react in the soda kiln. The end goal will be to create some new and unique finishes through the investigation of materials 

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The Conversation Continues…
You might remember the show that I was a part of last fall: Being to Being: Collective Conversations in Clay. Check out the website- there are new images of the show (installed) and the process. And it sounds like there will be another show this fall with a new twist. As always, I’ll keep you posted!

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Ask a Potter
I regularly get questions via email from other ceramic artists seeking my advice. There are certain questions that I get over and over again: new graduates asking advice on what to do after graduation; questions about kilns and soda; people coming to visit Chicago wondering what clay focused things there are to do an see when they’re in town, etc… I try to answer these questions as best I can within the limitations of my time and knowledge. Last week I got a bunch of emails, many of which are variations on common questions that I get. I thought to myself: “I should use each question and my answer as a blog post.” So that’s what I’m going to do. And I’m hoping that maybe a dialog can open up and the Pottery Blog readers can help fill in the gaps in my advice with their own knowledge and experiences.

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Europe, clay?
Ian and I are planning a trip to Europe in mid to late August. We have a wedding to go to in Germany, but other than that, we don’t have any specific plans. We’re in the VERY early stages of planning (I think we’re heading north, Denmark, etc…). Does anyone have any suggestions for clay related things that we should consider doing/ seeing and maybe take in account in our planning? Thanks in advance for the suggestions!

Those are all the updates for now. It’s nice to be back!

with Emily Murphy

This workshop is the whole soda firing process packed into
one weekend at Lillstreet Art Center.

This workshop is for intermediate and advanced students, amateur potters, and professional ceramic artists who want to have an introduction to soda firing or to expand their soda firing knowledge. Workshop students will learn how to load the soda kiln: no kiln loading experience necessary!

Soda firing is an atmospheric firing that produces flashes of color, a textured orange peel surface, and reacts in a variety of ways with different slips, glazes and clay bodies. The “soda” in soda firing is a combination of baking soda and soda ash. The soda mixture is introduced into the kiln near the end of the firing. The soda vaporizes and is carried on the flame throughout the kiln. Wherever the flame travels, the soda travels and reacts with the pieces in the kiln to create a glazed or flashed surface.

Come to the workshop with an assortment of bisqued pieces. Variety is best. Please come with 6 – 10 pieces. You’re not guaranteed to get every piece into the kiln, but we’ll try to get in at least 6 pieces, depending on size. The more variety of forms, sizes, shapes and clay bodies, the better for loading! The clay must be rated to Δ10. If you’d like to purchase some of Lillstreet’s special soda clay body ahead of time, you can make arrangements for that. You will be contacted via email prior to the workshop with suggestions of commercially available clay bodies, as well as some slip recipes that you can mix to use on your greenware.

Saturday is firing day. This timing is approximate- we will be mixing up the soda and putting it into the kiln around this time (Δ9).

Monday, April 24, 3-6:30pm 

Unloading time! We’ll unload the kiln and examine our results from the soda kiln.

Lillstreet Members $135 / Nonmembers $140

Soda Firing lab fee: $30

Jordan and I worked side by side on our senior projects at Earlham, making pots, loading and firing kilns. After we graduated, Jordan and I have both gone on to make pots full time- but we have arrived there by very different paths. Jordan went the route of many the clay graduate of EC, and did a long apprenticeship. He worked with Mark Skudlarek in Cambridge, Wisconsin for 3 1/2 years. After his apprenticeship was completed, he moved to north eastern Pennsylvania to set up his shop. He wrote an article for Ceramics Monthly about his journey of making pots.

In Union Dale, Pennsylvania Jordan built his wood kiln…

where he fires his pots…

If you are interested in registering for this workshop, it’s on April 16th and 17th — contact Lillstreet Gallery for more information (773.769.4226).