Ted Ernst Pottery Blog

Chocolate Fantasy and Art Auction

2009-02-20T11:29:00.000-08:00

This year's Chocolate Fantasy and Art Auction will be held February 28th, 2009, from 6:00-10:00pm in The Club Level at Reser Stadium. Chocolate Fantasy will be hosted by OPB Oregon Art Beat's, K.C. Cowan. Chocolate Fantasy is a fund-raiser for The Arts Center, in Corvallis, Oregon and features chocolate desserts for tasting, an art auction, food, bar and music. Over 160 artists, businesses and community supporters of the arts have donated original works and more for this years auction. The art includes ceramics, photography, painting, woodworking, printmaking, fiber arts, jewelry and glass. I have been a member of the procurement committee responsible for procuring quality pottery and clay sculpture pieces to auction for several years now and I think this year's extravaganza will be one of the best! I hope to see you there!

February 2009 Update

2009-02-16T17:18:00.000-08:00

Wow! Where has the time gone! I missed posting updates for December AND January. December was busy with sales and shows. In January I have been working on making pots for two upcoming anagama firings. The first is at Stephen Mickey's Soulgama near Brush Prairie, Washington and the second is at Jay Widmer's Digger Mountain Anagama west of Alsea, Oregon.

I will be participating in Ceramics Showcase in Portland, Oregon in April and the Soulbuds Show At Mount Hood Community College in Gresham, Oregon in May. See my web page for details.

November 2008 Update

2008-12-15T15:34:00.000-08:00

November was a busy month. The Handmade in Oregon V exhibit was still on display in the MU Concourse Gallery at Oregon State University. At the beginning of the month I participated in the Wildfire Pottery Showcase in Bend, Oregon. Wildfire is a great show with a wonderful group of artists to hang out with. Towards the end of the month I participated in the P.E.O. Holiday Faire event in Corvallis, Oregon. This is a very pleasant small one day event in my home town. The class I teach at the Benton Center campus of Linn-Benton Community College was winding down, we were preparing for one last firing in the salt glazing class and, getting pots priced and packed for the December shows. I am looking forward to January when I can just hunker down in the studio for the winter and make new work for the spring anagama firings and get ready for the OPA Ceramics Showcase in Portland, Oregon at the end of April.

October 2008 Digger Mountain Anagama Firing

2008-11-10T16:40:00.000-08:00

We fired Jay Widmer's Digger Mountain anagama kiln near Alsea, Oregon, October 24-26, 2008 and opened and unloaded the kiln Octover 31. This was another really nice firing from this kiln. We emphasized side-stoking the kiln with more wood than usual using more maple and wet alder in both the side-stokes and front stokes than in past firings. The result was more ash and color throughout the kiln and much more ash and color behind the stoke alley. There also appeared to be much more irridescence on the pots. Due to the more aggressive side-stoking we stalled the kiln near the end of the firing by blocking the mouse ports for the side-stoke alley. Once we cleared those the kiln took off. As a consequence we fired a little longer than usual to make sure we held the kiln at a high enough temperature at the end of the firing -- it was well worth it when opened the kiln and unloaded one beautiful piece after another! See my website at tedernstpottery.com to see more pictures of the firing. Once I get some pictures taken of the individual pots I'll post them on my website.

Wildfire Pottery Showcase in Bend, Oregon

2008-11-05T15:19:00.000-08:00

This weekend, November 8th and 9th, I will be participating in the Wildfire Pottery Showcase 2008 show in Bend, Oregon at the Seven Peaks School (19660 Mountaineer Way -- off of Mt. Washington Drive). This is the 4th annual show and sale presented by the Clay Guild of the Cascades. The show and sale features over 25 Oregon clay artists and includes demonstrations and kid's clay area. I will be doing a demnostration on Sunday morning from 10:30-11:30. If you are in the Bend area stop by and say Hi!

October 2008 Update

2008-10-22T13:28:00.000-07:00

The past couple of months have been busy. I have recently moved my web page from Google to Wordpress.com. Google is no longer supporting google pages and their new google sites option didn't look like it would work for me. I also now have my very own domain name: tedernstpottery.com. My new web site is therefore, http://tedernstpottery.com/. The old web site will remain online for awhile but will no longer be updated. I still plan to keep my blog right here as my pulpit for relating news about shows and anything else I might want to write about!

In September I participated in the Corvallis Fall Festival in Corvallis, Oregon as part of the Willamette Ceramics Guild booth. We had one of our best shows ever as a Guild. I did better than I have in the past also.

Shortly after the Fall Festival I participated in the 10th Annual Clayfest show at the Lane County Fairgrounds in Eugene, Oregon during the first part of October. I was greatly honored and humbled by having one of my salt-glazed pots be chosen by the other artists in the show for second place for Best of Show. Frank Gosar of Eugene won first place with a wonderful scultural piece and James Tingey of Corvallis won third place for a great teapot and tea cup set. Alyssa Clark won for best booth. This is the second year that I have participated in Clayfest. It was nice to connect once again with the Eugene artists and meet new folks this year. It was really nice to have customes from last stop by and say hi.

Wildfire Pottery Showcase is the next sales event in Bend, Oregon on November 8th and 9th. The event is held at the Seven Peaks School, 19660 Mountaineer Way (off of Washington Dr.). Wildfire features over 25 Oregon clay artists. The hours are Saturday, 10:00am to 5:00pm and Sunday 10:00am to 4:00pm. My booth is right next to the demonstration area. In fact I will be doing a demonstration on Sunday at 10:00am.

I will also be having a selection of my wood-fired pottery on display in the OSU Memorial Union Concourse gallery in Corvallis, Oregon as part of the Handmade in Oregon 5 exhibit. The exhibit runs from October 27, 2008 to December 6, 2008.

I will participating as a crew member in an anagama firing at Jay Widmer's Digger Mountain kiln west of Alsea, Oregon on October 24th, 25th, and 26th. This firing comes at a good time for me as it will give me nice new pieces to take to the Wildfire show in Bend in November.

For a complete listing of my shows and exhibits visit my web site: http://tedernstpottery.com/.

2008-07-11T20:48:00.000-07:00

da Vinci Days -- Corvallis, Oregon -- July 19-20, 2008

I will be at the da Vinci Days celebration in Corvallis, Oregon on July 19th and 20th, 2008. I will be participating in the Willamette Ceramics Guild booth in the Art Village located in front of the Arts Center. The booth will be open from 10:00-6:00 on Saturday and 10:00-5:00 on Sunday. In addition to having many different styles of pottery and sculpture for sale, we will have both hand-building and wheel-throwing demonstrations and clay for kids to create their own masterpieces. This is one of the Ceramics Guilds funnest events of the year. Stop by and say hi!

2008-06-20T12:00:00.000-07:00

UPCOMING EVENTS

We had a great firing at Stephen Mickey's Soulgama last weekend. Great crew, great food and great weather! We open the kiln tomorrow, June 21. I hate the suspense of waiting for kiln openings!

Below is a list of my upcoming pottery events for the next 6 months. This list is, of course, subject to change. Further details will be provided as these events get closer. Check back often!

June 20-22, 2008 Lake Oswego Festival of the Arts -- Lake Oswego, OR

July 19-20, 2008 da Vinci Days Corvallis, OR
I will be participating in the Willamette Ceramics Guild booth in the Art Village and doing throwing demonstrations on Saturday.

August 1 - October 4, 2008 LBCC Benton Center Faculty Artists Benton County Historical Society and Museum, Philomath, OR

September 27-28, 2008 Corvallis Fall Festival Corvallis, OR
I will be participating in the Willamette Ceramics Guild booth in Central Park

October 10-12, 2008 Clayfest Eugene, OR

November 8-9, 2008 Wildfire Pottery Showcase Bend, OR

November 22, 2008 Holiday Faire Corvallis, OR

December 5-6, 2008 Holiday Market Place Oregon State University Memorial Union, Corvallis, OR

Half-a-Million Pots

2008-05-02T22:17:00.000-07:00

Half-a-Million Pots is a celebration of 30 years of ceramics at the Benton Center in Corvallis, Oregon. The Benton Center is a satellite campus of Linn-Benton Community College (LBCC) in Albany, Oregon. Exhibits of pottery and sculptural pieces are being presented at various venues in Corvallis and Albany including: Corvallis Arts Center, OSU Memorial Union (MU) Concourse, Footwise, The Book Bin, Corvallis Benton County Public Library, LBCC North Santiam Hall. I am part of the group exhibiting work at the OSU MU Course. The exhibit runs from April 30, 2008 to May 30, 2008.

As part of this event there was a reception at the Corvallis Arts Center last night and panel discussion by Jay Widmer, Cynthia Spencer and Cheryl Crownover. Tomorrow, Saturday, May 3, 2008 Cheryl Crownover will present a workshop to demosntrate hand-building techniques.

Below is a short description of the history of the Benton Center Ceramics Studio.

Half a Million Pots
LBCC Benton Center Studio

LBCC opened a Corvallis campus when they acquired Washington grade school in 1978. I was teaching with Gene Tobey on the main campus when I was offered a chance to establish a ceramics program in a second grade classroom. Our facility was humble but the director wanted to offer classes before a kiln could be constructed. That first term we made pots and journeyed to my Alsea studio where we glazed, had lunch and later fired the pots. The first stoneware kiln became a foot hold in the play shed where we expanded with new kilns and an outdoor raku patio. A few years later in 1983 we began a unique experimental salt glaze class that continues to attract talented students and instructors. With the closing of the main campus studio in 1990, ceramics was consolidated in our unassuming facility but was enhanced with the construction of a new shed and two new salt kilns. With new class offerings, capacity enrollment, artistic and energetic students and instructors, the program continued to flourish.

This vibrant group of ceramists formed a creative learning community with positive support from college administrators. The local public would swarm our semi-annual pottery sales, returning resources to further grow the program. This momentum was recognized by Benton Center director Penny York when planning for the expansion and renovation of the Benton Center in 2004.We were rewarded with a beautiful and functional studio that puts our ceramics program front and center for all students who dream of making their own pots.

Over the last 30 years since we emerged from the second grade one-sink classroom studio, many talented and committed potters have become instructors, studio potters, kiln builders and professional artists and enriched our community with their hands, hearts and spirits in clay.

To celebrate our 30 years of Benton Center ceramics, Jay Widmer, Cynthia Spencer, and Cheryl Crownover will be showing at the The Arts Center, April 23-May 20, in Corvallis. We have also secured other venues to showcase the work of Benton Center talent; the MU Concourse, Footwise and Book Bin windows, a display case at the Corvallis-Benton County Public Library, the Benton Center plinth and the North Santiam Hall at the LBCC Albany campus.