There was a good turn-out yesterday, with several familiar clay folks interested in seeing how Jason works. He gave a presentation to TriCity Potters some years ago, as he was preparing for his big show at Bellevue Art Gallery, near Seattle. This link will take you to photos of his gorgeous work!

https://get.google.com/albumarchive/112208740085943894765/album/AF1QipPp20_ifUoMXXVTZM_SmR8LNTzOAHtGO2mL8qqV?authKey=COX5nqayvt3BnAE

Yesterday the room was not dark enough for his images to show well so I have not included any here. Instead you can see his little demos of making a hand-built beaker and painting with Chinese over-glazes. He was well-prepared and managed to cover details of his process in the one hour available after the slide show.

Little bisque-fired cut-outs are used to transfer a design to a slab form, with pressure from inside it. Clever!

He uses overglaze materials from China where he has worked for several months at a time.

The details of his mixing ingredients escaped me as I don’t plan to start over-glazing but for sure he is a detail person. He brought in a poured porcelain slip-moulded fish form to demonstrate his over-glazing technique. And he had a Chinese porcelain tile which he had already painted with underglazes and fired. On that he showed how he would add more details with overglaze enamels. His early experience in sign-painting and many years of drawing and painting, as well as his ceramics degrees now lend themselves to a practiced excellence in his work.

He tells us that at least one of his large ceramic installations will be showing in Portland for next weekend’s NCECA Conference. (I’ve decided not to attend this year even though it’s nearby and I will be regretting that decision when I hear all about the adventures of Shadbolt staff and others who do go).

There are so many clay artists to watch and listen to tomorrow, I am glad to have spent some time with Jason already. Thank you and good luck for your future shows and teaching and thanks for sharing your concern for our world, Jason.

My first destination was Baker Street Ceramics studio where the resident artists are Deb McCunn and Jason Walker. Jason was our presenter at the February TriCity Potters’ meeting and I took him up on the invitation to visit if ever I was in Bellingham. What a marvellous studio these two operate! The owner, Deb, has had the interior of a warehouse totally refurbished as a ceramics workshop, with a loft area reserved for studios for herself and Jason and a lunch area. Downstairs there is a large open space for visiting clay artists, several wheels, work tables, shelves and all manner of clay equipment including a very smart gas kiln.

Deb runs a Clay Club on Thursdays for members to work on their own projects. She also offers several clay classes for all levels. Do check www. bakercreekceramics.com for more details.

I was fascinated to see what Jason Walker is working on. We were so impressed with the work he showed us in his ‘slide show’ and he’d told us he’s preparing for a major solo show at the Bellevue Art Gallery, Seattle in October of this year. He was kind enough to show me all the pieces he’s made so far and suffice it to say, the show is going to be a must-attend event. Jason is not only a master of every facet of clay fabrication but he is also draws amazingly well. His passion is the environment, and he makes art which addresses the awful possibilities the future holds. I agreed not to take any photos of the various pieces I saw but I can tell you that there are creatures, large scenes and mechanical devices, all drawn on and painted with his signature underglazes. When he sends me the show invitation I’ll be sure to publish it here and on Facebook.

Since I returned home Deb has sent me information on a special workshop that is being offered at Baker Creek Ceramics. Clay Artists Kristin Schimick and Virginia Jenkins will teach how to make ‘Compelling Surfaces’ on April 26th and 27th. They will also being giving a free public lecture at Whatcom Community College on Thursday April 25th.

Compelling Surfaces Schimik and Jenkins April 2014

Also of interest to clay people I’m sure, are two trips being organized through Whatcom Community College Community Education Department in June, to Pilchuk Glass School and to Chihuly Garden and Glass Exhibition at Seattle Center. Phone 360 383 3200 to register.

My next destination was Good Earth Pottery in nearby Fairhaven. I always pop in whenever we’re in the area, usually after lunching at Colophon Cafe and Bookshop. How lucky they are to have a vast heritage brick building for the co-op pottery shop and room on the upper floors for studios! They have been in the Morgan Block Building since 1969. The rent is reasonable and the shop couldn’t be better placed, in the heart of a tourist destination. I had a nice chat with two potters working in the shop that day, Carrie Selting and Ann Marie Cooper. I enjoyed their work and we discussed the variety of pottery for sale there. www.goodearthpots.com We agreed that it would be good to have some connection between potters there and in BC’s Lower Mainland. Do make a point of visiting this shop which is filled with an astonishing variety of pottery.

In downtown Bellingham I dropped in to the fine Whatcom County Museum to check what Art shows I could find. Sadly the Art Museum was between shows but the area is a fascinating place to check used book stores, funky clothing, artist supply and toy shops and I found a fledgeling ceramics drop-in studio. This store-front space has only recently opened and offers anyone the opportunity to have a go at making a pot. They have wheels, a kiln and glazes and help available. This is a link to a recent article in the local paper.

http://www.bellinghamherald.com/2014/01/04/3403074/new-bellingham-pottery-studio.html

Last Wednesday evening Jason Walker was the presenter for TriCity Potters’ monthly meeting. He lives in Bellingham, Washington state but is teaching on Wednesdays in the Ceramics department at Emily Carr University this year.

Several of us had noticed his remarkable work at NCECA in Seattle (the light bulb beaker in the photo here was on display there), realized he lives nearby and decided to see if he would drive across the border to talk to us. How lucky we were to discover that he’s in the lower mainland every week!

I was so impressed with Jason’s work and its exquisite drawings that I took photos of many of his slides. Rather than edit too much I’ve put my photos into a Picasa album so you can go to the link below and get an idea of why we were blown away! I apologize for not having made a note of titles. If I can get them from Jason I’ll add them to the photos here and in my Picasa album.

https://picasaweb.google.com/112208740085943894765/JasonWalker

For further information and more images check out his website. I hope that he will add more recent work soon.

http://jasonwalkerceramics.com/portfolio.php?page=collections

When he’s not teaching at Emily Carr he works out of a studio in Bellingham. I plan to pop in to visit next time I’m in Bellingham.

http://www.bakercreekceramics.com

Jason earned his BFA from Utah State University in 1996 and his MFA from Penn State U in 1999. After that he worked and taught at the Archie Bray Foundation in Montana for a couple of years. I wonder if that was when Aaron Nelson was there? He is an outdoorsman and often takes his sketch pad with him when hiking in US National Parks and Wilderness areas. Now he is using his passion for drawing and his skill at making thrown, hand built and mould-made ceramic forms to make us consider the natural world, our place in that world and what we have done to it. His pieces are sometimes a combination of wildlife with mechanical additions, forming a canvas for his painstaking illustrations of his thoughts. His quotation below sums up some of his ideas.

“Light bulbs, plugs, power-lines and pipes that grow from the earth are common images found in my work, juxtaposed with birds, insects, and organic matter such as leaves and trees. Similar to the thinking of the Hudson River School of painting, I attempt to portray nature’s vastness and human-kind as a small proponent of it. Yet I draw the small things of nature large and the huge creations of man small. I want to show how we influence the landscape, or nature. My ideas stem from my own experiences bicycle touring, backpacking and the daily hikes I take with my dog.” Jason Walker
Read more at http://www.ceramicsnow.org/jasonwalker#Vd0B0CqyUUmEKrGJ.99

As far as his technique is concerned, Jason explained that he works with a really white porcelain and the drawings are underglazes applied with fine water-colour brushes. If, rarely these days, the piece is functional he will glaze the inside but the exterior is left unglazed. He also uses china paints sometimes when he is looking for a slightly glazed look in some areas.

Thank you Jason, for a most interesting evening. The work is skilfully made, can I say beautiful? and thought-provoking. We’ll have to try to get to an important solo show he is working towards, to be held at Bellevue Art Museum, Seattle in July 2014.