Céramique Zalata

Exhibition december 2011

2011-12-07T21:22:00.000-05:00

I am exhibiting this month at Espace KAO, in Val-David, Québec, Canada.
My exhibition is in two very different parts; one part is an installation and the second part is wood-fired ware. it's going on until January 8th, 2012. Come and see it for yourself.

fall fire

2011-11-16T20:58:00.000-05:00

sitting on the wood pile

My second wood-firing at the same kiln,

André's kiln, took place in november. This time I had the opportunity to tend to the kiln a lot and I learned a great deal. After loading the kiln I got second thoughts about my work. I tried many new things all at once and for the first time in a kiln that's not even mine. First I mixed 2 kinds of clays and added tons of black sand to them. Then along with my usual blue-green and kaki glazes, I mixed up a new cone 12 white glaze which I had only tried at cone 6 in an electric kiln. Then I filled all my bowls with pine needles and cedar branches.

It was a fragrant treat while loading the kiln. So all these new aspects of my work which I had never even tested seperately kinda worried me. On the other hand, I love surprises and I was hoping it was going to be a good one. And it was! There is tons of room for improvements of course but for the first time I feel like this small body of work is finally what I want my work to be like. It's very strong, subtle, has many nuances, the clay body is more lively and plays well with the glazes, every piece is unique and it all had to undergo the flame and the heat that only a wood-kiln gives out. I was very satisfied and it was a blast unloading those surprises.

Potters' summer action

2011-09-24T20:37:00.006-04:00

It's been almost three months already since I've written on my blog...

Well, to catch up on that time passed way to quickly here is what I've been up to.

Working and exhibiting at 1001POTSin July and August. If you've never heard of this unique and great ceramics exhibit, take a look at their website: www.1001POTS.com

For me the highlights of that 23rd season besides seeing and touching over 100 Potters' work was a few events, like the following:

A potters competition organized by tucker's clay which was alot of fun. It was a series of challenges like; handbuild the tallest structure with 5kg of clay and walk 5 feet with it or throw with your eyes covered the tallest and widest shape etc
The final prize was a brand new shimpo whisper wheel. I got second place! I was told that I basically lost by 1 cm!!!

Another event was the Japanese tea ceremony held by the Chado Urasenke Montréal. It was fascinating to see them prepare themselves, prepare the tea, offering it etc. ,but most interestingly was to see different bowls by many different potters take an important part in this calming and beautiful ceremony.

June fire

2011-07-07T23:57:00.002-04:00

Kyusu. Ash deposit on raw clay

In June, I participated in my first wood-firing. André Lacroix is an experienced potter who has a phoenix-style updraft wood kiln. Four potters, including me rented his kiln for a firing. It was a wonderful experience to spend two days with a bunch of great potters on the beautifully located kiln site.

The sun was shining, the food was great and the firing went very well. What more to expect?

Daniel loading the kiln

Daniel stoking the firebox

Marie-Josée, me and Daniel

Lunchtime, a feast at every meal
André(bottom right) Julie, another potter(next to him)

Portrait of the team infront of the kiln
left to right: myself, André, Marie-Josée, Daniel (sitting), Julie and Nicholas

Opening the kiln after the firing

cups from the firing
Kaki and ash glaze

Urn. Ash glaze, a bit of blue glaze and natural ash deposit

Urn. brushed kaki on raw clay and ash deposit

Kyusu and two cups
Kaki and ash glaze

Busy May

2011-05-31T21:20:00.002-04:00

So the month of May has been extra busy. All potters that I know are preparing for the 1001POTS exhibit in mid-July. After the move and setting-up my studio, I was finally able to concentrate on making pots for this event. We've had so much rain for the last 2 months that whenever it's sunny everyone tries to re-charge on some sun. Being quite deprived myself, I set up my glazing tables outside and did just that for two full sunny days. I sure got my dose of sun and was glad it became gray and rainy again for the rest of the week. It was awsome to glaze outside, listening to birds mixed with my radio and smelling pine and sweet wild strawberries while the sun's heat loosened up my back muscles.
Cleaning-up was much simpler as well and the pots were nice and dry ready to jump in the kiln.
Can't wait to do it again...except now it's black fly season starting! Yikes..

My shed that was transformed into my studio.

Glazing and enjoying the beautiful sunny day

In May, I also had the privilege to visit a fellow potter Matthieu Huck and give him a hand with his wood-firing. He has a lot of experience and even though that was only his third firing in his own
up-draft kiln, he was very laid back and confident. I think he was quite satisfied with the results. He designed and built his own kiln. Quite impressive.

His kiln has an unusual feature of having two small fire-boxes.

Matthieu checking the cones at the end of firing

A new season

2011-05-04T22:01:00.000-04:00

Nice freezing spring weather in time for renovations

The shed as we took posession of it

Spring is barely here where I live. And april seemed never ending for me.I've just moved into a new home and a new studio. Moving things from one home to another is not my favorite activity but it's straight forward. Moving a work place is way harder. It's for the best of course, that was the whole point of the big move. It was for me to finally have a workshop that I would plan, organize and settle in properly. Next to our house, there's a decent size shed (12X16 feet) that has become my studio.
Before the move, we had to empty it from loads of stuff that the previous owner left us.
(Including dead mice) Then take down all the plywood heavily nailed all over the unfinished walls with crowbars.

After that clean-up we were able to start insulating the walls, then nail a polyurethane plastic over it.
Then drill in wood supports before putting the plaster walls.

Shed starting to look like a workable place and a bit warmer

I had NEVER done any of these tasks and eventhough they seemed simple...when it's the first time there is a huge amount of wasted time while trying to figure out the best approach to this and that or to patch up errors etc. I had great help from my husband, my father in law and a few friends.
We even insulated the floor with a special 2 inch thick foam, then added plywood and vinyl flooring.
We finally finished moving everything we've got in this world yesterday! The challenge now is where to put it all. My workshop is still unfinished, but it's good enough for me to start working in it as I have less than 2 months for the 1001 POTS event left plus 2 other events in the summer. I am almost panicking but I've been getting up very early and that helps me feel better and do more.
I've learned so much about tools and materials this past month that I feel ready to start thinking about working on another construction project...like a small wood kiln...Just thinking about it.
If anyone out there has websites, books or ideas they want to share with me about building a very small and simple woodkiln, please let me know.
It's good to have a good place to work in! A HUGE Thank You to all my helpers, teachers, tool lenders, advisors, babysitters, cooks, massage therapists and great friends.
What comes around goes around.
Back to work!
Will post a photo of the finished studio soon!

Ode to Japan

2011-04-01T22:14:00.000-04:00

To all the inspiration that it brought into my life

Installation exhibit

2011-03-11T22:10:00.000-05:00

On March 3rd was the vernissage of this great exhibit uniting 18 ceramic artists.
It took place at the Musée de la Céramique du Haut-Richelieu, Québec,Canada.
A mature ceramic artist had to invite and introduce a younger one.
I was presented by Alain-Marie Tremblay a great ceramic artist from my town.

The exhibit is ongoing until April 24th.
For me it was a great experience to be pushed in with the big leagues. This exhibit along with

Carmen Abdallah and Alain-Marie Tremblay
background: one of his pieces

To see more about Alain-Marie's work and life, check out his site: www.betonique.com

Alain-Marie's encouragement inspired me to make an installation piece. Something I last did at University
more than 10 years ago. I usually only make functional ware. I could have presented some of my functional work, but I wanted to do something new for this exhibit. I let myself be inspired by some of Alain-Marie's work and the egyptian style mashrabeya (intricate carved patterns wooden windows). A hint of Egypt and a touch of local winter influence gave the result below.
The piece is consisted of a recycled wooden window frame on which I attached my crystal shapes with vine from my family's garden. The crystal shapes are made of stoneware coils and glazed at cone 6-9.

from the side

I had a lot of fun trying out different patterns with coils. My aim was to make a symmetrical shape without it being too straight. Again inspired by islamic patterns found all over the middle east that I find fascinating. The light going through the piece and the creation of the shadow is the effect i was looking for.
VOILA.

Warm winter day

2010-12-23T22:01:00.000-05:00

People always rave about Maple trees in the fall. True they are magnificent in the fall. But have you taken a closer look in the winter...They're no Evergreens, they're more subtle. Here is an incognito maple grove in the winter, who manages to catch a nice amount of snow without having leaves and letting a light breeze and much light through it's branches. Perfect for a cross-country skiing stroll on a warm winter day.

Got a last minute order of mugs. Not a shape I ordinarily make, but I finally gave in to people's requests lately. They're not so bad to make, I just don't tend to drink out of things with handles. They are in the kiln as I'm writing this. The person who ordered them cancelled her order and two days later one of the stores I supply in Montréal called me up to see if I had more mugs. Things always work out, sometimes it takes longer than that, but in the end I guess it always does.

Follow the light

2010-12-14T21:28:00.001-05:00

I think I must start every winter post with an inspiring winter scenery, sorry..

I always like to make lanterns for the end of fall, just after the time-change and when everything gets dark early. Light is so uplifting during that time and all through winter, I find. It's been a bit delayed this year and I made them for early winter. I always find it fascinating to stare at light in the dark.

I feel like a fairy with my lanterns, able to alternate whichever environment one may be in just by turning the light switch on. The lanterns can reflect the light and motifs on the walls and all the way to the ceiling making us forget where we are and who we are (for a brief moment if you're an adult).

It's very relaxing. In early december, I made an installation with a few other potters of about 20 lanterns in a dark room. When one enters the space, it's like stepping into a fantasy world. It's magical.

Here are some examples of my work, even though it's hard to compare it with the real experience..

Square lantern, 60cm high, 25cm wide

Square Lantern, detail

Drop lantern, 35cm high

Serenity

2010-12-04T21:51:00.002-05:00

This is the creek that runs behind my house. Winter is here and everything is in its place. All is heavy and silent, except for the sound of flowing water. Nothing is stagnant, everything is in movement from within. That's exactly how I feel about my work these days. It is stirring my mind, my emotions and my results to fire at cone 9-10. I am glad to be surrounded by such beauty that is strong enough to calm me and help me contain the fire within.

My winters are never cold.

(I am SO ready for a woodkiln!)

Start-over

2010-11-30T22:12:00.002-05:00

I should have started my new blog-wave with this article, but I was too excited to write about my trip to Japan first..anyway, here is my situation:
Since I just moved from Montréal to this charming little town in July, I have been working as part of the coordination team for the 1001 pots event. It was an extremely busy time. That ended the end of August.

No the wood is not to fire the kiln, it's a source of inspiration.

Then came the time to set-up my studio in my new home and unpack everything. What an annoying task. Where to store all the clay, which spot is the best for the wheel, adding shelves here and there and re-shaping a space that was so familiar to me before the move. Moving your studio is not great but being in the countryside and so close to forests and lakes is worth it. So all went well until it was time to decide what to do with the kilns, electric that is. Since we are renting a house at the moment, we can't and don't want to invest in a shed or a structure for my kilns. So after much thought and consulting other potters, I have decided to move only my small kiln and store it...outside. A potter friend made me a special extension cord for it. So I have been firing in it since end of October. It is my only kiln at the moment. I have to fire almost everyday because it's so small. And for bigger pieces, I have to control myself for the moment.

That piece barely fit

Small kiln, big breakthrough. One night, the kiln went on for 9 hours. Obviously something went wrong for a cone6 firing! I only rely on the small cone because it's such a tiny kiln. It's never done that in the 6 years I've had it. It went up to about cone10. The next morning it was like Christmas, totally unexpected results and pretty sweet too. I've been wanting to test my glazes at a higher temperature but haven't had the time and guts...Here it was, it did it for me. I've been firing cone9 since and boy am I happy!
One step at a time I am getting closer to my dream; a woodkiln.

Kiln building in Taku, Japan

2010-11-29T22:02:00.001-05:00

I have recently come back from spending 2 weeks in the countryside of southern Japan. It was such a resourceful experience that I wish for all potters.
It was all Mike’s fault, the American potter living in Japan who always wanted to organize workshops to unite potters of the world under ceramics related circumstances.

The goal of the trip was to learn to build a Japanese woodkiln, half anagama and half noborigama, but very quickly it became a lot more than that.
I ended up meeting great local potters, toured their workspace and saw their kilns and amazing pottery.
I also got to know the other participants of the workshop who were also great potters and kiln builders. We were also very fortunate to watch Tsuruta Yoshihisa sensei give us throwing and traditional handbuilding demonstrations.
He also gave us trimming tips among many other ones.

All the exchanges of ideas, tips and approaches on pottery were a big inspiration to me and my work method.

A typical day would start at 8am after a communal breakfast. We would all walk down to the kiln site through rice terasses with a beautiful view of the mountains. 10 minutes later we would be on a real construction site.
Gravel, dust and excavated clay mounds everywhere.
Wood, mortar bags and tons of bricks neatly piled up.
Not to mention all the kinds of tools available, except pencils for some reason…
Craig Edwards was in charge of the kiln building plans and development. So we just waited for orders: dig deeper here, fill that hole with gravel, shovel some clay over there, sive it too, prepare more mortar, lay those bricks as level as you can (especially while Mike is around) etc.
Not to mention the art of brick cutting amazingly well done by Ron and Russ. The job that no one else had the courage, heart, and precision to do (or definitely didn’t want to be bent in half breathing dust near the atrocious sawing noise).
Anyway, everyone found a task and when it was done, there were plenty more to choose from. We had to make the kiln progress and so we tried. And even though we never saw the kiln fully finished, I think we made a great team and started a strong and tight kiln.
The days would fly by and so did the the great evenings, whether it was a pizza dinner in Mike’s clay oven under the stars or a nine course meal at a top notch restaurant served in beautiful local pottery. Sipping on some home made plum wine or trying a few different kinds of fine local Sake was definlitly a highlight for most of the team.

" I feel it's the beginning of a beautiful friendship "

Taking it to a whole-other-level

2010-11-27T22:10:00.004-05:00

OK, so I haven't written in forever...maybe even never, because I have only been posting photos all those years.
The time has come for me to make a choice. Delete my blog from the cyber-ceramics world or take it up a notch and actually write interesting things about my work, creative process, inspirations and projects. I am going with option #2. Watch out, I am taking it up a notch! To start it off, I will be posting an article about my wood-kiln building travel experience in Japan in October 2010.

Exhibition and vernissage

2008-07-30T11:45:00.003-04:00

Vases and a square bottle

2008-07-30T11:22:00.000-04:00

Small candle lantern and tiny bowls

2008-07-30T11:20:00.003-04:00

Teapots

2008-07-30T11:05:00.003-04:00

Cups and saké sets

2008-07-30T11:02:00.003-04:00

Bowls and plates

2008-07-30T10:53:00.000-04:00

Gallery and workshop

2007-08-08T12:12:00.000-04:00

This is my gallery. It is a large sun-lit room with my wheel and workspace on the opposite side. Visitors are welcome. My studio is a two minute walk from Metro Jean-Talon. Please make a rendez-vous ahead of time by e-mail to: ceramiquezalata@yahoo.ca

Glazing and Firing Workspace

2007-08-08T12:09:00.000-04:00

I do my glazing and firing in a workshop in the countryside outside of Montréal.

Bowls

2007-08-05T16:05:00.000-04:00

Tea bowls, small serving bowl, a large bowl, and a shape I like

Small sake bottle

2007-08-04T21:53:00.000-04:00

Textures and colors

2007-01-04T11:35:00.000-05:00

Inside texture of two bowls

2007-01-03T12:48:00.000-05:00

Large and small lanterns

2007-01-03T12:19:00.000-05:00

Electric lantern with a dragonfly motif

Small candle lantern

Small candle lantern

2006-07-28T14:09:00.000-04:00

Kiosque au
Festival International
Montreal en Arts
(FIMA June 2006)

Square bottle

2006-07-28T14:06:00.000-04:00

30cm X 4cm X 23cm

Hand-built vase I

2006-06-01T17:11:00.000-04:00

22.5cm X 26cm

Various long plates

2006-06-01T16:00:00.000-04:00

38.5cm X 1.5cm X 14cm

38.5cm X 2cm X 14.5cm

close-up of a third plate

Larger bowls

2006-06-01T15:38:00.000-04:00

20.5cm X 12.5cm

26.5cm X 6.5cm

Cups and bowls

2006-06-01T13:33:00.000-04:00

7.5cm X 9.5cm

17cm X 5cm

Japanese-style lanterns

2006-06-01T13:10:00.000-04:00

Each lantern has an electric light inside

My Artist Statement

2006-06-01T13:00:00.000-04:00

I lived in Japan for three years near Arita and Imari, which are ceramic and porcelain-rich areas of Kyushu, Japan. My final year in Japan was dedicated to a one-year apprenticeship at the Hiryu-gamma kiln in Takeo, Japan.

In Montréal, I have adapted to the reality of a potter's life in Canada. I have begun doing more research and testing with ash glazes. My work varies from japanese-style lanterns to cups, bowls, and pots.

My work is oriented towards the awareness of humanity in the daily use of art. I am trying to raise the level of consciousness between the difference of using unique hand-made wares versus serial machine made ones. My work blends a traditional craft with a more individual one.

My main focus, which was reinforced with the japanese perception of ceramics, continues to be towards the functionality of ceramic art.