I had hoped to have two firings out in time for Heritage Day 2010. I was able to get one out. Above are some of the pots that came out of the firing unloaded Friday afternoon. It was a good firing, number 71 for this kiln.

The weather cooperated in spite of predictions to the contrary all week. I don’t think we set any records but it was a very successful sale day at the pottery. At the end of the day I had about as much inventory as I had before unloading the kiln Friday so I’d say we sold about a kiln load. The Friends of Historic Spring City, who sponsor heritage Day, were very pleased with the day reporting $28K gross sales. The local LDS ward youth took in around $6K on their breakfast and lunch sales.

The Friends of Historic Spring City wanted an ATM but the city wouldn’t let them put one up at the old school (city property) without meeting with the city council which can not happen until June, so I agreed to let them place one at the pottery shop. It didn’t hurt my sales any. At the end of the day I had a nice stack of crisp new $20 bills in my till.

My first visitors in the morning were Earl and Claude from Kingstown, Jamaica.

The usual Provo gang were there as well including Davy, who helped me all day, Sam, Jason, Kayte and Sara the Brains.

Amber Denton Johnson and two of her kids.

Thanks to all of those who came out and supported us. Lee, who’s studio was also on the tour sold a few paintings as well.

Preparing for the river also means getting the pots made. I had hoped to get a firing off before leaving but that will not be the case. I did get enough made that I can fire a soon as I return in late March. Lee and I are driving south this morning and the last week has been a blur of boat repair (one valve had to be replaced), general gear rigging and food packing. We are ready and actually had time last night to host Zina and several of her friends for a home cooked roast beef dinner.
here are some of the last pots:

A my friend Ed Palmer used to say, “Mugs are money.”

So are these little bowls that stack rim to rim and foot to foot under my bottom shelf , and they are fun to make.

I’ll be back…..

Female Northern Flicker, Redtail Hawk, female and male Redwinged Blackbird

I’ll be leaving tomorrow in the afternoon to go to Moab, Utah to rig and launch a river trip in Cataract Canyon of the Colorado River. I have been making pots, gardening and generally what ever needs doing around the place. Here are some of the pots.

These bowls are thrown from thirty pounds of clay. The rim is textured by rolling a bisqued clay cylinder over it.

I am making jugs in three sizes, 3 lbs, 4.5 lbs and 6 lbs.

I also made a run of these crocks. Lee wanted a couple for the kitchen so I made a bunch for her to choose from.

I made these vases with handles in the same three sizes as the jugs.

Lee and I have been back of dry ground for a little over a week now, lots of cleaning and sorting gear. Re-entry is always strange but when it has been over a month it can be mind bending. The past few days we have pruned our entire orchard. I wandered into my studio today and It feels like time to get muddy again, clay I mean. It is still to wet to start the garden. It snowed on and off all day and is pretty cold.
Easter was nice. I don’t do a lot to celebrate it. Lee went to Provo to care for her mother. I arose early and went for a sunrise walk with Ernie and Paul Larsen. The clouds were rolling all around and it was quite nice. Later Zina and I went to Anderson’s for an Easter brunch. It was LDS General Conference this weekend so she and I spent the day listening on the radio. Lee returned in the evening and we had supper with the Larsens.
Resurrection, Atonement and Grace.

The Shino Redux show at the Clay Art Center in Portchester, New York is now online.

Thirteen years ago Louisa and I went into upper Tuckup Canyon in the Grand Canyon looking for a rock art site called the Shaman’s Gallery. We had a pretty good map to go by that was annotated and got us into the area. It was early January. We hiked down into the canyon but were unable to find the sitr. That was mostly because we didn’t know exactly where the site was or what it looked like. We only knew that it was in the upper part of the canyon. It was a nice hike in the canyon with one of my favorite people.
Last week I went back with several friends. We had down loaded and printed a cowboy map from the internet. Having been in the upper Tuckup area before I figured the map, drawn by mule/horse packer Gordon Smith who claims to have “discovered” the site in the 80’s. Never mind that there is old cowboy graffiti at the site.
The Smith map says that after turning left off of the Toroweep Road you just “stick to the main path”.

Can anyone guess which is the “main path”? This fork is right past the first cattle guard, corral and ponds shown on the map. We stuck to the left fork as it looked most traveled and wound up after some pretty extreme 4 wheeling on a hilltop about two miles from the canyon rim.

After hiking to the trail head we discovered by checking the GPS that one of my hiking friends had brought that we were at The head of 150 Mile Canyon, about 6.5 miles from the trailhead in Tuckup as the crow flies. Of course we are not crows and would have had to drive back to the corrals and then another 10+ miles back out to the canyon rim at Tuckup.

Cowboy relics encountered along the trail into One Hundred Fifty Mile Canyon.

It was a nice day and the country was beautiful. The Shaman’s Gallery will have to wait for another day….again. Next time we bring real maps. Here are some of what we saw while camped out at Toroweep.

Looking west from the Toroweep overlook at the end of the day.

Lava Falls is awe inspiring even from 3k’ up.

More scenes around the Toroweep area.

There was an old cowboy camp on the rim at Saddle Horse Canyon. Here is a stove, watering tank and a pipe line going to a water source below the rim.

I got word today of two shows I will be in early next year. At the Clay Art Center in Port Chester New York “Shino Redux 2010″ curated my Malcolm Davis. The show opens February 6, 6-8 pm and closes March 6. The show opens January 23 and closes April 24, 2010. This piece was a gift to the AMOCA from the American Ceramic Society, Spencer Davis Collection.

In Los Angeles at the American Museum of Ceramic Art “Let’s Table This: A Survey of Table Top Vessels from the AMOCA’s Permanent Collection”.

Our good dog Dixon followed his brother Kane down the West Road today. Because the kiln is cooling I took the day off. I was out walking in the hills west of Spring City with our three dogs when a hunter shot him through the chest with an arrow. He claimed that Dixon was chasing game and that Utah law allows him to kill dogs that harass game. I will not bother you with details of the case. It doesn’t matter. My friend is dead. My body aches all over. Telling Lee was the hardest thing I have done in a long time. My next task is to wait on my heart to soften so I can forgive. It is a tall order, but part of the path that I signed onto.
I posted an album of images of Dix on FaceBook.

Our good friend Kate Mcleod posted this vid on Youtube that says some of what I am feeling.

“I’m making peace with losing a loved one
Lark in the morning, let it go free”

Here are some teasers from yesterday’s firing. The sale is November 27, 28 and December 5, 10 am to 4 pm. There will be another firing out just before the December 5 date.

SOLD

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