Friday after school was the Lunar New Year celebration. The Peninsula Pottery showed up and had a table. They offered ceramic snakes for the year of the snake. They also had fortune cookies glazed in red and magnets of other animals from the zodiac. The snakes and all turned out positively and it was a positive experience for Matilda who hosted the table.
Otherwise, it’s been a mid-quarter grind with multiple loading of Kilns, firing of Kilns, unloading of Kilns. Student work has been fun to see, we have the typical breakdown of skill levels, and interest levels.
I’ve started promoting a Mug Club hosted by the Peninsula Pottery as a fundraiser. We will give graduation mugs as a thank-you gift for a donation. Mugs will be limited to a run of 50. As we navigate this inaugural fundraiser, we will learn what roadblocks we face. It will also be interesting to see how we move ahead.
I’ve also made progress on rocks as a glaze. Taking a rock and crushing then milling it into a fine powder. Check out the pictures of the process below.
ACTIVITIES Here we are, another week has passed and I feel like there’s not much going on to talk about.
I’ve done a little glazing, a little throwing. A lot of kiln work going on at school. Two loads this week, loading a third with the potential of a Saturday session.
We did have a few good spills this week. One glaze and one throwing bucket. Enjoy the images!
ARTS AROUND I’m still searching for some ways to incorporate what’s going on, maybe it’s just a low point in activities. Calls have come out for SVOS recently, that always in or around May. NCECA is coming next month, so that’s exciting. So as the daylight hours grow, so will some of the opportunities to check out the arts.
So my goal of a weekly Thursday report of what I was up to didn’t last long. I was on track to get this week’s out until I wasn’t. If you make it through my short report, you’ll have an understanding of where things went off the rails.
Worked with the Peninsula Pottery to set up new wheels at M-A. It is fun to see new equipment and how it changes the look and feel of a space. M-A didn’t change all the wheels due to budget constraints, but even little changes make a difference.
The school week was off to a usual start with most of us looking forward to a “regular” week in terms of the schedule. We made it to Wednesday when it took a turn. Mid day and all staff email was sent from the Principal, announcing an important meeting and while it was outside of contract hours at the end of the day it was important the we all be there if we could, and by the way, the District Superintendent will be there too. Speculation of the topic started, was it about the potentially upcoming ICE raids and how to respond if someone shows up to your classroom? Was it a change in site leadership with the litigious environment we work in? What could be so important to have such a meeting with the Superintendent come to campus?
In a traumatic turn of events, and an announcement that I can’t imagine anyone was expecting, we were told a colleague of 9 years had taken their life on Tuesday night. The next hour was spent covering some large picture logistics of communications to the parents community, what the following day would look like in communication with students, ways to help support students and staff, and more.
So, what was looking like an average week became a week that will be engrained in my mind for many years to come. Certain events trigger a reaction or recollection of other traumatic events, emotions and whatever else comes with this territory. It’s a challenge.
Rest in peace Sam Harris.
ARTS AROUND
Having been a bit distracted this week, I’ll keep this to a late reminder of tonight’s opening at the Main Gallery in Menlo Park. More to come for what’s around as I build this concept into something more.
Inspired by the crosstown Trail in San Francisco. We (led by Maria) set off on our own version down here on the peninsula. Starting at Bedwell Bayfront Park in Menlo Park, we made our way along the Bay Trail to Cooley Landing. Then we went into Palo Alto, stopping at a California Native Garden tucked away in a neighborhood. We continued to Eleanor Pardee Park. Through Rinconada, we proceeded and finally ended this leg at Gott’s Roadside burger stand in Palo Alto. The distance was right around ten miles. Next time, we will start at Gott’s. We will make our way through Stanford and end at Alpine Inn.
ARTS & AROUND
I worked on some reclaiming clay, trying out a new to me pillowcase technique. I took a short video of part of the process. I threw a few closed forms and then altered into some heads. Those are coming along, and I met with Ned who is holding me to throwing larger… I now owe him a 10-pound try. The question is when? The answer is, I’ve given myself a Feb 22 deadline.
VISUALS
Check out what caught my eye in the visual report.
Girls are back to school, teaching is back on and week two feels somehow like week seven. With the freebird mindset we shared a lunch with a few cocktails, found a local plant sale from the Civic Garden Club of San Carlos and meandered through Saturday.
We went for a fun hike at Alum Rock Park. Two separate groups of deer, one of four and the other five. The river was flowing and the view from Inspiration Point was fun to see. It was new to us both and while it’s a 30-40 minute drive, it was worth it. We ended up walking about 3.5 miles up the canyon, to the point, and then down the south rim trail. Definitely worth another visit.
Activities-wise that’s about it. School, dog walks, house chores, rest. In other news, I got a really sweet email from a former student, I don’t go fishing for comments like this and rarely share them when they come through, but this got to me differently somehow. Usually I print an email, or tear out or fold the paper it was on and add to my appreciations book. Here we go,
“Hey Mr.Tillson! I just wanted to reach out and let you know i’m not attending MA anymore. I’m at redwood now because I feel like MA was just too open and big for me and I kept getting distracted a lot. But I just wanted to say thank you for being someone I can count on, and for being someone I can talk to whenever I need to get something off my chest without feeling judged. Thank you for letting me have that confidence in you and for being the amazing teacher you are. Thank you for everything and for all the advice you gave me, I will forever carry your words with me. I hope you’re doing well and I hope you continue being the best teacher/person you are. We definitely need more teachers like you. Once again, thank you so much for everything. You deserve nothing but the best.”
You never really know what kind of impact you make on someone.
ARTS AROUND
I don’t know what else as the usual (Cantor, and Anderson Collection are finishing up show in early Feb. So, what I’ve been into is trying out this combo on a couple mugs…
The results are meh, but I learned a bit about this combination and will try again. A few sweet spots on the mug turned that deep blue, and the 3 layers on the inside revealed the tinge of red/orange, but I don’t like that. So I’ll stick to two coats of the toasted sage.
VISUALS
Check out what caught my eye in the visual report.
This past week, I went to the theater, met a ceramics artist who shared so many thoughts and so much information, visited a local studio, and started semester two of this school year. Finishing up a good break for the winter holidays and getting back to the schedule of school. It’s been a bit tiring but positive to see students again and have some structure. I got a new app that has gamified walking and each day with students in the studio, I have walked between 2 and 3 miles.
ACTIVITIES
There’s a studio in San Carlos called the Clay Lounge, we checked that out to see what they offer and the space they are in. It’s small but has a good feel to it. The monthly membership is not in my budget, but I might sign up for a workshop.
I also met an artist in the city who was getting rid of some sieves. She found out I wanted to include some glazing in class and had a bunch of resources to share.
We stumbled on a show called The Repair Shop in which people bring family heirlooms to be repaired and restored. The transformation is incredible and It was really interesting to see the process of these projects and touching to watch the reveal to whoever brought in the items. With 16 seasons, there’s a lot to watch.
With my students we started an exquisite corpse project, the drawings are fun and now they are getting the designs into clay. I didn’t think through what happens to the tiles after the final firing, but I’m excited to see the results anyway.
ARTS AROUND
Menlo Park’s The Main Gallery has a show that opened this week, Rippling (running Jan 7 – Feb 23). It’s good to see some local art in a small setting.
VISUALS
Check out what caught my eye in the visual report.
The road to hell is paved with good intentions. This phrase can be attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux, a French abbot in the mid-1100s. My good intentions from June have failed to fruition as this is only the second post of the year. It seems that regularity, or the lack of, is my hell.
Here I am six months later, just past the day with the least amount of sun. Looking ahead to more light. I feel like I am solar powered and am hopeful as light begins its return.
I had a small fire to honor the solstice and spent some time to reflect on the year and celebrate a bright future ahead.
Fire pot
Does anyone else feel compelled by the natural cycles?
Here we are. It’s cold but the days are getting longer, more sun with each day. Roses are getting caned, persimmons are their beautiful bright orange and making a mess. A cold rain is coming down pretty heavily after a cloudy day. Here are some recent shots of the trees. It is still something I like to notice each day, some days are better than others in terms of the image offered.
Both so much, and seemingly so little, have happened since August.
A great first quarter at school with some fun new students, continuing students, and unique projects. It has felt long at times, but now we are looking at Thanksgiving break this coming week.
As I look back since the August update… The gallery show with John Eames and our etc… project was a great learning experience. I had committed (to myself) that I would participate in the More the Merrier show at the Art Ark and so working on that has been a good learning experience too. The closing reception is December 2nd and I have learned a few things from the opening reception that I can carry forward.
More the Merrier 2022
This has helped me with my regularity of working for myself. It is still very sporadic, but I am starting to get some ideas on a workflow that is realistic for where I am in life. I also appreciate that I do not have to make a living and don’t feel a strong desire for a “side hustle”. I enjoy making work, that turns out to be an eclectic mix of what I have started calling sketches. I have also been able to share this experience with students and talk about pricing, what people will pay for artwork, and topics around sales.
I am working on putting some abandoned artwork up in conjunction with the Peninsula Pottery and trying to clean out the studio as well as have some donations for Second Harvest.
Thank you for checking this out, feel free to reach out with questions or comments.
Time sure does go by fast. It is hard to believe that the first few days have passed and we are so close to the new school year. Tomorrow, there is a gallery opening for Barrows, a show put together by myself and John Eames as part of the Eames/Tillson Collective (ETC). We have been working together for a while now on this series of barrows and a few months back got access to Art Ark Gallery in San Jose. The gallery has openings in conjunction with South San Jose’s First Friday Art Walk.
In addition to getting ready for this show, we have a piece in a gallery up in Roseville. The piece is actually part of the Barrows series but figured the Art Ark show would be fine with one fewer piece. It is good to have a piece in a different region.
I am also working on a mock-up for the Artomat machines. This company takes old cigarette vending machines, fixes them up, and then organizes various artists to create art to vend. Pretty sweet idea, with beautiful machines, and fun art collections.
