I'm headed to Seattle in a couple of hours for the NCECA conference, but I just thought I'd take a moment and write a quick update on what's been happening at the studio during the spring.  Things have been busy at school at again as I've worked with my students over the last month or so teaching them how to build a small train kiln.  Ian Shelly and I finished the welding last weekend, so the kiln is about done – just a few minor little things need to be done.  Now, all we need is wood .. maybe the students will fill our wood rack with nice split wood while I'm in Seattle!?

Anyway, here are a few pics from the build ..

I also finished this piece after MUCH work, and some trials and tribulations ..

There are a few more images of this work in the gallery section of my website, so check them out when you get a chance.  With this work, I've worked to develop a new approach to assemble the work.  The new approach is stronger, but more finicky and time consuming, however I think I'll be able to transport them better for exhibitions.

I've also been working on some work that is moving in a more geometrical direction.  I'm not completely sure where this exploration is going yet, but I'm excited to see what happens ..

That's it for now, better get on my way to SEATTLE!

Brian 

During this semester, I also had my work on a banner for the first time (the middle image on the banner).  This was for a show I was in at the Carnegie Center for Art and History here in New Albany, Indiana.  … 

Hope all is well!

Brian

Just as the show was coming down, my work was published in the July 2011 issue of Pure I Uncut I Candy, a Louisville Art Browser magazine:

For the second summer session, I'm teaching a new class I proposed at IU Southeast called "Topics in Studio Ceramics".  The topics will be rotating throughout the years, but for this one, I'm having the students focus on outdoor low fire atmospheric firing methods (raku, saggar, etc).  We started the session by building three new kilns, a saggar kiln, a raku kiln, and a small wood fired kiln that can be used for raku as well as for high temp firings.  Here's a picture of one of my students, Jay Whitman, firing the wood kiln …

Building a handful of new kilns at school was a little choppy at first (turns out  there are a lot of people at the University that want to "approve" that .. who knew?!) but, we are moving along in the right direction now.  Now that those kilns are built and things are rolling along with students firing them, I'm planning on getting more studio time in the upcoming weeks.  Especially considering the second summer session is about to come to a close and things might start to resemble some sense of normalcy soon.

Also, the Visions in Clay show in Stockton, CA opens soon, so check out the website for that ..  http://www.deltacollege.edu/div/finearts/dept/dca/gallery/exhibit1/index.html  There's some good people in the show and a big congratulations to my friend, Dylan Beck, who won Best in Show.  Awesome work!  It's always good to show with good people.

That's it for now.  Thanks again for checking out my site, stay tuned for more updates.

Brian

Here's an image from the Gulf Coast Kiln Walk project …

Thanks again for checking out my work.

Brian Harper

and one of the post-scramble redesign:

I'll be back at it with some more work shortly, so stay tuned!

brian

An exhibition of my new artwork opens tonight at the Land of Tomorrow (LOT) Gallery at 7pm (until about 10pm).  The gallery is located in the St. Francis building at 233 W. Broadway in Louisville, right on the corner of S. 3rd and W. Broadway.  The exhibition will be up until June 30th.

Stop by if you have a minute!

Brian

  and ..

Thanks for checking out my work!  

Brian Harper  

Spread the word if you know of anyone that might be interested ….

Brian