Results tagged “University of Utah” from NoMuse

My Constant Readers may recall my entry relating how I arrived at the decision to build an updraft ceramic kiln. With graduation looming, access to the metal shop in the art department closed for the summer and my welder's pending move to Wyoming, I felt some pressure to get my kiln frame built. After carefully reviewing the updraft section of Fredrick Olsen's "The Kiln Book" and studying local examples of his kilns, I compiled my list of metal and went shopping at Wasatch Steel.

After the adventures in funding the potential to buy more natural gas, I confess to a degree of uncertainty, hesitation and fear regarding my metal shopping trip. I kept expecting the woman who accepted my order to request my permit, license to buy steel, secret handshake, password or first born child. Happily, once I got my mind wrapped around the basic nuances of ordering terminology, the purchase proceeded without any major hitches. I did discover steel tube does not mean round. The hard way.

Justin and I took the metal to the shop at the art department of the University on Saturday morning. I discussed my project with one of my ceramic instructors and with the shop/tool manager prior to buying the metal. I offered to cover my consumables and both assured me use of the facility was not a problem so long as I was out before it closed for the summer. Justin and I measured and cut most of the stock I'd purchased before wearing out a fairly fresh band saw blade. The next day, I ran into the shop manager and told him what had happened.

Because I thought I'd covered my bases, I didn't drop in at the art department first thing in the morning. This was a mistake.

When I dropped in midway through Monday morning to get a list of parts necessary to get the plasma cutter and mig welder usable, I was quickly made aware the midden had hit the rotary air circulation device and my name was mud. In fact, after explaining what had happened and iterating my complete willingness to pay for consumables to include the band saw blade, I was invited to take my metal elsewhere. I was told if I were making an art piece, I could be excused for my use of the tools; but, as I was building a tool to facilitate the continued pursuit of my area of emphasis, there was no room for my use of the metal facility. After five years of tuition and exorbitant studio fees to the art department, I simmered with anger just barely controlled. Justin and I relocated the metal to my house.

I spent most of the following week chasing down a welder. By Saturday, I had stick and MIG welders and a plasma cutter. Justin and I worked hard and managed to get a pair of frames together -- although the first requires some extensive rehabilitation. We returned the MIG and plasma cutter about 11:30p and got some sleep before replacing his subfloor the next morning (see the June 1 catch up story below).

In the end, all forward progress on the home studio is good and welding equipment pops up in the most unexpected places.

Kiln Frame Construction Photos

I have been telling myself for quite some time, my life will slow down once I finish school. In late March, the understanding of what had to be done in order to end my extended stay as a student here at the University of Utah entered my event horizon. Sections of my life were back burnered and put in a stand by mode, to include my little self documentation project here. In early April, I slid in a quick entry, the piglet's progress, partially as documentation (I was rather uneasy about firing the little bugger) and partially so my friend, Ellen, could have a look-see. I then dropped off the grid with regards to handling my life documentation. What follows is an attempt to relate what has been happening.

Kiln Frame
The top of my list was the frame for the gas kiln I am constructing and documenting here. What I've got to say is lengthy and I want it as part of my studio documentation. Suffice it to say, the thousand dollars I thought I'd save building my kiln from scratch has been spent. Several times. Read more about the kiln frame. View photos. Update: of cabbages and kilns

Graduation
Friday, May 9th, twelve years of playing at being a college student finally came to an end. I bought a hat and dress and snoopy danced across the stage to receive my empty diploma holder. I took the day off work and Nat, LaRayne and I made a day of both our graduations and lunch. It was a good day. Photos here.

Subfloor 5/1
Justin had issues with the floor in his living room. He didn't care for the carpet. He didn't like the creaks and the groans. He was a bit tired of listening to his friend's dodgy music coming up from the basement apartment. He started disassembling the floor when he needed something to do. It was casual. He worked at it when he was bored. Then, of course, he was notified he was to be laid off and subsequently found another position in the company. In Casper, Wyoming.

We shifted his subfloor replacement into high gear and knocked it out the weekend of May 1. We even managed a sufficient amount of insulation in the floor to dampen almost all of noise from the basement apartment. Justin snapped a couple of shots of the 95% completed floor. The remaining 5% was scheduled for Memorial Day weekend when we planned to handle the bathrooms.

 

Justin Moves
Number Six split for his new base of operations, Casper, Wyoming. He was in Casper getting oriented to the new job for a week before going to Denver for training for a month. The trip up was an adventure.

Pedestals
Each year, the graduating class from the art department holds a show at a local gallery. New Visions Gallery is a small artist run gallery and is also the hosting venue this year. They don't have many pedestals, so Patty, Shawna and I spent a couple evenings manufacturing some pedestals. Pedestal construction.

Surgery
I've had an umbilical hernia for a couple of years. It had been more annoying than actually inconvenient, but it was getting worse. Rather than wait until it was painfully inconvenient, I visited a surgeon and then scheduled surgery for the week after I graduated. Basically, getting patched meant no heavy lifting for the better part of a month. This, of course, added substantially to what I felt HAD to be done before surgery.

On Friday, May 14, Dr. Todd sliced me open, slapped in a vulcanizing patch and super glued me back together. The first couple of days, I found it difficult to move. I was, however, off the prescribed pain medication by Sunday and feeling quite well by Wednesday. Everything went well and my navel, though still healing, doesn't appear to have someone's finger poking through.

Senior Show
Thursday, May 20, Exit Exhibition, the senior show, opened. Nat and I popped in to see how it looked and skipped out with our friends, AnnMarie and Jake for some dinner after finding the lions share of the food money had been used for alcohol. One can only get so full on cheese, albeit delicious cheese, and crackers.

Rejection Letters
Part of seeking outlets for the stuff I wind up making involves form letters from folks who don't want me or my stuff. The week after I graduated, I bagged my first three rejection letters. It was a strange sensation to me. I expected to feel something, but even the sense of rejection wasn't excessively whelming. After a bit of consideration, I decided on a new album devoted to scans of my rejection letters. Anytime you are feeling down, Constant Reader, feel free to visit my digital shrine of unwantedness in writing. To date, I have rejection notes from:

• Salt Lake Farmer's Market.
• Finch Lane group show.
• The forthcoming Lark Books 500 Cups.

Justin Sewage and Bathroom
Memorial Weekend, Justin popped in from Denver. He and I spent all three days playing with his in progress bathroom remodel, to include replacing a good chunk of cast iron sewage pipe with PVC pipe. We also mixed and poured about two hundred pounds of cement. It just wouldn't be a holiday for either of us if we didn't whip out some cement. The previous Sunday, May 23, I pulled electrical line for his air conditioning condensor and then played supervisor for the install. View a few photos from both projects.

Home Depot Spend-A-Thon
Memorial Weekend also meant 12 months no interest at the orange store. I bought quite a bit of lumber. Now I just need to get a kiln shed built, upper windows in the house removed and the nursery squared away because...

We've got less than 10 weeks to go before the chap arrives.

Two years ago, I had an assignment to build a piggy bank for a handbuilding ceramics class. I was enamoured of the idea of a Minature Japanese Pot Bellied Samurai Piggy Bank and I built one. At the greenware critique, I thought I had been told to rebuild the head and arms. I returned to my studio, decapitated my pig and fought with several attempts at improving the head and arms. They all left much to be desired. Eventually, the pig dried out as I lost consecutive gumption battles to finish it. Finally, with graduation looming around the corner and only a pig blocking my hasty departure, I finally convinced myself to get it done. These photographs were my proof that it had been built in the event of a kiln disaster.

As a part of my final studio class for the ever useful Bachelor of Fine Arts with emphasis in ceramics degree, the instructor set up some studio visits with local potters and ceramic artists. I had mixed feelings about these field trips, mostly negative. It was a pleasant surprise after the first two visits to find myself excited not only to produce ceramic work again, but to complete my home studio.

One of our visits took us to the home studio of Aaron Ashcraft, where Aaron was in process of opening up his Olsen 16 updraft kiln. The virtues of the downdraft kiln have been iterated to me so many times, they have become a part of my thought processes. I believed high fire reduction necessitated a downdraft kiln design. This pattern of thought combined with my experience firing both types of kilns at the University of Utah left me unprepared for the sight of Aaron's opened kiln. Not only were Aaron's pieces beautifully reduced, the kiln fired evenly top to bottom.

The updraft kilns I've fired on campus have differed up to two full cones top to bottom. I have heard rumors that it is possible to fire an updraft evenly. Until our class visit to Aaron's studio, I had never seen proof. I walked out of Aaron's studio knowing two things: 1) I could build a high fire, reduction kiln fairly inexpensively and 2) it was possible to make some money selling pots. I hold few illusions about being a potter or ceramic artist. I will most likely not ever make enough money to pay the mortgage and support a family with clay, but given Aaron's figures, there is a potential for a significant secondary income source.

I began to scheme, plan and research.

I was shocked to learn how expensive insulating fire brick and other refractory material is. Over one third of my total cost will be refractories. My estimate, given pricing from the local Harbison-Walker rep, is $2,400.00 and should cover two courses of brick on the floor and walls, the sprung arch and mortar.

The install fee for an upgraded natural gas meter was educational. Local lore tells stories of the gas company installing larger meters without charge save an increased meter fee. This is sadly not the case at present. The kiln I'm building will run seven burners at seven inches of water column pressure (the same pressure for natural gas in most US homes) and have a peak consumption of 350,000 BTUs/hour. The sales engineer calculated a larger capacity meter at the current pressure. My meter fee remains the same, but I get to pay about $500 for the privilege of buying more gas from the gas company.Though a painful immediate payment, paying for the meter up front is better over the long term than a quadrupling of the meter fee and the necessity of regulating each of our home's gas appliances. At least I keep telling myself this is so.

Friday, March 19th stopped me cold in my tracks. After trenching 55 feet from my gas meter to my kiln location, I popped into the local plumbing store and asked for a pair of risers and plastic gas pipe. At which point, I was informed of the necessity to be both licensed and certified in order to so much as gaze on either item. A couple dozen phone calls later, I got connected with Marv from Shamrock Plumbing. His bill will be in the neighborhood of $700 for parts and labor to install and test the line in my trench. With a bit of luck, he'll be done Wednesday, March 24th and I can back fill the trench before a storm changes my dirt to mud.

The gas line delayed a fun Saturday morning of mixing and pouring concrete as I was not willing to pour nearly two yards of cement with an open trench a few inches away. If all goes as currently scheduled, the new kiln pad will be curing this weekend.

I've uploaded some photos of the project in process as well as a couple of notebook page scans with preliminary elevations and measurements for those with nothing better to do.

Looking for Jack? If you are Nat, perhaps. Here's the baseline schedule:

Mon: 6:30a-9:00a, 9:40-12:40 Ceramic Issues, 1:00p-6:00p
Tue: 6:30a-6:00p
Wed: 6:30a-9:00a, 9:40-12:40 Ceramic Issues, 1:00p-5:00p, 6:00-9:00p China Painting
Thu: 6:30a-6:00p Fri: 6:30a-11:30a, 11:50a-6:00p Mold Making
[work, school, other blocks of time]

I am transitioning back to the insanely early start to my day this week. Though 5:00a doesn't really strike me as insanely early, it seems to horrify most people I know. However, one of the upsides to starting early for me is a bit of time to handle things requiring attention while I've still got the gumption to cope with them. To that end, I scanned a stack of mounted photos from my basic photography (Fall 2003).

The photograph as art is an idea that has been stuck in my head occupying spare cycles since midterm. To be clear, I am not considering whether or not photography is art. When one takes photographs there is process with the exposure of the film, then its developing and finally with printing from one's negatives. These prints then become the piece of art. I was amused to learn that photographers then photograph their photographs using slide film for submission to galleries, competition, etc. I'm not certain why this idea has taken up residence in my head, but it may have to do with what is an original object and what is a copy. What is real, and what is a shadow. I think I'm a bit fascinated by the idea that the documentation of the art is the same process as the art but is not actually art. I am sure that the idea will continue to coalesce. All of this thought regarding original and copy becomes a bit moot as the world moves inexorably towards digitizing all aspects of our lives, but the secret luddite part of me holds onto the hope that the value of an object made with care and craft will continue to have a home not completely tied to network.

Inconsequential blathering aside, I'm pretty happy with the results of these three series.

Basic Photography: Interior/Exterior Series

Basic Photography: Nat Portrait Series

Basic Photography: Process/Narrative Series

Enjoy.

Here is a set of follow-up shots to the pictures I posted back in November. The pieces are mostly done, poorly implemented and appear huge on screen. The little teapots are based on about a 3" sphere and the wall pieces are about 8" and 14".

Here is just a handful of pictures of ceramic work currently in progress for those not specifically fond of their eyes. I've been chatting with a couple of my friends about this crap, uh, I mean art, so here it is.

I did go as far as to crop and scale these pictures, but they are still fairly huge by dial-up web standards. You have been warned.

The above pieces are part of my work for a class in low fire ceramics. The illustrated assignments are designed to introduce the use of cast elements as a method of working and the use of underglaze as a medium of surface treatment. As the headline indicates, these are incomplete pieces still in progress.

Need to know where jack is when? Yeah, I didn't think so -- unless you happen to be Natalie.

Finally, after much delay, the S.J. Quinney College of Law website is allowed to be released into the wild. You are welcome to have a look.