Thursday, May 12, 2016

Bruce Gholson - AKAR Yunomi Invitational


Bruce Gholson, Fossil Fish Yunomi, Bulldog Pottery, Seagrove, NC

Tomorrow, May 13th will be the opening of the tenth annual Akar Yunomi Invitational, with 950 yunomi from 190 artists.  A "yunomi" is a form of teacup being taller than wide with a trimmed or turned foot for daily or informal tea drinking. Seems to work great for water, wine, whiskey, and whatnot too.

We have always found this show exciting and inspirational to be a part of. This event is highly motivating to us to be a bit more daring with how we will approach the surface of the cups we will choose from. Akar's Yunomi show has always been a spur to push us further, with the yunomi being a great vehicle to risk new surface combinations, and experiment with some of the new glazes we have been developing. Bruce's selections for this years Yunomi show are shown below.
The top piece is porcelain, and the next four are red stoneware.

Bruce Gholson, Fossil Fish Yunomi, Bulldog Pottery, Seagrove, NC

Bruce Gholson, Fossil Fish Yunomi, Bulldog Pottery, Seagrove, NC

Bruce Gholson, Fossil Fish Yunomi, Bulldog Pottery, Seagrove, NC
Bruce Gholson, Fossil Fish Yunomi, Bulldog Pottery, Seagrove, NC

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Samantha Henneke Yunomis AKAR Design

Flowing Phenomena Yunomi, drinking cup, Samantha Henneke, Bulldog Pottery, Seagrove, North Carolina

These five yunomis that I selected to send to AKAR are from the most recent group of drinking cups that I made this early spring.  I am exploring new ways to work with our flowing crystalline glazes to push their fluid characteristics, and still keep the glazes on the pot. I am drawn to the way these turned out and looking forward to creating more.

detail of yunomi, notice the molybdenum iridescent crystals

We are hard at work in the studio focusing on making pots and cycling them through for glazing. "Cousins in Clay" June 4&5 is coming up soon and we want to make sure we have fresh new pots for our visitors to choose from. Our calendar is packed full of invitational shows this year. We are super excited and in a very happy and active place in the studio right now. 

In the next post we will share Bruce's yunomi selections for the upcoming AKAR yunomi invitational show opening online on May 13.

 Stay tuned for a blog post introducing our clay cousins for this year's "Cousins in Clay" June 4&5.

I took pictures of these cups from multiple views. And it is fun to see that one side of the cup can be so different from the other. Especially the one below. You can see the multiple views on our Bruce Gholson and Samantha Henneke/Bulldog Pottery Facebook page.  While you are there like and follow are Bulldog Pottery page find out more about what we are up too.
Flowing Phenomena Yunomi, drinking cup, Samantha Henneke, Bulldog Pottery, Seagrove, North Carolina

Flowing Phenomena Yunomi, drinking cup, Samantha Henneke, Bulldog Pottery, Seagrove, North Carolina

Flowing Phenomena Yunomi, drinking cup, Samantha Henneke, Bulldog Pottery, Seagrove, North Carolina

Flowing Phenomena Yunomi, drinking cup, Samantha Henneke, Bulldog Pottery, Seagrove, North Carolina