KenSwinson.com

Author: Ken

  • June 10 new pottery

    I’m excited to share some of my latest pottery after last weeks firing. I’m as proud of the photography as the pottery. There has been a learning curve to photographing pottery, and I think I am finally getting a good representation of what the pots look like.

    NOTE: I have already sold all the pots from this firing, but plan to have more soon.

  • Transferring woodcuts onto pottery – via screenprint

    I work in a lot of different media, and am always looking for ways to cross the different mediums. One dream I have is printing woodcuts onto ceramic. After some research, I learned that the woodcut process does not work well with ceramic materials, but screenprinting does.

    screens for screenprinting

    Using a technique that i learned while studying in Oaxaca, Mexico, I copied a few of my favorite woodcut designs onto a screen

    silkscreen loaded with blue ceramic underglaze

    then printed the designs onto rice paper using ceramic underglaze as the ‘ink’

    screen printed design using ceramic underglaze on rice paper

    then, i transferred the underglaze onto unfired clay…in a technique similar to old fashioned temporary tattoos

    rice paper decal of squirrel playing fiddle and banjo
    animation of rice paper being removed from clay surface.
    an underglaze plate covered with blue pig and acorn decals
    a plate, decorated with my woodcut designs!
    holding a greenware mug with decal of squirrel playing guitar
    a mug, decorated and ready to fire!
    holding a small greenware pitcher decorated with blue pig with acorns and oak leaves
    …and a pig on a mug…keep watching to see how they look ofter the firing!

  • Pottery Intensive Update – 6.4.2020

    My big, exciting event for this summer was going to be a week long pottery workshop at the Arrowmont School of arts and crafts. It was a gift from a friend, and was going to be a really special treat. To be safe during the coronavirus, the workshop was cancelled. I was really looking forward to visiting Arrowmont, and having a pottery intensive experience. My hope was to get better at throwing, and to learn a few new surface decoration techniques.

    a view of the potters studio focused on 2 shelves holding newly thrown mugs

    just because I can’t go to a famous arts and craft school, and learn from a popular potter, doesent mean I can’t still have a pottery intensive experience. I decided to give myself a summer of pottery making!!! So far, I’ve thrown about 20 mugs.

    a shelf with unfired pottery, including pots decorated with a house, a dog, a goat and other animals

    Most of them are being decorated in a style, called sgraffito.
    If you haven’t already seen it, here is a short video explaining the process:

    an unfired pottery plate, with a decoration saying, we will get through this together

    I learned a new technique to throw plates. Thanks @Dennis Allen ! So now I’ve been working on a few sgraffito plates.

    an unfired pottery plate with two decorative squirrels

    This squirrel design is based on one of my linocuts.

    unfired pottery plate with blue decorations of 2 birds on a tree branch

    Another plate…with BLUE underglaze.

    These are works in progress…they still need to be glazed and fired, but I’m really excited about making plates…and hope to the have enough to fire the kiln soon.

  • Thinking about current events

    red linocut with houses and hearts with text Love One Another

    I AM watching the news, and I don’t want you all to think that I have my head buried in the sand, and am just happily in my own little world, making art. I see what’s happening to us, and it hurts me deeply. I don’t know what I can do to make it better, so I share things that help me and others feel good, and encourage them to work on their own creative projects. Art is a great way to deal with feelings. For me, art is a therapy, and there are a lot of studies that show it really does cause positive things to happen in the brain. There are also studies that show that social media is causing psychological and social problems…

    i don’t use social media for politics. In my perspective, it’s a terrible way to try and have dialogue about divisive issues. I’ve watched friendships end and families grow further apart because of the way social media brings out, and magnifies the worst in some people. (i guess it’s profitable, or the tech companies just like to destroy people’s lives) I have friends from a wide range of perspectives, who I know in real life, and I can tell you, we have more in common than social media would have us believe.

    I believe that religion is personal, and I don’t talk about it on social media (for the same reasons). Since it’s Sunday, and I think it is important, I will share with you that I believe that we are ALL children of God, we are ALL brothers and sisters. EVERYONE deserves to be treated with respect, fairness and dignity. I believe (and I’m trying to be better at) following Christ’s teaching to love thy neighbor as thyself. I know this is a crazy time, and everyone is scared and angry a suffering loss and going through a million other feelings right now. I hope that all of these challenges we are going through has some kind of meaning, and, in the end, we use this experience to lift each other up, and become better neighbors.

    I’m scared, and feel helpless and angry, but I also feel more connected, and a feeling of togetherness with you all (even if we have to stay 6 feet apart). You have gotten me through, what is possibly the biggest trial of my lifetime. Since social media isn’t going away, let’s use it to keep the good vibes going, and try to have a little more understanding and empathy toward each other…this is HARD, but we will get through this together.

  • Pig Mug – Sgraffito video

    I’m back in the clay studio, working with a decoration technique, called sgraffito. The word comes from Italian and means; to scratch away.

    The way the technique works, a pot is covered with colored clay, then I scratch the top layer, reavealing the design.

    Since i have a printmaking background, this technique feels familiar. It’s the same way I would make a woodcut.

    The idea for the mug i’m working on is tow pigs enjoying a field of clover, and they both found a four leaf clover at the same time. What a lucky pair of pigs!

    If you are interested in seeing how these pots turn out, stay tuned, i’ll show them off once they are fired in the kiln.

    UPDATE: i forgot to mention…i don’t sell pots online. I believe a pot has to be experienced in person, so the owner can hold it before deciding to take it to it’s ‘forever home’. Hopefully a drive in the country to Old Washington, ky isn’t impossible for you. Thanks again everyone for the great response!

  • Home Sick Art Fair – Tomorrow May 16, 2020

    Tomorrow is the #homeSickArtFair!!! My original idea was to have a display on the front porch, but since the weather has its own ideas, I’m improvising a gallery inside the house. It feels really good hanging an exhibit. It’s been awhile, but this makes me feel closer to normal…even it it is still a virtual show. Hope you’ll come visit via Facebook and instagram. There are 16 participating artists. Tomorrow, use the #homesickArtFair to see everything happening at the fair!

    artist with hammer in studio

  • pig eating acorns – new woodcut

    I had this idea of a woodcut; a pig wandering in the woods, eating wild acrons, and I couldn’t wait to carve him out. isn’t he stinking CUTE!?!? oink! oink!

  • Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!

    I’m a lifetime learner, and student for life, so teachers have a special place in my heart! Thanks to all the teachers for making our community a better place!

    linocut of apple sitting on top of stack of books with text Teachers are heroes, thank you for your service

    Here’s a linocut that I made a few years ago for a project, called ArtZine. Visiting and local artists met in a different small town each month to create a ‘zine’ . The theme for November in Vanceburg, KY was GRATITUDE, and this was my entry.

    Feel free to click the image above to download and print your own copy of the linocut that you can print and share with the teachers in your life.

  • Home Is Where Your Mom Is

    Mother’s Day is less than 2 weeks away, so I’ve been brainstorming ideas for a Mother’s Day card to send to my mom. After working the design out on paper, i’m ready to transfer it to a wood block.

    sketch of birds around text: home is where your mom is
    block ready to carve with birds and text: home is where your mom is
    the carving begins!
    carved block for woodcut print
    ready to print!
    finished woodcut: home is where your mom is

  • A little brainstorming activity – LIVE VIDEO

    I was trying to describe a creative brainstorming activity to a friend who was struggling with artist block. I’m much better at showing than explaining, so I thought I’d make a little video to show how it works. Maybe some of my other friends will benefit from this, so why not do it LIVE??!! I miss you all