Rainy Day by Jim Hathaway

Rainy day to start the second week of the exhibition. I'm part of the Geikoten art group with events and exhibitions going on all Octobe It is hard for people that have only one weekend. Heavy rain.

Tomorrow will be better. Next weekend is the question.after that.

Almost ready by Jim Hathaway

Paintings are on the wall, the gift shop under the stairs is waiting for the new book to arrive from the printer. I found a book I hand made 22 years ago, but just have the one so it won’t be in the gift shop.

Testing the wall by Jim Hathaway

The exhibition is less than two weeks away. I wondering if I have to change the wall back to red.

Clay Sketch by Jim Hathaway

The kiln worked fine. This was an older piece that had been waiting inside the kiln. It was broken before I put it in, so I fired the two halves and put them together after. Duchamp used cracks in his work. it seemed a good idea.

I don’t glaze. But things look rather naked after firing. I used a few layers of urushi to give it some clothes. I’m trying different coatings for some of the other pieces.

Shinobazu Pond 14x10 cm. earth ware and urushi

Mud by Jim Hathaway

It’s fun to play with mud.

Direct transmission by Jim Hathaway

It is a wonder how much a person can learn from Youtube. So many questions are answered on the net. But there is something to be said for direct transmission. It was the way the old Zen masters did it, and the high craftspeople in Japan.

I was updating my web site, looking at my bio, remembering my education. I studied in art classes at three different universities on the graduate and undergraduate levels. This was not a place for direct transmission.

The Art Student’s League of New York allowed students to choose their own teachers. If you went for a five day a week class the teacher came in Tuesdays and Thursdays and spoke, shouted, or said nothing at all. It was closer to a master student arrangement. And days the teacher was not there we had other students, some having studied for years under the same teacher. It was, and I expect still is a true studio school.