Eshelman Pottery summer internship

This summer Alec and I spent a month in Elizabeth, IL working at Eshelman Pottery. My father-in-law, Paul Eshelman, creates highly functional, red stoneware pottery.

"Aesthetically [Paul Eshelman] has been guided by Japanese and Chinese crafts, European design movements and simple utilitarian objects such as those produced by American Shakers. The best wares of these movements are beautifully conceived and crafted and are thoroughly functional. "

For more information and images of Eshelman Pottery, visit www.eshelmanpottery.com

Through my time with Paul at Eshelman Pottery, I learned about the basic steps involved in the slipcasting method, efficiently loading kilns, finishing pots, and the marriage of function and form. We also fit in a few "Throwing on the Wheel 101" lessons.


Step 1: The master molds are carefully designed and crafted from Ultracal, a gypsum cement with high surface hardness and compression strength.


Step 2: the plaster molds are created from the master.

Step 3: Slip, a liquid form of clay, is poured into the mold. The plaster absorbs the water to create a clay body. Excess slip is poured out, and the form is removed from the plaster mold.



Step 4: the pieces are scraped/finished and bisque fired.
Step 5: Waxing, glazing, firing.




Images of finished pieces from www.eshelmanpottery.com




In addition to working at Eshelman pottery, I gave lessons on clay hand building techniques to a local high school student, Valerie.



She received two blue ribbons at the county 4-h fair. Congratulations Valerie!




Throwing on the wheel took a lot of practice, patience, and perseverance.

Cool Color pinch pots!

Cherry Trees

The first grade students learned how to paint without using a brush (or fingers). They blew through a straw to move black ink around on the paper in order to create the tree trunks. After the ink dried, the students used brushes to apply red acrylic paint for the cherry blossoms.

Flowers!

The second Grade students put their weaving and painting skills to use in order to make these colorful flowers.

Coil Pots

The sixth Grade students learned how to create a sturdy coil pot by using the technique of scoring and slipping. After the initial bisque firing, the students glazed the peices in order to create a usable pot.

Paintings in the Style of Thierry Noir

The sixth Grade students learned about the contemporary artist, Thierry Noir, who risked his life to create paintings on the Berlin Wall in the early 1980's. The students adopted his style of painting, and they created their own paintings inspired by Noir.

Third Grade: What We Learned in Art This Year

"Things that are closer are big, and things that are far away are small."

"How to make a pinch pot"

"I learned what a mandala is"

"I learned a bunch about different artists and their paintings"

"How to draw a window"

"Nothing is impossible with art!"

"I learned how to make shoes out of cardboard, newspaper, and paint."

"I learned how to overlap"

"molding clay is squishy"

"We learned that artists take time on projects"