Jeff Reich

Faraday Newsome

Compatible Visions: Farraday Newsome and Jeff Reich

Exhibition dates: May 4-26

First Friday: May 4, 6-9pm Reception with the Artists.

Second Saturday: May 12, noon-6pm, and RiNo Open Studio Tour Sunday May 13, 11am-4pm

Visit Plinth Gallery for more information on Farraday’s and Jeff’s show.

For more information Jeff and Farraday please visit their website, Indigo Street Pottery.

“Farraday Newsome has worked with the vessel format for over twenty years. She explores ideas of lushness, sadness, time, and grace with surfaces that are very painterly. She is interested in the relationship between the “painterly space” and the “actual space of the three-dimensional object.”

Jeff Reich’s ceramic sculptures integrate abstract expressionist influences with contemporary desert landscapes. The Sonoran desert where he lives with his wife Farraday Newsome profoundly inspires him. Angled, sectioned and recombined forms of teapots, jars, wall tiles, and sculptural vessels are influenced by the growth patterns found in desert plants, rocks and mountains.”- Jonthan Kaplan – Plinth Gallery

Farraday Newsome

Tell us a little about yourselves!

Farraday: I grew up in the redwoods of California. It was very quiet and very beautiful. My father was a dinnerware designer for a big dinnerware company in Los Angeles called Metlox. The company flew him down for design meetings every 6 weeks or so. Many of my adult relatives worked in the arts. Making things and painting was part of my life growing up. When it came to college though, I majored in Biology (UC Santa Cruz, 1977) since I was so interested in nature. After earning my BA I moved to San Francisco and decided to go back to school in the arts. I received my MA in Art, Ceramics Emphasis from San Francisco State University in 1987. I moved to Arizona shortly thereafter.

Jeff Reich

Jeff: I was born in Livonia, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. My father was an engineer with an eye to detail, and my mother a homemaker who loved to paint and garden. I grew up with interests in architecture and basketball. Early in my college career at the University of Michigan, I moved to Arizona to transfer to the University of Arizona in Tucson. I first settled on a major in Arts Education. After taking a ceramics course there, I knew that ceramics was my deepest studio art interest. I studied with Maurice Grossman and treasured the knowledge he shared with students. I recieved my BFA in 1984. I started a small studio in Tucson and quickly picked up 11 galleries across the country. Three years later I started working at the Mesa Arts Center in Mesa, Arizona building a ceramics program there that I still direct. In 2005 the Mesa Arts Center moved into a $100 million new facility, for which I helped design the ceramics studio.

Farraday Newsome

And how did you meet?

Farraday: Jeff and I met after I moved to Arizona, around 25 years ago. Jeff was a directing the ceramics program at the Mesa Arts Center, which he still directs. We probably met at an opening – hard to remember exactly when. Although friends for many years, we’ve been married for seven year

Jeff Reich

Jeff: I met Farraday first at the Tempe Arts Festival in 1988. She was showing some amazing maiolica. We became friends and in 2001 she started teaching with me at the Mesa Arts Center. We married in 2004.

Farraday Newsome

When and how did you discover the passion for ceramics?

Farraday: My father got his BA at Alfred University in New York, majoring in ceramics. He studied with Daniel Rhodes and met Susan Peterson while he was there. After college and a stint in the army, he became a dinnerware designer for Metlox Potteries in Manhattan Beach, California. When I was little, he would sometimes take us kids to Metlox and we would glaze in his office on stock dinnerware. I loved that! I let that interest go when I went off to college and majored in biology. I didn’t really take any art classes during my undergraduate years. It wasn’t until years later, when I was working in the sciences in San Francisco, that I took a community college ceramics class. I rediscovered that all-engrossing feeling of joy. I quit my job and went back to school to earn my Master’s in Art with a Ceramics Emphasis from San Francisco University (1987).

Jeff Reich

Jeff: I thought I would be going for an architecture degree. I switched to an Art major after learning I wasn’t accepted into the program for architecture. Later at the University of Arizona my scupture professor, Dennis Jones, took us to see the ceramics studio where the teacher , Maurice Grossman, threw a pitcher. I was amazed and knew after watching that I had to try the wheel. Afterward Dennis tried to get me back to metal sculpture but it was too late, I’d fallen for clay. I love how simple and complex working with clay can be. After graduating I sold my 1969 Mach I Mustang to buy a kiln and wheel to start my career in clay.

Farraday Newsome

What are you two showing at Plinth Gallery this month?

Farraday: I’ll be showing work that is predominantly vessel-oriented, some with high relief imagery. Some will be colorfully glazed and some glazed in black-and-white. The imagery will be mostly from the natural world, but I have just finished a teapot that has unnatural objects in high relief (a watch and a playing card) along with my usual natural imagery. My imagery generally speaks to the passage of biological time and to chance.

Jeff Reich

Jeff: I’ll be showing some of my latest sculptures, teapots, and wall work. My glaze palette is influenced by the Sonoran desert and the unique plants that grow here. I am inteested in portraying the contrasts of desert textures through glazes, drawings into glaze and crawling glazes. My shapes are informed by boulder piles left in place after thousand of years, as well as from the growth patterns of desert trees and plants.

Farraday Newsome

How did you come up with the title for the show?

Farraday: People often tell us that our work looks so different from each other, but that somehow it looks good together. All I can think to write is that we are huge fans of each others work, asking for and giving lots of feedback in our shared studio while work is in progress. I think this all translates to work that is made in close proximity with mutual interest and tenderness, so somehow it is compatible.

Jeff Reich

Do you share the studio or have separate spaces? What is it like to work so closely with your spouse?

Jeff: I teach 4 days a week at the least but get into the studio as much as possible on my 3 days off. We love listening to NPR and books on tape together but when I need to watch sports, well, we don’t share that interest. The studio could be bigger sometimes but I think every artist wants that. We have 3 electric kilns: his, hers, and one small one we share. I fire high fire reduction in our old West Coast updraft kiln. We feel really fortunate to share our passion for clay with others.

Farraday Newsome

Farraday: Yes, we share a home studio. It is about 750 sq. ft. Of course we wish it was bigger!! Over the ten years we’ve lived in our home, we seem to have settled into an understanding of whose tables are whose, but it changes if one us needs more space for a certain project.

Jeff Reich

What do you love most about your studio?

Farraday: I love that it is at home, and that our beautiful 1 1/2 acre wildscaped desert yard is right out the door. I also love sharing it with a fellow ceramic artist who is my husband and whose work I think is terrific!

"Dark Blue Jar with Yellow Birds"

Jeff: I think Farraday said it all above ( I think her work is amazing too!)!

Jeff Reich

How do you maintain a healthy work and life balance?

Farraday: That balance is pretty elusive. I seem to have three main interests these days, and never enough time to spend on any one of them. Studio work, gardening, and now trail running. I cook most days too – we eat pretty well (vegan) and cook a lot from our beloved kitchen garden.

Farraday Newsome

Jeff: Teaching full time and trying to get work out to the galleries can be trying but I have found a way to do it for 25 plus years. I remember Rudy Turk, who was the director of the Arizona State Museum of Art at the time when I was hired at the Mesa Arts Center, telling me how he wrote books, painted and directed the museum. The secret was “lots of late nights and early mornings”. I don’t do the late nights too much anymore but early mornings work. An ideal day would be a run, then a little gardening, then the studio. That seems like a wonderful day to me (especailly when I get to share it with Farraday).

Jeff Reich

What advice can you give aspiring artists struggling to find their own voice and look?

Farraday: I think an individual voice develops with making lots of work over lots of time. Just keep at it and pay attention to what you like in your work. Stay in touch with your inner eye – your dreams and imagined forms.
Jeff: The best advice I heard when I was starting was to keep making pots/art. Seems simple but the ideas come when we keep working. I also tell my students to look outside of the ceramics world to plants, quilts, landscapes, architecture, etc. Blend what you are most passionate about (for example growing rare desert plants) and find a way to speak about it throught your work. Go to openings and see shows. Read about history of art to see what has come before us.

Farraday Newsome

Farraday, how would you explain your attraction for functional ceramics?

Farraday: I really like the combination of the practical and thebeautiful. As I mentioned before, I grew up in a household where designing beautiful dinnerware was an everyday thing. I like that there is a shared, understood language of pottery forms: the bowl, the pitcher, the plate, etc. I also really like the formal qualities of contained space, from the shallow contained space of platters to the voluminous contained space of pitchers, teapots, and vases.

Farraday Newsome

You work with great delicacy when using patterns and symbols, how do you choose your images?

Farraday: I have always been interested in objects from the natural world. As child, I think I was simply struck by their beauty. Like many children, I collected seashells, presse and collected wildflowers, etc. My collections were in the hundresds though and quite organized. As an adult, I am drawn to psychological associations with different natural forms. It makes them even more interesting and compelling. For instance, oranges seem to me to be an ultimate round, vibrant shape of fertility. So lively! Shells strike me as a combination of momento mori (a reminder of what is left after death and that life is fleeting), and fertility symbol (historical association) – nice combination. I started interspersing man-made, unnatural imagery with objects from the natural world in a flat painterly way as a drift on my work several years ago: things like eyeglasses, dice, watches, playing cards, etc. Now I am just starting to use those images in high relief.

Jeff Reich

Jeff, how does the desert landscape influence your ceramic work?

I love the desert and it’s unique plants that grow only in our area of Arizona. We are fortunate to have 1& 1/3 acre that I grow many plants on that I draw. I take pictures of the plants at different times of the year to work into my glaze drawings . Most agaves, yuccas, ocotillios and thorny plants amaze me with their tenacity to grow even in the harshest environs. We get 7″ of rain per year here on average, so most plants have adapted ways to survive that are unique.

Farraday Newsome

Farraday, it looks like you are handbuilding and throwing in most of your pieces. Can you walk us through your creative process when dreaming up new pieces?

Farraday: I usually turn my eye inward, relax, and imagine. When I get an inkling of an idea, I visualize it loosely in my mind’s eye. I usually draw it so I won’t forget the idea- sketchily changing it until it looks like it might work in three dimensions. That first inkling though – that’s the magic. The rest is just fine tuning. Whether to coil build, throw, slab, pinch etc. – that’s figuring out the meansof making the idea look good.

Jeff Reich

Jeff, you divide all your surfaces with such beautiful glaze windows and silhouettes of plants drawings. When did you start using glaze to define and enhance the form?

In 2004 I started glazing by superimposing 2-dimensional drawings over the 3-dimensional forms. First I used crawl glazes, then I added drawings by scratching (sgraffito) through white glazes with a dental tool.

 This cartoon is my friend’s  Chad Blakely version of fame.  He is an illustrator that goes to all the Comic Cons and I get to hear fantastic stories of costumes and the Comic book (Graphic Novel ) world.  Today we were joking around about combining NCECA and Comic Con, and if you ever wondered this is what it would look like.  So here I am tabling my work at CLAYcon!!!  Maybe we should start a new trend! And if anyone ever comes up to me in a costume cosplaying one of my pots, I know I made it!  Haha!  Well, I do know I am already a giant geek!

Here are a few of the entries from the Support Show it was in a couple of weeks ago.  It was a fun invitation, my friend Georgia Roswell who owns Artful Hand Gallery came up with the idea of Supporting the American Cancer Society for breast cancer and she asked several of to make bra related work.  It was a nice challenge and I came up with my bra bowls.  While making these I had to make several prototypes before I came up with something I was happy with.  Sometimes trying to get these bowls done I felt like I had two left hands.  But I’m pretty happy that I sold two of them!  So I think I will make a few more! 

BraHide was made by Georgia’s husband!  I’ve never thought of using rawhide as an art material.  His bra is amazing!  The last one is made by Do Palma and Carman’s bra is magnetized.  You can grab the strawberries, pineapples or the flowers and change her bra.  It’s a great piece.  I love Do’s work! 

In the last 30 days I have given three talks, one for the Delta Kappa Gamma Society on my trip to Ethiopia last summer, one for the Cheyenne Artists Guild on my work, and the last one on Wednesday for The Nicolaysen Art Museum in Casper on my work and Contemporary Ceramics. 

Delta Kappa Gamma

The talk for Delta Kappa Gamma was on Women, and Children in Ethiopia.  Although I always get nervous talking in front of people, this talk felt good, because I am raising awareness  on the difficulties of orphaned children in Ethiopia.  And since we are half a world away from their reality it is a worthy thing to bring cognizance to people how life is in Africa and mostly Ethiopia. 

The Cheyenne Artist Guild

My next talk was at the Cheyenne Artists Guild asked me to talk about my work.  I brought in pieces and talked about my process and why and how I became an artist.  Although I was nervous for this talk it seemed very casual and my jitters soon subsided.  Here is a link to their blog to see what they said. 

At the Cheyenne Artists Guild.

Beyond The Pot: Contemporary Ceramic Trends @ The Nic

My last talk at the Nicolaysen Museum sent me into cold sweats and hives.  I was stressed out for this talk.  And as I prepared for the talk I kept telling myself, “This is good practice.”  And this was my mantra for a few days, until I started answering back, “What the HELL am I practicing for?”  “What do I think I’m practicing for?”  “I’m not going to be giving any great speeches at the Oscars or anything.”  My inner turmoil was at an all-time high.  Casper is about 2 ½ hours from Cheyenne and spring in Wyoming is usually a very tricky time for travel, one hour it can be 70 degrees and the next hour we can be in a blizzard.  I started praying for snow, a blizzard, a tornado, a tsunami anything that would close the roads to Casper. 

Well, I made it to Casper, unfortunately for me no natural disasters came up and the day was beautiful to drive to center of our state.  I gave my talk to an intimate group of people and Lisa Hatchadoorian the Nic’s Curator gave her talk right after me on Ceramics Beyond the Pot.   I survived!  And now I’m all practiced up for my Academy Award acceptance speech.  Ha!

Before the talk at the Nicolaysin.

Please notice that when my pots were projected that they were taller than I am.  Now if that isn’t intimidating I don’t know what is. 

Ceramics Now

In other news, the Ceramics Now Exhibition I was in Cluj-Napoca, Romania has now re-opened in the Galateea Gallery in Bucharest, Romania.  So if you are in Romania from Apri 19 to May 7  head on over to the show. 

Casper College

Also, I went to Casper College and saw the show, The Fishman by ceramic artist David Bogus.  He will be conducting a workshop on April 28 – 29.  I wish I could go. 

The Fisherman by David Bogus

Two entries with this post! 

This year Cheyenne is starting the 17^th Street Arts Festival.  I have been asked to serve on the committee to help start it.  I am hoping that many of you apply for the show.  The event will be held this coming August 17 and 18^th, and will be under a large tent at the Dineen Plaza.  The Arts Festival will be held at the same time as RibFest, so there will be huge attendance. 

Jason Hess is an “avid wood firer”. For over 15 years his research has focused on the alchemy of the process—how the clay color, wood type, kiln design, and ash dispersion work together to “render a surface that is unattainable in other ways” at high temperature. His work is either utilitarian or refers to utility in form while the presentation is more like characters relating to one another.  A desire to have objects that fulfill specific purposes inspires him to make functional pots. The infinite and elusive variety of texture and color attainable through the various making and firing processes has generated an interest in the notion of presentation. Some of his work is presented so that a viewer might notice and appreciate subtle diversities in form and surface. By grouping similar forms of differing size and color the compositions create a visually dynamic display, which invites the viewer to enjoy the tactile nature of each individual piece and how they relate to one another. -  Jonathan Kaplan, Plinth Gallery

For more information please visit Plinth Gallery.

For more information on Jason and his work visit The Nevica Project.

Jason will be giving a one day workshop April 7. 9 AM to 4 PM; he will demonstrate his methods for creating wheel thrown tall bottle forms and teapots, including construction of his press molded spouts. He will also present information on wood-firing techniques and his many years of involvement with the process. In this workshop their will be plenty of opportunity for discussion. All levels are welcome. Registration fee is $75 and full catered lunch provided by Fuel Cafe is included.  For more information call Plinth Gallery @ 303 295-0717.

Tell us about yourself.

I am an Associate Professor of Art and Head of the Ceramics area at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff AZ. I have taught here for the past 12 years. Before that I taught for 2 ½ years at McNeeses State University in Lake Charles, LA. I have a Bachelors Degree from Beloit College, Beloit Wisc. And an MFA from Utah State University.

When and how did you discover the passion for ceramics?

It was in high school at St. Paul Academy in St.Paul, MN. We were required to take art classes starting in 7^th grade and the art department at SPA was excellent. I took Printmaking, painting and ceramics. Very quickly I became enamored with ceramics. I chose a college (Beloit College) that seemed to have a good ceramics program though art was not my intended course of study. When I visited the College they were firing a wood burning kiln which I had never seen before. So, I ended up attending Beloit and over the course of 4 years decided that Ceramics was indeed what I would study and major in. We had a great time in the studio at Beloit and I knew that I wanted to pursue graduate study. I then went to Utah State University to get an MFA.

How would you describe yourself and your style?

I describe myself as a potter who makes work that is predominantly utilitarian or refers to utility. I am interested all aspects of ceramics, its history, traditions, processes and technologies. The vast majority of my work is fired in wood burning kilns. I enjoy the interaction between the flame/ash and clay surface. I am interested in clay color and surfaces that are largely unglazed except by the firing process.

One of the hardest things for artists to do is to stand apart from everyone else. How long did it take you to come up with your own style and signature look?

I think this is an ongoing process. I think it started for me in graduate school with the sets of bottles that I was making and still make.

What are you showing at Plinth Gallery this month? How did you come up with the title for the show?

I am showing new work at Plinth.  Tea Pots and Bottles, and Flower Bricks and Mugs, etc… They are all new ideas that have been made in the last 6 months, much of the show was fired in the past month. The work is almost all woodfired in a wood/soda kiln. It is also predominantly porcelain.

You are an avid wood firer, will you explain you fascination for wood firing.

I am interested in the wood fire process because of the variety of surfaces that are attainable. I have not found another way to generate surfaces that are similar or comparable. We also happen to have an extensive wood kiln facility where I teach, so I have a great many options and it is a big part of what I teach.

How would you explain your attraction for functional ceramics and does the wood ash play into your functional work?

I enjoy the connection between maker and user and the idea that I am making something for a specific use. I generally make things that are intended to be fired in specific areas of the kiln. So, I take into consideration what I make and have an idea of the kind of surface that I want to achieve (crusty, shiney, glassy etc..)

How do you maintain a healthy work and life balance?

I try not to work at the wheel for more that 3 – 5 hours at a time and to stand up often so that I maintain a decent posture. I also tend to work in spurts, so like maybe 3 – 4 weeks of making,  then a week of firing and then a break. My job and making art keeps me pretty busy, maybe 6 days per week to take care of everything. So, perhaps its not the healthiest work/ life cycle at the moment.

It is said that, in order to become renowned, an artist has to be a good self-promoter. Do you consider yourself one, and are there recipes for that?

I do not consider myself to be a good self promoter. I started by entering as many national competitions as possible in grad school and in the few years after. From this my work was published a number of times in Ceramics Monthly, Art and Perception and Ceramics Technical. I have also written for magazines, organized conferences/symposia and have been on panel discussions at the annual NCECA Conference. So I’ve just tried to be as active as I can in the field.

What do you love most about your studio?

That its at school and that I am an active part of our school/studio community.

What advice can you give aspiring artists struggling to find their own voice and look?

I tell them to look at as much work by as many people as possible. Take workshops, get as many perspectives as possible. Above all, make lots of work and fire it as well as stand back and think about what they are making and why. It mostly perseverance to succeed in ceramics.

I had a great time in Seattle this year @ NCECA.  It rained everyday that we were there, but what do you expect it’s the North West in spring.   Here are a few of my many favorites from NCECA, I really had a hard time pairing down my pictures to these.

I got a surprise at the Ceramics Monthly booth, I was flipping through one of their books on pottery techniques; Surface, Glaze and Form, and I found my article from PMI in it.  I was such a thrill.  I ran up to the counter jumping up and
down!  I wish I could be more smooth.

Surface Glaze and Form: Ceramic Arts Handbook Series

On Friday of NCECA the Emerald City Comic Con invaded us, and by Saturday the Con was in full swing, it was extraordinary to see so many people in costume, I really wanted to stay for it as well.

Bat Man and Clay Girl

Today is World Water Day. Remember as you are waking up and turning on the faucet to have a glass of water or take your shower, millions of people are starting their long trek to find water. They will walk miles and miles to a water source that is dirty and filled with pollution and disease. But things do not need to stay this way. Educate yourself on the water crisis.

Here are some great sites:

water.org

Unwater.org

Edgeoutreach.com

Project 117

If you want to make a differnce in the water crisis in the world, support one of the organizations above!

In just one day 200 million hours are consumed by women collection water for their families. This is equivalent to building 28 Empire State Buildings each day.

Today 1 child dies every 20 seconds from a water related disease. Two years ago it was every 15 seconds.

3.575 million people die each year from water-related disease. That is equal to the city of Los Angeles

884 million people lack access to clean water, that's almost 3 times the US population.

Here are a few more pictures from Jeff and Holly installing a clean water system while we were in Ethiopia last July.

Tomorrow March 22 is World Water Day.  So today’s picture is of Jeff Prosser installing a clean water system in Korah, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.  I met last summer while I was in Ethiopia.  He and his wife Holly, as well as my friend Sarah Connelly are going back to Ethiopia May 17 -27 to install several more clean water systems.  For more information please go to Holly’s blog, Bird’s Words.  I know I am breaking my own rules of Wordless Wednesday, but I wanted give a little information on a very important issue. 

Another website for information on the lack of clean water is www.water.org .  World Water Day was created in 1993 by the United Nations.

* 3.575 million people die each year from water-related disease.

* 884 million people lack access to safe water supplies; approximately one in eight people.

* The water and sanitation crisis claims more lives through disease than any war claims through guns.

* People living in the slums often pay 5-10 times more per liter of water than wealthy people living in the same city.

* An American taking a five-minute shower uses more water than a typical person in a developing country slum uses in a whole day.