42-2019 – Simon Levin – Piccoli Fuochi

What makes your work better? This two week course will aim to answer that question. We will fill this class with risk, results, assessment, techniques, personal attention, and information.
A new kiln was built for this class, a small wood-fired kiln that allows us to fire quickly and multiple times. Through focused exploration and experimentation of the new kiln, your work, and a variety of clay bodies we will set the stage for a tremendous amount of growth. Arrive with courage and be prepared to come home with a suitcase full of ideas. A basic knowledge of throwing or hand-building techniques is required.

Simon Levin: “In 1993 I fell in love with the movement of flame through a wood-kiln. Its sensuous quality is something I seek to capture in my work with soft forms, full curves and flame paths etched into the surface. This quest led me to an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa. I now own Mill Creek Pottery in Wisconsin, where my apprentices and I work to advance the cause of wood-fired pottery.
In 2013 I was a Fulbright Senior Scholar in Taiwan exploring the potential of local materials. Recently I have been a visiting artist, lecturer and kiln builder at The China Academy of the Arts in Hangzhou. There my apprentices and I have been bringing a technology that originated in Asia and has evolved in the incubator of the United States back to Asia. Clay is central to my life.”
www.simonlevin.com