New Year Changes in the Studio!

While we had a 3-week break from pottery classes, Mark was busy adding new tables, rearranging shelves and wheels, and painting.  Let me show you what the studio looks like now.

The pottery wheels are now centered down the middle of the studio

Hand building tables are also centered in the studio

Instead of having one preparation table, Mark building prep tables against both walls

The glaze and kiln room got a good cleaning and a fresh coat of paint

We've already had 3 classes use the new studio this week and so far so good!  I think the flow of the studio is better.  What do you think?

Tacoma Studio Tour

This weekend is the Tacoma Art at Work Studio Tour!  Throwing Mud Gallery will be open both today and tomorrow until 5pm.  Stop by and watch Mark throw some pots on the wheel and see all the beautiful items in the gallery.

Student Pottery

It's been awhile since I've shared some of the pieces recently unloaded from the kiln that were made by our students.

I know Mark is excited about a piece when I hear him say "wow - look at this!"  The interaction of these two glazes is just stunning.

These two bowls are so elegant in their simplicity.

Obviously, there's much more to pottery than bowls ....like jars with lids.

I love the garlic handle on this garlic jar!  People are so creative!

There are a few pottery students who have been making pumpkins for fall decoration.  This one came out really great!

We still have space in our evening classes that begin the week of October 29th.  You too could learn how to make beautiful things like this! Come by the studio and talk to us about it.  You can register online, but Mark really likes to meet you in person and show off the studio.

Of course we also have lots of pottery and other beautiful handcrafted items in the gallery that you can buy and take home today!

Art at Work Studio Tour - Nov. 3 & 4

Mark your calendars!  Come see the spaces in and tools with which 55 local artists create their work, ask questions, purchase one-of-a-kind creations, and even try your hand at creating your own masterpiece. All studios will feature demonstrations of the artistic process or will have hands-on activities for visitors.

Throwing Mud Gallery is one of the studios on the Art at Work Studio Tour.  Mark will be demonstrating throwing and hand building techniques both Saturday and Sunday.

First Anniversary Celebration - TONIGHT!

Join us as we celebrate the first year of Throwing Mud Gallery.  There will be food, drinks and prizes......and EVERYTHING in the gallery is on sale until April 20.

Unloaded a kiln

It's been awhile since I've shared some of the pots made by Throwing Mud Gallery pottery students. Mark unloaded a kiln this morning:

Seems like mugs seems to be a popular item lately.  I like the texture on the handle of this mug:

Here's a nice little vase, again with interesting texture:

Mark helped this student make a goblet.  It is made by throwing 2 different pieces and them putting them together.

I love the story about this lidded casserole dish. It was made in 1976 by one of our pottery students, but it had never been glazed. She kept the raw bisque pot all these years and brought it in to show Mark and see if he thought they could glaze and fire it. 

It only took 35 years, but didn't it turn out great?

Videos

For your watching enjoyment, we've been working on some videos.  Some are specifically for the people who take pottery classes here ...what to expect the first day of class, where to put your tools, how to clean up your work space etc.  

We also did some videos where Mark demonstrates how to throw a bowl on the pottery wheel.  These will be helpful for people to watch and remind themselves of the steps it takes to make a bowl.

Enjoy!

Happy Anniversary!

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you have imagined." Henry David Thoreau

One year ago today we signed the lease to rent 2212 North 30th Street in Tacoma and took the giant leap of faith to begin our own business, Throwing Mud Gallery.

It's been a whirlwind of a year. As soon as the lease was signed we were busily working to open as soon as possible. We had walls to take down and build up, plumbing changes to make, wall colors to choose and paint, furniture and shelving to research and purchase and lots of cleaning and brightening up the space.

This is what it looked like, standing at the front of the store on December 21, 2010:

 

..and here's the same view today

 

A bit different, huh?

Mark standing in front of the window last year:

And the same view today:

In the last year we've had 77 people take 6-week pottery classes and 45 people "Try It" in our 2-hour introductory class.  For our first official session of pottery classes we had 14 people enrolled.  The last session of the year that just ended had 42 people enrolled.

In the gallery, we started out with pretty much just Mark's pottery, some soap and several pairs of earrings.  Now we carry the handcrafted work of over 60 different artists, including some pretty prominent names in the pottery field.  One of the potters who stopped by the gallery last week thanked us for opening up the gallery so that he and the others have a local place to showcase their work.  In a world dominated by mass produced stereotypical items made in other countries, it's important to support the independent artists and craftspeople who are struggling to make a living in a difficult economy.  We are proud of our role in helping them.

Throwing Mud Gallery has pretty much taken over our lives this year, and I'm sure some people thought we were a little crazy to open up a brick and mortar store in this economy...and maybe so. But it was something we had talked about and dreamed of for years and the time just seemed right to go for it. After a year, the good has FAR outweighed the not so good (I can't honestly say there hasn't been many "bad" times).  We've met some wonderful people and made many new friends.  Throwing Mud Gallery has become a little community of people who enjoy being creative and playing with clay or who want to buy a unique product handmade with care.

We're looking forward to seeing what the next year brings!

Business Matters

A month or so ago we received a phone call from a rep. for a local cable program called Business Matters, wanting to know if we'd be interested in being featured in their television program.

Let me think about that a minute....

YES!

So a couple of weeks ago we were filmed during our Tuesday morning pottery class.  The camera guy spent about 2 hours here filming the studio and gallery and interviewing Mark.

The program went live on Wednesday and Throwing Mud Gallery is featured at about 15 minutes into this Business Matters episode.

I think they did a great job of showing the pottery studio and the variety of items we sell in the gallery.

Free PR is a wonderful thing...

Tacoma Studio tour - Nov. 5 & 6, 2011

Tacoma Arts Month - Studio Tour
Studio #9: Mark Hudak
Bringing beautify into people's lives with his pottery has been Mark's interest for over 30 years. His intent has been to make creative functional pottery to be enjoyed and used in daily living. He loves to share his passion for making ceramic art with others through pottery classes at his studio, Throwing Mud Gallery. During the studio tour, Mark will be demonstrating wheel throwing and hand building techniques.

In the gallery, we’re highlighting our artists who live or work in Tacoma.  Besides Mark’s functional porcelain pottery, we have lidded vessels by Susan Thompson, clay animals by Masako McBride, Wood fired and functional pieces from Quinn Bougher, wood fired pottery by Andy Lewis-Lechner, textured pottery by Dan Anderson, elegant and functional pottery by Andrew Deem, and salt fired pieces by Dan Barnett.   Beautiful fused glass items by Kathy Porter will be highlighted, as well as Dave Feist’s large turned wood bowls.  There’s a wide variety of handcrafted jewelry by Tacoma jewelers Hope O’Connor, Sara Schonberg, Eileen Blaszak, Roxanne Auge’ and Sarah McTernen.

Of course we still have a wide variety of art work from many other talented handcrafted artists who don’t have the privilege of living in Tacoma...but create beautiful items nonetheless.

Come by and see us this weekend!

class pottery

Opening up a kiln can be like Christmas - lift up the lid of the kiln and surprises await you.  We like to see what our students have done with what they learn in their pottery class.  It's one thing to follow directions to learn new techniques, but then its fun when the students take those techniques and apply their own personal creative vision.

One of the extra benefits that we provide for our students is open studio time.  Repetition is essential to becoming a proficient potter, and our pottery studio is open for extra practice time.

Unloaded a kiln

Mark unloaded another kiln of student pottery and I wanted to share some of the pieces that were made in our classes.

These pieces were made by first rolling out a slab, and then using a texture mat to add texture to the surface of the clay before cutting into the shape they wanted.  Edges can be formed and footing added to the bottom. When the pieces are glazed, even more interest is added when the glaze pools around the texture.  Beautiful!

When students first learn to throw on a pottery wheel, a bowl is the first shape that is made.  As they gain more experience they can starting throwing cylinders and plates.  Cylinders can be turned into vases, cups or a mug, when a handle is added.

More Student Pottery

This morning, Mark unloaded some more pieces made by our pottery students.

These pieces were made with slabs and then lace was used to add texture to the pieces:

It's fun to see how different glazes look when put together:

Have you thought about taking a pottery class? We're still taking registration for our session that starts next week. We still have room for you!

Pottery from our students

Mark unloaded a kiln this morning filled with work that our pottery students have made.

This bowl was made by a student who has been taking pottery for a few years. Mark taught her how to make handles using corrugated cardboard. It's how he does the handles for his own work.

A bowl, cup and mug by 3 different pottery students:

There were several great looking hand built pieces that some of our students made using the slab roller, stamps and slump molds:

Impressive work!

New Studio Pictures

Mark took several pictures in the studio the other day.

Here is a view of the pottery wheels. When people are in the store, they can look in and see people working at the wheels.



Our students use these tables for handbuilding. Next to the tables are the racks that are used to store each student's tools, extra clay and their pieces that are waiting to be trimmed.





This is the glazing area with buckets of glazes stored underneath the tables. Mark put together a sample board to show examples of each glaze color



The kiln is loaded with greenware (clay objects that have been shaped but have not not yet been bisque fired, which converts them from clay to ceramic). After the pieces are bisqued, they will be glazed and then fired in the kiln one more time.



More pictures are on our website