It's Over

The last morning's work on its way up to our studio for. USC firing... I'm off home...Shabbat Shalom

What's Going On

Threesome

The Crew

Stage Right

The quality of these shots isn't wonderful,but they're almost live...

Helping Mr. Higgins

All Together Now

Last morning of the Symposium at Tel Hai- our 3 guests on the stage together

Mr. Higgins Onstage

We Sympose

Tel Hai Symposium

In full swing this morning

Seven bending

Firing a difficult kiln @ Tel Hai

Gunn Marit says every year's the same- the first few gas firings are full of bowls the students make for the Symposium next week,so no higher shelves to help circulation- plus a new,less experienced crop of students loading and firing. We appear to be stuck (or soaking,optimistically ) at 1220 degrees, with cone seven just going. If we get that to drop, we should be ok .

Chillin' by the Kinneret

Almost Winter

In our courtyard,Winter starts when the last leaf has fallen from the vine. We're getting there,as you can see...

Lemon Tree

Our lemon tree,planted in memory of my father z"l some 23 years ago,is just coming into full stream,so most things we consume for the next month or so will be lemon-flavoured...The tree [which took a good few years to get started] is surrounded,as you can see,with my first attempt at drystone wall building. In the background: the new wood-stack,with this year's load of eucalyptus and olive for the woodstove.

Grayson Perry

...who drove his teddybear to Germany on this striking Harley,displayed at the entrance to his show at the British Museum: open 'til February,and thoroughly recommended,should you find yourself in London [as I did last week],especially since you're not going to get into the reportedly-fabulous Da Vinci exhibition at the National Gallery,which seems to be sold out,with scalpers asking close to $200 for a ticket.

The Beauty of the Broken...

...and of the rough and unfinished: top shot of a couple of Meir's crustier teapots- a thick coating of ash from the anagama,but not enough heat at the critical time to melt it; below- someone in the studio grabbed a dry unfired bowl by the rim before I could warn them [it happens occasionally,much to the embarrassment of the party concerned]. The teapots are heading for a refire in Sunday's glaze kiln,the bits of bowl for the recycling bin, but both have an unfinished,transient or incomplete aspect of beauty for me, quite distinct from the beauty of the complete, the smooth, the whole. I suppose this is akin the the Japanese concept of wabi and sabi [like most western folk,I can't tell the two apart] but they don't have the monopoly on this aesthetic: there are many Jewish teachings about the beauty of a broken and humble spirit/heart,not to mention teachings from the Kabbalah about broken vessels...and then there's Grayson Perry...

Punch

I remember this joke from Punch magazine from my youth- found it again thanks to the wonders of the internet.