Background Information: The traditional use of Totem Poles is an ancient one held by many cultures around the world. Totems serve as a visual statement and record to commemorate and share the cultural history of a people. Totems come in four types including Crests, History, Legends, and Memorials. (Single lesson plan).

NOTE: Magic Water was mentioned in the CAEA Paper Clay Workshop.

Magic Water, product # IP238-G

Everyone needs some “magic” in their day. Laguna Clay makes Magic Water for the ease of those who do not have a full selection of raw materials in their studio. Use Magic Water to enhance clays ability to bond leather hard to dry clay pieces together and to create Magic mud to mend cracks in bone dry or bisque ware (a small addition of paper to regular clays will also aid in this process).

CLICK HERE to Download the Totem Pole Lesson Plan

Tags: ceramics, classroom, david gilbaugh, Jennie Koons, students, totem pole, workshop
Posted in Ceramics Around the World, Great Ceramic Artists, Ideas for All Ages, Ideas for Grades K-8, Ideas for the Classroom, Lesson Plans, Reflections from a Ceramic Event, Uncategorized | No Comments »

The Legacy of a Master- Remembering Joe Koons

Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

Mysterious & Unique Clay

Shoji Hamada once said, “It took me twenty years to learn how to work in clay and ten to forget about it,” and he was right. Clay is one of the most mysterious and unique materials in the world of the arts, and if we ask why, the answer is a very simple one – it has the four basic elements from which our own planet is made: earth, water, air and fire. I believe that it is because of this fact that this material is such an intense experience for anyone who touches it for the first time.

I have worked in clay for thirty years and have experienced the power of clay many times in my life in different situations and in many countries all over the world. I have learned that clay is a material that endless and brings you from one discovery to the next. Clay is not only about techniques and glazes, but also about the wonderful and giving people one meets while making this unique journey of making ceramic art. Of all the people I have met, I have to say that meeting Joe Koons was for me one of the biggest pleasures and honors I have had as a ceramic artist.

Joe Koons – Inspirational Mentor

Joe was not only a mentor but an inspiration to me. He had an incredible amount of energy and was always a free spirit working with clay. There are many memories I treasure from all the years we shared together and all the conversations we had from Egyptian paste to crystal glazes, tile making techniques and unique glazes, walking with him admiring the incredible tiles he made for the Mission Inn in Riverside, CA or how to obtain impossible effects with glazes: Joe knew it all. He made me discover the glazes from the Laguna Clay Company, and my life changed forever as he taught me what was possible to be made with them. Sharing so many years of experiences together and countless stories have made my pathway in the clay world so special.

As a tile maker, I cannot tell you how many projects I consulted with him, and he always had the right advice, but beyond that Joe he had a grade of enthusiasm and inspiration that I have found in very few artists. He showed me his own cuerda seca technique, raised glaze application, surface treatments, and his passion for clay.

Goodbye from Joe

We shared the last NCECA conference together in Philadelphia, PA where I was demonstrating for Laguna Clay Company and soon afterward worked with him at the NAEA Conference in Baltimore, MD in April this year. I had such a wonderful time with him and Morgan O’Brien from Laguna Clay Company touring the Washington DC metropolitan area showing them various sites where I have my large scale pieces. We also visited Glebe Elementary School in Arlington VA, where I showed him a mural I made years ago covering an entire wall over twenty-six feet high, and we talked about my next project with him at this school that I am starting this summer that involves four walls covered in mosaics created by the students and glazed with Laguna Versa 5 glazes. He was thrilled and glowing the day we were at the school… that was his goodbye.

Joe passed away peacefully at home on May 4^th 2010, and it was a very sad moment for all of us in the clay community. He left us with the most incredible legacy a human being can leave: the energy and desire to keep working and creating, rediscovering the world of clay over and over again every day, yet knowing that we all miss Joe very much. I have to say that I was privileged to share a friendship with him, and beyond all the most intricate clay and glaze techniques he showed me through the years, he taught me the most valuable lesson in clay I ever had: to be free, to enjoy every moment with clay and to treasure in a humbled way this wonderful material that brings happiness to us every day into our lives.

I want to dedicate my first entry to the “Clay in Class” blog to my friend Joe Koons, to celebrate his life, and for all of us to remember what Joe’s art philosophy was: to enjoy, laugh, and to keep creating and loving what we do to make every day a special one.

To the memory of Joe Koons, friend, artist, master, and clay alchemist forever….

~Alfredo Ratinoff