some ideas for Juana

This is a tea bowl by the artist Steven Colby. You can find more of his work on his blog. I almost forgot that he would be a good potter for you to check out, but I have discovered it is never too late to edit a post! Unfortunately it plunks every new image at the top, so this is the new intro to the post. I think you can get some good ideas of what he does from this pot. His decorating is a little 'busier' than the other three artists, but minimalism isn't the only direction you can take this theme.

Juana, these are some artists that I think you might be interesterd in. They all seem to be doing the kinds of dark clay light slip/glaze contrast that you are working with and have some interesting takes on how to decorate them. I think your design instincts are perfectly suited to this method. The top three (2cups, bowl, & bowl) are all by the Australian artist Jane Sawyer. I absolutely love what she does and am sorely tempted to be inspired to finish my own work the same way. Maybe when my latest series of cone 6 glaze experiments run their course I will.

This is a cup by Ron Philbeck, the artist I had recomended you look up the other day. His blog is always interesting and he makes some really fine pots as well. Personally I am less interested in his particular imagery, but I love his sense of playfulness and the character of his forms. I think you could learn a lot by looking at what he does and the choices he makes. It was really interesting to read some posts recently where he credits both Ron Meyers and Michael Simon as inspirations for what he does. Small world, eh?

This fine artist is Ayumi Horie, and she also has a great website. She is obviously very talented both as a thrower and a decorater. You should talk to Alya about her some time. She is one of her favorite artists for very good reasons. I think her pots are really interesting for the most part and her imagery is often quite captivating.

These are all artists worth paying attention to. They all work in low fire clay, slip and clear glazes with occasional highlights of other colors. I think you should try to put a few of your pieces through the electric kiln with some clear glaze on them just to see if the results are worth pursuing. One great advantage of this is that your turn around time is only a couple of days. No need to bisk fire, glaze and wait on the gas kiln to get fired. Just make the pot, let it set up some, pour slip inside and dunk the out side, let set up some more, decorate, let dry and then glaze and put on the low fire shelves to get fired. Done in a few days! Have some fun!!