Cathra-Anne throwing a platter
Greece meets The Great Plains
Roger Davis saw the top left piece in Richard's booth at the Gold Coast Art Fair in Chicago in June. What captured him was its 24-inch stature. A conversation followed about the idea of a commission for Roger and his wife Julie's house in Santa Barbara. Roger went home and he and Julie looked at this website. Julie is from the Midwest and was smitten with Cathra-Anne’s Great Plains Vase from her gallery page. Roger returned to Richard's booth that same weekend and asked if Richard and Cathra-Anne could make a large piece with the Great Plains design. They talked about shapes, size, etc. Richard went home and after discussing the idea a bit, Cathra-Anne did a quick sketch.
There were some emails between Roger and Richard. and the Davises picked Option 3 from the last set of sketches above. Cathra-Anne redrew the vase to scale so Richard would have the dimensions and image to work from while he threw the piece. Richard trimmed the piece and sent a snapshot to Roger. After the bisque firing, Cathra-Anne waxed, glazed and fired the vase (because of its size -- almost 19 inches tall -- her process alone took about 50 hours), and off it went. It now lives on the Davises dining table. Everyone's happy.
Cathra-Anne's April 2013 kiln load
Cathra-Anne's kiln before glaze firing for April 2013 show in Woodlands, TX. On the AFTER view: Wetlands Tall Seed Jar, Northwoods Roundy Jar, Lucky Elephant Vase and Scottish Thistle Vase.
Plural murals
Veggie tiles: A jumble of waxed and dunked tiles waiting for their glaze colors; the finished Mixed Veggie strip that will be a sink backsplash; and the finished nine-tile Mixed Veggie mural that will be installed over a stove.
Forest Floor: mural pre-firing, laid out and sketched, and the end result (click arrow). This mural will be broken up into singles, doubles, strips or whatever strikes the collector's fancy.
The birth of a ...
... pitcher
From wedged clay mass to finished product, Upstream Trout Pitcher and McKenna Vase each come to be.
Pictured in the Fall of 2011 with collector Barbara Faucett, Cathra-Anne is rolling the spiral at the base of the pitcher handle.
... vase
New arrivals in-the-making, March 2009
This generation is headed for Texas starting late March. First stop: Bayou City Art Festival. As of March 25, first-gens are out and on the road. FIRST PHOTO: Four large urns. The two smooth ones on the left are collaborations: Richard did the throwing, and Cathra-Anne will be glazing them (click arrow to see finished Koi Pond Jar). The engraved ones on the right are Richard's, including Trumpet Flower Bombe Vase. SECOND PHOTO: Cathra-Anne's sketch on a Northwoods Jar-to-be. THIRD PHOTO: A shelf of Richard's bisque-ware, with Trumpet Flower Platter in the foreground.
The sketches are of Richard's Infrastracture series. Also pictured are Infrastructure Jar II coming to life, and Sumerian Jar just constructed, soon to be wrapped in plastic and begin drying.
LAST THREE PHOTOS: Cathra-Anne's mess of sketches, and a box of dry leaves; three Birdie Pitchers in progress; Army of Teeny Trays
Studio visit, August 2008
A view into Richard's kiln; Bramble Bowl just carved; Trumpet Flower Platter on Richard's glaze table; Cathra-Anne's Wetlands Vase in swaths of plastic, being protected from drying and oxidation in aid of the addition of the colored glaze washes; her glaze table; Mixed Veggie Jar in-the-making
An urn's progeny
The horrible snapshot to the left is of a marvelous etching that hung in the quietly luxurious hallway of a hotel in Rome. Richard's Heirloom Urn and Anatolian Urn are descendents of the etching in the photo.
How to build your own booth (4 easy steps)
