NCECA - Providence, RI - 2015

NCECA (pronounced (n-SEE-ka) is an annual conference primarily targeted for ceramic art educators. It also attracts the attention of people within all strata of the "clay community".  The last NCECA that I attended was in Baltimore a number of years ago.  Due to work schedules and other responsibilities, this year I could only attend for one day, Friday, March 27th.

My first impression was, "wow. there are a lot of students and young people that are in, or entering the clay art profession and/or clay community."  I attributed this thought to the fact that Providence, RI is within an hours drive of Boston and within that radius there are hundreds of colleges and universities.  Plus, the ceramic art culture is comparitively strong in the Northeast of the US.

There are a few "program tracks", but I would categorize the two main tracks as academic (lectures on art history, education, criticism, etc) and process (technique).  I was concentrated on the second track.  There was a room set aside...called the Process Room...which cycled artists through for 30-minute demonstration and discussion on how they perform a certain technique in their work. When I arrived to watch Tara Polansky demonstrate how she draws in clay using a technique called mishima, my second impression of the conference was, "oh, oh...the organizers had not adequately planned for this turnout."   It was standing room only.

The room had people standing outside to see what was happening on the stage inside.  The organizers had an overflow room set up to watch a feed from the video screens.  But that room was overflowing too. Needless to the say, real estate in the process room was at a premium all day.

Mishima (pronounced mish E ma)

Tara Polanky captivated the overfilled room with her down-to-earth presentation style explaining how she uses this technique developed in the first century Korea to carve designs into leather-hard clay and fill these designs with contrasting colored slip. The part of here technique that was intriguing was her use of photographs.  She uses images from a photograph and traces the image with a ball point pen.  By doing this she transfers the image to the clay by creating an indention into the clay.  In the photo below the large video screen used in the process room displays Tara outlining a picture of two woman wrestlers.  

The next step in the process, she removes the photo from the slab and, using a carving clay tool, she carves deeper lines into the clay following the indention made from the ball point pen.  These lines will be small "canals" that will be filled with colored slip.

Tara them fills the carved lines with slip.  She only applies the slip over the lines she wants to color with a particular color.  This saves time when removing the slip later. Using a very clean damp sponge she wipes away the area where the slip has been applied, leaving behind the slip in the carved lines.  Tara provided the following tips;  only wipe in one direction...don't wipe away the slip like you are cleaning a window...and use a very clean sponge.  Constant rinsing the slip from the sponge is very important.

She adds different colored slips for contrast and also paints shadows and highlights with slip that she has watered down to the consistency of water colors. Below is the final product.

Exhibit Hall

One of the features of any NCECA conference is the collection of manufacturers and suppliers that set up booths for all of the attendees to roam through, discuss their needs and problems with suppliers and see what is new.

I picked up some needed hand tolls.  But the prize for me was an item made by Euclid's, the supplier from Canada.  I use a hole cutter to create loose tea leafs strainers in my teapots.  The hole cutter I use continues to get plugged with clay waste and constantly needs to be cleaned with a needle tool. Their hole cutter has a spring loaded plunger that pushes the waste out of the barrel.  See below.

Demonstrating Artists

No NCECA would be complete without the large room, two-day demonstrations by a few artist.  Two of these artists were Gustavo Perez (video screen on the left) and Linda Christianson (video screen on the right).   Look at the bottom of the left hand screen, you can see Gustavo working on the stage.  Hundreds watch these demonstrations.

NCECA will be in Kansas City next year.  If you are part of the clay community in any way, and live in the area, you should put this conference on your schedule.