Journal Postings: Joshua Copus
| (02/22/07): Official closing on my property |  This morning at approximately 10:00 AM I officially became the sole owner of 1.85 acres of property in the Walnut area of Madison County. I bought this piece of land from Rob Pulleyn (also shown in the photograph) who is also a ceramic artist and a person who is active in the arts community, and who has been extremely gracious in helping me pull this whole thing off. The plan as it stands now is to destroy the existing structure (I guess you could call it a house), build a kiln shed and then start laying bricks for the kiln this spring. After the kiln is completed I plan on building a small studio initially, with a larger one to follow in the distant future, and then build a house. In the mean time, I will be living in my remodeled 1975 Airstream Land Yacht, which has been the focus of my attention since graduation in December. More on that… |
| (02/22/07): Airstream update |  The trailer that I bought is a 25ft, 1975 Airstream Land Yacht, that I got from a friend who agreed to let me put half of the money down and make payments on the rest. They are not cheap, but I like the aesthetic of them (very important for an artist) and the payment schedule made it possible for me to afford on my budget. Here is a picture shortly after I gutted it… |
| (02/22/07): the 'Yacht' |  …And here is a photo of me sitting in the ‘Yacht’ (as I have come to affectionately refer to it as) after painting and putting down my new floor. It still has a ways to go but I am starting to see the vision on it and am actually kind of falling in love with it. I think it will be a fine place to live while I build my compound and realize my dreams. |
| (11/08/06): BFA thesis show on December 8th |  I will be presenting my BFA thesis show at the University Gallery in Owen Hall at UNCA on December 8th. The show is entitled "Building Community". please email me at copiousplus@hotmail.com if you have any questions. Cheers. |
| (10/24/06): New work |  Time to catch up on all the amazing things that have been happening lately. I figured what better way to start than show an image of a new pot that I recently made with my wild clay. This lidded jar was fired in the anagama kiln at UNCA and is decorated with a white slip that was brushed on using a coarse brush and then covered with a clear ash glaze. The decoration is reminiscent of a tradition of Korean pots from the Choson period called punchong, which is a type of ware that was made using dark iron clay like mine and covered up with a light slip. |
| (10/24/06): Building Community |  My BFA thesis show is scheduled for December 8th in the University Gallery in Owen Hall at UNCA. The theme of the show is my life in clay. Basically I wanted to put a show together that communicated the way that clay has shaped my life and how my experiences as a potter have contributed to my development as a person. There is a lot more that I could say to explain that idea, but for the sake of brevity…let’s just say that there are going to be plenty of pots in the show and a good bit of other methods that I have utilized to communicate my concept. The signature piece of this show is called “Building Community” and I wanted to introduce it a little bit in my journal because it has so much to do with my experience digging wild clay and therefore with my experience as a Windgate Fellow. For this installation I made (and are still making) 1600 bricks out of my clay, which I will fire in our wood kiln at UNCA and arrange in the gallery space. For the piece I made two stamps, an INDIVIDUAL and a COMMUNITY. Half the bricks were stamped with INDIVIDUAL and half were stamped with COMMUNITY. The idea is that the INDIVIDUALs will be arranged in a wall, essentially making up a community. An individual brick is a metaphor for a human and by itself is relatively useless and represents no strength. However, when arranged in community with 799 other bricks…then all of the sudden you have a strong presence. The COMMUNITY bricks are to be arranged in a cube, which also represents an object of strength. However, unlike the INDIVIDUALs, which make a community, the COMMUNITY bricks will be given away as individuals to people at the show and all over the world, effectively allowing all of those people to become part of my community. It is very important to remember that all of these bricks were hand-made out of the wild clay and the clay is the driving force behind this project. |
| (10/24/06): International Woodfiring Conference |  I have recently returned from two weeks in Flagstaff AZ, where the International Woodfiring Conference was held at Northern Arizona University. Over 350 participants attended the conference from 23 different states and 13 different countries. My two studio partners (Matt Jacobs and Sean Fairbridge) and I rented a moving van, loaded it full of pottery (to be fired) and drove 30 hours straight to the conference. During the pre-conference we fired 9 wood kilns total, 7 of which were all going at the same time and then two of the ones that cooled faster were unloaded and reloaded, then fired again. It was incredible. Many of my heroes and heroines of woodfiring were in attendance and I met an amazing blend of established woodfirers and young enthusiasts such as myself. Matt Jacobs and I presented our research on Local clay and glaze materials during the open slide forum and many people had read and enjoyed the article that I wrote in the studio potter. I learned so much and made some many powerful connections that will last for years to come. All in all it was a very inspiring and reaffirming experience. |
| (10/24/06): Worship |  Oh, and I forgot to mention...when we were in Arizona, whenever I was not stoking a wood kiln, listening to a panel discussion, or drinking beer at the bar with all the other potters...I went hiking. This photo is from a place called Cathedral Rock. I think I figured out why it got that name. |
| (09/05/06): More on Sudio Potter |  I wanted to write a little bit more about the Studio Potter, because it is a great ceramic publication and having them carry my essay is a really big deal to me. First of all, if anyone is really interested in what I am doing with wild clay or interested at all in the use of local materials in contemporary ceramics…then you should get this issue, because it has plenty of valuable and inspiring information in it, including an amazing interview with Michael Simon. The Studio Potter is a great resource material for anyone interested in ceramics. It is a non-profit organization that publishes a professional journal twice a year devoted to education and exchange of information. Studio Potter was started by Gerry Williams and is currently edited by Mary Barringer. It doesn’t have any advertisements in it and personally I think it is the best ceramics publication in America (which I thought long before they published my essay). |
| (09/05/06): Going to get the clay |  I went to get some more clay the other day, because it’s time to make a lot of pottery. When I need clay, I just borrow my friends big truck and drive out to my mountain of clay and shovel a bunch of it in the truck…it’s pretty amazing to me. So, the summer has come and gone, and now it’s school time…for one last semester. I actually did a lot of amazing things having to do with pottery and wild clay this summer, but I didn’t write them down in my online journal. Some examples were studying with John Britt and Paulus Berensohn, firing a bunch of different wood-kilns all around North Carolina, and having long full days to work in my shop. All of these things I love. |
| (07/25/06): Land Purchase |  This is simultaneously the most exciting and scary time in my entire life. I guess that’s how it goes when you’re working towards something big and entering some seriously uncharted waters, which is definitely what is going on right now. For anyone who is interested, here’s an update:
For a long time my major life goal has been to own a home and some land in the country where I can set up my pottery. It was pretty fun to dream about and equally easy to talk about, but after I received the Windgate Fellowship doing became the new talking and it was time to take action. My project is to build a woodfired kiln and set up a studio using the money from the Fellowship. I know how to build a woodkiln and set up a studio because I’ve done those things before, but this project was unique because instead of doing these things for someone else, like I had in the past, I was going to be doing it for myself, which required that I own the land and that was something I didn’t know how to do. So I started learning how to buy land and I definitely have learned a lot.
When I really started getting down to what my needs were, I started realizing more and more that this was going to be a fairly permanent set-up and the site became increasingly important to me. A lot of my friends have already bought homes and a lot of times what ends up happening is they get a banged up house in West Asheville somewhere and fix it up and it fits their needs for this time of life. It’s a starter house and once they get their feet set then they sell it and get something closer to what they really want. My problem is that the kiln I am planning to build is going to last for a long time and it doesn’t really move very easy, so the land and the area where I put it has to be right. The land is actually more important than the house to me at this point.
So this kind of thinking creates some problems to overcome for a person in my situation, who doesn’t have a huge income or any significant assets. I wont get into any of the details that lead me to the place I am at right now, but at this point I think I have found the right place to put my kiln and the right people to help me do it. Everything about this place feels right and I think it is actually just what I am looking for. It’s going to be a lot of work to make it happen, but working hard is also something I know how to do and determination is one of my defining characteristics. Stay tuned for future updates.
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| (07/25/06): Studio Potter | | Check it out. The past edition of Studio Potter has an essay that I wrote about my experiences digging wild clay. The essay is not on the web but you can contact them to order a copy of the magazine. The whole thing is devoted to the topic of local materials and there is a great article about Michael Simon at the end. It's pretty cool.
www.studiopotter.org |
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