Above is an interior shot of my my little cabin/studio with some of my collection of artwork and work in progress. Limitations of space do not in any way limit or inhibit one’s creativity.

So many people have asked about visiting our studios… The San Luis Obispo Arts Council puts on the Open Studios Tour, for our section of the county on Oct. 9th and 10th. An encore weekend happens on the weekend of the 23rd and 24th. While we’re on break the weekend between (16th/17th), the southern part of the county has its art tour.

The final weekend is everyone who wants to participate in a second weekend of tour. That would be us of course – we’re relentless. There’s a pic somewhere on our computer from a previous year’s tour, with our show booth set up in front of Peggy’s studio displaying finished work, but I just can’t seem to find it. When I do, I’ll put it up.

The Open Studios Tours are a great way for people to come and see so many of the talented artists around San Luis Obispo county. We always have a great time showing our space and work to people. We usually have drinks and snacks to share, and it makes for a great art and social weekend.

It’s still a while until October, but mark your calendars early… This is a treat for anyone wanting the behind the scenes tour of their favorite artists.

Also on May 22 is the Paso Robles Wine Festival in the park, directly across from our gallery in Studios on the Park. This is a huge tasting event for fantastic local wineries. Michael will be watching the gallery, so will miss Tai Chi open house for the first time in 13 years (we’re sad about this – but we’re very happy about both events). Family from San Francisco are coming down to see Peggy at open house for the first time, so that will be fun for her.

On Saturday, May 29th, of Memorial Day weekend is the Paso Robles Festival of Art in the down town park. This event is put on by Studios on the Park in conjunction with the City of Paso Robles. It will feature top notch artists from the area, in many different mediums. The city closes off Pine St. between us and the park and Studios on the Park becomes an integral part of the show.

On Father’s day weekend in June (the 18th, 19th, and 20th) Michael will be going to the KCBX Live Oak Music Festival. It’s near Lake Cachuma on the way to Santa Barbara (see their site for maps and details) and Michael will be selling our work while soaking up great music, fun and sun. Peggy will be in the gallery in anticipation of family arriving for our annual Miller/Vrana big family reunion (a huge hug and hello to our family!)

As always, join us at Studios in the Park, where we have our gorgeous gallery space amongst a plethora of great artists.

In this first image, top right, the kiln is partly loaded and I’m building the setting to hold the various sized pieces for this firing. The way the kiln is stacked – how tightly and whether the shelves are staggered – all affect how the kiln will fire. Air flow, heat distribution, oxidation, reduction, intake, exhaust, gas and chemical reactions, shrinkage, timing between changes… It is always slightly different with so many variables. Just firing a kiln is an art and science.

In the second and third photos the kiln is fully loaded. It’s 1pm and I’ve lit the burners.

The 4th shot, at right, is of the kiln ~12 hrs into the firing at 1am. The peephole plugs are out to show the effect of reduction on the kiln. The intensity and color of the flame is an indicator of the strength of the reduction. This firing took 13.5 hours to reach 2350f.

The final photo was 36 hours later, after the kiln had cooled to ~250f.

Until the temp is below 400f we barely open the door…

The finished pieces go through quartz inversion at ~400f – a time of rapid shrinkage when they will easily crack. One can hear ting ting ting through the cracked door. In high fired stoneware and porcelin, there is approximately 13% shrinkage – about 10% of this happens during the glaze fire – torturing the pieces. A true trial by fire.

click any image to enlarge

After a lot of refining and studious work, I finished several unique new glazes this month. With them, I have been throwing porcelain instead of the brown stoneware clay. I’m loving the way the new glazes are reacting with it! The colors are more vibrant than ever.

We’re at a high point in experimentation success and expression.

As I write, Peggy is in her studio filling color in on pieces she wax decorated over the past few days. I’ve been making a lot of new pieces in preparation for our expansion in Studios on the Park.

The photo above is of two slab vessels I carved with geometric intertwinning imagery, along with new wheel thrown porcelin teapots, and a large porcelain covered jar.

The photo below is a group of bisque fired porcelain bottles and vessels waiting to be glazed. Tomorrow is glaze day and I plan to finish some of them. I am developing more new glazes for the porcelain and revisiting some of the combinations I loved in my past porcelain work.

It was really a day in the sun – about 80 degrees with a light wind – absolutely perfect weather. It was a great crowd and we had very good sales. Again this week, as at Saratoga, patrons bought some very nice pieces of both our collaborative work and my individual work. There was a great funk/R&B band playing, wine tasting, BBQ, and art. What more could you ask for?

Our daughter Emily, with her daughter Zoë, and our son Josh, with his daughter Heidi and son Carter all stopped by for visits. It was a wonderfully fun day in Templeton.

We had our first weekend of expansion at our gallery at Studios on the Park, too. We are both thrilled with the new displays and more cohesive space. We’ve been working so hard in preparation that the space is already full! We’re very excited and looking forward to showing off the space… Here are our first photos.

We had a terrific opening night on Friday, July 17.  I was having so much fun visiting with our many friends who stopped by to celebrate with us, that I forgot to take any pictures of the party.  Our studio partner, Henry A.J. Ramos and his beautiful wife, Claudia were there co-hosting the event .  We were all very pleased with the response from the wonderful people in attendance. Our new hours at the Studios on the Park beginning July 24 will be, Thurs. & Sun. 12:00-6:00, Fri. & Sat. 4:00-10:00 

I’m learning to blog as we speak and I just wanted to share a picture of the kiln full of pots ready for a firing.  The door is about to close and the firing begins.  (This is actually an older photo) and I’m looking forward to sharing new works with you in coming blog posts.

We’ve had a beautiful day hiking and enjoying the coast.  If you find yourself in Cambria and visit us at our home/studio, this is my studio in the pines.