At the end of my stay in Las Palmas I met fellow potters, Gloria, and Paco. They lived not far from my place. By chance I passed by their gallery-workshop at Leon y Castillo, one of the arteries of Las Palmas. Their gallery is a lovely and welcoming space. The front room is where they display their creations and also work from other artists/artisans they like. The back room is their ceramic's workshop. Upstairs there is the storage and more workshop space. They confessed that their house have become another workshop. Sadly I did not take many photos.
I throw some jugs on the wheel for them. It was a bit ackward after two years of no practice. I showed them how to prepare and work with paper -clay. Paco makes lamps, so hopefully this technique will be of use for him. In exchange ... they allowed me to use their space and they fired some work I made from Gran Canaria's wild clay. Overall, they were wonderful to me, we had great conversations about life, Spain, art, ceramics, craft, business, relocating to new places... There were always people at their gallery, students, customers, artists. One day I had the pleasure of meeting Gloria's mum, a very creative person. Now in her nineties, she is still sewing and has been making bags of her children's old dresses, thus producing functional bags and memory triggers at the same time. I loved the concept and craftmanship.
During my weekend strolls all over the island I had always in mind to search for clay. I just wanted I little amount, to do a small piece, a token from the island. But I wanted to dig the clay myself, not to buy it. Some potters sell bags of already prepared Canarian clay. There is not much clay in the islands, and it fires at a very low temperature it needs additions like sand to be able to reach 800 degrees. I found my clay not far from Arteara, walking through the tunnels and galleries abundant in the area. These galleries enabled workers to cross through the ravines, saving them lots of time. They are not often used now and some were flooded.
I was reckless because I did not follow the Canarian tradition for preparing the clay, and decided to mix my clay, after sieving the impurities, with 30% of a comercial stoneware body to increase its firing temperature. It worked well. None the less, I think of it as a Canarian clay. I had only enough for a little figurine.
I throw some jugs on the wheel for them. It was a bit ackward after two years of no practice. I showed them how to prepare and work with paper -clay. Paco makes lamps, so hopefully this technique will be of use for him. In exchange ... they allowed me to use their space and they fired some work I made from Gran Canaria's wild clay. Overall, they were wonderful to me, we had great conversations about life, Spain, art, ceramics, craft, business, relocating to new places... There were always people at their gallery, students, customers, artists. One day I had the pleasure of meeting Gloria's mum, a very creative person. Now in her nineties, she is still sewing and has been making bags of her children's old dresses, thus producing functional bags and memory triggers at the same time. I loved the concept and craftmanship.
During my weekend strolls all over the island I had always in mind to search for clay. I just wanted I little amount, to do a small piece, a token from the island. But I wanted to dig the clay myself, not to buy it. Some potters sell bags of already prepared Canarian clay. There is not much clay in the islands, and it fires at a very low temperature it needs additions like sand to be able to reach 800 degrees. I found my clay not far from Arteara, walking through the tunnels and galleries abundant in the area. These galleries enabled workers to cross through the ravines, saving them lots of time. They are not often used now and some were flooded.
I was reckless because I did not follow the Canarian tradition for preparing the clay, and decided to mix my clay, after sieving the impurities, with 30% of a comercial stoneware body to increase its firing temperature. It worked well. None the less, I think of it as a Canarian clay. I had only enough for a little figurine.
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