Best Friend's portrait  Even though it's fairly far outside what I normally do, I decided to sculpt some cats this year.  the protrait nearly completed, with most of the texture in place Partly, I chose to sculpt something because my students were sculpting solid forms on armatures during my hand-building class this winter and I wanted to create some video demos showing some techniques for creating more dynamic textures. early in the process the focus is on getting the proportions right Around this time, we were also having a conversation among the a ..read more

Coming up on Saturday, July 27 in Tieton, WA, I will be emceeing the 3rd Annual Tieton Pottery Throwdown on the square from 2-4pm. This is a friendly pottery throwing competition featuring local artists and students. There's still time to sign up to compete; just let me know before the competition. You can bring your own clay and tools or borrow ours. Each year the associated events in Tienton day seem to grow. This year there is a ceramics show at Boxx Gallery an outdoor art fair with over 20 artists on the square, as well as a tagsale and a vintage trailer rally.  If you don't w ..read more

I’ve been away from blogging for quite a while. I haven’t been away from the studio for quite as long, but I did take a studio break as well. I had been feeling overwhelmed and decided to say “no” to some of the things that were complicating my life. In May, and early June, I felt like I simply couldn't get it all done. work in progress from this summer The studio break may have been necessary, but I’m not sure it was exactly good. Towards the end of spring quarter, I noticed I was feeling down and a bit blue. Maybe that's the normal feeling when the academic year is wrapping up or ..read more

  some of the stacking pieces on a worktable in my studio in the days before the installation Now that our faculty show, Dust, at Larson Gallery has been installed and has officially opened, I am experiencing that funny feeling of being done with a massive project that has consumed a great deal of my mental energy for quite some time.  I began working on this show in earnest almost immediately after finding out that it would happen. Last May, during the Student Exhibition, several of us asked David Lynx, then Larson Gallery director, for an art faculty show. Though we ..read more

Kekino Motes, installation 2024   I am excited to announce “Dust” the Yakima Valley College art faculty exhibition at Larson Gallery. The show opens Saturday, January 13, 2024 with a reception from 3-5pm This is the first faculty exhibition in my 17.5 years at YVC, and it comes at a great time, when our campus gallery, Larson, is in a beautiful large and still new space and our art program is bigger than ever.   The show features works by our four full-time faculty: Chris Otten (photography and Digital Design), Kayo Nakamura (drawing, painting, and printmaking), Monika ..read more

Last class week: Raku, firings and Pottery Sale This week is the last full week of winter quarter and a busy week in the clay studio. Tomorrow we will be running a raku firing for both classes and Tuesday is our pottery sale. pottery sale poster for this fall Pottery Sale Tuesday The Pottery Sale features pottery and sculpture made by myself and Yakima Valley College clay students and employees over the past year or years. All work is for sale and very moderately priced, so it’s a great opportunity to pick up some handmade gifts for the holidays. The clay sale features lots ..read more

The award winning (and sold) Opuntia Verde, 2023 The 68th Annual Central Washington Artist Exhibition opened this past Saturday at Larson Gallery. The show runs through December 9, 2023 Orange Cactae, 2023, also in the CWAE show I have two pieces in the show, and I won an award on Saturday for the green one. The award is the Lilian Adamns and Muriel Adams Memorial Award, sponsored by Leo Adams.  my award from Saturday The Larson Gallery is open Tuesday-Friday 10am-5pm and Saturdays 1-5pm. Admission is always free and open to the public. Larson Galler ..read more

  My studio on Tour day Last weekend was the Labor Day Tour of Artists Studios in Yakima. I hadn't posted here for over a month, in large part because I was getting ready for this. (Though we also took a 3 week vacation and I took a total break for the first time in years!) sign for our tour My home studio was on the Tour, along with 5 other sites. At my house, Monika Lemmon, Chris Otten, and Kayo Nakamura showed their work this year, too. All four of us have been teaching studio art classes at YVC this year, with Monika teaching drawing online and in Grandview, Chri ..read more

a couple of sculptures out of the bisque kiln this morning, with the brochure/mailer for the Tour The Labor Day Weekend Artist's Tour in Yakima is coming up in less than two months! I want to invite anyone who is in the area to attend the tour. My home studio is on the tour and I will have lots of new functional pottery and sculpture, as well as new lawn sticks and hanging bulbs. new lawn stick toppers waiting for glaze I will also have the YVC studio faculty showing at my studio. Chris Otten, who teaches photography, and Monika Lemmon, who teaches drawing, were both a ..read more

newly glazed dishes laid out for photographing, inventory, and quality checks It's been a minute since I last wrote about, well, anything. The end of the spring quarter and start of fall have been super busy and I've been spending so much time in the studio since classes ended (and even before that, really), that I wanted to put all that energy into that work, rather than writing about it. a thrown sculpture I started in spring I supposed the correlary is that today I feel more like writing than working (so far).  Work waiting to be glazed, shoved out of the ..read more