I recently posted about my happy obsession with The Great Pottery Throwdown. Rich Miller is one of the regulars on the show; first as the kiln technician, then later as a judge, holding equanimity while the other judge bursts into tears. I liked the clear style of his critiques so I looked up his work, and found delightful surprises. I have never seen pottery like this before! Below are some photos from Rich’s body of work around 2017-2018, plus some photos of Rich taken by Ben Bosewell.
Richard Miller’s website says he pulls ideas from the U.K.’s eclectic mix of cultural styles, mixing British colonialism with influences of diverse styles from Britain’s immigrants. In the video below, Rich demonstrates how to make the pottery styles seen above. This is a long video, so if you’re reading this with a day ahead of you, you might save this one for later.
Rich Miller demonstrates how to make the stamped and ornamented pottery shown above (1 hour 22 minutes)
How to make a candlestick in 3 minutes
A great beginner wheel throwing pottery class! A candlestick holder in under 3 minutes.
After 2018, Rich’s pottery appears to have stopped. In his online shop there is a single cup for sale, just one cup, and it is out of stock. Mr. Miller appears to be involved in other things – perhaps filming my favorite TV show.
Froyle Tiles
handmade ceramic tiles
After ogling Rich Miller’s exquisitely British pottery, I found Froyle Tiles. In the video below, Rich talks about making pots shortly after school, then learning how to make tiles so he can buy a 30 year old custom tile design business. He said going from making one-of-a-kind pieces to production work was a challenging adjustment that took him a year to learn, but the detailed and unique tiles are hand touched beauties – nothing like the cold uniformity of manufactured tiles.
Making tiles at Froyle (6 min)
Clay mixed, cut into tiles, glazed and fired. In the second half, you can see some of the buildings the custom tiles were made for. (11 min)
We will be making our own clay at the school, running it through our Peter Pug Mill. We’ll have our own glazes and kilns to fire. We could design and make our own handmade ceramic tiles. You know, hypothetically.
I met Keith Pfeiffer when he took my recent Thursday class “Drawing and Painting the Effects of Light.” I love the paintings he made with the ideas presented in class. I spotted this painting on his Instagram page during the class. I asked him what his strategies were. This is a teacherly way of saying …
Once a year, the League sponsors a 30 day creative challenge open to artists everywhere, working in any media. Daily challenges will be delivered to your inbox via V. Notes starting January 1, 2021. Subscribe to V. Notes. They’re fun and they’re free! Will there be prizes? Yes, there will be prizes. The 30 day challenge starts soon. Who …
This article by Michael Agresta was published in the Texas Observer in 2016. The lynchings have brought it to us again. San Antonio painter Vincent Valdez unveils a monumental work on the persistence of white supremacy in America. A casual art viewer, wandering into the David Shelton Gallery in Houston from this month and encountering …
[image_with_animation image_url=”8958″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Alex Walker, an Especially Enjoyable student in my Intermediate Studio class, decided to work on making his brushwork more direct and decisive by doing a study of John Singer Sargent’s portrait of Henry James. Since his pilgrimage to see it in London brought the sad news that the painting …
Richard Miller Ceramics
I recently posted about my happy obsession with The Great Pottery Throwdown. Rich Miller is one of the regulars on the show; first as the kiln technician, then later as a judge, holding equanimity while the other judge bursts into tears. I liked the clear style of his critiques so I looked up his work, and found delightful surprises. I have never seen pottery like this before! Below are some photos from Rich’s body of work around 2017-2018, plus some photos of Rich taken by Ben Bosewell.
Richard Miller’s website says he pulls ideas from the U.K.’s eclectic mix of cultural styles, mixing British colonialism with influences of diverse styles from Britain’s immigrants. In the video below, Rich demonstrates how to make the pottery styles seen above. This is a long video, so if you’re reading this with a day ahead of you, you might save this one for later.
How to make a candlestick in 3 minutes
After 2018, Rich’s pottery appears to have stopped. In his online shop there is a single cup for sale, just one cup, and it is out of stock. Mr. Miller appears to be involved in other things – perhaps filming my favorite TV show.
Froyle Tiles
After ogling Rich Miller’s exquisitely British pottery, I found Froyle Tiles. In the video below, Rich talks about making pots shortly after school, then learning how to make tiles so he can buy a 30 year old custom tile design business. He said going from making one-of-a-kind pieces to production work was a challenging adjustment that took him a year to learn, but the detailed and unique tiles are hand touched beauties – nothing like the cold uniformity of manufactured tiles.
We will be making our own clay at the school, running it through our Peter Pug Mill. We’ll have our own glazes and kilns to fire. We could design and make our own handmade ceramic tiles. You know, hypothetically.
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Glow Through Kitchen Window by Keith Pfeiffer
I met Keith Pfeiffer when he took my recent Thursday class “Drawing and Painting the Effects of Light.” I love the paintings he made with the ideas presented in class. I spotted this painting on his Instagram page during the class. I asked him what his strategies were. This is a teacherly way of saying …
30 Day #salchallenge starts January 1, 2021
Once a year, the League sponsors a 30 day creative challenge open to artists everywhere, working in any media. Daily challenges will be delivered to your inbox via V. Notes starting January 1, 2021. Subscribe to V. Notes. They’re fun and they’re free! Will there be prizes? Yes, there will be prizes. The 30 day challenge starts soon. Who …
The Big Picture
This article by Michael Agresta was published in the Texas Observer in 2016. The lynchings have brought it to us again. San Antonio painter Vincent Valdez unveils a monumental work on the persistence of white supremacy in America. A casual art viewer, wandering into the David Shelton Gallery in Houston from this month and encountering …
Looking Closely at JS Sargent’s Portrait of Henry James
[image_with_animation image_url=”8958″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Alex Walker, an Especially Enjoyable student in my Intermediate Studio class, decided to work on making his brushwork more direct and decisive by doing a study of John Singer Sargent’s portrait of Henry James. Since his pilgrimage to see it in London brought the sad news that the painting …