First Friday: Blue Clay stands alone
Blue Clay Studio, a family-run cooperative near Sandy Beach, has shared three shows at the Juneau Arts and Humanities Council with photography and textile artists. The fourth, opening Friday, Sept. 2, as part of First Friday, is Blue Clay all alone, and will see the group going in a slightly new direction.
Paul Voelckers; his wife, Mary Pat Wyatt; their son, James Voelckers; and their neighbor, Dean Guaneli, will exhibit a collection of two-dimensional artwork along with new gas-fired porcelain work from the last year.
Paul Voelckers and Wyatt are members of Juneau's outdoor Plein Rein painters group and will be showing some watercolors and pastels. James just finished his senior oil paintings and drawing thesis at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Wash.
"You start to look at what's common even though it's completely different from watercolors to ceramics," Voelckers said. "I think you can see some certain things in terms of handling of color or form or modeling."
The ceramics in the show are almost exclusively porcelain. The group's previous exhibitions were 60 percent stoneware.
"Porcelain is a little more technically difficult, but it's real luminous and you get brighter glazes," Voelckers said. "The clay tends to be grainier and not quite as bright in terms of what it does to the glazes."
Blue Clay has a large gas kiln, similar to the one at University of Alaska Southeast, but about two-thirds the size.
Voelckers worked as a commercial potter after finishing college in Washington state, and when he moved to Juneau in the mid-1970s, the kiln stayed in a barn down south.
About 10 years ago, as his boys reached middle school and his family was getting more interested in art, they began to set aside room in their house for a studio that was "more than hobbyist level." The last step was shipping the kiln up from Washington and using a large crane to set it down in place.
The kiln has an interior volume of 16 cubic feet, large for hobbyist scale. The shelves on the inside are big enough to fit large platter shapes.
"The kiln is always a work in progress," Voelckers said. "You always try to get more efficient and more consistent in firing. The natural fuels use up all the oxygen, so you get a whole other family of chemistry with all the glazing. It ends up being erratic and a little bit mysterious and sort of hard. It's a mix between science and art, the more you do it."
Blue Clay, named for the soggy clay under much of the Juneau area, buys and creates its glazes. The group's shapes range from large bowls to plates, vases, bottle shapes and James' popular series of open-style mugs. This show will likely include less functional ware.
Some of the work includes Wyatt's carved scenes and floral, branch and plant designs. A tall pot has a raven handle. A vase has an involved mountain, tree and water theme. One of her latest works, tentatively titled "From The Beach," includes a series of glazed porcelain tiles mounted on a piece of sheet iron she found on the beach.
• JUNEAU ARTISTS GALLERY, 175 S. Franklin St.: Juneau native Jack Hermle Jr., a founding member of the Juneau Artists Gallery (then the Juneau Artists Co-operative), will have 12 to 13 photographs, including two to four new ones, on the wall of the store.
Hermle has been showing his photographs in Juneau for more than 50 years. His most well-known shot may be "Golden Bridge," a sunset glimpse of the old Douglas Bridge. Hermle's classics also include a picture of a iceberg from the Taku Glacier floating in front of town, and a night shot of the Hale-Bopp comet.
One photo, "Beyond the Iceberg," was taken during a 10-day, three-canoe trip through Endicott Arm.
"It's kind of an unusual thing," he said. "We just came out of the fjord, and this iceberg was hung up on a reef, and partner and I paddled around behind it. We wanted the other canoe to come through and photograph it. But they photographed us at the same time, from behind the iceberg."
Hermle has been taking new pictures from his recent hikes, as well as busy harbor scenes and shots of the Golden North Salmon Derby. He expects some of those to be ready later this year.
Hermle has been taking pictures since he received his first camera for his high school graduation. Now retired from the state of Alaska, he travels around the world on photo adventures with a former New York City roommate who lives in Dublin, Ireland. They've visited the United Kingdom, the Grand Canyon, Arizona and Montana.
Hermle produces many of his prints directly from 35 mm slides. He owns an Olympus oni, a Cannon 35mm and a medium-format Fuji.
To see more his photographs, visit http://www.juneauartistsgallery.com.
• ANNIE KAILL'S, 244 Front St.: Juneau jeweler and store favorite Colleen Goldrich will return with her latest work in sterling silver, semiprecious stones and freshwater pearls.
Goldrich is known for her stained glass mirrors and her Moondance Designs jewelry.
For more information and to see more of her work, visit http://www.annieandcojuneau.com.
• COSTA'S DINER, Merchants Wharf: The diner will showcase the Boardwalk Boogie artwork of Pelican artist Eric Bealer, known throughout Southeast for designing the last several Alaska Folk Festival posters. Bealer lives with his wife, Pam, on a cliff-side homestead near Pelican.
The diner will have posters, shirts, hats, comics, buttons and art that Bealer has created for the 7-year-old Boogie, set for Sept. 16-18 this year in Pelican. Some merchandise will be for sale.
Boardwalk Boogie tickets will be on sale, and a drawing will be held for one free ticket. Patrons will also be able to make some of the buttons for this year's festival.
Some assortment of bluegrass musicians will provide the musical accompaniment, and refreshments will be served. The Chilkat Cone Kitchen will also be open.