Kathy Ransom

Female

Calgary, AB

Canada

Profile Information:

What is your experience with ceramics in general. (Long answer encouraged)
I took my first ceramic course 30 years ago but life intervened and I didn't get back to it until about 8 years ago. I'm primarily self taught, learning from books and hours spent scouring the internet for tutorials, information, and inspiration. Some of the workshops and courses I've attended are NCECA 2012, Julia Galloway, Trudy Golley, Carol Gouthro (coming up this summer), Cathi Terepocki, and Sandra Ledingham.

I work at home in a large, insulated garage we are converting to a studio and it's functional but my goal is to have a space that will accommodate a studio sale next November. Talking with other potters has convince me that an annual sale is a great way to help pay the bills but it takes a few years to get it established so I need to get started.

I fire with a small 3-4 cu ft kiln that is attached to an electronic controller. Would love to get an 8 - 10 cu ft kiln but need to sell more pots to make that happen. I also have a 10 cu ft Olympic Torchbearer kiln that I would love to have functional but it needs some new parts and a shed before I can do that.

My pieces are all hand built as my hands are too weak to throw, although I'd love to try it and think I could learn if I had a wheel to play with. I love the perfect symmetry of a thrown piece but I also enjoy and appreciate the quirkiness of a piece that isn't quite symmetrical.
What is your current involvement with electric fired ceramics? (long answer encouraged)
Clay fascinates me more than any other material because of its' simplicity as well as its endless possibilities.
Fabric and fabric construction, lace, leaves, flowers, colorful glass & fibres are all materials that have a great deal of appeal to me and I can draw on all of them to create items in clay.
I also appreciate a sense of humour, inner strength, constancy and strong convictions and strive for these in my personal life. I'd like to think that these qualities are present in my work and will call to people who recognize them or have a need for a reminder in their lives.
All our content is viewable by the public. Why do you want to be a member, when you can already see everything as a non-member?
I really enjoy collaboration and sharing of information. When I put one of my favourite glazes on this network - frogskin, other potters became interested in it. They tried layering it with other glazes and refiring to bisque temperatures, altering it through other techniques in ways I'd never thought of. I think I've actually been a member of this network from almost the beginning and have enjoyed watching it grow and change to become a wonderful source of information.
Where do you work on your ceramics projects?
home studio
Do you have your own, or participate in other ceramics Websites:
http://kathrynransom.ca
How did you find this network?
search engine

Comment Wall:

  • George Lewter

    I will remove the old version of you! Out with the old, in with the new

    Dec 7, 2010

  • LORRAINE ADAMSON

    Hi Kathy,  Not much going on in my studio these days, I've been busy playing with my daughter & grand daughter who came for a visit Jan 6 to 15th and then it was the farm books and preparing for tax time  that kept me busy when I wasn't at my full time job.  I really need to retire so I can play in the mud more often!!  I need to get back to the clay and get some work done for the spring firing and the artisan tour in June.  

    Did you ever get the gas kin going?  And do you have a place to pit or barrel fire?

    Jan 30, 2011

  • LORRAINE ADAMSON

    Hi Kathy!, Good to hear from you. Nice that you have a ceramic sister! I look forward to seeing your creations. I am slowly getting some pieces made for a soft bisque and then a barrel firing as soon as this nasty weather leaves us. I'll post pictures if they turn out ok. The barrel firing is a blast. I'm sure you will love it. Keep those fingers muddy!

    Apr 16, 2011

  • George Lewter

    I think it would be great for you to start  a group for clay artists with physical challenges.  I, myself have to work around tremors that make it more difficult to trim pots, and most vexingly, to paint any kind of precise or repeated brush stroke. I often brace with both hands and my chin to trim pots, or when throwing precise rims.  So Go for It!  

    If you go to the main Groups page (accessed by clicking on the Groups tab in the network heading) there is an "Add" button in the upper right corner that will let you start a new group.  My only words of advice is to work on it yourself with some regularity to bring it back to general awareness, and to have great patience, for it may take months or even years to come alive -- much like the cone6pots network. 

    May 21, 2011

  • George Lewter

    As a member of the cone6pots network, you have email settings  to get, or to opt out of notifications for several varieties of activity on the network. As to a regular newsletter - that would be great. Who do you have in mind to put that together? Me?

    Right now, after almost a year of being out of the studio mainly for health reasons, I want to put more of my time into creating pottery, and getting that part of my work back in operation. The longer I stay away from the doing pottery, the more difficult it is for me to keep up my interest in this network. The same health issues have sharply decreased my work on the cone6pots network for the last six months. Fortunately, I am now back up to full-steam, and should be able to work more diligently on both interests.

    You are, of course, right. Regular communications from the network will stir more interest and participation, which will snowball into a more active and vibrant community.  Look forward to an emailed newsletter soon. (Unless, of course, you have opted out of email communications from the network.) As always, I seek assistance with the network in whatever capacities members might be interested.

    George Lewter

    Feb 16, 2013

  • Denice E. Demuth

    Kathy I hope your staying warm today, I just got over pneumonia, I'm not even going to try to heat up my shop today. I was wanting to apologize if I said anything that might upset you about changing directions.  My husband thought my comments were to blunt and too personal.  I told him that your work was so impressive I couldn't imagine anyone trying to tell you what to do.  I had some Anazai pottery that I had made in a Anazai research group, I took some to an gallery to sell.  The gallery owner didn't know anything about clay she thought I wanted to much for them.  I explained to her the process but that didn't make any difference.  Several weeks later I stopped by as I waited for her to finish with a customer that was looking at my work I heard her tell them they could get the same thing a lot cheaper in New Mexico.  So I picked up my pots and left and found other galleries to sell at.  Denice

    Jan 6, 2014