I’ve definitely appreciated the people who’ve interacted with this website and blog, and I’d like to inspire a bit more of it if I can. Art is ultimately about communication after all…  and it can sometimes feel like isolated labor.

With this in mind, I’m going to inaugurate a quarterly contest.

Four times a year, I’ll solicit a guest entry for my blog. In return, the entry I like the most will get posted, and the submitting person will get a piece of my high-fire work (postage paid- heck… I’ll even mail outside of the U.S. for the right entry).

For the first contest, I’m asking for an entry discussing a threatened or endangered wild creature. 

Endangered species have been a recurrent theme in my work (comes of working for a Wildlife department in a western university).

The contest is also loosely based on an ongoing project I’m working on titled ‘Last Chance to See’, based on Douglas Adams’ book of the same name.

Parameters:

1)   There’s no hard word limit… but I haven’t posted anything much longer than 1000 words. The entry can be shorter.

2)   The entry should be essay-style. It should introduce a specific organism (anything from seaweed to chimpanzee is fine) that is threatened with extinction (I guess this could include almost any living thing on the planet… but starlings or Kentucky bluegrass probably don’t qualify).

2)   The entry should describe why this organism is meaningful to the writer. I’m very interested in reference to science, myth, culture, etc. My entry on elephants can serve as an example.

3)   You can include images if you like… but I’m happy to illustrate your entry.

4)   You can send me an attachment at kohakuroon@gmail.com, or you can post text into my commissions and contacts page.

The contest will run until the end of June (overlapping my annual work stint in Ecuador). 

I’ll post the entry that I like the most (assuming I get any!) in July. I’m happy to credit the author in any manner that they wish (links back to their website, etc.).

I’ll also work the organism from the entry into a new surface design for a raku piece.
And…

The winner can choose one of these recent examples of my hi-fire work. Just for the record (because people always ask) these items are dishwasher, microwave, and food safe.

Heck- if Indiana Jones had had one of these, he wouldn't have needed that *&%( refrigerator.

First option is a 'steeper' mug. In addition to the lid, this piece features a perforated insert for holding loose-leaf tea.

There's a carved design on the flank inspired by the coast ranges of Washington, British Columbia, and Alaska (with a little bit of Ireland thrown in)

The alternate option was inspired by a friend who came over a month ago. I was giving away a few of my uglier, 'failed' pieces. He took a jar, saying that it would be perfect for 'sippin' whiskey'. He then informed me that I 'outta make a few whiskey flasks'.

Idaho- you've got to love it.

Here's the result. Not sure if I'll make more of these... but it was fun.

The design is my 'stock' grayling carving. There's a tube running through the upper center of the body- potential attachment point for a strap.

You could evoke all the Minnesota frat boys I remember from the ski hills near Minneapolis, wobbling down the hills with their canteens full of nameless rot-gut.

Anyhow- good luck, and I hope I hear from a few of you.

What do green sea turtle eggs and shark fin have in common? The same thing as black bear gall bladder and tiger penis bone, if that’s any help…

Aphrodisiacs!

Oh… all of these items are connected to really, really cool wild animals, which are getting systematically rendered down into ‘supplements’ that randy old goats sprinkle on their drinks.

I’ve been pondering this in light of continuing work on my ‘Last chance to See’ project. Another artist and I recently got the provisional green light to host this project at the Pritchard Art Gallery in Moscow… although not until 2014.

This is a good thing- Raku is a spastic process at times. I’ve had a few pieces explode in the kiln lately.  This is an added challenge- as in some mega-sized conga drums I’ve been building of late.

Congas hail from North Africa… as does one of the animals featured in Douglas Adams’ book is the Northern White Rhino, Ceratotherium simum. These slow-rolling mountains of bleary eyed innocence have a reputation for bulldozering  women, trees, houses and villages. In truth, C, simum is mostly aggressive towards other Rhinos. The brave (or foolish) could theoretically walk to within a couple meters of a calm bull rhino’s horn and live to tell the tale.

Of course, most of the interactions between humans and rhinos these days seem to be flowing from the stubby maw of an AK47. There’s been a sickening increase in rhino poaching of late.  In South Africa in 2000, poachers killed seven Rhinos. In 2011, the ‘cull’ was 448. See  Stop Rhino Poaching for some additional, region-specific stats.

(Note- I considered linking a couple of pictures here… but it’s honestly hard for me to look at these images.  Google ‘rhino poaching’ and you’ll get more than you can stomach).

I could discuss the tragedy of the commons and the burgeoning Chinese middle class (both of which are implicated in the recent accelerated poaching).  Rhino horn is now touted as a cure for everything from arthritis to cancer… the tragic rarity of the species accentuating its cachet on the black market.

However, we’re really talking about the fact that rhinoceros horns are pert and erect (and admirably large) and people have a tendency to… err… ‘project’ mystical power onto such things.

I recently logged an entry where I rhapsodized about my bouzouki… talking about animism and the possibility that love can infuse inanimate objects with something like a soul. I admit to a certain sentimental-mystical gumbo in my fiber… but I try retreat to critical thinking every once in awhile.

The cynic might see this type of projection as similar to ‘the pathetic fallacy’- the tendency to ascribe emotion or intent to the inanimate. ‘Nature abhors a vacuum’. (‘Pathetic’ in this case drawn from the same Latin roots as ‘pathos’ – and thus related to empathy)-

(Note- the image above is the work of an artist named Margot Cormier Splanea who I just discovered. Wildly inventive stuff with a biting edge… evokes Ray Troll a little bit).

There’s not really a specific term that I know of for the tendency to imbue objects with magic properties based on their shape, however. (I ran up a flag with a couple of philosopher/writer friends on this one).  I’m provisionally calling it the  ‘SUE’ fallacy (derived from ‘sugentem umbra essentia’).

Anyhow, it’s clear that there’s an extraordinary amount of desperate ‘love’ (of a sort) hurled at anything that evokes a phallus (or part of one). Even Viagra has failed to put a crimp in this trend. Yes- turtle eggs evoke certain paired, roly-poly objects. Does it follow that the thousands of Central Americans who knock them back with beer are seeing a clinical increase in their functionality?

The advertisement- by the way- is from a Mexican add campaign. It reads:

My man doesn't need turtle eggs. Because he knows that they won't make him more viral. Etc.

As noted in the New York Times, there's something a bit off-putting about using gender stereotypes to avert environmental Tom-foolery. To quote from John Sayles wonderful film 'Lone Star'... "Yeah, it's always heartwarming to see a prejudice defeated by a deeper prejudice"

In the case of Rhino horn, we’re basically talking about a wildly over-grown toenail.  You could presumably mirror any clinical effects by pulling a Howard Hughes and rendering your weekly clippings into a shake.

Mind you, fingernails are entirely composed of beta-keratin… so they’re nutritionally useless.  Rhino horn does have a calcium core…   so quaffing chang laced with rhino horn could give you an energy boost. If you were calcium deficient to begin with…

Anyhow, I’m not sure if I can indulge my lean towards animism where my bouzouki is concerned… and climb back on my science pedestal when it comes to rhino horn huffing capitalists in Vietnam.

In the meantime, however, it’s a pretty serious indictment on the human race if a gentle giant like Ceratotherium simum fades to black because of our obsession with beloved, ever-troublesome wing-wangs.

Behold my latest creation, shambling its way into the light from Dr. David's mug lab. (Un-carved and unglazed, a legless Golem). Yes- the handle should probably flare upwards a bit more... but otherwise, I like the basic form.

As I discussed last week, I'm working to standardize a set of designs- trying to tread into off-beat terrain without completely shedding functionality. One option, when you move past the basic 'barrel with a handle' schematic, is to add a 'steeper' component. Or a lid. Or both, as in the case of this Korean design.

While I love the function of this piece, I'm not overly enamored with the amalgamated shape. It may be a matter of personal taste... but I think the spirit of Pooh Bear's honey pot hovers over these types of fat-bellied shapes a little bit.

Nothing against Milne or 100-acre wood... but the 'Pooh Pot' is one of the most intuitive shapes to throw on the wheel, and beginners crank them out like hot cakes. Spheres, in contrast, are much more tricky... and to my thinking, more profoundly pleasing to the eye.

Here are the components of the current design. The strainer rests within the mug, and the lid nests atop the strainer. The idea is to retain the basic arc of the sphere.

You can see the theory diagrammed out in my schematic.

So- I was feeling all chummy with myself about this. Then- I did what I should have done from the get-go... which is to lay out the original Korean mug and consider why the maker constructed it the way that they did.

I liked the idea of nesting the lid inside the strainer, thinking that this would nicely augment the curve of the mug itself. Also, I wasn't excited about having two extra layers of stuff sitting on top of the mug's rim.

However, looking at the Korean mug (schematic to the right)... there's one obvious advantage over my design. You can remove the strainer and still have a functional lid.

With my design, once the strainer is removed, the lid no longer fits.

Thus- after a day spent monkeying around in the studio, I'm going to huck out my design. Bring on the Kim-chee! I'll retain the spherical model for the mug. I'll also build add a caudal fin to the lid (as a finger-grip)... similar to the  prototype I've posted above. This should mirror the curve of the mug.

Sadly, there's a pecuniary motive behind all of this. I want to sell some of these things. So- here's a question: Given that these 'steeper mugs' are more finicky to make than a basic 'stein' model... or a simple 'barrel with lug handle' design... is there any advantage to making them?

It will probably take me almost twice as long to crank out a 'steeper'. I'll have to price it up.

The question then... would anyone be willing to pay a bit more for the mug on the left (below) as compared to either of the other models? (Please ignore the fact that the left two designs are unfired, and thus buck naked). I'd love to get a couple honest (even brutal) opinions on this.

Anyhow, enough about mugs. Next entry- the ongoing 'Last Chance to See' project... and the putative aphrodisiac qualities of turtle eggs and tiger ding dong!