Blue Bus Studio
Blue Bus Studio
Tim Garvin and Cynthia Drake of Blue Bus Studio create their porcelain pieces using an ancient technique known variously as millefiori, neriage, and nerikome. The extreme detail and intense color in their ceramic work results from the use of over 500 different colors of clay to create carefully designed clay loaves. Next, cross-sections are sliced from the loaves, and these sections are shaped and finished into individual pieces, then glazed and fired three times. Often, 23+ karat platinum edging is applied, and the piece receives its final fire.
Millefiori, which is Italian for "thousand flowers," is an ancient technique of combining colored glass rods to make canes of color. Cross-sections are sliced, combined, and used to create beads, paperweights, vases, etc. This technique was brought to high distinction on Murano, an island in the lagoon of Venice, in the middle ages but was used far earlier by the Romans and Egyptians. Some archeologists date its inception as far back as the first millennium B.C.
The use of colored clays in the same way, called neriage or nerikome in Japan, is a ceramic application of the technique.
I grew up in the wilderness 24 miles north of Juneau, Alaska with whales in the front yard and bears in the back. There was wild beauty everywhere, and now, as an artist, those vivid, natural colors inform my work. I make beauty from dust – a joy for me and, I hope, a joy for you.
Tim Garvin