Kjell Hahn

accidentally erased every art related photograph i had.. got to spend the better part of the afternoon trying to undo the mess. probably only lost several hours of work but im not happy about it. aperture lumps all the photos into one file so if i do something stupid like erase a folder, repairing it takes the better part of the day… i wish i knew a better solution for storing my photos.
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also some 14 year old kid tried to start a fight with me at school because i wouldnt let him draw on and pour glue on the desk. he stood up pretending to throw some trash away and body checked me with his shoulder twice. when i grabbed him his buddy jumped up behind me screaming bloody murder.. i thought the situation was going to get real ugly real fast but somehow got everyone in their seats before we got in the newspaper. this is the 3rd time some kid has tried to start something with me at this school…. i cant wait to be done with that place.
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kilns been going for a while now.
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we hit 1240 degrees last night but im not sure if that will be enough. most of the wood has been used up as well as everyone’s pep. we did have the good fortune of the local shaman stopping by to light the kiln in her white robes though. she talked to the kiln god and put on a good performance for all. the shamen muttered and had to speak in tongues to communicate with the spirits. i guess it wouldnt really make any sense for the spirits to speak japanese or they would never be able to talk to gods from other countries. thats the kind of stuff you have to know if you are going to be a shamen. it looked and sounded like hard work with all the groaning and that strange expression on her face. anyway, the kiln gave us a weather report which has been mostly accurate so far. she (kilns a lady) also said that some of the days we would have trouble getting the temperature up. she was right on about that. after 4 days of sleepless nights and near constant alcohol consumption by all the firing has become somewhat disorganized. i think this is the difficulty the kiln god referred to. not to worry, she said in the end all would work out and we’d have some nice pots to show for our work. good to hear that. i would hate to do all this work and have the kiln god ruin it all.
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back to work…

The 4th day of firing chiaki horikoshi’s anagama kiln in japan.
Still a long way to go and a lot of wood to get in the kiln.

weekend is here.
im going to sit up on the mountain tonight watching the kiln. i hope its warmer up there than in my house.

kiln all ready to go. still a lot of work to do but its a relief to have the pots in there. probably will be around 20 people helping out during the firing so it should go pretty smoothly.
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a few weeks back.. maybe its been a month now, chiaki took part in a city-wide jazz festival in Yokohama. fuyuko and mome sewed together a giant canvas for the stage backdrop at Kanai Hall. all the onishi kids went down to enjoy the music and help Chiaki do a live painting performance /collaboration with the band. I tried to get the actual music from the show from a friend but have been waiting so long I just used some other jazz music for the soundtrack…
the applause of the audience before chiaki came on stage actually made me a little nervous. its gotta be hard to concentrate on a painting with 1000+ eyeballs on your back the whole time.
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so, this is the first video i’ve taken with the canon 7D…. hopefully ill get better over time.

started loading the kiln.. lot of work to do, very little time and even less organization.
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i sure clean up nice.

Kiln Loading- Nov 14th-16th
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Kiln Firing- Nov 19th-23th- kiln stoking on a 24 hour cycle so any time you can help is welcome…
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Directions:
call me at 090-9887-4914 or Chiaki at 090-3527-5037 to make sure someone can drive you up to the kiln site.
Take Takasaki train line to Honjo Stn. Buses to Onishi/Kamikawa run until 8pm. Take a bus to the Syuten (last stop).
Bring warm (natural fibers best around a 1300 degree kiln) clothes. and a sleeping bag if possible.
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nyusu:
had the head of the school district come and watch my classes yesterday. Since im quitting the job I tried to do as little preparation for the classes as possible- (usually I have about 4 minutes, so I thought he should see things the way they usually are. )somehow it went quite well, even with all the strange old guys in black suits standing around the back of the room. i figured bossman would helpfully critique my lessons afterward. instead he asked me if I had any complaints about the teachers I work with. Obviously he doesn’t know me very well.. I get myself in enough trouble complaining about people I care about and this guy wants my opinion about a group of people who have been screwing me over for the last 8 months. I found it hard to keep myself from going into a complete rant, but I managed to bite my tongue enough to sound positive in my criticism(s). Bossman wants me to visit his office if anything ever bothers me. thanks. I cant think of anything good coming from my being honest. I have no illusion about this guy wanting to look out for me, he just wants dirt on the other teachers. If he wanted to help he might begin with removing our 30% pay cut.
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so recently thinking about work and also slow ceramic production before the firing had me in less than desirable spirits. we start loading the kiln in two days so at least I don’t need to worry about that anymore. I had a difficult time making anything on the wheel that really satisfied me. Koie Ryoji says that when you are frustrated with your work, you should concentrate harder and work through the mistakes. even if he’s right that can be hard to see during the process and at a certain point you end up second guessing yourself and making worse pots then when you started. At least with me, if im not relaxed I cant work with clay.
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chiaki kiln loading starts on the 14th. firing goes from the 19th to the 23rd or 24th
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recent drawing:

landscape assemblage/ oni landscape sketch

we’ve started getting the kiln ready for the firing, cutting wood and cleaning up the area. looking forward to it, but burned out on being a fake teacher, fighting with students and dullard teachers for hours on end every day. also the lack of upcoming exhibitions and all the socializing necessary in the art world has me a little bummed out. maybe i just need something to complain about to feel better about myself.
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the ghetto master taught me a new art. seaturtle throwing style.
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sheepies

over the weekend i finished several oni landscape drawings i had been working on. i had thought i wouldnt be making many more of those drawings, but i keep finding new interesting areas to work on in the series.
with the new works i took a few more photos and printed off a bunch of images with the printers at work. its a shame jimmy broke the printer he sent me before moving back to the states since the image quailty is so much better than the work printers.
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now that the portfolio is done im going to be spending most of my free time over the next month making ceramics. Chiaki’s firing starts in a few weeks and John’s over winter break.
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sketches of gregg while talking on skype.

memories of joe hahn,
i think this video speaks for itself.
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does everyone else know who john daker is? check out his solo performances: John Daker