Aaron Murray

The Summer Solstice pottery pit fire at Alki Beach was a success. It was a wonderful gathering of pottery enthusiasts. Strangers on the beach joined in the fun as fire dancers twirled fireballs, and stopped by to see the pots being fired. We used wood collected locally at a nearby forest plus some construction scraps as fuel. I weaved seaweed and driftwood throughout the stacking of the pots and sprinkled in some copper carbonate and table salt before burning. Here are

One of the best things about teaching ceramics is that I get to teach at one of the most beautiful places in the world. The sunsets at Alki are amazing, and there is such a great mix of people, it is the perfect place for people watching and meeting friends. West Seattle sometimes feels like a small town, it has a very strong sense of community and the beach culture at Alki allows one to slow down the pace of life to admire the beauty around. The Alki Bath House is also a h

People Series In 1998 I began using soft linoleum to make relief prints. I soon discovered other carving surfaces such as soft rubber, and then wood. I've also used styrofoam, craft foam, and other surfaces. I also began making a lot more of the prints from wood. I worked at a wine warehouse for awhile and used to collect the wood from wine crates. It was usually a smooth soft pine. After pulling out the nails and staples it was ready to carve. The profiles I made were a

One day while walking by a glint in the sky caught my eye I looked up and saw flying past a pegasus unicorn giraffe It's wings soared above the trees and it's fluttering shook the leaves it flew into a cloud and dove fast this pegasus unicorn giraffe Then it landed nearby it was a sight I couldn't deny and i tried real hard not to laugh at the pegasus unicorn giraffe pegasus-unicorn-giraffe the pegasus-unicorn-gira-affe pegasus-unicorn-giraffe a pegasus-unicorn-giraf-af-af-af

Grunge City is a current series of paintings based on interesting places in Portland and Seattle, particularly South of Jackson Street. I began in 2011 to replicate images based on real places that captured my interest.The series is an extension of work previously made from 2007-2009 and are also perhaps an evolution from the viaduct series executed in 1998-2002. This newer series of paintings reveal my growth as a painter, which has been an intermittent passion between k

The Hot Catz are a group of cat characters that were first developed about 6 years ago. The Hot Catz theme was further developed as I began depicting them on cups and bowl in various scenarios. Hot Catz in space, Hot Catz Interview, Hot Catz in Hatz, Hot Catz on Film, were a few of many ideas I developed for them. I also made relief block prints, some comic strips, and many drawings for this theme. Previous to the Hot Catz explosion, I had made a few cat figurines that I most

In addition to making sculptures I enjoy making pots on a wheel. Lately I have made a series of cups, bowls, and vases with owls depicted on them in underglaze. The pots are made from clay bodies that fire at cone 6 and cone 10. At Alki Beach where I teach classes, we use clay and glazes that fire at cone 6, because we only have an electric kiln. I make pots from a porcelain body called ckk6, another yellow stoneware called Vashon White, a Vashon Brown, and a Kalama Red. So

I decided to make some deer for the holidays this year. The deer are pinched and pulled from stoneware clay at my house on Beacon Hill. I bisque fire them at Alki Beach. I glazed them with paprika, Ohata Kaki, and tenmouku glazes and fired them to cone 10 at the Kirkland Arts Center. Each deer is unique and is stylized in a general way to look deer-like. None are meant to represent a particular deer species. Paprika glazed with tenmouku glaze on horns and black underglaze

These are sculptures based roughly on plush animals. As a child I owned several different animals made from various materials. These plush toys were often a source of comfort. As an only child that often spent time alone, these plush friends would often act out scenarios that were important to helping me understand the complexity in the human relationships that I was witnessing on television and in real life. These sculptures were also made by stuffing various papers insid

For the last 6 years I have done pit firings each summer out in Kittitas County at Green Canyon. This year with the wildfires, I opted to stay in Seattle to fire my pit fired wares. I made a special set of pinched plates, and platters for the firing and burned them in my back yard. Pit Firing is a primitive firing process, where smoke and fire are recorded on the surface of a pot. No glaze is used,but the surface is made shiny by burnishing with a polished stone. I used colo