Shelby Prindaville

My Solo Show in Yamanashi City is Open!

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I’m so excited to share that my solo show in Yamanashi City’s Nezu Memorial Museum opened today!

The exhibition poster I designed for Living Bridges: Art, Ecology, and Sister City Connections.

As you may already know from previous posts, Yamanashi City is the Japanese sister city of Sioux City; I met their visiting delegation in honor of our 20th year of this sister city relationship at Morningside University in November 2023 and then visited Yamanashi City with Morningside University board member Mia Sudo in July 2024 after my Arts Itoya residency in Takeo-onsen, Japan.

Between then and now, many folks have come together to help celebrate all of these connections and the 20th year of Yamanashi City’s incorporation by having me present a solo art show in Nezu Memorial Museum! This has been a monumental undertaking that could not have been accomplished without the support of many people including Morningside University board member Mia Sudo, the Morningside University administration, Yamanashi City mayor Takagi, Ms. Yokoyama from the Yamanashi City Local Resource Development Division, numerous Yamanashi City Hall staff and Morningside University colleagues.

Living Bridges: Art, Ecology, and Sister City Connections will be on exhibit from April 26 - May 24, 2025, and I will be on site during its final exhibition week!

Photos from the "Food for People" Show at USD!

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As you may recall from this post, I was invited to participate in the show Food for People at the University of South Dakota Art Galleries. I attended the closing reception on Friday, March 28th, and it was fun to see all the other artwork on display as well as chat with some of the participants and viewers! Here are a couple of photos I took of the show statement as well as of my own installed artwork. In making these tile paintings, I intentionally have not grouted them into a fixed viewing situation, and I found it interesting how this show’s preparator chose to orient and install them!

Upcoming: Orange City Arts 2025 Regional Art Show

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My artwork has been juried into the Orange City Arts 2025 Regional Art Show Stewards of Creation, which will be on display April 5 - May 3, 2025. I have one painting and two ceramic vessels in this exhibition; my colleague Shannon Sargent and my student Eli Boyd Harris also each have an artwork in the show as well!

The exhibition is located in the NWC DeWitt Theatre Arts building at 721 Albany Ave SE, Orange City, IA 51041. Viewing hours are Mondays-Saturdays, 9am to 10pm. Cash prizes will be awarded to ‘Best in Show’ and ‘Honorable Mention’ at the closing reception on May 3, 2025!

I've Been Making Ceramic Sauce Bowls, Too!

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In addition to the chopstick rests, I’ve made a number of little ceramic sauce bowls to gift to folks in Japan as well! To complement my leaf chopstick rest designs, I went with flowers for these small dishes. I photographed a range of six, and then provided you with a single shot of one of my favorites:

And as I did with my chopstick rests, I’ve made a few small ceramic Sioux City dishes as well. I’ve included as a size comparison one of my Sioux City chopstick rests next to these little dishes:

Though my own vision is to use all of the above pieces of pottery as sauce bowls (for wasabi, yuzu koshō, etc.), they could serve as little trinket/ring dishes, too.

My Own Ceramic Chopstick Rest Designs!

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I’ve been producing a number of chopstick rests to give out as gifts this summer in Japan! The people are so nice and there’s such a gift-giving culture that I want to make sure I am able to reciprocate. I’ve mostly been making a variety of leaf chopstick rests:

However, I also am in the process of making a few Sioux City chopstick rests for those who are more connected to the sister city relationship between Yamanashi City and Sioux City or have strong bonds to Morningside University.

These are much more finicky to glaze, as keeping the text legible and the heart from “bleeding” into the white satin glaze requires a multi-step glazing process:

  1. I glaze the heart with two to three coats of glossy red with a small brush

  2. I apply wax resist to the heart and each of the letters with a very small brush

  3. I brush on two to three coats of the white satin glaze

  4. I painstakingly coax the glaze off the wax resist areas using a very small, wet brush

It’s tedious, but the results look great:

Shelby Prindaville's custom ceramic Sioux City, Iowa chopstick rest

Any of my chopstick rests can easily be converted into a magnet instead, if the recipients prefer to use them that way!

Short KNCK Radio Interview via NCK Today

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Concordia High School in Concordia, KS, one of my alma maters, has repeatedly invited me to connect with its students and share my love of art, nature, conservation, and higher education with them.

Radio host Loren Swenson reached out to me recently to once again highlight my journey and reflect on my time at CHS in another KNCK “Alumni Moment” segment which air during halftime at sports events; this one was played during a basketball game on Friday, February 7, 2025.

Below is a screenshot link to the recording on ncktoday.com on its general Talk Show page, but there’s no individual link so as more shows get added, it’ll be harder to find this specific show recording. I’ve therefore downloaded the audio file and then uploaded it at the bottom of this blog post so that this post will continue to make this recording easily accessible! As an FYI, the beginning of the recording suffers a little from compression/feedback issues, but it smooths out pretty quickly.

Promotion to Full Professor in 2025!

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I learned yesterday that I will become a senior faculty member at Morningside University beginning next fall, as I will be promoted to full professor!

In academia, there is a ranking system which is typically: instructor → assistant professor → associate professor → [full] professor.

I served as an instructor while teaching at Louisiana State University in graduate school in 2011-2013, became an assistant professor when I was hired full-time at the University of Saint Mary in 2013, was promoted to an associate professor in 2019 after earning tenure at USM but then moving to Morningside University, and have held the rank of associate professor since then while earning tenure at Mside in 2022.

It is an honor, and one that few academics reach before their mid-40’s, so I’m pleased to have earned it at the relatively youthful age of 38!

Generative AI Stealing From and Misunderstanding My Content

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In preparation for my Morningside University Humanities Speaker Series lecture Clay and Fire: Exploring Raku Ceramics, I was googling raku terminology to take screenshots that demonstrate that some of my artwork and research published within my blog posts are in the top internet search results for a number of raku finishing techniques. (Note: all below Google screenshots have a black background because I browse it using “dark mode” which is a bit easier on my eyes.)

In particular, my honey raku ceramics are the very first three image results and my website is also typically the first or second overall search result!

Screenshot of Google search image results for "honey raku", with my images as the first three results

As I was gathering screenshots of that, Google’s experimental generative AI decided to interrupt with its description of what honey raku is, and I was genuinely surprised when I first glanced at it - it was just a garbled reproduction of my own blog posts. Note that my blog is the first result under its “Learn more” right side panel.

The first Google generative AI stolen, erroneous description of “honey raku”

In comparison, below is a screenshot of the beginning of my blog post it’s pulling from:

A screenshot of a portion of my own honey raku blog post

You may have noticed these errors in the above generative AI description:

  • the image it stole (used uncredited) to illustrate the description is not of honey raku, it’s of ferric chloride and horsehair saggar-fired rakuware which is a different technique

  • the honey isn’t hot, the pottery is hot as it’s coming out from the 1000°C kiln

  • it works best on convex forms because the melting honey rolls off the convex forms but it settles in concavities and then you get large black pooling marks which aren’t as aesthetically pleasing

I downvoted this first generative AI description due to its errors, and then redid the search just to see what would happen. The generative AI “learned” from my downvoting, so it removed some of the misinformation, stole an image of mine to embed, and added new misinformation instead.

The second Google generative AI stolen, erroneous description, this time with stolen imagery as well

In this new description, it’s fixed the image reference and the convex vs. concave misunderstanding, but introduced new errors including:

  • for honey raku, you do not put the hot-out-of-the-kiln ceramic into a pit of combustible materials and then create a reduction atmosphere; that is, however, the process for some other raku techniques

  • it now doesn’t seem to know when/how the honey gets added, but it’s somewhere in the pit and that’s apparently enough

I shouldn’t be surprised; I’ve seen ChatGPT arguing that “strawberry” has only two R’s and generative AI advice to stare into the sun for 10-15min per day because it’s sincerely quoting from satirical newspapers. It’s a first for me, though, to see it explicitly quoting and erroneously paraphrasing me to spread misinformation.

Upcoming: Morningside University Humanities Speaker Series Lecture

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Coming up on Tuesday, February 18th at 7pm in Morningside University’s Weikert Auditorium (on the 2nd floor of the Buhler Rohlfs building), I will be presenting in the Morningside University Humanities Speaker Series with my Clay and Fire: Exploring Raku Ceramics lecture. This event is free and open to the public, so please stop by!

Shelby Prindaville's Morningside University Humanities Speaker Series raku ceramics lecture ad for February 2025

New Artwork: Paper Snow (紙吹雪)

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During my first visit to Yamanashi City, I shared with several folks from city hall that I kept being stymied in my quest to see species-standard tanuki; as a consolation, they took me to Yamanashi City’s Manriki Park in the hopes of sharing their capybara with me. I was told it was up to fate as to whether I’d glimpse him or not, as sometimes he prefers to stay indoors (out of view). Fortunately for me, he was outdoors when we arrived and I was able to take some photos of him!

I painted this Manriki Park capybara atop Uzurado dyed washi paper from Ozu Washi. Uzura means quail in Japanese, and is a reference to the “paper snow” or confetti scraps and speckles decorating the paper like quail plumage.

This is Paper Snow (紙吹雪), acrylic on Uzurado dyed washi paper, 21.5x17”, 2025. Note my katakana stamp signature on the lower left below the capybara’s feet - that stamp was an extremely thoughtful gift from Yamanashi City to me!

An acrylic painting of Yamanashi City's capybara on Uzurado dyed washi paper by Shelby Prindaville

An acrylic painting of Yamanashi City's capybara on Uzurado dyed washi paper by Shelby Prindaville

A Second Residency with Arts Itoya!

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Due to my return to Japan in May 2025 for two solo shows in Yamanashi City’s Nezu Memorial Museum and Hirakata’s Kansai Gaidai University, I am happy to share that I will be completing a second artist residency in June 2025 with Arts Itoya in Takeo-onsen, Japan. I still have a lot of reference material and washi paper to make use of, and also plan to visit all three of the nearby well-known ceramic towns of Arita, Imari, and Karatsu. On my June 2024 residency I only carved out time to visit Arita once, and it was overwhelming; my artist travel friend Emily and I spent a full day there, walked until our feet were about ready to fall off, and we saw fewer than half of the studios and shops. I look forward to checking it out again and visiting Imari and Karatsu for the first time!

Returning to Japan for Two Solo Shows in May 2025!

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As you may recall, I attended a month-long residency at Arts Itoya in Takeo-onsen, Japan in June 2024. Bookending my residency, I traveled to other locations in Japan including Sioux City’s sister city, Yamanashi City. I am now very excited to share that thanks to the support of the Yamanashi City Hall and the encouragement and backing of Morningside University board member Mia Sudo, I have been invited to return and have a solo show in Yamanashi City in May 2025 in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Yamanashi City incorporation at the Nezu Memorial Museum Exhibition Building. After that exhibition’s conclusion, the show and I will continue on to Kansai Gaidai University in Hirakata (part of the Kyoto metro). Yamanashi City, Kansai Gaidai University, and Morningside University are all assisting to make these amazing opportunities possible.

I am extremely honored and grateful for the chance to exhibit with both of these institutions! 楽しみです！ベストを尽くす！

Upcoming: Food for People Invitational Group Exhibition at the USD Art Galleries

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I’ve been invited to exhibit an artwork in the upcoming group show Food for People at the University of South Dakota Art Galleries, which “seeks to build community through thoughtful discussion of food.”

The show will run March 4 - April 1, 2025 with a closing reception on Friday, March 28th from 5 - 7pm. The address is: University Art Galleries, 414 East Clark Street, Vermillion, SD 57069.

My Curated USD Student Art Show Debuts Tomorrow!

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Today I selected artwork for USD's Fall 2024 Student Art Exhibition and helped install the show, which will have its opening reception tomorrow (Thursday, December 12th) from 7-9pm at Cee Cee's Gallery in Vermillion, South Dakota. If you are planning on coming based on my previous post about this, note the updated time.

As long as the weather isn’t frightful, I plan to be in attendance at the reception as well - so I may see you there!

Copper Mesh Saggar Raku Pottery

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I was most excited about trying this technique out at this recent raku workshop, as I’d only learned of it recently and I couldn’t find many photos online of it! I purchased two different brands of copper mesh scouring pads and then unraveled the pads and wrapped the copper mesh “socks” around ferric-chloride-dipped ceramics. I then bundled it all up in aluminum foil and saggar fired them (also known as the “baked potato” method).

Some tips:

  • If the ferric chloride is still wet, it will melt the copper mesh, so ideally apply it after the ferric chloride has dried. However, that means you can’t also use sugar for additional carbonization as it gets knocked off. If you’re feeling risky, you can daub some more ferric chloride atop the piece and sprinkle with sugar but it’ll then eat away all the copper in those areas.

  • The tighter the mesh atop the ceramic, the clearer the results. Really hug the vessel tightly for the most overall effect.

  • The resulting finish when taken right out of the foil looks like a hot mess due to all the ash produced - but after you rinse the ceramics off, their true appearance is revealed!

I’ve since learned that you can just buy rolls of copper mesh (so you don’t have to go the cutting-and-unraveling-scouring-pads approach unless you already have some on hand); I may play around with that moving forward! I really like the results I got from this process. In different areas, the copper mesh carbonization marks look like fish scales (or maybe dragon scales!), chainmail, webbing, fishnet stockings, or unraveling yarn. When the mesh only is in discrete spots, its marks also contribute to a layered, graffiti-like aesthetic.

Here’s the most mesh-marked piece of the batch, a small oblong vase:

Next, a small orb:

A weird little vessel I’m calling an oddgon:

And finally a larger, sideways orb:

Honey Rakuware

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I first tried honey raku in October 2023; I didn’t really like my own results at the time, but I learned two main takeaways in the process:

  • you very much want thin strands of honey rather than thick, so that it pulls into beads rather than leaving thick streaks

  • the honey works best on convex rather than concave forms, due to its propensity to run off vs. pool inside

With those in mind, I decided to give the honey raku finish another try atop two orbs, and I brought some honey drizzler sticks and a glass along for better stream control rather than using my earlier, clumsier technique of dispensing the honey via the squeeze bottle. Rotating these while they were insanely hot was asking a lot, so I really appreciated that Wanda was up for the challenge as she did that for me while I applied the honey.

Here’s the smaller sphere:

And the larger sphere:

The resulting pieces’ exteriors were smokier than the interiors since barely any honey made it inside, and the white shining out from the insides was distracting. I carefully stained the interior of the larger orb with India ink, and then watered it down a bit before staining the interior of the smaller orb as well. I love how they turned out; the bead trails of the honey almost look like planetary maps, comet/asteroid tracking paths, or constellations… a little bit like audio visualizations.

I also decided to experiment with a blue copper glaze in combination with the honey raku on a small bowl, even though the concave interior would be a challenge. What you can’t see in the below images is twofold: first, the blue lip is complemented by a blue base line, only visible when you lift the bowl up or get really down low. Second, this piece unfortunately lost the thermal shock lottery and has a number of minute cracks which make it less structurally sound. However, since it’s a decorative, low-fired piece anyway (as opposed to being food-safe or water-tight), the cracks are a permanent asterisk - but they won’t stop me from displaying or using it!

Upcoming: Artist Talk at the University of South Dakota

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I’ve been invited to give an artist talk at the University of South Dakota (USD) in Vermillion, South Dakota on Monday, November 18th at 2pm in the Warren M. Lee Center for Fine Arts! This event is open to the public - if you’re interested in attending, here is the Facebook event page for it.

Both beforehand and afterwards, I will hold studio visits with individual students, and later in the semester will guest curate USD's Fall 2024 Student Art Exhibition, which will have its reception on Thursday, December 12th from 6-8pm at Cee Cee's Gallery in Vermillion, South Dakota.

I’m very excited to connect with the USD art students, faculty, and community in each of these ways! Many thanks to USD’s Associate Professor of Art Amber Hansen for these invitations.

Slip Resist Naked Raku - Take Two!

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I also tried a two-stage slip resist naked raku again; I dipped burnished bisqueware with waxed bottoms into slip, let it dry until it began to crack, and then dipped it in clear glaze before firing. I first tried one- and two-step slip resist naked raku out in April 2024, with mostly very low-contrast results. This time, I had higher contrast results, but also let some the slip dry too long before doing the clear glaze dip, as some of it actually touched the clay surface in a number of areas on the larger oval bowl and a couple on the smaller bowl (both below). Though it wasn’t intended, if it’s widespread like it is on the oval bowl, I actually am visually into the result (much like I am into crazing/crawling, which are also considered glaze defects).

Here’s the little dish, which has the highest contrast I’ve produced in slip resist naked raku:

And here’s the larger oval bowl:

Copper Glaze Rakuware

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Here are the pieces of pottery I made with copper glazes (mostly) at the October 2024 raku ceramic workshop!

First, we have a textured orb:

Next, a hexagonal textured tray:

A rectangular tray:

And finally, an experimental landscape vessel which uses the new-to-me “yellow crackle” glaze in combination with two other copper glazes:

Arts Itoya Painting Progress Pics!

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I often get asked about my studio practice and processes, so I like to share some photos of how my artwork develops! Here are progress images from my Arts Itoya residency in Japan. Note that I do not take the time to precisely color adjust progress photos, and they are often taken in poor lighting conditions (late at night) and sometimes at angles. I also can forget to pause to take pictures when I’m in a rush!

First, here’s Duality:

Next, Pursuit (Ichi-go Ichi-e):

Then we have Lifelong Renter:

Shingling:

Messenger:

And finally, Fleeting: