Learning lessons from the Ladies' Man

Ah, yes.  As Leon Phelps once put it "Shit will work out. Shit will randomly work out!" And it has. 

I came back to Asheville from my Snow Farm summer and had to deal with lots of stuff.  Getting some work pumped out for shows, finding a new place, finding a new job, and dealing with what we Snow Farm instructors like to call "Post-Snow Farm Depression".  This is the month it takes you to get over missing Snow Farm and all the wonderfulness and amazing people, teachers and students both included.

So how did shit work out? Well we found a new place literally days before our old lease ran out.  I was stressing hard core.  During the move, after a month of looking, I finally found an awesome job! Literally, we moved into the new place and 2 days later I started this new gig. I am working for a slip caster nearby in Brevard, NC.  The project we are working on is making the street name tiles that will be set into the sidewalks in New Orleans.  Pretty awesome.  Here is an article about the project and Nick
(the artist on the project): http://www.nola.com/homegarden/index.ssf/2010/01/post_102.html  The team Nick has working for him is serious quality and I am so excited for how much I am going to learn working with all of them. 

I finished some new wall boxes.  I am pretty excited about their surfaces. Here are a couple:

I have been incorporating more references to physics and gotten pretty darn good at painting Times New Roman in size 14 font. We won't talk about the time one word takes.

So, when I returned I was pretty stressed about finding a new place, new job, getting work to all the shows I had lined up...So I have taken care of all that! YAAY!  But no time to relax, now I have to integrate my new work schedule into my studio schedule, and make work for a large exchange show that is going to DC and make some stuff for various other this and thats.  These are good problems to have. 

We had our opening last Friday for the resident exchange show with St. Pete Clay.  The opening was tons of fun.  We definitely felt the absence of recently moved on (as in to new opportunities, not the other "moved on") residents.  It wasn't the same without Erin and Bailey to celebrate with.  We performed some of their dance moves to bring their spirit to the opening. We also took this picture so we could have a picture with them, or as close as we could get:

 

   We miss you guys!!!

Also, I am really excited about the wall installation I am working on for the Flux exchange show.  The layout is going to be similar to the piece below, but instead of having fabric in the center its going to be all clay. The surface will be treated similar to the wall boxes pictured above.  I am really excited and I can't wait to see it finished!

 

So, more to come soon!   Best to you all!



.

well hello again...life?

Hi all!

I've been a busy beaver, and haven't had time to post in a while.  Just got back to NC 2 weeks ago from being at Snow Farm Craft Program for the past month.  I taught ceramics for the high school summer program.  Living among incredible artists and highly motivated young minds for a month, wow. It was aaammaaaazing!!!  It took me about 4 days to unpack, and sleep off the 16 hour drive amidst teaching kids summer camp at Odyssey the day I rolled back into town.  Then my partner's brother visited, which was a crazy fantastic time!!

Now, I can finally get back to my studio and produce some work.  I feel very honored to say that I have several shows soon on the horizon, which means I will be living in my studio! goodbye life!

Right before I left I pulled some pieces out of the kiln that I am still excited over. Here are a couple:

  I can't wait to make more of these pieces.  I am currently working on finishing up 5 wall boxes in my studio.  I have some exciting ideas for a couple mixed media/drawing pieces and also will be starting a new wall installation.  One of these days I will become a consistent blogger.  I just, well, computers and internet stuff is annoying.  I like real life. and art. I really like art. (and craft beer)

Good day lovelies.

Just a quick peek

I have been having so much fun working on these new wall boxes I made!! Combining opaque and transparent materials on the surface of clay is really doing it for me; I am really excited about the direction these are going! (note: these are studio shots, not portfolio shots!)

 

   I have been reading a book about string theory lately.  I never took physics in college or high school, and I really wish I had!! What fun those ideas are!! They make me really giddy!  I need to get a good book on Einstein's theory of everything, if anyone wants to recommend one... I am very interested and think it would bring together many of the ideas I already have been playing with concerning mind vs brain, human compulsion to measure (even when we don't really know what the measurements mean...like in the search to find measurements for the mind), and the idea that the mind holds a universe within itself (within the larger universe we live in, ahhhh!!)

 Anywho,  these are inspired by neuroscience, the act of measuring infinity, circles, and my recent reading in physics.

I hope you like!!

Finaaallly..

Took photos of new work recently!  Here is one:  

And another!:

  

I am super excited for this latest batch of experimentations! I have been trying to arrive at a surface that is reminiscent of my drawing work for some time now, and this feels like it is on the right path! 

Anyway, I am undertaking the task of photo-editing and getting these babies up on my website....soon. 

Thanks for reading!

Yay mugs!!

    A couple pics of recent mugs...not normal portfolio quality....but, I had to take the pics fast before the cups went into a cup show featuring local artists.  Not really too bad for a point and shoot camera and a white backdrop.  (Although, Erin Paradis somehow manages to take awesome images with this backdrop.)

So without much further ticky talk :

         I went to go see the cup show today, and I guess I walked in shortly after one of my cups had sold!!  A big thanks to Julie Covington for organizing the show and inviting me to participate!

    I think these 2 are my favorites. I really like the way the underglaze makes the glaze form little runnies when I dip the pieces.

 




  For some reason, I cannot seem to properly fix images taken with a point and shoot, the way I can with a D-SLR.  I think it's time to take a p.shop tutorial.  These images make the cups look much more intense than they really are.  They are actually much more subdued and subtle in variations, and I think very attractive in those qualities.

aaannd I mustn't forget...

Happy New Year!!!

Baskets and Bows

      

    Just a quick post before the holiday hiatus!  I finished 3 new baskets this week.  I made one on a whim and it led to 3 and I think it may possibly become an obsession!  The porportions and volume are really fun to experiment with.  I really like the slight awkwardness of the long, boat-like one.  I would love to hear feedback and suggestions--lay 'em on me! The original one can be seen on my etsy: Basket

      They still have a ways to go with slip and decorating, not to mention glazing and firing too!  I'm so glad I got them to a point where they can chill for a week while I am away from the studio (it was so hard to leave today!! I really love my studio!) 

     Last week I pulled some mugs out of the kiln, and they looked great!  I don't often toot my own horn, but they are the best I have produced in a while-all that experimenting is paying off!! They were barely cool to the touch before I had to whisk them off to a local cup show.  I did take pics though, which will be posted soon. (Promise!)

  Anyways, what I am truly excited for right now is Christmas! We are driving home tomorrow, here's to hoping the kitty is ok with being in a car for 9ish hours.  A couple non-studio pics for once:



I made the bow for the gift on top and all our gift tags are handmade.



Our gifts for family and friends-many of them handmade!



Here's my partner in crime, life, and in raising a well-rounded cat, with some beer-making equipment.

          Safe travels and a Merry Christmas, Happy Hannakuh, Happy Solstice, and/or Happy Kwaanza to all!! 

Is it awkward?

  Is it awkward to post a blog that does nothing but link yours to another blog?

Odyssey Resident blog post about our holiday sale:

http://odysseyresidents.wordpress.com/2011/12/12/holiday-discount-pottery-sale-fundraiser/

Perhaps yes, but nothing is so awkward as the word awkward itself.  So many a's and w's. 

anyhoosier. good day ya'll!!