Bricks

I got my test bricks back from Ron the other day. He really gave them a beating in his kiln ( IE. the fire box) . The recipe that I got from Gail Nicholas book did Ok, the other one did not...too flaky. Ron had two also on the bag wall and up in the stack so I suppose more test with the malachite recipe could be done. I think I said before that the bricks I have for this kiln are K-23's and K-26's. The difference, for anyone who does not know is that the higher the number, the harder the brick - naturally the k-26 looked better.
Today I finally got on the phone with Gay Smith who has a soft brick soda kiln and she was wonderful to talk to. I was kind of feeling a bit like I would only have this kiln for a very short time since it is soft brick but she was very encouraging that this was not always the case. She had her last soft brick kiln for 12 years. Granted Gay does not bombard her kiln with soda. She does not throw it in so it does not settles in the fire box/bag wall and she doesn't put a whole lot of soda on her pieces because she uses a lot of glazes. This was so true to what I did as well in grad school and also I might add that I got a lot of flack from the male grad students in my program . They seemed to think that if you put a pot in a salt/soda kiln you needed to always have the orange peel on it. I used this wonderful Strontium base glaze that got these really cool crystals on it and gray patches. The salt, which I did more had one effect and the soda , that I only did a few times had another effect. It was nice to hear someone else who enjoyed the effects salt/soda can have on a glaze and not just the clay body.( Although I do love orange peel on pots)~ At any rate, Gay and I talked about getting a new kind of brick called a K-28 and she did say that her kiln was coated with ITC and she did not have trouble with it as so many other people have. So.. it was very encouraging. I'm going to make more phone calls here and there this week and hopefully order some bricks this week. Hopefully I'll come to some conclusion also about the coating of the bricks also.
This evening I started the throw all the mugs for the special anniversary "project/order" I got for the Cedar Creek 40th anniversary and I'm excited to see what I came up with for that.
This week the kids are going to camp from 9 to 2:30 so once again, I kind of have a trial run of how life will be once school starts the end of this month. ( Of course if one of the girls does not like camp, this trial run could end quickly as it did in the beginning of the summer when I tried the same thing. Luckily when school start, that will be something that they will have to stick out. I'm now at the point of motherhood where I know I can not save them from all there fears.) Oh life.

( Disclaimer)

Ok I had to say that the last post had tons of errors in it because i wrote it while kids where running around talking to me, Joey was fixing dinner and talking to me and I was just trying to update my blog in all the madness of my house. Hopefully I caught all the errors.

Shed

Much excitement yesterday. First Joey and I laid out the base of my kiln with cinder blocks. We than moved it over to the side so the chimney would not go up through the peak of the roof. Than a bunch of builders showed up at the house around 2 o'clock yesterday and along with Joey knocked out this shed by 7 o'clock. It was quite an event. Lots of beer, back and forth banter and wood flying. I really tried to just stay inside and stay out of the way. I didn't dare look a gift horse in the mouth. I do plan on putting sides on it at some point to give me a bit of privacy.Our backyard is so opened up to all the other houses back yards that I really don't think they would enjoy seeing a bunch of bricks, pots and gloves laying around. Plus any type of flames blaring out of a port hole I think would make any neighbor nervous. Things I need to think about since we live in a close knit neighborhood. So...now its onto the bricks.

Friday night

I'm getting ready to head out and work. When I think back on my week I can't really say it felt like it was an easy going summer week. I can't even remember what went on from Monday through wed. but I know it was a busy week with the kids. Today I drove half way between Charlotte and Raleigh so my son could spend the weekend with my sister's family.

The water stress in my back yard hung around more this week as well. It seemed to bother me more and more as the week went on and I'd find streams of water flow running through the yard on days when my neighbor was just watering his lawn. I'm really driving my husband nuts with all this neighbor stuff but my fiery Italian personality can just not leave it alone. I'm very territorial I guess and feel like someone is invading my little country. On a positive note, I've been trying to tell myself we will get it all taken care of and it will be fine. Plus...here in this photo is the wood for the roof of my kiln shed that Joey and my neighbor are putting up tomorrow. So you say....." Gee, what in the world is she complaining about"...well......beats me with a stick.

Proof I've been working

I just snapped some quick items in my studio. (some are works in progress )I've thrown about 5 of these bigger covered jars because I liked the way my little one's came out...for the most part. I plan on making the imagery on these a bit bigger. I've still been thinking hard about my "connection" to working. I pulled out some historic table ware books these other night - lots of Art Nouvou( I know, its spelled wrong...) and Art Deco stuff and got a lot of inspiration from them. I really need to investigate looking at more items from that era. I was starting to focus on that when I was finishing up my master degree but didn't dive all the way into it with both feet. I do have a connection to both those types of styles because they have a lot of female quality to them and I think I really relate to that and what I tend to make always heads in that direction. As always, we'll see.

Tuesday thoughts

I have been back in the studio making things. I guess that seems like a good way to put it. Amy Sanders and I on our way to the Greenwood Friday night where talking about what kind of real connection we had to our work. We both feel sort of in a grey area with what we do. We are stuck on the question of "what is the background behind why you create what you do". The simple answer of " I like to make utilitarian pottery because I grew up in a family who liked to eat and have an elaborate meal", just doesn't say all that needs to be said these days. Most potters have really clear explanations for why they put bugs on there pots, or make a foot a certain way. I'm back struggling with this again. Maybe I've been struggling with this since grad school( maybe in grad school...who knows). Back than I had a direction, a reason since than I have just been trying to get my electric glazes to look a certain way and work and make some money at what I do.
I threw some big covered jars last night. I made a form that was simple and pretty standard I thought besides the fact I changed the flange by making it square. Ever since Julia Galloway's workshop, I've been hooked on the incising method. I've used it along with my springs, my stain application and the resist method. I really enjoy doing it but kind of feel like I'm stealing an idea so I've been trying to work it out with another type of surface application. And still , I ask myself what connection I have to these methods. More and more I think about getting back into salt work and limiting what I do on my surface, change my clay body and start totally new. This of course would take time to work out but I still have not got over an edge to find my niche I think.
Some days thinking to much while your working can stale your brain out. I'm having a stale-out I guess.
Tomorrow night I have a meeting with my Circle of Eight group so no working in the studio. Saturday I THINK we are putting the roof on my kiln shed if my neighbor and Joey can round up some more guys to help.
I'll see if I can get some images up of pots in progress this week.

Posts

Moving right along on the shelter! Today Joey and Paul, my neighbor got the posts for the shelter up. I can't believe we are moving right along. It gives me a really good feeling to know that I may have a chance of getting this thing up and built by the time I told the NC arts council I would have the project done!

Tonight its back to the studio. Joey and I are planning on watching a movie together while I work. ( I know....that is so bad to throw and watch TV, there is a "zen" potter out there somewhere on the web who has just wrote me off there list.) But, some weekends this is the only way we can have a date together and tonight I'm just making some slump molds and sprigs so I think I can watch and listen while doing that.

PS. I also listen to MPR and books on tape if that will put me back into anyone good graces out there is cyber world.

Greenwood opening

Amy Sanders and I went down to Greenwood for the opening at the arts council with the Circle of Eight group. The show looked really good and all our work looked great under there glass cases. Amy and I had a good time catching up since we hardly get to see each other that much even though we both teach at Clayworks. The arts council was honoring Ruth Martin who has been teaching art for over 50 years. For many years the Greenwood school district did not teach art in the schools so Ruth would teach private art lessons in her home. I was one of those people who took private lessons from her even though at that time the school district did have art classes. I also worked for Ruth in her framing shop and I was one of two lucky people she asked to be in this show honoring her....that was a treat. She is one of my favorite people from my childhood and I think I realised how important adult mentors are to children. Congratulations

Ruth!

If you want to see more images of the show, I'll be posting some on our Circle of Eight blog in a few days.

Moving Dirt

The bobcat came today and dug/moved around dirt for the swell to help the flow of water into the yard. Here a photo of him dumping and packing down a huge amount around the kiln pad to also offset the water issue plus give me more floor room around the shelter for tables and stacking the bricks for the door. The kids of course where thrilled with this whole process today. Quaid thought for sure today that maybe the digger would unearth some hidden treasure in our yard. ( Wouldn't we all like to seen that.) The guy who was running the bulldozer next door a few weeks ago told me how he's always looking for stuff when he's digging up yards around here in York because there is some story about a bunch of gold or money that was berried by the confederate army around here. Wouldn't it be funny if that story became common knowledge around here. I'm sure I'd find at least half of my neighbors with metal detectors and bobcats searching around there yards in the middle of the night.

I'm off to the Greenwood opening with Amy Sanders. I'll check back in later.

Thurseday

For the most part its been kind of a busy week..or at least my mind has been really busy. Yesterday I took the kids to Shelby to visit my friend Ron, get some photo's of his kiln shed and put some sample bricks and pots in his kiln. Here's a photo of his kiln shed, which I guess we are going to try and reconstruct over my kiln. Ron had a good idea of painting the wood white to spruce it up some for my neighborhood so no one would find it such an eye sour. I guess to save money Joey and a few other guys are going to have to build it. I guess if I can get my parents to watch all three kids, I'll even help and really I should since its mine.

This kiln grant has really taken on a force of its own and once that ball started rolling it has been clear that it isn't going to stop until its up and running and hopefully bringing me new good work. I have really slowly realised how much being a creative person and trying to make a business out of being just that effects everyone around you. I remember Linda Christensen telling me that how when she won a huge grant to build her studio she felt almost grief because she had worked so hard to get there and had sacrificed so much. I didn't understand that statement at the time but the more I bring my family into this life, the more I kind of understand what she said and why.

Anyways, lots of deep thoughts and feelings with bringing this kiln home and what lies before me in this new adventure.

Last night I finished up some new cool slab built trays and mugs, mugs, mugs ( which some still need handles put on). Today I did some much needed book keeping from the last month of expenses. This weekend I would like to fill up all my shelves in my studio with pots waiting to dry and get some surface treatment. Tomorrow night is the opening in Greenwood Sc for our Circle of Eight show. I'll post more about that tomorrow.

Time for tests

The kiln is all boxed up and in the shed. We are making plans for extending the ground in front of the kiln and constructing the kiln shelter but, the real issue is the Insulating fire bricks that I need to coat with something. I've talked to people, I've read stuff and considered some crazy alternatives to the ITC, which most people say is what is needed on soft bricks in a salt/soda atmosphere. As much as people say that is what you need they also fallow that statement with the fact that it flacks off into your pots. Not to mention that it is very expensive. So, this evening I mixed up two formula's to test that I either got from a Gail Nicholas book or one that I read off of ClayArt. Gail Nicholas answer to coating IFB is a formula of EPK, Alumina and Molochite - all equal parts. The other recipe is EPK, whiting and Potash Feldspar. ( At the moment the brake down of that one escapes me but if someone is interested in knowing it, just drop me a note.) Ann had two types of IFB in her kiln ( K23's and
K 26's) so tomorrow I'm taking them out to my friend Ron Philbecks soda kiln and he going to test these for me. I'm also throwing in some test pots with my cone7 glazes on them just to see what happens. As all tests, I can't wait to see what I find out!
Last night I threw mugs and made some little trivet trays. I always have to ease back into my throwing when I've taken a break. I got a cool order a few days ago from the manager of Cedar Creek Gallery. It seems they will be celebrating there 40's anniversary and they are asking all the potters who once worked there to make 40 mugs with something on it to mark the date. Of course the interpretation of 40 is left up to the potter. I love orders like this, it makes creating so much fun. I'll let you know some of my idea's when I get to that point. Chow!

Bringing the Kiln Home

We just got back from our adventure of breaking down Ann's kiln. It actually was not as hard as I had thought or as tiring. It took us about two half days ( we had the kids with us so we had to stop early the first day to save my mother-in-law) and than we finished up Sunday morning. Ann and Stan Riggs where wonderful in remaking the arch form to take the kiln apart and helping out a lot with vital information we will need for putting it back together and getting it up and running. They have a beautiful house and the yard is spectacular. I can see that since Ann is no longer making pots that her new full time job is her gardens. I have to admit when I walked into her studio and saw all the pots that had been made but now yet even bisque I felt sort of bad to be taking all her equipment away. ( I should of taken some photo's of her finished work that she had up on shelves because Ann does make wonderful pots.)

Here are some photo's of us numbering all the bricks so we could box them up and hopefully put this puzzle back together soon. I think we went a little hog wild on our numbering system but the two of us didn't want to leave anything in question so all the bricks, boxes and the way we put them into our shed is in some sort of ( what we think) logical order.

If I hadn't said before, this kiln is a catanary arch kiln so an arch form needs to be constructed before any bricks go up. The arch form helps you put the brick in place and then once the key brick is in, the form slides out and it is free standing. ( If you do everything right!)

Tomorrow night I'm anxious to get back in my studio and throw. I did manage to sell some pots this weekend to a gallery in Greenville NC so I have to start making stuff Arts In The Park in Blowing Rock NC.

Off to get kiln

I've just been packing up pots for a show I'm doing with The Circle Of Eight in Greenwood Sc at the Greenwood Art Council. Next Friday the 27th is a opening. I think it will be fun to go. I'm from Greenwood and it will be nice to see some familiar faces.
Tomorrow we pack up the car and the kids to head down to Greenville N.C. and take apart the kiln I"m getting. If I haven't said it already it is very special to me to be getting this kiln from such a good potter and wonderful women. Since Ann was is a mom also and made pots while her kids where growing up I feel like the equipment will have some good vibes coming from it. Hopefully my pots will turn out as good as Ann's one day.
We will also have a chance to visit with my husbands family which the kids are looking forward too. I'll check back in when we get back. Have a good weekend!

Needing a little pick-me-up Part 2

Today was the big day for my propane tank. The guy I've been dealing with about setting up the tank has been super nice to me and this morning he was all set to get me set up with my tank. But as we were talking about where to put the tank his right side man made an observation that the truck most likely would get stuck in my back yard because.....THERE WAS SO MUCH MUCK~ so, no tank today. Actually it is ok because basically had can set it up once the kiln in build, but still I was a little disappointed.
Muck has really been running rampant around here. The girls have been in very whining moods so far this week, Quaid has been overly dramatic about a host of ridicules things like lost toys,his sisters singing to load and my personal favorite..cleaning his room. I too have still been in the MUCK mode. After unloading my kiln the other day I just looked at my work and really just didn't get to excited about it. I think this must of been some what of a result of going to Articals the other day and seeing all the great work in the gallery. Also, the owner did not get a huge amount of my work, which was a bummer. She said the summer had been slow and she had just maxed out her account with some other work. We'll have to see if she buys any in the fall and than I'll decide weather I should stay with that gallery or switch to another in town.
I'm really having a urge to just ditch the porcelain when I get my salt kiln up and working and just change to stoneware.I kind of think I would have a more universal customer base even if my work still had a female
aesthetic to it.
Like I said at the top, I need a pick-me-up. Maybe I'll make some cupcakes tomorrow!

Needing a little pick-me-up #1

Yesterday and today have been nothing but a consuming "fest" of our water issue in the backyard. Yesterday we had a huge down pour and because my neighbor has basically put a parking lot in his back yard we got a flood in our yard in places we have never had before. With my Italian blood in me my temper was through the roof especially when I saw the mud in front of my kiln pad. Joey and I spent the evening trying to figure out what we could do to divert the stream in our yard if our neighbor wouldn't help out. ( Personally I liked the idea of damming it back into his yard.)
This morning I awoke to this banging, bulldozer sound and when I looked out my kitchen window I could see that part of the driveway next door was being torn up. The one bad issue was the part being torn up was the only part the water flowed the other way towards my neighbors house. AHHHH....so as I was loading the kids in the car I found the one worker that spoke English and he confirmed that this was the case and that part of the driveway was going to be re-poured to flow...well basically back into our yard more.
Long story short, when I finally got home from my gallery visit I was either on the phone to Joey upset or trying to reason with my neighbor about the issue and then finally down to the planning department in town to get some advise. Very stressful day.
The outcome by 6:30 was Joey outside with a glass of wine in his hand laughing and straightening it out with our neighbor. I always tend to get the ball rolling with things ( and get my dander up) and then Joey comes in and smooths it out. I think they decide to grate our yard, put in a swell and I have the option of top dirt in my mud area with the walk way of either stepping stones or gravel from my kiln shed. Lets hope this is over after this.

Review

This weekend was a tuff one for me. The reason's I do not know. Just a lot of stuff biting at my brain with unsettling thoughts. Some days I let myself get hit like this and I let myself get consumed in the muck. Joey and I are both working on being more positive about things especially around the kids. I think when your a real intuitive person its hard because you pick up all the crazy "energy"( lack of a better word) pulling at you weather good or bad. I like Monday's because I can forget whatever little thing just ate away at my brain and would not let me go, and just move on to the next fresh week.

( My kiln glazes did funny things both times I fired my kiln this weekend also and I haven't really figured out why yet). There was something in the air for sure this weekend!

Tomorrow I take pots to a gallery in Charlotte and Tuesday morning my propane tank comes. Lots of other kids things coming up this week as well.

Here are one of my favorite things out of the kiln. My little kids bowls. This photo does not due them justice.

Trends

Saturday I went to this great huge fabric store we have in Gastonia called Mary Jo's. I had to get flag fabric because I'm having my mother-in-law ( who is fantastic with a sewing machine) make me a flag/banner for my booth to add a little more flare to my set-up. Anyways, my mom came with me and we went to the mall, which I pretty much never do anymore and we looked at shoes. I noticed in the big department stores how Crock's are the rage these days and I had to chuckle to myself because I had some when they were really just funny looking shoes potters and gardeners wore to work in. You can pretty much get crock's in any shade you want and now the company is making snow boots for kids , flip flops and these kind of shoes boots that remind me of duck boats, which were all the rage when I was in high school. I started to think of how clever the designer was to come up with these type of shoes and how lucky he was that they caught on in some way. Really if you look at someone with them on walking around, the shoes kind of look like clown feet. I have to admit I really don't wear mine out in public for this very reason. Some people can pull the look off but for some reason I feel just short, compacted and goofy looking with them on in public. Come to my house on any given day though and you'll find me in them. On the other hand I think they look great on kids and I love any kind of shoes I can toss in the washing machine - my kids have the K-mart version because $28 bucks spent on kids shoes in out of budget.

After the morning clean up on Friday, this is how the door leading out to my studio looked.

Butterdishes and thoughts

I finally got my kiln up and running again yesterday. I was having a hard time with my "crimping skills" this go around and someone had suggested I find these really nifty screws that will link the element to the wire in no time flat. I ended up ordering them from Skutt and boy was it a breeze. If you ever have issues with fiddling trying to crimp those little tubes they send with new elements, I highly recommend these screw together ones from Skutt. With just a phone call and explanation of your problem they will be able to help you out.

So, my second load of pots is going this evening and tomorrow I'll be glazing. The photo up top are my butter dishes. Each one is different but the form is the same. I love the way they look all lined up here.

While I was driving to work this morning and really enjoying the drive and the day. ( I was having a moment when one says to themselves " boy life is great! The weather is good, my morning went well and nothing is better than some good music in the car radio and a cup of coffee for a commute). So..as I was saying, while I was enjoying my ride to Clay works to teach I was really thinking a lot about my pots and why I make what I do. I have these thoughts a lot. I think some days my heart is really into making these elaborate pieces but my head and energy leads me to the more production, easy to throw forms. I go back and forth on this. I guess I don't think anything is wrong with doing both but some days I get bogged down with wondering if its really a good business decision to go with your heart/hands and not with my head. There are so many things I think about while making my work. There is the selling it to the public and the question of "what will sell". There is that part of me left from grad school that asks "what unique form can you make that will get into a juried national show so you can be recognized with a voice". And then there is a part of me that knows experimenting with forms, glazes and surfaces is important for keeping the creative part of my self interested in doing what I do. There are lots of question we potters tend to mill over in our heads, a lot. Just thoughts today, lots of thoughts.

Making Dinnerware

I've had dinnerware on the brain lately. I guess all the plates we use for day to day use are mostly my rejects. I've bought and traded a few lunch plates with people but most of the dinner plates are mine. A lot of my other potter friends have wonderful collections of different people's work and I'm always vowing these days to buy/trade more handmade dinnerware when I'm out and about at shows and such. I do have a wonderful 10 piece place setting that Joey and I got when we were married by my friend Brad Tucker. About the first two months we were married unfortunately some pieces got broken so I have put it away and only bring it out for special meals. Brad also does not like making dinnerware so I know I need to hold on to what I have because I may not get more! ( By the way Brad, where is that soap pump you promised me 10 years ago? Ha)

So dinnerware has been on my brain because every time I eat off of one of my plates, I really don't enjoy the way food sit one it and looks on it. Either the plates is to huge or the color is wrong. I enjoy doing dinnerware for folks but don't know that the place settings I do are really everyday wear.

This week I've been throwing plates and bowls to make up a new set and see how I like it. I kind of just want to keep going with it and playing with different plates patterns and see what kind of sets I can create out of just my plate design. I have established bowls that I make and sell frequently so I keep wondering weather I should design something around them or start fresh. This setting I've been throwing this week actually is designed around a bowl type I've started making this year. I'm making just four sets of whatever I come up with and figure I can sell these in pieces at some retail shows. When I get one I really like I plan on approaching my galleries to see if they would like to add it to there dinnerware section. I'll get some photo's up soon of these and you can tell me what you think.

Slab

Iguess the concrete guys know weather it is going to rain or not because I was totally surprised to see the concrete truck next door this morning pouring my neighbors driveway. But low and be hold it did not rain and I too got my concrete. Isn't it something? What a slab - much more than I had thought it would be and I think it will be great once we get a shed over it and of course the kiln on top. The kids and I had to welcome it and send it some good vibes with some happy hand prints. Of course the kids got a big kick out of seeing the Bobcat bulldozer come in and out of the yard with the cement.

The gas guy comes next Tuesday and the weekend of the 22nd we are off to Greenville NC to take down and pack up the kiln.

Pots - kiln

Here is the outside of my slab...exciting stuff! They had to replace my dirt with better dirt for the footing of the slab. Its going to be 6" thick with some wire in to hopefully sterdy it up some. We have water drainage issues so the dirt behind it is to hopefully help the water drain around the slab...we'll see! Its been raining a lot here so the pouring of the concrete has been put off. Tomorrow the weather again calls for rain so I think now it has been moved to Tuesday.

I've put some photo's of the very narrow vases I made for lilies and other long stem cut flowers. Also there is a photo of the sauce dishes I made. For anyone with small kids these would also be great for small proportions for veggies. My kids love to eat out of little small bowls because they think they are getting a smaller serving of things they don't really like. A deep little bowl like this is very deceiving to the "little"eye.

Day trip

We took the kids up to Ashville this weekend on a little get away. It was fun and we have plans to take everyone back again in the fall. Here we are at the Nature Center in the butterfly house. The Nature Center has been around for a long time and its starting to show in the exhibits, but even though it looks kind of beat up I think people of all ages love to go. They have river otters,bears, bobcats and wolves all in a natural habitat. We than took the Blue Ridge Parkway around to Lake Lure and let the kids play in a stream for awhile. The North Carolina Mountains are a great vacations for families if your ever looking for somewhere new to go.

Friday

Hope everyone had a good forth. We grilled out with some friends at the pool and of course watched the fireworks. The kids had a good time which is what I wanted..good memories of July 4th they can the keep with them.

This summer has been a real interesting sort of turn of motherhood in a way. The kids are changing so much and I'm trying to deal and help "mold" ( I guess would be the term) each of their little personalities. I always wish I could spend more one and one time with each of them because I know they need and want it but I have to stretch everything out including the few moment Joey and I have alone and the much needed quiet and down time I need. Not everyone is like this, but I've only needed quiet alone time to get my thoughts in order. Last night I had to sacrifice this ( I was trying to go on a walk on my own) but Quaid really pulled out the stops with tears and telling me how he never gets to spend time with me, so we went on a power walk together. He was happy as a clam and I have to admit I enjoyed the company and all his little questions about life and such. The girls are also establishing there own "self" and soon they too will be full of question and not so much nurturing time that I give them at the moment when they get into little spats or get hurt. Joey and I have realised how much less time we have spent one on one with them because they are twins and spend so much time entertaining each other. Parenting is such a challenge but a good one when you look back on whatever it was you just went through.

Here's a funky photo of a Potato Bug that Quaid found outside this week. My kids love bugs as I do too. I think bugs are really cool and some of them with all the colors of there shells are very beautiful.

Last night I worked on my butter dishes, threw a bunch of little vases to fill up yet more space in my kiln and yesterday I had another good class at ClayWorks. We'll see if I can get a bisque in this weekend and some flower blocks made. Joey and I also may take everyone up to the mountains for a little cheap summer thrill. I enjoy the thought of just waking up Saturday and a being spontaneous instead of the same old weekend routine. Life needs a little mixing up sometimes!

Tuesday

I'm still just making and making and making to fill up my space and load up on work while I'm working on the kiln in August. I have one show in August, a few small special orders and next week I'm going to take some pots to a gallery. Besides that, I'm not that busy with orders and stuff so I'm just making pots and packing them away.

I finished up the vases I was doing and threw a bunch of pasta bowls and then I got inspired to make these small 1/2 cup little bowls. Joey always makes homemade salad dressing for us each night in this little plastic cup and I started to think how it would be nice to make a small bowl with a little spout on it for just this. Well, I didn't put the spout on the bowl because I wasn't sure how many people would be interested in it but small bowls are always good for cooking and sauces. This evening Joey and I where discussing weather I should make something like that and I think maybe tomorrow I'll just experiment with a few and see how they go over. At any rate since I love making small little items and it will be a fun task and I can use some smaller things to tuck around all the larger items in the kiln. The plan this weekend is to tackle some more elaborate pieces like by flower blocks and butter dishes. I'll keep you posted.
Have a good 4th!

And the beat goes on...

I had a reality check yesterday in thinking that I was living in one of those neighborhoods that goes up in 2 weeks flat - new construction. We moved to this neighborhood because all the houses where old and the lots big and lots of privacy. Most of the people at the time on our street where older folks who had lived here forever.You hardly see most of these people even come out of there homes. Slowly the street is being up-dated but still most everyone here wants to keep the integrity of the old homes in tact and not change to much. People who live in small towns with rich history respect this I think. Our home is over 100 years old and we are only the 4th owner. I think that is amazing in a world where people move around like crazy. The guy who is re-doing the house next door is a new construction contractor and as I've said before , he's very young, kind of full of himself and from the get go, the older folks on the street where very ify about what he was doing. Joey and I where just thrilled the house was finally going to have a home owner and we thought the old folks should just except change. Well now I look out at my kiln shed and see this huge garage that is looming over my yard and I think maybe all those folks where right. I've been going back and forth to my shed all week in my usual manner only I know I have no privacy because workmen are always around watching me. I go out to hang the laundry and there they are along with that huge garage. It bothers me, what else can I say. Joey keeps telling me how great it is that the house next door that was in such dis-repair and now has been totally gutted, has just made our house go way up in value. I know he's right about this but all this change to my surroundings just makes me kind of grumpy. There.....I got it out. I'm sure I'll have more to say about the matter as time goes on. I have to remember that this guy is helping me with my kiln slab.

Jars

Here are the lidded jars I've been working on. Let me know what you think!

I spent yesterday inside my kiln literally putting the pins in so the elements don't pop out.Last time I didn't do a great job and I had a lot of elements all over the place. So..there is was stuffed in my kiln ( which was a oven) listening to the hammering and electric nail guns going to town. The workers next door managed to get almost a whole garage up in a day, it was amazing to Joey and myself.

I threw some tall narrow vases last night. I'll get some photo's of those up soon. Hope you had a good Saturday!

Friday

I was very thankful for today and knowing that the weekend was here and I will be able to relax a bit, focus on work and enjoy my family with my husband. I haven't had a chance to exercise that much this week so tonight I really just needed to get outside and move, listen to the hum of the lawnmower and enjoy cutting the grass. The air was very heavy this evening but the herb garden smelled great along with the smell of fresh cut grass. I love cutting grass, just going in all different direction to complete the task at hand is so satifying.
Today I finally got my order in and set for my slab to get poured. Wish me luck that it will be a go next week and I can start the wheels in motion on this kiln project.
This evening I finished some surface stuff on bowls and my covered jars. I can never decide when I do a new series of things if they should all be decorated the same or different. Most times I always have one that stands out from the rest because I guess my hand gets board with making the same marks. Of course this is never true with mugs and bowls, I love the repetition of everything that goes a long with making those sorts of pieces.

I started a new class this week that went really well. I sat down with each of my intermediate people and just watched them throw to see how there hands where, there body position. We just made really tall cylinders and cut through them all to see how consistent they where. The class thought this was great so I was please that I had chosen this for our focus. Of course it has had me thinking of bottles and why I never make things like that. I guess I don't see the market for a bottle, even though I know that doesn't really matter. We'll see if I get inspired to make some for the next show coming up.
(The saws are going full blast next door and its 11:30 at night. I'm surprised that some of my older neighbors have not complained yet about all the noise next door. We live these days in such a inconsiderate society.)

I'm not sure I'm really on summer vacation

A teacher from Quaid's school emailed me today about something and talked about how much she was enjoying tutoring this summer and just laying around and will be ready to get back in the swing of things come August. After reading this I thought about how the last two weeks I've felt more worn out than when school was going on. I guess trying to keep all the kids happy and active this summer is really more work than running everyone around during the school year.

Every night this week I have barley made it out to work before 8:30, some night at 9 and I'm so tired I have just been able to do a few things and than I've got to get myself to bed. I've also had a lot of my mind with my kiln , which as you know stress can really wear you out. This week my slab was suppose to get poured but the contractor next door kept confusing me about what I needed for my kiln to sit on,not to mention what was going on in my back yard with the water, soil and location. I'm stressed because I just really need to get going on this things and I don't like having to wait when I'm ready to get started on something.

I finally made the decision also to buy the soft brick kiln from my friend Ann and try to convert it to salt the best way I can. She is selling it for such a deal and when I considered the amount for new bricks and iron work, I just decided I needed to make this kiln work for me the best way I can. We have more important financial issues and spending money we don't have on a kiln, is not high on the list. Its all about my business making money, not losing or spending more money. As for coating the soft bricks, well that is still up in the air. I've spoken to a few people about it and next week I'll make more calls. I want to make sure I get all the information I can before making a decision on that part as well. I know it can be done, I've just got to find the best way to do it. See....lots of thinking and decision making can really tax the body so between summer fun, kiln thoughts, pottery making and everything else, this week has worn me out! I"ll be happy for the weekend and a fresh start next week!

As always, Joey has been right there helping out as much as he can. I even got him to watch a video on building a kiln this week and I think he's finally on board for getting this done with me. ( Really he just likes to makes comments about how all male potters like to wear funny hats and wear sandals). I came home tonight from the grocery store and like every night he was getting the girls to bed. Those two can really charm the pants off there Dad. Doesn't he looked thrilled dressed up for a tea-party? I swear those two little inmates run this insane asylum.

Beginning of the Another week

Tonight I worked on some simple, squared off but rounded jars. I haven't thrown any covered jars in ages and have had an hankerin' to make some. I use to own this really nice salt fired small lidded jar by a potter we use to carry at Cedar Creek. For the life of me I can not remember his name but I loved this pot. It was just a very nicely thrown round jar, about 6' high. It was porcelain with large sweeping brushes strokes of two different blues. The knob on the top had a little pattern stamped on top and the salting was very heavy. I had a room-mate in college who came home one night and knocked into it so it was toast. I never saw this person's work anywhere again. It could be they just changed there style but I started thinking about the pot the other day and got inspired.
We did take donuts over the my grandmother today and she was thrilled to us and the kids where thrilled with the donuts. I think its so important for little children to understand the importance of just visiting people even if its not the most exciting thing to do. Quaid was very sweet today because my grandmother asked him to clear the table for her and unlike the reaction I would get from him ( which would be a sigh or a whine) he hoped right up and helped her. I hope he'll have some good memories of having a great grandmother some day.

Rafting center

If your ever in Charlotte and looking for something fun to do outdoors, the new rafting center is the place to be. We took the kids on Saturday just to see what it was all about and it was cooler than we thoughts. It was so well visited by young and old and so much fun just being a viewer that I can only imagine what its like being on a raft going down the man-made river. Speaking of that, the grounds are very nicely done and the building that houses the rental station also has a very nice restaurant and equipment shop. It costs nothing of course just go and walk around. The kids enjoyed climbing on the rocks and around the grounds and Joey and I got a kick out of seeing the different groups going down the rapid. You had everything from ladies who had never done anything like this before to people who looked like pro's.
I kept going on my pots this weekend. Joey and I enjoyed watching a documentary on a band we like called "Wilco". ( I of course worked while he sat and kept me company in a lawn-chair enjoying his glass of wine and some pop corn...oh the simple things in life!) Today we both tackled my electric kiln replacing the elements and did some other odds and ends.
Tomorrow the kids are I are going to go visit my 97 yr. old grandmother who lives about a 1/2 away. She likes it when we bring her either donuts or a fish fillet from McDonald's. Just goes to show you, its all in the gene's.

Noise

Early last spring we had a little excited that started on our street and has yet to be over...but close. The house that had been sitting empty for months and in need of repair was bought and sold. Of course this was of real interest to us because we live so close to this other home and the people who use to live in it, we miss dearly. I may have said before that living in a small town, news travels fast and we finally found out that a young contractor bought the house and was going to totally redo it and live in it. ( This guy I think is only 26, which Joey and I find amazing because he has sunk a load of money into this house that is so beyond what we could do and we are 40.) Anyways, I have been dealing with construction guys blocking our driveway, garbage in our yard and my biggest pet peeve, LOTS OF NOISE now for months. I've kind of had it!

For the most part I've been able to shut out most of the noise. It started with a lot of ripping down of old stuff in the house, than moved to lots of loud Hispanic music. Of course most all of this is during the day when we are in the house so unless we are outside, I could basically ignore it. Well now that we are in the final stages of this house getting finished my nerves are shot with what I think is the final noise pollution I will have to deal with. An enormous bulldozer! For days, they are been clearing the heavily over ground backyard of this place so it has been nothing but diesel and dirt smell out of any of my doors. For the first few days the kids and I watched all the excitement of what was going on but today, while I was trying to work and concentrate on my pots, the birds singing and my music I really thought I was going to lose it. I crashed most of what I was trying to throw because the noise just got to me so much. All I could think about was how much I appreciated where I lived and quietness that surrounds our little town and street.

I came to a conclusion about a year of so ago when this book on Highly Sensitive People came out, that I was one of them. What basically it talks about is some people have very sensitive nervous systems and can't handle a lot of noise, activity or anything that over the top with one's senses. I am the kind of person who cringes when I motorcycle goes by or if there is to much to take in sensory wise, like amusement parks. I think I'm always the first to identify a strange smell or pick up on people's feeling real quickly.

I think the bulldozer is finished from what I can tell and all the sawing from inside the house , that was still going on at 12 last night, is hopefully coming to an end. I really didn't want to complain or act like all that has been going on has been sort of a pain for us because our new neighbor offered to pour my kiln slab for free, and I can't argue with that! Hopefully with just he and his new bride living in that huge house by themselves, they will be quiet neighbors. Or... now that I think of it, I'm sure the noise level of my kids in the backyard will be pay back for the bulldozer!

Robin Hopper

Thursday was my last class for the spring session and I choose to show a little video. I had ordered one but it didn't come in time so I borrowed one from my friend Adrienne. It was a three part surface technique video by Robin Hopper. I have heard stories about him in workshops and at NCECA we even ran into him at the vender's tables. ( Oddly enough he was with some student and they where both wearing these huge, flat sponges on there heads and trying to be amusing while doing it) Anyways, I had no idea what the mans pots looked like or really what he was known for besides writing a few books and being a glaze guru. Well the video was a hit with my students especially the ones who really like tradition pottery and simple forms. Robin is kind of the Martha Stewart of decoration. He had all sorts of easy ways to put a surface on the pot and I have to admit I'm going try some of them with my students since they are so far away from what I like to do. My next session I vowed just to work on skills. I have been secretly picking up and looking at some of my students work when it comes out the kiln and decided it would be a good idea to go way back to the basics and take it easy on all the fancy stuff they want to see. I even enjoy doing stuff like this because like I said before , it forces me to make pots I normally do not and from that usually I always get some good ideas to bring back home.So thanks to Robin I just may get out my faceting knife and see where it takes me!

Boxes

I looked at what I had accomplished this week ( because its Friday I always have to assess what I've done and what I can get done in the weekend) and I have to say....I didn't make as much stuff as I thought I had. As I said this was my trial week to see what life will be like come fall and all my mornings free. I guess as of today I came to a conclusion that I'll have to slowly ease the rest of my family into a new schedule of how we do things around here because I'm going to have to change my routine. The main issue was my routine of doing all the housework in the morning along with errands and such. I had such a hard time putting on blinders and working in my studio as opposed to going to the grocery store, doing laundry and cleaning up after everyone. The house just explodes at night and I guess we will have to pick up before we go to bed so I can concentrate on work in the morning. I did get out there every morning, but it was only for an hour or so. I also worked every night this week but most nights I didn't get started until 9, which is way to late for me to really think and be productive.

Here an example of some of the boxes I was working on this week. I plan on leaving the finials ruff with no glaze, just a black stain on the porcelain. As I've said before I'm trying to find a way of leaving a bit of the clay body coming through so my pots won't be such a shock when they come out of the salt kiln. I never could get that orange slip to do what I wanted it to do in the electric kiln and I really haven't had time to make up a bunch of Terra Sig to try that. Maybe at some point...who knows.

I'm planning on working in the studio tomorrow for the morning and on Sunday. We have a little outing planned for the kids so I'll be reporting back on that.

This week thus far

So here is a photo of my pug mill. Ok, so its not the most thrilling thing to view, but I still think its pretty neat. You can tell that I really do work with hardly any kind of cool gadgets because I am so thankful and thrilled to have this. For 7 years now I've been taking my scrap clay, putting it on bats, than after it dries for a few days I've been transferring it to a towel, which sits on an open rack, wait a few more days and then ball it up and wedge for minutes on end. This of course is horrible on my hands and I'm starting to feel it with a bit a tingling in my wrists.

As far as pots go this week I've been working steadily making mugs, bowls, pitcher's and boxes. ( Boxes take a lot of time....). I have enjoyed working in the morning while the kids have been at camp but I have to admit I need to learn to turn the phone off so I don't feel I need to get every call that comes in while I'm working. ( I also need to put on blinders when I come through the house and head straight out to my studio.) All things I'll work out and get in the swing of things once fall starts.

The kids are enjoying there summer with camps and playing a lot. Here's Aydan in one of her many costumes. This one I love because she feels like a great big cat and being a cat person I find it very cute.

New Blog

My husband has been working on a new blog for the group of potters that I'm in , Circle Of Eight. Its not totally done but so far looks pretty good. In a few days I'll post the site so you can go check it out. We are hoping to put information on upcoming shows that we all are involved with as well as comments and posts from all of us talking about what is going in the world of pottery here around the Charlotte area or I guess just our studio's.



I also wanted to mention another pottery friend of mine named Vicki Gill or Blue Gill Pottery who had started a blog and has a nice website. Vicki has the coolest stamp collection and makes really nice trays with all sorts of texture on them. She has a great studio right outside of Gastonia and teaches workshops there. If your in or around this area, you should go by and visit!

Monday morning update

( sorry I've been away, we had trouble logging' on this weekend!)

We had a good weekend. I pretty much played with my pugger whenever I got a chance to sneak out to my shed. I really should of thrown more but figuring out equipment is also important right? ( Well, I just really enjoyed playing with my play-dough machine to tell you the truth). I got handles on mugs this weekend and started some more boxes. I promised the man who takes my slides that I would make him a certain box so I wanted to get that done for him. The kids started camp today at Gaston Day. Poor Quaid was signed up for Science camp, his favorite thing in the whole wide world and I got the dates mixed up so he had to hang out in a camp with his sisters ( and other kids his age) that was a zoo camp. He was not to happy with me this morning and I felt just horrible about it. I thought this afternoon I would make it up to him by doing a project with all of them that I've been wanting to do in the back yard. I'm going to take all my broken pots and make some stepping stones from one side of my shed to the other. Sort of a yellow brick road to my kiln! I'll keep you posted.
Fathers day was low key but I hope good for Joey. I tried to let him do what he wanted to Sunday. He's pretty easy going so it didn't require a whole lot to make him content. Just watch his morning news shows, have a good dinner and not have to deal with the kids at bed time.
On Saturday The Circle of Eight folks came here for a meeting. I think we got a lot accomplished with forging a head on getting some shows set up and giving everyone a task for the next time we meet. We are a good group of folks when we get together and I hope we can continue our relationships through out the years when we are old and crabby craft people. I love to see all those folks at NCECA who have known each other for years and years still get together and tell stories.
I'll try to get some photo's up today of my pug mill and mugs! Lord knows I love a good mug!

Added note* Joey signed me up on this free site called MY ART PROFILE.Com. It is mostly for artists in the U.K., but it is kind of neat to see all sorts of things on the site. You can go look at it. I think I'm listed under RATPACK and you can read the comments people have left.

Friday update

The kids and I had a good day today. I was able to pack up and get rid of stuff around the house for a church yard sale. I managed also to drop off all of it with the kids, look around and come home with nothing. That is a feat with three kids in toe. We picked out books at the Library, ran and errands and got a slushy at Sonic ( which was the trill of the day) so all was well on that front.
On the kiln front, I got another estimate on my Propane tank and decided I get it set up next week. It seems like such a big commitment to have them deliver it. Not that I'm going to re-nig on my grant for the kiln but something in me goes "gee, this is really going to happen!" I also got on the phone trying to get a hold of some folks who have soft brick soda kilns just to talk to them about what to coat the inside with and general questions. I can't seem to get any calls backs which is a little disheartening but maybe they are just out of town ( I have to think positively and not go the route of wondering if they are thinking" who is the chic calling me?")Last but not least the contractor who is redoing the house next door to us told me today that when he pours his concrete for his garage, he'll pour a slab for my kiln free of charge. Come to find out his soon to be wife has made pots in the past and is thrilled to have me next door. So, that was a nice twist of fate!
I managed to pug out some clay this evening. I put some harder clay in the hopper and my little blue bird spit out some really nice lugs that I used for handles this evening. I can see why people do make there own clay because it does feel so nice as compared to the stuff that comes out of a bag.
Tomorrow I am hosting The Circle of Eight meeting so it will be nice to see all my Charlotte pottery buddies for the afternoon. Maybe I'll post some photo's of us deep in pottery talk.
Ps. An update on George and or his friend. I think one of them met its doom a few days ago because I discoverd a smooshed black snake down the street a ways. Maybe its safe now to go into my shed!

Pug Mill

I had a busy Thursday with teaching, dropping off kids and picking them up, doctors appointments, grocery store and the usual world wind sweep around my tornado of a house. This evening I decide to take on my Pug Mill. I now in all the boxes my friend Ann gave me that she sent instructions also but I kind of had a fear of going into my other shed at night this evening. It was about 8 o'clock when I decide to start my pug mill adventure but since the other shed has no lights in it all my mind could think about was my snake friend George lurking in there someplace with his friends. So needless to say I just shut the door and decide to wing it. It was exciting seeing the clay come out the other end of my huge play dough machine but I think my clay was to wet for it to work really well so it took a long time. Tomorrow I'm going to try something different and I guess it would be a good idea to find the instructions also. Hopefully in the day light I can scan the shed a bit more closely for anything that is black and curled up in a corner.

Thoughts

Today my mind was racing with all sorts of pottery thoughts - I could not quiet the voices! Most of this was because I woke up this morning telling myself I needed to finish the business stuff I had started last night which meant phone calls, emails and important decisions about my kiln. I feel like I got a lot of stuff accomplished but the as always the drawings or images in my mind of my pots was there with me all day. I couldn't wait to get outside, unpack boxes, clean and just throw easy things to get back into the grove. I decided today that since I'll be in limbo with my kiln for a few more weeks that I just needed to start stock piling pots away for this fall. With the CDC show on top of all the other ones I normal do in the fall this is going to be the year I plan on not taking my summer vacation time lightly and I'm going to work as much as I can. I'm going to stick to the items I've been working on and my tried and true so I don't get stuck messing around with new things . ( I say this a lot don't I? ). I haven't forgotten about my promise to put some quotes on here from that great interview with Nick Joerling. I've currently misplaced the magazine in my house mess but I did remember something he said that has really stuck in my brain. He talked about always having idea's and how he use to introduce a new form before every show he did and finally found that this wasn't such a good idea. He came to this conclusion because he said after a show he would go back and re-work the design and finally told himself that he needed to get all the kinks worked out totally until he knew he could not change the piece anymore to make it better. I thought this was a very wise piece of advise and I took it to heart since I too always have a thousand ideas that I'm trying out before a show. Its a good thing I really haven't done to much with my galleries this year because my price list and all that I make would just overwhelm the people ordering from me. I plan on getting back on the gallery bandwagon of actively looking for new galleries next winter when hopefully my kiln will be done and that project will be behind me.
Today was a low-key day with the kids. Quaid is already complaining of boredom and he's only been out of school for two weeks. We did run some errands and I took them to this little nature center with hopes of hiking some trails, but the rain came and we all had to head home. Once again a afternoon in front of the boob-tube. Tomorrow they will spend the day with a friend of mine while I teach and next week its camp. What a thrill for all involved!

I'm Back!

Had a great time in Raleigh and now I'm back at point zero to start a new. The show was good even though the weather was really hot and muggy. I can't remember the last time I drank so much water! As always I had tons of fun with my Raleigh craft friends that I haven't seen in awhile. We spend so much time laughing at and with each other that it just adds so much more to doing a show. The thing I love so much about the group of people that do this show with is that I'm one of babies and everyone else is so much more seasoned than I am. They certainly do bring me down to reality when I sit and talk to them. I have lots of fun with my younger craft friends also when we sit and talk business,the only difference is that since this crew has been doing it for so much longer its nice to know that they still talk about all the struggles and pit falls of the business and it brings me back down to reality that it may not getting any easier the longer I do this. Once again I think there is a certain type of person that likes to constantly have a challenge and struggle in there career because being a craft person certainly does pose many obstacles that need to be addressed constantly. All my pals from Cedar Creek ( a gallery I worked at about 15 years ago) all taught me so much even before I was in this business. I still rely on there knowledge and sometimes cynical thoughts about the business. Here are some photo's of my good pay Brad Tucker, who makes the nicest pots I know, Betty McKim my jeweler friend and her husband George the painter. I also threw in a photo of my new tiles which where a hit! I can not wait to do more of these and do them a bit better than the first batch.

Tonight I'm catching up on all my paper work for the business and tomorrow I'll start the big clean up in my studio.


The girls turned 4 yesterday so we've been celebrating there little lives the last two days. Life is good!

Last Group in Kiln

I'm ahead of where I usually am at this stage before a show. Most shows I would be glazing that last load on Thursday morning and then unloading everything on Friday before I left. My kiln yesterday fired very slowly. I know an element is out so I decided to go ahead and bisque what I could last night and glaze today just in case the kiln took forever to get to temperature. I guess next week I will be ordering elements and doing some kiln repair ( have I said how much I hate doing kiln repair?) I got some nice bowls out of yesterdays kiln and a nice platter. I'm not so sure about my pillow tiles I made. I took some photo's of them but.....I still wasn't sure I wanted to post them. I had some friends over this morning for coffee and chit-chat. One has an art back ground and the two others I trust there judgement. Well, they all seemed to like them a lot. My worst critic that I live with did not so we'll see what the rest of the general public thinks this weekend. Maybe against a black board they will look 10 times better then in my dusty studio. I don't know if I'll get back on my blog before I leave. Tomorrow I have a ton of things to do and I'm going out with some friends to a movie as kind of late birthday deal so........I'll check in when I get back!

George

I've been working all week while the kids have been in camp in the morning and then at night at my usually routine before this show. The only difference this year is the snake population. Everyday so far this black snake, which I have named George and sometimes a friend of his takes a little stroll across our yard in the same place twice a day. I'm pretty much like most people, I really hate snakes but I have to say since I keep finding this snake crossing my path on the way to my shed everyday I'm starting to get use to them. He certainly does not mind the kids and I getting close to him to look at him and now I'm very curious as to why twice a day he takes a walk from one side of our yard to the other. And also if his mate likes to go on walks with him. I never seen two snakes fallowing the same path one right behind each other before. I think they are out because we have had no rain and I guess they are looking for some. Also the house beside us is clearing out the lot so I knew we would have visitors from there. Lets hope only the black snakes are around and nothing else! I told Joey last night that I think the cats have spotted George on his little walks because last night while I was glazing, Paws and Clayton where perched right by the fence where he likes to step out of. If I was a cartoon artist I could come up with some good drawings and talk bubbles on that scene last night.

The Map

A few months ago my friend Ron introduced me to the coolest thing for my blog site that I'm addicted to. Its this map that pops up at the bottom of my blog and tells me where all my viewers are coming from. He use to get so excited about hits from various countries and now that my tec guy hooked me up to one as well, I check it a lot to see who's been on my blog. Most of the time when I get a hit from England or Asia I assume they have gone to Ron's blog and then since he has my blog posted on his site they check mine out. Recently we just added another feature to the map where you can break down how long someone is on the site, what city they are viewing from and how many new viewers and returning people there are. I kind of have to laugh to myself because I have something like 86% of "bouncing" to my site, which means people are finding it through some catch word and then quickly going off it. It has also said that in the last week or so people are only viewing my site for less than a minutes. So....I may not be the most interesting read out there but I always enjoying posting what's going on here in York and if I get a few customers come up to me at the show and say they like reading my blog, it makes me happy.

End of School

It has been a busy mom week. Quaid finished kindergarten and I was at school watching him do stuff about every day. There was field day, end of the year parties and his final day of "graduation" and getting his certificate of completion. I thought he was so happy to not have to do any more school work and then this morning I woke up to him beside me in bed doing a workbook his teacher sent home just to review stuff mid-summer for 1st grade. ( I know I never did stuff like this!) He was very excited to be able to stay up late last night and catch firefly's. On Friday after his graduation myself and another friend of mine took all the kids to a park with this little creek so they could catch crayfish and then let them go. Simple fun, but the kids all loved it.

So on that note, things have been a bit slow on the work front. Here are some of the tiles I finished for bisque. I can see I am really going to like playing with these. I like the thought of building up the surface and doing some very ruff children's drawings on them. I like the way the pillow shape has a lot of volume to it and I hope it works for hanging on the wall. I left a lot of the black stain on it because I plan on just putting glaze in minimal spaces. I'd like to try also using multiple layers of stains and whipping it back to see what kind of end result I get.

Today was a hugely successful work day. Once again I got the whole day to myself and spent it making glazes, cleaning my glaze shed, decorating and throwing. Tomorrow I plan on doing my first glaze firing and continue to make things for next weekends show. I have every morning free next week while the kids are at camp, so I figure I can really get a lot of things made and dried fast for another bisque on Wednesday.

I'm looking forward to this summer with the kids. I can't wait for them to have fun at camp and take them on different day trips to keep the summer fun for them.

Larkspur party

The Larkspur Party June 9th & 10th


This is Larkspur just in case some of you are not familiar with this plant. My friend Frances who opens up her gardens and home to a number of artists once a year has this plant growing everywhere around her gardens. Her gardens are really amazing. Every year when I go to set up for the show I am always amazed at what she has done. Gardening is her life and it shows. She is a good friend of mine from when I worked at Cedar Creek gallery and she talented in so many things. Here is one of her garden sculptures. (When the gates open at 10 am on the Saturday of the shows opens, her sculptures are gone with in an hour.) Here is a little something from the web site about the show. You can visit it and check out some of the people who will be showing there.








The New Year is here and we are getting to work putting together the 12th annual Larkspur Party! The Alvariño family invites you to join us in this coming show. The show will be held the second weekend in June. Our garden will be open and our artist will be selling Saturday, June 9th from 10am until 6pm and Sunday, June 10th from 10am until 4pm. No early birds please. Admission will be free as always, though this year you will have an opportunity to donate to the community. We will be featuring 25 regional artist displaying and selling their work in our gardens. Check back with us soon, we will be putting up pages to view our featured artist work and some information about them. The gardens will be in full bloom. Check out a few photos by clicking the "photos" link on the left, or get to know each individual artist.The Larkspur Party is named after an especially beautiful flower in bloom, is a chance for us to share the happiness our garden brings us. It also allows regional artist to display and sell their work.

Moma

My favorite piece in the Moma was this one by Dan Perjovschi. It was a huge wall of drawings; just sketches that made a statement about what the world has become in the last few years. Some of the sketches where very simple but Witty and to the point. Here is what was said about his work -

Dan Perjovschi (Romanian, b. 1961), who lives and works in Bucharest, has transformed the medium of drawing, using it to create an object, a performance, and an installation. In the last decade, Perjovschi has made his drawings spontaneously in museum spaces, allowing global and local affairs to inform the final result. For his first solo museum exhibition in the United States, the artist will draw witty and incisive political images, in response to current events, on one wall of The Donald B. and Catherine C. Marron Atrium. Two weeks before the official opening, beginning April 19, Perjovschi will draw on the wall during public hours, allowing visitors to observe the creation of the work. The project is accompanied by a pamphlet created by the artist.

I was able to see some of my favorite painters like Kandinsky, Motherwell, Kline and Jasper John. I have to admit I've taken a lot of art history classes and really enjoyed most but modern art has always needed more of an explanation for me. I never enjoyed teachers who just made you learn the movement and dates behind a significant piece of art. I had a few really wonderful instructors that actually told the stories behind why the artist did what he did. In Moma they have a wonderful audio system in which they choose various works for the curators to talk about. This was great. Someone like Duchamp really does need some type of explanation or the pieces by Malevich ( which is basically just a white cube painted on a white background). I of course am always drawn to the color and multi shape and surface pieces. It all about what you like. I"m sure people who are into simplicity really enjoy the more rigid,almost very sophisticated work. I read a blog entry by a potter the other day who really had a strong opion about color on pots. He said that most people use color to hide really bad forms. I have to disagree with this because I've seen some really bad wood fired pots with no glaze on them. People can be a novist and just want to make blue pots or they can be a novist and make just brown pots. Its what they like to do. I've seen a lot of this in teaching and in schooll I think it doesn't really have to do with trying to hide anything but rather the vision of what the potters is drawn to and there personality. You really can tell a lot about a person by just looking at there work.

May 28th

Pretty low key birthday but after New York, what could compare. I did get a balloon cake that the girls picked out and Joey as always made a nice meal. I had to teach last night but only one student showed up so it was pretty easy and I went home early. I got to work almost a 1/2 day in the studio and started making these tiles that I have been wanting to explore. Tonight I'm going to put them together and start drawing on them. I got the inspiration from a potter I saw in New York by the name of
Stepanka Horalkova, she has a website that I tried to get on today but seems a bit slow. (If you have high speed maybe you'll have a better chance at checking her stuff out!) From what I could tell by her website the images where a bit different than the stuff I saw in New York but I really liked her stuff. It was very clean, nice images and made out of porcelain some thrown and some altered. I wish now I had purchased one of her cups!
I'll get some images up of the tiles when there done.