Teapot Show *1

Last Saturday I took some folks from Clayworks to the teapot show at Cedar Creek Gallery. It was a great trip and I'm glad some of the students took me up on going "on a road trip" to look at pots! There where about 200 or so teapots plus the rest of the gallery. We also got to visit with Brad Tucker and Tim Turner, which was an added bonus because they are both just so nice and funny to chat with.

Here are some photo's that one of the students took. Did I mention that I forgot my camera that day so................Angela was so nice in snapping anything I asked her to.

Here are my two entries. Wow, my pots are sitting next to Sam Chung!

The two teapots below I just liked. There was so much to see that I think I could of found something I liked in every teapot I saw but you can only have so many photo's ..right?

A place like home

We did finally get our house painted. It felt good to know that most of the money that helped get it done came from my pots.

It was once just white but we jazzed it up a bit. I love the pumpkin colored door.

About a year ago I started thinking about what it meant to me to be in the house everyday working, taking care of our family and really enjoying that fact that I did not having to go to a 9 to 5 job in some office. My office is right here at home and home and my hours are 6:30 to about 11 everyday! But, it is always a trade off.

I think I've said before that in my mind some of my pieces remind me of creatures or figures in some way. I have lots of customers tell me that as well. I worked a year or so ago on some sets of salt and pepper shakers that I wanted to enclose in some way and give a home to; not just a tray. I felt like I needed to bring my feelings of security and the comfort I feel being at home everyday into my work some how.

The set below is what I came up with. I called these guys " My opera house". All the frills and decorative elements that I embellished this tray with just screamed "Opera" to me.

I took this photo along with me to be critiqued by a well known potter I was doing a workshop with. At the time, I thought it was one of my best pieces. After the critique, I felt a bit different about the whole set. I was told it had a feeling of contriteness to it and was over done. I at that point agreed and put these pieces on the back burner for another time.

So...stay tuned.....I'm in a salt and pepper show and at the moment I'm back to my Opera houses. Photo's and thought to be posted soon!

Transitions

Summer just seemed like a splash of light that flew by for me.

Today was the second week of school for the kids and since I got back to my normal "school day" of getting everyone up, fed, to school, quick clean-up, a brisks walk and then out to work...I realised that something about today was different. For the first time I really did take note of all the time I had to myself. All the work I was getting done. All the sounds around me. And the fact that all my kids for 7 hours, 5 days a week will be ....with someone else. It was a strange feeling.

As I worked I realised that here I was, like every other potter without children who planned their day just as if they where off to some 9 to 5 job. For a moment I even said to myself " wow, I'm not going to have to come work out here every night now?". Of course when I took note of everything else on my plate, I realised that that statement most likely won't come true that often. But being home from 9 to 2:30 is such a long stretch of time for me with NO ONE around! This hasn't been my world in the last 7 years.

I realised what a transition this is going to be for me in the next few weeks. I had such an urge to call school and could not wait to see their little faces at 3. Last week I was so wrapped up in the beginning of school and my Art History course that the days flew by. I guess being in my studio, throwing pots and having the silence all around made me go to that place we all go when we are doing those repeated motions of throwing and our mind wonders here and there. The clouds where in and out today so I had sun and rain on and off. This can also play with your mind and mood.

We have lots of transitions going on in our house-hold. I can only think that new adventures open so many doors even though it may be scary to walk through them.

Today was a very interesting day......

Found HER!

...she was hiding in a Sid Oakley bowl up on the shelf...my camera that is!

Her I am at Blowing Rock. I'm happy because Joey's with me for this show.

Here is the last of the small Flower Blocks. I've got to get out and make more today for our up coming Circle of Eight sale!

The one thing I love about doing Arts in the Park is all the animals people bring to this show. Now, I'm a big cat person and I know if I where a cat I would NOT like being here or being on a leash.

( Have you ever seen a cat who is happy on a leash? )

This cat was so pretty I had to take a shot of her but the whole time I was thinking about all the expletives this cat must of been saying under its little kitty breath about its owner and all the people wanting to pet it. Especially all the kids! I had to ask this lady what did the cat do when all the huge dogs where around? Always an interesting day.....got to go!

Lost Camera

Ohhhh...I can not find my camera anywhere in the abis of my unorganized house! Rats and Drats!

So much to take photo's of:
*Kids going to school

*New clay freshly pugged

*Disaster in the studio from the scraped paint that is going on , on the outside of my house but coming in my studio since its only screened in!

*Disaster in my kiln shed ( I did that...)

*Happy clean studio! Joey helped me with all the paint and dust and general untidiness that happens before a show.

*Our newly painted house...well...almost done...workers still here.

*New pots I didn't photograph at show.

*Show photo's!

*.....the look of frustration on my face Knowing I can not find my camera for my blog!!

I can't wait to finally throw tonight and get off the computer!

missing my blog

I have been consumed by my Art 101 class and it is kicking my "hinny"! ( Your vocabulary tends to change when you have little ones!)
Since this is an online course I'm teaching and it started this week I have been overloaded with questions from my students. I fear that if this goes on, I may be growing cob-webs in on my blog site! Hopefully this is just the first frenzy of the beginning of school. Lets hope!
Tomorrow I have a full day to myself. School starts for my little ones and its the first time I will have basically 9 - 2 to myself. Its a little bitter sweet because I feel like the girls have grown up faster than I had planned. Since Quaid was a "singleton", (that's multiple-mother talk for a child that is not a twin or triplet) I naturally spent more one on one time with him when he was little. He also tends to still be attached to me even though he is going on 8 now. Literally some days he hangs onto my leg in jest when I have to go do something. Talk about a Mama's boy! He asks me all time if I would just home school him so he can stay home with me. ( He also tends to wear me out quit quickly because he has ADD and likes to talk ALOT!) Anyways, I'm sure tomorrow I will be a little teary-eyed when my two little matching kindergartners go into to school. They are a funny pair and everyone knows them when they walk into school because they are very bouncy. Ok..enough about my kids...
I do plan to spend the day cleaning my studio and getting ready for the next batch of shows coming up.
I need to clean because I can't seem to find my camera anywhere!( Its most likely lost here on the desk under all my Art History notes!)
Stay tuned....

Back!

Short little Hello.
We're back from our adventures in the mountains. It was so good to spend the day together and most of all sell lots of pots. Wow was it a banner day for me. Thanks to anyone who came out and got some Jen Mecca pots!
I was so busy from the get go that I didn't get a whole lot of photo's. My new flowers blocks sold out in the first hour so I only got a photo of one! Wow....hot items are always good.
I'll check in with more news and maybe a few photo's this evening. Off to clean and rally the troops!

Show on The Horizon

Ok...I've been bad about checking in this week. I have a feeling this fall my be that way so bare with me. Tomorrow I'll be getting packed up for Arts In the Park again. Another Blowing Rock trip. This time my better half gets to come along which I LOVE! We get so few moments to just be with each other that I really love having him with me at a show. I'm not really sure if he would agree that its the best alone time. But I think he enjoys the crowd at Blowing Rock and getting out of the house is always a good thing.

I have taken a few photo's this week of pots in progress. Here are a few things out of the bisque waiting to be glazed. I'll get some finished shots for you as well!

Bottles, mugs and platters

Teapots, Small covered dishes, platters

New smaller flower-blocks

Grave yard clay

Last weekend I fired the chuck of clay that my neighbor Bo got out of our local grave yard. I went ahead a put it in an already bisque pot and fired it along with my cone 7 batch of pots. It came out not being totally vitrified and almost felt like a insulating fire brick. Its a wonderful peach color, and has many chips of quarts in it. I would be curious to see what would happen if I took it up to cone 9. I may test a little piece of it in our gas kiln at work.

Very busy week. I'm getting ready for Blowing Rock, School starting, we have painters here prepping the house for a full "re-do" and KIDS. So...sorry I haven't been checking in. I have read many informative posts on many other people's blog this week about "cleaning up" your blog page and getting your own domain name. If you haven't gone to Emily Murphy site lately, you should. I think I'll start out with baby steps and focus on getting an Etsy site this year.

Standing Up

I had a request the other day to post a little bit about throwing standing up. This is a great topic for those of you who still sit down to throw and most likely are having some aches and pains doing so.

I can not really recall who I must of encountered throwing standing up but I do recall that I started my first year of grad school. While sitting down I was having a lot of pain in my tail bone, which has totally gone away since then. For years I would throw standing up facing exactly the same way most people do sitting down behind a Brent. I do recall having some trouble being able to pull tall forms at this angle, but I can't be certain about that since we all know that making tall forms comes with time. I do know that it did take awhile to figure out that centering the normal way of just forcing a lump of clay into a disc form was a bit more challenging. I think the reason is that if you can not press your elbows into your knees, you are forced to use just the strength of your form arm. Soon after the start of my first semester one of our instructors did a demo on throwing large amounts of clay. His method of centering involved pounding the clay into the middle of the wheel head and then coning up. This method worked for me standing up because I could rely on my entire arm strength to just push the clay to the middle of the wheel and not have to brace my arms for centering a large clump.

In the fall of 2000 when I was pregnant with Quaid I found I could not get close enough to my wheel head due to my growing belly so I moved to the side of the wheel. Since then I have been throwing "side saddle" and have not changed back. I find I can get closer to the wheel head and I have more room to switch my feet back and forth on the pedal so my legs don't get tired.

As you can see in this photo my wheel is up on one cinder block and steadied by a piece of wood. I have had people tell me they have two cinder blocks stacked on top of each other horizontally and I'm sure this works great as well. As far as height goes, you have to find what is comfortable for you. You can adjust your posts on most models or add boards if your really tall. I am happy to report that I don't feel like I have any hip or lower back issues anymore. I can at times have some pain in my left shoulder blade if I'm pulling a lot of tall cylinders in one night. I try not to throw for long periods at a time so I am moving around a lot while I work.

I hope this information was helpful! Thanks for the topic idea!

Drawing, Sketch Book & Thurseday

Today I finished up my summer class at Clay Works. I had such a nice bunch of ladies. It was a pleasure getting in my car every Thursday morning with my ice coffee and enjoying the sunny drive to teach. I'm so much more clear headed in the morning than at night. I think it use to be the other way around a few years ago. What's up with that??? I enjoy answering all their questions and trying to solve "glaze mysteries"with them. What makes teaching fun for me is having fun, interesting and eager students that want to learn as much as I do.

So speaking of teaching......I also have enjoyed looking and reading up on all the art history I had to learned years ago. The book I'm using for my course has this whole great chapter on digital art and cinema. I can not remember these topics ever being taught in my classes. I found this page in the chapter about drawing especially interesting because here are some sketches from the film maker Guillermo del Toro, who directed Hellboy and Pan's Labyrinth. Here in his sketch book you can see the beginnings of a monster he used in Pan's Labyrinth that I believe didn't have eyes. ( I may be wrong about this because I don't watch movies like this but my better half LOVES stuff like this so I'll see if he comments on this blog entry if I"m right or wrong about the monster guy.)

Anyways, seeing his sketch book reminded me that I needed to go get a new one. My sketch book from Christmas sadly got lost at the NC potters conference and I never got it back. (Someone out there has some good glaze recipes that I had copied in there.) With the start of school in two weeks I wanted to be prepared for my long wait in the car-pool line and my a trusty sketch book at hand to pass the time.

Avery Pottery/Tile works

My good friends Blaine and Laura Avery have their blog up and going now also. I love that everyone is catching the "blog-bug". In the last year or so they have been working on their new studio and gallery. I saw it back in the spring and boy has it changed a lot and looks great! They are two great folks and do wonderful work. If you get down to the Seagrove area you need to stop by and visit them. Take a look at there blog site! Jen

Your have to Click and Listen

Its late and I am suppose to be making up more test for my class.I had such a hard night making anything in my studio this evening...boy I hate times like that. So here I am and instead of doing test stuff I"m here checking in with all the pottery blogs I love to read. Its funny how I kind of surf from comment, to post, back to new blog and so on. I really have no rhyme or reason to who's blog I read first from day to day.

At any rate. I was looking at JFB Times and he had copied this very cool tape from Emily Murphy's blog ( otherwise known as The Pottery Blog) which was Ira Glass from This American Life and he was is talking about being creative. It is an awesome short clip that you have to watch! Like Jeff says on his blog, it says it all. Ira Glass is great!!! Thanks guys for sharing that with us on your blog.
Now all of you who have not found these two blog entries....click and listen. Its so true!

Bottles

I've never really been one to make many bottles. I'll demo them for students but for some reason its never been on my list of things to make for shows and what not. I don't know why...bottles are pretty cool!

Many potters make bottles so maybe I've just always wanted to be a bit different and focus on sets and things like that. The more I make pots the more I start leaning back towards traditional forms; which really I've never done with my group of work. I think after watching the Matt Long video about whiskey bottles and such, I've had a new appreciation for the simplicity of the bottle form. Last month I made a bunch of little bud-vases that mimicked the form you see below. This weekend I decided to try some really big bottles for my next Blowing Rock show in a few weeks. Here is the form alone and with handles. Today I did my surface treatment and later this week I thought I'd show you how it looked before going into the bisque kiln. I love putting lug handles on the sides of things like this. They always look like a women yelling..


" Geeeooorrrgeee..where are you? GEEEOOORRGGE...come here!"

On a family note, the weekend was spent looking for a new used car.
Vaaooommmm...honk, honk!

Joey and I also got to go on date..dinner and the Batman movie. I loved even though the clown stuff kind of freaked me out.
Batman rocks. He has so many cool toys!

Wagon HO

My students had asked me at the beginning of the session to talk a little bit about setting up a studio. I can remember thinking once upon a time how does one get a cool barn with running water, a fan, equipment, floor drain and all the other "grand" essentials you need to make pots. ( I'm wondering that 12 years later.) I think somewhere between grad school and doing a concentration up at Penland I realised that not everyone has all that or needs all that to make pots. So, this was a great topic for me. I started in our laundry room/porch which was about the size of a closet at our first house. Here I am about 8 month preg. with Quaid. When he finally came into the world, he would sit in his bouncy seat on top of the dryer while I worked. ( I can't believe I just put that photo out for all to see! Not to mention I figured out how to scan it on my own...)

I was telling my students that I think the most important part of making a studio in your home/garage or porch is covering every inch in plastic. I learned my lesson at our first house.

While driving home today I remembered the one piece of equipment I failed to mention that I've had since grad school. My little red wagon!

Yes, I'm a girl. I put everything heavy in it to haul back and forth from my car, the kiln shed, you name it. This was from a few days ago when I was recycling clay. In school my pal Amy Evans and I both got one for Christmas the same year and we use to laugh about having races around the art building.

Amy...did we ever do that?

Anyways, my Radio Flyer has served me well.

I wonder if they make cars?

Checking In

Yesterday I finished most all my lectures and test preps for my course so I "indulged" myself in cleaning up my studio. Did I ever think THIS would be the joy of my day?? Ahhh..never, but last night it was. I got to unwrap all the pots I had feverishly taken out of the kiln for ( was it) last weekends show in Blowing Rock and I sat down to examine/study them more closely. Such an important thing to do which got thrown by the wayside last time. A few pieces I'm going to re-fire because I wasn't happy with some of the glaze results.

Later today I'm planning on ( yes....you guessed it) pugging fresh clay. Yessssss.... I think I said a few blogs back that my last order of Helios was super hard so I'm just re-pugging all of it. Tonight I will get to throw...yahhhh..joy - oh- bliss! I also cleaned up my show entries on my blog as well as added a few new blogs to my list. ( I have more to add as well so keep looking!)

Today, the kids and I are "car-free", which I think is good thing. They have been playing all morning together with various playmobil set-ups. I think the Indians are attacking the Unicorns as I'm writing. This morning at 6am , Joey's car died about a block from our house. Oil was everywhere. One could look at this as a SUPER bad thing or one could just go with the flow and except it as another bump in the road. We'll see what our mechanic says. By the way, our mechanic's here in York are brothers and their names ARE "Brother and Bobby". All my "mommy/bookclub" friends use them here and we all talk about how nice they are. I can honestly say, they are the most honest mechanics we have ever had and of course there is nothing fancy about their shop. I love the fact I can call down there and say "Hey! This is Jen Mecca. Is this Bobby or Brother? ".

I looked for a Cartoon of Calvin's ( of Calvin and Hobbs) mother looking like she had hit a brick wall to ease the pain of maybe being faced with trying to find a new car but I couldn't find one. Many days I feel like that cartoon!
More to come....

Needed Escape

Last night I got to escape for an hour into the quiet world of Karen Karnes via the Cleveland County Independent Film Festival. I knew after hearing a few stories about her that she is extremely different than myself but I always find that seeing someone in my same discipline work and live differently than I do always does my spirit well. This film was so quiet, simple and serene in its nature that I thought the film maker captured Karen's serene, no nonsense way of life perfectly. She is someone that when you see her forms and hear her talk, you totally see the connection between the two. I felt so relaxed when I came out of the film I think I drove home going 45 instead of my usual pushing the peddle to the metal to get where ever I need to go in a timely fashion( this is on the interstate of course). Karen lives in Vermont among wonderful trees, brooks and nature all around. One could not help but be serene. ( Maybe we can transform our water issues with our neighbor into a babble-brook so I can have a bit more serenity in my life! ha)

Karen had a great quote that I wrote down in the dark of the movie theater that hit home for me:

"There are no big leaps from where you are..."

I need to put that on a big piece of paper in my studio. In the context of this quote she was talking about how so many young potters want to be brilliant early on. Such a direct smack in the face and so true.

...back to Art Appreciation, today's lecture...Graphic Design.

Day to Day Things

Here is my clay drying up..its calling me to come and put it in plastic bags and take it out to the shed. I'm antsy to get out there and work. I just realised last night how much my clay time is important and special to me.( I'm getting a bit crabby!) Its almost like going to see a movie some days..pure rest and relaxation. I know I get this feeling at the beginning of a throwing cycle. At the end when I'm about to go to a show, its work and I'm stressed. I've been building on a goal to organize my life and priorities since the girls have been born. Teaching a course is a necessity to our finances and it is the priority this week. I've to got to push on through and get it done and put my blinders onto to my studio or I'll get sucked in.Teaching my clay class for the most part is fun. The hour long drive there and back is not fun- its a priority and with the price of gas that drive and the fun associated with teaching shrinking. This KILLS me at times but priorities always need to be done before play. Stable pay checks sometimes out weigh "soft money" although I have had a good year with my sales.

Family priorities are at the top of list but as a mom and kind of the "Captain" of this boat this summer I've been trying to get my crew to help out more. The word aallowance has been popping up a lot lately so I figured I'll let go of some stuff and get the children involved more in cleaning with an incentive attached. Here is what we came up with today..our Chore Chart. With anything and our three children we had lots of back and fourths about how much they should get paid for each tasks, who was going to do what and on and on it went. When it was time to do the work this morning the comments and bossiness that was going back and forth made me wonder if I could listen to all the bickering. I chose finally just to go outside and hang out the cloths while these two attempted to do the breakfast dishes. ( I wonder if that Ronan Peterson cup made it safely through the dish cycle!)

Class playtime

Tomorrow morning is class. I'm teaching a short summer session for only 6 weeks with a new crew of people. Some I've taught before , some are new to me. Once again, its a great group. We are kind of doing a mix bag of stuff this go around. Some people wanted to work on there own glazes, some wanted to learn Majolica and some just where there for any kind of throwing demo's I wanted to do.

Here is an example of a majolica cup and saucer I did for them. I gave the cup to my friend Debi because she is watching my children for me while I teach every Thurseday morning. She and her husband Scott are great supportors of my work and what I do so I thought she would like this for her tea in the morning.

This week I'm finishing up a very time consuming baking dish. All of this is fun for me. I can spend an hour glazing and working on the surface of something and my students enjoy watching me do this ( I hope!). I find I can't do this yet with my own work. I guess I kind of feel like time is money and perhaps I just don't feel like my forms are there yet to put it all together. That's a whole other blog post and one that I'm not sure I could even get all my thoughts about that out on paper..well screen in this case. So for now, I'll play at work. I find the spontaneity of what I come up with sometimes to be fresh . I guess its that whole creative process that just comes from somewhere when you least think about it.

No studio time yet. My pots are still packed up and my set-up is half put away half in the studio with kids running by it everyday. My clay that I'm recycling is drying up and my pug mill misses me( well I'd like to think it does). I'm still re-writing lectures and getting to know art history and art elements once again. Its a bit stressful but I just keep plugging along.

Creative Thinking

On page 21 of Clay Times this month Pete Pinnell has a good article about creative thinking. He talks more about how people perceive artists than on the creative process but his take of how people view those of us who do creative things, hits close to home for me. He references a book by Ellen Dissanayake called Homo Aestheticus: Where Art Comes from and Why. He says the Dissanayake argues that art-making ( the act of making special) is as intrinsic to human nature as eating or sleeping.

At any rate, if you can get a copy of this check out the article. I always enjoy his articles. He seems very level headed about things and doesn't take life to serious. I have no idea if I'm right about this or not but would love to take a workshop with him at some point.

Kids plates

Here's a quick post from a few shows back. Some people wanted to see the finished plates I put in the Song Catchers show that is currently at Lark and Key in Charlotte. Like I said, I didn't get to go to the opening but Ron, Amy and Julie where there and Ron was nice enough to snap this photo for me of my plates. Sandy Snead, one of the owners made each of us a DVD with all the tunes each artist picked for there work. I've been enjoying that, of course the only connection to the show I have is the pieces and the songs that each of my potter buddies had chosen. At a glace I'm still not taken with how my plates came out but the subject matter and "assignment" was completed in my mind. I guess I would give myself a B- on this.( The photo is a little far away so I'm just going by what my memory is.) My girls where so thrilled to see there drawing on this snap-shot. They think they are famous artists now!

Can you tell I've been working on my course work for my class...I'm totally in teacher mode this week!

Blowing Rock

Here are some shots from Blowing Rock. The weather was great, the crowd was big and sales where pretty good! I always enjoy this show.

Here are some photo's of my display and some pots that I may have posted in the bone dry stage earlier in the week ( maybe month ago by the rate I go at posting things..ha!)Here are some boxes and a small two person serving dish with the raven on top. This was my best selling yesterday. Time to make some more!

This plate and the platter below are in the above shot of my display. I also have here some egg cups or salt sellers, which every someone wants them to be. These where fun because I put little bumble bee's on them.

On the bottom right is one of my oval casserole dishes. I'm still thinking about this form. Offer up any suggestions you might have. Maybe I'm just not meant to make this item. I think everyone has there struggles with certain things and I'm always the first one to call myself out on that.

There where some really good potters at this show. Emily Reason and LeAnne Ash are potters from the Energy Xchange and I was a bit bashful in introducing myself to them when I went into their booths. ( They where busy both times as well and I didn't want to interrupt a sale. ) I could kick myself now from not getting a piece from each of them but we've been on a budget here at the Lawler/Mecca plantation so we can get our house painted so I refrained from buying pots. ( OH...that always hurts when I do!!) Please check out the website for the Energy Xchange..I know its a great place!

Off To Blowing Rock

Just thoughts I'd put a little post up saying I'll be at Arts in the Park this weekend in Blowing Rock North Carolina. I'm all packed and ready to go. It has been a busy two days. Today Joey, my niece and I went white water rafting..I'll talk more about that soon and I'll have photo's of pots also.
Have a good Saturday!Jen

Drats!

I tend to get a little stuck on trays for things. I love to make sets but than when it comes to containing the items I've made...I get stuck. I always know that they should compliment one another, which I try to always do but than I see another potters trays I think to myself, "Now that tray works...what's up with mine??".

So here are some images of the tray I made for my cream a sugar set.

(The bottom, to show the feet and than the piece right side up)

The biggest issue was that upside down handle on my creamer. Whoops! Your right, it hangs down to low to fit the correct way in the tray. Back to the drawing board and time to recycle the trays that are drying.

I started to stain more of my work for the kiln this evening and while doing so I enjoyed a video called "Bill Cosby , Himself". I haven't listened to his old monologues ( things like Old Weird Harold and Brain Dead Kids ) in a long time so some of his skits where knew to me. I was laughing so hard at all the stuff about kids and husbands that the dog next door came close to our yard and started barking like crazy at the noise I was making. I love to laugh.

Tomarrow I unload the kiln and a new one goes in.

Monday

Here a few shots from today.

Bakers with the old handles...only one cracked this time because I let them sit for a few weeks. We'll see how I like them once they come out of the glaze kiln.

Here's a bisque that I worked on waxing and glazing this evening.

Quaid insisted I put a image of HIS sculpture up on my blog this evening. He had a lot fun with the modeling clay today while the girls painted with my teenage helper. I love the colors of this stuff. If only mason stains were not so expensive and you could buy clay in all sorts of colors...I would be in heaven!

Weekend away

I just got back from a little trip to Charlottesville Va. with a friend of mine from college. A mutual friend of ours that I hadn't see in a numbers of years had a wedding party so we got to "rode-trip" for the weekend. The party was very cool and was in the downtown part of Charlottesville at an Indian restaurant. Debra, my friend who got married is a great, funny and energetic person to be around and is the Director of a great organization called The Wesley Foundation . Deb is a one of those people who when she asks you about how you are , or what you've been up to, she is genuinely interested in you and what you have to say. Her students are very lucky to have her. Congrads Deb!

Charlottesville and the trip through Virgina was just the best. I forgot how much I loved living in that State when I was in college. The rolling hills and all the interesting things going on in the town just made me want to pack my bags and head North. ( I even called Joey and said "we need to move to Charlottesville!")It was good to get away and visit with college friends but as always I'm happy to be home with my crew and its always great to have three little people bowl you over with hugs as soon as they see you.

This evening I was back throwing some tumblers and making my pillow tiles. Tomorrow I'll start glazing my first batch of pots for the show.

Sets

Here are some cream and sugar sets. The first photo is right after they are thrown..I love clay this way. The next is after I've added handles and don't some incising on them. I'm deciding about the trays. I think most people like cream and sugar sets with trays but these guys seem bulkier than my normal sets so I'm torn on what to do. Good lesson for me when thinking about people using my pots and what I envision will happen. I'll keep you posted on what I come up with.

The kids are outside playing with a friends and I have to get going on dinner. Tonight is Quaid's favorite dinner night...breakfast for dinner!

Beginning of week

Here are some covered jars that I finished yesterday. I also thought I'd put up an example of one of my interpretation of a Lillie. This is the inside of a what I call a mixing bowl. Last night I started on some cream and sugar sets. Tonight I'm going to work on assembling a bunch of stuff that has been under plastic.

I'm spending a lot of time getting my distant learning course up and going. The poor women I'm working with is being really patient with me when it comes to setting up my page and getting my lectures in order. I've been taking the text with me everywhere I go trying to get in more reading time and highlighting so I can get everything set by early August. While other mom's are reading romance novels or chatting it up at the pool there I am I'm sitting there with my Art Appreciation text and a pink high lighter! GEEK!

Thanks to everyone who left comments about my "Bo" story. (I'll report back on the clay after I test it.) I could write a book about all the interesting people and places that we have experienced since we moved to this little town 7 years ago. The pool in its self could be a whole story, but it has nothing to do with clay, so I'll save that for my memoirs. Ha! ( Now that I think about it, I may be one of the characters in a book someone else might write about York!)

Ya' all have a good one!

Sunday

Today was spent staining pieces to go in the bisque kiln and throwing small casseroles,platters and relish dishes. Later in the day I headed out to the shed to pug more clay. Since I have such a small space, when scrapes of clay start piling up I have no where to store them so I end up pugging my clay at least once a week in small amounts. Here are the girls helping me for the first time. I'm having more patience with them wanting to be with me while I work. Usually when I'm getting ready to throw and I need some peace, I very nicely explain to them that I need to think and if they want to be out working with me, they need to be pretty quiet. Today I knew they wanted to watch me use the pug-mill so I gave them some clay and they worked away on pinch pots while I reconstituted my porcelain. Boy does that work zone look like its needs some serious cleaning!

Today was also spent reading my text book in preparation for the Art Appreciating class that I'm going to teach in the fall. Its nice to
re- familiarize myself with paintings and historic events that shaped the art world. This turns on a whole different light bulb in my brain when it comes to what I do for a living.

Saturday

Hope everyone had a good July 4th...we did! I've been able to get in a lot of studio time in along with some family fun. Today we took the kids to see Wall-E and thought it was great - good message. For once I was glad to see a G-rated movie that was not to corny for grown-ups that was not rated PG because it had to have off color humor so adults will sit through it with there kids. ( I'll get off my moral band-wagon....) Go see Wall-E!

Here are a few shots of things..salt/pepper and some covered jars. The finished salt/peppers are seconds that I've kept around so I can get the proportions right.

Here are some lilies from my garden. It is just so cool to really look at the detail of a flower when it finally opens up. I'm always in awe of things like this. I got the Wayside seed catalog a few weeks ago and I'm still looking at all the plants and getting some ideas for some new drawings on my pots. I like to take real floral images and change them to have a more representation look to them. I do lilies a lot on my pieces because they are one of my favorite flowers.

Small Town Living

My neighbor across the street is 80 years old and was born and raised in the house that he lives in today with his wife Andy. His name is Bo and everyone in York knows Bo. I think secretly he might run the town!


He has great stories about York and comes from a long line of people with lots of "colorful" history. My favorite thing and not so favorite thing about Bo is that he loves to shoot squirrels right in his yard. He does this so they will stay out of his prize vegetable garden and I've learned that shooting squirrels is a southern tradition around here. Needless to say when we first moved here and I heard a shot gun go off across the street, I nearly had heart failure. These days when we hear the sound of gun fire even our kids say " there goes Bo shooting a poor squirrel". ( We of course do everything we can to make our yard a squirrel habitat because squirrel shooting is...well kind of....horrible.)

Yes, I do know that most everyone out there HATE squirrels but someone has got to give them a break.


The other great thing about Bo and Andy is that in the summer time they sit out on their huge Charleston looking porch and have cocktails every night. They call these drinks " libations". I can always count on seeing them around 7pm watching whatever is going on around our street.( Most days I'm sure we are their main entertainment since we are right across the street and we are a little nuts! ) I also can count on hearing them calling from their porch "JENNIFER"! And I know to go right on over because there is something important that I need to know about or retrieve like vegetables or a history lesson or local gossip.


Last night when we came in from taking the kids on a bike ride , Bo called me over to show me this hunk of clay. He told me how he was down at our local cemetery that day watching the guys dig up some earth and they came across all this clay. He told me if I wanted it there was tons and I just needed to let him know. He then explained to me that even though he doesn't own the cemetery he could get me all I wanted. ( This is one of the reasons I think he must own the town. Well this and also the fact that I know the police will never come over to his home when ever someone complains about him shooting squirrels in his backyard...in a residential section of town I might add.) On hearing this and explaining to him about having to test it and such I asked him if I could go down and look at the hole they had dug to check it out. He told me...and I quote , " well, no you can't go down there tomorrow because there putting a body in that hole but I know they can dig you some more!" On that note images of old caskets and such being dug up for this free clay came to mind.


Joey and I go back and forth a lot about trying to move away from our small town but this is what I like about a small town also. Here is a man who is not the mayor of York. Can shoot squirrels out of trees in a residential neighborhood with out getting in any sort of trouble. Does not own the cemetery but can get a back hoe right near some poor souls grave sight to dig up clay for the local potter with out even having to ask any ones permission! Now that is power..................