Demo at the Piedmont Craft Fair

I recently got some pictures in the mail from Nicole (who's the education director) at Piedmont Craftsmen. I did a short demo during the sale in Winston-Salem, hence the red dress. And, no, I didn't plan ahead to have a matching apron, but it does look quite nice...

I ended up making a teapot, a small wall piece and a basket bud vase. As I've said before, often when I'm teaching/demonstrating I feel the need to entertain as well as educate (which is not always needed or necessary or even appropriate). Luckily, this time, I don't think I embarrassed myself or scared any small children.

The Snitch!

Oh yes, folks. It's that time of year when a certain little terror lurks with the living good: the snitch has come to town!

A tradition in Brian's family, the snitch (AKA: Bellsnickle, with a nose like a pickle) serves as a watcher of all naughty behavior to report back to Santa before the big day. He can see through walls and is all knowing. In my family, I think my sisters and I took care of all the snitching ourselves!

So, watch yourself, because Bellsnickle is watching too....

Art Collective show

Here are a couple of the new pieces I'll have at the Art Collective show this Friday and Saturday. While I've been working on this series of pieces (which I lovingly call my "post-modern fine china") for a couple of months, I really feel like they're starting to work. I've been looking at a lot of old european pottery, such as wedgewood, for reference of the forms. I'm hoping to soon extend this work to other serving pieces such as gravy boats, teapots/tea services and large bowl forms. I'm looking forward to going home to Ohio over Christmas and getting some good inspiration by sorting through my grandma's china closet filled with awesome items of this nature.

Even though this image is a little fuzzy, this was my recent favorite as it came out of the kiln. It looks like a night scene, with glowing street lights:
This is the train crossing on Sugar Creek Rd., close to the dead end of Davison St.
A detail of the image above:
A similar scene as the first one, but with a completely different color scheme. I've really enjoyed working with new colors and experimenting with line in the borders:
As I've recently discovered/realized that I am indeed a girl (as opposed to the 9 year-old boy that lives inside me....that I often give too much voice to!) I have started to really really like putting pink on this pots. So pink it is!!!!
Come out to Charlotte Foust's studio this Friday or Saturday if you can make it. Like I said before, my dreamy husband is going to be playing some music to create the proper ambiance for the evening, and there will be champange and goodies too. Sounds like a perfect time to check out some art!

Last Class

A couple weeks ago was the last handbuilding class of the session at Clayworks. We ended a great session with a little potluck party and a raku firing. Here's a couple images from that event:


The loaded kiln just before firing..Toasty pots ready to come out of the kiln...

Our firemaster, Greg!

Art and Chuck waiting to remove their pieces...

More students hanging out, waiting while the kiln is firing...

I head up to Cornelius tomorrow to teach a handbuilding workshop at the Creative Arts Exchange. I'm looking forward to this short two day class and meeting new students at a new studio.

This weekend is the Art Collective show at Charlotte Foust's studio on Park Rd. in Charlotte. There will be a really nice variety of work for sale- paintings, collages, jewelery, and of course, pottery. I'll have some new work there (hopefully I will post some images of some new trays I just finished) and my husband, Brian will be playing the music for the opening!

Thanks to those of you who came out last weekend for the Clayworks sale! It was nutty crowded! I'm sorry to those of you that I didn't get much of a chance to talk to- I was running the register and was pretty much busy the entire night!

Fine, here you go Ron

So, I know I've been completely delinquent of posting anything on my blog for some time. I officially apologize to the 7 people that read this! Sadly, it's been so long that I forgot my password to log on to post- now that's sad. So, Ron, this is for you!

Actually, I've been quite busy getting ready for upcoming shows and such. Next week is the Piedmont Craft Fair in Winston-Salem, which is a 2 day show at the convention center there. It's a great show that has many repeat artists, which means I get to see some friends that I typically only see once a year- so, I'm looking forward to it.

My sweet sweet friend Alyssa is coming tonight just to be really nice to help me glaze. So I decided to make my all time favorite treat: zucchini muffins. Even though they're made with a vegetable, they're not too healthy. Eh. Who cares?!

I promise to post more often- I have some great pictures from a recent trip to DC to see some eco-friendly residential buildings. Coming soon in a post.....

Barn Sale, pics from the Iredell show, and such

Saturday was the Barn Sale, held out at McAlpine Business Park on Monroe Rd. This was the first time in 2 years that I was able to participate in this show because I've been out of town the past 3 shows: twice missed in the spring for being in Minnesota helping some potter friends for their show and once missed for being in Berlin for a Christian artist conference (it was incredible and traveling to mainland Europe for the first time was quite an experience!). So, needless to say, it was good to be back! The show has a very laid-back setting and it's often a place where I see friends that I haven't seen for a while.
Here's a picture of my booth as I'm just about to finish setting up in the morning. It was a little chilly, but I happily welcome this fall weather. The best part of the show was having fun neighbors- all the the potters in our circle of eight group were together and I was next to Jen Mecca and Barbara Chadwick- both whom make great work. It's always great to be in good company (of work and people!). At the end of the day Brian and my good friend Carrie came to help me load up the car- I'm so thankful to have people that care for me well!

My friend Julie (who's also a potter and you'll see her later in this post....) took some pictures at my show that opened a month ago at Iredell County Museums in Statesville. Here are a few pieces from that show:

Ron and I intently discussing the meaning of life....

Hi Mom! (check out those pink pants!)

Some of my industrial "post-modern fine china"

A detail shot...

One of my pieces from the "Soon?" series


As the "such" part of this post, earlier today I received an email with links to an online photo album from my crazy friend Julie (with her dog formerly known as Sagovia, but now known as Miss Princess):
Julie's sister had a costume birthday party for their dogs; while I wasn't at the party, I can still appreciate the goofy hilarity of dressing animals up. Here's some more:
He looks thrilled to be a hot dog.

A first

On Saturday, my friends Carrie and Mike, my husband Brian and I went to a rally in Rock Hill, South Carolina for Barack Obama. This was the first time I've actively participated in anything political (besides voting, or student council- but does that count?), and man, was it exciting! We went early to volunteer as crowd control- I'm such a beefcake that no one questioned me when I told them where they needed to sit or stand (yeah, right) and we also passed out signs. The place was full of people and felt electric by the time Obama came out and I was really impressed by the diversity of the crowd: a mixture of races, socio-economic status and age. I was really inspired by his message of hope for our country- I believe in him. One of my favorite quotes was that we need to have "pride in work, not pride in wealth."

While I don't consider myself an overtly political person, it felt good to be a part of something. I must admit that I was apprehensive to write anything political, because it seems to go a little against the grain of a lighthearted pottery blog, but heck, why not?

Mmmmm...cake

So I have an (un?)healthy obsession with Funfetti cake (the Pillsbury, from a box, cake of sugary goodness). I like to bake it for friends and family for celebrations- sometimes I'll even make up things to celebrate just for the sugar fix. This love of festive sweetness has inspired these new plates.

I really enjoy making items for a specific purpose (I make some rectangular bowls that are intended specifically for asparagus). I had some for sale a couple weeks ago at our Circle of Eight sale, and just had to make more. These colors are very different for me, as I usually use darker, earth tones on my work. The brightness is very appealing to me and change can be good, but I'm finding it hard to decide if I want to integrate these colors into my other work. We'll see.

This one was my favorite; and since today's (Sunday) my 31st birthday, I'm going to keep it (I hardly ever hold onto my own work) and have some cake!

These red ones are pretty crazy! The best part about these pieces are that my sister-in-law, Tammy, helped me make them. She's a rock star!

Cleveland County Fair

I just had my very first experience at a county fair, and did it all the way by going to the Cleveland County Fair in Shelby, NC. Brian and I met Ron and Sarah Philbeck at the fairgrounds and headed straight for the pig racing.

That's Hammy Hammlin taking a victory lap (literally) after being the first to race to the cheese puffs awaiting him at the CHECKERED FLAG (imagine a public announcer guy saying this in a very deep, excited voice).

After that, we headed over one of the main entertainment areas to check out the Kenyan Acrobats who were pretty amazing. They flipped, balanced themselves (on each other and a board full of nails, see below- yikes), jumped through flaming hoops- all on thin carpet over concrete. I couldn't help but be worried about their joints- how motherly of me.Then we checked out the giant mama pig, the rabbit house, chicken house, craft house, canning house and got corn dogs. Ron showed us his favorite fair game: Fat Albert. Its a betting game where you put a quarter on one of many colors that correspond with a wheel that is spun. Then a rat comes out of a cup and runs to a hole of a specific color in the wheel. I don't know if that's explained right, but check out Ron losing, again...

We finished off the afternoon with some fudge and a picture in front of the "famous" water wheel. It's where typically parents pay 25 cents to have their children paged to if they're lost. Ron generously paged me when I came out of the bathroom. It's good to have concerned friends!

Back to work

This past weekend was filled with exciting pottery-related events that I have been looking forward to for some time. After taking Sunday and Monday off for some well-needed rest, I'm back working in the studio today, starting with a good cleaning!

On Friday I had my opening at Iredell County Museums in Statesville. There was an amazing turnout- I was very lucky in that it was the first "Art Crawl" for the town of Statesville and the event was well promoted. As it was my first solo show, I was really excited to see so much of my work in one place. It was a bit intimidating too- I didn't realize just how nervous I was until the drive up; my husband did a good job of distracting me from this! Many friends made the drive and I really appreciate their support and reaction to the work. To top all this goodness off, Theresa Golas, the museum's curator (and maybe also executive director) and wonderwoman was amazing to work with. She was so patient and probably put in over 200 (shamefully, for real) screws in the wall to hang the show. She's a rock star.

Saturday was our Circle of Eight sale at my house. The weather was perfect and we had a good amount of people stop by. Its a lot of fun to do a sale with friends- and to be among everyone's nice work. Mark Peters came down as our guest artist- it was great to get to know him better.

I'll post additional photos soon. Of course I forgot my camera on Friday, but my buddy Julie remembered hers and took some pictures. There are also a couple on Elaine's blog, which you can visit by clicking her name on the sidebar.

Clayworks

After a long summer off from teaching, I started back today with classes at Clayworks. I teach two handbuilding classes- one in the morning, one in the evening on Wednesdays. Some of my old friends have returned, and many new students that will inject a lot of energy. I'm really excited to be back and am looking forward to a great session. I tend to make really bad jokes and talk way too much from nervous energy, but don't think I've scared anyone off yet!

Hooray clay: teaching at Arrowmont

I had a busy, but great summer this year. One of the best weeks for me was spent at Arrowmont School for Crafts in Gatlinburg, TN teaching a kid's camp class. My students ranged in ages: from kindergarten to third grade, and were super cute. We had a great time making birdhouses, mugs, fishy shakers and masks.

An unexpected plus to the week was spending time with my friend Virginia McKinney. She's an amazing sculptor who works with clay and metal. She had the foresight to have her daughter Loo (we became instant friends!) come teach another class during the same time so we could all hang out together. I'm not sure why we're all smiling so much here, I was about to leave! It was a great time.

Iredell delivery

After the demo at the Mint, Brian and I headed up to Statesville to deliver work for my upcoming show at Iredell County Museum. I'll have a large variety of work at the show, including these pieces which are from a new series I'm working on. These are medium-sized serving trays that have images of some of my favorite industrial areas of Charlotte.

Demo at the Mint II

Thanks to all who came out to see my demonstration at the Mint Museum of Craft and Design today. The weather was great on the rooftop, and the crowd was quite friendly- there was a group of women who had come up from Mississippi for the demo and for the big pottery sale that the Mint Museum puts on every year, which is tomorrow. It was really fun to share some of my methods in this way!

Demo at the Mint

Tomorrow (Friday, September 7th) I'll be demonstrating making some of my forms in clay tomorrow at the Mint Museum of Crafts in downtown Charlotte on Tryon St. It will take place on the rooftop, which I hear is really nice, during lunchtime from 11:30-1:00. So if you find yourself in downtown Charlotte wanting some entertainment while eating, make your way over to the museum and say hello.

New teapots

These are a few new teapot forms I'm working on for my upcoming show at Iredell County Museum. They're not glazed yet in this picture, but I'll be able to unload them out of the kiln this evening. Hopefully they turned out nicely.

Yardwork

Yesterday my husband Brian and I worked on a stone path in our front yard- connecting our sidewalk to the deck. It was a bit harder than I had imagined it would be. Making all of the stones fit together nicely was a challenge, not to mention that they were heavy! My legs are awfully sore today. It turned out looking nice- completed in time for the Circle of Eight fall sale coming up on September 15th that we host at our house. Nothing like company to motivate us to finish a project!

Procrastinate with purpose

That's actually how this site came about. I was procrastinating working on an artist statement for my upcoming show, and instead I ended up with a blog. At least I got something done. There needs to be a t-shirt with that on it!

Iredell County Museum Show

I'll be having my first ever solo show, entitled "In Its Right Place," next month at Iredell County Museum in Statesville, NC. The opening will be from 5:00-8:00 on Friday, September 14th.
I'm really excited to have the opportunity to show a large amount of work in one place, as well as feature a couple of new series that were inspired by my recent class at Penland. The pieces will be shown in groupings, reflecting the importance of community in my life.