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!