Dedication

A couple of Saturdays ago Guthrie and I attended the dedication of this sculpture on the bridge along Central Ave. over Briar Creek in Charlotte. It's a beautiful metal structure that is inspired by the greenery and water of the creek and was designed with the help of the neighborhood's residents. This work marks the beginning of an area on which the Arts and Science Council here in Charlotte is going to focus new public art in an effort to elevate the area's image.


Artist Jim Gallucci addressing the crowd about his sculpture:

Appreciative residents listen to Jim and others speak about the artwork.
Very soon Ron and I will begin work on the trash receptacle tile project that will be completed this spring. I'm really excited to be a part of a project that will bring color and beauty to an area that is in need of such. Here's a reminder of the final prototype:

Tidbits

I've been able to get in the studio in small bits of time in the past couple of weeks- ususally in short stints of 1 to 2 hours at a time. The Circle of Eight has our fall sale here in four weeks, so I'm really trying to get enough work done to have decent representation at that show. It's funny, though, rather than making many of the forms of which I'm very familiar, I'm finding myself wanting to try to make new pieces (and doing just that). It's not that this is a completely bad idea, but I'm definitely not at my most efficient self while experimenting, and not sure if this is the best time.
Here are a few new smaller pitchers I was working on. Looking at this photo, the 2nd and fourth seem the most successful. That handle on the 3rd pitcher- ugh, gotta go (it's probably too late to add a new one, I think they're dry by now).

Here are a few new simple vase forms and some wide bowls. Once again, I'm still working on resolving these and have several more of the bowls under plastic, ready to decorate.

These are some funky vase forms half done. I need to do some sketching to figure out what I'm going to do with the top. It may end up completely closed with small holes or have an additional top. Who knows? I'll try to remember to post a picture of these when finished.

Slowly getting back

Last Saturday I had a little chunk of time in the studio (about and hour and a half) to try to get into the swing of things. It felt good to get back in there, but I didn't spend a whole lot of time creating yet. Mostly, the studio got tidied up and I killed (ok, admittedly I trapped and Brian killed) the biggest cockroach I've ever seen. I did get a couple of serving bowls started and hope to finish them today. The hardest part for me right now is not getting ahead of myself- meaning, I don't want to get over-motivated and start all sorts of pieces, only to have them dry too quickly because I can't get in there as often and as long as before.

We're having our 3rd annual Circle of Eight fall sale here in September, so that'll give me a deadline toward which to work. Yesterday Ron and I worked on the postcard and press release for the sale. It was good to work together to come up with what hopefully turned out to be a good design. The group is really trying to step up our exposure this time around, which is why we decided to do a press release. Maybe we'll get a little mention in a couple of publications around town.

Refire blues

These were a set of bowls that I had made just before taking a break from the studio to take care of Guthrie. They had a little bit of crawling in the glaze, so I thought I'd just stick them back in the kiln this week when I fired the little birdhouses we had made. Well, evidently the bowl didn't feel like being that hot again and protested by cracking, bloating and pinholing! Sheesh. If I had known that beforehand, I would've just left the little crawl spots and used it in my own kitchen.

I certainly need to figure out what's going on with this- I've refired some of these pieces in the past without problem, but on a few occasions this has happened. A normal firing schedule and temperature was used and the crack was on a side that was not near the elements.

Aesthetic experience

I can't remember where I heard this (whether it was at a workshop or I read it somewhere, whatever), but someone described a sketchbook/journaling exercise their teacher had them try to churn up some creativity. He had asked his students to try to recall their very first "aesthetic experience." One person remembered his first experience to be white sheets blowing slowly on a laundry line in the wind. When I heard this, it sparked memories of a very similar vision from my childhood.

Ron recently had a posting about seeing and having visual experiences all day long. I feel like their are definitely times when I do have my blinders on, and then others when I seem to have really strong glasses. A couple days ago Brian, Guthrie and I made the drive from our hometown of New Richmond, OH to Charlotte. Every time we make this drive I marvel at the views: corn, tobacco, and soybean fields in OH; the rolling hills, fences and green meadows of KY; and the green mountainscapes of WV and VA. While much of the ceramic work I make is influenced by textiles, patterns, sewing and quilting, I can't help but recognize that these landscapes greatly impact my finished products.

Well, my most recent aesthetic experience occurred this morning as I was hanging out some laundry (such a domestic diva I am!). While a row of diapers hanging limply on a windless morning doesn't quite seem as, let's say- romantic, as white sheets blowing gently in an afternoon breeze, I still can appreciate the vision: the repetition of the white blocks of cloth, the patterns in the little wrinkles. Not to mention the cute little behind they were recently covering!

Return to the studio with a few friends...

After a week-long trip home to Cincinnati last week, we have family in town visiting- two of my sisters April and Leslie, my grandma Martha, and niece Addie.

We decided to have a clay day in the studio and invited over our little friend Aidyn. What a great way to spend a couple of hours in the studio for the first time since Guthrie has come along. We made some bird houses and our little ladies had a great time. They were very focused- I think there may be some budding potters in our midst!

Guthrie has a new home

No, we haven't kicked him out for waking us up or anything....I just decided that Guthrie needed his very own place to himself. So, for those of you who want to indulge a smitten mama, you can check out www.sweetguthrie.blogspot.com

Otherwise, this site is gonna be back devoted mostly to pottery news- when it picks back up again.

Handmade for Guthrie's room #3

Things have been going well in the Sanders' household, and we've been so blessed with the generosity of our friends and family during this time of newness with our little Guthrie. We've had lots of visitors; gifts of food, time, goodies for Guthrie, and more beautiful artwork to adorn his room. I'll tell ya what, this guy has some of the best artwork in the house in his room.

I've posted before about some of the great gifts and purchases of handmade works in Guthrie's room. If you would like to see prior postings with more handmade goodies for Guthrie's room, you can find them here or here.

Here are a couple more great gifts we've received:
A hand-woven basket by artist (and ceramic student of mine) Bev Nagy. She's currently an affiliate artist at McColl Center of Visual Art and is currently working on some sculptural woven pieces.

This is a beautiful drawing of an eastern screech owl (aptly identified by my bird-loving brother-in-law Tom) by another ceramic student of mine, Betsy Birkner. As if one couldn't tell by her amazing detail, she used to be a scientific illustrator.
And, finally, an absolutely incredible painting by my good friend and favorite painter, Duy Huynh. He so thoughtfully painted this specifically for Guthrie and told me that the colors and patterns were inspired by my pottery, which makes this piece so special to us.

And it looks totally stunning on the orange wall!

Oh, it's so hard to be Guthrie

After a hard day's work of eating, pooping, sleeping and entertaining all, Mr. Guthrie often zonks out hardcore. 

Fully limp body, especially arms, is a requirement.

Ha!

So, before little Guthrie came, I had a foolish idea in my head that even though I wasn't going to be spending time in the studio for a while, there would be sketches or at least something to share on my blog that was pottery related. This was Guthrie's response to that thought: Ha! We've been enjoying short visits from friends and extended visits from family over the past couple of weeks and can't believe that Guthrie is almost 2 weeks old already! He's really incredible and is so much fun to be around. So, so what if there's nothing remotely "productive" happening around here as far as clay goes, we're hanging out with our little guy!