Big Update and Instagram Link

Hey Folks!  Life has been crazy or something like that.  I recently got an iPhone.  Yay me!  So now I am having fun taking quick pics and I am finding that I am sending updates frequently to facebook and forgetting all about my little 'ol blog.  Sorry about that.  At any rate, I have added an Instagram link to the right there at the top so that you can so what I am up to on a more regular basis. And with that, here are some photos of what I have been up to in the last month.

I went to NCECA in Houston Texas.  

At the La Mesa Exhibit

My toes in the Gulf of Mexico

Seashells from Galveston to be used in the wood fire at Penland

Galveston, TX

Firing the soda kiln

Unloading

Yee Haw!

So excited about this most recent firing.

Making pumpkin pancakes.

Now I am making more soda work.  I will probably only have time for one more soda firing before the semester is over.  Plus, I will be making work for the wood fire at Penland where I will be from the end of May until the end of June.  Besides all that, I will be packing for my cross country relocation for Grad school.  No rest in sight!

Celebrate Good Times!

I will preface this post by saying that I am a real person and I have lots of challenges.  Next Monday I need to go to Sacramento for a mediation conference with lawyers and claims adjusters and I am not looking forward to it.  It has the makings for an extremely stressful time.  That being said, I really do choose to try to focus on the positives. It is what keeps me going when the going gets tough.  I do a lot of deep breathing and affirmation exercises and then I rely on my friends to vent when I need to.  Dark chocolate really, really, I mean REALLY, helps too.

So now for the good stuff.  Drum roll, please.  This is the post about good and gooder, best and better, great and stupendous.  I got my last two grad school applications out in the mail today!  Yippie!  Happy dance!  Gonna have a party!

This tumbler made it into the Cups of Fire 2012 National Ceramics Competition, juried by ceramic artist, Susan Beiner.  She is a professor at Arizona State University and I absolutely love her work.  I got to see it in person at NCECA in Saint Petersburg, Florida last spring.  It is even more delicious than in pictures.  This exhibition is hosted by the Clay Gallery in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  They posted the juror's comments on their website which was really nice and I was delighted to read what she had to say about the work.  If you go to the home page of the website you can find a link to the gallery's Facebook page where they have posted images of the work that was accepted.  I am in some pretty good company in this show with the likes of Jim Connell, Justin Rothshank, Monica Ripley and tons more.

But wait...there's more!  The team at Kickstarter got back to me today to say that they had taken another look at my proposal.  They apologized for making a hasty previous decision and gave me an awesome compliment on some of the work on my blog.  Bottom line is I AM IN! Kickstarter, YOU ROCK!  I will be recommending you to every creative person I meet.  My proposal has been accepted so now I need to get on the ball, make a video proposal and get all the reward goodies in order. Once that's done I can make the official launch of my fundraiser, "Fly Me to Penland."  Giddy with elation does not quite describe the mood I am in right now!  And a little tired from burning the midnight oil on those applications.  Gonna take a little rest and then get to work, baby!

Bedroom Floor Art Studio

This is what happens when you plan to do a little sketching while leisurely listening to Pandora.   I have started pasting images into my sketchbook from other artists to use as jumping off points for exploration of new ideas.  I have been quite interested lately in architectural structures and conglomerates.  The image from the bottom right of my sketchbook is the artist, Julia Haft-Candell. It is a detail of her piece titled, The Bike. This spring she was a project space artist at NCECA, national ceramics conference.

 The Bike by Julia Haft-Candell

Lauren Gallaspy

Lauren Gallaspy is another artist whose work I have been enjoying immensely.  I love her uninhibited use of porcelain with the drips and bridges and juxtaposition of solid and delicate elements.  On top of her forms she delicately draws figures and abstract elements in pastel hues which embody the struggle between opposites, love and hate, attraction and repulsion. 

Lauren Gallaspy