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!

I absolutely adore Ryan McKerley's work so I was delighted when our Penland class took a field trip to Crimson Laurel Gallery in Bakersville and realized the he had a show up.  I snagged this tumbler which has a slight pink blushing on the inside.  Perhaps this could be considered a flaw as none of the other work showed any flashing but I wanted it because this made it doubly unique.  What really caught my eye, however,  was the richness of the carving techniques, variety of shapes, and the composition of the organic forms contrasted with geometric elements which flow so beautifully across the surface. The attention to detail is impeccable and the piece has a well balanced feel in the hand. I also must say that John Lara and David Trophia are wonderful hosts at the gallery and I look forward to visiting more in the future.

So here I am today enjoy lunch in my bowl and a cool beverage in Ryan's tumbler which just arrived in the mail.  I was a tad bit worried that it wouldn't get here.  I shipped out nine boxes and only eight arrived yesterday.  I was biting my nails until today's box arrived with my treasures which also included a beautiful Erin Paradis bowl.

Today I am going to try to stay off the computer.  I have been slipping into old habits the last couple of days and it is too gorgeous outside that I need to enjoy it.  Besides I have errands to run and I am ready to get my fingers in some clay after my wee break.  I have so many inspirations and ideas in my head I must strike while the iron is hot!

Penland Day One

When I left home, spring was well underway.  It was in the low seventies and the daffodils were already starting to droop.  I got up to Penland today and was pleased to find that I get a spring do over.  The daffodils are still coming up and there are bulbs of various kinds sprouting through the soil everywhere.

I had to get down on my hands and knees to put my nose in this beauty and it smelled heavenly.

Here is the view from my bedroom window.  I was quite pleased that I was assigned a bedroom all to myself! This is an itty bitty room but has lots of storage.  Of course I plan to spend most of my time in the clay studio.  This room feels very homey.  It reminds me of my grandma's bedroom with rustic wood paneling.  Now I just have to resist jumping up and down on the bed like I did at Mimi's when no one was watching.  

A cozy corner in the Craft House by the pay phone.  I love how the late afternoon sun is streaming in!

The Penland campus is full of all kinds of artsy tidbits like this "Wishing Well" in an old tree stump.  Inspiration is everywhere!

Can you tell how I spent my afternoon?  Yes, one of my other passions it photography!  Tomorrow will be a full work day cleaning and prepping the studio.  I better turn in early tonight:)

The Bird Has Landed!

Long time no bloggy!  Life has been crazy, as usual, for the last couple of weeks in preparation for my trip to Penland School of Crafts.  So much so that it seemed hard to bring my mental capacity around to blogging.  But now I am finally in Asheville, again at the lovely Sweet Peas Hostel.  But little did I know that it was spring break here!  There is lots of youthful energy around which I actually kind of like.  It keeps me young, ya know?  I did manage to forget the power cord to my laptop so my posts may be a bit sporadic until it gets mailed out.  For now here are a couple of images of the teapots that I was working on.  The came out of the kiln shortly before I left.

I'm off now to get some grub and start my adventuring around the city and surrounding communities to explore lots of great pottery and art.  Yippie!

Cups of Fire 2012

Here is my Orange and Yellow Mod Tumbler front and center at the Clay Gallery in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  I won an honorable mention award in the Cups of Fire National Ceramic Cup Competition 2012.  Yippie, I am super excited!  Take a look on their Facebook page to see more images and a photos of all the winners.

Other news.  My Kickstarter project, "Fly Me to Penland," has astounded me already with the support I am getting.  I feel so loved!  Thank you everyone who has contributed so far.  Head on over to the project and take a look at all the great rewards I have set up.  Have a great weekend!

Kickstarter Launch at Last!

Well everyone, I finally did it!  I got my video done and I officially launched my Kickstarter project, "Fly Me to Penland."   I can't say enough good things about Kickstarter.  This is such an incredible platform for all creative people to get their projects started by attracting funding through a rewards based program.  If you haven't been following my blog I was recently awarded an assistantship to work with ceramic artist, Kathy King, out at Penland School of Crafts.  I will be there for eight weeks and I am so excited I can hardly contain myself!

My project went live on the internet at about 9:30 pm.  Between now and Friday, March 3rd I will be working hard to raise $1150.  Kickstarter is unique in that is an all or nothing program.  So if I am even one dollar short of that goal I won't get a dime!  Yikes, and super yikes!  The great thing is that if I go over my pledge amount that is perfectly acceptable.

So I need your help to pass the word along to as many people as possible.  Thanks in advance for any way you are able to help out!

Kickstarter Preview

Well, I've finally come out of my doldrums.  Yay!  I am almost finished with the planning stages of my Kickstarter project, "Fly Me to Penland."  What's awesome about getting this setup is they give you a link to the preview so that you can share it and get feedback before the official launch.  I don't have the video up yet but I will be recording it tomorrow (oops, I guess that's today already.)  I am going to try to have it loaded up by the ended of the day.  So please go take a look, if you would be so kind, and let me know what you think.  Now that my fingers are frozen and I can barely type, I guess I better get some shut eye.  I don't need any bags under my eyes, that's for sure!

Kickstarter Fundraiser "Fly Me to Penland"

Some of you already know that I will be going to Penland School of Crafts in March for eight weeks to work and study with ceramic artist, Kathy King. The class is titled "Looking Over Your Shoulder" and will include lessons in ceramic history, various surface decoration techniques and firing at cone 6 in oxidation and soda firings.  I can't wait for the soda firings!  I feel very blessed to be able to go to this class.  I had no way to afford the class, even with a work-study scholarship so I applied for the studio assistantship position.  And lo and behold, I GOT it!  My end of the bargain is working for 24-40 hours a week in exchange for my tuition, room and board.

The only thing my award does not cover is my travel expenses, materials costs and firing fees.  I also expect I will want to ship home some of the work I make while I am there.  In order to get the funds together I am starting a Kickstarter fundraising campaign.  Kickstarter is the most amazing program to raise funds for all manner of creative projects for artists, designers, dancers, musicians, and more.  The way kickstarter works is that participants offer rewards in exchange for the funds being donated.  These could be copies of work, limited editions, fun experiences, etc.  Tonight, a couple of minutes ago actually, I submitted my initial proposal for my project.  As soon as it is approved I will launch it and let everyone know.  I've got some wonderful rewards that I am thinking about offering so keep on the look out and start thinking about whether you and your friends would be interested in supporting my project.  Have a great weekend and stay warm and dry where here in Northern California we are finally getting rain but we are getting it all at once!

The road leading up to the main campus.

Almost there!

Yes, it really is this gorgeous here!  This is a view of the clay studio and kiln yard (middle buildings) and printmaking( in the back on the left.)  The great thing about being here is the inspiration from the surrounding landscape and the other studios where we are encouraged to do some cross disciplinary investigations and collaborate with other artists.  There are studios for glass, blacksmithing, metals and jewelry, textiles, clay, sculpture, woodworking, letterpress, and photography.  Let's see, did I forget anything?  It is just amazing and like no where else on earth!

Hope you can help out:)

-Love

Penland and Christmas and All That

I surprised my mom today with this fun hand built, textured, oval vase.  Surprising her with potter is pretty hard, she can sniff it out like a bloodhound.  Luckily, this was cooling in a kiln and just came out Friday morning and got wrapped up in box before none were the wiser.  Phew.  She was delighted as she hardly ever sees anything from me not built on the wheel.  I really had fun with this little experiment and want to work on some more.

I blame my absence from my blog to continued work on my grad school applications.  I have most of the apps submitted and some of the portfolio's done.  I should bite the bullet and submit the portfolios but I still have time to get a few more good pieces through the kiln.  If not, I have the images ordered and ready to upload and burn to disk.  I will breathe a deep sigh of relief when they are all done and then comes the waiting part.  Ugh!

Luckily I will be too busy working to worry.  I just found out that I have been awarded a studio assistantship at Penland School of Crafts.  This it for their spring eight week concentration with artist, Kathy King.  I was so excited when I found out that it took a couple of days to get down out of the clouds.  I really can't wait to go back to North Carolina.  I had such a wonderful time last June.

Here is another fun piece I gave my mom.  She saw me making it and just had to have it.  But I kept it over at the studio for the last month so it hasn't been on her mind.

About a week ago I was able to get these three mugs into a cone ten gas reduction firing and I am in love with them.  The one in the middle is my favorite.  I dipped the shino and next time I will try spraying for more control.  I want to get more of the orange color so I need to get the glaze on thinner.  I have some more of these mugs all ready to go plus some other forms to apply the paper resist and underglaze to.  Can't wait to see how they turn out.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Terracotta Throwdown with Ronan Peterson

Mark Errol and Ronan Peterson deep in conversation during show and tell.

I was going to wait until tomorrow to make another post but I got sucked into the computer and spent most of the afternoon uploading photos.  Here is some of my work from Ronan Peterson's workshop at Penland School of Crafts.

 

 

I can't wait to get back into the studio and play around with some new ideas I came up with during this awesome workshop.  Thanks Ronan, Teresa and Mark!

Asheville, North Carolina

I made it to Asheville today even with the thunderstorms in Chicago which delayed my flight out of Sacramento.  I got a little carried away with my carry on so they made me check it in Sac. With the back up of flights at O'hare my luggage and I did not arrive at the same time. So now I wait.  At least I had the essential toiletries and stuff like that.  And the local Target provided a fresh shirt and cooler pants.  I mistakenly wore a pair of super comfortable fleece pants.  Big mistake, way to hot!  Well, I'm learning.  A seasoned traveler I have not yet become but I plan on changing all that so I'm taking copious notes.

My first order of business was to check in to the Sweet Peas Hostel which I would recommend to anyone.  At $26 a night for a bunk it is a steal.  And it is smack dab in the middle of the downtown club and gallery scene.  The sounds of the music playing from the club next door gently migrate through the brick walls and lends a wonderful ambiance.  The place is spotlessly clean, simple and has a great kitchen.

My second, and more important order of business was a block and a half stroll to the immensely popular French Broad Chocolate Lounge.  The place was hopping about 9pm with live music and I had to wait in line to get chance to plunge into the decadent Quintessential Chocolate Cake.  It was a thick slice of moist cake layered with chocolate cream and frosted with rich chocolate ganache.  Of course I had to order a small cup of local, organic milk, whole fat of course, because that is all that was offered.  Let me tell you, I went into a coma after that and ruined the delicious, light, healthy dinner I had just eaten.

Tomorrow I am off adventuring with camera in hand.  I plan to see some galleries, drive the Blue Ridge Parkway and go check out Highwater Clays and Odyssey Center for Ceramic Arts.

Of course, tomorrow I need to go back to get the proper chocolate, either a signature truffle with flavors like white jasmin, masala chai, indian kulfi, and canela picante which has cinnamon, dark chocolate and cayenne.
  Umm, somehow I don't think that coming to Asheville is the best place to start a diet.  People here are chocolate connoisseurs and there are other chocolate cafes.  Yikes!

My body is still on California time but here it is 1:45 am so I had better get to bed.