Goodbye Penland

Well, it finally happened.  Two months flew by in a whirlwind of clay activity.  This is the last sunrise I saw on Saturday morning from my bedroom window in the Craft House at Penland School of Crafts.  On Sunday I woke up at 2:30 am and was in the car by 3:30 headed for the Asheville airport.  I left with many mixed emotions.  There was sadness to be leaving such a beautiful place where I had many wonderful experiences and met tons of great people.  But there was also relief.  Being away from home for two months is quite an experience and I was feeling ready to get back.  Of course now that I am home, I miss Penland!

I wasn't quite ready for the flat landscape of home.  It seemed rather foreign after all the verdant rolling hills of North Carolina.  It is also drier than I remember and I think we are in for an early, hot, long summer.  After traveling all day yesterday I felt pretty cramped up and sore.  This first morning home I decided I should go for a hike in the park where there are actually some hills to keep my muscles active on and work out some kinks.

And here are some of the last photos I took of work I made with Helios porcelain.  Right after this pic they were bubble wrapped and packed for shipping.  I shipped home nine boxes of work and could have shipped home twelve if I hadn't run out of time.  I did all the packing on the last Friday and most of the work had just come out of the kilns a day or two before.  I did pack some stuff in my backpack and carry-on and dragged them through the airport and on and off the planes with no breakage, yay!

I had a lot of fun with these.  I was working on refining this tumbler form and incorporated three different techniques for the surface decoration.  I have silk screened slip transfers, ez-screen print transfers (which are essentially unmounted silkscreens with wider mesh) and sgraffito.  The botanical imagery was created from my own drawings and the water tower image is from a photo that I took here in Chico of one of the downtown water towers.  These are probably my favorite pieces from the concentration and I am looking forward to exploring this some more now that I am home.

I really enjoy the simplicity of these bowls.  I didn't have time to do anything decorative before they went into the bisque.  Then when they came out we were all in a rush to get everything glazed and into the final firings.  I quickly drew some lines and circles with black underglaze in a slip trailer and filled them in with tinted glazes.  Then I waxed them out and dipped into a fantastic clear glaze.  Viola, I love how they came out!

I wish I had more time to test glazes while I was there.  I am a total glazeaholic!  These dots were created by layering Steven Hill's cone 6 Strontium Crystal Magic (from the March 2012 Issue of Ceramics Monthly) with a copper tinted transparent glaze.  From tests that I had done, I figured the combo would run a bit and pull some of the black underglaze and it did not disappoint. 

It is only 9pm, but my body thinks it is midnight so I will get some shut eye soon.  Sleep well everyone:)

Dreams Realized!

In the last couple of years, but in the last 5 days specifically, I have learned that if you want something bad enough, work really hard and put yourself out there that mere dreams can be turned into reality.  Before I turned in for bed last night I checked out my Kickstarter project, "Fly Me to Penland," and found out that I had reached my funding goal!  I set the deadline for March 3rd but I reached my goal just five days after launching my project!  The outpouring of love and support from friends, family, acquaintances and total strangers (who I hope will soon be friends) has been tremendous.  I now have everything I need to get out to Penland and buy my clay and pay for firing.

I am still accepting and encouraging support for the project which will continue to accept funds until the deadline of March 3rd.  I figure while I am there it would be a great opportunity to drive around to surrounding communities such as Asheville, Bakersville, Seacreast, Raleigh, and more to do research one the rich ceramic history of the area and to visit the studios of potters and ceramic artists.  Extra funding will also allow me to pay for shipping to send my work out to galleries and and for those pieces that I would like ship home.  I've tried packing it in my luggage before and believe me it doesn't work so well and there is never enough room!

I got some clay work done last night.  I threw some porcelain tea bowls that I will do shellac resist and water erosion techniques on.  I had quite a few pledges that offered these tea bowls as a reward so I figured I had better make some more.  I also got into some Great White, cone 5-6, from IMCO but it was way to soft.  I managed to get a prototype square bowl done and a little lidded jar but I have to let the clay sit out and dry for awhile before I can really get anything done with it.

Happy hump day y'all!

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 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

Spiritual Renewal and Banana Bread Recipe

With all the storms renewing the planet with water we decided to take the small break between storms to head to the Sacramento for our own spiritual renewal and to drink from some refreshing living water. This is the Sacramento Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and is located in Rancho Cordova. It was cold and gray outside but warm and peaceful inside. We were there for about two hours but I wished I could stay there all day. It was good to have the opportunity to have a break from the outside world for a little while and take some needed time to ponder and meditate on the changes in store for us. It was a little hard making the two hour drive down and back and having to come back to the real world. I must be tired because I overcooked my flan.

Speaking of baking, here is the recipe for the bread I made during the power outage. This is from an old book I think my mom got in Home Economics in Junior High. It's called, Let's Cook with Gail and was published in 1961.

Banana (Nut) Bread

1/2 cup shortening (my mother and I have always used butter, yum!)
t teaspoon lemon juice
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 bananas, mashed (use very ripe, they mash easier and have more flavor for the bread)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt (you can omit this if using salted butter or margarine)
1 1/2 tablespoons sour milk or buttermilk (we never seemed to have this on hand and would put some lemon juice in the milk)
1 cup chopped nuts (we used to use walnuts until I started getting canker sores from them)

Start the oven at 350 degrees
Grease a loaf pan, 9 by 5 by 3 inches
Cream the shortening, lemon juice and sugar together in a large bowl until fluffy, and very well mixed. Beat the eggs in a small bowl, and add to the creamed mixture. Mix well. Mash the bananas with a fork, in the same bowl you used to beat the eggs (this cuts down on dishes but I always find it easier to mash the bananas on a plate).
Sift the flour, soda, baking soda, baking powder and salt together, and add half to the first mixture. Stir to mix well. Add the sour milk, and mix. Then add th3e rest of the flour, and mix well, but do not over beat. Add the nutmeats and stir.
Pour into greased loaf pan and bake about 1 hour in 350 degree oven.
Cool about 15 minutes, then remove from pan to cool on rack (run a knife around the inside edge of the pan to loosen if you have any trouble getting the bread out).
Slice thinly with a sharp knife.
This bread is easier to slice when completely cool (if you can wait), and tastes even better the second day after baking (if there is any left).

We like to eat this bread a couple of different ways: hot out of the oven with butter or a scoop of french vanilla or vanilla bean ice cream or toasted with butter or cream cheese. I can't believe we ate all the other banana bread. My mouth is watering now, the flan is hot and can't be eaten until tomorrow and there are not other baked goodies to eat. Besides, I'm ready for a good night's rest soon.