Tracey Broome Pottery

A few new photos

2012-02-10T20:24:00.000-08:00

Let the pros do it

2012-02-09T20:01:00.000-08:00

Most of you know that the photos I shoot for my blog are just down and dirty. I have a soft box that I set up next to a large window, I don't use lights unless it is absolutely necessary, and I get decent results.
I know three guys that went to college together and studied photography, so I thought I would get them to shoot some really nice photos of some of my best pieces. Jim Hines worked for years at Alderman Studios in the small products division, shot covers for Smithsonian Magazine, corporate product shots and lots of other things. Gerry swears he is the most brilliant photographer he has ever seen at lighting. Cole Martin (Corky) was Gerry's roommate in college and he is brilliant with photoshop and printing, and has the very coolest studio in downtown Greensboro, and then there is Gerry, who is just plain brilliant at everything when it comes to photography. So how could I go wrong! Jim used small mirrors to reflect light, which I would have never thought of doing, masked lights, masked his lens, moved and worked with shadows like magic and brought out so much depth in my work, the shots looked incredible.
Here is a short video I shot at Corky's studio today. Fun day! Waiting on Gerry to tone and crop and then I will post some really nice photos.

Thanks Guys!!! It was fun!

Guilty

2012-02-08T15:36:00.000-08:00

My friend Laura emailed this to me the other day. You may have seen it, but I haven't until now.

I can check off quite a few of these. I think I'll try and change some of that!!

House+Bottle=Vase

2012-02-07T17:05:00.000-08:00

Thanks everyone for your comments on my last post. Lots of good ideas for vases. Today bottles and vases seemed to be on the minds of several bloggers. I tried out several ideas for incorporating a vase with my house shapes. I didn't want to do the hole in the roof or the flower brick look, there are several people doing similar things and I don't want to tread too close to what someone is already doing.I also tried just leaving the roof off, but it looked too incomplete. I wanted something that spoke to what I am doing with my house shapes without being contrived or cute. I have these really great glass bottles, and at first I thought about gluing them on, and then decided to just make them a part of the house with clay. Dennis sparked this idea with his comment about a chimney. I liked that idea and still might try something like that, but the long skinny bottle shape sort of looks like the side of a chimney and I like incorporating this shape. I have a collection of glass bottles and I am always drawn to them, so they seem to fit with what I have going on in my head. A nice little vase for wildflowers to dry in..... or feathers..... or sticks..... lots to explore with this.

there was a magical sunset behind my studio this evening, good day, lots of new ideas!

V is for Vase

2012-02-07T08:06:00.000-08:00

The Bascom in Highlands NC has invited me to be a part of a show in July called V is for Vase. I'm not exactly known for my vases, so I'm not really sure how I got invited, but I said yes. So now I begin trying to figure out what I will make that will look like it has my identity, and not just a duplicate of some other potter that makes beautiful thrown vases. For some of those, including some of our blogger friends check out the online show Bulldog Pottery posted about yesterday, there are some really great vases, nothing like what I can or want to make myself.
I do like this Otto Netzler vase. I love his work, this is more my style. I just don't have the interest needed for wedging a big amount of clay, throwing more than five or six lbs. and/or adding to that. Not to mention trying to figure out a glaze that will work for me, unless maybe I raku fire one. When I do make vases, I take them to the NC Crafts gallery, and they sell pretty quickly, I'm just not into making them all that much. Coils and slabs and sculptural glazes are more my style, so we shall see what I come up with.

*as soon as I posted this I clicked back to my home page and saw that Meesh's Pottery also has a vase post, 'tis the season for vases I guess. Check out her post too, she has a great vase in the vasefinder show, as well as other bloggers, Hannah McAndrew, Ronan Peterson and the Bulldog Pottery folks, Bruce and Samantha, and lots of other great potters

Monday's child is fair of face.....

2012-02-06T13:32:00.000-08:00

I found her this weekend, so sweet and tiny. She has a Japan stamp on her back and she is adorable. Her house will be ready for her next week to move into.

weekend textures

2012-02-04T19:05:00.000-08:00

I took the house with the door knob to it's new home today, thanks to my wonderful new collectors, Larry and Sandy, for giving it a beautiful new place!! Lucky for me they live close to the NC Art Museum so I spent a rainy afternoon walking around enjoying the museum, then went over to the Raleigh flea market and found a new little china girl..... treasures everywhere!

Homes for the Headless

2012-02-03T16:18:00.000-08:00

walking on the stones

the gray light was everything

my home, Jericho

Happy Weekend!

2012-02-02T20:27:00.001-08:00

http://ignitelight.tumblr.com/

Jesus and stuff

2012-02-02T07:11:00.000-08:00

This week I have felt like I am suffocating. I think it all started with the comment from a blogger about the vulture parts (which I appreciated by the way) and then Mr. politically correct commenting on my choice of words(which I didn't especially care for) and then this week I had four emails from people saying they were inspired by my houses and they are making houses too, and there were lots of questions about my process. One lady even said she would send me photos of her "Tracey Broome houses". You have all left lots of great comments and I haven't had time to reply to each one the way I like to, but I thank you for them. I have gotten emails about shows that I am invited to be in and several emails from people wanting to buy houses that I don't have any more of and I have a couple of deadlines that are getting closer and closer.... and the walls are closing in on me! All of this has pretty much come from having a blog, which is fine, I just need a little air. So, yesterday, instead of working like I should have done, I went for a ride, a long one. I stopped at one of my favorite antique shopping places and found this Jesus. Well, that just made everything alright,
(now that song, Jesus is just alright with me is playing in my head, haha!) I like religious art, when I go the the NC museum the first stop for me is always the religious icon section, they have some really nice pieces. Wesley has a painting of the Last Supper over her bed in her room. I know this seems weird, you would have to know her, but it's sort of cool. This painting hung in our dining room when I was growing up and my chair faced it, so every night at dinner, this was my view. I'm not a super religious person, but I like Jesus :)

Just for balance, along with this painting, Wes has a Jeff Martin piece, which we gave her for her birthday a couple of years ago and tiles from her two artist friends, Susan Wells and Laura Farrow, and a dream catcher her uncle gave her. So there is some Native American, some hindu and some peace and love to go along with DaVinci :)

After my long drive, I stopped at the gallery in Saxapahaw to drop off a few pieces. I don't have a lot, it's a bit early in the year and my inventory was depleted during the holiday shows, but I do have about eight to ten pieces there. The gallery has gotten in a lot of really nice work so come on over Friday night for the reception if you are around, I'm hoping to get there early and not stay too late. Feeling much better this morning, the walls seem less claustrophobic, time to get to work and get some houses out into the world for all to enjoy. Jesus will be going on one of them!
peace ya'll

Saxapahaw Artists Gallery

2012-02-01T06:46:00.000-08:00

Opening this Friday Saxapahaw Artists Gallery

As fast as I can make them.....

2012-01-31T06:43:00.000-08:00

This piece came out of the kiln Sunday, I finished it up yesterday and before the epoxy was dry, it had a new home. A very lovely couple in Raleigh saw this doorknob in my studio during the tour and wanted a piece made with it. They didn't care when I got it made, they just said they would take it. So I sent them photos yesterday and they said yes. That was fun! They bought one of my green barns and I think this will look perfect with it. It will be in such a happy home. I love the people that buy my work!
All of the other pieces that came out are tagged for galleries, so there goes any inventory I might have. I just can't keep any of these houses in my studio. I suppose I could have worse problems, but keeping up with supply and demand is a chore.
This doorknob was a great find, I'll be sad to see it go. It's been in my studio for awhile waiting on the right thing. It's all good though!

Mystery solved.... maybe.....

2012-01-30T05:55:00.000-08:00

Thanks everyone for your comments on the last post. I spent a couple of hours with my clay books and my laptop and I think I have come up with an answer for the pieces that decided to pull themselves apart. As I said, they seem to be pulling apart at the seams, and it has been very random. All of the pieces were constructed the same way, I have ruled out the score and slip issue, I do that correctly, it was not moisture, everything is dried slowly and is bone dry when it goes in the kiln and I candle for a long time.

All of these made it :)

However, here is what I discovered:

Damp clay is made up of fine platelets which ride within a thin cushion of water. When a slab is rolled out, the pressure thins out the clay and also moves the platelets so that they are aligned with the direction of the force. In essence, the clay takes on a grain, much like the grain in a piece of wood. Unless modified, the platelets will remain aligned in that grain throughout drying and firing.

This is where problems can develop. Grain in a slab will affect the clay's shrinkage. The slab will shrink more along the width, across the grain, than it will along its length, or with the grain. If pieces are assembled so that the grains aren't aligned in the same direction, the pot can literally pull itself apart during drying and firing. (I don't know what this gray shadow is, I cut and pasted this from the article, must have picked up a ghost!?)

these pulled apart... I loved these :(

I have been so puzzled by the randomness of this, but the article I found makes sense of this. The little houses that made it were all cut from the same slab in the same direction. The larger pieces that didn't make it got cut from different slabs and probably in different directions, against the grain.

This didn't happen to me before I got my slab roller because I threw all of my slabs and changed directions to get the thickness even. Since I got a slab roller I have been lazy, just rolling out the slabs and cutting out my parts. Somewhere in the back of my mind I am remembering a class I took years ago and the mention of rotating your slabs when rolling or throwing them came back to me. Ah ha! I am pretty sure this is the problem, so next round of slabs, I rotate them when rolling them out and we shall see if this solves the mystery.

Something to smile about

2012-01-29T13:38:00.000-08:00

There was lots of cursing and throwing things this morning when I unloaded my kiln.
Three of the pieces that were new forms for me and pieces that I wanted to use some of the doll parts with, committed suicide. They just blew themselves apart, every seam, the roofs, the shelves.... in bits and shards all over my kiln shelves. I came in and had a pity party, decided I didn't want to make these damn things any longer. I lost five of the fifteen houses I made this month. That's a lot when three of the five were the best of the bunch for me and I have five galleries waiting on work. I really haven't got a clue what's making this happen, except they seem to know when they are special and they don't want the pressure so they die....... sigh........
Oh well, I made a nice pot of lentil soup with andouille sausage and some cornbread, we had lunch and then I went out to stain the ones that survived the carnage. They are lovely, although few, and then I sat this little girl in her little alter space and all was right with the world..... sigh.......

Of course as soon as I started to photograph the survivors, my camera batteries died, so I only got these two snaps. More later..... things don't seem to want to cooperate with me today.... sigh.......

YUM!

2012-01-27T11:52:00.000-08:00

don't ask....... 1400 steps to get here :)
btw, I thought yesterday was Friday, now I'm taking a break haha! back next week

weekend music

2012-01-26T11:22:00.000-08:00

taking a little break for the weekend, here's a beautiful song to start it off!!

mid week.....

2012-01-25T14:02:00.000-08:00

Good day in the studio today. I woke up to several orders in my inbox, from blog readers, thank you very much! I have the sheep and stars made, I'll probably fire the kiln at the end of the week. I have about 15 houses made and several to put together tomorrow. Thank you Jesus for this warm weather!!
Does any one object to me using the word "Jesus".........

Chatham Artists Guild

2012-01-25T07:39:00.000-08:00

The Chatham Artists Guild is now accepting applications for new artists. I have once again nodded my head in the wrong direction and agreed to be on the board, so my first duty as a board member is to put the word out for interested Chatham County artists. If you know any, send them to the website

www.chathamartistsguild.org

Applications are due March 15, 2012

This beautiful piece of jewelry is by one of the members

Roberta Marasca

So proud of this kid

2012-01-24T19:10:00.000-08:00

This is Porter Robinson. I just came across this video on youtube. He was Wesley's best friend in 7th-9th grade and then he started writing electronic dance music, they sort of grew apart and now he is traveling all over the world performing at raves and music festivals. I can't believe this kid used to eat supper at my house and now just look at him! I am so proud of what he is doing with his life and he is just 19!!!!

What was I doing when I was 19? Probably worrying about getting a tan and some new shoes haha!

Follow your passion, look where it could get you!!

There it is!

2012-01-24T14:35:00.000-08:00

The sun was warm and beautiful coming in through my studio windows today, and after much tea drinking and procrastination, I got out there and made a few things.
Just to clear up one thing. This is not for those of you who know me, because you know better, but someone called me out on Gerry's expression fag off, in my recent post. Let me just make it perfectly clear that it was not intended as a derogatory comment and perhaps I should have spelled it in a more phonetic way, I didn't think anything of it at the time. When Gerry and his friends (biking/climbing buddies) use this term it is pronounced more like faucgk off, sort of saying fuck but really not, I don't know how to sound this out for you, imagine a british guy saying it, that's what they do. Anyway, I don't use this word in my language, my best friend in college was gay and died of aids, Gerry's best friend in high school was gay and died of aids, I have friends with kids who are gay, I was a designer and most of my associates were gay....it wasn't intended that way so if you were offended, my apologies, it wasn't meant to!!! I guess I should have just said piss off, to keep it simple :)

Has anyone seen the sun?

2012-01-24T05:28:00.000-08:00

It has been days and days of fog, rain and cold here. Wesley was home for a four day weekend and we were in our pajamas for most of that time. I have made nothing since she got home except some good soups and sandwiches and lots of tea and hot chocolate. We watched movies and played Skyrim until late at night, she is at level five and I am still at level one. She has slain a dragon, I have not. But I did find an abandoned house and stole some fine clothes and food! This is the most fun game I have played since Zelda!
She has gone back to school, much happier than the last visit home and I now need to get back to work. It's a very gloomy Tuesday morning and I am less than motivated to go roll out slabs that will not dry for days now.
Gmail ate a bunch of my saved emails and I don't know how to contact them to see if I can recover them. One was an email from someone in California that wanted stars and sheep and I have lost the email, didn't even think to save it to my computer, so I don't know who this person is. If you are reading my blog, perhaps you can email me again?! So sorry about this!
I have lots of ideas swarming around in my head, just need to get the hands busy, but "I ain't seen the sunshine in I don't know when", and I am inclined to sit here and watch the world go by with my cup of tea and down coverlet and go chase a dragon or two :)

Pottery doing what it's supposed to do

2012-01-22T15:12:00.000-08:00

Feeding my daughter well while she is home for a four day weekend, she's very happy and back on track YAY! Sweet potato and curry soup in one of my new Hatchville Pottery bowls, sooooo beautiful!!!
Let's see who can name the other potters at the table, Brandon, this might be tough for you, a couple of them are NC locals :)

Thanks for all of your comments on the last post and I think we all got a great laugh from Ron Philbeck, thanks Ron, but you were spot on!
I got another email from someone that is hanging in the background on the comments but I'm going to post what she said because I really like it :

“ I make clay sculptures that are interpretive representations of the surroundings and experiences of my life. These sculptures feature barns, shrines and things in between. You can see my work on my blog.”

This might just be my new artist statement!
I think between this one and what Ron said, I can handle it much better now when someone asks what I do. This has been most helpful, thanks everyone!!!!!

Sell art, buy art, but talk about it, ugh....

2012-01-21T13:09:00.000-08:00

Hollis posted these bowls on his blog last week and I started drooling. My Hatchville pottery collection is growing, but Hollis makes such useful and beautiful objects and they fit my aesthetic perfectly. So I have new bowls to find a place for in the cupboard and he added a bonus bowl in the shipment, Thanks Hollis, they are even better in person than they are in photos. Sorry I didn't shoot better pics, but it's pouring rain outside and the only place I had was the kitchen table with some light coming in.

Wesley is home this weekend and we have been curled up on the sofa all day watching Woody Allen movies. Rainy Saturday with my kid and movies, sooooo nice. I picked up Annie Hall and Manhattan at the thrift store the other day to add to Wesley's film school DVD library. A film student has to see Annie Hall!
Went over to Goldenbelt in Durham last night for the artwalk with my art pal Laura. All the artists had their studios open and there was lots of alcohol and the best kettle corn I have ever had, so all was great. Except conversation with people you are just meeting for the first time. It goes like this:
This is my friend Sue the artist
Hi how are you (shake hands)
What do you do?
I'm an artist too
oh, what do you make?
sculpture
What kind of sculpture?
Clay
what kind of clay sculpture
houses, uh, barns, uh, it's hard to explain.....
Sue: oh......

I was talking to Gerry this morning about how difficult it is for me to introduce myself as an artist and then answer the unavoidable questions about my work. I find it very difficult to talk about and explain. I can show you a photo and explain it on my blog, but face to face, forget it. I cringe every time.
I need to come up with a format for what follows when you say those dreaded words, I am an artist.
Here is what Gerry said to say:
Hi what do you do
I'm an artist
what do you make
clay sculpture, you wouldn't understand, fag off!

This made me laugh
of course I would never say that, I appreciate people's interest in art, interest in my work and I do want to talk about my work, I just need to figure out how to do it!

Divine approval?

2012-01-20T05:49:00.000-08:00

I started messing around with some of these new forms, and all of the photos I shot seemed to get a beam of light from the heavens. Is this a sign? :)
I really like this new shape, but the cross is doubtful, I can see it getting broken off very quickly. My mom will be happy though, since she drug me to church nearly every day when I was growing up!
I've been reading all of your blogs and watching as the many many pots stack up in the studios. You all put me to shame, I managed to make ten pieces this week!
Meredith at Whynot blog has a good post about production vs. studio potters. I'm neither, I'm slow poke potter, haha! I'm so afraid that if I start making multiples of these at a time, I will get bored with them, and then what will I make?

Tales from the Crypt

2012-01-19T07:04:00.000-08:00

This is a photo of Pere Lachaise in France. I want to go there one day......look at those little house forms! See where I'm going with this.....
I don't know if this is a southern thing or if everyone does this. My parents and my grandparents always loved going to cemeteries and so do I. When I was a little girl, we would go to the cemetery where my grandparents and my dad are now buried, and feed the ducks at this very beautiful pond on the grounds. We would drive up to Stokes County and visit my dad's mother's grave. My grandparents liked to take me to New Salem down near Seagrove to visit the "family" graves. We would walk around the graves and talk about those family members that were long gone. My parents would take drives on Sunday after church and sometimes we would end up at All Saints cemetery in Pawley's Island and walk around the graves dating back to the 1700's and 1800's, with the spanish moss hanging from the live oak trees and casting strange shadows on the graves. I loved to walk around in that cemetery and imagine the lives of those laying there in the ground. What must their lives have been like in South Carolina in the 1700's!
Last year when I went to Beaufort with my friend Barbara, we stayed across the street from a cemetery. I got up very early on Sunday morning and went over and walked among the dead. It was so peaceful and so beautiful there. Again, lots of spanish moss hanging in the trees, azaleas were in bloom, the graves were cracked and old with green moss growing on the stone, so amazing.
I have felt such a familiarity with the new shapes I'm working on and couldn't quite put my finger on it until I saw this photo from Pere Lachaise. Years ago, I went to New Orleans, and the only thing that has stayed in my mind are the mausoleums in the cemeteries, and the trout with pecans I had at the Commander's Palace! I think the relics I have been collecting lately are wanting to be used in some sort of shrine or alter type form and somehow these mausoleum shapes keep coming in to my head. I think this is going to work out.....During the holidays, Wesley showed me this video and it started all of this thinking about cemeteries and my work. I'm so inspired by this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpcj8MtPnMU&feature=relmfu
Well, let's see where this goes.....

Because I blog....

2012-01-17T12:45:00.000-08:00

Yes, my hair is a mess, I haven't brushed it in several days....I'm busy!

I read a blog post today about why people blog. This topic has been discussed quite a bit, I have written a few posts on the subject as well. Instead of responding to that conversation, I thought I would say

Because I blog:

I have met people like Meredith and Mark Heywood, who send me an email from time to time and say hey come for lunch. I fixed this spinach pie for breakfast/lunch today remembering the one I had a couple of weeks ago with them. The recipe is on my foods I like tab and it's at the Whynot blog. I met Meredith and many of my customers through her blog, and now she is meeting people like Dennis at Whistle Creek blog and others through my blog.

I have also been invited to stay with other bloggers when I'm in town. Dee and Hollis Engley welcomed me and my family in to their home at Hatchville Pottery, cooked an amazing dinner, introduced us to their friends and hooked us up with some wonderful roasted coffee. As I write this I hope to have a couple of those bowls Hollis posted on his blog on their way to me! Michael Kline also fed me and gave me a place to stay when I was up his way building a kiln with John Britt.

I have received gifts, even those of the anonymous sort, like the book on Japanese baskets, which is wonderful. I received these doll parts from a customer and blog reader, I have a studio sign and all sorts of interesting things from blogger Cindy Shake. Fantastic books from blogger Gay Judson, by the way, where are you these days, Gay?

Before I forget to mention it, these photos are some scenarios I'm trying out to see how I'm going to fit all of these little objects that are coming to me in to my work. What is your opinion of where this is going?

Because I blog, I met Jennifer Mecca, who was on the jury for the CDCG guild, she knew of me and my work and was able to speak to that when the time came for me to be voted in. Thanks Jen, I am now a guild member!

Also, because I blog, Lark and Key Gallery found me and has invited me to send work to them on a regular basis and I will be in a show there in June. When I know more about that show, I will do a proper blog post on it. I have also been asked to be in another show from a blogger that I don't have any details about at all right now, but I'll keep you posted as that unfolds. Another show that I am very excited about came to me by way of blogger Lori Buff. She suggested I contact Mudfire Gallery in Atlanta about a show they have coming up, and I have been invited to be in that show as well.

So, because I blog, I have friends like you all over the world, I get invited to stay on Cape Cod for free, I get gifts in the mail that surprise me and delight me, I get invited to be in wonderful shows and galleries, and I have many new customers that found me through my blog or through one of yours. If you haven't checked out the other bloggers I have on my blog roll, do so when you get a chance, there are some really great blogs out there!
By the way, for those of you that read the first draft on my last post, the vulture feathers are now back in the woods, and thanks to another blog reader for giving me the heads up on the laws regarding taking raptor parts from the woods. Yet another instance of blogger assistance. Thanks to that email, I am not in prison now with the rapists and murderers for taking feathers that were scattered around a dead vulture carcass.
Do I consider my blog to be a worthwhile endeavor? You bet your sweet ass I do!

Let's try this again

2012-01-15T19:21:00.000-08:00

I took the last post down, to avoid opening yet another can of worms I'm not interested in getting into a discussion about right now and I have unknowingly done something I didn't know I couldn't do, and I have to undo it, jesus, the world is so annoying sometimes! Anyway, enjoy the video, Sunday was a great ending to a very good first week back to work!
ps: Wesley singing, from a CD Christmas gift :)

Hey Ya'll

2012-01-12T17:29:00.001-08:00

eagle cam

2012-01-12T11:53:00.001-08:00

I shot some video in the studio today, I'll get that posted later, but for now check out the Jordan Lake eagle live cam. Mom is sitting on her eggs/babies, pretty cool. Wait for stupid commercial to pass....

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/jordan-lake-eaglecam

ahhhhhh.....

2012-01-11T13:53:00.000-08:00

I woke up to a rainy gray day, not too cold, but not the most motivating day for going out to a cold studio. I turned the heat on, came back up and made a pot of tea, took the tea and my ipad back to the studio after breakfast and had a full day of work for the first time in a couple of months. I noticed that I was working very slowly, just enjoying the process and the coziness of my studio, the rain, a new teapot full of hot tea, the soft light and some good tunes on my ipod. I only got two pieces made today, but it's a start. I'll get faster once I get used to these forms.
I made some templates last night, so I'm working through the new forms and getting used to new measurements, trying to figure out how I want to fit in the found objects I have to work with. I seem to be inspired by churches these days, so the doll figures are getting their own little house of worship, or shrine, whatever you want to call them.
Dolls and churches, more ghosts from my childhood......

Now it's time for a shower and some hot chocolate to warm up. Ahhhh...... a good day!

Hello Studio

2012-01-10T13:06:00.000-08:00

Well the girl child is gone and instead of being awakened and annoyed that she was getting home at 4:00am, I got a good night's sleep. I worked in my studio today for the first time since before Thanksgiving. I couldn't find anything, so much had been tucked away for the studio tour, so I spent the morning cleaning and reorganizing. I forgot how much I like being in this space with all my treasures, my shells, driftwood, feathers, bones, amputated doll parts, haha! I'm so excited to be back at work. I have a bunch of slabs rolled out, they will set up over night and then first thing in the morning I'll start cutting out some new pieces. Tonight, Gerry has a late ball game to shoot, so I'm going to work upstairs in my other new space drawing some new house templates for the doll parts. I love that I can still use the drafting skills from my past life as a designer. My drafting table is the one I got when I was in college and I still do it the old fashioned way with a T square and a triangle. I had drafting classes long before there was CAD for computers, actually personal computers didn't even exist then, as I type this I realize I am a dinosaur!

I set up a new little shrine, lit a candle, burned some incense and just enjoyed the peace around me, the birds were tapping at my windows, the dog was at my feet snoring, and all is right with the world once more.

Thanks to all of you for reading my blog over the past few years and for leaving so many kind comments. I noticed today on my blog roll that Paul, Hannah, Doug and Meredith had all posted in a row, ironically these were the first blogs that I found when I started.

My blog has become a great tool for sales and marketing. I had an email from Lark and Key in Charlotte before Christmas asking for work for the new year, they had found my blog, and this week I received an email from the Philadelphia Art Museum Craft Show with an application attached. I was curious how I got this email so I asked and the reply was that they found me through my blog. I don't think I can afford to do this show, even if I were to be accepted, but it was nice to get the email.

I have also received emails from people that have commissioned pieces after seeing my blog, and then there are all of the friends that I have made as well. I'm still not a fan of Facebook, still not going to twit or tweet, but I do love my blog, so at least for now this is where you will find me. I hope everyone has a very happy and prosperous 2012. Have a groovy year, ya'll !!!

Growing up is hard to do

2012-01-09T14:32:00.000-08:00

These two girls have been on a roller coaster ride with each other since December 16. We love each other, we are exactly alike and we are exactly different and we were probably both happy that school started back today. Hence the lack of blogging, just trying to breathe right now. One of us is growing up and going through lots of changes (well, maybe both of us are) but neither of us seem to really want to go through this process. It's complicated :)

This is the room I used to use as a studio.

This time last year, I was sick of this arrangement, and set my intentions to build a studio that was a bit more professional. In March 2011, I started construction. Now here I am a year later with a nice studio that has served me well this year. I have made the money that I invested in the building back and then some this year. Well worth the cost and the labor.

This past weekend, I took everything out of that tiny room upstairs, cleaned, threw out boxes of junk, and painted the walls white. A clean slate to draw and sew and make jewelry. A nice quiet space for the winter months.

Three Art Chicks

2012-01-06T14:46:00.000-08:00

Today Wesley and I went with my good pal Laura to see the Rembrandt exhibit at the NC Museum of Art. What a great museum this is, I love going there and seeing some of my old friends they have in their collection. A few years ago they had the Monet exhibit and it was breath taking. The Rembrandt exhibit, not so breath taking for me, I'm more of a Georgia O'Keefe, Andrew Wyeth fan, but it was amazing art nonetheless. The only thing is, it was old people day apparently, and the room was very crowded with slow moving folks and their audio listening tour devises. Who came up with this concept!? It does not move the crowds along, it's irritating! We were women behaving badly, laughing inappropriately and saying inappropriate things, like my comment that Rembrandt looked like he had a serious coke habit brought a stinky eye look from one of the audio tour participants, who obviously didn't have the volume up enough on her head set. It was sort of a yawn for me, the one with the attention span of a knat. The room was hot and moist and as Wesley said, it smelled like old people. So that is my very eloquent review of the show, not quite worth the $35 I spent, when I can stroll over to the regular museum and see some of my favs for free, but I least I can say I have seen a very well put together exhibit of Rembrandt. I know the curators worked very hard putting this show together. UNC TV had a great special on it, I think it's still running, if you live where you get NC public TV check it out.

Now that's what I'm talking about, who needs Rembrandt when there is fiber art?! I love these pieces in the permanent collection.

These are some close ups of some African thing that I love and gravitate to whenever I visit. I want a sofa upholstered like this!

and here is my charming daughter flipping me off behind Laura while we wait in line for lunch at Neomonde Deli in Raleigh. Go there, go there, go there if you visit Raleigh. OMG, the best food ever!!!

That's it for chick art day. We had a great day, laughed a lot, saw some fabulous art, bought some art supplies at Jerry's Art a rama (isn't that a great name) and my child figured out how to get her head out of her ass and have a good time (sorry that was mean, but it's true xox), I love her, but honest to God....... it's been a rough Christmas! Thanks to Laura for being the balance between mother and daughter and the voice of reason :) doing the mom thing is so annoying sometimes, especially for the child that has to be a participant haha! We are all inspired now, however, with new supplies and a new year with all the planets forming a straight line into the fifth world, Rock on!

For the New Year

2012-01-05T09:56:00.000-08:00

I never make new years resolutions, it's a waste of my time, because by February I will have forgotten what they were, and it's a sure bet I'm not doing whatever it was I said I was going to do.
But I do try to set some goals, give the house a good cleaning out, put Christmas away and clear the space for new possibilities. Today is that day. Here are the most amazing heads I got in the mail yesterday, that sounds odd doesn't it!

I seem to have a preoccupation with dismemberment don't I? I'm loving these heads and arms and legs and they are calling to me to get out to the studio and do something with them. Monday morning they will be there with me, no idea what they will become yet...

and the cotton is coming along too. It called to me on the way through SC last week, and if you are a southern girl, you know the beauty of those cotton fields. I keep singing the words to that TV ad, the look, the feel of cotton, the fabric of our lives. But isn't it true?!

I'm in a funk, not a bad one, but there is a fog in my head, like the fog that has settled overnight in a meadow or on top of the mountains, and it is slowly lifting to a bright sunny day.
I had a weird dream last night that each year, one day was taken away, so for example next year we would have 364 days, and on the day that was taken away, everything on the planet shrank a little bit until everything vanished. It was creepy, woke me at 1:00am and I never went back to sleep. So with the fog in my head and the creepy dream, I thought it was appropriate to photograph the body parts that have been given to me by my wonderful artist friends that understand how much joy they would bring to me. I have put them out on my kitchen table where my good friends sat not too long ago with so much energy and talent gathered around, just so they will absorb some of that energy and go out into the world soon....
Have a groovy day!

Too much drama

2012-01-04T16:36:00.000-08:00

Hey there ya'll. I get so many emails and comments from you saying that you have your morning coffee and read my blog, and I love to read and comment on all of your blogs, but I'm just not feeling it right now. There is just too much drama around here. I use this blog a lot to vent and get things off my chest and to start discussions, but I can't really vent any of this because it's other people's lives, not just mine and it's their tales to tell, not mine. But right now all I can say is I don't really feel like "it's all about me", in fact nothing seems to be about me right now. It's all about the other two. That's ok, they need it, but it's sucking my capacity for thoughtful blog posts right out of my soul. I feel mentally fatigued, I'm finding that I stay in bed later and later, just not wanting to get up and start it all over again. None of this is life threatening or terribly serious, just mentally draining. I'm just someone living with a first year 18 year old college student and a husband with a very stressful and physically demanding job, and they are taking center stage right now.
And, I haven't made anything since November, and as I just typed this a light bulb went off in my head. There could be a direct correlation between my mental state and the fact that I'm not being creative!
Ah ha!
So here are some other goings on in my week, keep reading it's gets strange:
*Uncle is doing good, He was my dad's best friend and I sat with him the other night and heard tales of him and my dad, let me just say my dad was crazy and I can't believe he lived as long as he did. My uncle said that he flipped over 18 cars in his "career", started many bar fights, and landed in jail quite a few times. If you knew me well, this would explain a lot to you.
*Yesterday, I had lunch at Whynot Pottery and Meredith has a very nice post about it over on the Whynot blog, if I need to give you a link to this blog, you have been under a rock somewhere, look it up on my blog roll, I'm too lazy to do the link thing right now! I'll just add to hers and say that it was a well needed break from home and she is the best cook EVER! Try the recipe she posted, unreal, yum!
*Yesterday I received a letter from an inmate in prison wanting me to sell his popsicle stick jewelry boxes in my studio, he read the article about me in the newspaper and wrote to me. I want to write him back, I want to sell his boxes, I want to be his pen pal while he is in prison, but first I want to find out what he is in prison for. Here's the kicker to this story though. The letter came from a man that mailed it for him from Clinton NC, my uncle, the one mentioned above, lives in Clinton, and the prison? My cousin, (uncle's daughter) works in the prison system in the same area the inmate is in. Weird, right?
*Today, Wesley and I went for our New Year's tarot card reading to just check in and see what adventures await us. My good friend/intuitive told me that I would get some parts for my barns that would strongly influence my work. I'm thinking that I already got them, the doll parts that came from Sonia and Meredith, but when I got home, I had a package, another gift from Sonia, stoneware doll heads from the same factory in Germany, and they are..... I don't even know what to say about them, but they are beyond great. I'll take pictures sometime and post them. I can't even find time to shoot pics for my blog right now.
So that should catch you up, bizarre things going on, crazy family, and I am back in the studio next week with fresh clay from Starworks! I'm reading everyone's blog, just don't have the energy sometimes to comment, sorry! I'll get back soon.....as I'm typing this I'm sitting in a quiet dark room with the Christmas tree but... wait.... Gerry just turned on the TV and it's blaring Jaco Pastorious on youtube, somehow feeding through our blue ray, see what I mean.....
peace ya'll

2012-01-01T16:35:00.000-08:00

This is the best CD I have bought in a very long time. Not a bad song on there!

Hi there everybody! I hope everyone is having a great New Year's Day! I'm just home from visiting my mom in Myrtle Beach with Wesley. Gerry stayed home to get some rest and get to feeling better. The weather was amazing, the beach beautiful, a little bit crowded but not too bad, and my mom and I didn't have one single argument, a monumental occasion considering there was a time we couldn't be in the same room for five minutes without arguing about something. I suppose one of us is maturing, just hard to tell which one :)
The drive from my house to Myrtle Beach is a long slow drive with nothing but farms, cotton, abandoned barns, run down houses, and a lot of bleak communities, especially when you get into South Carolina. I love it, it's my home. Poor Wesley had to endure my stopping to photograph old barns, and then I stopped and walked around for a while in a cotton field that was in the middle of nowhere. It had been picked already and I wanted some of the cotton for some of my work. I felt so much peace standing there. I thought about the lives that had lived in that field, the conversations that had taken place, the dreams, the sadness, the songs, the hard labor in that hot South Carolina sun, and the wind blew slightly down the rows of the cotton plants, and I felt the ghosts that live in the south all around me. I could have sat down in that field all day and soaked in the feelings I had there. It was a moment I'll remember for a while into this new year.

And then there was the ocean, another place for peace and healing and comfort. How do I live without this in my life everyday when this is where I grew up, this is where I found my refuge in a world I couldn't control. This is where my daughter and I found peace this week from the chaos of the holidays, and first year college blues (for both of us!). We talked and walked and just sat in the warm sun and let it work it's magic.

and we saw this movie, go see it, fantastic movie! I loved it.

So the new year is off to a good start, Wesley has some new goals to get through the next five months of school, I have some new goals for my studio and Gerry needs to get a grip on the stress his job brings on, changes in diet and lifestyle are in our future. I think it's going to be a good year (except for the election thing, which will be miserable at best!) Happy New Year to all of you. Next week I go buy clay, go see my uncle in rehab, go for a tarot card reading with Wesley, our fun New Years tradition, and go see the Rembrandt exhibit at the NC Museum of Art. That will be the end of our vacation, Wesley will head back to school, and I will get back to work. I'm looking forward to seeing what this year brings!

Still chillin'

2011-12-30T05:27:00.000-08:00

Here's a little glimpse of what we have been doing over the holidays. Still no clay, I'm just chilling.

What a nice way to start the day

2011-12-29T05:43:00.000-08:00

The first email I checked this morning was from a wonderful customer, Bonnie Springer. Here is her mother in law, whose name happens to be Happy, looking rather happy opening her Christmas gift from Bonnie. I think the dog was excited too!
Sorry for the tiny picture, for some reason, it's all blogger would allow. The email photo was just fine though and I could see the big smile on her face, just what I needed after a bumpy week! Thanks Bonnie :)

My lack of blogging this week is due to a lot of things, Gerry has been sick, Wesley has decided to major in drama (figuratively speaking), and I am now an ipad and an Xbox addict. I have to say, who needs facebook when there is Xbox?! I stayed up all by myself until 1am playing Call of Duty and you will be happy to know that I am about to save the president and his daughter!

ps:
How many of you are liking the new blogger layout? not me! I can't see any of the gray parts, grrr.

What to get a clay artist for Christmas

2011-12-27T14:56:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone has had a great Christmas with friends and family. Ours got off to a shaky start, but today was good. Gerry was sick last week, uncle fell and broke a hip, daughter was visiting another planet for a few days, but I was quite happy, surprisingly enough. I am really tired now and my digestive system isn't really all that happy. Stress, too much of the wrong kinds of food and waaaay too much chocolate has my stomach feeling a bit unpleasant, but all will be fine as soon as I get this holiday stuff past me. We were on our way to Myrtle Beach yesterday thinking that Gerry was over whatever had been wrong and he started feeling sick again, so we drove 3 1/2 hours to my mom's house, almost there, Gerry very sick, turned around and drove back home. Poor Ger, but doing better today. Wesley came back from planet spacehead today and we had a lovely day together, lunch and some gift card shopping, and then peppermint chocolate chip milkshakes from Chik fila, see why my stomach is messed up?!
I got some very wonderful Christmas gifts from Gerry and Wesley, including an ipad, which is really fun and sucking up a lot of my time, a new teapot, from dare I say it, John Elder (please will the person that emailed me about him just keep those thoughts to yourself, I'm sorry, but I like his work, I can't help how the man chooses to live his life...)

I also got a new glaze book that was being suggested on some of your blogs, and yes it is worth it, a really great book! More on this book later as I get into it.

Gerry and Wesley are the best shoppers and always pick up little things for my stocking that are fun surprises. The little cup below is made from the black clay in Normandy and it's for drinking brandy. It's so tiny, but really cute.

I have been loading apps on the ipad and playing around with lots of the photo apps, so you may get sick of seeing strange pictures for awhile until I get it out of my system! We got Wes some Bose headphones and this is all I have seen of her since she got them! I got Gerry an XBox 360 and we are now pathetic, me with my nose in my ipad, Gerry killing everything that moves and Wes with her headphones transported to her space Odyssey. We are three of the most non material people that I know, and just look at us! Oh well, you gotta escape reality sometimes, and my reality has been intense these past few months! I'll be back to clay blogging soon, still taking a bit of a break.

peace ya'll

xoxo

Happy Holidays

2011-12-23T07:01:00.000-08:00

We shot this photo a few years ago at Myrtle Beach going in to see the new Avatar 3D movie. What a bunch of Christmas hype that was! It was fun though! I love going to the movies during Christmas. Who knows, maybe one day I will be going to see one my daughter wrote.
I hope everyone has a great Christmas or whatever it is you celebrate. Cookie baking starts today and my uncle fell and broke his hip yesterday, so we will be visiting the hospital on Christmas Day, what a suck thing, to have to spend Christmas day at Wake Med! Wesley is recording a CD with her friends, and Gerry is off for ten days, so the blog may get a bit neglected. Lots going on here, there are presents to wrap, family to visit, and a turkey in the frig for Christmas Eve. I just have a couple of weeks, and then I have to get my head back together in the studio for commissions that are waiting, orders that are waiting and galleries that are waiting.
Have a wonderful holiday season with your own friends and family! Merry Christmas everyone!!

Jingle Goats

2011-12-22T05:46:00.000-08:00

When Wesley and I were at Whynot pottery the other day, Meredith told us a story of having a baby goat when she first started pottery. I think it would be a good story for her blog, so I'll let her tell it if she wants to, but this is for her, Happy Birthday Meredith!

A Doll's House

2011-12-20T15:39:00.000-08:00

I had planned to take a break from the blog but I forgot to tell you about these dolls. When Meredith from Whynot Pottery came over for brunch last week, she brought me these dolls that had been in a drawer at her house. They were her dolls when she was little girl !!! Can I just hyperventilate right now!?! I can't wait to do something with these and the other ones I received from my new friend down in Key West!
Today Wesley and I took a ride out in the country and ended up down at Seagrove at Meredith's place. I needed a couple of mugs for my mom, and there is a great thai place nearby, so we had lunch there and we went to visit the Pisgah Covered bridge that I used to play in when I was a kid. It was a day for contemplation while riding, a gray day, not too cold, just perfect for a long ride on country roads. We talked a lot, were quiet a lot and just had time to get all the clutter out of our minds.
A few years ago I did the props for a play called The Last Two Minutes of the Complete Works of Henrik Ibsen. Wesley was in 8th or 9th grade at the time, read the script and then read some of his plays. One that we both remember quite well is A Doll's House. A very strange and disturbing play. I've been sitting here reading it again and I'm thinking about a series of houses with dolls and calling the complete body of work A Doll's House. I have so much to get started on, let's get this holiday over with already!!!

Isn't she amazing?!
I had so many dolls when I was little, and lived in a fantasy land with them. My mom kept them for a long time and then they were all given away when she remarried and moved. Now, I seem to be making a connection once again with dolls. I am interested in exploring how this will all fit together with the barns. My work just continues to move forward, so excited about this!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

2011-12-19T05:07:00.000-08:00

I'm going to take a little break from the blogosphere this week to spend time with family and friends and reflect on what this season is really supposed to be about. We should be celebrating the life of a man that was kind and compassionate to everyone he met. Instead people are getting attacked with pepper spray at Walmart and we are all rushing around in a mad frenzy trying to buy things for people we rarely see and spending money we really need for ourselves. I'm going to give some serious thought to how we approach the holidays in this family next year. We are losing touch with the true meaning of Christmas. I woke up this morning thinking about when Wesley was the angel in the Christmas play at our church, and the evenings we went to hear the Christmas music played by candlelight, and the treat bags that were handed out at my grandmother's church the Sunday before Christmas. Did anyone get these? Everyone got a brown paper bag with apples and oranges and some candy and nuts. I can still smell those bags on Sunday morning as I sat with my grandparents in their pew. I was also thinking about how magical Christmas is for children, waiting with so much anticipation for Santa, how exciting it is for parents, when their kids are small, watching their excitement. I had a little Christmas tree in my room when I was a kid, and I would lay there for hours looking at the lights in the darkness of my room, trying to figure out how Santa really got down our chimney! I finally decided he turned himself into fairy dust to get into the house.
I don't really go to church anymore, and I went into a christian bookstore and was sort of creeped out by the cult feeling I got, but I do want to remember that we are celebrating the birth of Jesus, a man that was crucified for trying to make the world a better place for all of us. Christmas should be a time for family and friends and doing nice things for people. Last night we put up a tree, got out all of our ornaments that all have special memories. We made hot chocolate and popcorn and watched a Charlie Brown Christmas with just the tree and candles lit. Life slowed to a nicer pace and I finally felt calm and peaceful. Life is good!
I spent the last few months selling my work like crazy, spent time with some very special friends this week and now it's time for my family.
Have a wonderful holiday everyone, I'll check in a bit but there are cookies to bake and a nice dinner for Christmas Eve, family to visit, presents to wrap, so I'll be busy with some fun stuff for awhile!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

ps: photo by Laura Farrow from her ipad!

Buy Local Art!

2011-12-17T14:36:00.000-08:00

I had such a nice morning. First stop was at the Clay Centre to pick up a few last minute gifts. My pal Charlotte had some great stuff and I came home with a few things from her and a beautiful knit scarf from Carolyn Doyle. Then I stopped by the NC Crafts Gallery, where you could barely walk through the store! YAY! for those folks out buying local art today!!!
Thanks to Sara Gress at the gallery for working so hard for all of her artists, she has been a huge supporter of my work and today she was wrapping up beautiful gifts as fast as she could!
There are a few barns there and some ornaments of mine. If you don't need a barn, although I can't imagine that, she has lots of other wonderful work too. I bought a cute little stocking ornament for fabric inspiration more than anything else, but it did call out to me, there under the tree. tracey, tracey, please take me home and put me on your treeeeeee!
I am trying really hard this year to buy local, support artists, and crafts people, if I can't buy their art because it is out of my budget, I at least can give them a brunch or tell others about their amazing work! (These are my friends I'm talking about!) Thanks to all of you that read this blog and support your local businesses whether they be farmers, artists, craftsmen, or small business owners. We have to do this!!!!
BUY LOCAL!!!!! or buy HANDMADE!!! if you can't get out to shop, go to Etsy and google pottery!
There are no excuses, if you have a budget to shop. I don't even have that, and I found some very affordable things today :)

A brunch for hard working artists

2011-12-16T20:12:00.000-08:00

Today I had a few of my artist friends over to celebrate surviving another season of selling our art! I wanted us to get together because we have all been tucked away in our studios making our work, and then setting up at shows and selling and I thought we needed to celebrate getting through it all in one piece!
These are some hard working, talented, beautiful women and it was fun having them here to share stories of our families, our backgrounds and most important our art. I have a least one piece of art from each of these women. I invited them because they inspire me, they support me, they cheer me on, they teach me, help me, make me laugh, make me cry, give me a reality check when I need one. I can count on their honesty and I am richer for having known each one of them. Some are new friends and some I have known since I first moved here seven years ago. They didn't all know each other although I get together with each of them on a regular basis. It was fun to bring them all together under one roof. Everyone brought great food and drink and gifts,we ate and talked and laughed, and shared a little of ourselves.
The power that was in my house today! Lord Have Mercy! Rock on girls!!! Can't wait to see what all of you do in 2012 :)

White sewing machine

2011-12-15T17:30:00.000-08:00

My dad bought me this White sewing machine for Christmas back in 1978. I wanted this hot pair of very high heeled leather boots, and he got me a sewing machine. I cried when I opened the box on Christmas morning just like a spoiled brat, because this was not that hot pair of boots I wanted. The boots are long gone, but I still have this machine. I tried to use it last year to sew some costumes for a play I was working on, and it wouldn't sew. Gerry has been trying to figure out what to get me, so I went looking at sewing machines today. They are PLASTIC! ick! Mine is solid, almost feels like cast iron, I'm not really sure what it is, but it's heavy, well built and certainly not plastic. So, this made me think this is probably a much better sewing machine than anything I could buy right now, so I worked on it a bit, and what do you know, it is in perfect shape, and sews just fine. I just needed a new needle :)

There are a lot of you out there sewing and it has me thinking. I used to sew all the time. I made a lot of my clothes in high school, designed them, sewed them. My dad taught me to sew, he ran a furniture plant and made furniture on the side at night in this old run down tobacco barn. I sewed cushions and I sewed yards and yards of welt, just what any teenage girl wants to be doing with her summers off! God, it was so hot! or it was so cold! Never comfortable and there was always cotton and fabric fibers floating around in the air, tickling my nose. There was also the interesting smell of cows and the sound of their mooing. This barn was on a tobacco farm, but they had cows too. There is another barn imprint in my memory I guess.

Anyway..... I have been wanting to sew again. I'm thinking about somehow incorporating fabric with my work. Maybe a tiny quilt hanging on the side of a barn, or something, I don't know yet. After Christmas, I'm going to take the room upstairs that used to be my clay room and turn it into a sewing/jewelry room and see what I can come up with. Maybe nothing, but I'll never try if I don't set up the sewing machine and give it a try..... any ideas?

Melancholia

2011-12-15T05:31:00.000-08:00

I have orders for barns and sheep and stars for January, three commissions, and several galleries waiting on work. I should be out in my studio working this week and next, but I decided that I was taking a break as soon as my last show was over and I'm sticking to it. Instead of working, I have been to dinner and a movie with my pal Laura, shopped for Christmas gifts, cleaned the layers of dust in my house (I haven't cleaned this house since before Thanksgiving!) and put out some Christmas decorations. Most days, I would just as soon have this holiday pass without my knowing about it, but I am determined to have fun this year and enjoy it! Wesley will be home Friday and I am planning to enjoy her company for a few weeks!
Laura and I went to see Melancholia, a suggestion from Wesley, who can find the most intense and bizarre movies out there, and this is a good one. Be warned, it is verrrrry slow, but the story is interesting, cinematography exceptional. I usually have to see a movie like this twice, the first time I'm just looking at sets and costumes and forget to pay attention to the film itself. And Kirsten Dunst's cleavage is just a tad distracting, jeez... that dress! and I spent a lot of time wondering why the horse wouldn't cross the bridge.... I get caught up in details, what can I say.
It will be here for another week, so Wes and I will go see it again. Gerry would have been asleep in the first thirty minutes, but I really liked it!

Duke photos

2011-12-14T12:05:00.000-08:00

Gerry heads out the door almost every night this time of year to shoot a basketball game or a hockey game, since our society seems to be obsessed with sports. He had a couple of really funny shots last week from Duke basketball. I can't post them

on my blog but here is a link:

Duke baby:

http://espn.go.com/womens-college-basketball/team/photos/_/id/150/photoId/1732886/duke-blue-devils

Duke hecklers

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/974141-the-50-coolest-sports-pictures-of-2011

enjoy....

Just the right fit

2011-12-13T04:54:00.000-08:00

I took some work over to the NC Craft gallery yesterday and spent some time looking around at other people's work, since I'm sort of tired of looking at my own. I really didn't go there to shop, and I seriously did not need another cup or mug, but look what decided to come home with me.
This cup is by a potter named John Elder. I don't know him, can anybody tell me more about him? I really like his work. I picked up this cup and it seemed to be just a perfect fit in my hand and I knew it would be a great cup to drink out of.
I remember the Pete Pinnell video that was going around a while back about cups. I love the story he tells of Linda Christianson when someone commented that they didn't like her handle and she said, well it's just not the right cup for you. It's so true, and most of the cups I have are the right cup for me. I have to hold them for awhile before I buy them. Usually the decision is based on the handle. The best handled cups I have are from Whynot Pottery, Dean and Martin(their handles are amazing), and one little cup by Doug Dotson's wife. These are the cups I reach for a lot because of the handle. Others I reach for because of the art on it, or the glaze or just because of who made it. Gerry picks the ones that keep his coffee the warmest, usually the one he has from Hollis Engley and one I bought from Michael Rutkowsky.
Cups are a funny thing, the bread and butter of the functional potter. Not my bread and butter because I can't make a good cup to save my life! I have three that I made, fired at ^10 and they are pretty good cups. Made just after Brandon sent me my own personal video tutorials :) But they are not something I enjoy making. I am glad that there are those potters out there that do enjoy making them, because I seem to enjoy buying them!

Best day ever (have I said that already?)

2011-12-11T14:41:00.000-08:00

My day started off seeing my sweet child come down the stairs this morning and it just got better and better. My pal Laura showed up with coffee and gifts and her ipad before the tour started, shot this crazy picture of me and got my day off to a rocking start! Then customers steadily came all day.

Mid day, these two showed up and I cried!!! When I think of how busy these guys are down in Seagrove right now with their own pottery, and yet they got in the car and drove up here to see me, I just feel so blessed. And to think I met Mark and Meredith through this blog! They are just the cutest couple ever!!

If you are down in Seagrove you have to stop at Whynot and meet them, they have a great place!!! Thanks so much for coming to see me you guys, I love ya!!

Then these cute girls showed up. Mom, in the middle, bought the barn with the mules on it, she will give it a good home, and she is from Shelby! Guess who she knows? The one and only Ron Philbeck of course! and they saved me from an odd situation, they know what I'm talking about! Thanks :) what a sweet group of women they were... xoxo

Laura came bringing gifts this morning, coffee that still has me jacked up, a great hippy skirt that you may see on Meredith's blog later, and this painting she did. I LOVE Laura's work so much, I could spend all my money on her art if I had any to spend! Check out her blog at Tossing Ashes. Thanks girl.
Soooo, I am officially done with pottery making for the year, although I would like to get to work in my studio in the morning. If it weren't for this busy holiday that I have to do things for, I could get back to work. Sorry for the folks that are emailing wanting stars, I have no more, I can send you some in January, but this last batch is all gone. I feel bad that I didn't make enough.
Thanks so much to all of you that came to my shows and to my studio to visit and to shop, I appreciate it so much and I am honored that you wanted to buy my work to give as gifts or to own for yourself. Thank you, thankyou, thank you!!!!!!!!!

Let's catch up

2011-12-10T18:29:00.000-08:00

Second weekend of the tour and it was steady as she goes all day. Not the big purchases like last week, but I put out three dozen stars and at the end of the day I have 6 or 7 left. Thanks to those of you that shopped last week and came back again this week. You are the cream in my coffee, the sugar in my tea! (what is that from?) and Maureen and Bonnie, you two are just the best!
I am so humbled by all of this, I had people this week also saying that they had read the article in the N&O and were stopping by to see my work because of the article. I talked to several people today about how hard I have worked to get here. I was telling Bonnie about the days when I made work in my second floor bedroom, a 10X12 space, carried my ware boards down two flights of stairs, loaded everything in my car, drove an hour to Durham, waited for my stuff to get fired at Claymakers, packed it back up, brought it home, repacked it, sat at the Farmers Market on those hot summer nights, lucky if I made $100, one Saturday night I was the top craft seller, and I made $5! I was the only one that sold something that night. Then I moved out onto my deck and fought the cold weather and the rain and the leaves and the mildew..... I have discovered that I have tenacity! As I think back on having to depend on community studio equipment, then trying to work in a cramped bedroom, then outside on the deck, I can't imagine why I stuck with this. It was hard, miserable, frustrating, and I don't understand what made me keep working under such ridiculous circumstances. I think I remember crying a lot and throwing things frequently, definitely cursed a lot.
As I look back on what I have done these past seven years, I realize that success absolutely comes from hard work. It doesn't come easy, it doesn't come overnight (except I suppose for a lucky few). It comes from working every day at your craft and progressing, not standing still and not doing what is easy and familiar, but pushing yourself, challenging yourself to do more than you are capable of doing, and being excited about what you are doing, loving what you complete and taking pride in what you sell to others for them to enjoy. I noticed that every piece I sold today, I sort of said goodbye to it. I held it, looked it over, enjoyed something about the piece that maybe I had not noticed and then sent it off with a happy new owner. How does it possibly get any better than that!

So I guess by now you might be wondering about these photos. Let me tell you about them. but first, because I live in the south and this is what we do, I'll give you the back story, like my mama does :)
Okay, so, Gerry and I had to go to the mall Thursday, it happens, sometimes there is something that can only be found at the mall. I may go to the mall six times a year. Well, as we walked around the mall in Durham (we went to Durham for lunch at a place Gerry has been wanting to try) I noticed this feeling of mediocrity. Everything seemed to have been done in such a half ass way. There was this train ride thing for kids that was the saddest thing I have ever seen. Poorly set up, this pathetic tree there and a sad little man operating it. Really this was a bleak scene. I just stood there staring at all of it, writing a blog post about the mediocrity of our society in my head, wishing I had my camera to illustrate. Anyway, we went in one of those Hallmark stores to see the collectible ornaments. In the 80's I collected these beautiful tin trains they had. They are little works of art. But the ornaments they have now are, again, the word pathetic comes to mind. Plastic garbage. Football player ornaments, really? Is that what it has come to? Football rich guys hanging on our Christmas trees?! fuck!
I'm going way off topic here, and I could go on for another hour about sports, and plastic store crap. One thing I did think of.... the trains I had were from the 80's, didn't N.A.F.T.A. get a hold on our country about that time, and didn't China soon after that take possession of this country? Just sayin' there could be a connection..... Plastic=China=crap merchandise. Okay, let me get to the point....
Every day that I have gone out shopping this week, I tried to think about the sales person and how they have been dealing with the buying public since bleak Friday and they must be tired, so I made it a point to compliment each person that took my money, smile at them, look them in the eyes and recognize that they are humans, just happy to have a job. I am determined to stay in a good mood through this nasty holiday that I don't particularly care for, think about little baby Jesus and the donkeys in the manger story, and have a good experience this year. On that note, here is the reason for the photos:
After the mall ick, I woke up on Friday with this odd feeling that I had to get to an antique store and reconnect with a time when things were well crafted, look at lovely things from my past and touch metal, glass and wood instead of plastic. So I took myself to a local antique mall, got there at 10am, and, people, you will now decide I am crazy, but I left that mall at 5pm! I went into every stall and looked at everything in each booth. Karen Carpenter was singing Christmas carols and for a while someone found the booth with the antique violins and there was live music playing from an old out of tune violin. This was heaven to me, soothing and healing for the soul. What that other mall did to me!
I honestly think that I have been so enveloped in art lately, looking at all of the beautiful work you bloggers are presenting on your blogs. seeing the work at fine craft shows that I am now a part of, and even being around my own work, that when I went into the mall it was a shock to my system.
NOW! the first photo is a box marked made in Germany, and the accordian folder has different glass lenses in each pocket. This will be included in a 2012 barn in some way. Maybe little notes will be put in the pockets, maybe there will be something behind the lenses, I don't know yet, but I am inspired!
And the little tiny perfume bottles. The barn that is photographed in my header is going to be a great piece for these little bottles, I can just see that Chanel #5 with this barn, maybe with two doors that open to reveal the bottle? I can't wait to make some pieces for all this treasure!!!
And the last exciting things: I have a commission for a barn with the glass door knob I posted a while back. Also, a very nice customer came back to confirm a project we discussed last week. Her grandmother's farm in Illinois is being torn down and the family is collecting salvage materials from her place. She brought a tiny finial and some other things today for me to see. We are going to design barns for the family members and incorporate some of the salvage items. I hope to blog about this more as it unfolds, but this project holds so much promise I am tingling, I can't wait to clear out the studio and get to work!!!!
My sweet daughter showed up this afternoon to go see a band in Chapel Hill tonight. Luckily we live in one of the greatest places in the country to see good music on any given night, so I am guaranteed to see her frequently!
I think that catches me up with all I have been wanting to tell you. It has been such a week, my hard work; blood, sweat and tears, so to speak, has paid off. I have had a very successful month, I have two amazing commissions to work on, lots of new treasures like doll parts and perfume bottles and german camera lenses to inspire me, and I will have work in five galleries so far for 2012. I hope the Mayans weren't right about the end of the earth coming in 2012 because I am just getting started!!!!!!
Sunday is the last day to buy work here and then it's going over to see what Sara would like to have at the NC Craft Gallery.
Peace ya'll xoxo

Round two

2011-12-10T07:33:00.000-08:00

My studio is open today for the second weekend of the Chatham Tour. I still have a few barns, lots of beautiful stars, $15!!! bargain!!! and other fun stuff, come on over!

Girl Crush

2011-12-08T19:18:00.000-08:00

Everybody in my house has a crush on Beyonce. I love it when I 'm working in my studio and this song comes on my ipod. When the photographer for the N&O came over, Gin and Juice, Les Claypool's version came on, probably inappropriate...... oh well.... you get what you get when you're around me :)
Hoping that I will be busy this weekend. I took a few pieces over to the Saxapahaw Gallery. There's a holiday event at the Haw River Ballroom this weekend, check out the gallery if you are over there, it's looking good.

Chatham County Studio Tour round two

2011-12-08T06:00:00.000-08:00

The second weekend of the tour is coming up. Come on over and visit if you aren't busy, like that's the case for anyone reading this blog! I raku fired about two dozen stars this week in the new turquoise, they are beautiful, and I have a couple of new lanterns, lots of pendants in the new turquoise and a few of my more expensive barns.
The one above is $250. I actually think that's cheap and it's one of my favorites. Not sure why it didn't sell. My small ones sell for $125, lucky you if you got one when I didn't have a clue how to price my work! and I only have two of those left. I tried to keep a good record of my sales and overall, I sold 42 barns this month between the two shows I did. I was hoping to get a break in January but I now have five galleries waiting on work, so there will be no January break! I will take off after this weekend, Wesley comes home next week and goes back to school Jan. 9, so that will be my break time. Then it's time to get creative!

The other package

2011-12-06T14:11:00.000-08:00

Sonia Robinson is a painter in Key West and her husband bought her one of my barns at the Carolina Designer Craftsmen Show, for their anniversary. She came by the next day to tell me she loved it and we talked and talked and had sooo much in common. She was telling me about an auction bid she had just received for porcelain doll parts. They were unearthed from a 150 year old doll factory in Germany and she said, "I'll send you some." I thought this was amazingly generous and hoped that she would, but you know how things go, sometimes you forget what you say, and best intentions get put aside, whatever.

Well, yesterday I got a package with the most exquisite doll parts from Sonia! I literally gasped when I unwrapped each one.

Can I just tell you that my head is going to explode if I don't get some work made soon that includes these parts of tiny dolls from Germany!?!?!? Today I was invited to participate in a show at a beautiful gallery that I have always admired and I am thinking about these little dolls for that show!!!! I just think that all of the stars that govern my world have lined up in exact perfect order this month, it has been such a crazy time and right now all is well with the universe here in Chapel Hill!

Here is the card that Sonia included with the doll parts. How beautiful is that! I'm very excited to know this artist and it seems she may have plans to move here in the near future. I hope so, we still have tons of things to talk about!
I feel like I am in a giant whirlwind that blew through here around October and I am inside of it, on a really fun ride. and it feels like the party just got started, so hang on! and there is that bourbon thing I just found out about when I was at Laura's studio :)

Kindness of strangers

2011-12-05T16:18:00.000-08:00

Today I received two gifts in the mail. One was this book from a blogger that did not identify themselves. The note just thanked me for my blog and for being inspiring to others and wonderful things like that and it was signed "a friend, one of many". What a puzzle and what a fun thing to do, an anonymous gift. I love this!!! Heck my family couldn't even drive 15 minutes down the road to come see my show this weekend!

I commented on this basket weaver a while back on Hatchville Pottery blog. I haven't had time to search for this book and now I don't have to! It is even more fabulous than I could have imagined. I'm saving it for next week when I settle in for time with my family, hot chocolate days, movies, and book reading. No clay, no sales, no shows. Just time for me!
I received another package today, but I'll wait and tell you about that one on my next post.
This is the thing that interests me about these two packages. They are both incredibly meaningful gifts. They were thoughtful gifts and I was thrilled and amazed to get them. They were from strangers, people I have no relationship with at all, except through my art. I'm not going to slam the family here, but I'm just sayin'.......
Anyway, you mysterious gift giver! THANK YOU sooooo much. I was really tired and confused and sort of freaked out from the weekend with the newspaper article about me and the crowd that showed up at my studio. I was doing a quick raku firing when the mail came, and this just made everything ok.
What a special thing to do!!!!
I'll tell you what else came today later. Check back!
xoxoxo

THANK YOU!

2011-12-04T16:14:00.000-08:00

Where do I start? Thanks to Diane Daniel for writing a great article that brought people here from Raleigh and the triangle all day for two days. Thanks to all of those people for coming by and liking my work enough to buy it. I sold thirty five barns and have commissions for two. I also sold some raku pieces and ornaments and even gave some nice guy a test tile that he loved! haha!
Thanks to my friends that came by and those who were too busy with their own shows and work, but emailed good wishes. Thanks to my neighbors who stopped by that I have never met.
Thanks to Mark Heywood for this mug that kept my hot chocolate warm all day! And I should thank another Mark. I sent an email to Mark and Carol Hewitt to tell them I was thinking about them this weekend. A few years ago I would go and help out washing and sanding and whatever else they needed to get ready for this tour and other kiln openings. There are so many tiny details that Mark and Carol pay close attention to that you wouldn't really think about, and I learned from them, and it helped make my weekend all the more successful. And Mark sent me back a very sweet note wishing me great success, as busy as I know he was this weekend, he took the time to send me good wishes, and I appreciate that!

Most of all, thanks to Gerry, who has been cheering me on, busting his ass on his days off to help get the yard looking great, sealed up all of the cracks in my studio to keep me warm, brought me food, and listened to all of my mindless chatter, after too much caffeine and adrenaline. It's fun to have such a hot guy for a husband for 27 years that still supports my crazy ways! Also thanks to my beautiful daughter who came home this weekend and gave me a million hugs and told me how proud she was of me. AND watched the first season of 24 with me last night on Netflix! Jack Bauer, I miss you!!
And last, certainly not least, thanks to you bloggers and readers that have sent me so many great notes on the blog and so many nice emails. Especially the last two days, it was so great to come in tired and confused and read your wise words. They lift me up, bring me joy, make me think, kick me in the ass when I need it, and I am very grateful to you. I also support you in your artistic efforts and I am cheering each one of you on as well as all of us work so hard on our craft this holiday season to bring lovers of handmade work a piece of art that we made with love.

and this sweet little girl is going to a very special home, I can't say where, it's a surprise Christmas gift, but I love where she is going to live, and this is why I do what I do!!!!!!
Peace, you rocking bloggers!

I am overwhelmed!

2011-12-03T16:14:00.000-08:00

I had no idea that I would have the response I had today to the article in the News and Observer. Almost everyone that showed up today said they had seen the article. I would like to tell you that at times there was a line to get into my studio, that was true, but let me put that into perspective.... if five people are in my tiny space it's crowded, so of course people had to wait to get in:) If there were those of you that I didn't get time to talk to, I am very sorry and regret that I didn't have a chance to give everyone the time they so rightly deserved. So many people share so much of themselves with me that it's difficult to talk with everyone.
I don't even know how many barns I sold today, I haven't had time to sit and take it all in. I am so overwhelmed by all of the smiles and hugs and laughter, the new and old friends that came by, the wonderful conversations I had with people. If my life was like this every day, I would explode from joy overload :) I kept finding myself shaking my head in disbelief at it all. I just can't thank each one of you enough for coming today and buying my work, and saying all of the very kind things you said.
I spend my time alone in my studio, with my family and with my other artist friends. I sort of live in a bubble. Today was the first time people that I don't really know have come into my very personal space, a space that was well guarded at one point in my life, and it was so interesting.
The barn in the photo went home with a very sweet lady, first thing this morning, the mule barn has a new home, all of those Maine shacks that so many of you liked? One couple bought all of them for Christmas gifts. It was so fun to see them leave with those packages.
I'm still wrapping my head around this and Wesley came home this morning, so it's been a crazy day.
One other cool thing happened today. Duane Hall, a photojournalist that now lives in Siler City came by. Many of you may know him. Duane worked in Chicago and then at the Greensboro News and Record when Gerry started there as a young photographer. He became Gerry's mentor in many ways. Duane was one of the best there was back in the day when newspapers and magazines were the real deal. Anyway, he saw my name in the tour brochure and came by to see us. We haven't seen him in over 20 years. What a great surprise to see him after all these years.
And last, there are so many people I could mention but I just have to send out a special hug to my pals Charlotte and Maureen for being my cheerleaders. You have seen me at my craziest, you were students that put up with my crazy spastic teaching, and risked your skin and clothing to raku with me here, and you show up at so many things I do with your bright smiles, and I just want to tell you how much I deeply appreciate your support. When there are strangers coming by all day and I'm meeting all of these new people, your faces are a warm ray of sunshine, so thanks for coming by and supporting my art. xoxoxo
Thanks to all of you, I hope you enjoy your pieces and I can't wait to get back in the studio and make new work that you have all inspired!!!!!!
Happy Holidays, peace ya'll !

Let's get this party started!

2011-12-03T06:32:00.000-08:00

Thanks to Bulldog Pottery for sending me a link to the story in the Raleigh News and Observer. I would have never seen it, and I live with a journalist!
http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/12/03/1683605/potter-shapes-new-forms-from-old.html

Come on over, you can just sit and chat if you forgot your wallet :)
377 Booth Road
Chapel Hill NC 27516

Finishing details

2011-12-02T05:45:00.000-08:00

I finished up some final details in my studio yesterday and I am ready to get this party started!
Gerry helped me pull a huge vine out of a tree and I wound it around the rafters and added white Christmas lights and it looks enchanted. I'm going to keep these up, it makes the studio so cozy and warm. My mom sent me the sweetest email, I thought I would share it, I don't think she would mind:

You are sooo====original! It looks so pretty. You make me cry. Wish I could share it with you. Who but you would think of pulling a vine out of a tree and making it look so good. Your hard work will pay off. Tell Gerry I am so thankful that he helps my baby!!!!! Mom

I didn't always get these kind of notes, and it felt so good. Finally she is happy with someone, and can pass that on to me!

All I need is a little snow to make this a perfect setting, and maybe a wood stove in the studio. My studio is tiny, and sometimes I envy the artists that have large studios, but it suits me well. It feels so warm and welcoming when I go down in the mornings and I look forward to walking through the door. I have worked so hard for the past two years to get here, and every step was worth it!

My friend Susan sent out to her friends and customers these heart chakra yantras announcing her show, so I put mine in the studio for good energy. I think it's working already:) If you can't get to Chatham for the tour, Hillsborough has the artwalk tonight and Susan will be at the Starlight Gallery. So much going on from now until Christmas, I'll never make it around to see all of the artists that are having shows.
Come on over to Chatham County tomorrow and see me, you don't have to buy, just come by and say hello!!!!

Chatham County Studio Tour

2011-12-01T06:10:00.000-08:00

We had a nice Thanksgiving break with Wesley and now she is back at school and time for me to get back to the studio. I worked really hard yesterday getting everything ready for the tour. The floor has a fresh coat of paint, and everything is clean and sparkling, well almost everything. I even cleaned my wheel!

I still have lots of nice things, prices ranging from $5 to $500, so come on out, there is something for everyone!

I won't have the buffet that some people put out, but I will have teas and hot chocolate and some snacks. I remember the years that Wes and I went on the tour, there were folks that put out quite a spread, but it didn't really make me want to buy anything. I either wanted their work or I didn't. And I seem to remember lots of hummus and carrots. I also remember that some people didn't really know how to make cider and everyone had cider. Well, I'm not a cook, don't want to be a cook, and I don't really like cider, so eat before you come if you are hungry :) Hope to see you this weekend or next. The tour is December 3-4 and 10-11 and studios are open from 10am-5pm. Come on out, it's a great time and you meet some wonderful artists!!

JUST BECAUSE

2011-11-29T20:15:00.001-08:00

My bestest friends

2011-11-27T17:41:00.000-08:00

Amy, Laura, me, Susan and Barbara! My clay pals and best buds came to see me today! I have learned so much from these women, they are always there to answer questions about anything I need help with and there cheering each other on with our individual clay paths. Susan loaned me the booth, Laura has helped with so many things, even convinced me my prices were too low, and introduced me to bourbon, yum! Barbara has been a teacher for the past five years and I know most of what I know because of her generous help, advise and willingness to share what she knows. Amy and I have raku fired together, laughed, complained and shared our love of raku. These are some of the fiercest women I know and I am very honored to be their friend!

Today was another great day. The members of the CDCG are some of the finest artists and kindest people I have ever done a show with.

Many of you know Julie Wiggins and you will hear the story of what happened to her at the show. To make it short, someone knocked over a table full of beautiful work that was a commission, the clients were there looking at the work when suspicious things happened, I won't go into it, but the work crashed to the floor and Julie lost a great deal of money, the engaged couple lost their wedding commission. It was a horrible sound, the night of our preview party and we were all sick when we heard all of that breaking pottery echo through the exposition space. The guild meeting was this morning and the tale was told. A box quickly appeared and got passed around and the guild members raised $900 to help Julie replace her losses. Such a wonderful group!

I have a new gallery that wants my work, really nice women, I'm excited. The very adorable woman that got the barn last night as an anniversary gift from her very adorable husband came by to see me today, and she was so happy, I nearly cried. This has been an amazing show for me in so many ways. I feel like my work has reached a new level, and there is so much that I want to do now, there is another level coming and I can't wait to get to work!!!

Thanks to all of you that came by with your bright smiles, joy for my work, checkbooks, credit cards (haha!). Seriously, though, I absolutely adore you and thank you with all of my heart for your kind words and purchases. It makes all the crazy months that just passed well worth it!!!!!

Special people buy my work

2011-11-26T16:53:00.000-08:00

The show is going pretty well, I had strong sales today until 2pm and then it died and I sat there until 6pm, when they announced the doors were being locked and a customer walked in with a last minute purchase. I always love those, it ends my day on a happy note!

So, I'll tell you a little about my day. I am across from a potter from Morehead City, I watched his blue bowls and lamp bases fly out of his booth all day. I don't know him, but he seems like a very nice person, people seemed to like him and his work is nice.

My work does not fly out of the booth, but here is what I have observed for the past two days. This doesn't happen at outdoor shows, which by the way I am done with. Anyway back to my day. People stop in the aisle to read the Deep Water lyrics that Wes wrote on one of the tall barns. I had many many comments on those, they are $500 so I haven't sold one, but that's ok, the right person has not come along yet. Then they come into my booth and they stop at each barn and look at it carefully, they pick it up, they look around and then this smile comes over their face and they look around for me, behind the counter to say something. I have been told they are "evocative", "they touched my heart", they remind me of going to see my grandparents when I was a kid", "they are powerful", whatever, I hear a story from everyone that takes the time to look at them.

And then there are the stories that go along with the folks that purchase them. This is the BEST part. Today, the door knob barns are gone. The first one sold to a beautiful woman named Margot, she is a cancer survivor, still very weak, she had a wheelchair to support her, but this woman came out, as tired as she was to BUY ART! Can you imagine this? And she bought a door knob barn for herself. I love the spirit of this woman and she inspired me so much. Then this other familiar face came in and picked up another door knob barn, the smile is what I recognized and I remembered she bought barns from me last year. In fact she bought one of my very favorites, it was one of the little white houses and it was the first one I put a door on. I got very teary last year when she bought it. So she bought a door knob barn too, it is a gift so I won't tell you her name, in case the person getting the gift reads this somehow! I sold the angel barn to a man from Key West for his wife's anniversary gift, one of the wall hangings with the bee transfer on it to a beekeeper that lost all of his bees, probably to pesticides. It just goes on and on.

My point is, the man across from me did well, sold a bunch of bowls, and that is a fine thing. People will use those bowls just as I use mine and they will love them. But every piece I sold was connected with a story, a memory, and that is what got me started making these in the first place. I love that. And here is the best part too. I mention the woman with cancer and the buyer with the pretty smile, because...... I took part of the money from their purchases and bought the most beautiful handmade scarf you have ever seen for myself as a treat for my hard work! I hardly ever do this, but it felt right, so girls, if you are reading this, your purchases supported two artists today!!!!! Thanks so much, I will wear this scarf every day for awhile, I love it so much and the artist that made it is from Asheville and a really interesting person that I got to know today. Isn't being an artist the very best thing in the world!?!?!?

Can you tell I had an ungodly amount of caffeine today, haha! It was a great day, the most money I have made at a show all year, and I thank all of you very kind people that loved my work and bought it!!!!!! I am so inspired and have a million ideas for new work.... in January!

Today's the day

2011-11-25T06:08:00.000-08:00

I heard there were already lines and folks were armed with their pepper spray to get to my booth this afternoon. Come on over, I have a limited supply, when they're gone, they're gone!

Feeling much better this morning, the sun is shining and I am ready to sell some barns!

Carolina Designer Craftsmen Show, Raleigh Fairgrounds, exposition building

Friday preview party 4-6pm doors open to the public 6pm-9pm

Saturday 10am-6pm

Sunday 11am-5pm

Crap, the holidays are here

2011-11-24T19:39:00.001-08:00

It's been six months since something triggered my ACOA issues and today was another trigger. Like the words dinnertime, or 6pm, or Friday night, or seeing car lights through the window late at night, or loud voices, these tiny triggers come at me out of the blue. The only way I know how to deal with this is write about it, so here goes, you can read if you want to or just move on to a more fun place. It was the smallest thing. We had a nice Thanksgiving meal with Gerry's family. He has a great family, although I am an only child from a pretty f'd up family, so I always feel out of place with them, I always feel like I am standing outside looking in the window at them instead of actually being in the room and participating. I spent a good part of the day trying to recall Thanksgiving as a kid, and cannot for the life of me recall one. I remember them after my dad died. My mom didn't cook, she lived in Myrtle Beach and we would go to a local hotel that was doing a buffet. It sucked, I hated the whole thing, so I started having Thanksgiving at our house. I stayed very busy, passed out at night from all the work and never had time to think. This year Gerry's dad wanted to have us over to their house. That gave me a three hour ride there and back to think. Bad, bad, bad. We were talking about memories that traumatize kids, why on earth did we have to go there. And then like a tsunami it came at me. Holiday childhood memories for me are the worst. The unpredictability, the not knowing if dinner would be ruined, if Christmas would be ruined, would there be yelling, would my dad even come home...... all of that bottled up anxiety from childhood floods in with a wave of nausea and a lump in my throat that won't go away and there I sit while everyone is having a perfectly normal time, with all of this shit flooding at me. It's horrible and there is no way I can explain what I'm going through. You only understand it if you have been there. This never goes away. I live with the symptoms of ACOA every day, have to deal with things I learned as a child for coping that I don't really need now, but they won't go away. But the holidays are the very worst. They trigger memories so strongly and it always baffles me that I can't remember things like a Thanksgiving with my parents or what I did in fourth grade (I can't remember one single day of that year, but I do recall third grade and fifth grade, wtf?)

I have Wesley home and I feel like I am scratching and clawing to keep from falling down into that abyss where I go sometimes. So I stayed up after everyone went to bed, to write this, get it out of my system, so that tomorrow I can be happy and go sell some pottery without running off customers with my gloom and I can be a good mom, so that my daughter will remember Thanksgiving and not have some fucked up coping mechanism to have to deal with when she is my age! I just want to go to bed, pull the quilts over my head and get up on New Years day. I love New Year's day, but man, you can have Thanksgiving and Christmas, it's just tooooo much!

This is quite a forlorn post, I know, when everyone is giving thanks and loving their brothers and sisters and families and nearly comatose from the meals they had. But it wasn't that great for me, I was just an unamused observer at another families meal with my own demons pestering me. I'll be fine, I have so much to be thankful for, I have a great family and tomorrow will be fun at the CDCG show. However, I did have butterflies all day on Wednesday setting up. I just don't know how this will go. I know I don't have enough work, but it is the best work I have and I was really proud of it once it was all set up in my booth. I only hope the people that were not there yet to set up on either side of me don't knock my stuff over while they set up. This happened earlier in the day before I was set up. Half the pipe and drape aisle came down. I left my booth set up so if I go in tomorrow and things have been smashed, I'm just getting in my car and coming home! What an emotional week. Do other people go through this, or am I the only one possessed here ?!??!!

peace ya'll, come see me this weekend if you are around!!!!!!

Pricing, packing and last minute details

2011-11-22T13:25:00.000-08:00

I'm loving this little girl, how sweet is that face!
My studio looks like Santa's workshop right now, with last minute details to glue and sand and file, and price. My car is all packed and I am ready to head to Raleigh tomorrow for set up. Very tired!
Surprise, look at me, I made the local newspaper!
Surprise, look at me, I got rejected for the Emerging Artist Grant from the Durham Arts Council. I give up on this fucking thing. I think this is the fourth year I have been turned down and I'm really not sure how long I can be considered "emerging" as an artist!

So just when you start feeling like your shite don't stink, you get a smack down. Probably a good thing, keeps my head on straight!!
and so because I was tired and had an ego up and down kind of day, I had some Reese's Puffs in one of my very favorite bowls. Can you guess who's?

I'm ready for the show, ready to get it over with. I have no earthly idea what to expect. Probably my last post until after Thanksgiving sometime, Wesley comes home tomorrow and then we eat seared animal flesh on Thursday, show starts on Friday. I'll be back!

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you, have a great time with your families

xoxo

Kudos to you bloggers!!!!!

2011-11-21T16:53:00.000-08:00

First of all I wanted to give a big shout out to all of you that expressed your opinions here on my blog, (and emails) and had the balls to say what you thought, whether or not I agree with you, I respect you for voicing your opinion and not telling me that you were unsubscribing to my blog because you didn't agree with me! So I lost a reader, oh well. As long as I don't lose my friends I'll probably get through the day :) Anyway, those of you that I did not agree with, you at least made me think and see things from another point of view and I like that. So, kudos to all of you.

NOW! Let's move on. I'll be in Raleigh Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Carolina Designer Craftsmen show. I have lots of really nice things, the kiln I unloaded today was perfect, only one little tiny crack in a roof but it just gives it a little character. Tonight I made some small wall hangings with recycled barn wood and I used those porcelain insulators that you find on electric fences along with some house profiles. They are so awesome! I'll try to get some photos tomorrow. And I have a fun surprise to show you :)

Thanks again for having very interesting minds, you guys! I love it!!!!!!

But how do you really feel....

2011-11-20T13:22:00.001-08:00

This reminds me of the scene from Citizen Kane when they pan over his belongings and at first it looks like NY. I loved that scene! Bye bye my babies, today this all gets priced and packed for the CDCG show next weekend. I hope I have enough, I hope I sell it all, I hope I sell something. My head is about to explode and then I had to start that fuss with my last blog. What is wrong with me. I really appreciate your comments, although it was quite unexpected. I guess I should have known better. What is it with you bloggers, you come over here to say what you really think :)

I really do appreciate that actually and I enjoyed reading your comments, I did get pissed at a few of you for about a minute, but you have a right to your opinion and I respect the fact that you felt open enough here on my blog to say what you think. Thanks for that! I'm not that pissed, but I still don't like that damn pepper spray. Better keep it away from my girl :)

Have a great week everyone, listen for the screams from Chapel Hill if I open my kiln in the morning to blown up barns. I may take the pepper spray to a certain Olympic kiln I know haha!

peace ya'll

be nice to someone tomorrow that you don't know :)

Do you look in the mirror and like what you see

2011-11-20T05:49:00.001-08:00

How did this man face himself this morning? I just want to cry when I look at this photo.

Chancellor’s office (530) 752-2065

UC Davis police (530) 752-1727

The officer who pulled out the pepper spray was Lieutenant John Pike. 530-752-3989

Pepper Spray incident

2011-11-19T20:16:00.000-08:00

I just can't get my head around this. My daughter is a college student and if police came on to her campus and sprayed her like this, I would come unglued. This blog would be getting posted from a jail cell!

I want to believe that police officers are out there to protect me, and I try hard to respect the job they do, but what kind of training are these guys getting to be able to look a CHILD in the face and spray pepper spray at them without even blinking an eye. This fucker was spraying at these kids as if he were spraying bug spray!!!! What would this officer do if he saw his child being treated this way? I am so disturbed by this incident I don't know what to do!

Chancellor’s office (530) 752-2065

UC Davis police (530) 752-1727

The officer who pulled out the pepper spray was Lieutenant John Pike. 530-752-3989

Finding my way

2011-11-19T16:26:00.000-08:00

Just a few years ago, I shared a booth at the Clayworks Guild holiday show with my friend Teresa Pietsch. I was making functional pottery, firing cone 10 at Claymakers, using the studio glazes. I also had some horrid blue slip earthenware and some cute little planters that I put pansies in, I was going through a Vietri wanna be stage. Basically I was looking for what would sell. I sold very little in fact. Bless Deb Harris for buying a cup from me, she made my day that day! The work was ok, not great, not me. I was using the resources I had available, studio glazes, wheels, kilns, and my work looked like it was being made in a community studio. I'm thinking back to this, because today my friend Laura and I went over to Raleigh to the craft fair at Pullen Craft center. Our friend Barbara McKenzie teaches there and we went to support her. Barbara has been my friend and teacher and mentor since I moved to Chapel Hill. There was a LOT of pottery there, all similar, all had that community studio look (not Barbara's, her work is fabulous). There were some nice things but there was a lot of work that reminded me of what I used to do. It really showed me how far I have come, and on the way home this evening, I realized how hard I have been working to get where I am right now. My work is still evolving and I have so much more I want to do, but I like where I am, I like what I'm making. I think it took getting out of that community studio atmosphere to find my true voice and find the thing I loved to make.

I was not proud of the work I had at that sale that year and I did a couple of other sales with less than wonderful work, but people started buying more of it, so I was encouraged to keep on. I am proud of the work I will have next week at CDCG. I won't have beautiful functional pottery like a lot of artists there, but I will have pieces that make me smile, and pieces that speak to me. These are pieces that I have worked on for months, an evolution of a new voice I hear.

Maybe they will speak to you. Come see me!

ps: Sorry I didn't make it down to Seagrove, but I was thinking about all of you and hope you had a great day!

Last day with clay

2011-11-18T15:42:00.001-08:00

Here is one of the coil pots I was talking about. The other photo was blurry, not sure what's up with my camera. It doesn't want to focus on these black pots. I really enjoyed the process of making this pot. I remember making it during a time when I needed to slow down and think and it was a really calming process. I want to come back to these next year.

Today was my last day to make things maybe until next year.... I'll be at the CDCG show next week and I'll have the studio tour for the first two weekends of December. There is no way I'm making anything during the tour. And then Wesley comes home from school for winter break and then it's Christmas, so I'm not sure how I'll get any pottery making done. I think I have enough work. I've been hoarding everything I've made for the past three months. Today, I cleaned everything and sorted what's going where. I'll fire my kiln Sunday and then one more raku firing and that's it until 2012. My plan is to start back to work in January. I have lots of new ideas and sketches, so we'll see what the new year brings.

What is waiting for you?

2011-11-18T05:23:00.000-08:00

Now looking through the slanting light

of the early morning window

toward the mountain presence

of everything that can be

what urgency calls you to your one love?

What shape waits in the seed of you

to grow and spread its branches

against a future sky?

--- David Whyte

http://donnawatsonart.blogspot.com/

What's up with ornaments?

2011-11-16T15:49:00.000-08:00

I've been reading comments and blogs all week about the evils of ornaments. I'm sure if you plow through my verrrry long blog, you might find me complaining about them as well. But this year, I'm digging them. I'm only making these stars which I can never make enough of, they sell so fast and this year I made them very thin and they have turned out so pretty. So what's wrong with making ornaments? I love Christmas ornaments. Whenever we travel I always find a shop that has ornaments and buy one as a souvenir of our trip. This year I bought a little boat in Boothbay Maine. I also have a boat from St. Michaels, on the eastern shore of Maryland, that I bought when we were there for a wedding when Wes was 8 weeks old. It always reminds me of that trip and I always say "why were we in Maryland with an 8 week old baby!" I have a beautiful ornament I bought in Montreal when Gerry was there covering the World Swimming Championships. a maple leaf from Alberta, and so many others. Gerry and Wesley usually get me a Hallmark collectible ornament, I have the Jetsons lunch box and thermos, so tiny and adorable. One year I got the crate with the leg lamp from the movie A Christmas Story. Gerry's brother has lived all over the middle east and Asia and we have ornaments from many places there. I have hand made ornaments that friends have made for me, and some I made. So many great memories in these little things that I only get out once a year. So if someone likes my ornament and buys it, they will get it out each year at Christmas and what memory will they have from that purchase I wonder?
As promised for my raku pals, here is a good turquoise recipe. The one I was using has decided it no longer wants to work so I tried this one with pretty good results. If you leave it in the can for a long time you get beautiful reduction effects. Lots of golds. I was going to give you another recipe I tried but it looked like crap so I'll not bother!

Peacock:

Gerstley Borate 40

Neph Sy 13

Silica 13

Lithium 13

add

copper carbonate 3
Isn't she sweet? She is on a barn that I attached to some of the barn wood I got. I just love that little face :)

You may or may not remember some coil pots I made not too long ago. I finally got around to firing them, but the photos I shot were so blurry, then it got dark. I'll shoot them again tomorrow, I'm interested to see what you think. I love them and want to make more, but they are plain and simple.

Raku ornaments and old barns

2011-11-15T17:34:00.000-08:00

I started the day off with organic oatmeal with flaxseed and brown sugar in my beautiful Hollis Engley bowl. Then I went out and raku fired a bunch of ornaments. Yes I said raku and ornament in the same sentence! And they turned out beautifully, I like them, and I will sell them and send the money to Wesley at school.

I was too tired to shoot any proper photos, but I'll put some up soon. And for all of my raku pals, I have a new turquoise glaze recipe for you. I'm also too tired to write a more serious post, but I feel one working itself up, I just need to be more awake.....
Yesterday I went back to the barns and got some more tin and wood and I picked up a rusty toolbox full of rusty square nails. It was like what most girls must feel like when they shop at the mall! Can you believe this green tin? I can't wait to use it and I have plans for these old tool handles. I have so many sketches and so many things I want to make, just don't have time for experiments right now.
Yes, I will store this properly when I get some time....
My little studio looks so happy tucked in the woods. I built it in March when there were no leaves on the trees and I have seen three seasons in it now. I wonder how winter will be. Winter may be in my upstairs art room making something else! Gerry has put up weather stripping for me, caulked all of the gaps and finished framing the outside overhangs. It's as tight as it can get except for insulation, I'll get to that in January when there aren't a bunch of breakables in there. I'm still making stuff and there are lots of things that are crossed out on my to do list, but it is a very long list......

Tinariwen

2011-11-13T22:04:00.000-08:00

I just don't even know what to say about this band! I saw them tonight at the Cat's Cradle with my good pal Laura. The last time I was there for a concert, my kid was on the stage playing with her band and tonight she was crewing on a set at film school. What a change in just a few short months. I called her from the parking lot after the concert and sat there talking to her for about 45 minutes. Wish she could have been with us tonight, but Laura and I danced our asses off. If you EVER have the chance to see this band GO!

One of THE BEST concerts I have been to, and I have been to a lot of them! It was like a spiritual experience or something, I have never seen a band like this. Thanks for getting the tickets Laura!!!!!!! It's 1:00 am and I have no idea when I will ever fall asleep......

Bourbon Virgin

2011-11-12T15:54:00.001-08:00

My pal Laura had some friends over today to eat up her mosaic supplies with whatever we wanted to bring. We had lots of great food, good music, good conversation, and I tried Bourbon for the first time. It's probably the only form of alcohol I haven't had, I think I like it. It's warm and fuzzy just like my friends :) check out our toast in the cups Laura won on Rae Dunn's blog. They are soooo cute and she has some on her blog today. What a coincidence!

I also picked up shelves and pedestals from my other bestest friend Susan. I'll show you those when I set them up at the CDCG show. Do I have the very best friends or what! Pizza, art, bourbon and a show booth all in one day!

I know, I know, I have soooooooo much work still to do, and I told Laura I would just stop by after picking up the show booth from Susan, but she had a pot already for me and I have never tried mosaic before, so I did one little pot before I needed to head home. Unfortunately there was the bourbon and the great pizza and the quiche, so that all required a nap when I got home, and then I made a pot of italian soup with italian sausage and then it got dark, then Gerry got home..... I'll have to work extra on Sunday!

Discount tickets

2011-11-11T15:21:00.001-08:00

The Carolina Designer Craftsmen show is offering a special on tickets for the Thanksgiving weekend show in Raleigh:

get 2-for-1 tickets (daily and weekend) on Groupon, now through next Friday, November 18th by going to:http://www.groupon.com/deals/carolina-designer-craftsmen-guild?c=dnb&p=4

Get your tickets and come see me. I'll have these barns there and lots more (I hope) !!

To Do:

2011-11-11T04:39:00.001-08:00

Happy 11-11-11 !!

Lots to do today, the photographer from the News and Observer is coming out and I have a very long To Do list. I made one last night!

I go to bed, lay there forever going over my mental list of things to do, toss around for hours, finally fall asleep around 2 or 3am then the neighbors rooster crows at 5am, and I start the mental list again until I get up around 7 or 7:30am. Not much sleep going on and some days I really feel it. Lack of energy, lack of motivation. Maybe once a week I will take a Tylenol pm, just to get at least one night of sleep.

Last night, I started that list as soon as I got in bed and I knew what was coming. I got up, found my clip board and started writing down all that I still need to do. What do you know.... I fell asleep by, I think, 10pm and woke up at 6am.....wow, no list in my head last night or this morning, it was all on paper. I like this!

I was just messing around with some of the scraps of wood I have from the barns and these little houses. These will be great for a less costly item that isn't a pendant or an ornament. I'm digging the mixed media, it gives me just one more creative outlet and keeps me from getting bored with the production aspect of work.

UNC TV did a story last night on the Carolina Designer Craftsmen show. I'm really worried that I don't have enough work and I'm a bit intimidated by the list of artists this year. My booth is on the same aisle with Gay Smith and Jennifer Mecca, talk about trying to measure up! Oh well, it is what it is, I'm doing the best I know how, as my friend Meredith so wisely puts it :)

Mingei

2011-11-09T19:14:00.000-08:00

Yanagi explains the concept of mingei in his seminal work, The Unknown Craftsman:

It is my belief that while the high level of culture of any country can be found in its fine arts, it is also vital that we should be able to examine and enjoy the proofs of the culture of the great mass of the people, which we call folk art. The former are made by a few for the few, but the latter, made by the many for many, are a truer test. The quality of the life of the people of that country as a whole can best be judged by the folkcrafts.

The Unknown Craftsman - A Japanese Insight into Beauty, Sōetsu Yanagi, Kodansha International, New York, 1989

This is sort of a reaction to a post Ron had today on his blog. I just don't know about all this pottery snobbery. I love raku, I love cookie cutter ornaments, I love apple bakers, I love the old time blue Seagrove pottery. I even like those chicken bakers where you put a can of beer up a chicken's butt. I also love shino, and crusty wood fired tea bowls, and crawly glazes. I love it because it's CLAY and someone lovingly made it! Let's all make some ornaments, people got trees to decorate :)

Barns as Narrative

2011-11-08T09:27:00.001-08:00

I have this very fortunate luck to meet people along my journey that inspire me, make me laugh, make me take a good long look at myself, or just offer words of comfort when I need them. Many of them are bloggers that post here, one is my child, who lent me the words to her song Deep Water, for my latest barn, and of course there is Gerry, who inspires me every day with the work he does, the talent he has with a camera. I recently met a very talented fiber artist, Candace Thomas, who I mentioned in a previous blog. She called me this week and we talked forever about her work and my work, and the things I speak to with my barns and the narratives that they are becoming. And then today Diane Daniel interviewed me for a piece in the Raleigh News and Observer. She asked some very insightful questions and made observations about my work from a writers point of view. Most of the people that I have interaction with regarding my work are other artists, lots of potters, and the general public that is buying my art. The outdoor festival is an interaction I'll pass on right now or I will write a whole other post. My point is, Diane asked some questions that most people do not ask and it really helped me to see my work from a new point of view, and I had to grab my sketchbook as soon I hung up the phone so that I could get some new ideas down on paper. I also got an email from a friend that is having a rough time right now, and she really puts into perspective the role our families play in our lives and how important they are, but what a drain they can be on creating our work. Such a fine balancing act all of us as artists juggle every day.
I feel so blessed to have these people come in and out of my life, it makes life rich and textured and adds so many layers, just like a work of art, isn't it? Thanks to all of you that check in on my blog, that leave comments, that send me wonderful emails, some that make me laugh, some that bring tears, but always add another layer to my life!!!!!

I want my barns to tell these stories, reflect the layers of my life and my experiences. I'm getting there, I have come so far with them in such a short time, but still they evolve and grow just as we do.

peace ya'll !!!!

Peaceful start to the week

2011-11-07T06:51:00.000-08:00

Wesley called Saturday and asked if we wanted to come up and go to the mountains on Sunday. Well, heck yeah, what else have I got to do, except make about a hundred more pieces of pottery!

So, we picked her up, grabbed some sandwiches, and drove up to Pilot Mountain which is only about a 30 minute drive from her school. Did I mention I love this child? She actually wanted to spend her one free day in the mountains with her mom and dad! So what could we do, but show her a fun time. We had a great hike (kicked my ass) Gerry got to do a little bouldering, I put Sassafrass leaves in my hair, and Wesley has lots of great new things to write about if she ever has to write a comedy! We drove back to town and found a great coffee shop called Kranky's, had some amazing chai, then took her to dinner and dropped her off for her mandatory Sunday night film screening. It was a fun, spontaneous day, the weather was cooperating beautifully, we laughed, we told stories, we talked about her writing, had great food, and we might have seen a UFO on the way home. Did anyone see a star that seemed to appear and then drop straight down to the ground last night? WE did :)

Looks like a good weather week and my last week to make things before multiple kiln firings next week and then the show drama begins.

Peace ya'll

xoxo

Don't Frack with NC

2011-11-06T04:56:00.000-08:00

Gerry told me today that he was with members of the news media yesterday and mentioned fracking and none of them even knew what he was talking about! He has also proposed a video story to the AP and got no response. When are we going to wake up? After we blow up the whole planet!?!?! Oklahoma has gone from an average of 50 earthquakes to 1000 this year!! And guess where there is a lot of fracking going on....

Read this:

In a surprising turn of events, Cuadrilla Resources, a British energy company, recently admitted that its hydraulic fracturing operations "likely" caused an earthquake in England. Predictably, this news quickly sent a shockwave through the U.K., the oil and natural gas industries, and the environmental activist community. And it certainly feeds plenty of speculation that the same phenomenon could be occurring elsewhere.

Speculation that would be well-founded, evidently. Right on the heels of Cuadrilla's announcement, news is spreading that the United States Geological Survey has released a report (pdf) that links a series of earthquakes in Oklahoma last January to a fracking operation underway there. Evidently, a resident reported feeling some minor earthquakes, spurring the USGS to investigate. They found that some 50 small earthquakes had indeed been registered, ranging in magnitude from 1.0 to 2.8. The bulk of these occurred within 2.1 miles of Eola Field, a fracking operation in southern Garvin County.

The U.S.G.S. determined that "from the character of the seismic recordings indicate that they are both shallow and unique."

From the report:

Our analysis showed that shortly after hydraulic fracturing began small earthquakes started occurring, and more than 50 were identified, of which 43 were large enough to be located. Most of these earthquakes occurred within a 24 hour period after hydraulic fracturing operations had ceased. There have been previous cases where seismologists have suggested a link between hydraulic fracturing and earthquakes, but data was limited, so drawing a definitive conclusion was not possible for these cases

Raise your hand

2011-11-04T15:28:00.001-07:00

Raise your hand if you worked in your studio today from 9am to 6pm, washed three loads of clothes, fed the dog and cat,washed a couple of sink fulls of dishes, fixed dinner, drank a beer, and collapsed on the sofa?

I did. I was going to go over to the artwalk in Raleigh tonight but I'm not even sure I can walk upstairs to take a shower right now! I threw some lanterns on the wheel today, made some more sheep that I can't keep in stock, made three barns, and rolled out a bunch of slabs for tomorrow. I am in overdrive right now to make sure I have enough for upcoming shows.
I had an email from someone today asking about firing pendants and beads. The best thing I have found is this, one of my friends actually made these for me when we did the raku workshop here. They work really well and have held up great. They are just a thick column of clay with high temp wire stuck in while the clay is still wet, Then a handle is added on top for lifting out of the kiln with tongs (I use these for raku).
I also use baskets with holes for added reduction, although I don't like this as well, the backs of the pieces can end up with dots on them. If you have a better idea let us know. I have seen the metal square contraption thing online but I can't figure out how to make it. The bead trees you can buy from ceramic supply companies don't work for raku, they don't hold up to the thermal shock. Mine are cheap and easy to make. If you have recycled clay laying around use that!

For all of those doing the artwalk tonight, best of luck, sorry I couldn't make it, I'll be in bed soon :)

New favorite tools, new favorite houses

2011-11-03T18:26:00.000-07:00

I got these new rubber tipped tools at the art supply store last week. I'm using them to try and seal the seams better on my barns and they appear to be doing what I thought they would do. I can really tell a difference in the seal at the seams of my slabs. We'll see with the next firing. I like these tools, they are comfortable to use and very efficient. I can also use them for some detail work and clean up around edges of holes and letters and things like that.

I made these houses after reading about the construction of slave quarters on the rice plantations in South Carolina. The art library at UNC has an amazing collection of books on slavery in the south. The African craftsmen made these houses out of clay and then later wood. Many of the large plantation homes are long gone while these well constructed little structures still stand. I love the thought of that. I love the way they are placed all in a line, the way they look so plain but yet they look so interesting. I can't get these little houses out of my head, and I am going to keep working on them until they say what I want them to. I think about the people that lived in these places. I imagine them being almost empty except for the necessary things. I think about the conversations that must have taken place in the nights by the fire after a hard day of work, I think about the fear that lived in these places. But, I also think that there had to be happy moments too, times filled with songs, story telling, sewing, hopefully some laughter. I want to celebrate the lives that lived in these spaces. And so I will keep working until I get where I want to go with them....

I found this one statement I read interesting. I love that they thought of pottery as an essential item!

Everything that most slaves "owned" could probably be put in a small pile. The archaeological evidence suggests the emphasis was always placed on "essential" items, such as pottery. "Non-essential" items, such as decorative objects, are so uncommon they must have been treasured by the slave community.

Sneak Peek

2011-11-02T17:08:00.000-07:00

Here's what I'm up to, I'll tell you more about what's going on later, I'm tired!

credit: song by Wesley Broome and Daniel Fields

No Production work here....

2011-11-01T17:07:00.000-07:00

The sun was so beautiful coming in my studio windows today. This piece is finished and I am going to have a hard time saying goodbye. It makes me smile. I added a tin roof and then I smiled even more..... oh please October, don't go away. What an amazing month October is! Everything is bright, golden, warm without the humidity, and there is lots of chocolate and candy corn! For the first time in 18 years, I crawled under my down quilt and ignored Halloween, my costume mate is not here. But my other mate is here and in the great spirit of Halloween he hid a severed (fake) hand in bed last night for me to find. My heart stopped for a second and then I loved that he did that for me!!!! So this morning I hid it in the microwave for him!

I went out to my studio today and cut out pieces with my mind set to make six houses before the end of the day. I was speeding through the first one so I could get them all done, and then... wait a minute..... what am I doing? Don't I make these because I enjoy the process of making them? Why am I rushing this? I'm not enjoying this..... so I slowed it down, took my time, thought about what I was doing, enjoyed what I was doing, thought about the people in my life, the warm sun, ahhhhh, there, all better again! Except I only got two made instead of six. Oh well, I'm going to have a shit load of people show up on the studio tour and I'm going to say, well, I'll take your order and slowly get one made for you :) I'm doing the best I can here....

Thanks, Gerry for putting up with this and having a real job, xoxo.

Maybe I'm not invisible after all!

2011-10-31T15:15:00.000-07:00

First of all I want to say a great big thank you to everyone for your comments on the last post, and to those of you who chose to email instead. You all made me feel warm and fuzzy and loved!! I thank you from the bottom of my heart!! I love my bloggers!
The very charming Bill Wilcox, with the Chatham Journal came out today to interview me for a story they are doing on the Chatham Artists Studio tour. I can only hope that my mindless prattle made some sort of sense! Just before Bill got here, the Raleigh News and Observer called to see if they could interview me next week and send a photographer. Well, this is fun! I go from being invisible to galleries, to being interviewed by two reporters in one day, haha, take that you bad mannered people, you!
And last of all a great big hug and shout out to my handsome and talented husband for shooting these photos today! My pal Laura had a photographer come out to her studio and shoot some pics of her a while back and I really liked that idea, so Gerry agreed to shoot some photos for me. I love what he did. He is such a pro. He spent so much time lighting things and working with me, it felt like a photo shoot for a magazine or something. I think he did a great job, don't you!? and on his day off too!

I think I will do a new blog header with some of them.

Lots of good things out of the kiln, just need a chance to get their pictures made! I'll get some posted soon..... peace ya'll xoxo

Am I invisible?

2011-10-29T09:56:00.000-07:00

Time to bring all of the plants indoors, and my house now looks like a jungle! It got cold yesterday after the beautiful week we had and today is a cold wet day, I'm firing the kiln and drinking lots of warm tea. Also cleaning my house, which may be the last cleaning it gets until mid December. Scary I know, but I can't do it all and I have quit trying. Right now there is clay, that's all....... I can fit in time for Gerry, time for Wesley, time for my friends, but I can't fit in grocery shopping and cleaning and laundry. It will just get done when it gets done, that's all I can promise.

I have something that has been on my mind and it won't go away. I find that if I purge it all here on my blog it goes away and I feel so much better. So, I may regret this later, but I'm just going to say it anyway. It's my blog and I'm over 50 so I have excuses for my behavior :)

This began a while back when I stopped by a gallery in a nearby town to drop off some postcards and ask if I could show them some of my work. Without ever even looking up from her computer screen the gallery owner said sure, she would be glad to take a look at my work, never really acknowledging that I was actually standing right there in front of her. I found this behavior offensive, impolite and it made me feel extremely insignificant. Now, you know how artists are with self doubt when it comes to our work. I mean, I have all the self confidence in the world. I am not too bad looking, I am mostly a nice person, I will treat you right if you treat me right, sometimes I even brush my hair, I have a great family, I basically like my life and what I have done with it (for the most part). But I am an artist, and I do question my work from time to time, because there is so much great art out there to compare myself to, and one has to be careful, because when you start comparing yourself to others you walk on treacherous ground. So, when a gallery owner barely acknowledges you when you are standing right in front of them, here comes the doubt monster. So that happened and then she turned me down after all, stating that I was over represented, big fat lie there!

So then other things happened. I applied to Frank, the local "it for the moment" gallery. I got turned down. Yesterday, I was in there with a friend of mine, and there is a bunch of work in there that causes my eyebrow to raise and causes me to make faces, and I KNOW my work is better than a lot of work in there, so I say to myself WTF? and then we go into a local museum store across the street. This gallery buyer also said to me when replying to an email inquiry, "sure, please stop by any time and introduce yourself, we look forward to working with local artists". Soooo, I did stop by to introduce myself and this very same woman told me she did not have time for me, and that was the end of the conversation. Very impolite, again, feeling pretty insignificant here. And then yesterday, the cherry got put on top, so to speak. My friend and I went in. This woman appeared to basically develop a crush on my friend and actually interrupted a conversation my friend and I were having. She followed her around the store, it got weird, because my presence was never acknowledged at all. She said not one word to me.

So this leads me to wonder, do I become invisible from time to time, and I don't know that I have this magical power?

I know my work is fine for galleries, I sold both pieces last year in the very wonderful American Craft Today show at the very wonderful Bascom gallery, my work sold in the NC Landscape show at the VAE gallery, I sold a bunch of work at my solo show at the NC Craft gallery and I continue to get checks from them and the Bascom for work they have. I have decided that I want to sell to galleries and step away from the outdoor shows I have been doing. I would just as soon pay the commission to the galleries as pay booth fees and waste my day at these idiotic food fests. But, I don't want to work with assholes, so after Christmas I plan to start looking for charming, kind and artist friendly gallery owners and see if they want my work. There are some out there and I would love to work with them. Sara at the NC Craft gallery is one of the great ones. After I sent an inquiry to Crimson Laurel gallery recently I got a very warm and professional email reply and I hope to see them sometime in the new year. And there are others, so if I survive the CDCG show and the Chatham Studio tour, I am going gallery hunting with some new work I have in mind. That's the plan, and I'll take off the invisibility cloak when I go see them :)

nature's treasure

2011-10-28T15:22:00.000-07:00

Hornet's nests, old bottles, rusted tools, seed pods, these are the things I love. All abandoned by their former owners, and left for me to find and give new life. Finding them on a golden fall day in old abandoned barns makes it even better. I have brought things like this home with me for as long as I can remember. I now have a house full of bones, shells, skulls, antlers, wood, bottles, tools, tin, if it's old and rusty, I will pick it up.
I stood in this barn yesterday on a perfect golden fall day, warm sunshine, breeze blowing with a hint that colder air was coming, and I wondered about the family that lived here and farmed here. There were fig trees, persimmon trees, peonies, queen anne's lace, deer, birds and other little things skittering in the tall grass and in the meadow, and then I wondered at the mentality of those that would bulldoze all of this to lay down pavement and build a church. I know there has got to be enough churches here in the south. You can barely drive a block without passing one. Nothing against churches, but shouldn't we be preserving some of this beautiful pasture land we have and do without a little less brick and mortar?
Some days I want to lay down and just cry at the stupidity of the human race in general. Why don't we have more appreciation for the land and our water and less love for money?
At least some of the farm will be reused in my work and I will tell the people that buy my work where this beautiful wood came from and about the day I had when I went to get it......

Barn wood

2011-10-27T10:37:00.001-07:00

These barns are near my house and every now and then when I need something rusty for a piece I will ride over there and plunder through the rubble to see what treasures I can find. I have never felt comfortable taking any of the wood or anything that looked like it could belong to someone, but the land was for sale forever and there was never anyone around. I didn't think anyone would care if I took some rusty hinges and broken tools.
This week a new friend of mine, Roger Dinger, emailed me and said he was going to be reclaiming some barn wood near my house and did I want to come along. Heck Yeah! Roger builds furniture, mirrors, and other great things from old barn wood, his work is beautiful.
So I met him around 8:30 this morning and we ripped boards off of the barns and I now have quite a collection of old wood. I'm hoping to start using some of it in my work. I'm also thinking that some of it will be nice to build a show booth with......
This is a gorgeous piece of property, wish it was mine. A church just bought it so soon there will be a big old church and a parking lot on this beautiful piece of land. I guess it's God's land, but can't it just be a nice pasture?

Happy Birthday Gerry!

2011-10-25T12:53:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned earlier, I went with Gerry to Hanging Rock State Park last Friday, he worked, I took pictures of him working. I used to go with him on assignments a lot, then Wesley came along, and I stayed home. Now that she is in college, I have more time for things like this. I love watching Gerry work and it was fun to be with him back at the home crags, where we used to climb at least once a week, sometimes more. No climbing this day, just work, but it was still nice to be together.

Wesley wrote the song that's playing, this past summer. I thought it went well with the day we had.

Happy Birthday Gerry, I love you!!

Busy weekend, busy week ahead

2011-10-24T15:53:00.000-07:00

It's been a crazy weekend, and life is getting in the way of me making work that I REALLY need to be making right now! Friday, Gerry went to Hanging Rock State Park to shoot a fall package for AP, so I went along (instead of staying home and working like I should have), but we were able to stop on the way home and have dinner with Wesley at school, which would you choose, a day in the mountains and then dinner with your kid, or clay? Tough choice, huh!
Saturday I was at the fun filled fall festival in Pittsboro, you heard about that, and then Sunday
I went to the closing show of One Flea Spare, which was great, and then we tore down the set, packed up the props and said goodbye. For some reason, I completely forgot to get photos of the set before we ripped it apart. It was really dark in the theater, so the pics would have been pretty blurry anyway.
This was the floor of the set. The set rotated during the play to show the interior or the exterior of the house, it was pretty cool.

Today Gerry and I finished enclosing the roof on my studio, it's been open at the rafters all summer, but winter isn't too far away and I would prefer to keep the cold out as much as possible. Tomorrow I got some stuff to do in Raleigh, and I'm working at the Sustainable Film Series at Fearrington tomorrow night. Wednesday is Gerry's birthday, and a local reporter has asked to come over and do a story on me for the Chatham Artists Tour,Thursday I am going with a new friend of mine to help tear down some barns and collect some old barn wood, that I am hoping to incorporate in some new work, and Friday I have to return props and I'm having lunch with my pal Laura. Guess I'm going to have to work nights this week, my days are already full and it's just Monday! How did this happen again? It seems to happen every week, my week gets full before I know it. Wish I could add some hours to the day, but unfortunately the days are going to grow shorter soon and I'll be working in the dark at 4pm!

What happens when the school budgets cut arts funding

2011-10-22T15:20:00.000-07:00

I had a lovely day yesterday with Gerry. We went to the mountains so he could shoot a fall package for the AP and I rode along. I'll post about that later when I am having a calm moment and can put some of the video together. But for now I thought I would tell you all about my day today. Because many of you have had these very same days, I know you have!
I arrived at the Pittsboro Fall Festival, booth number ten, with some rather nice art and a Chatham Studio Tour banner, because I was mainly there to promote the artists of Chatham County and the upcoming tour. When the set up time says between 7-9am I am getting there at 8:45, because I can set my booth up blindfolded now. Only disadvantage is that everyone else is already set up and eager to sell their shite. Booth number nine had this display all set up and ready to go.... I'm just saying..... she also had a great speech to go along with the work and I now know it by heart: you can use these for strawberries, carrots, put your birdseed in here, wine and cheese parties, add a splash of color to your space, they are all one piece, my husband helps me glue them together, he has a special glue, yes, I'll pack that up for you right now and you can take it and put it in your doublewide (ok that part was mean, but I'm on my third Bud Light, sorry). I also photographed the lady that made spit ball shooters out of pvc, the fairy princess head wreath things, those idiot foam alligator things, the face painted children, you know, you've done this.... I'm not doing it anymore, Done with this world, time to move on, dues have ben paid, thank you very much! Are there any galleries out there that want me, because that's all I'm doing next year, is looking for nice galleries to take my work to, if you want me, I'm yours!

Then I looked across from my space to see this eye popping display of gourmet food items, and I watched the line all day
mid morning
noon
afternoon, it never let up, this guy made a killing today, I did not.
Then there was this poor unfortunate old lady that somehow drove her car through the barricade and was merrily driving her van through a very crowded festival!!!! Until she of course, stopped in front of my booth to figure out her predicament. She was in a pickle! This was hilarious to watch, then the police came and helped her. I stupidly just stood there in my booth saying WTF( except I used my real words).
Please notice that the tour brochures I handed out all day have a photo of MY barns on the cover, yay for moi!!! I was excited and honored, I'm the new guy after all. But I paid my dues today, was this some sort of initiation? I think so.
All in all, the day sucked and the day was great. Weh! There are always those folks you meet that have something interesting to say, they have a bright smile, they have their kids and you can tell they are great parents, they have on a beautiful scarf or piece of jewelry that you can drool over, or they are just nice, sweet people, which the majority of the people that live in NC are including 99% of the folks I met today. But you do get that fringe element that you just want to smack up side the head, and then you remember, oh yeah, the f'ing government is cutting funding to the arts, that's why these people are ignorant!!!!!!

Thanks to all of you sweet people that stopped by today and picked up a card, with my blog address, that you are now checking out, I hope, I appreciate you and your purchases and your kind words about my work. Hope to see you on the tour!!!! Chatham Artists, you owe me big time :)

Cotton and basil

2011-10-19T16:40:00.000-07:00

A while back I made this little house modeled on some of the houses you see along the roads and on the plantations in South Carolina. I knew that I wanted some sort of imagery on it, but didn't know what, until I found this image of cotton pickers. My grandfather was a cotton picker and then worked in a cotton mill in High Point NC for 50 years so I thought this was a fitting image. Still working on where this is all going to go.........

I just read that Michele Obama's great great grandfather grew up as a slave on a rice plantation in Georgetown. There are slave quarters on that property that look a lot like this little house. Maybe I should send Michele one!
I picked all of my basil today before the cold gets it, and made pesto for the freezer. I like the tops of the basil when it has gone to seed, so pretty on my table in my Paul Jessop pitcher from the Clay and Blogs show.

Six weeks

2011-10-18T12:14:00.001-07:00

I have about six weeks to have all the work made that is going to get made for the upcoming shows I have in November and December. I work soooo slow, I'm just not sure how much work I'm going to have for these shows, but whatever I have, I have, it won't be from lack of working!
These little guys turned out so nice. They take a long time to fiddle with and I can't get nearly what they are worth since they are so small, but they will be nice for folks that can just buy a little something. They should be tree ornaments, maybe I'l attach something that they can be hung with...... then they can cost more, right?!

As promised here is a photo of the book I bought from the very inspiring artist Candace Thomas. I have had in the back of my mind a narrative for some of my barns based on slavery in the South and the little slave cabins I used to visit when I lived in SC. My issue with this is that I am a white girl, and although I had my share of childhood trauma, I really have no idea how to get my head around being a slave or a descendant of one. How do I speak to this or own it, when it is not a part of my own past. Except, as Candace pointed out, it really is a part of my past if I lived in the South. It was all around me growing up in the 60's in South Carolina. So maybe I can speak to it, and Candace, as a very brilliant and fierce African American woman gave me some very good advise and suggestions on how to do it. So, it's perking and I'm back to thinking about this subject again, so maybe I have to do something about it. The subject doesn't seem to want to leave my brain. I don't want to get all political and angry with it, I actually want to celebrate the little houses that African Americans lived in and made homes for their families. They sang, they laughed, they made beautiful quilts, they taught their children, they prayed. These homes celebrated lives, just like anyone's home, and this is all jumbled in my head right now.

I'm going to try and work some of this out this week and see where it goes. Nothing like having a huge deadline and experimenting with new subject matter to make your head explode!

Explore Chapel Hill art website

2011-10-17T06:47:00.000-07:00

There is a workshop at Durham Tech in Hillsborough on Wednesday night for a new arts website featuring artists and art events in this area.You can read about the workshop HERE. It looks like they are reaching as far as Alamance and Randolph counties so if you live nearby you might want to check it out. I went to the website last night and spent a couple of hours figuring it out and put up a listing for myself. You can see the page HERE. Listing on this website is a similar format to Etsy, so if you have struggled through the early Etsy days, you can do this. There are only two potters there now, me and Joseph Sand, so come on over and join us! I was going to go to the workshop, but I'm just not into crowds of people with minimal computer skills trying to figure things out, I usually want to smack someone, so I stayed home and fussed with it on my own. It's not that difficult!

Sorry for the screaming session last night, but really I just want to pull myself apart when I watch the news. I feel absolutely helpless. There was a bright spot yesterday, driving to Pittsboro I saw a sign that said NO FRACKING in NC!!! Yeah! People get it!!!!

WTF

2011-10-16T16:22:00.001-07:00

I just heard on 60 Minutes that this country is spending

THREE HUNDRED MILLION DOLLARS A DAY on the war in Afganistan!!!!!!!

This whole damn country ought to stop what they are doing tomorrow and march up to Washington until something is done about this fucked up country and it's greedy sons of bitches, and yes I am yelling this!!!!!!

My friend Laura gave me the skull, isn't it cool!

Perfect fall day at Yart

2011-10-15T16:24:00.000-07:00

Today was one of those glorious southern fall days. Beautiful blue skies, golden leaves and warm temperatures, not too warm , just right. I didn't take my tent today, we had heavy wind and it was much too pretty to be under a tent. Thanks to everyone that came out to Yart today and supported us hard working artists! Thanks to Andria and her family for decorating everything in such a festive way and opening up your home for us. It is a great way to have an art sale.
This is my second year doing Yart, and while my sales were way off from last year, the day was fun. I met some really interesting people, learned a few things, and found myself listening to some people's problems and listening to others who completely inspired me. One such inspiring person was Candace Thomas, textile artist.
Candice makes beautiful art quilts and other textile art, I bought a book from her, I'll get a picture of it when I dig it out of my car. We had a wonderful conversation today about narratives I have in mind for my houses and she gave me much to think about.
Andria Linn opens up her home for this sale every year and invites a wide range of artists, so there is something for everyone. Today we had fiber artists, painters, photographers, glass artists, felt artists, and a potter. The potter sold a lot more $2 items. I'm thinking of opening a new company, Dollar Store Art, everything under $5. Jeez..... At least I sold a bunch of stuff that has cluttered up my studio. All nice stuff, but most of it was all those little things you make when you are procrastinating getting to the big stuff you need to make. You know those days, right? Anyway, everyone loved their purchases and everyone was so nice, what can you do? The economy sucks!
I loved the way this artist displayed these children's hats. They were all in little flower pots. Too cute!
Andria set up a craft station for those that wanted to leave their kids with something to do while they shopped. Brilliant! We also had a potluck brunch/lunch and there was lots of homemade breads, quiche, chili, cookies and even truffles!
The attendance was definitely down this year, but Andria just had a baby, so our fearless leader wasn't there to encourage us to promote the show like she did last year and I just wasn't feeling that well, so I did very little myself. Just goes to show you, it pays to get the word out, it definitely helps! All in all a good day, got a little cash in my pocket and I packed up an empty crate. Lots to think about. I had a big blog post going on in my head driving home, but the hot shower I had washed it all away. I'll try to get those thoughts back when I'm less tired. One such thought is this: please don't fold my beautiful postcards right in front of me. I had postcards printed with one of my alters on the front and I can't tell you how many people stood there and folded the dang thing in half while talking to me, grrrrr!!!

Happy weekend!