Post NCECA 2012

La Mesa, Santa Fe Clay

The amazing selection of mugs for sale

A small exhibit of ceramics at Pottery Northwest

The first exhibit we went to at the Kirkland Art Studio

 To say going to my first NCECA was overwhelming was an understatement.  I'm scrolling through the photos I took, wondering how to organize the next week of posts and have decided to create a few 'ceramic crush' posts as a start- just featuring work I saw from ceramic artists that were new to me or people's work I feel that I have a new appreciation for having now seen the work in person.  Ceramics is such a tactile craft and I enjoyed thoroughly the process of being able to touch and feel a lot of amazing pots.  On the other hand, I was really impressed with the level of sculpture and installation ceramics out there- often times this kind of work doesn't resonate quite as strongly with me.  It's astounding at the level of diversity that one medium creates with each person's own hand, skill level and interests, so it was really amazing to see ceramic artists pushing the medium in all directions. 

from start to finish

Thank you all for the well-wishes on my new nephew! So far his little personality is quite laid-back (he is only 2 days old, but it's what everyone hopes for in a 2nd baby)- he has a quiet cry and slept for a 4 hour stint the first night! Can't beat that.   It's so nice when babies are born during the day, so everyone starts out with a good sleep pattern.  Not that you can plan when the birth is going to happen;-)!

Ok, back to business here.  Life over the past couple of weeks has had us in spring break mode, so while I did take a week off (which was so needed), I sent the boys off to my folks' place earlier this week so I could get a day and a half of work done while Dean was away in sunny Toronto and Montreal. I did manage to fit in a glaze firing just before we left- I posted a few pics on facebook and instagram.  I had some good results, but must admit that I was pretty tired trying to glaze this load.  Tired = mistakes, ie not quite getting it all right with really minor but frustrating things wrong.  I'm having a bit of trouble with a few things that seem to creep up on occasion- tiny glaze bubbles forming close to the base of the pot (vases on the bottom shelf- perhaps the wires are going in the kiln and the glaze is under-fired), some dryness to my white glaze in spots (not mixing the glaze enough or run-off of glaze from my 'masked off areas'), and of course- the never-ending finding the correct clay and location in the kiln to use for my satin-matt grey glaze not to form small little bubbles occasionally here and there.

I won't bore you with more details, but when these glaze issues start creeping their way into my work, I find myself wanting to throw in the towel on all my complicated glazing method and simplify things in a big way.  It would be hard to re-invent my work after all this effort was made to create such a signature look, but I find myself envying the 'one-dip-wonders' or the glaze on the inside/ bare clay exterior.  Anyways, we all know that's just not my schtick so I'll just proceed as I've been going along here and hopefully these little things will work themselves out in the next glaze load. 

Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by my blog! I'm off to NCECA later next week so I'm pretty excited about meeting a whole wack of ceramic people.  I'm also going down and staying with a few potters from the city and am looking forward to that.  Lots of clay-shop-talk to come!

I have a lot on my plate

Just to let you know that the last of this small plate series I made last year is available on Etsy here.  It's my favourite of the bunch and hopefully I'll have more time to sort through some of these designs soon again. 

On my plate these days:

-upload the new images from this past November's photoshoot up on my Website

-finish up filming for the small 'how my work gets made' video (almost done!)

-finish up a line sheet for 2012 so I can respond to shop inquiries properly

-finish up tax stuff for 2011

-finish up shop orders for the Gardiner Museum Gift Shop, the Gallery of BC Ceramics, Coal Harbour Florist, and the UBC Botanical Garden Gift Shop...

-plan 2 weeks of Spring Break in the middle of March for my boys

-sort out transportation to NCECA 

-plan/make work for up-coming exhibit with Krystal Speck at bookhou in June

-work on a presentation of my work and process for the Gardiner Museum Gift Shop in June

-plan a studio sale for the spring

-not to mention the obvious pick up boys from school, make dinner, do laundry, plan things around Dean's work schedule etc.

So many exciting things in the works, so little time to make them all happen. 

photo credits: Curtis Hildebrand Photography