Sunset in Toronto

While in Toronto I stayed with my very good friend Disa.  We went to Art school together and since that time (11 years ago now!!) she has moved to Toronto, back to Vancouver, and now to Toronto again last year.  So the first time I visited her, and my very first time in Toronto, she lived near Liberty Village in a beautiful condo just over the tracks from their place now.  They just moved into this new condo and I couldn't help thinking their summer is going to be great.  I loved the proximity to Queens Street West, along with the restaurants and shops near by.

I have a few new pieces available online along with some new work that I dropped off at the Gallery of BC Ceramics yesterday.  I'm taking the afternoons off this week so not a lot will happen in the studio until next week, when I will be back to filling wholesale orders.  It's been a really good break just to focus on the show, making new work and new designs, but I do need to get back to some regular work again. There's also a studio move in the works for me for mid-July, with a few renos needing to take place before I move in.  It's only up the hall from where I am now, but I'll finally, after 5 years of being in this space, have a window.  Yes, a small, little window. 

Creating Texture

 A few weeks ago my niece and her friends came by the studio for a little pottery party to celebrate her 15th birthday.  Before they all arrived I pulled out all my tools for some handbuilding that we were going to do- wooden stamps, rubber stamps, cookie cutters and cutting tools.  I liked how inspiring they all were and started thinking again about how I could bring 'stamped' patterns into my own work. 
It had me thinking back to the work I did in collaboration with my friend Disa MacKay last year.  I don't know that I've posted the final pieces  here, but here's a few of the hand-built with relief patterned vases we made, photographed professionally so that they look really lovely.  The patterns we used were all hand-cut, without using any commercially made stamps.  If I remember correctly, our 'paisley' inspired pieces took the longest and were the most complicated to make. 

Summer memories

We are heading out to Savary Island for a few days for some much needed R&R.  The summer feels like it's just flying by and now that our weather feels summery we want to spend a little time enjoying it before the boys head back to $#*ool (It's a 'bad word' around here this summer:)!
Here are some of the flowers in bloom in our yard right now- so many purples and pinks. The vase is one of the last I have from the collaboration between my friend and designer Disa MacKay, from last year.  And the textile piece is something I got at a thrift store when I was about 18 years old.  It brings up memories of the shed at my parent's place; my sister and I spent one summer completely decorating the inside of it with thrift-store finds and having slumber parties in the loft. I'm hoping we'll make a few summer memories like that for the boys this week! 

A Weekend in Toronto

Well I'm off to Toronto tomorrow for a quick weekend trip- just me, on my own.  It's going to be a great trip and a hard trip all in one.  First off, it's a trip that's been in the works for years.  The whole reason behind the trip is that I am going to visit my great-aunt.  She was a potter for over 30 years, until about 9 years ago when a terrible illness took her zest, her vitality, and her passion from her.  It would be really sad to say that the illness just took her ability to do pottery away, but the illness also took her ability to walk and think and do away as well.  
The last time I saw my Aunt Nettie, she taught me how to throw a really large pot.  She gave me glaze recipes and wedged clay with me in my college clay class.  A few years later she shipped a second-hand wheel to me, along with a bunch of pottery books and a ton of tools. To this day I still use many of the things she sent me- tools that still have her name on them.
Recently my Aunt Nettie has been asking that I come and visit her on the same weekend as her old potter's guild show and sale.  So this coming weekend I'll be attending the Spring Sale at the Waterloo Potter's Guild on behalf of my great-aunt, who can't go herself.  I'll be staying with my dad's cousin and visiting my great-aunt for a couple of days.  It's one of those trips that will be hard and good all at the same time.
On the way to Kitchener, I'll be visiting my good friend Disa in Toronto for a couple of days!  Disa moved to Toronto last spring, and we are really looking forward to catching up.  There are a few studio-related visits and meetings going on while I'm there, so I should have lots to share when I get back.
In the meantime, thank you to those of you who have taken advantage of 15% off my Etsy shop (code SPRING SALE)! The sale is until the end of April: I have a nearly full selection of striped bottle vases in stock if you are interested in those for Mother's Day or Easter!  I'll be shipping all orders that I receive this week out when I get back on Monday, April 18.  

The Disa & Heather Collection coming soon...

The collaboration that I worked on this spring with my friend Disa is finally starting to come out of the kiln.  Introducing the first completed glimpses of our handmade vase collection in Chevron and Lotus.  The last shot is our vases in process, while we were making them. I'll keep you posted on the shop reveal very soon...

leaving home, going home

Back when I transferred into Art School as a 3rd year student, one of my first people I met was Disa.  She was taking both ceramics and painting (just like me) and we instantly connected over similar aesthetics and interests.  That was about 12 years ago now, and despite Disa moving back to her hometown of Toronto and then back to Vancouver to do an intensive Graphic Design program, Disa and I have stayed good friends.  Today she and her partner are headed back to Toronto, this time for good, and as sad as I am to say goodbye, I know that we'll have lots of visits between us still to come. 

Last fall Disa and I started talking about working on a collaborative project that we could do together in my studio before she moved back to Toronto.  We had long conversations late into the night over drinks discussing trends, ideas, product design, and ceramics.  In February we had our first studio session and we did some wheel-throwing, worked on some tiles, and then came up with these slab-built vase forms with our own cut out designs that we pressed/rolled into the clay multiple times to make a pattern.  We both felt like these were the direction we needed to go in for our studio sessions together and our excitement about the vases built.  Working in the studio together on these spurred on the idea of opening an online shop of our collaborative, one of a kind vases.  (Coming soon!)

Today Disa is leaving home and going home all in the same day.  I'm thinking of her as she says goodbye to a city she has lived in for over 10 years.  It's going to feel lonely without her around...

What would I do without you?

There are so many people that make my life really full and wonderful! The past couple of weeks has really proved that for me once again, that I'm not just a solo show, but that my work is inspired and made better by the people around me. Here are just a few of the people I need to thank this week...
First things first, my studio is part of a co-op, so I share 2 kilns with 5 other ceramic artists. Our glaze kiln has been kaput for about a week now and, what can I say, but that we've all been panicking considering THE STUDIO CRAWL IS ONLY 4 DAYS AWAY- Yikes! The week previous, I had enlisted the help of my dear friend Disa, who I went to Art school with, who knows me so well, and who is extremely qualified in the area of ceramics, to come and help me out at the studio for a couple of days. We plowed through glazing 2 kiln-loads of work- some of which got out of the kiln without a hitch, and then some of it, was left waiting for the kiln to be fixed.
Today, the dear Claire from heyday designs in the studio upstairs came by to offer me the use of her kiln while ours was being fixed! Huge! And while all this was happening, Jacqueline, the trooper, was re-wiring and fixing our kiln (a 4 hour job!) so that those who need the kiln this week can actually use it. It's been a team effort- everyone has been attempting to pitch in and help out and what can I say but THANK YOU! Needless to say, thank you gifts are in order. I'm not sure what yet, but this pie from Uprising Breads that Disa and I shared on our lunch break the other day was mighty good tasting...

Lovely pieces from other artists!

This past week I have become the proud owner of some really lovely work from friends! My ABC/123 Poster from Sycamore Street Press arrived last week, and Eva very generously sent me these beautiful spring-time cards along with the Posters! I may have to frame one of the cards when I get to framing the posters, they are so pretty!
Last night I was able to get out to my good friend's Disa and Erin's (& Kelly too) Affordable Art show and bought myself the little silk-screened painting above, which now sits nicely on my mantle beside some other treasures (including my Xenia Taler tile, a gift from Disa!). Lovely!
Hope you have a great weekend, I am currently baking double chocolate chip cookies, am about to throw a home-made pizza in the oven and ready to start mine off right;)

Calling all missing art...

My good friends from former Emily Carr days are doing an affordable art show together this coming thursday, April 2nd at Box Studios, 622 Franklin St. fro 7 until late! I am looking forward to seeing silkscreened prints, paintings and photography from these three: Disa MacKay, Erin Johnson, and Kelly Nairn, all who are incredibly talented and amazing both as artists and graphic designers. And with art starting at $35- $400 I can't wait to take one of these babies home! (I got a sneak preview the other night at Disa's place and I have an idea which one I'll be grabbing first! Architecture and olive green are two combos I can't pass up...)