Eastside Culture Crawl, November 15-17

Get your culture on Vancouver! It's the Eastside Culture Crawl- where 300+ makers, artists and designers open their studio doors to the public for the weekend of November 15-17.  Please come and support a local economy of makers, be amazed and inspired by the talent we have in this city, and get a glimpse into some of the amazing creative spaces Vancouver has to offer!!

Friday, November 15, 5-10pm
Saturday & Sunday, November 16 & 17, 11am-6pm

dahlhaus studio
965 Vernon Drive
The Mergatroid Building

Featuring new work, with a special 10% off price especially for Crawl visitors!
Also there will be a seconds or sale table with 50% off items!

If you have any questions, please email me at heather@dahlhausart.com!

photo and styling by Tyler Payne  & Francis Chan

Eastside Culture Crawl 2012!

Lots of pots are being pulled out of the kiln for the Eastside Culture Crawl that's happening this coming weekend, November 16, 17 & 18. I will have lots to choose from my floral lines, as well as a great selection of pots with new patterns and designs!  I'm really excited to get my new studio ready for visitors too- it's going to be a great weekend so please do come  by if you are in Vancouver!

The Eastside Culture Crawl is a 3 day studio tour and show taking place on the Eastside of Vancouver.  There is a large map in the insert of the Georgia Straight so grab one when it comes out on Thursday so you know which studios are open.  The beauty of the Crawl is that you are visiting working artists in the studios where they produce work.  There are over 300 artists opening their studio doors for the Crawl weekend- everything from painters and sculptors to jewelry and hand-bag designers, to ceramics, glass and furniture designers.  The whole event is free to attend! It gets quite crowded with parking on Friday night, so you might want to consider taking transit.  The Mergatroid Building (where my studio is) and 1000 Parker St. are the largest studio buildings in the zone, so if you just have a few hours they are great buildings to check out.  Of course, please do come by and say 'hello'- look for the turquoise door on the ground floor of the Mergatroid Building, 965 Vernon Drive.  Hope to see all the local Vancouver people there- it's such a fun event and worth the extra effort to come out!!

Studio sneak peak & Up-coming Crawl

If you've been following me on Instagram (dahlhaus art), you'll know that I've been pretty busy in the making department at the studio.  My first kiln-load of work for my holiday shows goes in on Friday, with 2 more to follow next week- hopefully all just in time for the Eastside Culture Crawl. I've been doing this open studio event for about 5 years now and every year it warms my heart to see people in my studio space checking out what I've been working on in the past year.  I usually get the studio all dolled out (see last year's display here) and bake a few goodies for the opening night, so if you are in the Vancouver area, it's a show you won't want to miss!

The details:  965 Vernon Drive, Friday hours 5-10, Saturday/Sunday 11-6.  For show details, including all the other studios that are open, check out the Crawl website!

From my phone Friday & thoughts on 'handmade'

The family farm

What a great truck

Stirfry with tofu dinner served in one of my low bowls

I love it when the poppies start coming out:)

Hello and thank you all for the warm response on my give-a-way so far! So great to hear all your thoughts on my vases, along with some of your responses to what makes the perfect vase etc.  I really do value your comments and must add a couple of my own- first off that I don't throw out work unless it is completely un-useable.  Most of it comes home with me and fills my own shelves- I usually can't bear to part with my hard-work that easily.  That said, over the course of all my years making ceramics, I'm sure my 'shard pile' is as big as the next ceramic artist's- unfortunately it takes a whole lot of pots that have mistakes on them before you get the good ones out.  However,  I do believe in 1000 years, my shards will be some of the prettier ones that anthropologists will dig up.  That is one of the amazing things about ceramics, I feel.  Pottery and fired clay are some of the oldest forms of art that have been dug up and discovered.  

Also, some thoughts about perfect/imperfections etc.  I do love the 'hand of the artist', ie the hand-made look being present in work, whether it be obvious or not.  A lot of my work has 'imperfections' that I see as unintended accidents that happened along the way.  Some of it is part of the way the work is made and as that, I'm quite comfortable having these 'imperfections' be part of the integrity of the work.  Some things- such as the small pinholes or the glaze looking mottled, are things that I want to avoid.  And while some things are super small and barely noticeable, I feel as though I want to send my best work out there, put my best foot forward, and not my almost best.  Since a lot of these vases are heading to retail places or being sold online, I think people have come to expect a certain level of perfection when purchasing an item in those places as opposed from me in my studio.

A couple of years ago I overheard a comment about my work that made me laugh, be kind of angry, and at the same time, recognize something in my work that I was missing out on. It happened during an open studio event that happens each November- someone was coming out of my studio while I was heading towards the door and said "I think 'so-and-so' would really like that work, except perhaps it looks a little too handmade."  Sometimes I feel like my work really straddles the line between looking handmade and manufactured.  Partly because of my process of cutting out shapes that can be repeated it can be hard for some to know the difference between them being all glazed or having decals as the decoration.  A lot of my early inspiration came not only from abstract paintings I had done, but also from mid-century scandinavian ceramics- which was manufactured.  And since I'm slip-casting some of my work now, it looks even less hand-made then my wheel-thrown work.  All that said, the work sits somewhere in the middle for people- sort of handmade, sort of design-based, and for now I'm ok with that.  Some day perhaps I'll embrace one over the other, but for now I'm making what feels right for me and I'm so glad that people are loving it!

My Monkeys

For those of you who might be a bit new to my blog, I have 2 boys, ages 6 and 8.  They are a lot of fun, are loud and energetic, can be very sweet, occasionally polite, and are frequently goofy.  Above all, they love to laugh.  The little monkeys above are my two boys on either side of the newest member of my side of the family, little Oliver (my nephew).   Already there is a 'cousin bond' forming with these 3 and it is pretty hilarious to watch Oliver wanting to be part of the action!

Oh the excitement of having a slumber party with his cousins! 

Anyways, things are a bit of a juggling act around here this week.  Busy boys, busy studio and all.  This coming weekend kicks off my first show of the season and the list of things to do is pretty long. I won't be blogging as frequently, but I will post the details of the show tomorrow and I will also put a reminder out there that my online shops will be closed from thursday on through the weekend!

Curious Cranes

 For some reason I keep finding myself wanting to take photos of cranes of all kinds.  I even go out of my way to walk over the bridge to take photos of them. Not just any crane, one with the room on top.  Or what looks like a room.  Would they need to sleep in there?  Is it cozy with a bed and a table that might get used during break time?  Is it extra office space or does a whole crew work inside one of these while they build ships or move train bridges around?  Curious. 
I'm currently doing a  painting of the last image- couldn't help myself.  Every time I drove over the bridge and caught a glimpse of it I wanted to paint it. I really loved the curved side and the elevator thing.  Hopefully it will be ready in time for the Eastside Culture Crawl at the end of the month...

Culture Crawl 2009 Pictures!

Thank you to everyone who made it out to this year's annual Culture Crawl!  Despite the bad weather Friday night and Saturday, it was great to see the crowds come out in full force, especially on Sunday. People were able to find me in my 'new' studio building and it was great to see some familiar faces and reconnect with friends! Here are some pictures of the studio transformed for the event...  now it's time to put everything back in it's place and to get back at it for Portobello West next weekend!

Eastside Culture Crawl starts Friday!

http://eastsideculturecrawl.com/map

Please come on out to the Eastside Culture Crawl this weekend if you are in the Greater Vancouver area- you won't be disappointed!  So many studios to visit, so many artists to chat with, and so much to see!  My building is the Mergatroid Building and I'm on the ground floor (965 Vernon Drive) so don't forget to swing by and say 'hello'!  It's going to be a busy one and I'll try to post pictures of the studio in it's completion.  (Today I had our building landlord up on a ladder fixing my lights and putting up a track lighting system for me- which I'm so glad and grateful for, but which put me behind in my set-up a bit:)

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...

November Calender

Clearly we are in the midst of Fall on the Pacific Northwest! We've had such great weather in Vancouver this year, many clear and sunny days and a lot less rain than usual, but I think that's about to change for the season. Today was a really dreary, wet and windy kind of day and with the darker mornings and early darkness by 4:45-5pm, it really feels like November! Ahh- November already!
The Eastside Culture Crawl is really only 2 weeks away (Nov 20, 21 & 23)! It is a 3 day show involving more than 30 studio sites in the Eastside of Vancouver, with over 300 artists in their studios to visit! The show is free and fun and interesting! As an artist it is really great to have the public visit me in the 'comfort' of my own studio. It's great for them to see where I get inspired, along with the space that allows for my work to happen! It is great for me to have hundreds of people walk in my studio door and instantly have the chance to engage with my work. I'm in a new studio this year and hope that it will have a similar vibe and be as interesting for people to visit!
The weekend after the Crawl will be Portobello West's first Holiday Markets (Nov. 28-29)! I always look forward to this show as it feels so festive and is great to get in the holiday mood! I'm always excited about doing my Christmas shopping at this show and I always find just the right gifts for some of those hard to gift people in my life!
So, November, here I come... ready, steady...go!

Red Friday

This is the last day of Poppytalk's Autumn Colour challenge and it's been kind of fun to take part! Next week I'll be back to normal posts, with some up-coming shows, and a little behind the scenes look at things, a good local etsy find and some goodies from the record collection!

So for the red portion of this post, I just received my Plywerk version of the painting above, called Red Stairwells, and I'm pretty impressed. The Plywerk print is actually the photograph of my painting, mounted to a bamboo frame. It's 11X16 and while it's a lot smaller and slightly cropped in than my original painting, there is something really lovely nice about it's format. It was kind of a trial run for me- a way to see whether 'prints' of my architectural paintings might be a good option. I've really wrestled with the whole 'print' idea for a long time because I feel so strongly about the original painting, the brush strokes, the quality of the painting the lighting etc. My work is so focused on being geared toward a gallery audience that I struggle with how it can relate or be accessible to my more average client. I've been in a number of gallery exhibits, but lets face it, the gallery has really taken a hit during this financial rut we've all been in, and it's pretty clear that artist need to fend for themselves and not rely on the gallery to make or break them!
Price point wise, I would sell this print for way less than the original and it would give clients the option of still owning one of my paintings without having to fork over bigger dollars or even find a large enough wall space to house the original (which in this paintings case is 40"X54"). Anyways, I'd love to hear thoughts about originals verses prints from other artists out there that use prints as a way to gain a wider audience. I'm still undecided about whether or not to print off a few more of these for my up-coming open studio sale: the Eastside Culture Crawl and would love some feedback! I'll try to photograph the Plywerk version so you can all see that later this week.

Thanks for another great Crawl!

Thank you to all those who came by for another great Crawl! It was great to see everyone come out- I lost count at how many people came by, all I know is that my studio was a lot less full than on the opening night ! A huge thanks to Miriam, my sister, Dean and Andrew- all key people who helped me out over the weekend to make it a huge success! I'll post more pics soon !

a snapshot of what is to come!

Here's a snapshot of what will be available at the Crawl this weekend at my painting studio: 1000 Parker street, Room 350- around the very back corner of the building! Swing by and have a look- Friday night 5-10, Saturday 11-6 and Sunday 11-6! It's going to be a great Crawl this year- the studio is humming with artists getting their studios ready for people to check out their work! Hope to see you there!

Foto Fun!

So I gave picnik a try over the weekend. WAY too much fun. For those who have not yet been introduced, it's like photoshop for dummies- you can upload your photos from your computer or flickr and adjust the lighting/contrast, etc. It will be great for all those photos I've tried to take for my etsy site where the lighting is a bit off or the colour is too yellow. Now I can put them into the program and Viola! I can change that in a pinch.
Of course, one can get carried away. Or, like the photo above, the picnik shot isn't necessarily 'better', it just can create a different mood or effect than your original. You can make the photos a little more artsy or goofy depending on what kind of picture you upload. I'm about to start on Dean's, ahem...40th Birthday invites- should be fun! He is notorious for taking pictures of himself, and now he may regret that.
In other news I'm on the final count-down for the Eastside Culture Crawl! The studio is starting to look more like a gallery than a studio! So exciting! Remember: November 21-23, studio 350, 1000 Parker St!