Poppytalk International Art Market opens today!

I've got a bit of new work (and more to come this month) over at the Poppytalk Handmade Market that opens today! My new 'racing' stripe mugs and espresso cup and saucer have just been posted on Etsy over the weekend and I'm really excited to be introducing this new 'line' into my regular work.  I started this series in December as a custom set (2 Mugs, 2 latte mugs & 2 Espresso cups/saucers) for my photographer from his wife.  I made a couple of extra Mugs and espresso sets for Dean and have had rave reviews from men on these mugs.   I know there are men out there that use my Poppy mugs, but won't necessarily admit that to all their buddies;) 
After a quick peek over at the market, this is what caught my eye:

Teal and Gold's lovely wood-burning and S & P Mills

 

Good Morning Midnight's Wool knits  

  

Lines By Davis : Geometric Pillow -love that scarf too!

 

Paper Cuts and Hand-drawn Maps By Studio K

There's so much more to see over there so go and check it out!
Poppytalk Handmade Market

Happy Valentines Day

Just a little pre-Valentines post with the loves of my life photographed by the talented Sherri Koop this past summer.  Dean and I met 17 years ago and he's been the guy for me ever since.  He still makes me smile and laugh nearly every day.  I know that it's a rare treat to be married to your 'soul mate' and I'm extremely grateful to be in that place.
Happy Valentines Day to those of you who read my blog. Thanks for the comments over the past month- it means a lot to know when something strikes a chord with you as it does with me.  May your  weekend be filled with the encouragement of those who love you! And hopefully a sweet Valentine will come your way too!

Clearly Seen

 

There's an opening for an art show tonight that my good friend and painters Fiona Ackerman, and  Zoe Pawlak are putting on at On The Rise Artist Collective titled 'Clearly Seen'.  It's a show combining both abstract paintings from both artists and a couple of figurative ones by Zoe.  It looks like it's going to be a really exciting show, with both artists collaborating on a painting- live on the side walk outside the gallery over the week!  They will be having a silent auction for this painting with proceeds going to Haiti relief efforts! I'm hoping I can make it- the opening is from 5pm-9pm at 2231 S. Granville St. in Vancouver.

An Exciting Day!

 

We were very fortunate to be able to catch Karen Magnussen, former Canadian Olympic Figure Skater and silver medalist in the 1972 Olympics, carrying the torch through our neighbourhood today!  She continues to coach and train figure skaters locally and it was really wonderful to see her carrying the torch!  I'm starting to catch Olympic fever especially after Jan's post over on Poppytalk!

Along with the Torch excitement we've had, I also have received great news about some of the shows I've been applying for this year!  This spring I'm starting with the Blim Markets at Heritage Hall in March, April and May (hopefully I can keep up with this schedule).  The Markets will be on the 4 Sunday of the month from 11-4pm but I'll keep you posted.  I'm still waiting to hear back regarding my summer market schedule, but I'm really thrilled to be doing the One Of A Kind Show in Vancouver December 9-12 at the new Convention Centre!  I'm also a proud recipient of their New Artist Scholarship- so exciting!

A taste of Spring

The Olympics begin on Friday and we've had an incredibly warm winter.  So warm that many of my early spring flowers and trees are starting to bloom.  These were taken just today while we had sunny skies and enjoyed playing at the park with our neighbour friends without jackets on. 
Tomorrow I get to watch the torch relay with the boys.  Should be exciting!

In the mail

I just got my 'Uppercase Issue 4' in the mail today.  It's beautifully done once again, and I especially love the fold out 'calender of perpetual calender'. I'm looking forward to an inspiring afternoon looking through all the pages more closely!
On the home front, we are battling another flu bug and Dean leaves tomorrow for a  5 day trip to Dallas for a course he's taking.  It's going to be a long week, and possibly not much will get done.  My molds are drying out and I have a few new things in my studio-mate Grace's Bisque kiln that I hope to test glazes on later in the week.  Fingers crossed.

Making pretty molds

 

 Mold-making is something I don't normally do to make my ceramics, but it's a skill I'd like to develop.  Every now and again when I've done an intense stint of steady wheel-throwing, trimming and glazing and I get that nagging feeling in my wrists and elbows and a sore back I realize that my body has limitations.  I can't always do it all. And yet, the work doesn't just make itself.  

I got into slip-casting last year when I had a master mold-maker make a mold of a bottle vase form that I'd been wheel-throwing and then altering for a while.  It was an investment to get someone else to make the molds for me, however, the molds that he made were... perfect.  With barely a seam to clean up, and with the prototype being exactly 12% (shrinkage rate) larger than my original, it was a good intro to slip-casting for me. 

I've been wrestling with the idea of making other molds, for instance,  making my mug designs into a mold, but I can't really get over the lack of throwing lines on the inside of my mugs that wouldn't be there in a molded mug.  There is something about holding a mug and seeing the hand of the maker and the process that I get all nostalgic about.  Being that I feel so strongly about the work of mine that would be handled the most staying the most hand-made, I decided to give some slip-casting on a 'mini-series' or a little grouping of vessel forms that are outside of my regular work a try.  

So here's the start of this process- I'm working on a little set of dishes for my kids- and most likely other kids out there once I work out the kinks.  A small plate/bowl/cup, all 1 part molds to keep things simple and stackeable.  The molds above are the handle and bowl, I'm working on the plate and then cup over the weekend.  The molds all have to dry out before I'll be able to tell if they worked, but it feels like a good place to start. 

 

About the process: I used a broken plastic sheet from a flourescent light as the forms around my mold. Basically I used clamps to keep it 'round' a plastic bat or base. You have to seal the seams with clay so the mold won't leak when you pour in the plaster, but the pattern of the plastic make your mold look real pretty!  This idea is great for 1 part molds but L shaped forms are best for 2 or more part molds.

To make 2 or more parts to a mold, you can use "Murphy's Oil Soap" brushed onto the plaster approx 3 times (letting layers dry in-between) so the plaster doesn't stick to itself.  I also cast an 'overhang' top- no technical terms here, but a portion that allows the slip to stay above the lip when I'm pouring it in.  I cut off the excess with that top part on and it allows my lip to be even and nice.

'Poppies Up-date'

Just a quick up-date on the 'Poppies Award'- I was so glad (relieved & thankful) to see my favourite HANDMADE ceramic artists on the podium over at the Poppytalk blog.  Both the jury and people's choices were all really amazing shops highlighting my favourite artists and creators.  Congratulations to all of them:) especially the ceramic shops- Diana Fayt, Ayumie Horie, Up in the Air Somewhere, Ray Dunn and Brooklyn Rehab! Yay for handmade!

**UP-DATE: Faythe Lavine included all her favourite choices on her blog and my shop was in her ceramics category!  It makes me so proud- thanks Faythe!**

Scenes from the studio

A few ideas in the works.  I've made some time this month for some new work and ideas- it doesn't quite feel right to start the year off without some 'experiments'.  Today I hope to try to make a 1 piece plaster mold to get back into mold-making processes.  This video was the inspiration.  I'm also hoping to make a little mold-stamp out of the bottom of this vintage bottle I found- 'Made in Canada' which I only recently actually turned over and 'discovered'.  And a few vase form ideas inspired in part by Lucy Rie and also a 'bulb vase' concept. 

Researching Contemporary Ceramics

You might have noticed a lot of slip-cast ceramic images for various contemporary ceramic artist these days on my blog. I'm working on some designs for a collaborative slip-casting project with my good friend Disa, and in the process of my research I've been finding some really great work out there that I don't necessarily see on my usual design blog jaunts.  One thing I should say here is that I really enjoy doing a lot of research while I'm designing.  First off I think it's really imperative to know that your ideas are really your own, not just something that another artist is already doing.  It also is an important test of whether your work will hold up beside the work that's already out there. 

Anyways, here's the Dutch product/ceramic artist and designer, Ruth Lodder's work- which I think is really lovely.  It's interesting how she caught onto the trend of using 'found objects', in her case various jello molds, glasses, teacups, etc., then stacked them together to create her molds from.  Very clever and really lovely as you get all those references to classic shapes that are easily recognizable without being too simplistic!  The gold luster and patches of colour are also great- I'm always one to want to use colour to make my work my own and in her case, I think its stunning!

knotty knitting

My boys have been asking to learn how to knit ever since I learned how. Here they are, PJ's on, knitting together on the couch before bed.  Johnny's knitting a red neck-warmer, Sasha picked out rainbow yarn for a scarf.  Tonight Johnny mentioned that perhaps he could bring the knitting to school to work on during the lunch hour.  Made me smile from ear to ear. 
I hope he turns out to be as crafty as this dad who's interview on Bloesem Kids was full of great ideas of things that dad's and mom's can do and make with their kids.  (Found the link for Joel Henriques over at Fine Little Day)

Past and Present: Granville Isand 1978

Granville Island, late 70's looks pretty quiet compared to today.  Looking across the inlet there you can see how many highrises went up between then and now.  More to come...
It's February, a short and sweet month.  The Olympics is a mere 12 or so days away.  I'm planning a collaborative ceramics project with my good friend and former Emily Carr Art school-mate.  And Sasha turns the big 6 years old.  It's going to be a good month!

Spooling Ceramics

I recently found the work of Mara Skujeniece, a dutch ceramic artist who's slip-cast spool vases first caught my eye on Zilu, a European version of Etsy.  I was also pretty smitten with her faceted vases in lovely shades of grey!

I know there is a huge trend in ceramics these days to slip-cast found objects and there are some that I find more interesting than others.  I guess I'm more interested in the original object not being a vessel form to begin with.  I find the translation into porcelain a whole lot more engaging as I re-think the origin and function of that form.  In any case, I do really love the clever translation of spools of string into a vase.  Any thoughts?

On another front, I also just found the blog Craft Hope, a blog dedicated to raising funds via sales of hand-made objects on their Etsy shop.  It's such a great concept and so far $27 000 has been raised for Haiti!  Please do have a look at their shop and consider buying as all money raised will be donated to Doctors Without Borders for Haiti.

I recently re-kindled my friendship with a child-hood friend who's father is Haitian.  My friend's parents were in Haiti visiting his family during the Earthquake, and although they are alright, efforts are now being made to get them home along with finishing paperwork for more of her cousins and relatives to come to Canada.  It is truly a dire situation out there.  My best hope and prayers go out...

Early Influences

The boys have both been making 'comic books' lately. I'm not sure who's idea it was, but it's pretty fun to see what they are coming up with.  This drawing, by Sasha who's nearly 6 is inspired in part by Ed Emberley's book:'Drawing Book of Faces', which he's been drawing from as of late.  The translation is really sweet, but this one was made without the book in front of him, so I can see that it's been influencing his drawing over-all.  Interesting- I wonder who's art I should introduce him to next?   

Coming out of the Fog

In an attempt not to dwell on past errors in judgment, I'm hoping to be able to merely write a simple post clarifying intentions, hopes and dreams.  Things are a little foggy at the moment.  I've gone and stuck my neck out and realized that I was the only one out there and I looked unprofessional doing it.  Popular opinion verses my opinion.  Wasn't pretty. 
All that said, I happen to be a very passionate ceramic artist.  I'm not really a business person. I never went into ceramics for the money.  In the end, I would love to get paid well enough for what I make, but in the end, all I want to do is to create and make.  Ceramics is an area I am particularly dedicated to.  I love the process of clay from beginning to end.  From a ball of clay on the wheel to painting and dipping bisques pots into glazes that I've formulated and made myself.  My hands touch each piece that I make over a hundred times before they get passed along to galleries or to my customers.  I want my work to resonate the hand-made process.  That process took years to develop. It takes time to recreate consistently.  It is a skill, but also it is a deep passion that has to drive one to be committed enough to the process to do it again and again. 
I believe that there are many other ceramic artists out there like myself.  Others that are dedicated to producing and making phenomenal work.  I was just so disappointed when the popular vote didn't see that.  It wasn't about winning or losing, it was more a dismay that people don't realize that there is a difference between an ceramic artist and a business that makes ceramic objects.  It might have cost me some sales, but hopefully not my reputation... now, enough said, time to move on!