from our holidays: Victoria and girl friends

I keep forgetting about some of the photos I have from our holidays this summer.  In all the back to school and studio rush, the blog has been a bit neglected, but I thought I'd post a couple of photos from this GREAT house that has undergone a transforming fresh coat of white paint since the last time we were there. There are so many things about this house that I love- Caroline has such a great way of putting it all together!

We spent much of our summer holidays hanging out and staying with families who have girls.  I have to say that it was something quite special to see my boys playing with polly pockets and my little petshop stuff.  They would be absolutely livid if I told anyone that they a) played with girls for their entire holidays, and b) they played with girl toys, because they are so in that stage where they think their friends would tease them about it.  But the reality is that my big, boyish boys loved playing with the girls this summer, and I couldn't help thinking how good it was for them to have to play differently, negotiate differently, and frankly just enjoy hanging out with friends we don't often hang out with. 

Sun rays

Some days it just takes your breath away, doesn't it?  It's not often here in Vancouver, with the mountains on one side and the ocean on the other, that we get such amazing sunsets with actual rays of light fanning their way across the sky. 

Thank you to all the lovely blog posts and mentions about my vases at the West Elm Vancouver store!  I managed to check out the West Elm opening for all of 15 minutes (Dean and the boys stayed in the car so I could jump out, have a drink, check out the store and get back in the car during the opening- not really much time to actually shop...).  In all fairness, the 4 Etsy featured artists were only sent the invite the day of the invitation-only opening (hmmm), so things were a little complicated schedule-wise by that time.  Anyways, if you are interested in checking out the shop, please do- such great stuff and it was great to be included in such a fantastic store. 

Practice verses Business...and a bit more of the new studio

Ever since Forage, I've been thinking through the difference between having a 'practice' and running a 'business'.  One of our panel discussions had to do with grant writing, online financing campaigns, and award applications for making art.  The term when to use 'business' and when only to use 'art practice' came up - for instance don't ever use the term 'business' when applying for a grant- always use the term 'practice' or the grant jurors won't even consider your submission.  Although when it comes time to collecting and submitting my taxes or applying for a business license to be able to use my studio, I essentially operate as a ceramic manufacturing business.

So I started thinking through how I felt about the terms 'business' and 'practice'- whether or not one applied to me more then the other, and also, if these terms were really in fact the same way of talking about what I do.  I generally use 'art practice' and 'business' interchangeably but I often feel ill-equipped as an artist to be running a viable business.  For instance when the chatty guy at the bus stop starts asking what I do and I say 'ceramic artist' and he replies 'Is there any money in that?' I kind of stumble over my words.  Not like it's any of his business, but it has become clear to me that I'm much more comfortable understanding what I do as a practice where the personal out-comes of creating and making are more important than the dollars and cents of it.

Part of me realizes that my core values are being triggered here- that I have always viewed 'business' and 'making money' as self-serving and with a negative slant.  The artist in me wants my motives for making decisions to be 'pure'- as though making decisions to do with my creative goals and out-comes are more honourable then if those goals considered financial out-comes.  I totally admire those who feel like their ability to profit financially through their creative endeavors comes honestly or naturally, and always hoped that this would be really seamless for me as well, but am recognizing that making decisions based on my artistic out-comes alone and not considering the financial isn't healthy, viable, or sustainable either.

Every milestone I have crossed with 'dahlhaus' has been really amazing and I'm truly grateful for the opportunities that have come my way.  The potential I see in what I do will come at the cost of other things for sure, but I sometimes mourn the missed opportunities that have come across my desk- missed because I wasn't ready to have all the pieces in place to make those opportunities happen.  I have always been less prepared for success and more prepared for failure and I'd really like to change this notion (*thank you to Fiona from Cartolina Cards for clarifying this in her talk at Forage).  I'm hopeful that I  can create a more symbiotic relationship between the business of what I do and the practice of making so that the decisions and the opportunities don't overwhelm or stall the creative path that I'm on.

 **These are a few photos of sections of my new studio. It's a little hard to see how big the space is (360 sq. feet!).  I have yet to photograph the whole thing because last week I purchased a used slip-casting table to help me out with some of the heavy lifting that slip-casting demands.  It's a big massive table that I still have to sort out how to configure the rest of the studio around it.  I'll also be sharing this space with my former studio intern from a few summers ago, Kelly, who wanted to share some studio space for the next few months before she moves far, far away.  I'll be missing her when she goes so it will make for some good time together before she leaves.

New for Fall available at West Elm Vancouver!

Introducing my new glaze pattern for the fall- the Herringbone in colour-ways of turquoise to green, orange to red, grey to blue, shades of blue and yellow to green! Really, the possibilities with this design feel endless and I'm looking forward to not ever feeling bored with this one, despite the extra effort and work involved.

I'm heading over today to the new West Elm store on South Granville in Vancouver to drop off these new vases for their store launch and 'WE heart handmade art' Etsy event that's happening on the 13th of September! It's one of those opportunities that came up while we were away on holidays with a super fast turn-around date.  Fortunately I had pulled these new herringbone colours out of the kiln before we left on holidays.  I'll be expanding the series to include the colour-ways as mugs, teapots and large vases over the next month, similar to the series in blue I created for the Kindred in Blue exhibit this past June!

 

Post Forage Part 1

The Forage Symposium was a 3 day conference jam packed with guest speakers and panel discussions from participating makers, artists and designers.  We covered topics like marketing your work, finding your audience, how to apply for grants, issues to consider with outsourcing, social media tips, selling online, and how to juggle family life while being a maker.  When I say 'jam packed' I do mean that the schedule pretty much had us in a session from 10 am until 10 pm with small breaks for lunch and dinner.  Hosted and planned by Mariko McCrae and her husband Brian in their beautiful studio- it was truly an amazing time to really reflect on what I do as a maker, a mom and a creative person.

At Forage I re-learned that a creative life is ever evolving (I think Bianca was the inspiration on this one)- whether it be in finding new inspiration, launching a new product, moving to a new studio space, or completely changing mediums.  It felt empowering to be reminded that whatever stage of the journey I am on, that I have creative license to change things about my practice when things aren't working.  Every project and opportunity in my life can viewed as a creative venture (thank you Doug Jones for this reminder)- to learn and grow and also perhaps to fund the next creative opportunity I embark on.  Sometimes the opportunities that come across my door demand change, and other times I recognize that I'll need to channel change in order for me to be prepared for potential opportunity or growth.

I came home after Forage feeling completely inspired and overwhelmed at the same time.  I needed these pep talks, the encouragement, and the advice more then I thought, but I also am more aware of the out-comes of each decision I need to make for the next stage of my creative life to begin. 
The most amazing part of being at Forage was meeting a new community of artists and makers who are making really exciting work.  I look forward to connecting with them and introducing a few of them here on my blog too.

Gabriola home love

While on Gabriola Island I was invited to stay with Christine and her husband in their beautiful home while we attended the Forage Symposium.  Not only was it a beautifully designed home with beams and big windows, but it was full of Christine's collections of vintage ephemera, beach combing finds (like the Ice Cream/Take Out sign), as well as pillows and bedding that she makes out of vintage fabric.  Christine's one of a kind pillows are for sale at the market on Gabriola and I have a feeling she'll be selling her pillows online soon, so I'll link soon!

Holding on to those moments

There are so many moments that make me want to hold onto summer for just a little longer.  This year we managed to find a totally new swimming spot in Vernon (we've been holidaying here with our friends for about 10 years- thought we had all the good spots dialed!), spending 2 full days of our holiday enjoying the view, the little beach hut, and the cool water.  I'm not a real sun-bather and get pretty worried about the possibility of skin cancer creeping up on my fair and freckled skin.  Sometimes this clouds my ability to really enjoy beach days as I'm constantly re-applying sun-screen or seeking out shade for the boys and myself.  My Mr. is of the belief that sunscreen causes cancer- even though we use the paba-free kind and, of course, he rarely gets burned so that's easy for him to say.

The boys start school tomorrow and the fall kicks off with a bang on the studio front.  I have shop orders coming out the wazoo these days, all of which I already feel behind on, even though it's only September 3rd.  It's the month I start thinking about my holiday shows, so I'm doing a whole lot of planning and organizing to hopefully be prepared.  This summer was all about the new studio and trying to come up with a strategy for how to grow or change some of the things that feel as though they are holding me back as a maker.  Attending the Forage Symposium at the end of our 2 week holiday felt a little like plunging into a cold lake on a hot day.  The symposium included panel discussions and guest speakers from a variety of creative practices and businesses and I learned so much.  As a way to process this, I've been writing a number of blog posts, hoping to wade through the sometimes murky waters of this self-employed creative life.  I appreciate feedback on this blog and with these posts, will appreciate it more then ever.  As much as it's to process my own thoughts, I also hope that it creates a dialogue in the process.

hello again!

Hi everyone!  I'm back at home with the boys, looking over my photos from the last month and marveling how many wonderful people and places were part of our holiday time.  I'm looking forward to sharing some highlights on the blog with little snippets of some of the sweet spots we found, but with the long weekend coming up I'll save it for when the boys are back in school (ack- tuesday already??).

See you next week with some exciting news on the dahlhaus front too! And if you are needing to kick-start your inspiration this fall, don't forget to check out Stephanie Levy's Creative Courage course- the bios of her 'Soul Sister's' are up here!
Have a great last injection of summer!

dahlhaus wedding registry new shop and feed-back

I just finished a wedding registry from this past year (there was the wedding and then the after-wedding a number of months later, so the registry took a little longer then most) and have another registry on the go so I thought I would  create a special shop that can be exclusively for a registry.  It's always special to work with people who really understand all the time and effort that goes into my work, but also it's a real privilege to be able to create work with them and their life in mind.  Recently I received some really wonderful feed-back and thought I would share it here on my blog- just the names were changed  (to... for privacy) otherwise, this is coming straight from them and it means so much!

"We love, love, LOVE our Dahlhaus collection. It has been such a great pleasure and privilege working with you over the past year to collect the pieces we wanted all together, and we have been blessed with lovely friends and family who wanted to help us to do that. We now have a unique and lifelong reminder of our wedding, the love of our family and friends, and a daily representation of our life together, all channeled through your artistry and talent.

When we embarked on the planning for our wedding and celebrations, I didn't really 'get' the whole wedding registry thing, or see why people often signed up for a dinner service or glassware etc. Perhaps most of the time, I just found their choices a bit too fancy or staid or conservative for my taste. But in any case, I didn't 'get' that it could mean a lot to have this special set of ceramic ware that every time you looked at it, took it out, used it, enjoyed it, that it would actually symbolize something greater than it's intrinsic loveliness.

Thank you so much for being an important part of creating ... memories of a truly wonderful year. We will raise a teacup or two to you on our 1st anniversary in October, and every anniversary after that, not to mention all the occasions in between, when your work will be pressed into service in our home and shared with our friends and family."

Creative Courage course by Stephanie Levy

Stephanie Levy is an illustrator, artist, blogger, and mom to 2 beautiful girls living in Berlin who I've been able to connect with online over the last couple of years!  She has been offering an online course called 'Creative Courage' which is meant to inspire you on your creative journey in life!  The early-bird registration for her latest course is online here, where you will notice a new line-up of artists and makers that she'll be interviewing as part of the course.  I'm honoured to be included, alongside some of my favourite designers, makers and bloggers like Heather Moore, Arounna Khounnoraj, Victoria Smith and Alicia Paulson, just to name a few.  Along with these exclusive interviews, Stephanie will be generously sharing from her own wealth of experience, encouraging you on your own creative endeavors while connecting you to a broader creative community! It's an amazing opportunity to grow and pursue your own creative dreams- I know I'm looking forward to it!

Heading out on the open road & Forage

Just popping in to let you know that I'll be heading out on a road-trip Boler-style with the family for a last hurray to Summer! On our way we'll be traveling in the mountains past Whistler all the way down into the Okanagan, heading south and then west again over to Vancouver Island.  It's beautiful country and you can follow along on my instagram if you like, otherwise, come on back in September for some highlights!

While on the Island I'll be heading to Gabriola for a conference called Forage where I'm looking forward to meet some amazing ceramic people along with other makers, designers and artists from Western Canada.  It's a great group and we'll be pounding the pavement on so many issues and topics concerning creating sustainable practices as makers.  It should be a really great time!

See you in a couple of weeks! Have a great last few weeks of summer!

As summer slips along...

Sometimes it feels easier just to take my phone out and snap a quick shot of something that is inspiring me or to save a moment- instagram is just the thing, heh?  So the studio is slowly coming together- I hope to show some more photos soon, in the meantime, I've added a few things to make it feel more at home while I try to finish up my orders for the summer!  I have been on my own with the kids for a few weeks now- during the week Dean has had to work or been away at his camp, so my days have been busy with keeping the boys happy.  Not always an easy task, but an ice cream cone, a hike to Bridal Falls goes a long way!  And the Turquoise Boler- just my colour!  We haven't had time to take our family Boler out on the road this summer yet- hopefully in the next couple of weeks we will take it out with us on the road!  It's too bad our Boler really only sleeps 3, but oh well- we do have a tent and the boys are still keen to sleep in tents;)!  

Hope your summer is going swimmingly!

Making time to make

 I'm a bit of a goal-setting kind of girl.  Nothing official, just a good little mental list of things I'd like to do.  This year being my 5th year of being a full-time maker, I figured I would include a few new goals to the list.  One of these goals included taking a workshop just for fun.  You know- some kind of making workshop that didn't break the bank, wasn't going to take up a ton of time, but something that just gave me a reason to make something different for a change. 
Last weekend was the Gather Pop-Up Shop and they offered a bunch of workshops by some really talented people- one of them being the brains behind the blog: The Jealous Curator- which is a really amazing blog to find great artists.  Danielle Krysa, aka the jealous curator, is a graphic designer, a collage artist, a mom, and a blogger.  Sometimes its just so great to connect a face to a blog you've admired!
So anyways I had some fun making something I don't usually make, with materials I don't often think about using, painting with colours I don't often choose.  We did a little drilling, a little embroidering, a little painting, a little cutting, glueing, and some photo transferring- super fun!  It wasn't about the out-come and that was kind of refreshing. 

Farewell Aunt Nettie

We received the news this past weekend that my great-aunt Nettie passed away. My great-aunt was a potter for many years who inspired me to keep at it in the ceramics department when I was in college.  She lived in Ontario and wasn't able to visit too often, but when she did, she was such fun, had such energy and her passion for clay was huge.  She would phone me to talk about pottery and she found a way to ship a wheel, books, and supplies to me before my final year at Art school.   Her passion for pottery was contagious as I began to think about how I could make a career out of clay.

After caring for her husband who died of cancer, my aunt fell very ill.  Uncharacteristically, she couldn't get out of bed and was unable to move and speak without her speech being slurred.  It was as though she had had a stroke, although doctors were saying that it was a type of Parkinsons disease that had come on suddenly.  After many years it became apparent that she wasn't going to recover so she was put in the care of a very good home.  My dad's cousin and wife (she never had children, but 'adopted' her nephew's family as her kids) cared for her, visited her, helped her write and publish part of her life story, connected her with her potter's guild friends, and even helped make plans for me to visit her last year.  We knew she was getting close to the end of her life- she was 89 turning 90 next week, so her passing wasn't a surprise.  Her life will be remembered on Friday but her legacy in clay will remain and live on -hopefully in a way through me, but also through the many people she mentored and encouraged at the Waterloo Potter's Workshop, where she had many friends and colleagues in clay. 

I spent a few hours co-ordinating flights for my Aunt Tina and my grandma (Nettie's sisters) who will be going with my dad to the memorial.  With Dean away this week I wasn't able to attend- but I'm sure it will be a meaningful time. 

hello espresso!

I am not an espresso drinker- I'm more of a latte lover, where as Dean (my guy) loves his espresso.  A number of years ago I started working on espresso cups and saucers for Dean's sake coming up with more non-floral glaze ideas for my espresso cups that suited him more then myself. 
This latest set that I pulled out of the kiln recently was a special request for a wedding gift.  The glaze combination was one I hadn't attempted yet and I think it's really quite sweet!  Dean gave his nod of approval on the size, shape, and handle combo- he's kind of my espresso cup and saucer critique go-to.  At least he certainly has his share of opinions;)!  Here are some of my other attempts at espresso cups in years gone by...

Espresso but no saucers and too small handles 2009

 an attempt at espresso, but apparently way too big- this is more of a latte... (2010)

these were made for my recent blue & white show- I say espresso, he says cappuccino (2012)

Apparently a true espresso cup needs to be white on the inside.  I, however, prefer the palest blue- not only do I know this glaze well enough that it shouldn't craze over time, but I think pure white looks a little cold or maybe would look too manufactured or something.
 Also handles are kind of tricky on such a short and small shape that has to nestle on top of a saucer.  Clearly there needs to be enough room between the handle and the saucer, but also there needs to be enough room (I think) for a finger to get in the hole.  I have small hands, so my fingers fit in a lot of handles that Dean's don't.
And then there is the shape of the mug part.  Retaining heat is important.  So not too wide at the top.  At the same time, someone needs to be able to drink out of the opening. Super small openings don't lend themselves well to drinking out of.  So I always get a bit torn with how wide to leave the opening. 
One day I will hopefully get all the elements right- creating the quintessential espresso cup and saucer! In the meantime, I'm always glad for the opportunity to get back to the drawing board, making a very few at a time and seeing what true espresso lovers think.  It's a good challenge, trying to make the most particular espresso drinker enjoy their espresso that much more!

Hope you have a great weekend! It's been great to have everyone comment and share on my blog recently- I'm so thrilled when a good multi-sided conversation can exist around the business and practice of making art full-time.  It's also great to have people from all over the world pipe in and share their experiences from their own country. Clearly the medium that joins us is a love of clay- this translates in any language and culture!  So thank you for being part of this place!