Hello, February

What  a quick month January seemed to be!  Maybe all the unexpected nice, sunny weather made it seem less like winter and got us outside more.  With the end of January, the end of my application process is about to be completed tomorrow as I send out my last application!  Yay!  It's been a lot of work but my artist statement and portfolio are stronger than ever.  

For the month of February and March I will be in a show at Studio 550 called "Made for Each Other."  I'm very excited to be a part of this show with many other talented artist!  Check it out!

Here are some images of the new wall structures I'm working on and experimenting with.  

I plan to do a combination of glaze, bare clay, and paint with other mixed media in a wall hanging.  The simple shapes are leaving room for me to figure out the ideas I'd like to articulate to viewers.  It's a nice size to be working with to develop my thoughts.

Along with these I am working on some fun flasks and soap dishes for my sister's wedding in March!  It's a good project for me to have right now.  It's nice to have multiple things going on in the studio to balance my time and energy into different processes.  

Hopefully next time I can update you with some finished work!  Have a great week everyone! 

  

New Year New Ideas

Happy 2012 everyone!  I'm excited for a fresh start this year in the studio.  I have some time right now to explore my sculptural ideas and really solidify my thoughts and processes.  I'm ready to have a clear direction for that side of my work.  Having my installation up for 2 months and periodically "checking in" on it, and also getting the feedback from some local artists, I have a clearer idea of where my coil build forms will be going.  That installation was a huge project that has needed to happen for a while now and I'm glad I had the space and time to do it.  Here's a detailed shots that I thought was a nice view of the piece.

I am still busy finishing up graduate school applications, editing my statements over and over again, but the end seems to be in sight!  I'm excited to see the outcome of this process!

I had talked about a longer tray that I was working on a few blogs ago and thought I'd share with you the finished product.  It was a good challenge for me to step outside of my comfort zone and work on something larger.  I need to do more of this!  New ideas and processes will come out of it.

Happy January everyone!  I'll take some shots of my in process coil built shapes soon and share with you my evolving work.

Artists of Inspiration

I've been busy working on applications and re working and editing statements left and right.  I hope I'm headed towards the end of the editing process!  

Since I've been on the computer more so this month and less time at the studio I thought I'd share some artists of inspiration for me that I look at.  

Nina Rizzo has been an artist that I've been looking at for a long time.  I'm more interested in her earlier works on panel (probably because of the architecture and blocks of color), but I really enjoy her compositions and the weight of the imagery.  

Joe Pintz is a ceramic artist that I've started to look at more recently.  I enjoy his simple structures and the roughness of his pieces.  They feel very raw and inviting to me.  

This may be my last post before the new year, so happy holidays and see you next year!

oh hey guys!

Here's a look at a little creamer sugar set I made!  I'm excited how well the entire piece fits as a whole.

I have a tray in the works that is 5 times the size of this particular tray.  I'm really excited to see how it turns out.  I feel like I'm pushing myself with my forms and surfaces even more.

Grad School applications are in process!  Yay!  It's a lot of work but I'm glad the initial "getting things started" is done.

I've been thinking a lot about my opposing interests between work that I'm attracted to and my own work.  I enjoy simple designs and simple glazes yet my work has a lot going on throughout the pieces.  Just interested in why that's so.  We'll see where this goes from here.  

It's only just begun!

With the completion of the Resident Artist Show at Odyssey, Collect(ive) Components, my ideas for new work has expanded to multiple exciting possibilities!  I am understanding my sculptural work more thoroughly, feeling more confident with hand building techniques, and realizing there are more surfaces and possibilities out there for ceramic sculpture beyond what you find in the glaze lab.  (Not to say I should ignore that option now.  I'm just realizing all the new possibilities!)  And I feel even more confident with my pots and their surfaces than I've ever felt before!  So exciting!

Now that the show is complete, along with the studio stroll and Southern Highlands , I need to get going on applications!  As many know, that's a whole other job in itself.  But I know how to do it now and how to approach it.   Not so scary this time around....but still pretty intense.  

In addition to those shows this fall, I am also in the Charlie Cummings Cup Show!  Check out my work (page nine or select my name in the filter by artist button) along with many other amazing artists!    It's a great show and it seems to be going great.

Here are some images of the Resident Show that is still up.  Please come be Odyssey before January 2nd to see our work.  I think it's worth the trip!

Preview from the front of the Gallery

Our collective cup shelf on the bottom

Collective work window

My installation piece: Form-Scape (clay, paint, paper, and pen)

Mellie's piece on the wall with my and Elaine's cups 

Top Shelf: Ashely's Cups and Elaine's Ewers

Bottom Shelf:  My trays and Mellie's Arches

View from the back of the gallery 

(Andrew's jars in the middle and Bailey's plate installation in the far corner.)

Did October even happen?

Wow! I've been so busy with finishing my kids class, beginning wheel class, working on our Resident Artist Show (yay!), Southern Highlands Craft Show work, and Studio stroll work.  Crazy!  On TOP of that, I got into Crimson Laurel Gallery (what's up!!!) and need to start making more work for them.  Which is FINE by me.  But anyways, here's some new work. I'll write more soon!

Fall and days off go well together

I got a day off today by surprise (a happy one at that!) and decided to take advantage of the beautiful day that was given to me with all the extra time!

I went on a beautiful hike with a friend off of the Blue Ridge Parkway and went to a waterfall and sat at the top of it discussing art and enjoying the sounds and smells of nature.  It was a quite needed time of reflection and being surrounded by beauty.  Look at this awesome tree we saw along the way!

Now I'm headed to the studio to work on some pieces for our show coming up!  (pieces like the one below!)  I'm starting to love coil building more than I ever thought I would.