The Dripps and their Drugs...

Does this make me a drug pusher? Hey, if it makes kids take their vitamins, I'm all for it!  Thanks to Dripps family for sending this picture along!  You, too, might be the happy winner of a Monica pot this December.  The next drawing (with a whole new batch of pictures and entries) will be pulled on March 15, 2012, my birthday. 

These little dishes were part of the take-away party favors from Alex and my wedding this past weekend.  Oh, yes, that's why I haven't been producing like a mad woman in the studio and why I haven't been posting as much!  I was busy with life! 

The party favors can be seen in the pictures below.  They were these little sake dishes, some of which were part of the sake dish tapestry I made at Watershed, with a little organza bag laid on top that had little nuggets of clay in them.  The clay nuggets (often called seed bombs) had basil, tomato, and sugar snap peas wedged into them with a little note telling a story about the cycle of clay and the cycle of life... ah yes. So cute.  Thanks for the photo below, Whitney Tranchemontage:

But hey, no worries, the wedding is over and life moves on! 

The development for Studio 550 is back in motion and I'll be putting out a call for entries soon for our January/February show. Stay posted!

Strictly Functional Pottery National 2012 and Open Doors Nashua

Look for this piece of mine this weekend (and online) at the Strictly Functional Pottery National show in Pennsylvania! Possibly the most coveted show to become accepted into as a vessel maker and one that I've wanted to be part of for a while. If you're in PA it's a fantastic collection of functional pottery and worth a visit.

http://www.strictlyfunctionalpottery.net/

Also, New Hampshire folks Open Doors in Nashua is November 5-6 from 12-4 in the Picker building. If you are in the area, please come! We'll be doing studio tours, free wheel lessons, and tons of other fun stuff all weekend. There is lots of other cool stuff going on around town too. 

http://www.nhopendoors.com/

Sorry for no new updates and the last minute show notices. It's wedding weekend!

Crepes! What else would put on a plate?

Thanks to Jim, the owner of the Pipeline Pottery, for sending in these two! The grand kids are thoroughly enjoying their crepes on some freshly made brushwork plates!

Inspiration is everywhere

I just recently returned from a weekend in North Carolina. There for a wedding and surrounded by great people and friends, here are a few things I saw that just about blew my mind!

I woke up in a tent drowning in a sea of tall grasses. Between the tent wall and the rain flap was the silhouette of some grasses and other weeds. I missed the chance to photograph it as I saw it, but here is a quick recreation (thanks to Alex, who is holding the bag)

RDU Airport. Public art is awesome!

I really enjoy running my hands along this wall. There is so much texture. Like nature, you can experience it one way from a distance, but you can experience it on a whole other level when you get up close to it.

Who knew nature had more than just blades of grass? Haha, silly me for getting stuck in a way of working. The next plates and mugs just might have more going on than clumps of grass.

Life is so simple if we let it be.

Let the sharing begin!

As you may or may not know, I'm running a little competition this year. People send me pictures of themselves using my pottery, or of just my pottery in use, and one of those lucky ducks gets a free piece of my pottery at the end of the year! Next year it will be on my birthday, because I'd rather give stuff away than get it. Everyone likes free, right?

At any rate, here are some of the submissions I have so far. If you have a piece of mine, send over a picture! I can't wait to see them! If you don't already own one, what are you waiting for?

One of my favorite people from SU: Sarah enjoying her apple sauce!

Two espresso mugs from my fellow Aikido buddies in Montreal: John and Marilene

A present from a father to his daughter: Joanna's Seder dish

Salad Days, Salad Days!

The Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts is a wonderful place for clay artists and all sorts of other people in mid-coast Maine. The 9th of July (this Saturday) is their annual Salad Days fundraising event. A $30 donation gets you a handmade limited edition salad plate made by Gratia Brown, a grand buffet of salads made by Watershed's very own summer chefs. To add to the event, there is live music, a wood kiln unloading, and an invitational sale of work from past Watershed clay artists.

If you are in the area, please come! It is always a lively and fun event for the whole family, and you are supporting a great place.

I've been busting it in the studios to make fresh work for the sale. The kiln is cooling as I write these words - hopefully it'll be cool enough by tonight for me to unload and pack up again to bring to Watershed tomorrow!

A preview of the work pre-glazing:

There is also some new work on the Etsy shop. Plenty more will be going up there after this kiln opens: Shop on Etsy!

Studio practice - go.

I've recently begun a new method of working, and I'm sticking to it.

Between 7 and 9AM: Wake up, tend the garden, work in the studio until lunch. Regardless of when I start working, I give myself an uninterrupted 3-4 hours. I don't check email, I try not to answer my phone, I don't walk to the kitchen to snack. I work in my living room studio.

From 12 and 2PM on: Lunch, computer for email, marketing, photographing work, taking care of Studio 550 business, etc. Studio 550 is the art center my family and I are starting up in Manchester, NH. If you know of any aspiring artists who are looking for a studio to work in as a resident artist for a year, send them my way.

And the rest of the day I mind the pots I made in the morning, probably do some intermittent studio work at night, and reserve time for fun/reading/relaxation. The result has been a better structured and more productive day. Here are some of the fruits of that labor:

Bowls and pie plates

A recreated French butter dish for my Aikido Sensei

Bourbon cups and tumblers

Plates with brushwork

A close up of those plates with brushwork