Mount Desert Rock, Bar Harbor, Maine

We were very lucky and very happy that we were able to take some time off from our studio and life here in Seagrove, and have a family vacation to Bar Harbor Maine.  Some friends of ours invited us to stay at their place in Sommesville, which is located near Southwest Harbor. We ate our fill of lobsters, scallops, and shrimp.  It rained most of the time while we were there, but never the less we had a wonderful time, and feel very relaxed from the vacation.  The last day we were in Bar Harbor we took a whale watching trip.  The seas were very rough and many of us got sea sick.  When they say don't go if you get car sick....don't go.  I picked my spot on the horizon and focused for three hours.  We did not see any whales!  They say 96% of the time they see whales, but there were none to be seen this past Friday.  We did get a tour around Mount Desert Rock, 25 miles out, where there were many seals playing in the water and sunning themselves out on the island.  Students and researchers live here during the summer months to research whales, seals, and sea life in general.  Wouldn't it be amazing to stay a couple of weeks here!  It is a small rock island with the ocean all around.  Absolutely beautiful.  

The North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources

We agree with Jennie.  The N.C. Department of Cultural Resources has done a wonderful job for North Carolina and the Arts.   Have you ever visited their website?  It has great information of various arts to learn about and see in North Carolina. 

 "The North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources was formed in 1971 to serve North Carolina’s citizens across the state in an outreach to broaden minds and spirits, preserve history and culture, and to recognize and promote our cultural resources as an essential element of North Carolina’s economic and social well-being. It was the first state organization in the nation to include all agencies for arts and culture under one umbrella. The North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources includes the State Library, the State Archives, 27 Historic Sites, 7 History Museums, Historical Publications, Archaeology, Genealogy, Historic Preservation, the North Carolina Symphony, the North Carolina Arts Council, and the North Carolina Museum of Art."  

Jennie Keatts writes, "The Department of Cultural Resources has done a fantastic job of working with the arts in NC. I was and remain thoroughly impressed with them since moving here in 1999.". Visit her blog at Turning Mud into Gemstones.

Draw and Decal at Mudfire Studio in Atlanta

We are both invited to join 13 ceramic artists at MudFire Studio in Atlanta Georgia.  We are looking forward to visiting the Gallery and Studios for the first time when we drive the work down at the end of the month.  The exhibition opens on July 11 with a reception in the afternoon from 5:00-9:00 and closes on August 1. 

King Black Acid

King Black Acid, a Portland Oregon rock band, recently released a video and song that is from the newly released movie Underworld 3 "Rise of the Lycans". We are looking forward to seeing this movie, the third in a series of Vampire versus Werewolves. This song is a bit on the heavier side of King Black Acid, they do have some mello sounds, rich in melodic space. I wonder what it is about certain music that one is drawn too. Both of us like the melodic dark sounds from the Mothman Prophesies. Other groups that we find similar to this type of music are Portishead, This Mortal Coil, and Massive Attack.

Samantha Henneke's: "Art of the State": Cedar Creek Gallery

The above is a detail of the Wasp and Red Flower Glaze Painting, 8" x 12" x 1.5",  and the price is $375.00.  The glazes are layered molybdenum crystalline brushed on using the cuerda seca technique.  I like the way that the glaze sometimes makes a glowing halo around the insect.
Below is a spring green crystalline glaze with a matte glaze at the top.  We like the smokey quality around the edge where the matte green glaze flows into the spotted crystalline glaze.  This piece is $360.00 and is 17" x 5" x 5".

This vase below is glazed with one of our favorite combinations we call King Black Acid Ala' Mode.  It is in homage of King Black Acid, a fantastic band out of Portland, Oregon.  We were introduced to this band when we bought the soundtrack to the Mothman Prophesies.   The cd came with two disks.  One with the soundtrack, and the other had music by King Black Acid.  We fell in love with their music, and bought all of their cds.   There was a period when that was all we listened to in the studio.  We worked out this combination of glazes during that period, hence the name of this combo.   The molybdenum crystals come out wonderfully iridescent when we use the black acid glaze.  The dollop of blue berry caramel ice cream at the top is a nice touch too.

Bruce Gholson's : Art of the State: Cedar Creek Gallery

9.5" x 6" x 6", Price -  $385.00

Here are some up-close images of Bruce's pieces that are on display in the "Art of the State" group exhibition at Cedar Creek Gallery in Creedmoor, North Carolina.  The above porcelain three-footed vase excited us because of the depth of the blue crystalline glazes used.  The molybdenum crystalline action-jackson going on in the glaze is scrumptious.  I wish I had an image of the underside of it.  Bruce has a wonderful way of finishing off his pieces.

Here is a Fossil Fish charger that measures 18" x 3" x 3", and below is the backside decorated by Dotty Sam.  The charger is made out of stoneware and is $625.00.

The two headed fossil serpent bottle (an ouroboros confounded) is 19.25" x 4.5" x 3.5".  You can see the crystals in the detail image below.  This piece is $550.00.

Art of the State: Cedar Creek Gallery: June 12 - September 6

We attended the show opening at Cedar Creek Gallery this past Friday evening.  We arrived early with enough time for me to drink some coffee and take images.  People started to show up later after 6:00.  We had plans to leave early but as people started coming in it was hard to pull away from the interesting conversations.  The show is set up in two rooms.  The small one at the front of the Gallery and large one in the back.
We arrived around 5:45 and Gloria found herself in one of the places where she likes best....with the plants.  John Martin is the plant man there, and also works with crystalline and other glazes.  He had two lamps in the show that were gorgeous.  I wish I had taken a picture of the one I wanted to walk home with.  It would be perfect for a bedside lamp. It was a brilliant matte turquoise with a slender lamp shade.  I always seem to miss images that I later wished I had taken.  When I am in the moment of the activity of taking pictures I feel like I am taking a lot of them, but then I get home and look them over, and realized I missed documenting some.

Gloria learning of some new plant varieties. 

 

The larger show space.

Bruce's fossil serpent tall bottle shared a pedestal with Tom Turner's covered jar.  The jar fancied having a red dot.  Tom is getting ready for a show this summer on the main floor at the Blue Sprial 1 in Asheville.

Art of the State at Cedar Creek and Ronan's Studio Pottery Sale

Cedar Creek Gallery is right outside of Durham in Creedmoor, North Carolina.  We both were excited and honored when we found out that two of our images were chosen for the Cedar Creek Gallery Show- "Art of the State : North Carolina Treasures" postcard.  Bruce's Fossil Fish platter and Samantha's wasp porcelain glazed painting are pictured.   Both of the pieces will be in the show and for sale at Cedar Creek Gallery.   Gloria and I are going to travel over to the Durham area tomorrow, and be at the opening at Cedar Creek in the evening.   We did two posts a couple of months ago about Cedar Creek Gallery, Part I and Part II.

Ronan Peterson of Nine Toes Pottery in Chapel Hill, will have his studio opening this weekend.  On Saturday he will open his doors at 10:00 am - 4:00 pm and also on Sunday 12:00- 4:00.  Ronan's wife Kara Ikenberry, will also have her metal art work available.  For more information about Ronan and directions to his place check out his website.

Cousins in Clay-- It is a Wrap Up!

We had a great time this weekend with Michael Kline.  The day was beautiful and pottery enthusiasts visited throughout the day.  We would like to thank everyone very much for coming out to the first "Cousins in Clay" event.  

Mary Farrell of Westmoore Pottery brought by a pre conference tour of ALHFAM -- The Association for Living History, Farm, and Agriculture Museums.   They were all enthusiastic and it was a pleasure to have them come by.  

We displayed our work under a couple of canopies that we put up between Bulldog Pottery and the garden, that has been so well groomed and nurtured by Ed and Gloria.  We felt it was a nice mix of work, ambiance, and interaction.

Ed and Bruce are taking the Cousins sign down and storing it away for next year.

We are looking forward to holding the cousins event next year, the first Sat. of June, the same date as the Star Heritage Day Festival.  

Cousins in Clay

Here is an assortment of Micheal's work.  I am not sure which piece we want to buy from him.  We want so many.  



Maxwell kept us company all day long.  Naps?  Not in Maxwell's vocabulary.
Here are some of my mushroom insect jars.
Assortment of our vases.
Some of Bruce's fossil imgery and agate pieces.

Cousins in Clay Setting Up

Off to eat dinner and then finish up some details. More later....hopefully I will have a bit of time to load up some images of the work on each table. Everything looks great...I think.

A grouping of our Crystalline Vases

Above are the works that we are getting ready for Cousins in Clay joint pottery sale.  We are going to pull out one more kiln load in a couple of hours.  Yes we peeked.

Gloria was out this morning getting the garden cleaned up for this weekend.  A very busy time for all of us.  Michael is on his way today and will arrive here this evening.    Very Cool.

Works for this Weekend's Cousins in Clay

Here are the two glaze paintings that came out of the kiln yesterday.  We will be loading two more paintings today.  We are excited about the body and variety of works that we have been glazing and unloading this past week.  

Bruce will have a select grouping of his fossil fish mugs and Yunomis available.

Here are a few vases that have pleasing crystalline and flowing effects.  After working out a few bugs this past week with some of our glazes, we are now having successful results.  One more kiln firing to go and then we will be working on finishing the pieces for display.

Peeking!

We just can't wait, 450 degrees is cool enough for us for a quick peek. Bruce can't help himself but to snag a test tile that he threw in at the end of the glazing cycle the other night--at 2:30am.

One more kiln load to go and we have to stop. Bruce has lots of cutting and grinding work to do on the vases and framing on the porcelain wall hangings.