Putting the finishing touches on our vases.

We are putting the finishing touches on our vases. Our kiln opening - Daffie Days is right around the corner.
Daffie Days - March 30, 31, and April 1 - 10:00am - 5:00pm

We are also looking forward to joining the Celebration of Spring with the Seagrove Potters Kiln Opening on April 21 and 22, 2012!

The gorgeous weather outside is bringing out the critters living in the undergrowth.

PAF Gallery Exhibition in Siler City

Bruce Gholson, Shino Covered Jar

This Friday evening, on March 16th, 2012, will be our opening reception at the PAF Gallery. It begins at 6:00-9:00 and takes place during Siler City's third Fridays ArtWalk.  The show of 80 Bulldog Pottery pieces will be on exhibit until April 13, 2012.  The PAF Gallery is part of the NC Arts Incubator.  The North Carolina Arts Incubator is located in five buildings nestled in the heart of Historic Downtown Siler City and currently features 24 artists working in a variety of medias from pottery to glass to fiber.

NC Arts Incubator

223 North Chatham Avenue

Siler City, NC 27344

919-663-1335

Bruce is carrying our pots into the gallery.  

The inside of the PAF Gallery has wonderful light and a fabulous window!

PAF Gallery located in Siler City, NC from the outside

The NC Arts Incubator in Siler City, North Carolina,
123-D North Chatham Avenue

Bruce Gholson, Crab Shino Low Bowl

Surreal or Hyperreal Landscape

Today we took an early morning walk. Bruce threw the ball for Max while I knelt to take images of the daffodils blooming in our yard.  I am fascinated by the way flowers, at this perspective, become a surrealistic landscape in which the insects live. 

We are still recuperating from the 25th Annual NC Potters Conference, held this past weekend in a nearby town, Asheboro, NC. The folks at the Randolph Arts Guild are a hard working group who put on an inviting and happy conference. For 25 years Dwight Holland has planned the potters conference inviting an excellent line-up of potters and scholars as demonstrators and presenters.  This past conference was awesome, and we learned a lot of techniques, history, and we were reminded that there are so many different ways to handle clay and carry through with one's own unique voice in it. To read about the conference, visit the Courier Tribune- NC Potters Conference: Marks the 25th Year and Potters on Conference "Amazing" "Wonderful".  The Randolph Arts Guild have images of the conference on their Randolph Arts Guild facebook page. 

North Carolina Potters Conference Number 25

Cynthia Bringle

This coming weekend is the 25th Annual North Carolina Potters Conference at the Moring Arts Guild in Asheboro, NC. This year's conference has a different twist.  

The following three premier potters were invited to share their techniques and wisdom.

Cynthia Bringle - North Carolina

John Glick - Michigan 

Jack Troy -  Pennsylvania

These three potters were given the opportunity to invite a young potter that they felt noteworthy, to demonstrate as well.

Cynthia invited Ronan Peterson from North Carolina

John Glick invited Martha Grover from Montana

Jack Troy invited Jake Johnson from Pennsylvania

So that is 6 different views and pottery techniques, We are psyched!

There is also an awesome line-up of speakers! 

Louise Cort, curator of the Ceramics collection at the Freer in Washington D.C.

Walter Ostrom, a major educator in contemporary ceramics, and retired professor from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Canada.

Bob Armfield a local potter from Ramseur, NC who worked with Walter and Dot Auman.

Mark Hewitt from Pittsboro, NC who was featured in the PBS series Craft in America series.

The images that are shown here are pieces by the invited pottery demonstrators. These pieces will be on view at the Moring Arts Guild throughout this week and during the weekend.

A Close-Up of the handle on Cynthia Bringle's  Vessel

Jack Troy

Close-up of shell mark and wood-fired flash on Jack Troy's vase form

John Glick

Close-up of glaze pattern on John Glick's super large platter

Ronan Peterson on left, middle is Marth Grover, right is Jake Johnson

Close-Up view of Ronan Peterson's Covered Jar

An overhead view of Marth Grovers's Basket Form

Handles on Jake Johnson's Vase form

Studio Gear

As I was looking around the studio today. Saw something new on one of our ware carts. Where did Bruce unearth this from today and what is he planning?

I am loading up some of our our favorite tunes on my itouch. Our cd players have given out and we miss our music.   After a couple of years of podcast stories it is time to introduce music back into our studio life.  Where does the time go?

Below are two examples of leaf cups with handles that I have been working on.  These particular ones are going to be glazed with some of our transparent colors. I am thinking about making a series with our Moka glaze too.

North Carolina Potters-Pre-Conference Show-A closer look

Walter Ostrom on the leftt and Jim Robinson on the right

Walter Ostrom is a retired ceramics professor from Canada. My memories of Walter Ostrom at the conference is of his excellent talks about pots and aesthetics. Pure love for the craft comes across when he speaks about ceramics. One of many reasons we are looking forward to the upcoming NC Potters Conference in March is because Walter Ostrom will be back in Asheboro on Sunday (March 4) for a morning presentation.  On the right is a hand built vessel by Jim Robinson, who is now working for Rookwood Pottery as their glaze expert in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Jim is well known to many potters because of his excellent article on shino glazes in the "Studio Potter" magazine as well as other clay and glaze articles.

Side View of Walter Ostrom's and Jim Robinson's work

 Below is a close-up of Walter Ostrom's plate. I remember during his demonstration he spoke about his garden. You can see his influence in his flower patterns below.

The two soup tureens below are by Gail Kendall and Lisa Orr. Gail Kendall's ceramic work is on the left, she has recently retired from the University of Nebraska.  On the right is a soup tureen by Texan potter Lisa Orr.  But hey you don't have to put soup in these. You can put anything you want, you could serve jello out of these dishes, wouldn't that be fun!

Gail Kendall on the left and Lisa Orr on the right

Below is a close-up of Gail Kendall's oval covered jar lid that is adorned with a myriad of color and pattern. Every way you look at this piece whether from top down or bottom up, there is something exciting to see.

Lisa Orr's covered jar looks like it is glistening wet with rich color and texture. The gestures and movement in the handles and surface look alive.

The back left is John Leach and the back right is Mary Law, front bowl is by Alleghany Meadows.

John Leach is from the United Kingdom and was a presenter at the 4th Potters Conference. This was before our time. Derrick Sides the director of the Randolph Arts Guild showed us a picture of John Leach and Dorothy Auman together. I believe this was one of the early conferences that was held in the upstairs room at the Art Guild.  We couldn't imagine more then 40 people could fit in that room. Now the conference has grown to a 150 sold out audience.

Mary Law

Mary Law is a potter from California. Gloria and I attended this conference. She was quietly throwing while Jane Hamlyn told us stories about her home in Great Britain and Robin Best from Australia busily worked on making her model, mold, and casting slip.  Mary Law threw a tea bowl and took a very soft rubber rib and went inside the thrown cup and pushed out with the rib. It was beautiful. Now I like to do that to my cups, very nice effect.

Attending these conferences can be pretty intense. There are three well versed and talented potters up on stage, and I want to watch all of them at the same time. But you know that is just not possible. So the only thing you can do is keep going from one potter to the next, then back and forth, trying to take in as much as possible.

Back left is Lorna Meaden and back right is Bruce Cochrane, in the front is Sarah Jaeger.

Below is a close-up up Canadian potter Bruce Cochrane's handle of the above jar. He spoke of being inspired by Chinese Bronzes. His hand building demo was out of this world. The above three, Lorna from Colorado, Sarah from Montana, and Bruce from Canada all were on stage together. All three of us were able to attend this conference together. Front Row! It was a lot of fun to watch these potters work and be able to talk together about it at home in our studio.

You can find out details about the upcoming North Carolina Potters Conference in Asheboro on March 2-4, at the Randolph County Arts Guild website.

2012 North Carolina Potters Conference Pre - Pottery Show

Sara Smith Self Art Gallery, Randolph County Arts Guild, Asheboro, NC
Pre-North Carolina Conference Pottery Show

This exhibition is up right now at the Randolph County Arts Guild in North Carolina, Feb.1 - Feb. 29, 2012. We went to see it this morning, taking the break to see it was our Valentines Day gift to each other. There are some really nice pots on display.  Pottery by Josh Deweese, Andrea Gill, Val Cushing, John Glick, Cynthia Bringle, Lisa Orr, Mark Pharis, Mary Barringer, and many more. So you say you want a closer look?  Well check back in, we will post some closer views later in the week.

The Tempo Picks Up

Vase by Bruce Gholson, Seagrove, North Carolina

We are filling our work tables with vases. Daffodils are in strong bloom, a bit early this year.  Daffie Days is around the corner on March 30- April 1 and after glazing the vases, we plan a kiln load of Moka and shino glazed pottery for the Celebration of Spring with the Seagrove Potters on April 21&22, and we also have a show coming up at the PAF Gallery in Siler City beginning March 16-April 13.  Upcoming shows and deadlines have pulled us out of our January hibernation of organizing, creative thinking, cleaning up, projects, reading, researching, writing, and a myriad of other activities that can fill our day.  The life as a self-employed artist is full of crescendos, with sometimes at certain points in the composition, we hold the volume up at top level for a length of time. That tempo can make even the most fit person breathe heavily. We need to allow ourselves some organic uncontrolled time, and we did this past January and it sure felt good.  I was reading a book and it mentioned that to keep up artistic motivation and creative thinking one must be healthy, eat well, and get plenty of sleep.  Sometimes the plenty of sleep is just not possible, and eating must be pared down to quick simple meals.  Life as a professional artist is an ongoing arrangement of making time to get the work done and balancing that with a healthy life style.

The Vase

Vase by Samantha Henneke (18"x4")- Winner of Honorable Mention on Vasefinder 2012

The Vase
Both Bruce and I have focused many hours at the wheel in our studio, designing different variations of the vase.  There are numerous approaches and there is an incredible historic precedence in the exploration of the vase as form.  We find it a traditional pottery form that we always enjoy getting back to and reinterpreting.  Bruce and I will sometimes play back and forth in the studio when working out different curves and nuances. One of us will start a rhythm and the other will feed off it, and work out the silhouette in their own way.  We also have certain variations of the vase that we seem to be drawn to individually.  Whether it is tall and slender like my vase above or round and gourd like, the vase form provides an excellent shape for us to explore glazes and surface development.

I am honored to be awarded a Honorable Mention by juror John Glick for the Vasefinder Internationals 2012.  This online vase show is hosted by Charles Blim of Vasefinder. Vasefinder is a membership based website whose advocacy is for the ceramic artist and the pottery profession.

To see all of the exhibitors in this show check out Vasefinder Nationals 2012.

Lithops

A couple of years I purchased a pot full of these interesting plants and separated them into their own individual pot.  I am going to guess at the time that they were probably 3-4 years old. I have owned a few in the past, but managed to over water them. When lithops are over watered they explode.  Not a pretty sight.  We are going into our second winter living with these plants. I think they have grown a little. I have lost a few but I have managed to keep just about all of them alive. Back in November around Thanksgiving time around 8 lithops bloomed. I have read that watering should cease in the winter.  During this past month the lithops' leaves split open to reveal new leaves inside. Sometimes they split open and remain one new plant, and other plants split open, becoming two new plants.  Very Cool.  This is the time to definitely not water because the inside leaves are now getting water from the outside leaves of the plant, so if I were to water them now they would take in the water from the roots instead of taking in water from the outside leaf and the outcome would be... well lets not go there. We just won't water them.

I like to separate out the plants that are splitting, this way I can keep an eye on all of the action.

Last year this lithops plant was three leaves and each one split into 2, making 6. I have been watching this one closely to see if it will split again. I was thrilled a couple of days ago when I saw a couple of them are beginning to open up and I am waiting with anticipation to see if the will become 12. How exciting. We are not sure if they will multiply this story to be continued.

The lithops plant is native to South Africa and is also called living stones. I have read that by looking like stones on the desert floor, it helps to camouflage them from hungry animals.

What is New

Happy New Year! Our pottery wheels have yet to turn, but we have been actively working in other areas of our lives.  Enjoying a little of our hobbies, catching up on our domestic life, organizing, and cooking. A few detailed activities: cutting scrub trees down around our pond and yellow cottage, planting the rest of the daffodil bulbs, beginning to move our office and computer to a new room, cleaning up areas of our studio that are truly out of control (as opposed to just chronically messy), packing and shipping our pottery to new homes, and enjoying the quite time of winter.  We have been on a working vacation. 

What is new..

• Our computer screen is new. Conveniently after all of the Holiday sales, I finally made up my mind.  It is a 4 month old birthday present, have you researched computer screens? We have been working on a screen we bought refurbished around 10 years ago. Trying to decipher which criticisms are important to read, and what does one want in a computer screen takes a little while to take in. The prices range all over. What size? I chose the 24" Dell Ultra-sharp 2410. It will take a little while to get used to, it is so much brighter, more crisp, and the screen is flat. 

Gloria hung red bows around the property

•  We have new Wii games!  We like the Wii. After a couple of weeks of research, I decided on  Punch Out, Just Dance #3, Deadly Creatures, Endless Blue Ocean, A Boy and His Blob, Zelda, Go Vacation. We also received a Xmas present from my brother and his family - Mario Cart.  I have tried all of them but Zelda. Here is a quick review from a true novice: 

"Mario Cart" is lots of fun, though I don't recommend playing right after you eat.
 "Just Dance" is a real workout and after I danced two dances my heart was pumping vigorously (I need to get more exercise).
 In "Deadly Creatures" you are a tarantula scurrying around looking for grubs and crickets to eat.  The first battle is with a Rattlesnake, which took me quite a few lives before triumphantly, I figured out how to escape.  I felt like I accomplished something.  But then I was faced with battling a wolf spider and these hard-core beetles all at the same time - I have yet to make it out this alive.
"Punch Out" I think will be fun once I figure all of the buttons. You can use the balance board with it, but I have not tried this yet.
"Endless Ocean" is relaxing because you swim around looking at fish.  I haven't played it yet , but I had fun watching Ed play.
"A Boy and  His Blob" is like a puzzle game.  It took me many times just to get past the first screen trying to jump over one of the evil black blobs, but once I figured it out I was off on the adventure throwing jelly beans, collecting treasures, and hugging my sweet helper blob.
I have yet to try "Zelda" and I have watched Ed play "Go Vacation" which looks fun, riding around the island looking for different activites to play.
"Mario Cart" has been in our Wii console more then any of the other games.

•  We have acquired some new books.  A variety of drawing books, watercolor techniques, mythology, a Chagall biography, and a couple pattern design books.

•  A new label maker made its way under the Christmas tree.  Everything I read about getting your office organize suggests to use a label maker instead of your hand-writing. This is supposed to give an impression of organized and clean looking files, instead of something thrown together.  We like using our new label maker. I am glad that we finally broke down and got it. Oh, and we also have a new paper cutter. Way cool.

• Our new cat Koi, a very wonderful addition to our life is a sweet female calico cat.  She showed up in November, and we decided to feed her and take her in.  She has been to the vet, and she is in good health. The Vet said that she is around 1 years old.  Yesterday we worked outside cleaning up and she actually chased after Maxwell's red ball.  It was pretty funny watching Max watch her.  He seemed pretty incredulous that it should happen.

Koi Kitty