Life post-show

Well if you've been attempting to follow my blog you're probably pretty bummed. After my show in June I pretty much hit a wall of exhaustion. I decided not to make any new art over the summer & focus on gaining credits for work. I pretty much busted my butt all year and needed a little clay break.

Good news is that I'm headed back to work (school) and will be back in the studio. I increased my ceramics classes & gained a section for 1st semester. This is totally awesome but I'm terrified at the same time! Where are we going to store all this extra work!? Where will I store my work

!? I think I'm gonna go back to my rubbermaid damp boxes and cram more kids on shelves. Whatever. We'll deal. Plus we're getting a new kickass electric kiln in about a month. Which should be fun to collect work until we can fire it!

While you're waiting to see new work... here's some shots of the work I had in my solo show Littletinydots&BIGclaypots ! I'm not a great slide-taker and they turned out darker than expected. Nothing that a little photoshop probably couldn't fix though! Enjoy :-)

littletinydots&BIGclaypots

what's the happenings...

 1st 4 cups from my new work

This is where I tell you why I decided to make a blog...

  I'm tired of being a lazy ass and not making work.  There, I said it.   

Since I graduated I've only made demo pots. I had a go at big pots again last year, but alas, it ended in tragedy. *RIP big pot* I went back to just demo pots until this past spring when I made a ton of simple cups & bowls for my Avon Walk fundraiser. Things seemed to go pretty well so now I'm back at it. Soon after the fundraiser I came across the work of Peter Pincus in Ceramics Monthly & got inspired.  I began to realize how much I love tactile pieces.  I hate going to galleries where I can't touch things that I really REALLY want to touch.  Maybe I've been working with high school kids too long, but I think I'm a little ADD. 

 

My 1st big pot since 2005, which blew up cause I suck.

Anyway, I've started to throw smaller pieces in porcelain & experiment with surface more.  These cups were the first in a body of work I'm currently creating.  I wanted to make something tactile that's fun & keeps your attention.  (Hence, the little tiny clay dots that make you blind while making them.)  I also wanted to make a comfortable form & focus on the negative space created by the beneath the base of the cups.  I'm still attempting to translate these ideas into other utilitarian objects- (vases, jars, teapots, etc.) while exploring added pieces.  I think my next step (now that my clay order has finally arrived!) is to expand these ideas into big pots again!  I've always loved throwing large forms & I really need to just dive back in. 

So, back to my previous statement of being a lazy ass... I've spent the past 3 yrs teaching high school ceramics.  This leaves you little to NO time/brain power to make art or even function beyond relaxing. My goal is to record my weekly time in the studio & occasional images (but not before things are bisqued because that's awful luck... see below) and post them on this blog. 

I know that several friends may help keep me in check & give me some feedback.  I've definitely realized that not being in a studio makes it hard to get feedback on the good, awful & potential in pieces.  Plus I'm used to giving all the time with little take from kids. (anyone who teaches or has kids would understand this one!) I'd love to hear suggestions, ideas pretty much anything about the work so please, send it my way! :-D