So long, farewell

I have a lot of huge changes happening in my life right now. I'm not sure where to start, so I'll just go on down the line and list them.

First of all, my husband and I fell in love with a little house in a neighborhood we adore, and we're in the process of trying close on it. There have been some snafus, but the inspection is some time this week, and if it passes, it's ours. Nich and I have already planned out our lives in this house! So fingers crossed. If this doesn't work out we'll keep looking, but I'm hoping to be announcing good news by next week.

Desire House - by Catherine Wilson

Second, I have been volunteering my time at a Montessori school doing clay with the kids there. So far I've only spent one day there, but I love being there, and Maddy gets to hang out with awesome kids, chickens, a chinchilla, and a very sweet dog while I'm there. There is the possibility of a job there for me in the near future, so I really hope this pans out. More and more I feel drawn to working with kids, and I think this would be a great fit for me, and for Maddy!

Finally, my time as Artist in Residence at BGCW has come to an end. Josh Heim, our Thursday night instructor, is purchasing the studio, and will be taking my place. I decided to let this be my last week so I could put more energy into the house plans, the Montessori school, and spending time with Maddy. Also, as much as I loved teaching there, it left very little time for developing my own work, and my skill level is just not where I want it to be yet. I will still be a part of BGCW, filling in from time to time and teaching the kid's workshops. I'm really looking forward to seeing how the community grows under Josh's knowledge, experience, and care. It's definitely in good hands:) I definitely learned a lot teaching there - probably more than my students learned from me! It was a blessing, and I'm so grateful for the experience, and the friendships I made.

It is my plan to take a small hiatus from art making and social media while I figure out the new directions my life is going in. Over the summer, I hope to get a small studio set up in the new house, and maybe take some time developing my work without distraction or pressure. Anyway, if you don't hear from me for a while, I hope you won't forget about me. After some adjustments, some r&r, and some much needed time with my family, I will be back. Hopefully with new adventures, new work, and a new website (finally!)

Thank you for following along with me, guys!

Baby plates for babycakes

Hey look! I remembered to bring my camera to the studio with me for once!

Finally, FINALLY got a big dipping bucket of the new recipe for Maggie Moo's Blue-Green glaze mixed up. I am super happy with this version, and it looks fantastic layered with all the other studio glazes. Thanks to Maggie Schlebecker who did her school science fair project on glaze testing and provided us with her recipe. Hooray girls and science!

I got a cake plate out of the kiln, which warped just as I expected. We have been working on making a cake plate in my Tuesday night class that could double as a chip and dip when flipped over, but the bowl as a base just isn't enough support to keep the plate part from warping in the kiln (especially when you use porcelain, like me). It's not completely horrible, but I do want to refire it because I'm not satisfied with the glaze application. I will probably use it for Maddy's birthday party if I can improve the glaze on it.

Why yes, that is a birthday gator! Or a crocodile, which ever you prefer.

These are kid's plates I'm working on. One is for Maddy! I can't wait until she's old enough to use it! I'm going to get them painted today. I cannot wait to make more of these. They're so fun!

Last but not least, I got my painted pendants out of the kiln. What do you think? I keep wanting to sit down and roll out more of these, and do some different shapes, but I haven't had the time. Maybe after the baby party extravaganza?

If anyone is interested in the glaze recipe for the Maggie Moo glaze, let me know. I'd be happy to share!

Criaturas

It's been two weeks since the opening of our three woman show at the Earth House. I've been meaning to blog about it ever since, but I never seemed to be able to get around to getting the pictures off my camera card and editing them all. It's hard to do anything computer related for any real length of time when you have a baby, and her crib is right next to the desk! Luckily, Maddy took some very long naps, and I finally got around to uploading them all.

If you missed the opening... well, it's hard to describe how awesome an event it was! More like a party than an art opening, which was fantastic. We really tried to structure it as a family friendly art event, since all three of us have kids. Vanessa has many years of experience dragging her kids to to First Friday art openings, and they always get whiny and bored after awhile. (I get whiny and bored at gallery openings too when they don't provide enough free booze, heh.)

So yeah, we kinda went all out on the kid theme, with cardboard cutout creatures for people to color, a piñata bash with three handmade piñatas by Monfreda, and these adorable monster cupcakes made by the very talented Ellen Nylen. I also hid little ceramic birds around Earth House for the kids to find and keep.

We also had DJ Kyle Long, whose music I'd never heard, but I kept hearing great things about him. Not only was he kind and friendly, but his music was killer! Our event turned into a latino dance party! Furniture was pushed out of the way, and people started salsa dancing in front of the stage. It was great! By the time the night was over, the floor was covered with glitter, candy, and bits of paper. (We stayed to help clean up. Earth House staff assured us they had a very good vacuum cleaner.)

Absolutely the best art event I've ever had the pleasure of being a part of. The place was packed, and lots of people got to see our work. I had several people introduce themselves to tell me how much the like my stuff, which is always awesome. I even had a little girl make me an owl cutout as a present because she liked my stuff so much, and she was so happy to get to keep a bird.

If you missed it, and you want to check out the artwork, here are some pics of the event and the art. There are many more on my facebook page. If you're here in Indy, go see it in person! The show stays up thru the 31st.

Vanessa and I spend an afternoon drawing and cutting out creatures.

Beatriz Schlebecker's breathtaking papel picado banners. You should really see these in person to fully appreciate them.

Friducha!

My favorite little roboninja.

All my new mini jars.

Pigasus!

Vanessa's imaginary friends were everywhere, brightening up the rafters.

My sister-in-law Mariah, taking the killer swing.

Victory!

Mariah with her niece. Maddy got pretty dolled up for the event!

Ellen's killer cupcakes!

My owlet present. It's hanging in my studio now:)

Kid's Clay Class

I did a kid's clay session the week before Christmas, and we had a freakin' blast. What great kids! They were fun, sweet, geeky, weird, and crazy creative. I was amused all week by the bizzaro stuff that came out of their heads!

Clam with sombrero, mustache, and exploded cigar. Totally unprompted, he just came up with this on his own.

Megan's dinosaur, who is a GIRL, for your information.

The kids all got to do some throwing too. They impressed me with their skills.

I impressed me with my skills too.

Megan painting a heart shaped bead. With the latex gloves, she thought it looked like she was holding a bloody heart. I told you these kids were awesome.

Ryan's vampire mask, before the addition of blood.

Painting the blood on the vampire. No sparkles here, thank you.

I made another bunny jar while they were sculpting.

Megan's adorable elf mask.

Cash splatter painting his alien bug mask.

Carnage!

I am so proud of them, I really am. I can't wait to take pics of everything when it comes out of the kiln!

I had a lot of fun coming up with lesson plans for this class. I just gotta say, thank god for the internet, and especially for Pinterest!

Criaturas - First Friday Art Opening at Earth House

We have sent out a press release for our show in January. I keep joking about how I feel like an adult now, but it seriously is a little weird to be doing something so grown up and... I don't know, responsible? Professional, maybe? For some reason, no matter how long I'm at this whole trying-to-make-a-living-at-my-craft business, I always feel a bit like I'm just playing pretend. I'm really just a 12 year old who has no idea whats going on 90% of the time in the adult world. 

Anyway, here it is in all its press release-y glory.

PRESS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                                        
FROM:                                    Earth House Collective
                                                237 North East Street
                                                Indianapolis, IN 46204

CONTACT:                            Vanessa Monfreda

            (317) 946-9365

            vanessamonfreda@yahoo.com

                                                      
DATE:                                    12/10/2011

Criaturas - First Friday Art Opening

Earth House Collective will be hosting Criaturas, a three woman show by artists Vanessa Monfreda, Lori Leaumont, and Beatriz Vasquez-Schlebecker. Each artist will present work interpreting the theme of "criaturas", or "creatures" in Spanish, using their respective mediums of paper maché, ceramics, and papel picado to create monsters, animals, and grumpy little girls.

Artist Vanessa Monfreda creates colorful paper maché sculptures she calls "my imaginary friends", first inspired by her own children. Hot pink mustachioed pigs, larger-than-life cats, and 3 eyed monsters immediately attract bright eyed kids, something Monfreda aims for in her work. "First Fridays shouldn't just be for adults," says Monfreda. "Kids get bored at art shows. We need more art events that are interactive and fun for them."

The show also features the work of Lori Leaumont and Beatriz Vasquez-Schlebecker. Leaumont makes colorful, hand painted porcelain sculptures, "doll" jars, and tableware that are heavily inspired by children's book illustration and "girlhood". Schlebecker uses a traditional Mexican paper cutting technique to create lacy, intricate images that reflect her bi-cultural upbringing as a first generation Mexican-American originally from South Texas, as well as her training in children's book illustration.

The show takes place on First Friday, January 6th, from 7pm - 11pm, and will feature a piñata bash at 7:30 with a handmade piñata by Monfreda, as well as music provided by DJ Kyle Long, and monster cakes and cupcakes by food stylist Ellen Nylen.

For more information, contact Vanessa Monfreda at vanessamonfreda@yahoo.com.

--
Jonathan McAfee
Program Manager
Earth House Collective
237 N. East St.
Indianapolis, IN 46203
317-636-4060

Mother and Child by Beatriz Vasquez-Schlebecker

Gato by Vanessa Monfreda

My mini dolls.

Hope to see you in January! It's going to be an awesome show!