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:)

Studio art show recap

I wonder how long I can keep up this whole "posting a blog on a regular basis" thing?

I blame the weather. You can only be stuck inside sitting at the computer playing Bubble Island on Facebook for so many hours...

Yesterday evening was the studio show and sale. Not only did I have a blast, but I found out I have fans! I can't begin to tell you how giddy that made me. I guess Rachel and Andrew have been showing some of my work to their students over at Herron. Squee! Once again, an entire night spent talking about my work, my throwing, and ceramics in general. I was pretty much in heaven. I met some really nice people.

I also threw a whole bunch of new stuff! Tumblers, a big bowl, a lidded jar with three lids (not sure which will work out best), and a new doll jar.

You can see that round bottle form and the little vase directly to the right of it - that's going to (hopefully) be the next doll jar. I wanted a form that looked more like a traditional kokeshi doll - big round head with a skinny straight body. I have no idea how stable it's going to be, though. It may be way too top heavy to survive for long. Or even how well the forms will work together once I combine them. It's an experiment, so we'll see how it turns out.

Check out some pics of the instructor work in the gallery. It's all making me feel really inspired to take another crack at handbuilding. I swore off it in college because I was so bad at it, but look at these amazing sculptures! Maybe handbuilding deserves another shot...

Catherine Schlebecker

Rachel Bleil

Andrew Davis

Thanks to anyone reading who came by last night. It was great meeting you!

Ceramic ambitions

I have class with Rachel at the clay studio this evening. After nearly a week of not touching mud, I'm looking forward to it. I have two unpainted doll jar forms, a tile, and 10 greenware mugs waiting to be attended to, and I might get a little throwing in if there's time. I'd like to finish the most recent doll jar, the one with two faces, so that I can submit it for Clay Fest 2011 at U of I. Deadline is less than 2 weeks away! Ideally, I'd like to finish one more jar, and submit 3 pieces if I can.

Tomorrow is the art show at the studio as well. I can't wait to see more of the instructor's work! I've seen sneak peaks of new work by Cathy Schlebecker, and a couple of finished sculptures by Andrew Perry Davis and Rachel Bleil, and it all looks fantastic! I'm not just saying that either - I really love all of their work. Plus, I'm always excited to see artwork from instructors or professors of mine. I love being able to see their process and studio practices in finished form. I'm also feeling pretty honored that my peep sculpture with be on display alongside Rachel and Andrews at the show. I hope you stop by on First Friday, have a little wine and food, and check out the show. I'll be demoing on the wheel all night again, too!

Andrew Perry Davis

Catherine Schlebecker

Rachel Bleil

I have not been in the habit of sketching much lately, or keeping any kind of journal, which is a bit unusual for me. I used to journal obsessively, but I haven't written a thing in ages. I actually intended to keep one throughout my pregnancy, but I started off in such a funk, I just couldn't seem to make myself. This week I worked on finishing designs for Kentuckiana Pug Rescue's 2011 fundraiser t-shirt, which I worked out in my giant black sketchbook, and I realized that I've only got a few pages left in it. I started it in December of 2009 with the intent of drawing in it daily (anyone remember that ambition? I think I made it 3 months...) I think today I will go out and buy a new sketchbook and try again. If not daily, then at least making it a point to work out ideas on paper so that I don't forget them. I miss drawing and writing a lot, and I think the surface design work I've been doing recently shows it. I also think I'd like to try planning out my ceramic forms more, so that I have some vague goals for what I'd like to make when I sit down at the wheel. I'm not great at throwing exact shapes and forms I have in mind, but it's something I'd like to work towards.