some girls shop for shoes and bags :) I shop for gum.
Of course, how can you resist 8 hunks of gum that cute pink little box, and Bootylicious gum - 'backin' that flava up'
BEST Freakin' SHED EVER is right!
Day Two and William, Hector & Miguel of Best Shed Ever are working on building my studio. Super cute name, great work ethic and over the top nice people to work with!
How great is this!
dirt
today we break ground on the studio project; it's a plot of dirt right now where once ivy, weeds, the occasional cast-off lego and empty snack bag of peanuts would hide out and the dog poo roamed free!
iron mer-maiden
scored this gem at the Alameda Flea Market. It's a great market and a fun day out; first Sunday of every month. Bring your wheely carts or be sure to get a cart - this girlie weighs in at 70+lbs, bless her.
I didn't have a cart, bless me.
the mermaid
a mermaid found a swimming lad,
picked him for her own,
pressed her body to his body,
laughing, and plunging down;
forgot in cruel happiness,
that even lovers drown.
- W.B. Yeats
bit of monday gloom, me thinks.
an american master
"You have to love dancing to stick to it. It gives you nothing back, no manuscripts to store away, no paintings to show on walls and maybe hang in museums, no poems to be printed and sold, nothing but that single fleeting moment when you feel alive. It is not for unsteady souls"
April 16, 1919 - July 26, 2009
it's early
I always tell the girls never
take it seriously. If you never
take it seriously then you never
get hurt. if you never get hurt then
you always have fun, and if you ever
get lonely you can just go to the
record store and visit
your friends.
excerpt from
almost famous
anyone notice how hard forgiveness can sometimes be?
take it seriously. If you never
take it seriously then you never
get hurt. if you never get hurt then
you always have fun, and if you ever
get lonely you can just go to the
record store and visit
your friends.
excerpt from
almost famous
anyone notice how hard forgiveness can sometimes be?
tea appreciation + fridayness
I'm sitting here this lovely friday morning with my Christa Assad cup enjoying a beautiful, dark, strong cup of tea. I love the thing. It's been my favorite cup for a while now. It's often a topic of conversation with clay people; cups. Check out the blog 'a cup a week' - it's great for us cup freaks.
Friday. I'm on vacation. As I enjoy my tea in my awesome Christa Assad cup, I'm thinking about what I'm going to do with my bad self today.
First thing: Surf Report; big swell from NZ hit today - probably through Monday. We're seeing double overhead south swell action in our future. It's looking like 8-10'. You can check out LiquidPlayground for info. I do NEED to get in the water...
Additional Friday menu items; My studio project starts Tuesday. I have a few chores that must be done for studio builder guy. I need to head over to Building Resources. Also, I need to get to Leslie's . It's production time - so I need to go pick up 400 or 500lbs of clay.
AND last but not least for dinner: TONIGHT is the Sanchez Art Center 50/50 show opening. A clay friend of mine, Sheila over at imakefish has been slaving away this show!
Ok, lot's going on; we'll see where this Friday action takes us!
One of my pieces. I am having trouble figuring out the best way to photog them - in fact, that segues into how best to display them. At the recent Palo Alto Show, I really had my eye not only on gorgeous pottery, but on the displays. If I'm going to do a couple/few shows a year, I will need to graduate up from fold out tables. As it is, I typically set them out on tables - and stack them in neat piles - they are big and take up a lot of room, so it's good to figure out how best to put your work out? Anyway, something to meditate on.
I recently had the pleasure of a rather nice compliment...I was told that my pieces feel and look "friendly". Wow, I loved that.
thank you wonderfully nice lady!
:)
progress
new greenware
wet clay for new batch
shapes of things to come...
I've quit the chatter and gotten to work
making progress!
Syoin Kajii - buddhist monk and photographer
syoin kajii - nami photographs. syoin is a young buddhist monk and photographer living on the Japanese island of Sado. You can find more about him here.
simply breathtaking.
get your freak on...
Pottery is my 'jobby'. I work full time. So, imagine trying to have a life, surf, relax, have a SECOND to think and have two jobs. Exciting, no? It's a much slower process for clay than having the luxury of working in a studio full time. It also requires a hyper-management of my time.
I have been selling to people directly, and selling at a small local shop and it's been a good situation for me. Zero pressure. I often want to market a little more - but I'm cautious of having a too many plates in the air - ha!
So, fa la la; I've been going on like this for a few years now and doing fine. Last November, I did a local sale/show. It was awesome! It went well and was a great experience. I thought, hey, maybe I could do a couple of these type of things a year. Famous last words. I thought it would be a manageable step to 'give me a push' - more famous last words...
I'm famous for famous last words.
I signed on for two shows in November and they are a week apart. That wasn't part of the plan. Here's the thing; I've done Open Studio shows and experienced friends getting ready for shows that I get the madness around getting ready for a show, setting up, the business of selling and the business of breaking down, the packing up and recovery. It's like you're a little circus that comes to town, and you never know what to expect or how it's going to go.
in my case maybe a circus freak...
Anyway, I've been a bit of a slacker. I have so much work I need to make and all I seem to be doing is nothing except freaking myself out: here's a bit of it; get a load of this nonsense:
Jeeze, I have a TON to do.
actually, 10 million things to do!
no prob, you can do that, you got time.
what do you mean no prob?
how am I going to get it all done?
I need to buy bubble wrap.
what if it sucks?
what if people think it sucks?
what if it doesn't come out of the kiln?
you need to make a million pieces! dude, you have three!
oh, god, I feel tired. No way am I working tonight, hey, what's on tv?
Listen, you did so well at the last show, it's going to be GREAT!
You will see so many people you know!
crap, I need a bigger studio.
Hey, why not build one ('cause that's genius timing).
display?
what display?
what are you going to do?
wait, what AM i going to do?
you can't just show up and put your stuff on a table, it's not a bake sale.
shit, need a visa card machine.
I need signage.
I better write this down.
You need to get pictures up on your website.
how about painting a sign for the show?
business cards. better have at least 5000!
you can make them yourself and then cut each one of them out.
Wait, wait, wait, how many days do I have?
OK, wait, how many hours is that?
f. f. f.
why are you sitting here?
what is your problem?
what IS my problem?
I wonder how big the space is.
I need a bigger kiln.
table cloths? I need tables.
wait, I need tables.
I better write that down.
Ooh, maybe I'll make cups again.
where's the list?
just start a new list.
yeah, I can make some new porcelain cups.
wtf? you can't make cups, you don't have time for cups.
wall sculptures?
should I make sculptures?
I think I need a nap right now.
what if I sell EVERYTHING at the first show,
and have NOTHING for the next show?
crap, crap, crap, damn job.
What about the following week?
I can't even think of that
I have to think of that show.
you have to think of that show.
start a list.
I have been selling to people directly, and selling at a small local shop and it's been a good situation for me. Zero pressure. I often want to market a little more - but I'm cautious of having a too many plates in the air - ha!
So, fa la la; I've been going on like this for a few years now and doing fine. Last November, I did a local sale/show. It was awesome! It went well and was a great experience. I thought, hey, maybe I could do a couple of these type of things a year. Famous last words. I thought it would be a manageable step to 'give me a push' - more famous last words...
I'm famous for famous last words.
I signed on for two shows in November and they are a week apart. That wasn't part of the plan. Here's the thing; I've done Open Studio shows and experienced friends getting ready for shows that I get the madness around getting ready for a show, setting up, the business of selling and the business of breaking down, the packing up and recovery. It's like you're a little circus that comes to town, and you never know what to expect or how it's going to go.
in my case maybe a circus freak...
Anyway, I've been a bit of a slacker. I have so much work I need to make and all I seem to be doing is nothing except freaking myself out: here's a bit of it; get a load of this nonsense:
Jeeze, I have a TON to do.
actually, 10 million things to do!
no prob, you can do that, you got time.
what do you mean no prob?
how am I going to get it all done?
I need to buy bubble wrap.
what if it sucks?
what if people think it sucks?
what if it doesn't come out of the kiln?
you need to make a million pieces! dude, you have three!
oh, god, I feel tired. No way am I working tonight, hey, what's on tv?
Listen, you did so well at the last show, it's going to be GREAT!
You will see so many people you know!
crap, I need a bigger studio.
Hey, why not build one ('cause that's genius timing).
display?
what display?
what are you going to do?
wait, what AM i going to do?
you can't just show up and put your stuff on a table, it's not a bake sale.
shit, need a visa card machine.
I need signage.
I better write this down.
You need to get pictures up on your website.
how about painting a sign for the show?
business cards. better have at least 5000!
you can make them yourself and then cut each one of them out.
Wait, wait, wait, how many days do I have?
OK, wait, how many hours is that?
f. f. f.
why are you sitting here?
what is your problem?
what IS my problem?
I wonder how big the space is.
I need a bigger kiln.
table cloths? I need tables.
wait, I need tables.
I better write that down.
Ooh, maybe I'll make cups again.
where's the list?
just start a new list.
yeah, I can make some new porcelain cups.
wtf? you can't make cups, you don't have time for cups.
wall sculptures?
should I make sculptures?
I think I need a nap right now.
what if I sell EVERYTHING at the first show,
and have NOTHING for the next show?
crap, crap, crap, damn job.
What about the following week?
I can't even think of that
I have to think of that show.
you have to think of that show.
start a list.
2 words; COFFEE!
This GENIUS is not getting crappy-crap done and the coffee is no longer working it's magic.
hence; a mad plan: I will make; 20 small bowls a week. 20 small plates a week. 10-12 large plates a week. I'd like to have 8-10 small-ish new sculptures. That gives me approx; 280 small bowls; 280 small plates; 168 large-ish plates - this includes the biffs. The sculptures will be a bonus and a miracle if I can get them done. Finally, there will be no porcelain cups, ladies and gentlemen.
I wish me luck. I'll let you know what happens.
Phew ;)
walking across the atlantic
I wait for the holiday crowd
to clear the beach
before stepping onto the first wave.
Soon I am walking across the Atlantic
thinking about Spain,checking for whales, waterspouts.
I feel the water holding up my shifting weight.
Tonight I will sleep on its rocking surface.
But for now I try to imagine what
this must look like to the fish below,
the bottoms of my feet appearing, disappearing.
- Billy Collins
to clear the beach
before stepping onto the first wave.
Soon I am walking across the Atlantic
thinking about Spain,checking for whales, waterspouts.
I feel the water holding up my shifting weight.
Tonight I will sleep on its rocking surface.
But for now I try to imagine what
this must look like to the fish below,
the bottoms of my feet appearing, disappearing.
- Billy Collins
50 pieces in 50 days show at sanchez
GRAND OPENING RECEPTION
Friday Night, July 27th 7-9pm
Can you imagine creating an artwork a day for fifty consecutive days? This is the premise of Sanchez Art Center's first-ever "50/50 Show." Sanchez Art Center studio artist Robert Dvorak had participated in a similar show at 20th Street Art Gallery in Sacramento and felt that the concept would be great for the Sanchez Art Center in Pacifica. Soon Robert and other studio artists began meeting to discuss the possibilities and make plans, and a new show was born.
The "50/50 Show" will begin with a Grand Opening from 7 to 9 p.m. on Friday, July 24, and will run through Saturday, August 29. The public is also invited on Saturday, August 29, for Sanchez Open Studios from 1 to 5 p.m. and the 50/50 Grand Closing from 5 to 7 p.m. The exhibition will fill all three galleries at Sanchez, providing an excellent opportunity for decorators, designers, and art lovers to find a wide variety of small-format artworks by known and emerging artists.
Sixty-seven artists were accepted from 81 entries, including such well-known artists as Fred Martin and Susan Matthews. Leigh Toldi, curator of Avenue 25 Gallery in San Mateo, juried those artists who had not previously been accepted into a juried show at Sanchez. Each artist committed to a specific theme and medium of their choosing for their 50 panels, which are 6 by 6 inches square. Each artist's works will be displayed in a grid formation and will be for sale. In fact, buyers can take panels with them on the day of purchase. All works of an individual artist will have the same price. On June 12 (midway through the fifty-day process), participants held an Artists' Gathering to show samples and share their experience. All agreed that the diversity of approaches and quality of workmanship were awe-inspiring. As show originator Robert Dvorak said, "This process allows both artists and viewers to see the creative changes that occur over time."
my yart studio project
yard + art = yart. The project is moving forward....it will be completed by the end of the month - woo hoo!
I found these doors for super cheap off an old house in San Francisco. They are going to be the front windows of my studio. I am really excited and oddly nervous about it all. I get this feeling that it means I am getting serious about all this clay nonsense.
:)
happy bright shiny monday!
The sunflowers in front of my house have reached something like 10' tall! They are huge - jack-in-the-beanstalk-y - huge. Really, I had no idea they got this big!
I am just loving them.
:)
not sure where i'm going with this
here is one of my new pieces; it's huge for one thing because I have access to a big kiln right now. My work has always had a simple and clean, graphic style with a lot of open space. I like to have a sense of clarity and simplicity; but I am also a fanatic about pattern and imagery. I have an illustration and graphic design background and I find myself torn between my instinct to go all simple and my need to add, add, add. I know this idea of adding more pattern and design to my work has been pupating in my wee brain for a while now.
I have been thinking and drawing and absorbing, thinking and drawing and absorbing and what's popped out is some kind of simple yet design-y hybrid-y look. I like it. I have done a few pieces and I am still finding my way. I don't know how much will stick or how much open space will creep back onto the surface of these pieces.
It will be curious to see where it's going...
Hey, change is good, right?!
LOVE SHARK
How serious is love shark about his love!? GENIUS.
this work is by a young artist, Charlie Ray. Charlie has created a series of Shark works which includes; get ready for this:
'Shark Doing Dishes'
'Shark Vacuuming'
'Money Shark'
'Money Shark'
when love comes in and takes you for a spin......
work in progress
This is the poster I am working on for the Madrigalli Market Sale happening in Ptown in November at the Pedro Point Firehouse.
Working with the gals that put this event on; I will probably tweak and change this a 1000x.
I will be adding all the participating artists for both days event and other details. This show was a HUGE hit last year - I had a great time and I am happy to be involved again this year.
The Firehouse is a super neat-o spot for events; check it out.
:)
it's RAD ke
meerkats
sea monkey
owl
This guy is over the top; Scott Radke, effing amazing. He is a doll/marionette maker & muralist. I read in an interview that his jump off point, launch and landing, is drawing/painting - though he has been making masks, marionette's and dolls for some time. He uses many mediums and clay is one of them, but not glazes; these are painted with acrylics. I think it's easy to see the results - whether you love it or hate it - it's fascinating.
They are so Jim Henson-y, Tim Burton-y - Scott Radke-y. Cute and mean at the same time, cute and sad, cute and troubled - all corpse-ish colored and deeply emotive. My god, how can you resist.
Ever since I happened upon this work - my brain is on TOTAL absorption stimulation overload!
stick o' wood
Doesn't it just make you want to huff and puff!
Patrick Dougherty is a stick sculpture artist - I believe he started out as a builder and when he went into art he was using clay. He quickly realized that he couldn't build really big with clay and somehow found his way sticks.
Come on; don't you think they are super fun? I especially like how they look like they are in motion...
I want stick man to build my studio.
POM porn
My friend and fellow ceramicist Zan Truman sent me some 'POM Porn'. This pic was taken at the Emperor's Palace in China. Zan is on an adventure trip with other teachers travelling in China. You can follow her adventures here at Zan Does China!
Everyone knows the pomegranate is the Rocco Siffredi of fruits, I'm thinking maybe all foods.
I am deeply obsessed with pomegranates. Obsessed. Really.
Palo Alto Clay & Glass Festival July 11th & 12th
ladies & gentlemen; Barbara Vanderbeck's super cute, super neat-o sculptures!
Saturday & Sunday July 11th & 12th 10am to 5pm
17th Annual Sale & Exhibition featuring 180 artists
If you live in the Bay Area you'd be a fool to miss this. Do yourself a favor, don't be a fool.
Mark your calendars, sync your iphones, twit on tweet, whatever, I don't care - just go to the thing...you'll be happy you did.
Needles & Pens
Ocean + Beach opens tonight at Needles & Pens
A Group of Artists Who Thrive in and Around the Coastal Zone
Featuring:CHARLIE CALLAHAN, JEFF CANHAM, MISHA CAPECCHI, ALBERTO CUADROS, AMY JO DIAZ, KYLE FIELD, CHRISTOPHER GENTILE, RACHEL KAYE, JEFFREY MANSON, AARON MASON, JOHN MCCAMBRIDGE, SERENA MITNIK-MILLER, DAVE MULLER, JAY NELSON, LANA PORCELLO, NATHANIEL RUSSELL, ORION SHEPHERD, MASON ST. PETER, AUGUSTUS THOMPSON, ISABELL WEBERBAUER
NEEDLES & PENS 3253 16th St., SF (415) 255-1534
neoprene geisha?
Since we're on this subject; here is No. 4. I refer to her as big mamma although she does also have this geisha-wearing-a-wetsuit thing happening?
speaking of themes - there's the porn boob thing again...
she's from the indian ocean
After posting Ms. Mermaid perched at her new home a couple posts ago: I got some nice comments. One of them; my friend Sheila over at imakefish posted this pic of the mermaid she bought from me last year...
thanks Sheila - I love that she has her own leather lazyboy recliner!
I thought I'd go and post the only picture I have of her - the mermaid formally known as No.2
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