Oooh, La La!

Look at this new beauty we got last week at NCC!  I'm in love with the spring loaded lid lifter :)  His name is Bob, and I'm guessing he won't stay so pretty and shiny for long, but he is a welcome addition to our electric kiln family...

Two Months?!?

Well, I am hardly on the once a week blogging plan that I swore to at the start of this year. It seems like the longer I let the blog slide, the harder it is to get back up on the horse (and the more monumental it feels the post should be). While my first post in two months may not be of monumental proportions, the pile of clay in the photo to the left (aka Mt. Reclaim) may fit the bill. I've come to find in my two months as studio tech at ncc that reclaiming clay is a lot like doing laundry: a never ending project!

One or both?

So, I'm working a new crop duster design into my line of pots and I can't decide which one works better - crop duster dusting, or crop duster minus the dust. Any preferences??

Quick Question

I'm working on a few show applications and could use some advice on how to best give dimensions. I'll use the work below as an example (a new one fresh from the kiln!!):

Would you give the dimensions as the piece is oriented in the image, or as it is when set flat? In other words, what should the height of the piece be? My initial inclination is to put the dimensions when it is set flat (so 3.5"H x 15" L x 11" W), but as I'm thinking about it that may be a little confusing to someone looking at this image - maybe the height should be 15?? I dunno...

Any thoughts?

More new pots to come soon!!!

New Studio!

It's official, I've moved into my new studio space at Northern Clay Center. It's cozy, but luckily my new studio mate, David Swenson (aka Swen) is easy going... My shelves are filling up fast with pots waiting for decoration, thank goodness the latex resist I ordered from Laguna arrived today!

Below are a few pics from the new space, this is where I'll be spending a lot of time for the next year...

Here we go...

Things are on the move... I swapped over to my new studio space a few days ago (which I am sharing with fellow Fogelberg recipient, David Swenson and will post pictures soon!) and am nearly settled. I managed to fire off a few loads of work amid the chaos of transition, so I'm hoping I can keep the momentum going. Only a few more days now before I officially start working as the new studio tech at NCC. I am excited and nervous! I was looking yesterday at the ginormous gas kiln expertly packed by managers Pete and Irene and I was filled with jittery anticipation... But, once I start, I really won't have any time to be nervous. I'll dive right into the NCC American Pottery Festival, which is their biggest sale and exhibition of the year. People come from all over the country to see work by some of the finest ceramic artists out there working today. There are dinners and openings and workshops to tech. Lots to set up and hopefully little to pack in the end. I worked as a volunteer during the event last year and can't wait to be behind the scenes as a staff person this year.

The images I've posted are from a series of work commissioned by my mother (thanks, mom!) for her friends in Alaska. I included a picture of the moose stamps in my last post and you can see them in action in the top picture. As soon as I get photos taken of all the work fresh out of the kiln, I'll be sure to get a post up here to share...

Persistence and change

I came to Minneapolis last summer with high hopes - my husband would begin teaching at Carleton College in the fall, and I had fingers (and toes!) crossed that I would become the next studio tech at Northern Clay Center. Sadly, the job was not to be mine... So I started out small - taking a glaze calc class in the fall (with the amazingly knowledgable Margaret Bohls!) and setting up a tiny corner of our kitchen as studio space. Lucky for me, there was a private studio open in January, at which point I moved from the student side of the NCC building over to the resident side. While being a resident artist in the studios is lovely, paying for space/firings/materials can be a bit of a burden for an emerging artist. So I applied for a Jerome Fellowship to offset some expenses along with a work-study grant to help get me out to Penland for a workshop with Ayumi Horie. No dice on either. Boo. I was feeling gloomy with the weight of rejections, but at the same time excited about where my work was headed. So, I kept trying, next for the Fogleberg grant at NCC. Low and behold - I got it! And then, my work was accepted into a gallery (Local Elements). Yea! And now the big one: the tech job I applied for a year ago reopened. I applied, and this time the stars aligned. I'll be starting as the new Northern Clay Center studio tech in late August. And the final bit of exciting news - my work was just accepted into the 2010 NCECA invitational exhibition. I won't deny the thrill of floating on this surge of acceptances. But, those rejections are still out there, lingering, waiting to give me another kick in the pants. And while I don't eagerly await the next "no" on the horizon, it's overcoming those hardest rejections, getting back up and trying again, that make these yesses all the sweeter.

So this fall, my studio practice will see a very significant shift. I will go from full time maker to studio tech, teacher, and fogleberg fellow. I'm excited for these opportunities, but nervous about how I will continue to push my own work forward. Luckily, with our move to the Seward neighborhood of Minneapolis, I am now a mere three minutes by bike from the studio. I have a feeling I will be spending a lot of time in the NCC building - which, in all honesty, is exactly what I've been waiting for.