Working Again, With a New Perspective...

I've been back in the studio for a little over a week now - and much to my relief, it's great to have my hands in clay.  To be honest, I was a little worried.  I felt no pangs for the studio while traveling this summer, no itching for something creative to throw myself into, no wandering thoughts of my idol workspace.  Okay, okay, to be fair I had plenty to keep me occupied (like 23 college students), but it was disconcerting to NOT miss the thing I spend a huge percentage of time either making or thinking about making.  And I think that's exactly what this summer showed me.  The amount of time I spent devoted to my ceramic practice was a little over the top last October - May.  So over the top, that I royally burned myself out and didn't even miss the studio ONCE while away for three months.  Lesson learned.  (I hope.)

And so the question looms large: now that I'm aware of overworking myself, how do I avoid a cronic cycle of burn-out such that I eventually end up hating the thing I was once so passionate about?  As the holidays rapidly approach, and the deadlines mount, I'm not entirely sure how to avoid working myself cross-eyed.  I do think it's important to acknowledge the regular cycles and rhythms of the retail world - this time of year is typically mayhem for anyone selling ANYTHING.  And after my extended time away, I'm refreshed, recharged and ready to have at that pile of fresh clay in my studio.  But I don't want to wake up next spring exhausted, drained and creatively sapped.  So, I'll put the question to the few of you who still have me in your blog feeds: How do you manage your time (especially around this time of year)?  What do you do to avoid burn out?  When you ARE burned out, how do you recover?

As I type, my first load of work is cooling back at the studio.  And while I'm not overly giddy with anticipation of cracking the door tomorrow afternoon, there IS a flutter of excitement.  It's there, I can feel it.  It's good to be back.

Tractor cup patiently waiting for corn sgraffito...

Anonymous Potter

Miss Anonymous...

The title of "Anonymous Potter" is fitting in a number of ways - I have certainly been anonymous from this blog, and even anonymous from the US for the past two and a half months (check out www.carletoncambridge2011.blogspot.com to see what I've been up to).  I just scrolled back through my posts on this blog and was shocked to realize that the last time I wrote anything here was well over a year ago.  While my own posting withered away in the spring of 2010, I have continued to be an avid blog reader (and know I'm not the only one who struggles for time to update a blog!).  But, I have a new reason to jump back into the game - I recently received the Anonymous Potter grant at the Northern Clay Center, which will provide me with studio space for the next year (yea!).  Below is a peek into my new studio space full of boxes waiting to be unpacked...

The Anonymous Potter studio space

 

This grant period seems like an ideal time frame to document, and I'll do my best to keep the momentum going this time.  I've been back in MN for just a few days now, but I managed to throw a few things today for an upcoming show at the Charlie Cummings Gallery - Cup: The Intimate Object VII.  

Cups patiently waiting for their surface treatments

I'm looking forward to recording the changes in my work over the next year and am excited to get some practice writing again.  So here's to my new role as the Anonymous Potter of NCC, and to my reemergence on the blogging scene!

It's That Time of Year...

Summer sale time!  While it doesn't quite feel like summer out here just yet, the sale season has definitely begun.  We had a studio artist sale a few weekends ago at Northern Clay Center, and I'm participating in one this weekend at the Front Porch Gallery (aka my friend Anna Metcalf's front porch :) )  If you're in the area browsing the Seward garage sale madness, stop by 2813 29th Ave. and say hi!  We'll be there on Friday from 9 - 5pm and Saturday from 9 - 7pm.  There will be yummy treats, too!

There's Just Something About...

...plates all stacked up.  So satisfying :) 

And reclaim, too...

 

The Battle: Surface Vs. Form

First off, here are a few pics (photo credit: Scott) from the Earth Matters exhibition at NCECA - only a month after the show - ha!    It was exciting to have work in a well attended exhibit like that, and really got me thinking about my ceramics and the direction of my clay ideas...

 

I applied for one of the Jerome artist grants offered by the Northern Clay Center earlier this year.  I didn't get the grant - boo - but I did have the opportunity to sit down with one of the jurors, Cary Esser (who was also a McKnight resident at NCC, and is an AMAZING lady!), to talk about my proposal and my work.  I was excited to talk with Cary, because I greatly respect her opinion, and I was eager for feedback from someone rooted in the academic clay world.  At the crux of our conversation was the issue of form.  She, along with the other two jurors, felt that while my surfaces contain a strong concept, my forms do not.  I totally agree with this assessment of my pieces.  The form is a place where I just make and enjoy the material.  The surface is a place for me to think hard and set up ideas and a narrative.  While there is part of me that would like a more definite place to pull from formally, there is another part that worries my work will lose accessibility if I increase the complexity of the pots.  So, finally, here is my question:  Are there ways to pull the concept of my surfaces into the forms while keeping the pieces functional and approachable?  I think the successful marriage of surface and form is an issue for a lot of folks, especially those who put imagery on their pots.  I've had a few ideas about how to balance concept and functionality, but I'd love to hear what any of you out there have to say (and maybe how you have resolved/not resolved this in your own work)!

Good Combo!

I am definitely into this...  Found here on the Cartolleria blog.  More updates to come soon!  I've got a few pictures from NCECA (hard to believe that it was already over two weeks ago now...) and a question for all you clay people out there.  But for now, I'm off to the studio!  Happy Sunday.

 

Interview UP!!!

The interview I did with Connie Norman is live on her blog (thanks again for the opportunity, Connie)!  If you're interested in learning more about my work and where it comes from check out what I have to say at: http://connienorman.com/blog.  Enjoy!

Oh and a little side note:  Below is concrete proof that lowfire white clay should never (ever!!) go in a high fire gas kiln.  And yet, it somehow manages to happen every term at NCC. UGH!

Back on the blogging horse...

I've been looking for a nudge to get myself back into the blogging routine, and I found just the thing to do it!  Fellow clay artist and blogger, Connie Norman, will be posting an interview we did about my work on her blog this week.   Not only does Connie make excellent clay work, but she's interviewed some great clay folks (most recently Jeff Campana and Ron Philbeck - a few of my favorites...)!  You can check out Connie's work here and her blog here.  I'll be sure to post an update when the interview goes live...  

Pots in Progress

I've been working on a big round of custom orders for the past month or so and thought I'd post a few pictures here.  My timing on this wasn't great, given that the holiday season is upon us, but I needed to get these out the door.  The images are of work which will be heading up to Alaska (hence the theme).  They are about 16" across and have taken me a LONG time to make!  I have four deco'ed and done, and three more to make.  Then I'm on to my Amphicar order! 

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.

June madness...

I started off this month racing to finish up work for a group show and upcoming applications (amid much drama with elements burning out and packed kiln schedules), zipped off to Seattle, pots in hand, for a wedding on Orcas Island (lovely!!), and I am now in New Jersey visiting with the fam and headed to another wedding tomorrow (number three of four this summer). Such is the season. When I get back to Minneapolis next week, Aaron and I will round out the packed month of June by boxing up our belongings and moving a few miles east to the Seward neighborhood of the city. Come July first, we will be a grand total of four blocks from the Northern Clay Center. I am thrilled (double thrilled!!) by the prospect of walking to the studio, the grocery store and the coffee shop! Aaron doesn't have it quite so easy, he'll be commuting south to Northfield three to four times a week, but at least it's a reverse-commute... I'm hopeful that we'll find a place in the future where we can both walk to work - wishful thinking, I know - but a girl can dream!

On the clay front, I've added some tractors into my line of imagery, and I want to put them all over everything! I love having new stencils to play with and explore. I have endless lists of stamps and stencils yet to make, but the process is a tad (just a tad!) tedious, and so my image arsenal is rather slowly mounting. I really want to get back into the farm animals, cows in particular. And bees, I need some bees in the mix!

I'm still trying to resolve how much color to use in my work as well. I love the little splashes of yellow that the canaries provide and the subtle variation that I can achieve by layering the white slips. The red clay adds another lovely surface, but I'm left wanting a little more. Like some blue... I have a thing for blue, like a lot of folks do. I know that there are some potters out there who think that blue is a cop-out, just an easy way to sell some pots. But, honestly, there's a reason they sell - blue can be so spectacular! So, I'm going to keep testing glazes and continue to slowly build up my surface. There is this delicate line between too much and not enough that I try to tread upon, it can be so hard to know when enough is enough!

So my work over the next few days (besides wedding fun-ness and family time of course!) revolves around those things I manage to neglect when there is clay at my fingertips. Take this blog for example, or my website that could use another round of updating, or my etsy site that needs finishing. I'm excited to have some time to give these things the attention they deserve, and hopeful that I can eventually find a rhythm where they fit more regularly into my schedule. Do any of you clay bloggers out there set aside weekly time for the non-clay activities essential to running a successful business? How would you say your weeks/months are allocated? The more I delve into this clay business, the more I realize that there are a lot of other responsibilities other than just making work. But, all of these things are part of the package, and keeping my toe in all aspects of the business side of things only seems like it will help me in the long run. There are some times though, when I'd just rather make pots and not think about anything else. I stumbled across a great posting by Whitney smith earlier today that outlines one of many things that can get away from you if you're not careful. It was a good reminder that to be successful requires some sort of system - I'm still tinkering with what works best for me, and I while I dread excel spreadsheet days, after I enter all those numbers I feel that much more legit. It's sort of like exercise for me - painful while I'm running, but so satisfying when I'm done. If anyone has any good tips for successful accounting though, I am all ears!

Have a great weekend.

Done!

I just unloaded a kiln today in preparation for our spring studio artist sale at Northern Clay Center starting tomorrow. I had a chance to photograph some of the results, so I thought I'd post a few finished pieces up here on the ol' blog. The middle image is of a set of bowls, but in the photograph you completely lose all sense of depth - they just look like little plates... I'm not entirely sure if that's a problem, but certainly something to clarify on a slide list if I'm ever applying for a bowl show!

Where have I been???

It's always amazing to me how quickly time can slip by. I swear I've posted more often, but it looks like I've transitioned from the once-a-week to the once-a-month blogging plan. But, despite my lack of posting, I've certainly been reading a lot of blogs these days! I think that may be the problem, I use up all of my computer energy reading a number of the wonderful blogs out there and I can't muster up the motivation to write a post myself. But, I've decided I need to get back on the horse and keep up with the posting - I really enjoy having a record of my progress in the studio and the wonderful feedback from this incredible online community. So here goes, back into the blogging waters.

I've been working lately with building up my surface through lots of layering. I think I'm moving in a more subtle direction with the oil related imagery because I feel like that is more true to how it exists in our lives - beneath the surface of a lot the things we rely on. I'm also thinking a lot about memory these days and how our brains are wired to lock onto patterns. So the oil imagery is positioned in a pattern in the background - maybe it will stick in my brain better that way!

Here's an example of my latest work:

And above is a close up of the oil tanker stencil in the background - I'll glaze this with something that will pool slightly in the recessed area so the tankers will appear subtly behind the truck stencil.

The canaries are a new development as well. I've been thinking about the way miners used to use canaries to indicate when conditions became unsafe in a shaft. Which led into how we are often terrible at perceiving when conditions become dangerous or unhealthy. I also enjoy how they are so cheerful and happy looking, but can indicate something ominous. I think these little yellow guys will be playing a significant role in my work from here on out.

And here is the back side...

I've continued to work with the corn series of work as well and am playing with new ways to integrate corn into my work. I have two versions I'm working with right now, one where the corn image is stamped into the surface and another where the corn is sprigged on top. Any opinions on which works better??

This guy is still waiting to be slipped (and I think I may add some wind turbine stencils in there somewhere).

A detail shot of the stamped in corn:


I am in love with the way these guys look on the inside, they make me want to crawl around and explore...
And here's the sprigged version, all slipped and ready for a top coat of stencils:

A detail shot of the sprigged corn:

And the underside...

That's it for now, I hope you all have a great weekend. Up next - glazed and fired pots!

New Work

I had a critique a few weeks ago with a fantastic group of women from the U of MN. They were tough, which is exactly what I need at this point, and had some excellent comments. It took me a few days to digest what we talked about (and I'm still digesting, I guess!), but I've started a new round of work as a result of our conversation. Looking back, I realize I haven't had a critique since I was a senior in college, which is going on eight years ago now! I was definitely due... Here is a glimpse of the new direction I'm taking things - the same ideas, but delivered using a slightly different approach.