A Foreign Land

Merely walking through the door of my neighborhood Home Depot tends to perplex and confound the most helpful sales associates.  I love Home Depot.  It is a completely strange and wondrous place.

I grew up with a father who always had some kind of woodworking project and a brother who is super mechanically inclined, however there is very little I know or understand about home improvement.  Don't take that statement to mean that I don't own power tools because I do.

I do own power tools.  That doesn't mean I really know how to use them.

Home Depot must have a checklist it hands out to its associates to identify people like me.  From their cautious approach when asking if I need assistance, it is clear that the label, "She has no idea what she's doing," is in block letters across my forehead.

Little do they know that I go to their store exactly because I have no idea what I'm doing.  I wander up and down every aisle.  Yep, that's right, every ... single ... aisle.

It isn't that I don't know what I'm trying to find be it a new display set-up or a texture tool or twine.

My "I need to buy this" thought isn't as fully formed as other shoppers at this popular home improvement store.  You see, I don't know walking into the store how my thought will translate into my purchase.  An item's intended purpose means little to me hence the wandering up and down every aisle.

"I'll know it when I see it," I routinely say to the more persistent sales associates.

I think that phrase strikes fear in their hearts.  I can just imagine them thinking, "God, she has no idea what she's doing.  I hope she doesn't wander over by the cutting station in lumber."

Of course, I do visit the cutting station.   The fifty-one cent bin is right across from it.  The scraps of wood in that bin are often the perfect size and shape.  Its the only place in the entire store I can find without help.

 

I've always been a tourist.  In fact, I've always been the kind of tourist that everyone hates with hundreds of pictures when just a few would do.  My tourist tendencies are totally paying off these days.

"Oooo, look at that" is a great mentality to have when seeking artistic inspiration.

I highly recommend clearing out any preconceived notions and taking a little tourist jaunt to a "foreign land" for yourself.  You might, okay you will get a few strange looks, but you just might learn something.  Don't worry I won't tell anyone if you take pictures.

A Rose By Any Other Name

What's in a name? that which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet;

So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,

Retain that dear perfection which he owes

Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,

And for that name which is no part of thee

Take all myself.

-Juliet, From Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet

What's in a name?  Or really, what's in a title?  That is the question I've been asking myself lately.

I tend to "title," and I use that word loosely here, my pieces descriptively.  This piece is part of the series inspired by [insert inspiration here], is a [bowl, platter, ?] and is green or some other color.

Does this tell you, my fans, anything about the piece?  Sure, it gives you a factual description.  What you see is what you get kind of thing.

Recently, I've had the pleasure of being introduced to the work of Shannan and Jacqueline from Ellorias Boutique.  They are the creators of wonderful jewelry as you can see from the necklace below.

Photo courtesy of and copyrighted by Ellorias Boutique

Shannan and Jacqueline, like many artists, title their work.  This necklace, for example, is the Sapphira Necklace.  The thing that stuck me most when I first encountered this piece, other than how beautiful it is, was the title.  Why the Sapphira Necklace?  I searched the description for a clue to learn that the this necklace features beads handcrafted to reflect botanical DNA structures ... yet no mention of Sapphira.

Exploring the rest of their work online, I believe that Shannan and Jacqueline have series of pieces similar to me.  They give those series titles, but the titles they choose are typically based on a female name and are wrapped in mystery.  At least they are to me.  I have absolutely no idea why or how the name Sapphira is linked to this particular design series.  I even looked up Sapphira on Wikipedia I was so intrigued with little to aid my deduction efforts.

How different an approach to naming than I use.  When I title a series it is with a fairly straightforward name like "Stained Glass Inspired" or "Mad Hatter Inspired" or simply "Tree."

 

Descriptive and informative, yet nothing to whet the imagination of my customers.  No mystery.  My inspiration is front and center.

 

Nothing to allow you, interacting with my work, to pause and maybe wonder ... to apply your own thoughts and interpretations.

 

I'm tempted to tell myself that I should follow Juliet's advice that no thing or person is improved or made better by a name.

 

Yet I find that I much prefer the approach of Ellorias Boutique.  They have left me to wonder and fill in the blanks for myself with their title.  Is it just a name they like?  Does the story of Sapphira I found on Wikipedia somehow tie in?  I don't know.

 

I've seen customers interact with my work at art shows where there is no description or title box handy ... just space, glorious space to apply their own experiences and perceptions to the piece.

Sorry Juliet, but I think I need to re-do my titles.

Ellorias Boutique is just one of many vendors participating in September's CRAFTfest.  Be sure to check out their stall!

Eight Dollars, Sixteen Cents

I’ve heard about this thing called CRAFTfest for several months now.  Social media at its finest, you know.  I had checked out the links and thought, hmm ... I should sign-up for that.  And then never did.  That is until last month.

It has been an overwhelming experience.  Don’t believe me, check it out.

• I’ve met so many talented people from all over the world that I’ve simply lost count. 
•  I’ve gotten introduced to so many social media sites I’ve never even heard of … Wanelo, Whosin, Craft Juice, Behance, ??? … my head hurts trying to remember all of the names of them. 
•  I’ve received so many social media marketing tips that I started writing them all down and organizing them old-school fashion on legal paper. 
•  I’m in the process of uploading every piece of inventory I have into my Etsy shop, so I can have them ready to set-up in my CRAFTfest stall. 
•  I visited my forgotten Twitter account and actually started posting tweets.
• I linked my blog and newly created Behance portfolio to my LinkedIn account.

My head spins just thinking about it all especially when I know there are things I’ve forgotten in my list.  I wouldn’t trade the craziness for anything.  I feel like I’m actually on the right track with the online portion of my business for the first time.  I even have the social media stat improvements to show for all my efforts.

Let me tell you more about the inspiration, if you will, behind all this flurry of activity:  CRAFTfest.

CRAFTfest is a week long online art and craft show.  The next show runs from September 1^st through September 8^th.  Unlike other shows I participate in my stall is set-up and ready to be viewed 24/7 during the event.  Psst … a little secret?  It’s actually up and active now if you want to stop by to browse.

Not local?   

No problem!  The event is online and shipping is available to anywhere in the world.

Local?

No problem!  Just let me know to knock off the shipping fees.  I’m happy to meet you with your purchase.

Clothes?

Optional!  Although not if you’re meeting me to pick up a purchase.  : )

So, put aside some time the first week of September and come browse through the stalls of the 155 and counting confirmed stall holders.  Stall holders come from around the world and offer a wide range of products.

From Lu at Handmade in Keswick

To Rachael at Jewellery By Jora

There is something for everyone including JillyBeanPottery fans.  I think it just might be the best $8.16 I've ever spent.

I've Learned

My formal ceramics training is sparse.  I don't have a degree in fine arts, although I did get introduced to the medium during three classes I took during college.  In addition to those three semesters, I have a ton of independent studio classes under my belt.  I like to think I have a decent foundation on which to work with clay as a medium.

I've learned.  Everyday I learn new things about working in clay.

Sometimes these lessons come from my own experimental nature ... I wonder what would happen if I do this.  Now I have a new foot for some of my bowls that is the envy of others in the studio.  I've already been asked if they could do something similar.  Hmmm ... wonder if I could get royalties out of that?

Sometimes they come from a passerby in the studio watching me work.  The questions, "I thought you have to cut the bottom a little bigger when hand building?"  "Nope, you don't."  I tell an amazed student who you know always secretly knew it was true all the while realizing that it certainly is better to cut it bigger for certain forms.

Sometimes they come about from someone who works in clay with even less formal training than me.  A fellow studio member, who is basically self-taught, mentioned to me one day that the bowl design they were working on that day was great to use up scraps.

I didn't say anything out loud, but scraps?  I looked and she had a whole collection of partial slab pieces in various sizes and shapes waiting to be used.  Just as I was wondering why she doesn't just wedge them, she asked me, "What do you do with your scraps?"  I replied, "I wedge them together."  "Oh, I don't know how to wedge," she replied.

It was, I've got to admit, a really thought provoking conversation.  In both of our minds, the obvious solution to the same problem was so radically different and yet, really, neither solution was wrong.  Why couldn't she approach the problem of scraps by creating something completely different and unique?  Why couldn't she use the opportunity to try out a different idea?  Test a few glazes?  To create a piece for fun?

Recently, I received some clay samples to try out.  The clay samples were, to be blunt, small.  There wasn't much I could do with them.  I decided to make some hearts, little decorative ornaments, out of samples, but as I cut out wonky and fun shaped hearts I found myself with these scraps of clay.  Too small to re-wedge, too small at this point to do anything with I thought.  Then I remembered.

I started adding them in crazy patterns to the hearts.  Some of the designs are definitely abstract, but some I like to think look like faces.  I have always made hearts or pendants when I wanted to take a little break from my more involved pieces, but these made with scraps hearts I think just might be my favorites.

 

Stopped In My Tracks

It started as one of the worst weeks ever.  My car had been hiccuping for a few weeks and then the dreaded check engine light came on.  There was really nothing else to do except take it in to the mechanic.

Monday afternoon the mechanic shared the first inkling of truly bad news.  He thought there was a problem with my transmission, but he wanted to have his transmission guy take a look at the next day.

Tuesday turned the drizzle into a storm.  My car needed its transmission rebuilt.  It would take a few days and just a little bit of money.  I could already hear my bank account groaning at what was "a little bit of money."

Wednesday I hitched a ride to the studio from a friend who works nearby.  She starts work earlier than the studio opens, so I decided to treat myself to a leisurely breakfast.  As I was walking from the restaurant to the studio, I noticed something I had never really noticed before an old church down the street.

I have always loved churches and religious artifacts.  I'm even really sure I can explain why.  More spiritual than religious yet the symbols of organized religion have always drawn me, so I walked closer.  I noticed the peeling paint, the general air of slow decay despite it being an active church, but what really struck me were the windows.  The intricate patterns, different colors and designs.

Now I've seen stained glass windows before, but this was the first time I'd thought about the concept in relation to my art work.  These windows had just been a wonderful piece of art among many works of art in a particular church.  Certainly senses dazzling when the sun hits, but simply another part of the church going experience.

I walked all the way around the outside of the building, gone are the days when churches are left unlocked, taking pictures of the windows.  From the outside, not backlit, their colors are not dazzling, but I could still see the possibilities.

I walked the rest of the way to the studio with my head full of ideas on how to acheive the effect in clay. The very first thing I did when I got to the studio?  Started on what would be the first in a series of work inspired by the stained glass windows of a church that was put in my way.

Weeks, and tons of super positive feedback, later I have to wonder.  Did my car breakdown because that's what cars do?  It is an older model and was probably due for some transmission work.  Did it breakdown to trigger the chain of events leading me to the inspiration for my latest series?  I do know that I would probably have never noticed that church.

It does make me wonder and I am appreciative of the possibility of truly wondrous occurrences in my daily life.  Sometimes they are easy to spot.  Sometimes the universe steps in and stops us in our tracks to pull back the blinders of our routines to amaze us.  I could have done without the mechanics' bill though.

The Bacon Barrel Bowl

Every once in awhile you're presented with a proposition that is just too good to pass up.  One such opportunity was presented to me the other week at the studio.

Heidi, our Studio Manager, walked over with a box of Cone 5 clay samples and gave them to me.  There were about 15 to 20 tiny slabs of all different types of clay in the box.

"I thought you could try them out since you have been doing Cone 5 firing and like to use red clay bodies," she said, as she set the box down on the table.


I'm never one to turn down free clay, but I do admit to finding some humor in the situation.  While it is true that I have experimented a little with firing at Cone 5 (cone number is used to designate kiln firing temperature) recently, I fire the vast majority of my work at Cone 10.  The studio member who fires almost exclusively at Cone 5 was sitting feet away during this conversation.  She was not given any clay samples.

As I started to pull out the samples, each approximately 1/4 lb., I noticed that there were only one or two samples per clay body not enough to construct a big piece.  Picking two clay bodies at random, I rolled them out and created strips of clay that I slipped and scored together in an alternating pattern ... strip of slightly darker clay, strip of slightly lighter clay, etc.

Just was I was thinking of turning my striped slab into a bowl, Heidi walked by and pronounced, "It looks like bacon."  Well, what could be better than than?  A Bacon Bowl.  Perfect!  Who wouldn't want a bacon bowl?

I was draping the slab over a mold to create the bowl shape when I noticed the extra strips of clay.  Hmmm ... it might be a good idea to use a couple on the bottom to give the assembled strips a little extra support.  When I was figuring out the best place for the strips I noticed something really cool.  The rough edges of my slab, the alternating clay bodies and the extra strip to the bottom made it look just like a barrel!

Bacon Bowl?  Barrel Bowl?  I'll let you be the judge.

I'm still waiting for this piece to be bisque fired and comtemplating glaze options.  I'm going back and forth between no glaze and clear right now.  Will I make more?  Who knows?  Might be a winner.  For now I'm on to the next experiment with these clay samples.  : )

A Winding Road

The journey started one day when I was pondering the theme of Assemblage, Collage and Recycle for an upcoming Redlands Art Association members show.  As a ceramic artist, it wasn’t immediately apparent what I should submit for display during this upcoming show.  Sure, my current work was technically “assembled” during the hand-building process and as a group ceramicists are good about re-wedging and recycling their clay scraps, but neither of those two factors really sat well with me for justifying entering pieces I had in inventory to the show.

I decided to take a quick break from the studio and walk over to a nearby café to pick up something for lunch to clear my head.  It was walking back that it hit me.  A solution, not perfect, but it would be something interesting and it would qualify as a mixed media assemblage piece.

Waffle-weave bowls with fabric woven through and knotted to create a design on the inside of the bowl.  The bottom of the bowl would have all of the rough ends and edges of the fabric sticking out in every direction and add an interesting dimension to the piece.  I had no idea if it would work.  Could I take the image in my head and translate it?  I figured, what the heck, it was worth a shot.  That afternoon I made several waffle-weave bowls and left them to set-up for firing.

Weeks passed and I started to pull together fabric scraps and ideas on designs for the bowls.

In the meantime, I learned about an event in Redlands called Celebrate Citrus.  It is put on annually by the Inland Orange Conservancy (IOC) to raise money to support local citrus growers.  The event organizers were looking for artists to display any citrus-inspired pieces at the event with 15% of any sales going to support the IOC.  I’m well aware of the struggles the local growers have in my area and it was free to participate, so I signed up!

Close to home, exposure opportunity … Great idea, right?  Well, I’ve never used citrus related ideas in any of my pieces.  I spent a little bit of time brainstorming orange peel textured mugs, orange slice bowls and nothing spoke to me.  Instead, I decided to pull some older pieces, wheel-thrown bowls, out of storage and present them as fruit bowls.  It seemed like a decent solution, but I wasn’t convinced.

As the event neared, the waffle-weave bowls also finished the glaze firing process.  They were sitting on the floor in my workroom, spread out and waiting for me to dazzle them with fabric.  That’s when it hit me; they were even more perfect fruit bowls!  Due to the holes in the design, the fruit would get good air flow and they were a nice, big size to hold lots of fruit.

What about my assemblage plans?  I figured, the Celebrate Citrus event was more about exposure than sales especially since the focus would be on the orange groves, so I’d have them back to add fabric with no problem.

Best laid plans and all … the waffle-weave bowls sold out that day along with a few of the smaller wheel-thrown bowls.  I ended up winging the assemblage show with tiles on fabric hangers … sort of in theme, but not really.  I’ve since given up on my grand fabric design ideas.  It certainly was a twisty, winding journey on the inspiration for waffle-weave fruit bowls, but people seem to like them