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    holiday shopping? buy art!

    To be honest, I’m not a big gift giver, or a big fan of receiving gifts, especially if it’s “just because” it’s holiday season but sometimes a gift is the best way to really show someone that you care. When I do give gifts, they tend to be handmade, consumable, and/or an experience I can share with the person. When I travel, I seek out souvenir gifts that follow these same rules and I end up with a story to tell and a great memory from that purchase. It takes a little more effort to gift this way, but I think it’s worth it.

    When you buy from a small business, you support an actual human. And when you buy from a maker, you support their creative contribution to a community. As someone who sells tangible items, I can tell you first hand how much your choice to buy something handmade by an actual human supports my world.

    collaborative trinket necklace | shop | Jenni Ward ceramic sculpture
    collaborative trinket necklaces | shop | Jenni Ward ceramic sculpture
    Trinket Necklace on Display | shop | Jenni Ward ceramic sculpture
    trinket necklaces available in the shop!

    So, this is all to say, if you’re buying gifts for those that you love this holiday season, the online shop is open! And if I don’t have what you need for a gift, please consider supporting other independent makers – they will definitely appreciate it way more than your big box stores. As always, thank you for your support – I couldn’t do it without you!

    one step closer

    We are so much closer to firing up the kilns, that it’s actually getting exciting at this point!

    Thanks to Nate’s planning and prowess, we have all of the electrical connected from the generator and to the kilns now we just need to connect the propane components. Getting all the electrical boxes hooked up required a lot of rearranging in the studio and I ended up needing to move a whole shelving unit that was loaded with raw clay work. So rather than move it twice, I just loaded up the big kiln with all of the dry work, which got the work out of the way and emptied the shelves. Normally kiln loading is a pretty mundane task, it’s been a year since I’ve filled the kilns and it felt really great to get to this point of progress.

    it’s the little things that matter

    Since I’m still obsessed with all things plankton related, I couldn’t help but share this article NPR recently released on the connection between plankton and climate change. The science geek in me, loves to read about how important plankton are for sustaining life on our planet. The artist in me wants to figure out how I can share that knowledge through my art.

    In the article, ‘How dead stuff at the bottom of the ocean helps slow the pace of climate change‘, Stanford bio-engineering professor Manu Prakash says, “The small stuff controls the big stuff. On our planet, that’s a rule that we should think about. That the small stuff really matters.”

    Save the date for Bodies of Water! | the dirt | Jenni Ward ceramic sculpture

    This idea relates well to my concept of creating the plankton blooms installations, taking a single cell plankton which are impossible to see with the naked eye, and making them made big enough to relate to in the gallery. Then assembled in the form of a plankton bloom, which in nature is big enough to be seen from space and shrinking it down to fit the gallery walls, ultimately, makes the unseen, seen. I love how changing our perspectives allow for the information to sink in through the visuals of art.

    Bodies of Water Exhibit | Installations | Jenni Ward ceramic sculpture

    To read the full article, click here.

    all the things…

    This month has really been a steep learning curve into running an art business in Mexico. We actually got a Mexican bank account, which seems like a simple task but let me tell you, it is not. Just one of the hurdles we had to overcome was the requirement for an electrical bill as one form of proof of residency and since we are off the grid, no electrical bill. The work around for this is ridiculous but we did it and officially have an account.

    And now that we have an account to manage, we hired an accountant to help us change our fiscal activities within the Mexican tax system and we are now allowed to make money here – amazing! All I have to do now is learn all the local rules for bookkeeping, reporting and taxes – in Spanish – Lol.

    I also successfully shipped artwork from Baja Sur to the Pacific Northwest, not an easy feat considering that we are so rural that we don’t have an address. I was so relieved when I saw that the package had cleared customs without a hitch and shortly afterwards, that the piece arrived to my client safely. Tiny miracles happening everyday! I could not of done this without the generosity of a local art gallery that helped me through the process. But I learned a lot and I’m on the way to being able to start shipping on my own soon!

    Next technical task for living abroad is renewing our temporary residency cards at immigration – we can’t believe we’ve been here for an entire year already! And at the same time we need to, keep making art, continue designing the sculpture garden, and get the studio ready for Open Studios in January. So yeah, all the things.

    digging in

    Just an update one of the nitty gritty projects going on in the studio these days…

    Nate has been working hard to get the generator hooked up to run his welder and my kilns. Over the past few weeks, he poured the pad for the generator to sit on, planned all the layout for the boxes and conduit, mounted up all the electrical boxes and (as I type!) is finishing digging the trench for the conduit. Luckily we’ve had a few cool days for all the digging work, which would have been brutal a few weeks ago. Next up is laying the conduit, pulling all the wire and making the connections. After that, we just need to plumb in the propane. This is a huge job with a lot of components, but we’re seeing the end in sight!

    And then – we will have the power!

    Adopt an Urchin + Support Artists in NC

    Medusa in Bell Jar | shop | Jenni Ward ceramic sculpture

    Just a reminder that a portion of all online sales for the month of October will be donated to CERF+, an organization that helps artists in emergency relief.

    They will be distributing funding to dozens of artists who lost their studios and artwork during the flooding in western North Carolina.

    SHOP NOW

    upcycling

    While I wait for my generator to get hooked up so I can continue working with clay, I’ve been adventurously working with the wood from all of the pallets our things came down here on. To be honest, I’m not the most skilled at measuring and the skilsaw isn’t my favorite power tool, but I’m getting more confident using it.

    upcycling | the dirt | Jenni Ward ceramic sculpture
    upcycling | the dirt | Jenni Ward ceramic sculpture
    upcycling | the dirt | Jenni Ward ceramic sculpture

    I used a sawzall to dismantle all of the pallets into planks and then sorted out the super split pieces from the reusable. Despite my ability to measure accurately, I still got everything figured out to make shelves for the studio closet and a few benches for outside. The shelves also required hammer drilling into the concrete walls to set anchors for the ledger pieces, another skill I’m getting more confidant in doing and since everything here is made of concrete, I need to get better at it! The wonkiness of all the wood is great for my lack of precision and I love how funky and rustic the results are. Not only have I upcycled materials, I’ve gotten rid of the pile of pallets that’s been sitting at the front door for months.

    upcycling | the dirt | Jenni Ward ceramic sculpture

    And if you look at the little containers sitting on the bench, you’ll notice they are upcycled bottles that I cut to make small desert terrariums with a few little clay forms nested into them too. Now, the question is, what to make next!?!

    support NC artists through CERF+

    Western North Carolina is home to so many clay artists, some of whom I know personally, and many have lost their studios, work and livelihood in the flooding from Hurricane Helene.

    If you are looking for ways to help, CERF+(Craft Emergency Relief Fund), provides Emergency Grants as well as Get Ready Grants for Craft Artists. It is a great way to help these artists get back on their feet and prepare for the future.

    I will be donating a portion of all sales in the online shop for the month of October to CERF+, so if you want to help artists AND get some art, click here!