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    Summer Workshops have begun!

    Jenni Ward ceramic sculpture | the dirt | summer workshops have begunSummer Sculpting Workshops launched this Monday at the studio with fun clay projects and new techniques. Students ages 7 and up made pinch pot pools for their coil built flamingos and we used an ink transfer technique to get cute animal images onto our slab built boxes. While our clay projects dry and get ready for the kiln, we’ll be busy working with paper mache, wire, weaving projects and more!

    A few spaces are still available for young creative artists…
    Join Summer Sculpting Workshops for Kids

    B CR8IV!!!

     

    Sculpture IS: 2015 Opening Reception

    Jenni Ward ceramic sculpture | the dirt | Sculpture IS: 2015 Opening receptionHope to see you Thursday June 11 from 5 – 7 pm for the opening of Sculpture IS: 2015 at Sierra Azul Gardens in Watsonville. My site specific installation of the Bone Series is up alongside a number of other beautiful sculptures nestled into the gardens.

     

    Sierra Azul Gardens
    2660 East Lake Ave Watsonville CA
    Exhibition dates June 1 – Oct 31
    Artists reception June 11, 5 – 7 pm

    For more information contact: Pajaro Valley Arts Council Gallery

     

     

    Another place where art & nature meet

    Jenni Ward ceramic sculpture | the dirt | another place where art & nature meetMany, many years ago, after seeing a profile in Sunset magazine, I contacted Sara & Ric of Wildwood Nursery in Sonoma to exhibit work in their sculpture garden. At the time I was creating stacked totem pieces, flower and bug inspired forms, they agreed to exhibit my work for a number of shows. It was a wonderful place to show my work and to meet with creative people. My work has evolved a lot since then and I haven’t shown work there in a long time but Sara has made sure to keep in touch. Wildwood Nursery is a beautiful sanctuary with rare plants in a five acre park-like setting nestled in the Valley of the Moon. They have over 150 different Japanese maples, 50 varieties of dogwoods, ginkgo bilobas and companion plants. You can order plants and trees in their online shop if you are not in the area but if you are in the area, I encourage you to visit and find the place where art & nature meet.

    Wildwood Nursery | 10300 Sonoma Highway | Kenwood California  | 707.833.1161

     

    Nina Graduates!

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    If you have been to the studio or your kids have taken a class here, you probably have run into Nina. She’s helped me in the studio and with classes since she was about 12 and she took classes with me before that. In the past few years, she’s also started to photograph most of my work (almost every shot on my website is hers!). Not only is she talented, mature and capable but she is also just about the kindest soul I’ve ever encountered. She graduates from Aptos High School this week and will be pursuing a focus in the arts at Cabrillo College next fall. I’m so proud of her and can’t wait to see the mark she makes on the world!

    Congrats Nina!

     

    Free Ebook!

    jenni ward ceramic sculpture | a relationship with earth

     

    I’ve just launched my book a relationship with earth as an ebook! If you JOIN my mailing list, you get the ebook for FREE! When you join the monthly event mailing list you’ll get musings on what’s going on in the studio, info on upcoming exhibitions, events and special offers. Hardcover books are still available in the shop.

    JOIN

    Haitian Invasion

    I’m so excited to see my favorite artist friends at Atis Rezistans (Resistant Artists) from Port-au-Prince Haiti here in California! My good friend Kathy Barbro who owns Art Projects for Kids and an art teacher in LA ran a campaign to get Romel Jean-Pierre, Claudel Casseus & Racine Polycarpe here to teach art at her school for a week. I’m sure that the kids at her school are so thrilled and had such fun art adventures this week. After the week is up, they are all road tripping up to Santa Cruz for a visit and I can’t wait! In addition to the three guys coming, it just happens that my friend Nadine Dolores Francois who runs an orphanage and girls empowerment program in Port-au-Prince will be here as well. This is her first trip to the US, so its extra exciting to have her here. You can learn more about my connections to Haiti and the projects that I’ve done there with these amazing people by checking out the Philanthropy Projects page. More pics to come of our epic art adventures during the Haitian Invasion week!

    Jenni Ward ceramic sculpture | the dirt | Haitian Invasion

    artists supporting artists

    Jenni Ward ceramic sculpture | the dirt | artists supporting artists

     

    One of the best things about being an artist is that you get to know a lot of other talented artists in your community and sometimes you get to trade or buy work from each other. I have work from a number of Santa Cruz based artists in my collection that I love and I’ve realized that they are some of the most valuable things I own. This weekend, I got to install my friend and favorite artist, Susana Arias‘ work in my home. This wood fired ceramic oar above my front window is over 8’ long and looks as if it has been unearthed from the depths of the ocean. I’ve been so in love with these pieces from her Sailmaker series since I first laid eyes on them, so excited to finally have one of my own!

     

     

     

     

    Sculpture IS: 2015 Installation

    Jenni Ward ceramic sculpture | the dirt | Sculpture IS: 2015 installation

    This weekend, Nate and I were over at Sierra Azul Gardens in Watsonville to install the new Bone Series piece, we worked on it for over 4 hours and it still needs a little tweaking but it’s looking really good! These are the same pieces (plus a few more) that I used for my Bone Series Installation at the MAH for Everybody’s Ocean exhibit, but the pieces are being displayed in a completely new configuration. Conceptually, I feel that the pieces in this installation represent the connections we have with each other, the synapses happening within our own bodies and how we are stitched together from past to present, from inside and out.

    Be sure to come by for the opening of Sculpture Is: 2015 on June 11th from 5:00 – 7:00pm. The exhibit will be up from June 1 – Oct 31, 2015.