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    Umbel Update!

    The NCECA conference is just around the corner in late March, but work for our concurrent exhibition ‘This is the Anthropocene’ is due at the gallery in just a few weeks and I think I’m actually going to be ready in time!

    I abandoned my original plan of having three varying sized pieces and instead went with one very large and two smaller pieces. It’s so hard to tell scale in photos but this fennel inspired umbel is five and a half feet across and while it looks light and delicate, it actually weighs a ton (not literally!) It is ~almost~ finished, but there’s some touch up epoxying, sanding and touch up painting still to do. I’m really pleased with the way this one turned out. There are also two more smaller fennel flowerheads on their way across the finish line for this exhibit too. I’ve decided that the installation of all three flowers will be displayed on the floor of the gallery nestled into a puddle of black sand. I think the sand will highlight the bright yellow flower tips and make them glow even more than they already do. Looking forward to seeing this entire exhibit come to life, it’s been a long time in the making!

    This is the Anthropocene.

    Harris Center for the Arts – Bank of America Gallery | Folsom Lake College

    February 11–March 27 | Reception: March 17 6:30-8:30

    10 College Parkway Folsom, CA
    harriscenter.net/visit/bank-of-america-gallery

    wearable sculptures

    Sculptor Jamie Abbott and I have collaborated again to create a new series of wearable sculptures. They will be available at Pajaro Valley Arts Council Gallery for their annual exhibit, Take Aways – Art to Go!

    January 19 – March 6, 2022

    37 Sudden St., Watsonville, CA 95076 | Gallery Hours: Wednesday – Sunday 11am-4pm | 831.722.3062 | pvarts.org

    MASKS REQUIRED

    winter has arrived

    My installation Lichen Series | Spore Pattens was installed back in August and I loved how the white glaze looked contrasted against the lush green backdrop of the forest in summer. But, one of the things I was looking forward to the most was seeing my installation evolve through the seasons. Winter has officially arrived at the Price Sculpture Forest and I love this photo I just received from the owner Scott Price of the seasons first snowfall on my work. It’s so amazing to see how the snow highlights the forms and adds texture to the surface. Can’t wait to see what spring brings!

    wrapping up another weird year…

    Well, it was better but it was definitely still a weird year.

    Despite the weirdness, I was still able to have a pretty successful art year. I had work in five exhibits including one in Taiwan, participated in the Open Studios Art Tour for the first time in two years, installed a large scale site specific piece in Washington State, self-published my third art book, taught a workshop in Mexico in person, taught my first workshop virtually, and I got a new big kiln. Looking back, not too bad…

    Outside of my life in the studio, I was thrilled to get vaccinated and be able to see friends and family that I hadn’t seen in a long time, but we also lost some people this year who are dearly missed. And while this year was not nearly the amount of travel and adventure that we normally do, we did get to go back to some of our favorite camping places that had been damaged by last years fires, and spent a few weeks on our property in Mexico, which is my new happy place. And we got a new dog; Bowie, who has become the best studio buddy and hiking partner.

    Onward and Upward. Happy New Year everyone!

    A year of Artists Sharing Artists

    This past year, I’ve shared eleven artists with you through the Artists Sharing Artists project and I really hoped you enjoyed meeting them. There is so much talent and passion wrapped up in this one photo, and looking at them all together, just makes me so happy to know that all these amazing artists are doing their thing out there in the world.

    India Maya, Susun Gallery, JB Boyd, Nika Kovalenko
    Kristen O’Neill, Shannon Sullivan
    Ruth Li, Sally Walk, Wesley Wright, Susan Whitmore & Cynthia Siegel

    Big thanks to Nika Kovalenko, Kristen O’Neill, India Maya, Susun Gallery, Ruth Li, Sally Walk, JB Boyd, Cynthia Siegel, Shannon Sullivan, Wesley Wright & Sue Whitmore for taking the time to help me create these posts. If you missed any of them, click here to see all of the artists posts and videos. If you like their work, you can support the artists directly by buying their work and adding some amazing pieces to your collection.

    And let me know… should I do this again next year??

    wip: umbel series

    I’ve been working away in my freezing cold studio building large scale Umbel pieces that are bases on fennel flower structures and I’ve started to make some progress. These pieces will be exhibiting at the Harris Center for the Arts Gallery during the NCECA (National Council on Education in the Ceramic Arts) conference early next year. My plan is to have three of these in varying sizes installed and I’m about halfway through the second one. If you came by the studio during Open Studios this year, you saw the first finished piece (pictured below).

    The second one is larger, five feet across and I’ve been playing with modifying the glazes on this one too. So my days are filled with cutting hundreds of feet of kanthal wire into bits and making -literally- a thousand tiny flower heads that will be placed into each of the larger flowerhead forms. I’m also testing glazes and building the flower body forms which are thrown on the wheel and then trimmed to create a rounded top to the form. In addition, my husband has been welding up the steel structure that all of these parts will get attached to. His math skills have been put to the test getting all the curves and spacing balanced but I think he’s doing an amazing job!

    Book Bundles Are Here!

    Book Bundle | Shop | Jenni Ward ceramic sculpture

    On Sale Through The End Of The Year!

    All three of my art books in one package! Printed versions of ‘a relationship with earth’, ‘where art & nature meet’ and my latest book ‘inspiration through exploration’ are all included in this book bundle.  Each softcover book is 8″x 8″, with full color photos from cover to cover, chronicling my work from 2009 – 2021.

    All 3 Books for $60 (reg $70) ORDER HERE