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    Artists Sharing Artists: Wesley Wright

    I was first introduced to Wesley’s work during a ceramics event in San Francisco where he exhibited large scale ceramic sea turtles that had jet engines and propellers mounted on their shells, and they carried protected intricate worlds on their backs under glass domes. At first glance, they were fun and whimsical creatures of the imagination, but a longer look revealed their deeper message about loss of habitat and mass extinction as well as the craftsmanship involved in sculpting the intricately carved patterns and textures. When I was teaching kids clay classes, I loved using his work as examples for my students, they were always drawn into the eccentric combinations and were so inspired to create their own creatures. Check out Wesley’s video below to see how his life, home and work all tie together to inspire his sculpture.

    Wesley is one of five artists in the exhibit that Cynthia Siegel and myself are co-curating as part of the 2022 NCECA conference entitled, This is the Anthropocene. The Anthropocene is defined as the current geological age during which human activity has been the dominant influence on the climate and the environment. The artists will be responding to this topic within the themes of Animal, Agriculture, Landscape, Water and/or Atmosphere in a diversity of styles and approaches. Wesley will be featuring work from his Guardians Series as part of this exhibition. Over the next few months, I’ll be featuring the other artists from this exhibit.

    About Wesley’s Wright’s work:

    I’m fascinated by the creative adaptability of nature as it presents elegant solutions to the problem of survival. I’m inspired by the eccentric, the grotesque, and the beautiful, as I attempt to emulate the wonder of nature. My work is a celebration of these qualities and a critique of the human relationship with the natural world.

    Learn more at Wes’ website or follow him on Instagram

    Artists Sharing Artists: is a series of posts where I share some of my favorite artists who are also inspired by nature and use their art to protect what they love. More artists coming soon…

    Raising Funds for Art Scholarship – Wanna Help?

    I’ll be leading a weekend workshop at Barro Sur clay studio in Todos Santos, Baja Sur in November and I want to open a few spots in my class to some aspiring local artists who might not be able to pay for the class themselves.

    Want to help me raise funds for them?

    I’d love to raise $400 to cover two spaces in my workshop – this will cover the workshop fees and materials each artist would need to participate. If you’d like to help, you can donate any amount via the online shop here.

    Thanks so much for sharing the gift of art with others!

    Barro Sur is a full service ceramic studio with hand building and wheel throwing community clay classes in Todos Santos, Baja Sur, Mexico. You can follow them on IG to find out more.

    Gratitude

    THANK YOU TO ALL WHO VISITED THE STUDIO THE PAST TWO WEEKENDS FOR OPEN STUDIOS!

    So much gratitude for all 900 of you that came through my studio this during this years Open Studios Art Tour. It’s a lot of work to prep for this event but your conversations, thoughtful compliments and purchases make it all worth it! I hope you loved seeing my latest work from the Bone and Umbel Series, it was so fun to have a custom blue wall in the studio and watch you take selfies and family photos in front of it.

    Don’t be a stranger throughout the rest of the year, we can keep in touch via social media, by signing up for my email list , do your holiday shopping on the online shop or just make an appointment to visit the studio – I’d love to see you!

    Encore Weekend! Ready?

    The second and final weekend of Open Studios is just a few days away!

    Visit the studio and say hi Oct 16TH & 17TH from 11-5

    Artist #243 in the catalog

    2523 C Mission St Santa Cruz CA 95060

    Fennel Umbels Almost Done!

    I’m hoping to have this piece done to share at Open Studios this weekend, but at the very least, it will be a work in progress to share! I’m really excited about the final steel form that my husband designed and adding on the ceramic flower heads makes it even better. I’m in the process of epoxying on each flower, sanding the connection point to create an even flow between the steel and ceramic and then painting the epoxy to match. It’s a time consuming process but of sanding and adding epoxy, but it’s worth all the effort in the end.

    Hope you come see this piece this weekend!

    Work in Progress: Fennel Umbels

    I’ve been wanting to make Fennel shaped umbel flowers for a long time now, I love their upside down umbrella structure with little bulbs of color on the ends of each pedicel. So I’ve collaborated again with my husband Nate to try to figure out how to weld up a steel structure for the ceramic flower heads to attach to. It’s still a work in progress but I’m really excited to get these assembled. Here’s what we’ve got going so far…

    The main steel structure is designed to have 18 points and then each ceramic flower head has 18 smaller points and each of those has 18 points, so that the whole structure is a repetition of itself. Patterns like these are found all over in nature but I also love that each piece in individual and unique at the same time.