I’m excited to announce that I’ve been accepted into the 2021 Santa Cruz County Open Studios Art Tour!
It’s been two years since participating in the tour for me and I’m thrilled to welcome you back into my studio again! I’ll have lots of new work to share with you.
Join me October 9th, 10th, 16th & 17th at the Studio
For more information about the Art Tour visit:
PICK SOME UMBELS FOR YOUR GARDEN!
These fun and funky flowers have been flying out of the studio, but there are just a few left in the online shop, order yours today!
MAY 7TH IS THE LAST DAY OF THE UMBEL SALE
use coupon code: FLOWERPOWER for 30% off discount on your order
April Showers bring Umbel Flowers!
A fresh batch of brand new Umbel flowers are up in the online shop now! Add some color to your garden with these drought resistant varieties!
Join the monthly mailing list before May 1st and get a COUPON CODE for a 30% off discount on these babies!
I’ve just launched ebooks of both my art books in the online shop for only $10! Hardcover books are available too!
~Studio Secret: Book #3 is in the works!!~
*this one is available FREE when you join the email list! If you’re already on the mailing list but don’t have your free copy, let me know!
I’ve been slowly plugging away at these pieces, trouble shooting and learning as I go. This batch was the best yet and honestly they look so much better in person than photographed but hope you can get a sense of their potential.
There’s of course still some kinks to work out with the resin, the frames, and the lighting but I’m really excited about them and I know that when I dial it in, they are going to be amazing. If you missed the last post, read here first, but otherwise enjoy this quick video of creating these pieces one layer at a time.
Just a quick update on the Lichen Series: Spore Pattern installation that’s going to be installed in the Price Sculpture Forest this summer. I’ve been steadily building pieces in the studio and decided that I had enough to start laying them out on the floor of the studio. These are all in various stages of drying, firing and glazing but laying them out gives me a good idea of how many more I need to make and what the final piece will look like.
The large circle in the center photo above is about 10 feet across with a 1 foot center opening and there are almost 200 pieces placed down. I’d like the final piece to be about 2 feet wider, and there are still some holes to fill with parts, so I’m estimating that I’ll need to double the amount of parts but I’m getting closer to the finish line. Can’t wait to see it all together and installed!
I’m finally ready to reveal a fun collaboration with sculptors Lucia Bruer and Franco Di Majo entitled Bling!
It all started with the pile of Rock Candy pieces in the studio. Lucia was visiting the studio one day and said, ‘Wouldn’t it be fun if they were gigantic jewelry?’. We both looked at each other and knew we had to see this idea through.
We decided to make two rings, that would appear to be stuck into the ground at the bottom and have their big gems crowning above.
Lucia enlisted the help of Franco and they started planning out the logistics of making the structure for band of the ring. Then we designed the layout of the band so that it mimicked the shapes of the ceramic rock candy. We also designed the bezel it would sit in with similar angles. Next up, there’s a lot of welding to do but it was really exciting to get a vision of what it would look like assembled.
We’re hoping these rings will be installed at Sierra Azul Sculpture Garden early summer, details to follow.
Bone Series: Urchins
ABOUT: The Bone Series: Urchins are hand built, perforated flanges of very thin, nearly translucent porcelain, if held up to the light the edges will glow. For this ephemeral In The Field installation, I went to one of my favorite beaches near Davenport California at a very low tide to have access to where the urchins live. Read more…
New Trinket Necklaces are available!
Sculptor Jamie Abbott and I collaborate on making these fun and funky wearables, each one is unique with a selection of porcelain and forged metal forms strung on ball chain or leather cord.
Last week, I announced my opportunity to create a large scale public art installation for the Price Sculpture Forest in Washington State. My studio is filling up with parts for this project, so I wanted to share my progress. (if you missed last weeks post, here’s the link!)
These pieces are in various stages of being built. I cut out all the shapes intuitively so that each piece is unique and there are a variety of sizes. The far left image shows the shapes but all the edges have yet to be attached. It’s important to let the panels of each piece set up a little before they are attached so that they hold their shape as they are handled and moved around. Once they are attached, they are left to dry a bit more and then they get a final wipe down before they are left to dry completely.
Once all of the pieces are bisque fired, they are ready for glazing. Each piece is glazed on all sides with a white matte glaze that is reminiscent of the shelf fungus color they are inspired by. Then each top edge gets a stripe of dark glaze that when fired is metallic colored where it is thicker and fades to a mossy green where it blends with the white glaze underneath. Now these guys are all ready to go for a ride in the kiln!
This batch of pieces totals to somewhere around 50 or 60 parts, but I’m estimating that I will need about 8 times that for this project- maybe more! Eventually every surface in the studio will probably be covered by these pieces, exciting times!