As a human, I’m grateful for all-the-things but as an artist, I’m really grateful for…
What are you grateful for?
HAPPY TOFURKEY DAY EVERYONE!
It was so wonderful to return to my happy place in the desert, work with creative and talented people while also getting some time to just watch the sun move across the sky. In these few weeks, my quartz rock collection grew, I saw more sunsets than I missed, and I watched the whales start to arrive at their southern destination. There is something about the quiet determination to thrive in the desert, that definitely inspires.
My weekend workshop at Barro Sur was a fantastic event, the participants were eager to learn new ways of working with clay and to be inspired by the flora and fauna of the region. Students came from all over to participate in this class. We spent two days building, let the work dry on a very slow bisque firing and then had a glazing opportunity in the days that followed. The results were beautiful and I hope that it inspired everyone to reconnect with the nature that surrounds them. On a personal level, it was great to meet and connect with new members of this small town’s community.
I hope to return again in a few months and get another dose of inspiration, in the meantime I’ll have to hang onto those sunsets in my mind.
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.
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!
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!
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.
Just a reminder!
Open Studios is happening very, very soon!!!
Join me October 9, 10, 16 & 17th from 11-5
2523 C Mission St Santa Cruz CA
Artist #243 in the catalog
Been getting things ready for Open Studios this October, here’s a sneak peek at a few of the treats in store for you!
Hope you can join me Oct 9, 10, 16 & 17 from 11- 5 at 2523 C Mission St Santa Cruz California
Way back in 2012, my work was included in the second issue of Ceramics Now Magazine and now nine years later I’m a featured artist on their website. They have work from my Lichen Series and Bone Series from 2014 -2021 posted now. Check it out here…
My third art catalog ‘inspiration through exploration’ has just arrived!
It will be available at Open Studios this October and in the online shop soon!