New Works, New Directions

The never-ending and oppressive heat here in my little corner of the Sierra foothills has had an unexpected silver lining it seems.

My small studio is actually an enclosed portion of my home's wrap-around porch. Its on the back, so its about 7 feet off the ground, and faces south west. That means the worst of the sun's death rays beat down on it in summer and make it pretty much uninhabitable unless you're a wasp.

The upshot is that I've been forced out of my studio the last 12 weeks or so and growing increasingly frustrated at my inability to create. Then, in July, ahead of a workshop my clay supplier was hosting, I was asked to kick the tires on their version of paper clay.

I decided this was a perfect combinations of ingredients for me to play at sculpting. I would not need a large work area, the "mess" could be contained easily and water requirements were minimal.
In other words, I could work inside my home, plopped in front of the Big Screen, under the AC vent. I've always considered sculpting to be like sketching, and I approach it the same way. 

The paper clay has allowed me to try things I wouldn't do with typical stoneware or porcelain, because it has both strength and a certain amount of flexibility even when dry. It withstands both cone 10 firings and my single-firing raku technique.

I'm still locked out of the studio for a few more days - until the heat breaks - but I'm not so frustrated anymore.

Check my Etsy shop for currently available works. Oh! And here's a fun video of the process for you too!

New Works

With the heat creeping in to the
Mother Lode the last few weeks, I've been forced to move my clay efforts into the house (the studio is not air conditioned yet). That's had a really wonderful effect on my work.

My space in the house is very limited, and of course throwing on the potter's wheel is out of the question, so I've been working on little sculptures.

Starting with pinch pots about the size of baseballs, I've been able to stretch my skills and imagination further than I would have thought I could. The resulting menagerie has me very excited!

You can see most of the little critters I've done so far by visiting the Sculpture section of my Etsy shop, though a few are being held back for a show.

Mother Lode Mudfest

The next event on the calendar is one I'm really excited about.
My friend Pam at Quyle Kilns in Murphys, Ca had the wonderful idea to create a clay festival here in the Sierra foothills. She asked for some help from the small group of potters and ceramic artists that loiter about the place (me being one of those) and we jumped on board.

Because I'm familiar with web stuff and have some experience promoting things, I was sort of assigned some of the advertising and graphics and whatnot.

We're starting to get the word out and hope for a good turnout.


The event will be July 20, 21 and 22 up at Quyle Kilns. The plan is to have local potters and ceramic artists sell their wares , and also offer a 2-day paper clay workshop for interested artists.
There will also be wine tasting and a dance band!

Here are the details.
If you're interested in participating in either the sale or the workshop, you can download the prospectus here.

Quyle Kilns and the Mother Lode Clay Collective invite local potters and ceramic
artists to participate in a 3-day celebration of clay, featuring sale booths, networking,
demonstrations and a workshop by paper clay sculptor Michelle Collier. Wine tasting,
refreshments, food concession and a dance band too! Overnight self-contained 
camping available to participants.
Details:
When: July 20, 21 and 22, 2012
Where: Quyle Kilns/Brice Station Winery
    3353 E. Hwy 4 Murphys, Ca 95247   map
Pottery and Clay Sale:
Setup: 10:00 am – 4:00pm Friday July 20
th
, with a free paper clay demonstration by Michelle
Collier to follow from 5:00pm – 7:00pm.
All booths must be set up no later than 9:00am Saturday July 21
st
.
Sale: Sale is Saturday July 21st and Sunday July 22
nd
 from 10:00am – 5:00pm.
All booths must remain up for the entirety of the sale.
Booth fee is $25 for both days. Seller keeps all sales and is responsible for collecting money,
sales tax, and packaging items. WiFi should be available for those who collect sales via
SquareUp etc, but may not be reliable.
Electricity will be available, as will a limited number of tents and tables, but its advisable to bring
your own.
Paper Clay Workshop 
with Michelle Collier:
Friday: Free demonstration by Michelle Collier for all festival participants 5:00 pm – 7:00pm.
Saturday: Paper Clay workshop with Michelle Collier 11:00 am – 5:00pm. 
       $25 per person, includes paper clay and bisque firing.
Sunday: Open studio for all workshop attendees.
Other Activities:
Friday:      Wine tasting 12:00pm – 6:00pm
Saturday: Wine Tasting 12:00pm – 10:00pm. 
       Music and dancing with The Tour Guides 7:00pm - 10:00 pm  ($5 cover)
Sunday:    Wine tasting 12:00pm – 6:00pm

Silver City Clay Festival

A few weeks ago I entered 2 of my raku tiles in the first annual  Silver City Clay Festival in Silver City, New Mexico.

Yesterday I was informed that both tiles were accepted!

So next week the tiles will wing their way to the Land of Enchantment to hang beside scores of other amazing works in one of the several galleries in Silver City. If you're in that part of the country, you can see them from Aug 3, 2012 to Sept 3, 2012. Not expecting any awards...its enough just to be included,

The Outrage

So, in the previous post I mentioned that I had created a piece titled "The Outrage" to enter in the  Lodi Community Arts Center

52nd annual Spring show.

Its a pretty large juried show, encompassing all media, and is held at a local winery, which is pretty cool.
I'm happy to say that not only was "The Outrage" accepted into the show, but it was also awarded Third Place in sculpture/3D!

The show itself was amazing - I was completely humbled by all the wonderful art there was to see.
And I was invited to  show it in their gallery on Lodi through the month of June.
Look for the piece to be offered for sale in my Etsy shop in July.

A Little Recognition

Well...
This is the new blog. I actually already have one, but its more "back end". You know - potter-to-potter. So I decided to start this one to keep folks up on some of the amazing things happening with my life and art of late.

I want to start by taking you all back to April, 2012, when our local arts and culture weekly did a feature of local artists, including me.
I had just finished a piece for the Lodi Community Art Center's annual Spring Show (more on that in the next post). The piece, called "The Outrage" featured a grouping of 5 life-sized puffins arguing over eels. It was raku fired and made specifically for that show. I had just submitted it when this article was written and was waiting to hear if it had been accepted.
You can see the article in the online version here:

Sierra Lodestar April 11, 2012

And you can see the process involved in creating the piece by visiting my album on Facebook, here:
The Outrage

Welcome to the first blog post.
Stay tuned...