Back in the studio today after spending two days standing and selling work in the Farmers Market Pavilion Building. I am not complaining, I am grateful for the opportunity to sell my work, I really am. I am just so glad to be back where I most love to be however, namely my own studio tripping over my 4 huskies. My idea of Heaven. I ran out of clay after a few hours however, so I only got my special orders done and then spent the rest of the afternoon obsessing over tweaking the details on my website. I love how it is looking!
Within all the special orders was a very urgent need to finish my dinneware set for the upcoming NCECA
( National Council on Education of the Ceramic Arts) exhibit on the east coast. I have it completed and drying but every potter knows to make two of everything if it is imperative all pieces come out good/matching by a certain deadline. If you don't make an extra set every potter knows something will f*ck up and you will not be in the show... so, I hurriedly made a second set just in case the kiln gods are hungry that day...
This is a big deal and I should have had my act together weeks ago. I am also waiting on some turquoise and lime green stain to glaze them with but that is another story. If Magpie Pottery is in the 2015 La Mesa Exhibit in Rhode Island this year, it will be a firing miracle. I better quickly think of an extra special offering for Kodiak the Kiln God or I could be up the creek. Extra biscuits?, some stinky cheese? Some of Dave's smoked salmon from Alaska? If that doesn't do it nothing will...
NCECA is akin to,, hmmm, what in other disciplines? Um, well any large gathering of professionals of any ilk. It is an annual event that all ceramic artists look forward to each spring. Everybody who is anybody in the ceramic world will be present. Students, teachers, professionals, ceramic supply companies, grad school programs in the arts, etc... Not only that but all the galleries in the hosting city will be having special ceramic shows as well . The conference itself will also host workshops/teaching sessions all weekend long. Santa Fe Clay, which I occasionally teach for, has one of the most popular exhibits in the conference; La Mesa (the table). A 50 foot long table with dozens of single dinnerware sets from the best ceramics artists in the country.
And I am invited to submit an entry and be in the best company I could possibly hope for... and I am still working on it with 2 weeks to go! Argggg, why do I do this to myself? I don't know, I just couldn't get going again in January after the holidays nor could I decide on a design. I made square plates, round plates, thrown plates, slab plates, nothing seemed right. I finally just had to choose and here is the dinner plate (lunch and breakfast still drying!) that I finally finished;
I like it; the colors, the design, the raised foot, it all pleases me. When the other two sizes are stacked on top it looks really cool. I'd eat off of it. When I showed it to my husband however he went "meh, not your best...."
What do musicians know about ceramics anyway?
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