End of the year

Hello!

These shots are from the opening at Pottery 101 Gallery in Salisbury a couple of weekends ago. The opening was fun and it's such a beautiful gallery to display work in. Annie and I had a great time and were glad to have this show together.


Since then I've been busy having a nice visit with my family visiting me here in the mountains. This week I'm gathering and sorting pots to take down the road for the next show, right here in town. It's the Toe River Arts Council Studio Tour, only you won't be touring my studio this year. I'm exhibiting at John Britt's pottery studio, in Bakersville, near Penland. There will be a group of 5 of us with demos and refreshments. John makes a great chocolate truffle, so you shouldn't miss this motley crew of artists. The dates are December 4-6.

For more info and a map, visit www.toeriverarts.org

My last show of the season is going to be back in Asheville, NC, at the Folk Art Center, for the Southern Highland Craft Guild Seconds Sale. One day only, December 12, this is a great chance to buy seconds, and discontinued pieces. I'm going to be bringing a good collection of pots with low prices for this sale as it's time to clean up and clear out to make room for making MORE pots. So please come help me and my pottery problem by helping me clear out my shelves! I promise good deals!

And as always, my Etsy shop will continue to have work in it through the holidays.

Above the clouds

Just when you think it's a normal day around here, things can get interesting with the weather. All morning the usual fog lingered around the valley, not burning off until later in the day. Then, later in the afternoon when I was at a friends house about to drive home, I noticed the clouds were getting even more interesting. So I turned the car a different direction and drove up to my favorite stomping ground, Roan Mountain, only a hop, skip and a jump away. Sure enough, the blanket of clouds were spread like a glacier over our Bakersville valley. Looming in the distance is not the Himalayas, but Mount Mitchell. It seems much larger than it appears when the clouds aren't filling in the valley floor. The clouds were moving slowly like a glacier, inching their way east towards the setting sun, while the ridges in the west were spilling over with seeping patches of clouds.


I am so fortunate to live in such a beautiful place as this. But I feel even more fortunate that I notice these moments and can take the time to notice the beauty that is always all around me. Such a nice way to end the day...

"It's All in the Details", Pottery Exhibit

Tonight is the opening reception for my shared pottery exhibit, "It's All in the Details", at Pottery 101 Gallery in Salisbury, NC. The other featured potter is Annie Singletary, from Black Mountain, NC. Below are the pieces I selected to display for the show, which feels like a nice sampling of my work. Come check out the exhibit, the opening is tonight from 6-9 pm.

Buttercup Cups

These new butter cups were in the soda firing I did this week in the small kiln. I actually refired them because the glaze was immature and dry from the last firing. This is a new glaze I've been testing. Now that they are refired they are much better. Does buttercup cups sound funny? I'm still working on titles for my pots, and that one popped in my mind. These will be in the Salisbury show. I like this new form with minimal texture and all glaze. It's kind of different for me.

Where the soda hits the glaze, it sure gets nice!

This pair of contrasted lobed mugs are another idea I'm playing around with, trying different glazes in different places on the pot. Again, it's very different for me to glaze the entire pot without leaving bare slipped clay for the soda to react on. I just thought it would be fun to change things around a little bit with my mugs to see where it would lead me.

A new view

I have a new view in my studio. The past few weeks I've been slowing rearranging and cleaning both my studio rooms. One room still has a looooong way to go. But my main room that I throw and make everything in is finished. It's a new view! I moved my wheel, shelves and table around. The work flow seems much better now and more efficient. It actually seems bigger in there now. And now while I throw, I can look out the window into the woods and at the birds...nice, isn't it? It feels very refreshing to have a new view, a physical new view, but mentally and emotionally I feel recharged and at a good place right now. The year is wrapping up with a few more shows, but the major push (and worry) is over and now I can get ready for 'hunkering down' for the winter, as they say 'round here. I'm excited to work on some winter projects I have in mind, like some new forms, and some harder forms that I don't practice enough, like large bowls.

I fired the baby soda kiln this week to get out a round of new mugs, this time a lot of them were fully glazed! It was a nice firing; I'll show some details of them tomorrow. For now, I have to get ready to go out of town for my next exhibit that opens tomorrow night in Salisbury, NC.

Asheville Art Museum

If you're in the Asheville area, don't miss this holiday market going on this week at the art museum. I dropped off a nice selection of carved mugs, bowls and tumblers for this sale!

Holiday Shopping Extravaganza

NOVEMBER 17 - 22 - Tuesday - Sunday, Museum Hours

Pack Place Community Gallery

Buy unique gifts by local artists for everyone on your holiday shopping list!

20% off for Museum Members on Friday, November 20, 2009.

Light

I found the light this morning inching its' way up this burning bush. The fog is thick around here in the morning and with each sunrise, the sun fights its' way through. It looks like it's going to be another beautiful day.

Even though I am always trying to be observant, I get caught up in my busy day to day life. But it really does help me to slow down and appreciate those little moments in life. The sun rises every single morning but half the time we are all rushing around doing things. This morning it was refreshing to wake up to it and notice the beauty in the details. Now as I write this, the sun is strong in the sky and the light has taken on a different feeling. I'm glad I caught that moment and slowed down.

Live Online Holiday Pottery Sale Today!

I just listed 75 new soda fired pots, the largest selection I've ever shown online. Hope to 'see' you there!

Holiday Sale Tomorrow!

small pitcher detail (this piece will be in the sale)

I've been busy getting all of the pots photographed and the images ready for listing for the big sale tomorrow at my Etsy shop. I'm going to be listing about 75 new pieces, so that's been a lot of prep work getting all of the details squared away with all of the images and the listing details. I like to explain each piece a bit so people can have an idea what the piece is like in reality!

Don't forget to stop in to my shop after 10 am Saturday morning. Lots of new pots!

Save the date! Online Pottery Sale

This Saturday, November 14, 2009 at my Online Etsy Pottery Shop, I will be having an online sale at 10:00 am EST. I am busy photographing images of a large selection of new pots that I will post online for the sale. Come visit my shop Saturday morning with your coffee in hand! There will be a lot of new items including mugs, tumblers, cups, pitchers, reed jars, baskets, vases, wall tiles, and more!

Until then, you can poke around at my Etsy shop, here, where I have been cleaning up my shop and have discounted some more items in the SALE Category.

shining rocks

I'm home from the potter's show that went by in a zip. It was a one day show, set up the booth in the morning and took it all back down in the afternoon. The show was okay for me, and I'm glad I tried out a new one I hadn't been to before. I would definitely like to go back next year because it brought a huge crowd of pottery appreciators. I got to meet Richard Aerni, a great potter from Rochester, New York who was also in the show. We've corresponded through the blog and our etsy shops and I've always wanted to meet him. It's fun meeting potters after you might get a feeling of their personality through their pottery and their writings. Richard definitely seems like a kindred spirit and I was glad to finally meet him and talk pots, life and other such tidbits.

After the show, on the way back home, Will and I were able to take off into the Shining Rock Wilderness Area for a nice 10 mile dayhike. Sunday was such an amazing, warm day for November. It's great when I can do a show and on the way home, take an extra day off and enjoy a hike! The picture below is a detail of the white quartz with some interesting lichen growing on it. This remote and untouched wilderness area gets its name from this huge outcrop of 'shining rocks'.


"The kind of beauty I want most is the hard-to-get kind that comes from within; strength, courage, and dignity." ~Ruby Dee

WNC Pottery Festival

This Saturday I'm headed out for another pottery show, in Dillsboro, NC. It's the WNC Pottery Festival, a popular all-pottery show in the area. With 65 potters of all shapes and flavors, there are also pottery demonstrations as well as wood, raku, and soda firings. Here is a map to get you there. It's located an hour southwest of Asheville, NC, right near the Great Smoky Mountains. The weather predicted is supposed to be beautiful and fall is definitely lingering in the air!

Hope to see you there!

Inspirations

I love to collect seed pods on my walks with my dog. This time of year you can easily find Honesty Plant, or (Lunaria annua) growing nearby. This is also called money plant due to its' pods resembling silver coins. You can find more about this interesting plant, here. Just another one to put in my collection bowls.