by Carole Epp | Jan 24, 2008 | Uncategorized
I just wanted to take a brief moment to thank everyone that’s been emailing me and posting comments on the blog over the past months that it’s been up and running. This has been such a fun adventure for me and as a result i’ve gotten in contact with so many wonderful people from so many diverse places that I genuinely hope to meet in person some day. So thanks!
But today i must come clean about something as it will undoubtedly affect the blog a bit, it already has perhaps, but this i promise will only be for a brief while. Any day now i’m expecting my first babe to be born and so if the airwaves of musing go quiet for a bit with lack of submission info, etc. that is the reason. It’s been an interesting adventure for me thus far and i’ve been meaning to, for quite a while now, have a bit of a chat about the impact of such life changing events in the life of an artist. Here i find myself, having spent so many years working so hard to create a name for myself, get on the right people’s radars, and scrounge to get my work made and in the public eye that to step away from that pace of life for any period of time seems quite frightening. Already my creative life has been filled with time management issues and it can only get worst now right?! But i’ve also been intrigued by the impact of this impending life change on my work in the studio. As i may have mentioned I’m back working on my figurative work for a show in May and i find that themes and approaches to the work have changed in the last few months. The figurative work to me has always dealt with issues of childhood and it’s role and influence in creating the sort of moral stance we carry with us later in life. The imagery i use is of course of children, deceptively cute to make the impact of the message hit home a bit more intensely. I’m finding now that there is a greater awareness of this responsibility to moral/ethical development as i stand poised ready to give it my best try in my own life, fearing being hypocritical, questioning everything, and making sure i’m really, truly aware of my stance and perspective on the issues, as soon there will be someone else to keep me accountable to my words and actions. I guess i’m just curious as I know there are many out there with families and successful careers and i wonder how they find the balance and not lose their creative drive, but also what sort of an impact if any this has had upon their practice conceptually?
I’ve loved the work of Janis Mars Wunderlich for years now and recently have a much deeper appreciation for her work, the impact of family being the conceptual drive of the work. I look forward to soon showing you the figurative work i’ve been making in the studio, particularly those that I feel have been highly influenced of late by my circumstance, as they intrigue me in a curious way…
But anyway, i’ll try to stay on top of postings and calls for submissions over the next little bit, but if i do seem to disappear completely, know i’ll be back very soon! Cheers!
by Carole Epp | Jan 17, 2008 | Uncategorized
I must admit I have this strange fascination with how others work and set up their studios, how they manage it all in odd and unusual places, altered buildings, basements, bathrooms, wherever it is that they find the space to make the work they do. With the generous help of family, I’ve been slowly renovating my garage and turning it into a winterized heated year-round studio and have had so much to consider in terms of how to set up a space which greatly exceeds the size of studio I’m used to working in. Go figure though that I’ve already managed to fill most of the shelves and space in a manner of weeks! I’ve had quite the range of spaces to work in over the past few years. When I lived in Edmonton I had a studio on the top floor of a beautiful old building, drafty as anything and full of printmakers. I think that studio was the cleanest I’ve ever been in for fear of being cornered by the collective anger of dust hating printmakers – could have only been worse had it been photographers! And at other times I’ve turned my kitchen in a woodshop (a table pulled apart without its leaf used to clamp and cut wood on), my living room has been taken over, clay everywhere in the carpet (such bad OHS), basements converted for wheel throwing, and bathrooms have become casting slip mixing rooms and glaze rooms. But now it’s all in one spot, a dream come true, a garage just steps away from the house, with a beautiful view over the snow covered yard. (Okay I still mix slip in my bathroom, but that’s cuz getting running water out to the garage would have cost a small fortune!)
The reason I was thinking about this was inspired by receiving an email from Adrienne Gradauer & Zacharie Quin, some potters new to the province who just sent me their website with pics of their new working space. Check them out at Smilling Cow Studio.
I still think one of the most beautiful studio spaces I’ve seen is Karin Eriksson‘s new space. Check out her style blog for pics of the space during a recent sale. Gorgeous! That’s one thing I love about blogs and websites is to get that sneak peek, or little snoop into studios…
by Carole Epp | Jan 17, 2008 | Uncategorized
February 22 – 23, Toronto, ON
Explores the influences and accomplishments of prominent Canadian craft Pioneers. Three keynote speakers and ten respected researchers examine historic and contemporary craftspeople working in ceramics, glass, metal, textiles and wood.
Speakers include:
Mark Kingwell
Sandra Flood
Robin Metcalfe
Sandra Alfoldy
Dorie Millerson
Anne Barros
Beth Alber
Rachel Gotlieb
Susan Jefferies
Julia Krueger
Carolyn Prowse-Fainmel
Alan C. Elder
Patty Johnson
Michael J. Prokopow
For information contact: Jean Johnson: [email protected] or Melanie Egan: [email protected]
To register: (416)973-4000 – $75/50 Students and Seniors
Papers presented at the symposium will be published by the Canadian Museum of Civilization in collaboration with Harbourfront Centre.
by Carole Epp | Jan 17, 2008 | Uncategorized
The Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts in Gatlinburg, TN, is looking for submissions for their Artist in Residence program.
Deadline February 1st.
The benefit package for each Resident Artist totals over $12,000.
This includes a $300 monthly stipend, a private studio, housing, meals, utilities and professional development funds.
Teaching and exhibition opportunities are also available.
For more information check out their website.
Or contact: Bill Griffith Director, Artist-In-Residency Program Assistant Director Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts (865)436-5860 x 26
by Carole Epp | Jan 3, 2008 | Uncategorized
I’ve just recently been introduced to the work of Bibbi Forsman and wanted to share it. Check out her website and blog for more great photos and interesting blog entries. I’m always intrigued by artists who work in different ways within their practice, as it’s something that has come to define the way I work. In fact I was just having a conversation about just that the other day with an artist who paints as well as works in ceramics. I remember being told at one point that you should be the master of one trade rather than ace of none and I’ve often been asked why I don’t focus on one of my bodies of work rather than separate my time between both. But I find time and time again that artists who I admire have a range to their work and it works for them.
For me it’s been a question at times of sanity. Working on the figurative work I do is really rewarding, but also emotionally draining as it deals with subject matter that I find hard to address on a daily basis. Same as anyone I hate to deal with the horrors of humanity everyday and my work brings it into focus right in my face, so the functional work allows me a bit of peace but also challenges me to think about the beauty in life and humanity as well. Both bodies of work aim to find positives, one just visually presents negatives to address the possibilities of proactive change, while the other presents beauty to remind us of the subtlety of the power of the everyday.
So I’m in the studio now working on a new series of figurative work for an exhibition this coming May and I can barely wait to show you some of the new pieces, but it will be a bit of a wait through drying time, glazing and firing. As soon as possible I’ll make sure to post a sneak peek as soon as pieces emerge from the kiln…
In the meantime check out this work by Biliana Popova who also works both figuratively and functionally, both beautiful!
So I’m curious how others handle the split in their practice, whether it be between different disciplines, different methods of working, functional/sculptural, production work and exhibition work. Do both pay off, or is one the passion work and the other the financially sustainable work? Thoughts?
