by Carole Epp | Mar 12, 2011 | Uncategorized
Yesturday I had the pleasure of giving a talk at the University of Saskatchewan about my art and practice and the yucky business/marketing stuff that one has to do as an artist. Hopefully I didn’t scare any of the fourth year students. I tried not to get too much into the nitty gritty of all that being an artist encompasses.
It was great fun to chat with some of the audience after, meet a few people super eager to see change and action in the local crafts community, so that’s always a treat. My youthful rebellion against the man and the system still alive and well. (will it ever fade?) And so I return to my studio today inspired again by the community around me.
But a question has been lingering in my mind and tumbling over and over again…I can’t seem to shake it. Someone asked me whether I ever took an art vacation. At first I thought well of course, where ever I travel I try to make seeing local art a priority. But no, she meant a vacation away from art. Hmmm. I answered no. Does that mean I’m some sort of obsessed workaholic? I started to wonder if my priorities were getting skewed. Was I falling prey to that obsessive behavior associated with people who neglected their families and avoided real life for their work? Yeah you don’t have to tell me, I know I over analyze everything and tend to get a bit anxious about things.
So I’ve come to the conclusion that art really just is a different kind of job than most. Which is why sometimes we have such a difficult time explaining to others (non-artists) what exactly our jobs entail. And to me the nature of making work that is based on the human condition and my interaction with the world and topics of contemporary concern or commentary; in the end means that I’m always “on” as an artist. I’m always thinking, digesting, working through a problem. And that’s not just in relation to my sculptural work. My functional line is always on my brain as well. I’m forever searching for inspiration, challenges, new techniques, styles, aesthetics to try and work through.
I guess what it comes down to is that yes I do work ALL the time. No I don’t take a vacation from my art. But why I don’t is because I have a great job, one that is such an integral part of who I am and how I interact with the world that to have a vacation from art would be akin to having a vacation from my right arm. I live and breath my work. I’m obsessed with my work. It is an expression of who I am, so yes, we’re attached at the hip wherever I go. But I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I think it says alot about the joy and reward of being an artist. We are doing what we truly love, so far as that it doesn’t feel like a job most days because it’s pretty fun. And for those that don’t get how I can’t separate my life and work, well, maybe it’s because you haven’t found a job as rewarding as I have. Art is a calling I guess.
But now if only I could convince those people to also understand that just because I love my job so much more than they do, it doesn’t mean that I should be doing it for free.
by Carole Epp | Mar 10, 2011 | Uncategorized
Following text via Frank Lloyd Gallery
Toshiko Takaezu (b. 1929), born in Hawaii of Japanese descent, has been working in clay for over forty years.Her work has developed steadily throughout her career as she has moved from producing functional vessels to abstract sculptural forms.Over the years she has continued to draw on a combination of Eastern and Western techniques and aesthetics, as well as her love of the natural world.For Takaezu, the practice of building vessels in clay is intimately linked to everyday life:
“In my life I see no difference between making pots, cooking, and growing vegetables.They are all so related.However there is a need for me to work in clay.It is so gratifying and I get so much joy from it, and it gives me many answers in my life.”
Throughout her career, Takaezu has explored a select repertoire of forms, often focusing on the vertical closed vessel that has become a symbol of her work.While her earlier pieces were almost exclusively wheel-thrown, as she began envisioning larger forms she incorporated hand building techniques as well, which allowed her to grow her vessels vertically and eased the circular restrictions of the wheel.The simple, cohesive structures she is now well known for are united by their common form but gain individual character through the painterly aspects of their surface decoration. Takaezu’s spontaneous approach to glazing, in which she walks around the vessel freely applying glaze through pouring and painting, balances her more methodical building process and allows her to add an improvisational element to her work.
Another important aspect of Takaezu’s involvement in clay has been her roll as a teacher.Her love for clay is infectious, and she has shared it in many forms.In addition to her 23 years of teaching at Princeton and the many workshops she has performed, she has given her time to generations of apprentices.The many awards and honors she has received, from the Hawaii Living Treasure Award to her honorary doctorate degree from the University of Princeton, demonstrate the wide range of people and institutions that find inspiration, history, and meaning in her work and life.
For more info and to purchase a book about this amazing woman please visit The Earth in Bloom
by Carole Epp | Mar 9, 2011 | Uncategorized
 March 2011
We really hope you enjoy the newly relaunched Ceramics Monthly. Dive right in, flip through, look around, and let us know what you think. Read the full Letter From the Editor.
View this issue online!
(open to everyone for a limited time-
Flash 9 or higher required)
cover: Compound pocket vase, 12 in. (30 cm) in height, thrown and altered stoneware with resist glaze decoration, by Nick Joerling, Penland, North Carolina.
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by Carole Epp | Mar 9, 2011 | call for entry, emerging artist, job posting, monday morning eye candy, movie day, residency opportunity, show us your influences, technical tuesday
The Buchanan Center for the Arts is calling all artists for its 64 Arts National Juried Exhibition.
There will be $2,800 in awards given in the following categories: $1,000 for the Mary Jane Twomey award for best of show; $300 for the OSF Holy Family Medical Center painting award; $300 for the Eleanor Inness Meith Works on paper award; $300 for ceramics; $300 for sculpture; $300 for mixed media; and $300 for photography.
The juror for 64 ARTS is Adrian Arleo, a studio artist living in Lolo, Mont. She studied art and anthropology at Pitzer College and received her master’s degree in fine arts in ceramics from Rhode Island School of Design in 1986.
Her sculpture is exhibited nationally and internationally, and is in numerous public and private collections, including The World Ceramic Exposition Foundation, Icheon, Korea; The Museum of Arts and Sciences, Macon, Ga.; The Racine Museum of Fine Arts, Racine, Wis.; Yellowstone Art Museum, Billings, Mont.; Microsoft, Seattle; Harborview Medical Center, Seattle; Gloria and Sonny Kamm, Los Angeles; Ruth Kohler, Kohler, Wis.; and Candace Groot, Chicago.
In 1991 and 1992, Arleo received second place and recognition awards from the Virginia A. Groot Foundation, and in 1995, was awarded a Montana Arts Council Individual Fellowship.
Entry deadline is June 18. For a copy of the prospectus visit http://bcaarts.org, e-mail at [email protected] or call (309) 734-3033.
via
by Carole Epp | Mar 9, 2011 | Uncategorized
It seems that my upcoming show at the Mendel is starting to loom around the corner. Eeek.
My poor kiln has fired 3 of the last 3 days, and god willing it will continue to be good to me for the next month. Am I the only one that talks to my kiln and asks it to be good and hang in there? How much wood can one knock on before they are asking too much of the kiln gods?
Hmm…maybe i’ve lost my mind and have been in the studio talking to my figurines a bit too much lately.
Anyway…here’s a few images from the studio.
