technical tuesday: Emily Murphy

by | Nov 20, 2012 | call for entry, emerging artist, job posting, monday morning eye candy, movie day, residency opportunity, show us your influences, technical tuesday

Image via Emily Murphy

I’m sure you’ve all been over to Emily Murphy’s Pottery Blog. It’s fantastic to say the least. How that lovely lady does it all is beyond me. Yesturday she posted a great technical post about photographing your artwork. I know I’ve sat through a few photography workshops and I still need a re-fresher once in a while. So head on over to the Pottery Blog for:

how-to: make your own set-up for photographing pottery

Thanks Emily!
  


 

Call for proposals: NCECA 2014

by | Nov 16, 2012 | call for entry, emerging artist, job posting, monday morning eye candy, movie day, residency opportunity, show us your influences, technical tuesday

DEADLINE JAN 4th
 
From March 19 to 22 of 2014 Milwaukee will serve as the host city for the 48th
Annual Conference of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts
(NCECA).  I am pleased to be serving as the on-site liaison for this conference.
The theme of the conference, Material World, will be dedicated to an
investigation of the complex ways that materials acquire meaning through the things
that we make and those that surround us in our daily lives. Exhibitions and programs
will expand on traditional definitions of fine and decorative arts, craft and design in
the context of the 21st century.
As
a way of reaching out to innovative artists and thinkers I am writing
to let you know about the call for proposals for the 2014 NCECA
concurrent independent exhibitions. We
are looking for dynamic exhibition proposals from artists at various
stages in their career that will be housed throughout Milwaukee in
conjunction with the conference.  Deadline for submission is January 4.

Selected

by a review committee, proposals are considered for their ability to
successfully respond to the thematic structure of the conference and in
the way that they showcase the field at this particular moment in time.  

Please follow this link for complete information: http://nceca.net/static/conference_concurrent_info.php
I
hope that you will consider making a proposal, and would ask that you
pass this email along to anyone that you feel would be interested in the
project.  Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Best,
Paul Sacaridiz

________________
Associate Professor and Graduate Chair
Art Department
University of Wisconsin-Madison 
2014 on-site conference liaison
The National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts
www.nceca.net

movie day: TED Talks – Julie Burstein: 4 lessons in creativity

by | Nov 14, 2012 | call for entry, emerging artist, job posting, monday morning eye candy, movie day, residency opportunity, show us your influences, technical tuesday

“Radio host Julie Burstein talks with creative people for
a living — and shares four lessons about how to create in the face of
challenge, self-doubt and loss. Hear insights from filmmaker Mira Nair,
writer Richard Ford, sculptor Richard Serra and photographer Joel
Meyerowitz.

As a producer, Julie Burstein builds places to talk (brilliantly)
about creative work. Her book “Spark: How Creativity Works” shares what
she has learned.”

 http://www.ted.com/talks/julie_burstein_4_lessons_in_creativity.html

technical tuesday: freezing temperatures

by | Nov 13, 2012 | call for entry, emerging artist, job posting, monday morning eye candy, movie day, residency opportunity, show us your influences, technical tuesday

So I’ve always known to “never let your clay freeze”. It was just one of those things you were told and you followed without question. I know, it’s water expansion…don’t do it. Well I didn’t question what exactly would happen, that is up until the other day when I was in a need to know situation regarding exactly what was going to happen to all of the supplies in my studio as the temperature started to dip. Was everything at risk – glazes, slips, underglazes, mixed china paints?

You see since moving this past summer we have yet to install any heat into my new studio space. Yeah duh I knew winter was coming, we just hadn’t figured out how we were going to separate the double car garage/studio space into two separate work spaces. One for clay, the other for building custom bikes. So I know, I know, procrastinating is never the answer. But we did, and then this happened….

Pretty maybe, but with the crunch of pre-holiday sales looming it was frankly not invited. My studio temperature crashed, even with the kiln firing. And one night I went to go out only to see that the temperature was this…

That’s Celsius folks. And bloody cold.  Needless to say I had to wear a different uniform to work that day:

And as you can see my water pail was forming a layer of ice already.

So the rest of the night was spent moving leather hard work and pails and boxes of clay into the basement and out of harm’s way. But the entire time I wondered to myself what exactly was going to happen to all of my supplies if I hadn’t gotten to them on time. What would have been salvageable and what would have been a goner?

So today I share some links with you that I found useful and I share the hope that you find yourself in much more pleasant climates in your own studio spaces : )

http://www.dogwoodceramics.com/misc/freeze-warnings-for-slips-clay-and-glazes.htm
http://www.highwaterclays.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/feature.display/feature_id/93

And on a happier note I did have some nice results in the kiln lately. Just in time for the upcoming sales.  I’m finding myself having more fun with the functional stuff lately. Feeling inspired, but at the same time looking forward to the sale season to be over and done with so that I can sink my teeth into some figurative sculpture pieces I’ve had bouncing around my head for a while now. More on that in the new year…