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I’m making mugs now. Something which I’m the first to admit I’m not very good at. My mind is filled with images like the one above in the hopes I can sort out what I’m doing.
I’m also playing with a different design. Less for the kids, more for the grown ups. We’ll see where it leads. Too much in the early infant steps to really have perspective on where it’ll lead. Lots of baby steps around these parts lately….
As anyone whose every attended a residency can attest to it’s beyond all else overwhelming. This is not a bad thing by any means, but it does result in the inability to verbalize adequately all of the amazing conversations, sights, sounds, and artworks that surrounds you. My intentions were to blog everyday and share all the details of my trip to Arrowmont, yet now that i’m finally siting at the computer i’m lost, not sure where to begin, and more than slightly aware of the magnitude of information that has been packed into my brain over the last few days.
As many of you might know this is my first real venture away from my littlest babe so it’s been a time for re-awakening the dormant parts of my creative brain after a long sleep. This alone has made the transition back into a communal studio where academic and creative language abounds a bit stressful for me. The theoretical mind is a muscle that if not stretched dies off and not much short of shock therapy is needed to get it working again.
So i began my travels with a day of flights from the cold north of
Saskatchewan down into the Southern United States and the great state of
Tennessee. I’ve never been this far south in the USA and quite honestly
had no idea what to expect. There is as always with Americans a
generosity and kindness, humor and sincerity that always brings me back
to the USA happily. Tennessee has a wealth of beautiful scenery to
behold and the drive from Knoxville to Gatlinburg (where Arrowmont is
located) was a road trip to burn into memory. The Smoky Mountain
National Park was lovely this time of year and I predict would be even
more breathtaking in the summer or fall months.
A little on why I’m here: Early last year I received one of those emails that makes you giddy and uncontrollably dance happily around your kitchen (hopefully only for you to see). Jason Burnett, one of my current favorite contemporary potters contacted me regarding The Ceramic Surface Forum, which is a week long forum in it’s second year. Its an initiative that Jason pitched to Arrowmont and which Arrowmont eagerly supported, and somehow, just somehow I got on the ceramic gods good side and was invited to participate this year. I’ll be posting images of the other artists work over the next few days and will get around to posting links to all of their websites right away as well. For me this was the perfect way to start off my year. Last year was a blur, a baby, some sales, a move, who knows what else. And at the end of it all i was shocked to realize that a year had gone by without me having made even one new figurative sculpture. What?! I know. Embarrassing. That part of my brain had given itself up to the survival mode of parenting and craft sales. But in the fall I had applied for a grant with the Saskatchewan Arts Board which I recently found out I had received. This grant would financially support this residency as well as a research based trip to Los Angeles later this spring (more on that another time) and the production of a new body of figurative work.
So i looked that this week away at Arrowmont as the perfect way to start sketching ideas and content development for this new project. Plus on top of it all I would be surrounded by artists with a wealth of knowledge, particularly regarding ceramic surface techniques which I could learn from, test and possibly incorporate into new surface treatments for my figurative work.
Urgh glaze testing. How I hate thee. But with only a week and the inability to really bring anything back with me there was no point in making any sculptures – even if the idea of a weeks worth of uninterrupted days could have resulted in more physical work than what i created all last year. So instead i’m spending a lot of time peering over shoulders and learning, engaging in conversations about clay, craft, academia, life, you name it, and basically easing my way back into a making mode. Needless to say it’s been lovely, truly exactly what i needed and more.
For now I’ll leave you with some eye candy from around the studio as i’m eager to get away from this computer and back to the studio. I promise to fill you in more about Arrowmont, Gatlinburg and all of the artists i have the pleasure and honor to be working beside as soon as i have a spare minute. Until then enjoy!
I can hardly wait…tomorrow morning i’ll be flying to Tennesse for a week away at a residency at Arrowmont. Jason Burnett, a current artist in residence at Arrowmont has invited a very cool looking list of artists out for a week long residency : the Ceramic Surface Forum 2013.
Not only am i excited about all of the creative shoulders i’ll be able to peak over and learn from, but for me it’s a perfect way to get my brain back into a head space for creating figurative sculptures. This last year, with it’s added sleepless nights and baby/toddler scheduling has had an impact on my time for getting sculptural work accomplished. Functional work for sales took over, and although it was fun and some interesting new directions were developed, i’ve been craving getting my hands and mind dirty again with the dark world of my kitsch sculptures. So this next week for me will be a week of glaze testing, surface development, and thinking and sketching and thinking and sketching some more, maybe walking, maybe some blank staring off into space enjoying the quiet of a child free environment, but mostly sketching for the upcoming year’s worth of sculptural work. I can’t tell you how much fun this is going to be. And productive i’m sure. The first full night of sleep in over a year….yah i’ll be super productive!!!
So stay tuned for more as I blog from Arrowmont!
Another year gone already? Well for me that one went particularly quick. We started off 2012 with a lovely new addition to our family. From there things get a bit blurry (lack of sleep and all), but i do know that the year was filled with lots of wonderous things. New developments in my functional work, an award nomination, and of course some fun stuff around this here blog.
I want to take a minute to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for all of your support in the past. Every year the readership of this blog grows and it continues thanks to those of you that support the community through the sharing of your work, exhibitions, events and opportunities. Thank you to all of the artists who let me share their beautiful work. It has been incredibly inspiring.
In November I asked you all to fill out a survey for me about your thoughts on musing and what it offered, how it could be improved and how it could grow to better serve the community. I am intending on writing a full post sharing with you all the results of this survey in detail so that you can understand my motivations and the changes that I hope to make over the next year. My ambitious self thought that i’d have a bunch of the changes set and ready to go for the beginning of the New Year, but hmmm errr, well I took a break over the holidays instead : ) But seriously these will be changes that will take a while to implement and some of these changes will require some participation on the part of you the reader. Don’t worry, it’ll be great I promise.
And speaking of great I want to introduce something I’m really excited about. A sparkly new addition to the blog…. the musing about mud gallery
I’ve been struggling to find the best format to host a gallery site and for now I’ll be using tumbler to see if this is a platform that can work. My intention with this gallery site is that it will be comprised of reader submitted images. There may be times that i will toss in some of my own work or something i’ve run across i just have to share. But I would love to see the readership of this blog use this platform as a means to showcase their own work, to build community, exposure, education and interest in the ceramic arts.
I’ve already had a few wonderful artists submit images to get the site started. Please stop by for a visit, come back often for new eye candy and most importantly please get involved! Submit images, comment on others work, encourage others to participate. This will be a non juried site. I hope to see posts from students, emerging artists, part-timers, long time professionals, artists, educators, gallery owners, everyone – so long as its some how clay related. The more we all put into it the better it can be.
Okay that’s enough from me for now. More to come very soon.
Till then have a wonderful New Year. May it be filled with love, happiness, health, creativity and peace.
From my family to you, all the best.
Carole
[email protected]
