Arts on the Square

One day I'm going to manage to include information about a show before it happens.  Today is not that day.  

Yesterday was the tenth annual Arts on the Square.  Here's a picture that Jeff took early yesterday morning. Yes, I am eating breakfast back there.  No, you may not have a bite. 

  

This art show is sponsored by Buffalo Creek Gallery, so I would be there all day working anyway.  I figure that I might as well bring some pottery.  Honestly I question that decision sometimes.  It is a lot of work to get to a show.  For me, it is a struggle to figure out what I'm going to take.  It's not just pottery. A tent, tables, drapes, shelves, chairs, and snacks and drinks must be planned out and loaded up.  

I started with tables, drapes, and shelves first.  Set them up in the gallery and then worked on figuring out what pots would go.  Most of what I took came out of the last firing, but I did pull a few items from the gallery to fill up the display.

Then all the pots went in banana boxes (the best boxes for hauling pottery around), and everything got loaded up in the Explorer.  That last sentence kind of sounds like it magically happened and I just watched.  Not so.  I packed all the pots in boxes, and loaded the boxes and everything else in the vehicle.  Then Saturday morning, I had help unloading and setting up and then packing up and loading up at the end of the day.  One hopes to have significantly less to pack up at the end of the day, but this was not really the case for me this time.  Oh well, it was a very nice day otherwise.

There were a couple of things that I was especially pleased with from the last glaze fire. Here are some closer up shots.

Cookie jar with a frog.  The inside of this jar is a dark green.

Remember the communion sets I made a few weeks ago.  All the pieces lived!  I want to get some feedback from people who know about communion sets before I do more, but I will do more.  Yay!

Memories

My Facebook memories today reminded me that it was one year ago today that Demetrius and Jeff helped me move the new kiln in the building.  It was another month or so before it was up and running, of course, but this was my first big hurdle a year ago. I found out later that this day was also the first time that Demetrius ever heard me swear.  I got kind of tickled when I heard how shocked he was.  Sorry, Demetrius.

Today after church, I loaded up a glaze fire.  According to the firing log, this was the 33rd firing of Frankenkiln.  So far, so good.  I've replaced one relay and scraped and reapplied kiln wash to shelves, but otherwise, Frankenkiln is working great.

I really love Facebook memories.  I don't always share them again, but I like looking back at what was going on in my life.  One of the other memories from this date was a picture of an Art Walk two years ago.  Two years ago - before I imagined any of this.  Funny how much life can change in not much time at all, isn't it?

So what do I have to show for this week's time in the studio?

Thursday evening, I made some funnels.  I got them trimmed on Friday.  I'm keeping fingers crossed that all of these end up small enough to work for a canning jar.  My first attempts resulted in one that was perfect and two that were just a little bit too wide.

After that, I was kind of at a loss about what to work on next.  I started poking around and found a texture roller in a box on the shelf that I'd forgotten about.  I started with a couple of bowls and two mugs. Then I decided to just continue to go with that theme.  Two more mugs to make a set of four, a utensil holder, a pitcher, and a platter all with the same texture.  

It's hard to see, but each of these pieces has the same band around it.

You can tell a little better on this platter.  

I was afraid to move the platter off the wheel, so it got to dry over night right there.  This is actually the second try on the platter.  On the first try, I didn't listen to the voice that kept telling me to "quit touching it" and it collapsed.  I listened to the voice on the second try.

Saturday morning, I trimmed the bowls and platter...

...and put handles on the mugs and pitcher. (Not pictured: mugs.  You know what mugs look like anyway, right?)

I'm particularly proud of this pitcher.  I managed to really stretch the clay, so I think that even though this is large (9 inches or so high after "belly-ing out"), it will still be light weight enough to actually be used.  I struggle making pieces like this both large enough and light enough that they are usable. I was worried that I'd ruin it putting on the handle.  So far, so good though.

It's OK to Not Make Pottery Sometimes

Its been a while since I've posted here. Lots of things going on.  I'll share more later.

In the studio, I've done a few things in recent weeks.  Last week was the first Second Saturday of 2017.  I made sure that I had plenty to work on since I was going to be in the studio longer than normal.  Mugs, berry bowls, and a cookie jar...

Here are the berry bowls with holes drilled and drip trays thrown.  All these things were dry this week, so I got them all sanded and ready for the next bisque fire.

We were out of testers.  These were all cut in half, dried, and bisque fired last weekend.  They are ready to go when we need to try out a new glaze combination. 

Why have you not heard much from me recently? Well, I've had other things to do.  On April 1, Jeff and I were in Charleston to participate in the 40th Cooper River Bridge Run.  We love this race!  It helps that we get to hang out with these people for the weekend. This is Rob, Bobby, Andrew, and Liz Boyles - our dear friends. This weekend is a highlight of the year for us.  

This year, we managed to re-connect with a former student before the race.  Leigh Ann (Spangler) Yeager was in our classes just a few years ago.  

You haven't done a post-race party until you've done this post-race party.  So many people!

Thursday of this week, I went to Greenville, SC to see Something Rotten! at the Peace Center.  My friend Solomon Willis ended up with an extra ticket and invited me to go. I am so glad that I did!  He and his parents, Brenda and Eddie, were so sweet to let me tag along. 

This weekend, I took Saturday off from my studio work so that Jeff and I could take the grand-kids (I can't call them babies anymore) to an Easter Egg Hunt.  From left to right, Micaiah, Samaria, Lady dog, Paw Paw Jeff, and DJ all had a great time hunting eggs, taking walks, having ice-cream and cotton candy, and meeting the Easter Bunny. 

You may be wondering why all these pictures of non-pottery related things are appearing here.  There really is a point to this, and I'll even connect it to what I'm doing at A Griffin Pottery.  One of the things that I admired about Allen and how he ran the studio was that he did not let pottery keep him from doing other things that he needed and wanted to do.  His hours of operation sign said "Mon-Fri 9am to 2pm, Mostly...", and there was almost always an additional sign stuck in the window explaining whatever deviation from those days and hours needed explaining.  He loved his studio and the work that he did there, but he also loved playing tennis with Prissy on Tuesdays.  He didn't mind posting the sign that said "closed on Tuesdays" so he could go do that.

It is against my nature, but I am trying to emulate that.  When we were asked to keep the grands on Saturday and then when Solomon offered me the extra Something Rotten! ticket, my first thought was, "I can't.  I'm supposed to be in the studio Thursday evening and Saturday." I am rather protective of my studio time since there's so little of it while I'm teaching, but I'm working at giving myself permission to do other things too when the chance presents itself.  In the big picture, the afternoon spent at the park with the kids and the dog will be much more important than one afternoon in the studio. Yes, I have tons of things that need to be glazed so I can get one more glaze fire in before Arts on the Square week after next, but it will get done.  Those sweet kiddos won't always think it is a treat to hang out with the old people.  We have to take advantage of what we have while we have it.

Once again, thank you, Allen.  You taught me well.