Open House, pt.1

Well the house is open, it's official! We had great weather for the open house on Saturday, and a nice stream of friends old and new come check out the new studio. This is part one of my report, as I took a couple of shots when I finished setting up, then promptly forgot the camera but for a few other random shots. Luckily, dear friends Anne & Steve drove up from Atlanta for the event, and I think it's a safe bet that Anne-the-professional-photographer got a few shots herself. I'll post those as soon as she sends them to me when she returns to the big ATL.

The studio cleaned up nicely, with all the elements working together: things on wheels pushed out of the way, new, portable slab roller (thanks Dan!) to easily roll out slabs for the tile project then move into a corner, fabulous risers and ware shelves (thanks Alex!) to use 101 ways and another fabulous table (thanks Annie & Dan!) to help show off the working space and still have a party feel.


I'm between firings, so there was probably more bisque ware out than finished!



The slab roller becomes a bar, wheels become welcome tables, toss a nice cover on the work table for the knosh and we're ready to go!

Thanks to good help from all corners for the big day: Heather and Michael who brought the flowers and the food processor for the dip, Judith who picked up the figs from Clingman, Cynthia who brought the platter just perfect for the truffles. My mom who sent me these fabulous white bread cloths that turned out to be just perfect for display and table covers before they forever become clay-spattered. And huge thanks to Anne & Steve who came early, brought the new stools, helped set up, helped throughout and helped shut it down. Going far above and beyond the call, they even came back this afternoon to help drink up some of the leftover beer!

The bowl decorating table got a lot of action from visitors - it was so cool to go out later in the afternoon and find so many beautifully decorated bowls. Hopefully Anne has some more pictures of artists from earlier in the day, but I'm glad I remembered my camera at least to capture some of the great work:

Busy at work: Anne and Teva on the left, Steve taking a break at the top,
and that's Karen Etheredge from Manna Food Bank herself making some gorgeous bowls!

A glimpse at some of the great works produced. All of these bowls will be available
at the Empty Bowls event on October 16.

Special kudos to our youngest artist, 3 year old Sam Rattigan, for his beautiful bowl that will be,
as he hopes, a 'nice surprise for somebody':

There were also a few hearty souls who took up the challenge to decorate tile pieces for the future 'Crazy Green Studios' mosaic sign. I think they'll be very nice as background pieces, although the 'nose' mold may be a bit of a challenge.

can you see the nose?

So now the studio is pretty much back in working order, and now that the opening is done, it's back to the calendar crunch! There are more bowls to make for the Empty Bowls firing, plus more of everything to make for my own firing to fill orders and for the Resident exhibit and the holiday art walk. And I'll be adding an evening hand building class in October, running down to Atlanta to do a show...much more to report, but right now the official dog of Crazy Green Studios is wanting a walk, so more reports and pictures to come from a very grateful girl! peace.