Signs of Spring...

Well just a wee bit of catching up to do ...

The studio move is just about complete, and once I collect the holiday lights from outside the little red building on Domino Lane and move some scrap wood, we'll be focused on just one location again. 

I'm grateful for the past two years in that space and all the experiences, good and bad, that came with it.  My studio members shone like the stars they are in helping me get packed and moved and unpacked, and I am most grateful for their support and friendship.  And while the digging out is still in process, I'm already enjoying the new space and am so excited to be in the same location as the reduction kiln ... now just gotta get the work out and fill it!

It's still a jungle of boxes and temporarily placed furniture, but member Matt made it in to throw the first pots yesterday, and I tested out my own work space with a couple at the end of the day.  We have a kiln scheduled just a few weeks away, so if I needed any MORE motivation to get things done and ware on the shelves ... well there it is!

I tidily packed away the camera and only found it the day after the move, so here are a few catch up shots.

We had beautiful weather for the move, and then the next day ... snow!  Here's the new building. 

The great dumping of boxes and furniture....

things slowly coming out of boxes and onto shelves...

rewarded myself with a little wheel time last night...

happy to say the wheel works just fine in its new home!

If I could've crawled more around boxes and furniture to get good depth, there would be more pictures ... stay tuned!

2nd Saturday Artist Market starts tomorrow!

2nd Saturday has finally arrived, and we're all very excited about the start of this season's Artist Markets. 

Excited to be in our new space inside The Rocket Club.

Excited to get the page up on FaceBook and welcome new friends.

Excited to welcome back good friends who were here last year, excited to welcome talented new artists and crafters joining us for the first time. 

Excited to feel the creative vibe of all these incredible artists and sharing that vibe with the community. 

Excited to add food to the overall menu ... excited that our first guest at the 'kitchen table' is Zeytoon. 

Excited to welcome Homeward Bound as our first guests in the Community Booth.  Excited to roll out the red barrel to accept donations for MANNA FoodBank. 

Excited too that right across the street, Drive-By Press will be printing t's at Asheville BookWorks.

Excited we got to flash our 'Asheville Grown' t-shirt and show off samples of the great creations that will be available on MY40 This Morning with Victoria Dunkle.

Let's face it, we're sitting on shpilkes here, we're just a little excited!

Come join us - Saturday, March 13 from 11:00am - 5:00pm (and the 2nd Saturday of each month following, too!).  The Rocket Club, 401 Haywood Road in east-West Asheville!

March Madness at Crazy Green...

Another month that snuck up on me! 

Lots going on this month with Crazy Green Studios - 2nd Saturday Artist Market starts next weekend, and I'm really excited not only for the new venue inside The Rocket Club, and for seeing friends again in those returning vendors, but also for the vendors new to the Market and all the great work they'll bring!  Check out the 2nd Saturday blog for artist profiles, and this month we'll also be getting a tasty preview of what will soon be one of my regular hang outs - Zeytoon.  The Community Booth also returns, and our first guests in the booth will be Homeward Bound. 

The other big news around the studio is moving ... well actually this studio is staying here, but me, my studio members and all our stuff are moving.  While the studio has been buzzing with ongoing and new business, the overall effects of the past 18+ months of running and building a new business in this ... challenging ... economy is starting to show more, and I needed to take an opportunity to cut some costs and start catching up so when things start cranking up this spring and summer I'll be in a better position to move with the flow.

I'm not going far - just on the other side of Haywood Road, actually, and into the WestFire Studio space.  Those of you who have followed along and heard me say more than a few times that I look forward to being on the same site as the gas kiln I fire ... well that's exactly what's happening!  WestFire is where I've been firing, and by the end of this month it'll also be where I'm working.  While I will miss the sunny studio on Domino Lane a great deal, I am more than a little excited to rediscover what it is to have a production cycle that doesn't include stockpiling kiln loads of bisque, packing and moving work, cramming a kiln load of decorating and glazing into a 1-3 day period ... and now my studio members will be able to join me in cone 10 firing and well they're all just a little excited about that too!

I'll continue a small palette of cone 7 work, and in fact will probably be able to develop it more.  I've already started making notes for the test firings on mugs I'll be making for The Beaufort House Inn here in town, and I've got slip trees in many forms in the works for several galleries.

So the studio is in transition - my new studio mate Laura at WestFire and I are starting to work out how our studios will merge, and here we're packing and also still churning out work as production can't quite come to a full stop (at least till it's time to move the big stuff!).

Studio members know we're on 'regular' hours, and anyone wishing to pay a visit to Crazy Green while we're on Domino Lane just give a call to make sure we're here.

Oh and if you know anyone looking for a really great studio space, send them over to check it out or contact me - it's been the perfect space for me for almost two years, and I know it's the perfect space for someone just waiting to find it!