September Open Studio Schedule and other cool events...

Ahhhhhhhhh....today I could FEEL the fall in the air, and it felt GREAT! Cool, just a bit breezy, leaves starting to take flight. It is my favorite season!

Here's the September open studio schedule, as always, subject to change! A bit about some of the highlighted dates:

Friday, September 4: that's First Friday! Get out and see some galleries or studio openings, have a little nosh, meet some artists and gaze upon and when ever possible fondle some very nice work. Crazy Green Studios closes early to encourage all studio members to do just this, and with any luck I'll do it too!

We're closed over Labor Day weekend - not so much for the holiday, although I hope all studio members have wonderful weekends, fire up the grill for the beginning of the cool-weather cookouts, hit the beach while the water's still warm ... have a little 'you' time. I'll be in the glaze studio, painting trees and letting brushes dance over a kiln load of pots destined for bridal registries, fine eating establishments and a new gallery, with just a little left over for show stock.

Saturday, September 12: 2nd Saturday Artist Market! This month the Market will be rockin' with many returning and many new vendors, and we expect extra buzz in East West Asheville as it's also the day of the West Asheville Garden Stroll. And we're just a little biased, but we think the hottest stop on the Garden Stroll will be Christopher's Garden, just across the end of Domino Lane, and featuring additional 2nd Saturday Artist Market artists vending in the garden along with Christopher Mello!

Sunday, September 13: OrganicFest! This will be the the fourth year that Crazy Green Studios will have a booth at this wonderful downtown festival celebrating all things organic, healthy, sustainable and local. We are very proud to be the unofficial potters of the OrganicFest!

Friday, September 18: ok, here's the first peep on the blog about the long-awaited new gallery! Echo Gallery at Biltmore Park will have a 'soft' opening, inviting friends and family (that's you!) to come check out our new Co-op gallery on Main Street in Biltmore Park. We're still hanging, painting, organizing and generally walking around going 'can you believe this is really happening?!', and some of us are trying hard not to think too much about all the work going into this one kiln next weekend that will of course come out gorgeous for the gallery. I won't way which one(s) of us who are trying hard not to think about this, I'm just saying...

Friday, September 25: this may change, but as a member of the coop gallery, I'll be working shifts at the gallery, and based on the studio traffic between Thursday - Sunday, when we'll initially be open, Friday is the best day for me to take a shift. It may not be every Friday, but I wanted to keep that one open.

So there you have it dear readers - a bit of the fun and excitement in store at and around Crazy Green Studios - hope to see you at one of this month's events!

pots from kiln #1

ah...I know I must be avoiding the yard-long task list I have before OrganicFest, otherwise I wouldn't be stopping to post these now. But I just got back from taking the pictures, so I'm still in that mode.

To recap, I took pots over to Krug Creative, where Emily Krug has set up a small photo studio and is making it available to area artists to shoot their work at a very reasonable fee.









Above: the photo studio set up and Emily!

Here are some of the results of my little shoot. I'm still playing with the camera to find the best settings. The white balance is still doing what ever it wants...but I shall eventually prevail!!










This is a series I did on some cups to test a new glaze combo with brush work, wax work and brush AND wax work. They were a bit dark for all the shots, but I really just wanted them as a reminder.


These bowls were testing both a new glaze, new brushwork and a new application of using wax with oxide. I'm having fun with the flower, as it lets me be a lot more free with the brush without worrying so much about where the line goes. I try not to worry about that in the cornflower motifs, but sometimes it gets a bit spazzy.




These two are the same glaze combo, different thickness on the cover glaze. I did a couple of platters with the cornflower brushwork, but the wax didn't hold its line as well. Even the glazes want me to do this one more!



This one was a bit of a leap of faith. I wondered what the combo would do with a tenmoku glaze as the cover, being reasonably sure it would be alright. The brushwork was more abstract and 'let the wax flow' kind of thing that when I was doing it gave me great pause. But a little voice told me to keep going and let the kiln to the rest, and I'm glad I did. Awfully darn shiny for pictures, but oh so nice to fondle!




Part of the new series of fluted mugs. Overall, the copper green glaze was pretty gnarly in this kiln, not doing what I'd hoped. These mugs had the most interesting action on them. I'm going to make another copper green recipe to test for the next kiln, but I think if I get the kiln placement right I can get what I want out of the Willie Hillix still.



I made several yunomi/tea bowls, partially to work on the fluting technique with trimming and partially just for the fun, since I hadn't made any in a good while. I used oribe as the cover glaze over a shino, and I don't think this picture shows just how blue it went.






I'm just getting back into my sake sets, and I'm looking forward to doing more tray sets of all kinds. This tray didn't exactly go with this set, until I decided it did when I was glazing. These are the only pieces I remembered to use my 'magic wash' on. It hadn't been coming out very well in the last Odyssey firings, so I thinned it out and played with a different application, but then forgot all about it when I was glazing and decorating the tumblers. It looks a lot more like it should on this, and it certainly makes the tray go with the set now!



I was bummed on a couple of levels that I forgot to go by the Chocolate Lounge to get some truffles this morning. I wanted to do a shot with them in the picture, and then have myself a little post-photo shoot treat! But I remembered only as I unpacked the mug...I may still have to go later today to get that truffle. Dan and Jael were as happy with them as I was when I opened the kiln, which is always what you want in client reaction! The time we took to test forms, try glaze combos and refine the look really helped me know what they wanted, and it gave them a lot more security in knowing they'd get what they wanted. Can't wait to go try them out...guess it's more of a business trip now...quality control and all...do I really need to rationalize a truffle trip?!



And finally, not from my kiln #1, but Akira's kiln #2. I didn't remember to bring the box of pots I picked up, but I was drinking out of this one so I was happy to be able to get it as well. It was one of the best of my grouping - I only had time to glaze or put flashing slip on a handful of pieces, but this one I dipped in shino. I'll have to check my notes to see if I wrote down which one, but shino is definitely the way for me to go in his kiln. This has some nice shino-y stuff going on in the glaze, a nice little crawl just inside the lip, and I like the way the fluting gives a visual texture behind the texture of the glaze.

Oh, and if you won't be in the Asheville area to come by OrganicFest on Saturday, maybe you want to head over to Charlotte for the Potters Market Invitational at the Mint Museum. Akira will be there, as will Kyle Carpenter and many other talented folk.


Ok, my little break has gone on long enough. Time to clean the studio, inventory the pots, price them, pack them and start putting together the booth for Saturday. Oh but first perhaps I'll just have a little chocolate...

OrganicFest!!

As the official potter of OrganicFest (my own title...I may get there and find out it's a shared title this year!), I'm happy to return for the 3rd year to OrganicFest. When I first moved to Asheville, I signed up for it (then just in it's own second year) as a way to give me a goal to make work in my first six months. I'll keep doing it as long as they'll have me, and I'm happy to promote sustainability through offering locally made, reusable ware that holds organic foods beautifully and is made using recycled materials with my own local-artist hands!

OrganicFest will be downtown Asheville this Saturday, September 6, on the streets around Grove Arcade. My booth is #18 (one of my very favorite numbers) on Battery Park Avenue, toward Page Street. If you're in the area please come by and say hello! I'll have work out of the kiln that's cooling today, plus some fun treats to take away with your purchases. I'll also have brochures about classes and workshops, and information about the upcoming Empty Bowls event benefitting Manna Food Bank. All that in one little booth and the whole rest of the festival to enjoy! Hope to see you there....