mini road trippin...

The official rule for the official day off is that even if I'm not taking the day off, it's gonna be fun.

And it was officially a good day, although I think I was in the car more yesterday than in the last month or two combined!

The first stop on the road trip was delivering wine cups and small plates to Mountainside Wine in Spruce Pine.

Outside shot only because they're in the final stages of putting the shop together for next Monday's opening (wine tastings and other events follow in the week). I'm not often in that area, so it was nice to finally see downtown Spruce Pine (faithful readers will remember my last attempt to make the Potter's Market, only to be thwarted by a bad fuse...). So locals mark your calendars and check out the shop - it's downtown on Oak Street, right next door to the Toe River Arts Council.

After the drop off, it was time for visits - I'd been stocking up on glazed bowls for Empty Bowls, thanks to folks decorating at 2nd Saturday events, so next stop was to see John Hartom at the Empty Bowls studio.

I arrived to find his driveway full of trucks and roofers! Seemed like far too much work to be going on, so I invited him to join me on my road trippin', and off we went to visit Michael Kline's studio.

It was also my first trip to visit Michael at his studio, which if you're following his blog you know has been under construction and in development - it's a great space and Michael was a most welcoming host.
John showing off his smile for the camera...behind Michael Kline's uniquely designed espresso cup...

John & Michael inside the studio and out in the kiln shed - great spaces, great views, great work being made!

I couldn't leave without my own prize!

I should have snapped a picture of Lissa - she was very happy hopping around in the tall grass, and only one tick removal when we got home!

Back in town after a scenic drive back through road construction on hwy 19, I made it just in time for a meeting, then hung out with friends and visiting friends at Asheville Pizza and got to see the shuttle launch. I've been a fan of the space program from my beginning, and it just never gets old - I feel the same way I did when I was 7, getting to stay up late to watch coverage or going outside my house in Vermont at 2am to watch it pass over us.

A good day off!

digging out to dig in...

It was quite a weekend - 2nd Saturday continues to have growing lessons, all of which make the next one even better, and it continues to give me the opportunity to meet and talk to some very cool people, both vendors and the neighbors and visitors who come to see us. Each month, we grow, in all sorts of ways and directions, and I'm grateful to be a part of it.

Sunday was a beautiful day to be in a live market, and the steady stream of people going by and through the booth was complimented by a lovely breeze that always had me grateful and cool! This was my first Big Crafty, and it was great to be a part of such a creative and eclectic group of artists, and to talk to so many folks from near and far - not only about my work, but about the joys and benefits of the live market experience. Thanks again to Brandy & Justin for putting together and running a superb event - if I'm fortunate to get into another, I'm planning a booth bud so I can get around to see more of the other Crafties, but you'll never hear me complain because I was too busy to leave my booth!

Fellow potter and friend Anthony did turn up right at the end and gave the most appreciated help in taking the booth down - it was a smooth day from start to finish, so much so that I didn't even notice how exhausted I was until I was at home! Seemed like it was the long-awaited exhale from the past month of production work, firing cycle, show prep and the events themselves.

So Monday was a bit of catch up and easing back into a new cycle of work. I also welcomed new assistant Brittany, who jumped right in to help me clear out some of the hurricane that hit the studio last week. She even got a little time to get on the wheel too!

welcome Brittany!

So yesterday through this afternoon has been slow unpacking, more hiking with the pup, dittering about town and coming down from the firing-into-show cycle. Next up is to sort out the production list for the next cycle: mugs for Izzy's, back stock for Roots, Sparrow, Clingman and the ChoLo. But the bulk of the next cycle is dedicated to a new and exciting venture. More about that when there's more to say ...

Also on the docket is preparing for a one-on-one workshop next week, that I'm very excited about. More on that soon too...

Crazy Green Studios is goin' to the Cotillion!

Come by and see!

Crafter cotillion

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MANNAfest at Crazy Green Studios!!

Crazy Green Studios is pleased to join MANNA FoodBank as an Ambassador to help collect food in East West Asheville for MANNA FoodBank's MANNAfest: Neighborhood Food Drive.

Last fall, in the wake of increasing demand for emergency food assistance and decreasing food supplies, MANNA started a quarterly food drive program (MANNAfest) to help stock their shelves. They are teaming up with high school students in the fall, workplaces in the winter, faith groups in the spring and neighborhoods (that's us!) in the summer. I hope you'll consider helping support this drive by donating food.

We will be collecting food from July 11 - 27th, kicking off the drive at the 2nd Saturay Artist Market and continuing to receive donations at the studio through July 24th (we're closed the rest of the weekend). We will then deliver our collections to MANNA, where it will be weighed, processed and provided to the agencies with whom MANNA partners.

You CAN make a difference - it's that easy!!

On behalf of MANNA FoodBank and their 328 non-profit agencies, which include emergency food pantries, soup kitchens and homeless shelters throughout Western North Carolina, thank you for giving what you can.

AND...if you'd like to support the Neighborhood Food Drive but don't want to actually handle or physically deal with the food, you can go to MANNA's website (click image above and follow the link to "Virtual Food Drive").

If you'd like to bring donations to Crazy Green Studios, here's a list of the top ten most needed items:

1. canned meat (spam, ham, chicken)
2. tuna
3. peanut butter (plastic jars only please)
4. canned vegetables
5. canned/dried fruit
6. meal-in-a-can (beef stew, chili, etc.)
7. canned soup
8. dried/canned beans
9. boxed macaroni & cheese or other dinners
10. health & cleaning aids (soap, toothpaste, shampoo, detergent)

a recap of the blur...

It's intriguing to me that time can seem to scream by and go in slow motion all at once. That's what the past week has been like, seeming always to chase more time yet feeling like I'm kind of walking slowly through a movie that's run on a faster speed.

The bulk of the activity came over the weekend - got the last pots out of the bisque fire on Friday, spent Thursday and Friday waxing and laying down base oxides or underglazes, mixing glazes then packed it all up and carted it over to the glaze studio. Normally, I'll do this several days before I load, giving myself separate chunks of time to organize the studio, put on the base glaze and start brush work and wax resist, leaving the day of the load to add cover glazes. Normally, I'm also sharing the kiln load, so the volume is smaller too. This cycle, time was not on my side, and I was left with Saturday as the day to pretty much do it all.

Just getting set up to work comfortably can take a while, and because I had the full load, I was determined not to rush through any part of it. Been there, done that, did not even want the t-shirt. I had been mildly concerned that in spite of my efforts to make sure I had kiln fillers as well as all the commissions covered, I'd get stuck with uneven layers or even not enough to fill the kiln well. Not a problem - the first challenge was just getting some of the single glaze work done so I could load the first shelf and have more room in the studio to unpack the rest of the bisque. The tempo started to crawl once I started the brush and wax work.

I'm finally at the point where I do enjoy the glazing process, and much of that comes from slowing myself down in the process as much as possible. Having a mere 24 hours, some of which gets sucked away in getting ready to do and cleaning up after the process (along with that sleep thing I keep hearing about), doesn't really contribute to an environment of relaxed tempo. But I'm pleased that I did keep a comfy tempo, and by just after 11pm I was about half way through the wax work, and had finally unpacked the last box of bisque, giving me at least a visual cue to when I would be finished!

This altered Sunday's plan, but luckily I'm just blocks away from my studio, so a note on the door kept me from feeling guilty for not being there when I said I'd be there, and when a studio member did come in late in the afternoon, it was a welcome break.

While I didn't rush anything, I did alter some planned glaze work and opted for what I knew would work (and yes, in a few cases, what was recently mixed). The load went well, until as I neared the top I could tell there would be extra work that wouldn't make it into the kiln. Not exactly Sophie' Choice, but heartbreaking still when I was looking forward to seeing all this work done. But before I ceded to the space gods, I played a nice game of Tetris, shifting and squeezing and finding one more shelf, one more half shelf...a few more inches of top space. Those pots that have a less stringent deadline have been carefully packed into boxes for the next firing, and the others are about now reaching about 1800 degrees on their way to their own finish line, hopefully at a decent hour tonight, guided by the new kiln god on top of the door (if he lives through the firing, I'll snap a pic for the unload).

toward the end of loading...still squeezing more in...

The planned studio cleaning and re-organization, not to mention getting 2nd Saturday prep and PR going for this weekend's market ... well they're lagging a bit after cleaning the glaze studio and loading back all my glazing stuff into the car and back over to my studio. Time for a kiln check, then perhaps to the list for today ...

Transfigurations

A wonderful celebration in the works for and by my neighbors, Harvest Records:

Welcome to Transfigurations 2009.

We will be celebrating the first 5 years of our record store, Harvest Records,
with a 3-day gathering in beautiful Western North Carolina.

The dates are August 13th-15th, 2009 (Thursday-Saturday).

Venues will include The Grey Eagle, Diana Wortham Theatre & Fine Arts Theatre.

Much more info to be announced very soon!

Thanks for your love & support, as always,
--Harvest.

transfigurationsasheville@gmail.com

July Open Studio Schedule

It's July already, gloriosky! A bit more yellow on the calendar, that just means schedule changes on those days. Some notable July events:

July 3 - First Friday! Studio hours are adjusted to encourage everyone to get out and stroll the galleries - I'll post some that I'll be visiting later in the week
July 4 - closed for the holiday, although I'll be glazing all day
July 11 - 2nd Saturday Artist Market!!
July 12 - Big Crafty!!! Crazy Green Studios will be there, so we can't be HERE!
week of July 20 - altering the hours just a bit as I will be teaching a special workshop during the days.