adjusting to northern temperatures. and being a sort-of student.
got warmed up making some small wall pieces.
during our studio meeting g.m. decided it would be fun to cut them up and stick them together. it was kind of bizarre to see someone esle making stuff out of my work.
cell division.
northern studio, check out the boots on the bottom and the pile of winter clothes up top.
the above picture is of some tiny sculptures i call the saskunei seeds. saskunei means “no worries” in the fukushima dialect of japanese. in late 2007 i attended a sweet kiln workshop in mashiko, japan. it was my first time to fire woodkilns and we fired 4 kilns in 4 days. one of those kilns was the saskunei smokeless kiln built by kusakabe masakazu. months later i would get to visit him at his studio in fukushima, two times and spend a couple of weeks there total. while i was visiting his studio, i made the sculptures above. pretty soon after that i returned to the united states for good. on the way back i had a layover in atlanta, which i extended so i could visit my good friend and potter kelly sullivan. she works over at an awesome studio/gallery mudfire and during the visit, i got to do some work there. i made some monster sculptures and more of these little seeds, which she fired and glazed after i headed back to florida. over one year later, on a trip up to bowling green, ohio, a friend and i stop in on her and after all this time i get to see the finished peices. when i returned to my studio in st. pete, i decided to make a some more of these little guys, as favors for the folks who purchased work from my exhibition. i’ve given a lot of them out as little gifts, but kept at least a few from each batch, and i’ll keep making them.
which brings me to the next stop on this train line, philadelphia, pa. i’ve “graduated” from my residency in st. pete and in january i’ll be moving up to philly. i started this blog to write about the good times, struggles and process of the clay life and hopefully the next year will bring more to write about.
i spent the holiday weekend at my parent’s house. in addition to delicious food i also got to make some work. on their lanai, after all this time, sits my first work bench. way back when i was 18 and moved out for the first time my place had a nice screened in porch, perfect to do art on. i mentioned needing a work bench and my roommate’s boyfriend (who was doing construction and had access to lots of scrap wood) built it right up.
updating this blog from the cramped seat of a delta plane on my way back from new york. before getting on the plane i was passed a promotional free trial of the in flight wireless service. i would never pay for this service but getting to try it for free is pretty sweet.
on my way home to florida, which i miss. strangely. i missed out on a bunch of fun it seems while out of town. mass amounts of kiln firing took place. very exciting. at least i’ll get to be present for the opening of the kilns. christmas or halloween?
my trip was pretty relaxed but i still felt the burn of city life. florida living has made me weak, i think. my shoulders are all sore from toting everything around on my back instead of throwing it in the back of the minivan. i didn’t do much, but here’s what i did do.
the graduate portfolio review at parson’s: a crowd of young aspiring painters (it seemed) and me….but talking to R.I.T. and Tyler reps did net me some positive feedback. thanks much to a and m for taking photos of my show to share.
new york art book fair: tons of art books and book arts at ps1 in long island city. got to hang with my girl a. and our old friend k..
toured tyler school of art: and met with their new clay professor chad curtis. i was blown away by their brand new CLEAN and high tech facility and inspired by their clay, glass and fibers department. i’ll apply there for the fall, but that’s another post…
last but not least i visited a former professor/mentor gregg moore who i’m very excited to have the opportunity to work with again in the spring.
while in philly i got to visit and stay with s. a friend from back in the day in florida. we got to have some dinner and some breakfast together and she shared her growing collection of pop up art. hopefully i’ll be back in philly in time for her first exhibition. beautiful work girl!
ok, i’m getting cookies from the flight attendant. this is so wild!
whew, what a relief to have the show up. opening night was great. my awesome parents catered the event, providing more than enough foccacia, stromboli, hummus, coponata and beverages. lars din and mel malfa played some sweet tunes, there was quite a crowd and sales were good.
and of course i couldn’t have pulled it all off with out the cavalry coming in at the last moment in the form of a. she helped me with hanging, designed all the text for the wall, took installation images and offered unwavering moral support.
i’ve been taking a break from the studio. i picked up a few shifts at my job the last couple of days but finally stopped in at the studio today to sweep. it’s that time again. time to sweep and mop and rearrange my studio space and get back to work.
some exciting projects are coming up.
-this weekend is folk fest. i’ll be there with some folks from the clay co. as well as having a booth with the artlink team. mary anne and i just started a blog about our artlink partnership.
-november 21st i’ll be selling work at an art sale in gulfport called “eclectic and then some.” i’ll post more details on that soon.
-the atomic holiday bazaar is december 12th. i’m really looking forward to participating.
and last but not least
-march 12th white box 2 opens. a four person show curated by kara walker tome.
changes are hard to take and sometimes the hump is the hardest part. getting up the incline and over to where it’s down hill the rest of the way. but i think i’m getting there. i’ve gone down to part time at my job again. it’s funny that monday (yesterday) was my first “day off” according to the new schedule, but it has made a world of difference. i got a crap load accomplished and had some serious work time saturday, sunday, monday AND today. i should be able to get in some significant time tomorrow too. yeah!
right now i feel like i’m stock piling things for the installation but the truth is that i won’t be able to stop working after that. i have a few events coming up that i still need work for. one is the folk fest, which is put on by creative clay and that’s a week after my opening. i’m also doing the atomic holiday bazaar in december and today i was invited to participate in a small craft show in gulf port. i haven’t attended it before but from what i understand it’s a very high quality show of quirky, eccentric work. i’m feeling a little myopic right now, can’t see past tomorrow, but i think i will definitely participate. one of the curators is a local doll artist who’s work i respect immensely so i am honored to be considered.
ok, it’s almost 2 am and i just got back from the studio a little bit ago. have to go pass out but first some pics of work in the studio. more to come.
new wall pieces.
i guess there always comes a time when you have to decide whether you are going to write about how great everything is or how things really are. the thing is that things are not usually great with out some hiccups or horrible with out some bright spots. the last month has been quite a lot of both. it’s been awesome seeing friends prepare to exhibit, to see them succeed and move onto the next step in their careers. it definitely makes me very excited for the next move i’ll make and for my upcoming show but it’s hard as well to see folks moving on. it occured to me while wondering the streets of bowling green, ohio with j and s that this last year has definitely been a hey day. these are the times you remember. i’ve always felt confident that if you go after what you want the universe (or whatever) will sweep in and provide support, whether that means money,friends or public transportation. and it certainly has. what a great year with a great studio, great friends and roommates, great jobs, the list could go on and on. great and comfortable. then enter the last week. studio is full of new people, everything at work is different and of course two of my favorite folks are gone. thank goodness for j and n.p. and m and v. it’s funny though because everyone is going through these changes alongside me but for some reason i’m balking. i just don’t want to move right along to the next step. i feel grumpy about music in the studio and and nervous about sharing the bathroom with some one new and possible less tolerant than s and i feel like i want to escape. why the heck am i so full of all these super useful and rational feelings?
oh yeah! i hate change. i crave it but when it’s happening i hate it. for awhile. and then i get over it. at least i think i do. and i better get over it soon because i have about 700 things to do in the next month. so check back in a month. let’s see if the brattiness gets the best of me.
we left yesterday and stopped in atlanta around 8pm. kelly of kspots.com put us up for the night. after looking at new work of kelly’s (and making a sweet little trade–wall piece for wall button, and me purchasing a couple of bowls) we ventured out to little 5 points to get burgers at the vortex. after that we headed to cabbagetown to meet up with blackie and patty, checked out their sweet space, rooftop view and kudzu graffiti among other things. so great to see old friends.
today we leisurely made our way to asheville getting in just before everything closed. all talked out we decided to type our conversation for a glimpse into all this fun.
jamie: was it yesterday that we left?
nicole: um hm. here we are in asheville. what do you think so far?
jamie: i wish something was open!! good food though.
nicole: yeah, my portabella and goat cheese sandwich ruled. but you’re still burping up onions aren’t you?
jamie:funny…it hurts!!
nicole: good thing i can’t smell. in that little car. no but seriously. we met some of the residents at oddyssy. that was cool. loved the drawings and the phobia cups.
jamie: they were both very cool…have to stop back tomorrow for a tumbler and maybe a phobia cup for you…
nicole: yeah, but i have to decide which phobia. cats, puppets, sitting?? might have to go with sitting. i am kind of uninterested in sitting generally.
jamie: no seriously, i noticed throughout the drive..
nicole: i get so antsy. i hate sitting still. when you guys aren’t in the studio i am constantly constructing with dance moves. to gravy train. anyway, i also dug their salt kiln. it’s a nice size to fire alone.
jamie: i think we all do that…singing, dancing…its always a good time chillin in the studio alone. their spaces really were amazing.. huge too!
nicole: yeah, and also more enclosed. they could rock out in their spaces anytime. haha. anyway, think we can get a tour of highwater’s factory tomorrow?
jamie: maybe we can try… how about the fact we werent dripping sweat the second we walked into the spaces?? that was pretty sweet too no need for ac
nicole: that was nice. you really do type with one hand!
jamie: ok we are freaks lets go check out the town
ok folks, it’s almost 7:30 pm. we’re going out. heading to lexington or cincinatti tomorrow.
gallery BEFORE
tomorrow is jamie and sarah’s show, can’t wait. i’m sad to see them go but very happy to see how much they’ve accomplished in their time here. jamie and i will do one more personal firing before she leaves, so need to get to cracking on more work for that. then fill the kiln at least once in august. maybe a second time in september? this summer has been so crazy and busy and it won’t settle down for at least awhile longer. in a couple of weeks the three of us will head out for bowling green. i’m looking forward to a couple of days of FREEDOM!
friday after work i went to visit s-. we walked around her neighborhood for awhile looking for apartments for me. after my lease is up here in st. pete i am thinking i’ll move to sarasota. i had entertained some sweet thoughts about screened in porches and tomato plants but i have recently decided that i am only looking for temporary sublets. i love my life here in st. pete/sarasota but i am ready for another adventure. in january of 2010 or so i am gonna roll on from these parts. my clay co. residency ends in september, my contract with creative clay in december. yeah, the economy is in a downward spiral, and i don’t know what that will mean in another 6 months or a year, but i know i have to keep moving forward. there are so many good reasons to stay in one place but one thing i learned in tokyo is that it’s even when it’s easy and comfortable to stay in one place it’s not always the right thing to do. i might have multiple jobs and a studio here, and in tokyo i had the ultimate good thing (l.o.v.e.) but there’s something bigger than all that.
getting on your train tracks and staying on them and taking them to the last stop.