Category Archives: stress

studio day

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ok, i’ve been working full time for about a month now.  in theory it’s not many more hours but it’s really kicking my ass.  i feel the days passing, get up, go to work, take care of mundane tasks, get into bed, restart.  it’s not a nice feeling.  there is so little time to just “be around” the studio.  the salt and soda kiln have been fired in the last week and i wasn’t present for either.  it’s not the one job, of course, it’s just that between working in sarasota, with the commuting, and part time at creative clay, and one day the the clay co my days are packed and i’m starting to feel a little claustrophobic.  i love all the things i do but everyone needs a little spare time right?  ok, my pity party is over.  today i did have the day off and i got to work in the studio for the majority of it.  i finished up a third in the chicken butt series and started a fourth.  j- and i are going to fire the soda kiln this weekend and i’m hopeing to get all four of them in.  i’m always pushing it to the last minute with firings…

number 3

number 3

family

family

blog wish list

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things i wish i had some spare minutes for/coming up on pickled eggplant:

post pics of the egg plate i made my mom for her birthday/easter.

post about salting the  kiln the egg plate was in.

make the “opportunistic bacteria” plates for a third time and have them work.

post pics of the soda fired microbes.

post official pics of the showtel 7  “microcosmic exploration” installation by sue stevens and me.

showtel 7

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here are some photos from the show.

through the front window

through the front window

bird's eye view

bird's eye view

me and collaborator sue stevens.  www.suestevensart.com

in the tunnel

in the tunnel

after dealing with some mechanical issues on the drive down, i finally made it to west palm thursday morning with my little microbes in tow.  sue had our miniature biba room under way.  a came up to hang and helped us out quite a bit.  she was our contract seamstress.  everything seemed to come together at the end and we were happy with the finished product.  thnaks to kara walker tome, our amazing curator, a for seamstress help, everyone who came out and made this showtel 7 the most successful ever and oh, yeah, a little shout out to the rogue room.  more pics soon.

crazy days

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i’ve had lots to post about but nothing but technological difficulties.  i bought a camera a month or so ago and it seems to be malfuctioning, actually it won’t even turn on.  am i cursed with all things electronic?  and in addition my laptop seems to be on it’s last breath.  i’m going to have to give in and get a new one soon.

but anyway, lots of stuff has been going on.  preparation for showtel 7 has been underway.  all my little microbes got finished up.  i ended up soda firing them and was pleased with the results.

working with the kiln tech to check my work i sorta kinda “solo” fired the minnasota flattop and the soda kiln sunday.  rudy, the flattop was done in a sweet 12 hours but our new soda takes a little longer.  we had it done in 16 which is about average.  hopefully as it gets fired more and we get to know it better  the average time will decrease a little bit.

our kiln tech is a really great teacher and i’ve learned a buttload from him over the course of my residency.  the soda kiln is a nice size to fill a load of my work and and fire solo, or to split with another resident.  after finishing up sunday evening, i was already amped to start making work for the next one.

i’m getting really interested in the soda finish i’ve been getting on raw porcelain.  i love the gray color and peach blushing that is typical of a soda fire, but for my work, the clean orange peel sheen is the best.  especially when you get the little gray squiggles.  i have so much detail in the form that putting glaze over it always seems like a bummer, but the soda sheen just coats it nicely, finishing it off.  we’ve been firing to about cone 10 each firing, but next time, when i can fill the kiln or split it with j who also uses porcelain i’d like to push it to cone 11 or 12 and really max on the soda.

anyway, tuesday we were able to unload.  everything came out great and is headed down to west palm with me today.  showtel 7 is saturday.  if you happen to be in the area, come on out!

microbes pre-fire.  will post fired pictures and installation shots asap.

monster pile

monster pile

monster egg sac

monster egg sac

top of monster

top of monster

monster detail

monster detail

worm

worm

opportunistic bacteria plates

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below is an image of the bacteria plates i was working on for a doctor i work with.  i had scavenged some underglazes that were getting trashed at the studio to use for the color. i covered them with underglaze while leather hard and sgraffito’ed the image.   i once fired them, putting clear glaze on top of the underglaze while everything was still bone dry.  unfortunately when they came out of the kiln chunks of underglaze were flaking off.  i thought it might be because i had once fired them?? so i remade them, but this time bisqued the underglaze on, THEN clear glazed and glaze fired.  same problem.  any idea what the problem could be?  i’m stumped.  i decided to get rid of these underglazes and go with something new.  news to follow.

virus plates

virus plates

new year, new life.

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today is 2009.  it’s been a long year.  i started the year in tokyo, with a long term romantic partner and a job at rbr art center and even though things seemed to be in place i wasn’t happy, one year later, here i am, working at a great job and creative clay, partnerless, in residence at st. pete clay and feeling pretty good.  (i don’t miss tokyo or rbr, but i certainly miss my former partner masa, who is the best person you could ever meet.  geography is a harsh factor sometimes)  but it just goes to show you that life isn’t perfect and pretty all the time, sometimes you have to give up something you like the best for things to move forward. 

finally, after of a week of turtle life i moved my stuff into the new place with the help of my brother.  i’ll be living with on of the girls from the studio in a big place (a couple of blocks away from the old).  we’ll each be on a different side of the house with the kitchen and living room in between and we even have our own bathrooms.  A LOT more space then my little garage apartment! 

speaking of turtles, this month i’ve been working at a turtle’s pace in the studio.  i’ve completed another set of wall hangings, but that’s about it.

so new year, new life and more time in the studio starting now with the help of my favorite christmas gift, the hand built sculpture stands from my brother.  he built three, sized so that they nest together when not in use.  (pictures coming soon).

and of course some obligatory new year’s resolutions:

1.  get my etsy shop up.

2.  start taking some yoga classes or JAZZERCISE!

3.  if it’s in st. pete, bike there ALWAYS and bike the pinellas trail.

happy new year and akemashite omedetou!

turtle life

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on christmas eve i moved everything out of my place.  i started the night before, packing up all my books, journals, sketch books, etc and wednesday morning i took them to the clay co to drop off (temporarily).  i could barely lift the big boxes since so much heavy stuff was packed in so i had to invent special methods to lift things into my car.   i was like a racoon with an oyster. 

yeah, i like a simile.

my awesome sister came and helped me pack up all the breakable stuff and load everything that was left into my van.  anyway, i’m moving to my new place tomorrow but the person taking over my old place needed to move in early.  so i’ve been a turtle all week.  good times!

here’s to staying on your path.

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compass

compass necklace

last february i visited the u.s. briefly, in an attempt to decide what my next move in life would be.  after being super broke for months and months i scraped up every last dime i could to get that ticket.  i knew i needed to get out of tokyo to figure out what i wanted to do.  i made plans to see friends one on one, to meet with old professors and art world friends and to stay with my sister in brooklyn for the first week i was in the states.  outside of whole foods in the city a women had a table of jewelry set up.  jackie said she’d bought something from her before and we went over to check it out.  renee, the artist, encouraged us to look all we liked, and to not worry about buying anything.  i don’t know if that was her tactic but i was sure that i wanted to support her work and also to own one of her necklaces.

after A LOT of decision making my sister and i bought each other compass necklaces, to help us find and stay on our paths.

i wore mine everyday until i left tokyo and i wear it nearly everyday now, to remind myself that everything i do today is building a bridge to what i will do tomorrow.

thanks sister.

after the longest week ever.

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seriously, last week was long.  i was bummed out to miss art basel in miami but life on the west coast of florida was busy enough.  at work we were being observed, at the studio we were preparing for the sale and i was preparing my own art work for the sale.  whoo, i was really running on low!

finally yesterday i had a bit of a break.  well, recently a half day is as close to a day off as i get but i’ll take what i can get.  i worked in the morning at creative clay.  we are still book making.  i know we will have to move onto something different but i’ve so enjoyed seeing m improve her skills.

afterwards i went to mazzaro’s italian deli to get something for lunch.  i’ve been hearing about this place since i moved here, but hadn’t yet been.  it was like walking into italy.  i was able to find my favorite cheese from when i was traveling in italy (romano fresca with pepper corns) not to mention arancini (sicilian rice balls) and italian tuna.  these were the things i would buy (with a roll or loaf of bread) and carry around in my bag to eat for lunch in some scenic spot.  you know how it is.  the only thing i didn’t find, but i’ll have to look next time, is white anchovies.  the arancini were very similiar to my family’s except that they had way too much cheese in them!

i relaxed the rest of the day, stepping out for an errand or two, and this morning, finally i was back to 100%.

tired and inspired.

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i’m super tired.  i loaded 3 bushes into bisque kilns today.  bisque fires with 2 long ass 24 hour holds.  i have this schedule i’m working with and i’m being superstitious with it now.  like it worked the first time so i’m sticking to it.  i need to do more inquiring and refine it to make it my own.

i did the math yesterday and i made all five bushes in 22 days.  while working THAT fast isn’t really my ideal, it feels good to have had a goal and worked my tail off to make it happen.  barring any complications, i think my installation at 10 x 10 will be a success.

for me not getting intimidated is a big problem.  i’m easily discouraged.  i’m trying to take my work horse kind of nature and turn it in a more positive direction.  i think i am always kind of searching for somewhere to stop.  somewhere to settle in and do something for the rest of eternity.  finish, rewind, repeat.  of course then i get massively bored and try something else, always lurching off in some kind of awesome direction, but not really being able to pull it together at the end of the day.  i don’t know where i picked up that habit, but i’m working on getting rid of it.  a is really good at moving forward (maybe too good at times, girl).  i’m always amazed at her ability to intuitively know how to move toward her next better goal and really do amazing shit.  she is on her way to being an art star, mark my words.

right now feels really right.  for the last few years, in the back of my mind, i have been thinking “i wish i was doing this…” and now i am doing it.  i am trying to keep options on the horizon so that what i do today makes a bridge to what i want to do next year, or in five years.  i suspect this is the way to live life.

anyway, my studio mates have been enormously generous this week, helping with heavy lifting, kiln firing, spray gun lending, and ass loads of other shit (like the pillow case-tea towel-raw glaze-lashing strap maneuver into kiln no. 8).  i don’t know this studio very well yet, my shit is majorly heavy and as previously discussed i get discouraged easily, so i could not have done it with out them.  seriously.