Some figures glazed

There are extra potters in town today.  The Depot Crafts Show...aka Black Mountain Arts & Crafts Show has around a dozen potters with little tents down on Sutton Street.

Lioness or cat?

Just check out the tiara...

Kitty wearing tiara

Tiny goddess moving figure

The weather has been delightful today.  When I enjoy this low humidity, clear sunshine and coolish breezes, I'm positive I live close to heaven.  Or if there is a heaven, it must certainly be close to being like this.

Posing cat

 

OK, I think I'd best make some tiara wearing goddesses now!  Right?

I'm thawing some salmon for dinner.  Lunch today was delicious black bean patties...avocado and tomato and ginger rice beside it.  The salmon will probably have some potato next to it, as well as a caesar salad I think.  Will roast up some fresh croutons with garlic oil first.  That gives me something to do while the wild salmon thaws.  

I make extra to have left overs during the week.  Living alone, that works so I can cook more than one portion at a time.  Otherwise I want to go out, or invite a friend over.  Mmm...who is hungry tonight?  My salmon will be oven roasted inside a foil wrap, with a little butter and garlic. 

 

Small green ginger jar

Green Ginger Jar, stoneware

The dark coloration on the edges of the stoneware is rare...perhaps the copper in the glaze interacted with the wax...very interesting.  I've seen other glazes have this reaction on bare clay (well, waxed clay) next to glazes.

Do you ever have that happen?

And on a personal note, I've been drinking decaf for a while.  But lately I just want to go back to sleep for a while in the morning.  Very weird, a 30 min. nap after breakfast.  But I wake up again refreshed just fine.

Some pendants

These are my test tiles...but I'll offer them to the jewelry makers of the world if they wish ceramic goodies to work with.

I do enjoy seeing how different glazes break over impressed designs.   But I'm not able to enjoy threading, beading, tying knots, bending wires etc.  I have my limits.  Ha!

big bowls

Here are some fruit bowls...lovely deep colors.  I think I'll post them on my Etsy shop.

Large fruit bowl white with blue & raspberry glazed stoneware

Large fruit bowl white inside with blue & raspberry glazed stoneware, 12" diameter

Medium-large fruit bowl white with blue & raspberry glazed stoneware, 11" diameter

I love the deep blue/purples that happen with raspberry glaze over the floating blue glaze.  I can forgive the swooping lips that aren't perfect, because they look so lovely and really will be great for holding fruit.  I think I'll sell each of them for $35.  Of course shipping outside Asheville will add to the price.

New clay instructor at BMCA

My friend Cathy Babula just joined the staff at Black Mountain Center for the Arts...as a clay instructor.

Cathy Babula has lived in Black Mountain for over 30 years. Her love of pottery began in
high school where she focused primarily on hand built work. Bypassing her secret dream of
becoming a potter, she pursued a degree in horticulture from SUNY instead. Eventually she
left both pottery and horticulture behind, securing a career as a corporate trainer. In 2008
Ms. Babula felt the creative urge again, and took pottery classes at the BMCA Clay Studio
concentrating on wheel throwing. Spending time with gifted instructors and the welcoming
community at the Center rekindled her dream of being a professional potter. She enrolled in
the Professional Crafts - Clay program at Haywood Community College in 2010, graduating
with an Associate’s Degree in May of 2012. Since plants and nature motifs are prevalent in
her decorating, Babula has come full circle by merging her original interests of pottery and
horticulture, and her creative talents with her love of teaching.

Look at Cathy's more extensive bio on the BMCA blogsite, Summer News here

New classes start next week at the BMCA clay studio...sign up if you want a cool way to "chill out and be creative" this summer!  We are a great community!  Come by and see what's happening!  See the schedule for open studio times when the public is welcome to come and visit.

BMCA Clay Studio is located in a separate building behind and down the hill from the main Black Mountain Center for the Arts on State Street...very convenient to a shady parking lot and a hilly garden.

Really really old works

Going to go search in "my pictures" for something to plop into my blog.
You need some pottery to look at, I'm a thinkin'...

This piece, the only bust I've ever done, was completed in my first year of return to college.  My son was about this age at the time.  Unfortunately, there's this big crack in the clay on the forehead, which was obvious.  But I kept it around for a while, since the emotional attachment was pretty high.  Now it's gracing some landfill somewhere.  I am sorry I didn't take a hammer to it, always wondering about the permanence of my work that is less than the intended almost-perfection.  Like how archeologists will think of our culture with so many bad pots out there!

Fast forward till when I was about to graduate in ceramics, and I had developed a cone 6 clay body, and was enjoying making stains in it.  So this is one of the few vases I kept, since I was still really enjoying doing sculptures.  Guess which is more likely to be kept and moved from house to house however, down through time?

OK, this sculpture has been around longer than any of my kids.  And I actually am still good friends with the girl (woman now) with her back to me.  This earthenware was made around 7th grade (I won't tell you the year I was in 7th grade!).  It has tempera paint and a clear varnish on it.  I left this piece with my parents when I left home, and they used it for....

a doorstop

 for the next 30 years or so.  I finally rescued it.  By that time I'd sent many pieces that I thought were much prettier to them.  When I visited however, I was unhappily surprised that there weren't any in evidence, except the doorstop.

Though this plate was made (and dated) in 1981, I eat off of it almsot daily.  It's porcelain, and the blue blobs were pieces of lace infused with cobalt,  and I have no idea what the glaze was.  It's one of a kind, and feels really good to handle.

Do you have favorite pieces that you live with also?

Edward_Hopper House_At_Dusk

My inner poet was inspired by Hopper, as stimulated by
The Mag Number 119. (link to the right somewhere in my list)
 Thanks for the opportunity to foray into another medium!

Hopper_Edward_House_At_Dusk

House at Dusk

The sounds within shared space of
close humanity
which we ignore
sitting next to each other
across a hot neighborhood.

In the long-houses
by the cook fires
as night approaches
everyone knows

what each other says
to the other
either in anger
or love
or laughter.

Domestic closeness
windows open
from the heat
replicate what our ancestors

pretended not to know
through infinite space
of Japanese paper walls

Or sheets hung for privacy
between beds,
the noises still
came through clearly.

Civilized we have pretense
that even the bodily
functions
are respected.

Clangs of dishes being washed
water flushes,
or grunts
no true quiet shared.

Whispers and murmurs
cries of babies
sweaty movings.

Wafting smells of differences
while sounds weave together
and for a moment

a breeze
a sigh
a sweetness
all shared.

Happy Birthday dear son, Marty

St. Petersburg 2010

Tampa 2011

1979 Houston trip

I hope you enjoy your holiday birthday this year...and every year!

where have all the blogs gone?

Design changes are part of my fun, on my blog.  I used to move the furniture every month or so...my nesting instinct apparently.  Now I change the blog design.

. ..last night I lost all the blogs I follow.  The entire list was gone in an instant.   WHAH!  That was definitely unfair.   Then I found part of it.  So half of the blogs I enjoy daily, blip blap bloop!  Who knows why some of them are gone, and some of them are there.  About half disappeared.

I'm still looking all over the place for the links.  I'm so sad that I'm missing some of the friendly posts that I liked to browse through every day or so.

Towel Day, May 25, in honor of Douglas Adams

If you're among the folks who are no longer on my blog list over on the right, can you comment so I can find your url again?  Thanks.  I'm really missing a few that were really great.  Any other potters?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=5_v7QrIW0zY

If you haven't seen this delightful video, do enjoy!  (It was even shown on national news last night)  After you get teary-eyed watching this, or giggle with it...I'm on my third time today,

Thanks for letting me know that you're reading this...I enjoy hearing from you all!

Artist of the Week Jerry Pope

Jerry Pope is a friend, and an extraordinary artist.

Copyrighted Jerry Pope

Pope was one of the writers and directors of the popular “Way Back When” series of plays that ran at the Black Mountain Center for the Arts for five years. During that time, he and his wife, Rebecca Williams, did extensive oral history interviews throughout the Valley.

 Building on those interviews, he later co-wrote and illustrated “A Step Back in Time: A Walking Tour of Black Mountain” with the talented graphic designer, Nancy Mason.

 Pope has also created “The Early Appalachian Coloring Book,” an historically accurate glimpse of our region from 20 million BC to just before the Civil War. This book will be published this Fall.

“People are drawn to the beauty of the mountains, but also have a need to know how this town got to be the way it is,” Pope said. “But more than history, people love stories. Stories are the meat on the bones of history.”

PRESS RELEASE:

JERRY POPE BACK WITH “STEP BACK IN TIME” HISTORY WALKING TOURS

Jerry Pope, local historian, writer and artist, will be leading walking tours through Black Mountain’s historical district every Saturday this summer from the Monte Vista Hotel. The tours will start at 7 PM and last about an hour. Advanced tickets will be sold at the Monte Vista and at Town Hardware.

The “Step Back in Time” History Walking Tour will be offered every Saturday between Memorial Day and Labor Day at 7 pm. The cost is twelve dollars per person, with group rates and private tours available. You can pick up tickets at the Monte Vista or Town Hardware. For more information call Jerry Pope at Hare Brand Ideas, 918 960-0290.

The walking tour will include both historical facts and some of the more interesting and funny stories Pope and Williams gathered for “Way Back When.” 

There is a lot more about Jerry that I'm not able to cover in this little posting.  Check out his new FaceBook page, or his older works...and just wait till his next creativitiy comes along!

Jerry Pope's Face Book Page