where to find me online

it occurred to me i haven't used this space in a long long time!
i am can be found on instagram @faroanniesullivan .... so come and find me there from now on.
thanks!

what i have been working on

well the past couple of months i HAVEN'T BEEN MAKING MUGS! or any of my regular tableware for that matter.
and i haven't missed it. i really needed to try something new, and my upcoming show has given me the opportunity to make new work and show it.
the theme is "city" which has been really challenging for me as i don't consider myself a city person, even though we (reluctantly) moved to the city last year! so after living on the outskirts of town for many years, i have found myself in town and thinking about all the different aspects of city life and how to illustrate it, tell a story about it, make it into pots....

I ended up with (mostly) tall storage jars and vases and lots of drawing and lots of liquid latex and lots of hours put into single pieces...quite a step away from the studio production mode i am usually in!

here are a couple of before and after shots of some pieces:

i had in mind factories and smokestacks. it's meant to be a tulipiere, so image a tulip in each smokestack....

crows, crows, crows and nowhere to park....

and a little "chihuahua in a rainjacket" bud vase for good measure. very westcoast city chic.

if you want to see more (think graffiti, tent cities, and bc place circa 1984 casserole dish...) come on down to the show! I am sharing the show and space with a talented Vancouver potter, Nevena Tadic

Cityscape runs June 1-June 25
opening reception 5-7, June 1 (I will be there!)
at Gallery of BC Ceramics
1359 Cartwright Street
Granville Island
Vancouver, BC, Canada

Coming UP: seasonal show....

Come on down!

and how the photos turned out...

here's a few photos from the photos session shown in the last post, i think they turned out very well! A big shout out to my dad who is the photographer in the family....

more fun with photos

so i am working on photos for entries into a couple of upcoming shows...deadline the end of the month! (naturally!)

have a different, kind of funky, homemade set-up for taking photos of larger items, with graduated background etc. basically it is PVC pipe, and some frosted corplast (to deflect the light), black cloth (to darken the back) and grey photo paper....

here are a couple of photos of the setup, resulting photos to follow....

photos: trying to be techno

Well, I don't do a very good job of keeping up with technology and social media...I am not on facebook (it's been on my to do list for years) or instagram (to do list)...but I do have this blog and an etsy page, which I am trying to update/overhaul and stay current with. I do respond to emails in a timely fashion, and even text (still new and a big deal)! why I remember sending my first emails in university....
in any case i have been taking photos, which in my mind sometimes seems an arduous task, but isn't so bad when i get down to it. especially when it means time outside on the glorious sunny (hot!) weather we have been blessed with!
here's a shot of my little pop-put set-up and a photo soon to be posted on etsy...

getting down to it

okay, so it's not really winter anymore...spring around the corner, daffodils in full bloom, blossoms snowing down in the wind, the peas and broad beans peeking up...
so its time wake up from my mentlal hibernation and get down to it, making of a more productive sort, or a more regular routine. this week was mugs, egg cups, juice cups, tumblers, and platters!
here's shots from the afternoon...

BEFORE (platters off the hump molds, with rims finished):

DURING (stencils chosen and placed around, not yet attached):

AFTER (slip poured over stencils, then slip trailing, sgraffito, text, etc...and stencils pulled off)

hoping to load the platters and everything else in the kiln tomorrow!

slow and steady

it's been a slow start to the new year, and feels like it has entailed more cleaning, purging, sorting, and dump runs than making...just as well - it does take the studio a long time to heat up this time of year.
but i have managed to find a bit of play time, while also making, yes, mugs...am trying to stick to a goal of spending on week a month (for the next few months) making new things, or playing, making new images, etc...

here's from some time spent in january:

wintery wares

here's a few things just out of the kiln with a wintery theme...tiny sneak peek at what will be at the Owl this weekend...

here's the mug from previous process post, finished:

another moose mug: white slip trailing on white slip...even though there's no snow here, well there is thick frost some mornings....

a wee white slip platter: who doesn't love bicycling in the winter?! and red berries, green leaves...seasonal hints:

caribou platter: hawthorny leaves, more red berries...

not to worry not everything is ungulates and bicycles (well okay i made LOTS of bicycles of various styles)...bears, herons, salmon, crows, foxes, hummingbirds, rubber boots, umbrellas, trees, etc...
and some new new things with my new new bike cranks and cogs stencils!

The OWL

well I am doing one fair this winter season - the Owl Fair in Fernwood!
come on down and check all the fine handmade goods...

process process process

have been spending A LOT of time in the studio lately, at all hours of the day...trying to keep on top of the seasonal inventory and ready for upcoming show...
here's a few process shots:

small dippers, from stencil, to slip, to leatherhard with the stencil off...

beginning a moose mug, stencil on clay

white slip over top and green slip trailing

more slip trailing

leatherhard and stencil off... will try to remember to photo the finished glazed mug....

a great showing

Well this years Etsy Made in Canada had a fabulous showing of support. So glad to see a September event so well attended and so many great makers out with their wares. Saw some long lost and far flung friends as well!
here's a couple of photos i took standing up on the chair behind my booth. it was so crowded i couldn't actually get out of my booth to take photos from other perspectives...

Handmade here we come

This Saturday is the annual ETSY Made in Canada Day.
Here in Victoria it's shaping up to be quite an event, rumours are there will be close to 100 makers there!
I will be there, so come on down if you are in town, to Market Square....

Notes from Red Deer, and onto the Filberg Festival!

I have just returned from Red Deer, Alberta, and a fun week teaching at the Red Deer College Series Summer Art School! Had a fabulous group of people ready to play with slip all week. Lots of laughing and lots of learning. Also enjoyed hanging out with the other instructors from various parts of North America. There was quite a BC contingent there this week! If you are in Alberta, or a reasonable travel distance, this is a great place to go to try anything from traditional drawing/painting, to hot glass, metal, printmaking, etc... the studios are truly great spaces to be.
here are a few shots from the week:

...a student working on a gorgeous monoprint - her first one! going whole hog right out of the gate.

...a golf plate with some slip trailing and dotting.

...birds eye view of part of the table at the back of the room that was filled with finished pieces (bon dry and leatherhard)

...an assortment of student pieces showing various techniques.

...another assortment.

....some tumblers and vase that i made as examples. one of the exercises i gave was to work on a series with some kind of visual narrative or continuity. these were inspired by the jackrabbits hopping about red deer campus!

...jackrabbit!

...fun sculpture in the hallways outside the ceramics studio.

...a shot of the yellow fields out the window as we drove back to Calgary airport.



...and coming right up is the Filberg Festival, where you can find me at the Dirty Girl Clayworks booth all weekend - July 31-Aug 3. Come by, say hi, and check out some of the latest things from the kiln!

Upcoming show!

come and say hello and check out my newest work!

spring handles

it had thought to pass over the whole "look at all the blossoms we have here" spring thing that happens here on the west coast…knowing friends and relations east of here are thigh deep in snow…
but, well, one blossom shot can't hurt. here's my little studio gallery with the plum tree in bloom (last week!)

and i have been contemplating handles and how one holds things and how many fingers and balance of mugs and such things for the past few months…finally sprung into action to play with a couple of handles:

handle # 1, i call the medium handle. can still get you whole hand in there, but doesn't take up quite so much of the mug:

handle # 2, i call the two finger handle, as you can get a couple of fingers in there:

the mug on the far left (navy blue) is the current handle for my regular mugs. it fits the whole hand with room to spare. large handed people like it… but i find it takes up a lot of mug and have never been completely happy with it's profile…

i am leaning towards handle #1. i like being able to still get all fingers in there and i like its profile and balance… while my current handle is pulled off the side of the mug, this new handle is pulled separately and attached leather hard.

well maybe i will make mugs with both the current and the new handles!