post festival post

well the summer has somehow zoomed away, between moving, settling, teaching, summer fun, studio work, and folkwest! and bless this weather, but it is hot! the garden groans exponentially overnight!

I have added a few galleries over the past few months - Blue Moon Pottery, St John's Newfoundland; the Upstart Crow, in Ladner BC; and the Salish Sea Gallery in Cowichan Bay

the second annual folkwest music festival has come and gone. being on the board and in charge the family area kept me plenty busy for weeks (months) before. but it was great and i had a great crew of volunteers again this year - lucky me! so what follows here is not pictures of pots, but of the very fabulous cardboard fort zone in the kids area. there is something about cardboard boxes, big and little, that are magic. it was a hit! so here are a few photos from the first morning of the festival. believe me, it looked quite different on sunday afternoon - after a sunday morning revamp/renonvation/repair, and all the incredible painting that kids did over the weekend....

from a different perspective

My daughter has been very interested in taking photos lately, and when our backs are turned, is a prolific image maker!
it gives one something to ponder when reviewing the pictures of a 4 year old. all those close-ups of things in the garden you'd never notice...and a lot of bum shots of mom while weeding....
during the studio tour, she wandered around with the camera for awhile, and here is some of what she came up with:

And most importantly some photos or her own work, in progress, drying on the studio shelves...

post-studio tour

another studio tour come and gone...it was the best weather we've ever had. just stunning, really. the Saanich News ran a decent article about me and the studio to help promote the tour. got quite a number of people who came out because they saw the article! and the photo was good! nice bunch of people came out.

did a little knitting in the rocking chair in between, pulled a few handles on mugs, painted rocks with my daughter...ate a few too many cookies (way,t can you have too many cookies?)

brought home the cup below with the acorn on it (one of Mariko's).

Studio Tour

This weekend is our annual Saanich West Studio Tour, and the sun is shining...so far!
I will be joined at my studio by the lovely Paige Coull of Blackbird Studios and the vivacious Mariko McRae of Feedlot Studios.

 There will be cookies.

 There will be fabulous pots.

 There will be a scenic country drive.

 You can find a map & PDF of the brochure at gobc, or pick one up when you drop by.

 Come and join us!

on the way to make it

unloaded and loaded the final pots for the Make It Vancouver show this morning...will be heading over on the ferry friday morning with the whole family in tow. Come on down, it sounds like it's going to be fun. Unfortunately i will be missing out on earth day celebrations. but N & A are going to check out the parade down commercial drive.
i've made some new cake plates, inspired from one i saw in seattle during nceca. i've also got a few new stencils - raven flying, raven looking back, primroses, and some new moths. looking forward to summer assistants cutting stencils for me this summer!


"eat delight" cake plate, side view









view from the top









hummingbird cake plate









view from the top

NCECA

well, like thousands of other folks who work with clay, i've just returned from NCECA - a yearly ceramics conference in the USA, which was in Seattle this year! so nice and close....and my first time away from my daughter, so a big deal for lots of reasons.
also got to hang out with old potter friends Isabella St. John of Blue Moon Pottery, and Linda & David of Kings Point Pottery, and get to know Alexis Templeton. All live in Newfoundland and so it it a rare occasion to get to visit, and eat, and drink together.
my feet are work out, and my mind stuffed with enough things to ponder for the next year, and a few studio tidbits i will put into practice (like attachment slip in a squeeze bottle...i do plenty of slip trailing, but never occurred to me to use a bottle for slip when attaching handles and various pieces! got some old ketchup bottles that ought to do the trick)
i also managed to knit a new hat for N while on the clipper ferry (there and back) - my first hat without a pattern. quite please with it.
so i took many many photos until i had seen so much i couldn't even take photos! here are some of my favourites excuse the very snapshot nature of these shots, i am in no way a professional photographer!):


Tip Toland











Sue Tirrell










Shoku Teruyama












Kathy King (front and back)




















Beth Cavner-Stitchter












Aymui Horie











Adrian Arleo












Adrian Arleo

MAKE IT

hey all
will be doing my first show in a verrrry long time in april - the Make it show in Vancouver, April 20-22
if you are in Vancouver, come on out & if not, pass the word along.
sounds like fun time & hoping to have some new work there!