2018-03-07 - Wednesday - Mint, yard, Empty Bowls

When I walked out on Wednesday I was struck by how nice the heuchera looked. It seems to be liking its home.

Wednesday night I went to hear Denny Gerwin speak at The Mint Museum. He covered his education and career so far by reading short stories he wrote about the people and events in his life and how they related to his work. It was nice.

To find out more about Denny Gerwin go here, here, here, or here.


Later I went to Clayworks to glaze more Empty Bowls.

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2017-11-21 - Tuesday - Mint Museum

Tuesday I enjoyed a presentation by Brian Gallagher at the Mint Museum on their collection of British Ceramics. It was very informative because Brian really does have an encyclopedic knowledge of the subject.

In the afternoon, when I got the mail, I found the annual booklet from the Second Harvest Food Bank. I was surprised and honored to see my photo in the Empty Bowls section.

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2016-02-22 - Monday - Delhom Collection and studio artist meeting

Monday I ran over (late) to the Mint Museum at 1:00 pm for the second part of the tour of the Delhom Collection with Brian Gallagher. It was another amazing tour through the history of British ceramics.

Monday evening I went (late) to the studio artist meeting for the upcoming Spring Sale & Open House on April 1st and 2nd at Clayworks. We had a good turnout and decided a lot of things about the sale and the preparations.

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2016-01-11 - Monday - Delhom Collection and David Bowie

Monday I went to the Mint Museum at lunch with quite a few of the Delhom members to see the Delhom Collection. Brian Gallagher gave a great tour with lots of background information on many of the pieces. It was pretty amazing.

On Sunday night I found out that David Bowie had died. Apparently he had been quietly battling cancer for eighteen months. He lived his life as an artist and died the same way --his way, with dignity and grace.

With everything that's been written about him the last few days there is nothing I can add here that needs to be said.

I was moved by his passing and I pulled out a pencil sketch I drew in 1977 of his portrait from the Changesonebowie album and posted it on Facebook as my small tribute to the man who was a major part of my life's soundtrack.

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2015-09-14 - Monday - Pots and trees (on pots)

Saturday I was invited to throw some demo pots at the 11th Annual Potters Market International at the Mint Museum. I spent the day there but have no photos since I was totally immersed in the experience and not the documenting of it. Sorry, but I was having way too much fun to think about photos. I want to thank Hat Thompson and the crew for inviting me to participate.

I threw three pots at the demo and took them back to Clayworks.

Monday night I threw another pot and decided to carve some designs into the snorkel pot from last week. I took my sgraffito tool and started sketching trees on the side of the pot. Soon it was "a whole landscape gone to seed*".

Things may not always work out, but I do have fun in the making.

Three on left were made at the Potters Market Invitational.
Two on the right were made at Clayworks.

Detail of sgraffito.

*Sharkey's Day

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2015-03-21 - Saturday - Yard, museum, and pots - oh my

Saturday I was all over the place.

I started out in the yard reveling in spring's progress. The daffodil show is over and we're moving into the heart of spring where everything else starts to emerge and the overpowering green of summer gets a foothold.

I used to joke with a friend years ago that during early summer in the Carolinas everything was such a vibrant green that there seemed to be a green haze hanging over the wooded areas. We would laugh, but we still marveled at it. I miss Jim. He's been gone a long time now, but I think of him most in the spring and summer.

I am glad to see the may apples
I transplanted last year are propagating.

The native orchids are looking a bit rough after the winter,
but they're still here.

I think this native plant is called spotted wintergreen,
and it always makes me think of peppermint candies.

The lenten roses I transplanted from a neighbor's yard last year
are happily blooming. Thanks Sheilah!

The hydrangea is peeking out.

The vinca minor in the front yard is filling in nicely.

I love the fiddle heads on ferns.
This one is a holly fern.

Here is another holly fern past the fiddle head stage.

A close-up of the vinca minor flowers.

In the afternoon I went to the Mint Museum to hear Rose B. Simpson speak about her art. I arrived at the last moment and found a small contingent from Clayworks to sit with. Rose was amazing. She is a skateboarder, punk rocker, poetry slammer, multimedia artist from the Santa Clara Pueblo Reservation in New Mexico. She told us about her life and strong connection with her heritage. She amazed us with her artwork and her vision. She even treated us to one of her poetry slam performances. It was fun just to be around that kind of energy for a while.

Lindsay, Cathy, and Jeff.

Rose B. Simpson.

After the talk at the Mint I went to Clayworks to do some more work on my pots from March 11. They waited patiently under plastic for me to return so I decided to alter them a bit. The left one is softly altered, the right one is done with my usual method of adding clay to make the facial features. The middle face was made only by removing clay, so it appears a bit flatter.

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2014-12-01 - Monday - Val Cushing, Leaves, and pots

On Monday I went to the Mint Museum for a talk and video presentation from Herb Cohen about his friend, the late Val Cushing. It was a moving and informative session made better by Herb's personal recollections about his friend and classmate.

In the late afternoon I went outside to clean up some of the leaves that we are blessed with every autumn. For some reason the blower did not have the usual power. When I removed the tube I found a large chunk of something hard blocking the air flow. I removed it and when I flipped it over I found the whole ring around the impeller filled with the same substance. Since this blower also works as a vacuum I realized that the debris was composed of ground up leaves and mud. I took quite a bit of work to break it up and remove it and I realized this would have made a great building material for a mud hut.

I am happy to report that since removing the dried mud the blower is back to full strength.

While I like the patterns the leaves made on our
new concrete, I am going to clean it and seal it
in the spring.

More leaf patterns.

On Monday night a slid into Clayworks to get some work done. I am trying to branch out into new forms and processes so I made these.

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2014-04-15 - Tuesday - Matt Jones & Glaze-a-thon

Tuesday I went to the Mint Museum with about 60 other people to hear a talk by Matt Jones about the state of the craft movement in North Carolina.  It was entertaining and informative.

Sorry about the quality of the photo.  I always forget how grainy my cell phone gets when I use the digital zoom in low light.

Afterwards I had nice lunch with Adrienne and Ju-Ian at Sabor, then back to work.

That evening I went to Clayworks to glaze a bunch of work.  Since I've missed two gas kiln firings I have a lot of work waiting for glaze, some of it from back in the Fall.

Matt Jones at the Mint Museum.

Glaze-a-thon!

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October 16 - Wednesday - EcoFab Fashion show

Wednesday night I went to the Mint Museum to see the EcoFab Fashion show.  My friends Elaine and Penny both designed dresses for the show.  Many people from Clayworks were in attendance and we had quite a cheering section.  The dresses were very well made and the models had fun displaying them.

Some of the Clayworks cheering section in the lobby.

Jose Fumero in one of his own creations.
That's Dorothy on the right.

Minke and Daniel.
Minke is wearing Elaine's dress.

Minke with Elaine, the designer.

"Make sure you get the ankle bracelet!"

The back.

Elaine discussing her work.

This skirt lit up.

This is Penny's dress.

Those are clay leaves on the back that
make a faint wind chime noise with movement.

Hey, there's Minke and Daniel again.

Kim and Rae discussing the whole affair.

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