Thursday, April 19, 2012

Busy April plus save the date!

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Angelwood Gallery 
celebrates spring with art for your garden and home!
Printemps 2012
Opening: Saturday, April 28, 7 to 9 p.m.

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I've been constantly busy since this seems to be the time of year "my" galleries are restocking their inventories—the museum store, Hudson and Angelwood galleries. I lost some studio time when I was in Rhode Island visiting family so in hindsight it 
was fortunate that my Florida girlfriends trip fell through due to flight cancellations.

I am debuting my wall plaques this month that I started working on this past winter. I like them and how often does that happen? I'm hoping others will too so I can keep making them. The plaques allow me to do the type of images that are similar to the linocut prints I had been making.

Angelwood has an "garden-theme" opening on Saturday, April 28. It is always the "in" place to be that evening with food, friends and a stocked gallery. All the artists' best works are usually sold that evening. On Mother's Day weekend the Toledo Potters Guild has a seconds and clearance sale that coincides with the Toledo Botanical Garden plant sale. I'm just faced with the dilemma of selling what I consider to be seconds and clearance versus not selling and just discarding those pots so no one ever sees them. I'll have to decide soon but I did volunteer to work a few time slots during the sale.

Working in the my own studio is really the best—I can keep check on the kiln firings and pots drying, work at any hour and when something should go wrong, I am the only one to blame. However it has been fun working at the guild with Scott, Stan and all the ladies (too many to name) that I've gotten to know. It's really nice to eat out with, bounce ideas and learn from the other potters. At the guild, I am using stoneware, oftentimes brown, so it keeps it out of my home studio so there's no cross-contaminating. I am experimenting with different surface techniques, using their extruder and learning to make my own glazes in their chemicals lab. Up until recently, I have only been using the costly prepared glazes. My goal is to develop a few reliable glazes that can become my "signature" colors. It will save me a lot of money and I'll be able to depend on them.

In addition to being productive in the studio, these past months I took the online course on surface techniques with Diana Fayt. Although I did not keep up with the suggested projects, I did pick up a few worthwhile tips and some techniques that I had not tried before such as mono-printing on clay. It really was a great way to have a workshop without traveling and times when I wanted. Questions were answered, feedback on posted student work was given and there was chat group on Facebook. Diana also seems to be someone whose company I would enjoy. I'd do another if offered.

I really need to get out and start working in the garden however I've been told I have an OCD and it's clay-making!


Don't Ask Us, No. 2. Remember my no. 1, a linocut print?