Enrolled in a ceramics e-course!

For the past year I have been following the work of a California artist, Diana Fayt. A potter friend, Ginny, got me started when she gave me an old Ceramics Monthly (June/July/August 2009) which featured Diana's work on the cover and an inside feature. She thought that I'd relate to her work and she was so right and I have often wondered about some of Diana's ceramic surface techniques.

Then potter Kristen Kieffer posted a link on Facebook to Diana's e-course offering on ceramic surfaces. It was just the professional development I was looking for—hands-on projects, work from home (no traveling), on my own schedule, instruction and feedback from someone whose work I admire. The course lasts 6 weeks and starts at the end of February. I'm not sure exactly how it all will work but it appears Diana has it pretty well organized. I'm already enrolled, have seen the suggested supply list (which I already have most items), joined the private Facebook group to interact with the class, joined the private Flickr group to share images of group's work. I'm psyched!

If others reading this are interested, please check out Diana Fayt's site: http://theclayer.typepad.com/

A good start in the new year

New pieces featuring my latest faux bois pattern.

It's mid-January and I am still making a lot of pots! The museum store requested 10 or more new pots so that was good news since the holiday buying season is now behind us. Several decent checks have come in from November and December sales and I am pleased. It is certainly an incentive to keep at it.

Membership in the Toledo Potters Guild is juried in January and this year I finally decided to apply since they had had a hold on new members for the past year or so. Fortunately I was one of the three that were chosen this week. I was juried in as an active member which means I can participate in all guild activities and sales. The Toledo Potters Guild offers workshops and studio facilities including gas, electric and
raku kilns, wheels, extruders, slab roller and glaze chemicals to members. This should come in handy for the occasional project. That and the camaraderie with other potters was the impetus for joining now.

This weekend I drop off my three cups that were juried into the Cups of Fire: National Cup Competition at the Clay Gallery in Ann Arbor. I look forward to see the other submissions however the show does not open until next month.

I just emptied my first high-fire kiln of 2012. I just love having a home pottery studio!

Got a website!

First, it was to learn how to make pottery. Thank you instructors! Then, my obsessive nature took over—build a studio, make pots, then get them in shows and galleries. It was a busy autumn and things have gone very well. My next step as a professional was to self-promote. First a page on Facebook, then this ceramics blog and finally a website to showcase what I do to the general public. So after hours sitting at my computer this weekend, I finally got a domain, built a site and got it up online. It is only a three-page site
but for now it includes everything I wanted. I even ordered new
 business cards.

Check it out: cheryltakata.com

Art makes a wonderful gift

There are lots of opportunities to holiday shop locally and to support your favorite area artists this month. I know it will be hard for me 

to resist buying something for myself while I'm out and about 

this weekend.

This year I am very happy to say that I have met my goal of having my pottery represented in area galleries—Hudson Gallery in Sylvania, Angelwood Gallery in Grand Rapids, Ohio, and most recently the Toledo Museum of Art Store Collector's Corner. I have worked frantically to create enough inventory to spread around since the completion of my pottery studio this past fall.

It has been an intense learning experience to work on my own—from stocking the studio to working with new clays, glazes and equipment. Owning my own kiln was something I am so happy to to have and use. Up until now, everything I made was fired in kilns by and with other potters. As a result, there were occasional issues with firings that arose which were out of my control. Now if there is a problem such as glaze issues, I can more easily isolate and address it. I am so thankful to Julie Beutler for getting me started on this pottery journey and for helping
to program my kiln, to Christopher Jones for building a wonderful
studio building, and to my husband Tim for his support with this
whole project.