Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Ceramic Showcase is over and Mom has arrived. A small group of us set up the show for Friday...Stephen Mickey and the Soulbuds at MHCC Visual Arts Gallery. It looks great. Lots of amazing work and I'm so honored to be in the same room with all this talent. I think I'm still a bit tired from the Showcase weekend. During Ceramic Showcase I sucked it up and got some professional shots of some of my work. Above is one of the pieces. It was from my last firing at Soulgama in Brush Prairie, WA. I got some nice ash drips and crystals. Hope you can make it to the show.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Just a week away


We are getting down to the wire and there are hundreds of potters in Oregon and Southwest WA that are scrambling around getting all their pots, garden art, sculptures ready for the largest ALL ceramic show in the US. Next Wednesday we will descend on the Oregon Convention Center and start setting up the show. It's organized chaos and Friday morning we open the doors to the public and hope they like what we do. Here's our add in the Willamette Week.

On that note...I'm going to take my dog Duke for a walk up our hill, breath deep and stretch. Then I'll come home and do what I've been doing for what seems like months...get ready for Ceramic Showcase.

Namaste,

Friday, April 10, 2009

Ceramic Showcase hitting the Roads










Well Look at That!!! Ceramic Showcase is hitting the roads to get the word out about the largest all ceramic show in the United States. Thank you Trimet. Which by the way is a great way to get to the show. The MAX stops right in front of the Oregon Convention Center.

Opened my Chicken Pot Pie kiln last night and once again got some nice results. We got come 12 down all over at 03:30 so we just went another hour and shut down at 16 hours. This was shorter then the other firings and we wanted to see the difference. I think it was just fine, not much a difference and got a whole bunch of salting effects, orange peel, and we didn't put any salt in the kiln. Strange, but they looked good so who cares.

Now, I'll head to Vancouver, WA and open the Soulgama kiln with the SoulBuds and see what pretty things we made there...so excited. Ted Ernst, Sandy Segna and Robin Hominiuk all fired last weekend at other kilns besides Soulgama too. We are all just bursting with ceramic energy.

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Soulgama and a Happy Birthday





Another fantastic firing at Soulgama. Stephen Mickey always gathers a fantastic group of potters and this firing was no exception. The crew is an amazing community or maybe more of a family. We work together to load the kiln and fire it, but we laugh together, eat, drink, and maybe even share a few tears. One crew member described a feeling of Loving Kindness. Yes, it sure was that. Of course attention is placed on our work and the kiln, but there is so much more going on and I'm honored to be a part of it all.

My dear friend Sarah arranged cake and festivities for Sat. night since it was my 38th birthday. Maybe the best birthday ever. They sang me birthday wishes and Sarah made a marvelous chocolate cake. So much love and fun. I can't tell you how much I was touched and grateful to be surrounded by such a grand group of people. Thank you all soooooo much. In two weeks we will meet again and open the kiln and see what magic we created. Can't wait.

Pictured: Stephen Mickey, Jack Walsh, Ron Linn, Natalie Warrens. Brenda Scott feeding the fire. A sea of pots during loading, and a nice shot of Stephen Mickey laughing.