What once was lost...

I have been pretty good about sticking with my 15 minutes of organizing each day I'm in the studio. I'm starting to get past the surface clutter and move deeper into the abyss. It's amazing what I unlodged from hiding places in only about 20 minutes of studio purging and organizing this afternoon. The highlights:
• A whole batch of berry bowls thrown, wrapped in plastic, and then lost in the back of my wet rack. These must have been abandoned last summer in the third trimester of my pregnancy. Totally dried out...so sad!
• My little metal decorating turntable which I have been looking for since I got back in the studio this year!
• A plastic tub filled with cut out hearts carefully wrapped in between layers of fabric and plastic. These were an abandoned valentine's day project from TWO years ago. Also totally dried out.
• A stash of sketches, including these super cute oval plate designs that I never made. These were a treat to discover. I don't even remember when I drew these, but I think now that I've found them again they will soon find their way onto the next batch of plates! I love the one on the far right with the ruffly leaf and crisscross flower/pod design.

Spring Studio Clean Out Super SALE!

I am cleaning house, or rather, studio! It's time for all those imperfect but-still-lovely seconds, older pieces and mismatched pots to find new homes. I need to clean off my shelves to make room for new work and new ideas. I usually only do this once a year, if that, so make sure to visit my etsy shop and get them at sweet prices while they last. Whatever is left will be available in my studio on the First Thursday in April (April 7 from 5-9 pm, Northrup King Building, studio #394). My studio mates will be clearing work out too! Part of the impetus for this purging is a renewed commitment to getting things in order. I'm taking Alyson Stanfield's online Get Organized class this month and hope to make some headway taming my habit of piles of paper everywhere and email overwhelm. With the chaos my two little guys create in my life I need to do anything I can to keep things simplified and organized. I've already listed some sale items in the shop, and will keep posting throughout the month.

Web Design Department? Oh yeah, that's me!

Minnesota Monthly • December 2008

Since I'm stuck at home with a sick baby (poor Winnie) I've been trying to get some website updates done! I scanned and uploaded my press clippings which have been sitting on my desk forever. I can't believe how long it took. Every time I do something like this I wish I could afford a web guru to do this stuff for me. If you haven't checked out my website recently, I've moved it over to a new host, big black bag, and completely redesigned it. It will give me the capacity to easily add some new services (like custom online gift registries for weddings, etc.).

Minnesota Monthly • December 2009

And they're out of the kiln!

Here are the first round of fired and glazes dishes from the molds I made in the workshop I took last month with Hiroe Hanazono. They have some imperfections and a few glaze problems because I was rushing them through to see how they would work out, but I am pretty happy with them. They're adorable and I am learning so much from trying the process out. The ideas are simmering of where I could take this and I'm already seeing some larger flower shaped serving dishes in my future! Now, just to find the time. These are not in the etsy shop yet, as they're only prototypes, but I did just list some cute new lunch plates here. As my 4 year old pointed out, they're just the right size for your peanut butter sandwich. He's now requesting some with "boy" designs: trains, dinosaurs, robots...It would be a different subject matter for me, but they sure would be darn cute. What would you like to see on your lunch plate?

First Casts!

I finally got a chance to try out the slip casting molds I made in the Hiroe Hanazono workshop I took earlier in the month. I haven't done a lot of slip casting, so the whole process always feels a little intimidating to me. Here are the molds full of slip, waiting to set up so I can pour it out.

Here are the first casts out of the molds! I definitely have some work to do on fine tuning my molds and forms, but I'm excited about the potential. It seems like it could be a great way to add some new more complex forms to my body of work. Now just to find the time...

P.S. Happy Birthday to me!!!!

Where, oh where, have I been?

I can't believe how time has slipped by with a new baby around. I feel like I blinked and five months have gone by in a second. It's hard to get back to posting once you're out of the habit, plus a moment to myself to think feels rare these days. Baby Win (Edwin) was born on September 9, 2010. He's been a great baby, pretty mellow and generally happy. Eli turned 4 at the end of December and he's a really attentive big brother. Win thinks he's about the best thing around! Trying to manage everything both at home and the studio is definitely a LOT harder with two kids, but I'm trying to figure out the right balance.

I'm just really getting back to the studio in earnest. The boys will have childcare for a few afternoons a week and I'm really excited to get back to work. First thing is to start restocking after being out of the studio for the past 5 months (plus the last months of my pregnancy when I couldn't throw). Plus, I have a bunch of new ideas simmering.

While I haven't been back in the studio too much yet, I treated myself to a workshop in Chicago at Lillstreet Art Center earlier this month. It was two full days (my first weekend away from the baby) with Hiroe Hanazono, From Template to Mold. Her slip cast forms are amazing! I am currently coveting one of her multiple compartment serving trays. We learned her techniques for constructing forms for slipcasting and how to make multiple part molds. This is something I've always felt intimidated by so it was really great to see Hiroe's tips. I can't wait to make some test pieces in my class molds and to design some more pieces to try this technique on. I can't believe I carried two heavy plaster molds halfway across Chicago on foot, bus and train, and then home on the plane...and they both made it home safely.

I also drove down to Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, MN on Tuesday to give a demo and lecture to the beginning ceramics class. I graduated from Gustavus as a studio art major (I won't tell you what year!) and it was where I took my first ceramics class and fell in love with clay. It was fun to go back, see what had changed and share some of my techniques with the students.

Now, to get my hands back in the clay!

A New Addition, Coming Soon!

I'm trying to wrap up all the loose ends both at home and in the studio in preparation for the arrival of my second child in early September. I can't believe the summer flew by without any new blog posts. I guess I found out it was much harder to make pots, do art fairs and basically hold everything together while pregnant and with a 3 year old at home. Somehow I did it, but a lot of stuff fell through the cracks. I'll be out of the studio for the next few months on maternity leave. In the interim, my studio in the Northrup King Building will be open for building events (First Thursdays and Art Attack) thanks to my great studiomates and you can find my work there! I will try to stop by as I can, hopefully showing off my new little man. I will also have new tile work at the Minnesota Tile Festival in Minneapolis on September 18 (thanks to my amazing studio assistant)! My etsy shop will be closed temporarily, but I plan to start posting again in a few months in time for holiday shopping, and I hope to be back in the studio making new work by the end of the year. I will not be taking any new custom orders until January 2011. Feel free to contact me, but know that I may be slow getting back to you as we adjust to our new addition.