Winter agenda at the studio:

Where are the pots going? Here is one aspect that I am addressing right now. The ideas behind the work continue and as those of you that have known me I have been in pursuit of sculptural flower vases based in part on my observations of the Midwest landscape. I have lived in Wisconsin, Minnesota and now Iowa each producing a very different yet similar atmosphere. The image shown here is the start of what I am currently working on. These are broken down images……sketches I have done of the outbuildings found clustered about the Iowa landscape. Each piece is a positive for a press mould. This will allow for a type of simple plaster mould to be made so that I can handbuild individual pieces resulting in a type of sculptural approach to the flower vase. I will add more images and thoughts as the work progresses.

Winona Arts Center Holiday Sale

We will be at the Winona Arts Center! Come see us and get your holiday shopping started!
Saturday, December 3, 9am-5pm

The Annual Holiday Sale

On Saturday, December 3, the Winona Arts Center will hold its 18th Annual Artists Holiday Sale. Member artists display original fine arts and crafts for the local community in a juried holiday sale. This family event includes a coffeehouse, music and storytelling.

Just for the kids, sign em up now! Ceramic workshop in time for the Holidays…

Winona Faculty Exhibit

I will be showing pots for this exhibit, come enjoy the Winona State Faculty Exhibit
Paul Watkins Gallery, Winona State University
Nov. 9 – Dec. 2
Reception and Gallery Talk 4:00 pm Wednesday, Nov. 9

Summertime teaching and camping

First evening in camp…..Just in from the grocery store, 109.00 dollars worth of supplies…Lets think a moment, the day has been full and as I unpack the truck I am curious what I bought, like a child looking to see if there is any special treat for them…Okay the grocery list, plus or minus of course…Nicely aged cheddar (which I am currently having with a nice bottle of cabernet merlot) continuing on, green onions, green pepper, yellow onion, potatoes, mushrooms, the usual right, kimchi, eggs and bacon, wild rice, sushi rice, olive oil, a very nice baguette, steak sirloin strip (should be nice over the open fire with a little hickory wood), flour and baking powder, (I have to work on my Dutch oven biscuits, they were too salty last time). There are the other things, milk (which I love) juice and the half dozen miscellaneous items….Those are my camping ingredients.
So the camp site is a mess, trees down from a recent storm which will provide wood for the fire yet a bit of work for me tomorrow that is if I want to get around the site with the old Toyota. First thing in the morning however, bicycle riding! I brought my Cannondale mountain bike even though I have a lot on my palette with teaching a summer session ceramic class and wanting to keep working on the camp site, make some pots and get some much needed reading done. I am thinking I might even ride before coffee time, well that may be pushing it….

Life around the studio # 1

Life around the studio

I believe I will start a blog section of studio activities as “Life around the studio” I see this as a blog associated with the daily activities of life around the studio, the people, the friends, the building of and the idiosyncratic ways of keeping an artistic mind at peace.  I see this as a means to establish a base for the outside thoughts of a space and its workings, the actual art is something separate or at least the serious thought on the art being made in the space does not directly relate to these writings although they may at times. This is merely an internet connect with the life of an artist.

Faculty Exhibit

The Paul Watkins Gallery at Winona State University kicks off the 2010-2011 Gallery season with a Faculty Exhibit featuring work from members of the WSU Art Department faculty. A gallery reception will be held 3-5 p.m. Friday, Sept. 10, in the Watkins lobby with an Artist’s Talk at 3:30 p.m. Hope to see you there!

Change is good

There are certain simple norms that people have, dinner at 5, coffee in the morning and so forth. One of my norms that I truly enjoy has just come back to me. That norm is driving Tin Lizzy a 1923 Model T Ford Touring Car. About the time I move to Iowa my life was turned upside down. I had lost one of my best friends, my Father died of sudden cancer. A year later I divorced my wife, losing another friend and I closed my studio of ten years. Two years later I remarried and started all over, a new studio, a new wife and we are now bringing in a new life into this world.

A few years back I told a friend I wanted to change things up, and change it up I did! So since I rearranged items in my life norms for me are just now coming back. I welcome these norms like driving my antique auto, playing with my two pup dogs and this winter I am looking forward to tying flies for fly fishing. I also welcome spontaneity and change, it something I need and I am looking forward to taking my son or daughter for a ride in the Model T.

robots again

I first saw images of the Sci-Fi series Lost in Space while sitting in the closet of my room as a child. Where is this going you ask? My parents had random boxes of stuff stored there and of course I could not resist checking out what was in each box. One box contained a handheld view master with a selection of disks that I would hold up to the light and try to figure out, what exactly I was looking at. The images had a 3-D quality with real people included with robots and at the time I had no idea it was a television show! Outer space has fascinated me in many different forms some including cult movies posters, pulp art, and tin toys.  I am currently revisiting those interests in robots and how they can simply be fun and yet have humanistic overtones. I am working these ideas into my ceramics and naturally the drawings follow.