DOORS of TUSCANY

We are back from Italy!!!!

I have quite a few photo entries to follow!!!!
Our FAMILY:

ITALY vs. Kiln Repair

So... we are off to Italy Friday...
Very excited!!!!
Florence! San Gimignano! Milan!
BUT...I need to replace my elements...
So THIS is what my brain is doing:

ITALY?













Kiln?


















ITALY?














Kiln?



















ITALY?














Kiln?



















Well...instead of getting that kiln element replacement done...
I packed and planned and researched...
Perhaps tomorrow...
BUT in the MEANTIME...
If you have any suggestions for our trip...
I may be willing to get sidetracked again tomorrow...
Caio!

GETTIN' HOT IN HEY-AHHHHH!

OUCH.
HOT here, already.
AND my kiln made it to 2099 and just errored out...
YEPPERS, I believe I've got some EXCHANGIN' to do...
ELEMENTS that is...
WELL... at least I have my health...(knock on wood...poo poo poo....very superstitious...)

SO the kids had school close unexpectedly at 1pm...
AND it will close at 1 pm tomorrow too...
EVIDENTLY there is not enough air conditioned spaces for these growing rug rats...
SO... they came home.
AND went in the river:
FRICK AND FRACK:




















SO I took one look at puppy Chai...
AND I went in too... all the way in... and she came in too.. and swam...



















NO photos of us in the water...
BECAUSE I left my phone where it would be safe from the water...
WHILE I was drying her off and showering, I rested it in the garage on the hood of my husband's car...
HOWEVER, he failed to tell me he was going to take off for a meeting...
IN his car.
SO... I called him in a panic( about a mile after he left...)
THEN we both searched for the phone.
AND FOUND IT.
BUT this is what it looked like:















SADLY, It needs to be replaced.
HAPPILY, I will be using the insurance I pay for every month
BUT, I believe they will not insure me anymore because that is 2 phones in about 6 months.
BUT, I HAVE MY HEALTH. (knock on wood...poo poo poo....very superstitious...

MEANWHILE..
THESE are the latest in the studio:










NOW I am working with Standard's Brooklyn RED.
LOVE it.
MESSIEST CLAY EVAH...
BUT, I do love it... more photos to follow...
AND
I sold a few things the past few days...
EVERYONE IGNORED my sale...
OH WELL.

ADDITIONALLY...
I made the top 50 ceramic blogs from this cool chick's LIST!

ALL of my faves are there...
COOLIO.
HELPS beat the heat.

20% off Sale 2 days only!!!

20% off
6/4 Today(sat) and 6/5 Tomorrow(sun) only!
Coupon: EARLYJUNE20
In my ETSY SHOP!

Just in the mood...

Black Walnut.

Trying this out...basically working with it so far looks like I have spray tanned my HANDS! But... it promises to to be a great dark brown/blackish cone 6 clay in oxidation with NO Manganese... and it costs a FORTUNE. and it has to be SHIPPED... but... we shall see...It seems to throw well...

(*jumping back in here because I spoke to a supplier out of philly and evidently it is very hard to get this clay...
SO if anyone out there has suggestions for a chocolate brown(and/or speckled)WITH OUT MANGANESE....I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to know about it...)

AND... remember my tea bowl for the Kansas City show(look right for details...)





















It sold from the online photo ... and the show opens next month!
Pretty cool.

Happy Memorial Day weekend.
Thank you to all of those fine men and women who commit to protecting us from evil.
Actually feels like summer here in NEW JERSEY!!!
May even walk over to the beach this weekend with my hands that look like they have a spray tan...

Did someone say SALE??????

WELL...
I am giving 10% off at MY ETSY SHOP
Use COUPON CODE: MOVINGON
EXPIRES 5/25 Wednesday....
I try not to do this a lot (because, frankly it is usually just a matter of time until a pot find's it's proper home..
BUT I am feeling generous...AND I need to make room for my NEW, DIFFERENT body of work!

What's Goin' On...I'll SHOW You What's Goin' On.

Red Clay.
Sculptural Carving.
Enjoying the process.






































































Click TITLE for Music!!!

I've been having a Mother of a time...

No photos... I have been back and forth and up and down and in and out with the direction that my work is going in... and sometimes it feels like the more things change...

Well, I have been brainstorming and experimenting and mixing and trying and contemplating and brainstorming and sketching and re-thinking and trying stuff and moving forward and moving backward and I feel like I know which direction I am headed in, but I have felt like this before and I tend to move backwards and forwards and then I feel like I have made no progress...but I just know this all part of something bigger.

I have been contemplating my issues with my work...
The end result: what I like about it/what I don't...
The process: what I like about it, what I don't...

It is very important to me that I enjoy the process. I almost think that is more important to me than the end result. This is why I am at this crossroads perhaps...
It has be done "JUST SO" for me to be happy and continue to evolve in a direction that makes sense to me...I enjoy carving and touching and working with the clay, manipulating it, feeling it...but I am also completely concerned with the structural integrity of the piece and the weight and the visual appeal and creating work that speaks to me... or speaks for me.

A very popular, wealthy, African American talk show host says that if you do what you love, you will be successful... I always think about that...now I am down to the actual step by steps of the process..

Look, I know I DO go on but this has been going on fairly intensely for me as internal struggle for a while now and I feel this need to talk about it...but then when I do, I realize it cannot make sense outside of my brain.
So,trust me, that is what's going on...

Now that I have typed us into a virtual abyss of confusion, I'd like to wish all of you moms out there a happy day. ACTUALLY I would like to wish you a happy LOT OF DAYS!!! We will be having sushi for dinner as THEY know that it makes me happy!

"GETTIN' READY"

So...most of you know I am on top of taking care of things for my dad down in Baltimore since his stroke/heart attack on 9/9/09... But Because of that, he is often "on my mind"...So are memories... my dad had this guy who used to pay him for his services by doing work for my dad, we'll call him Gigi. I will never forget how when hadn't done the work that was supposed to be done, he would always tell my dad, "Yes sir, I'm gettin' ready to do that..." The reason I tell you this, is because I have spent several days cleaning up my studio and getting organized(mainly because my wheel parts are in INDIANA getting fixed and I am stuck without my wheel that I stand at... and frankly haven't embarked on trying the new desk top wheel) So, I feel like I'm "GETTIN' READY"... which, in Gigi's case was a procrastination comment... or thought to be... is that the same with me?
You decide.

For now, here are some photos of my "CLEAN" studio:

I will just say...

I am inspired.
That is all for now.

Well? Well.

You don't know unless you try.
As you all know...
That's what I got out of the XFACTOR "experience".
Well, about a month ago, I submitted tea bowl photos for the
2011 Tea Bowl National at The Kansas City Clay Guild .
LO and BEHOLD. This blue puppy got in!

The KCCG is planning to give a portion of their percentage to the Earthquake/Tsunami relief in Japan. I am so pleased, I will give my entire portion to that relief effort.

In the mean time... I have been revamping My Etsy Shop .
I have decided the gradiated grey background with all of the knicks and scratches that occur, as well as the lack of pureness is on my nerves. So, I went white.
The work seems to pop. There is nothing else to focus on. I think it feels more current.
I am thinking if I need the other background for submissions and such, I will switch only then. I liked the burlap background but it seemed to distract more than I cared for. I am thinking if I do sales and shows, fresh white paper or other white material is the way I'd like to go.
So I changed my avatar too:





















AND I took all new photos of my existing listings:































































I have a bunch of work in the bisque kiln right now.

I have decided to focus on clays that do not have MANGANESE in them as everyone is FREAKING me out about the continued throwing of my speckled and chocolate brown clays.
SO... I am working with some red,the speckled tan without speckles and my white cone 6 porcelain(I still battle with that name). I am going to try to use the other stuff as slip as needed and be very careful mixing and with clean up and wear masks...etc...

A little background:
I have been really focused on the action painters and therefore, the abstract expressionists of the 40''s to 60's. This has been in my repertoire of interest after I left fashion behind and embarked on my own "self-study", continuing my art history education. I really focused on that time and the work. The life style and the war was interesting to me as well. I poured over books in the library at the time and then I read the 930 page book "Jackson Pollock:An American Saga". (To be fair, the book really ends on page 801...but I digress)The book sends you off on to "historical" tangents about any one and everyone who touched his life... including his ancestors, his parents, his teachers, the other artists right before and during his time... and of course his wife: Lee Krasner. Well... I have been reading about her NOW ,as I have always been intrigued by her and the "supporting role" that she played. She was a very "relevant" artist in her own right and it is very interesting how the times and society did and still does have a profound affect on women vs. men in the art world(actually in all professions). But again, I digress.
Well, not really.

My general focus with my work now is gesture and statement.

I am most interested in working with certain textures and layering but I don't want to be gratuitous.
You know?
I don't want to add "STUFF" just to add "STUFF".
Sometimes as I am working, I am carving or glazing and I just get what is like a writer's "run on sentence"...
This blog is an example of this sort of writing.
Sometimes that works for people.
In my art, it does not work for me.
I like layering and development of surface but it needs cohesion.
You know?
It can only be busy-busy if all of the busy-ness creates a depth instead of dizziness...
This is really important to me in my work.
It is hard at times to be happy with the end result.

These are my deeper issues with my art.
This is the struggle I have and will likely continue to have.
I have these issues within me whether I am creating a mug or a sculptural wall piece. Sometimes I have to let go and move to the next piece.
Sometimes I am satisfied and sometimes I am not.
Sometimes I can reach a more comfortable place with a piece I was not entirely comfortable with by choosing glazes and glaze applications that morph the piece into something I am happier with.
Sometimes I cannot.
Sometimes I am most happy at the leather hard to bone dry stage and I cringe at the future of the piece because I know I will lose how I feel about it in that moment.
So fleeting.
So hard.
But I continue.
Because I really can't stop....
I have to twist and turn and ponder and discuss and fret and frustrate and love and lose.
I often think I wish I did not have this.
This inner struggle.
This outer struggle.
And then I secretly(?) thank goodness this is who I am.
I do believe I need it as much as need air and water.
It is a conundrum.
I work hard to be present and focused and in the moment.
I will continue to attempt to have that as well as this.

Carry on.

Inspired By My Son (AKA XFactor HELL.)

Ok... I will link this to Ceramics.
I swear.
So, I have spent the past 48 hours in XFactor HELL with my dear 14 1/2 year old son Jake!
He is pictured here with his 15 year old friend Bree at the XFactor auditions in Newark NJ this AM.
It is probably 7am in this photo.
















Let me back track.
Jake has been writing and performing music with his keyboard for years...
He has some songs recorded last year on itunes HERE.
He played at The Stone Pony with his buddy, Matt Callahan in early March.... Not great video work but it gives you an IDEA.

So he caught wind of the new Simon Cowell XFactor show that was coming to America and decided he HAD to give it a try.
I TRIED for MONTHS to tell him and plead my case s to why I felt this particular venue wasn't a good fit for him... but he persisted(like mother, like son)
My final PLEA (when we arrived at 11:30 PM Tuesday night to "camp out" for the HOLY wristband needed for the audition in TORRENTIAL RAIN and temperatures in the 40s...) was that because the chances of winning were better if we played the lottery, I was willing to buy ONE THOUSAND lottery tickets instead.

He passed.

Dedication?

Well,it was wet. This is a DRY photo. In between bouts... 4am perhaps. FROZEN and SOAKED.




















BUT...
We made it inside at 6:15am and and hit the road home with our wristbands at 6:30 am.





















OK... well the really hard part was yet to come...
I felt like I was going to toss my cookies when we arrived at 5:15 this AM to get in line again... the nervousness in me was really the strongest right before his 20 second audition. These are the 36+"booths" with 2 judges in each... they pulled you along and away you went... He performed well,a soulful... albeit,mellow version of Albert King's I'll Play the Blues for You ... accapella. It was different...
and NICE. The judges were a bit clueless...
BUT...
He tried and he was passed over.

















THERE were 15-20000 people auditioning.
He stayed strong and did it.
He will move forward.
So what does he say as we are walking out?
"So, is the 1000 lottery tickets offer still available?"
I said, sadly, "Sorry Jake, I think not."
And we drove home.
We have had many conversations since the 11:45am car ride from Newark to home.
I believe Jake's talent lies in the fact that he is a whole AWESOME package...
He's into writing and producing as well as performing and I am drawn to that creative ability. Academically he's rockin' too...
He is wise while still being young.
I am proud to be his mom and I expect the future will be very interesting.

NOW... how does this relate to CERAMICS????
Well, I am always "waiting for the next one"...
I really don't put my work out there for competitions much....
Because...I always fell like the next piece will be better; The work isn't mature enough yet; etc.
I may be right... BUT...
I am clearly afraid of rejection.
This is not a way to live.
I have learned from my young son with the old soul to go ahead and try.
So... that's my plan.
But be patient.
I've got a lot on my PLATE.
Pun intended.

Me and Don Reitz(the legend)at St. Pete's Clay. Great trip already!

Great trip already!, a photo by judi tavill on Flickr.

Ok. Well I have to say, this doesn't suck. Mike definitely appreciates MOST fine clay. Therefore, we have seen some EXCELLENT work already at St. Pete's Clay and made a couple of acquisitions.
Don Reitz was working on these with his assistant and he still ROCKS!

Pre NCECA Workshop Tom and Elaine Coleman

photo.JPG, a photo by judi tavill on Flickr.

Day One down! Day Two tomorrow.
St. Pete's is cute. Mike is with me through Tuesday.
Workshop is great. Colemans are great. Hosts are great.
Mike leave Tues and then I'm Hyatt bound in Tampa for NCECA.I have to say... Not really in the porcelain zone and I felt llkeIi made some progress in the studio a couple of days before i left with stoneware and slips BUT in the big picture, conceptuall,y it is all very good.