Tortured by White? Switch to Brown!

After intense torture from my white clay...aka cone 6 porcelain...

I am switching back to yummy chewy gooey staining chocolate brown stoneware goodness for a while...

I have a new( new to me) sample of a sculpture clay in white coming to me.. any minute from Standard...

So... we will see if I like it... the idea of a gritty sandy clay is totally something I could sink my teeth into right now...

SO.. we shall see...

I was going to apply to some major craft shows and the deadlines are NOW....

So, rather than get pigeon holed into using the white that is KILLING ME...

I will let the deadlines pass(yet again) and see how I feel about the new clay and the the other color clays and when I am GOOD AND READY.... if it seems like a good show for me,

I will apply, or just approach the best representation for my work... but for now...

I am just working...

Published: InJersey

April 2013 issue:

Back from NCECA

Wanna know more?

My Moo Cards Came!!! I am so excited! I love them... Love the quality and matte texture!!! Maybe you can see for yourself and exchange with me at NCECA!

And in other news...

As I continue to destroy every larger scale vessel I try to carve and manipulate out of  Cone 6 porcelain...
AND
feel used and abused by my clay, my kids continue to occupy the rest of my time and efforts...

Our son, Jake was nominated for 3 Jersey Acoustic Music awards!
(JAM Awards)!
If you like his music, it would be great if you could vote for him!
Thank you so much!
VOTING CLOSES MARCH 1st!  THIS FRIDAY!!!
Only vote for each person once or it will cancel out your vote!

Top 18 and Under Male Act:
http://www.jamawards.org/top-18under-male-act.html#.URXY-0xkvKg

Top 18 and Under Songwriter:
http://www.jamawards.org/top-18under-songwriter.html#.URXZgExkvKg

Top 18 and Under Song:
http://www.jamawards.org/top-18under-song.html#.URXZvkxkvKg

Here is a link to his nominated song "I Ain't Me":

Thank You! Please Share and Vote!

If you ARE voting, here are some other great local musicians we would love to support: Kyle Ward, Nick Piescor,Jack Newsome, Shannon Corsi, Taylor Tote, Glenn Wise, Ardvark Smile, Micro Machines, Cobalt Blue and all of the others!!!!

ENOUGH ABOUT ME...

For NOW...
If you have read my blog through the years, you know my friend Pam suffered from that
crappy disease: ALS- Lou Gerrig's Disease.
She passed away one year ago after a long, drawn out struggle with the illness...
(over 5 years)
We will be toasting to her spirit tonight...

As it turns out, my son, Sam is turning 13 this May and he decided to raise money for KICKING ALS's BUT by designing, drawing and arranging manufacturing of items with his GRAFFITI ART... ALL OF THE PROCEEDS WILL GO TO ALS-TDI
which is involved in intense research studies to find therapies to slow and stop this crappy (Did I use that word again?) illness.
I helped him to set up a WEBSITE(click on "WEBSITE") to sell his tees and we can ship them out if you buy the ones including shipping! We got it up and running TODAY!

People are being diagnosed more and more.
Though about 10% of the cases are definitely genetic, there appears to be some environmental
factors setting off the illness. WE NEED TO GET ON THIS before it becomes worse and worse.
If you can help, in any way... PLEASE TRY...
OH, and by the way, he plans to be famous some day so this T shirt may become a
COLLECTORS ITEM!

New....

Well, they are not that new.... several days.
I think it really does take me a while after work comes out of the kiln to know what I like.
It is the strangest thing. I have heard it from a zillion ceramic artists and it continues to perplex me.

I pull the work out and I feel ...UGH...
This is not right. That is not right...
And then I come back to them and with a different eye....
I think... OH... I kind of like that... Not EVERY piece... but many.
A little hard because these are time consuming... all because I wanted to emphasize
the PROCESS as the part I enjoyed participating in... the carving, the manipulating...
So, when they crash and burn... WELL...
It's a tough experience for me because it is a bit of a roller coaster.
And frankly, not the healthiest ride for me.

That said, I keep FIGHTING the JOURNEY of it all.
And really, I CRAVE the  JOURNEY at the same time.
Sort of a dichotomy and also the STORY of MY LIFE.

I get rather bored?  Or jumpy... ready to try something new.
Particularly lately...
The important relationships in my life,I  don't jump in and out of it...
And I don't really jump in and out of clay...
I get INSPIRED... Try this, try that.
It gets me scared and frazzled.
Scattered.

And yet...  I am really looking for a cozy lovey feeling...
A safe place to fall ?
And then I think... If you find that, if you don't push the boundaries...
the abilities of clay and glaze and firing(with in an electric kiln????),
won't you just tire of it and move on to something else....

Perhaps my crisis is my struggle to accept who and how I am.
Perhaps I just need to wait and embrace those things that GET this part of me.
Rather then shove it all into a pretty package and box
that will position me to get me into a trade show.
I struggle with this. I don't know WHY I STRUGGLE WITH THIS.
THERE ARE MUCH BIGGER ISSUES IN THE WORLD TO STRUGGLE WITH.

I GET THAT. At times I think I should leave my art behind and put my energy into
struggling with those MUCH BIGGER ISSUES IN THE WORLD.
BUT the art pulls me back... my inner world and struggle and
desire for it to be "heard"...HAS A TIGHT GRIP  ON ME.

And so I continue. I would just like to find more ZEN in it all...
Not necessarily WORKING with the CLAY. I find the ZEN and PRESENCE
when I work with the clay... It's all the other stuff that confuses me as to
WHAT IT"S ALL ABOUT.
If you see my work change and change again...
Just know:
My MUSE is messing with me...
I  am doing my best to follow her and see where she is headed
and if she brings me right back to where I was...
Well, That is OK too.

Tah Dah....

I made the photo extra large so you can see what she wrote!!! 

Very Cool... Not what I am making right now...BUT it's a journey...

Stuff in the kiln cooling... hopefully good stuff and I believe February will be better than 

January as the PLAGUES of sickness came to eat me up in January and I am OVER IT!!!

Contemporary Tableware

Check out my sushi set in the collage at the bottom of the link!!! 

I have pieces in this book!

"Tableware has occupied a special place in our kitchens and dining rooms for thousands of years, and continues to enchant us today. Ranging from the purely functional to the fine and delicate, the evolution of domestic pots tells us much about our changing tastes and habits, and the wider art and cultural movements that have influenced their decoration and forms."

Softcover | 160 Pages

Order code CA125 | ISBN 978-1-57498-330-2

CONTEMPORARY TABLEWARE

FLUX on Dec 31, 2012

I AM IN COMPLETE FLUX!( which is funny because this is a glaze issue...)
I jumped out of bed with a brainstorm as I try to create subtle colorants for my ceramic work(especially on the white porcelain)...I want really subtle in parts... like a TINT... and I have this idea to spray or brush almost a wash of mason stain with 3134 on the bisque or over matte white glaze on bisque... THEN I SPILL the Pearl Grey Mason stain I had mixed a while back and saved(not a lot...in a dixie cup)and rush to the computer to remind myself what my breakdown of grit/stain and water was on the tests that I ran.... I then pull up Mason Stain's information to find the damn stains I wanted to use are discontinued... f bomb.

So I guess the real issue is I am trying to stop time...or stop the drying process to have the work look like it does when it is drying... the tips are lighter... the recessed areas darker...

I have a wish a hope a dream for 2013.

CLARITY.

Clarity of mind.

Clarity of body. 

Clarity of spirit

and 

Clarity of ceramic torture.

It's alway's SUMTHIN'... Thank you Rosanna, Rosannadanna...

Review of the Winter Whites Show at Vessels Gallery in The Boston Globe.
I think I was pretty lucky regarding the use of scary adjectives for the other work...
BUT my name is spelled wrong....(Judi with an "i"...hmmmm...)

GALLERIES

(SNIPPET)
By Cate McQuaid |  GLOBE CORRESPONDENT    
DECEMBER 18, 2012
Celebrating white

White is the palette at Vessels Gallery. “Winter Whites” features ceramicists who work in or with white. Naoko Matsumoto’s “Coral Teapot” series features tiny pots that are creepy, fey, and exquisite. “Coral Teapot VI” looks covered with radiant barnacles, with spiky leaf-like forms for its handle. Joan Walton’s “Stretched White Tube” appears constructed with small, pebbly wads of gum, each seamed and crackly, mottled with brown. Judy Tavill’s vessels are deeply corrugated, creating a sense of fluid motion in a teapot or a bowl.
Also on view are Boston’s resident abstract expressionist Jo Ann Rothschild’s nutty and delightful cartoony drawings. These are spare and small compared with the artist’s paintings, less operatic and more sly. “Birthday, LC” features ragged inked circles, some squiggled over, some toothed or ringed with petals, frolicking around and over a steamy phantasm of pink folding into mauve — quite celebratory.

Full ARTS Review HERE!

OH... and I hope the apocalyptic ZOMBIES don't get you!

Best wishes!

Etsy Team RebuildRecover

Calling all Etsy Artists/Shops!!!
Jake has just set up RebuildRecover Team on Etsy 
http://www.etsy.com/teams/14770/rebuildrecover?ref=pr_teams
where artists/shop owners can join to contribute as little as 10% of an item that they sell to the rebuildrcover.org cause by selling the item and then donating to their paypal account... you can message rebuildrecover on Etsy with any questions...He asked me 

to reach out to all of you COOL people as they continue to help people affected by Hurricane Sandy and plan to help in aiding those affected by similar disasters in the future(let's hope they have nothing to do...)

That said, they are a great goup of people and they have been contributing funds, items and volunteers to other organizations as well... such as Sea Bright Rising.... Things are slightly better but it is bound to be a "long strange trip" on the Jersey Shore and up through NYC... Thanks.

GIFT CERTIFICATES AVAILABLE!!!

I decided if my customers are anything like me...

They may have more gifts to buy this holiday season

and I love the internet so I am putting it out there...

I am selling GIFT CERTIFICATES in my ETSY STORE

For $25, $50, and $75 OR you can contact me and we can set up a reserved $ amount!

All of the details are online and I think it is a 

GREAT LAST MINUTE or ANY MINUTE  GIFT!

In case you are in the BOSTON area...

450 Harrison Avenue #71, Boston, MA 02118
617.426.1950 • VesselsGallery.com

Major Pieces and Small Treasures
Functional and Non-Functional Ware
All by Ceramic Artists who Work in White

Eileen Braun Bryan Hopkins Elizabeth Kendall Joan Lurie Naoko Matsumoto

Megumi Naitoh Jane Perryman Judi Tavill Joan Walton Joan Zagrobelny

Join us on First Friday, December 7th, from 6:00 to 8:30 pm
to toast the holidays and welcome the white season.

SMALL BIZ SATURDAY TODAY ONLY!

ALL DAY TODAY IN MY ETSY SHOP!!!
20%off SMALL BIZ SATURDAY
COUPON CODE SBS2012
TODAY ONLY!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/jtceramics

NEWS FLASH: NOT CERAMICS....

Check it out... this is written by my dear friend ANDY who is living with us for now... it may be one of many...
HERE!!! NBC!!!!
and it talks about my other lovely friend Katie Hunt Johnson!

Post Hurricane Sandy

The hurricane has been devastating and yet, I am trying to create some sense of normalcy...

The kids are back in school, Mike has gone to work... and I have gotten into my studio....
I want to show photos of the devastation... but it is just exhausting...
I have a friend living with us now... until she can get her own place after losing her whole rental and most of the contents...

We are blessed in that we had damage but it missed our first floor by inches... but there was 2 feet of water in the garage, all the HVAC  and duct work/insulation under the house had to be ripped out and replaced but we are almost done...

Below shows how the river   came up to the house and washed up all the reeds/cattails, etc up with it...
The height of the water in the garage, and the crap that had to be discarded and replaced.

Lost several trees and various other items but compared to neighbors and friends...
Again, I cannot stress enough how lucky we were that it wasn't worse and the destruction was so much worse at our neighbors homes!

This documentary by Charlotte Nagy(a young girl) is a good indication of what happened to my town and the beach town(Sea Bright) right over the bridge(a 15 walk for me) from me... 

If you have a 1/2 hour... check it out.

Stuff everywhere... 

Boats everywhere... the boats we see on people's lawns are not theirs...
they were originally docked in the water OR DRY DOCKED
 no where near where they landed....

I have been to all of these places...

The reality is that indeed, it will NEVER be the same.

A lot of discussion and controversy as to how reconstruction occurs, especially in Sea Bright...

I have opinions... but for now, we are moving  our HVAC units that were raised to what we thought was high enough , about 1 foot higher...and insulating all the ducts with waterproof stuff!

These "storms of the century" seem to be happening every year or so and
we can not pretend they are not!

The impermanence of all things in life has become very, very evident.

I did get some work fired(when the electricity came back on... after 9 days)
and met with the owner of Vessels Gallery from BOSTON Tuesday
who was in Brooklyn, visiting...
Traffic was crazy getting in to the city,BUT,
I was able to let her choose from some of this work for an upcoming (white) show!

And I was able to dig in to some other pieces and get get started on them in the studio...

So...

The world(and the wheel) keeps spinning and life goes on...

I guess.. but it is very weird...

Hurricane Sandy

Or as I like to call her:

Silica Bitch. 

I am posting from my Iphone

Under 50 blankets in my freezing 

bedroom as the electric is not yet corrected

AND since we had a full crawl space of sea water,

About 2 feet in our attached garage amd missed 

entering the house by ONE inch,

Its cold in here.  

Even when electric gets turned on, we cannot until we rewire/abd get all new

Air con and heat units as ours are seeming corroded by the sea water. 

That said, we were so lucky.  

Our property was covered in cat tails,

The river must have flowed in and out a few times.  It 

knocked down the wood playset, filled the hed,

Turned over 3 giant leland cypresses we planted about 10 years ago.

Pulled mike's new holly bushes outand the wind  threw

down a few massive trees... But compared to our neighbors and other ares of town

And SEA BRIGHT, a 15 minute walk fron my house to the beach town

that is now completely destroyed, we are incredibly lucky...

My family is safe and so is our home... Just needs some work.  

I have so much to say and nothing.  

That us all I can for now.  

Just support any one affected by this natural disaster.  

We are sttarting by having a displaced friend stay in our

"igloo" with us and reaching out to other friends in need.  

I know there will be a lor of charitable opportunities 

and as I hear of "good" ones, I will reach out...

In the  meantime don't forget about the JERSEY SHORE!

What is happening in the studio NOW

IN process: All Porcelain:

Standard 551.... trying to slowly dry...

The girls are done!!!

Stick a fork in them!

Now I need a vault to put them in so that I don't have

any disasters before they get to their soon to be new home in Long Island!

That said.... I have had some other work come out but my new way to take photos is by 

an open door and right after I shot these, the sun came out!

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

(works great when overcast...)

They really shrink... as you all know... 

They started at over 26" as the tallest height and 

we are down to 22 ish...

However, here is a smaller little sumpin' sumpin'

that I am saving for Vessels Gallery in Boston as a possibility for some work she will be showing!

Shhhhh....