Judi Tavill Ceramics... Moving Forward

I have taken the "bull by the horns" and have begun reworking my imagery on my blog, my Etsy Shop... everywhere...-I would say the website will happen last as it requires more work(?) perhaps-
to accompany the direction of the work I am creating.
 I have this concept I believe in that is both a way of life(allowing me to continue to create and MAKE in the manner that I am most drawn to...exploring and experimenting...)
AND finding a way to reach collectors at all price points or economic levels and inviting them to join me in creative pursuit as they collect and curate my work/sculptural objects as well as other work that may be installed together with it.
Here is how I explain it to the collector in my most current statement:

I am inspired by the beauty of shapes and textures that I observe in nature.

When I create, I choose to re-imagine, not replicate, these memories.

Coastal artifacts, woodland finds, or lush flora influence my exploration in the studio.

I wheel throw and hand build, altering and finessing each stoneware form. 

I deeply carve, intensely texture, discreetly glaze and delicately melt glass. 

The glass pools, drips, and crackles as liquid frozen in time.

As each piece emerges, whether intricate or simple, it feels new, yet decidedly familiar.

Beyond the individual sculptural object, I am interested in how the pieces relate in groups, one to another and to the collector.

I am a collector. You are likely a collector too. It is our human nature. From the leaves we pocketed as  young children to the art on our walls, we collect.

 I invite the you to join in the creative process by curating an original ceramic still life. Whether you start with a pouch of pods and pebbles, a series of small forms or a single large piece, a collection begins.

Over time, I encourage the evolution of these collections as new pieces are presented and incorporated. This unspoken exchange between artist and collector re-inspires me to begin the creation process once again.

So, with this in mind I am encouraged to move forward with my work.
I will continue to develop pieces that appeal to me and hopefully will find ways into the collection of others. I am rather excited. I just know that in working this way, I can develop work that I enjoy making and can be enjoyed. I can stop, explore elsewhere, come back to it, see where it leads me,
creating my own framework and perhaps even cross over mediums in the future but for now I will
keep on keeping on.

CENTERFOLD!!!!

...in The Crafts Report...
BUT...
STILL...
A CENTERFOLD...
I mean... any other sort of Centerfold is not looking likely at this point...
and ...
well...
it really wasn't a goal for me...
so...
CENTERFOLD!!!!

Thanks to Stephanie at The Crafts Report 
(via Bridgette Martin at crafthaus)
APRIL 2014 issue! 
It looks great.
I REALLY appreciate being reached out to for this!

WHAT IF....

Artist/ Creatives...
Some interesting questions came up and I am very curious what your answers are...

IF money was not an issue...(to support you, etc)...

What would your art be like?
Would you continue to make art?
Would it change your focus?
What drives you to make your art?

ANY AND ALL ANSWERS are very appreciated...
 I may share in an upcoming (anonymous) blog post...
You can message me directly if uncomfortable with this forum.

This gentleman comes to mind...
Steve Tobin

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!

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.

Ending 2010

As we wrap up 2010,
I look back as we move forward...
Some wonderful memories this year and some...
well, some not-so-wonderful memories...
If you've read the blog, YOU do the math...

As I type this on my new IPAD, I am learning to
embrace technology in many aspects of my life, including my art...
Although at the present, I don't see it showing it's involvement in
the final work(transfers,etc), i do see it's place in the development
of ideas.

For instance, the sketch was created on the Sketchbook Pro
Application for the IPAD and i have found that i can work with layers
and manipulate the image in some interesting ways that i can apply
to my wax resist and glazing ideas and techniques that I'd like
to develop in this new year...
We shall see!

For now, lets be grateful for what we have, including the opportunities
that exist to be present and creative in each new day!
Thank YOU too for your PRESENCE in the "blog-o-sphere" too.
On with the show....

Sketch
Originally uploaded by judi tavill

A little more from the Workshop...

Takeshi Yasuda WIRE WEDGING!!!

Takeshi Yasuda rams head wedging
Originally uploaded by ellen mulligan

This man is amazing...
This just gives you a taste...
I will just post a little at a time...



















This is what i looked like for 5 days...plus mosquito bites.