Heading West Tomorrow!!!

Leaving on a jet plane tomorrow to Snow Mass/Aspen, Colorado tomorrow for
Chris Gustin's workshop
The Architecture of the Pot at Anderson Ranch.
Very excited! Hope the back can take it!!!
This man makes BIG vessels.... bigger than my kids...of course well... they aren't that big....for their ages... I digress....
I get the feeling he really incorporates hand building with wheel throwing so perhaps this could be just what I need right now...or not.
I'm wide open and ready to just...EXPERIENCE...

Back Problems

Need I say more?
This is the position I am USUALLY in at the wheel... Doesn't matter what I do I am bent over like this... Honestly...













Well... that is all going to have to change because on Friday I ended up FLAT (and I do mean FLAT) on my back on the studio floor... I woke up early and wondered in and was removing work from the kiln... not heavy stuff.... until I lifted a full shelf...felt pain, quickly put it down and started heading back to my bed...SEVERE Pain... It took over me... I tried to sit in my chair... still felt overwhelmed by pain.... got to the floor and thought I was going to toss my cookies and/or pass out.

Remember... I birthed 2 babies so I understand pain but... I'm telling you... I seriously didn't know what would happen next.

So... I'm on the floor using every bit of strength to wake up my 9 year old who was the only one home, asleep in his bed... I think my scream sounded more like a BARK! But he was phenomenal. I told him "If Mommy passes out, call Daddy. If you can't get Daddy, call 911...".
It never had to happen thank goodness!

I had him bring me some clothes (because in the moments between the pain, I had decided if I was going to be rushed to a hospital or DIE... I needed proper clothes on, not a sleep night shirt... )and he helped me get dressed. Needless to say, I'm sure he is scarred for life...

Then I managed to eventually sort of get up to this chair with wheels and he helped/pushed me to the nearest bed(my studio is actually on the second floor of our home). He continued to be the best helper... bringing me everything...
Boy, I was feelin' the LOVE! BUT, I was still in so much pain.

I later got in to see an acupucturist and she was extremely helpful... but getting down stair and out the door and into my car was crazy... My husband had returned home and was very helpful...
The acupuncture definitely helped and over time that day, I appeared to improve..
I went back the next day and she had me have a 30 minute massage before the acupuncture. I feel all of this definitely sped up the healing process.

In the days that followed I improved. It seems the soreness gets worse as the day goes on. I am just taking Ibuprofen and Naproxen as needed....oh... and a little WINE...at the end of the day/night. Heating pad stuff helps...ice too...
I am calling to get more acupuncture though...before I leave...

In the midst of this I need to to pack up my kids for almost 3 weeks of overnight camp... they leave tomorrow and Sunday I am headed to "CAMP" too... I am going to take Chris Gustin's The Architecture of the Pot Workshop which I have been SO excited to do... and now... I am worried... Throwing is going to be different...

I have already decided to raise my wheel and bought extension legs that should be on their way...

















so that I can learn to throw standing up...
I am really hoping I can do it!
Any advice is appreciated!

I have already checked out Kristen Kieffer's Blogpost on this...after taking her workshop last summer when she talked about it, I should have seen that it was just a matter of time... She refers to John Glick who wrote several articles on this... I am just hoping I can figure it all out...
I will need to move some things around in my studio... which is doable... but I will need help...
Lifting 50 lb bags of clay and chemicals may not be so smart right now.....

So... I will move forward and be thankful that I am HERE to worry about such problems...
It beats the alternative!

WOW...what a day...

So much has happened...
Nah nah nah nah
Nah nah nah nah
Hey hey hey...
GOODBYE....











SALE SALE SALE SALE SALE SALE SALE SALE SALE SALE
LIMITED TIME ONLY!!!!
IN HONOR OF OUR COUNTRY's CELEBRATION OF INDEPENDENCE from YOU KNOW WHO!
...and it couldn't come at a better time...
$4 off ANY item in my shop 'till 11:59 pm (EST) July 5th!
I will credit the money back through PayPal after the purchase!!!
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!!!
SHOP HERE!!!!

A collection of mugs

Here are some mugs I made for a special order... that pale pink is new... I really either need intense deep color or even paler color...
Boy am I picky... Still developing glazes...

WELL...No real glaze results yet... but...

I have completed some custom orders...
This 6 person sushi set:













It includes:
1 Large Serving platter,6 personal plates, 6 noodle/rice/soup bowls,6 dipping bowls, 6 chopstick rests, 1 soy bottle and 6 prs wooden chop sticks(they are purchased-I did not whittle them!)Wrapped and ready for Fathers Day!
and this custom vase..(I fired it THREE times to get the texture and glaze variations to make any sense to me!

















et voila!

STILL

Well...there is STILL nothing really new for this post...
I continue to develop test amounts of glazes and see how they react to each other... and just after I pull together 5 more... I think of another scenario to try....I have all of that bisque ready to fire and I just can't bring my self to just use the glazes I've been using when the opportunity for a new palette/or subtle texture(matte with glossy) variation is a possibility... I know I won't sell much during this time but I just HAVE to keep playing.... I've thrown a bunch of new mugs and some little bud vases(to give as teacher appreciation gifts) so... I'm getting closer. but not yet.





















There is a whole other post about who I am...in the retail world... artist vs potter(or both)that we've been discussing in our Etsy Mud Team forum but I just can't do it now. That will need to come at a later point... However....as I feel really reluctant to go down the wholesale route...I am curious what my fellow artists/potters have to say about the various selling venues...so feel free to comment. Perhaps my next post will fill you in on where I'm coming from...

Gettin' Ready...

So... I've been plugging away at some commisions...although I was pretty useless the 1st part of the week... rather FLUISH!!!!

I bisque fired a bunch:
















And glazed a bunch(note the scraped and reapplied kiln wash on the shelves...that's truly a favorite activity...NOT!):

















And now I'm "GETTIN' READY" to make some new glazes with this boatload of mason stains that I bought and had... DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT expect miracles.... But I sort of have some ideas... and then comes the application.... so I want to test some in this Glaze firing.... so this kiln will WAIT...Until I am GOOD AND READY!

ALS: Lou Gerrig's Disease.... A little off topic.

My friend who was diagnosed with ALS 2 1/2 years ago,Pam, showed me photos yesterday.
She had an opportunity to spend 15 mins with Jane Fonda after her Broadway performance in 33 Variations . Pam told me that she and Colin Hanks(Tom's son) spent a half hour and Jane was crying at the end. Jane Fonda wrote about Pam in her BLOG. Please click on that!

If you know me, I bring her up quite frequently because since she was diagnosed, it has been a huge part of our (me,mike,our kids) lives as we have spent a great deal of time with the family... and continue to see them quite frequently. It's been a huge part of our existence and has definitely had a huge impact. The boys are 6,almost 10,12 and 14 and the 2 older ones have a "band" with my son, Jake.(They are very close friends)

Jake who is now 12 1/2 has taken on the role of educator and fundraiser for the cause ... He is currently raising money and awareness for ALS Research with a bike ride that he has spearheaded (it's a national event...his part is local)with the help of his "mentor" Michele Dupree! You can learn more and donate HERE.
If you prefer to send a check, please write it out to ALS-TDI and email me for the address! jtceramics@aol.com. I'm trying to give Jake a little "help" here...
Jake has written essays about Pam and ALS and he has also writen music that is about Pam... I can't begin to tell you how fired up he is about this...

Years ago...

Here we were for Halloween one year...I think Sam was about 5 months old so Jake(in the photo) was almost 4!
Pam's an Angel... I am the WITCH!(shocking, I know)




















Here we are on a ski trip years later She is pictured with my 2 boys:





















This was 2 years ago this coming summer...She is in a wheel chair and her breathing was going...









When you check out Jane Fonda's blog. You will see photos from Wednesday.

This disease is horrific.
Enough said.

Here is to a great new year on Etsy!

Cheers. Well I may as well treat this as an opportunity for freshness. In my work and my life. Centering the clay AND becoming more centered and present. Ok. That's the plan. Are you in?

TODAY ONLY!!!!

Today is my 2yr ETSY-VERSARY!
10% DISCOUNT TODAY ONLY!
Monday APRIL 27th
(also my mom's bday!)
See shop announcement in MY SHOP!

For example:
This was $250...save $25.

Schmapp!

I was asked if they could use the photo of my teapot when you click on Baltimore Clayworks...
Check it out...:

First click on baltimore on the map...then arts and entertainment... and then the photo slide show on the right shows it...Hey...
I'll take all the help I can get...right?

Do you ever get that feeling?

You know... it's time for a change?

I have this concept to try something new with my work and in my head...it is the greatest thing... so I start playing with it and I think.... what is the big deal???
Stay focussed..develop glazes... my forms continue to evolve... but I wonder if the "fashion" thing makes me feel like...ok...new season...new look...
The thing is... I really don't want my work to become a PRODUCT... I guess all object are... but it is also my art and that's ok...Right?

Ugh.

TWO Great features!!!

I am so excited about these cool features:
first Sandra of "Re Bop Shop" and her ETSY SHOP
featured me on her MELLOW TONES BLOG!








AND THEN.... the fabulous artist
"Cinnamon Soup" who is in HAWAII tweeted to me that she featured me on her Cinnamon Soup BLOG she does great work as well which can be found on her website
and her Cinnamon Soup ETSY SHOP !

How cool and nice is that????

ALL DONE!!! Finally.

Don't get too excited.. it's just the place settings that I have made for a favorite customer, who, incidentally ,has been quite patient... I didn't like the 1st ones, I felt they were warped and too flat, so I remade these, then the kiln was under firing etc... and so on...So... here they are... IF she still wants them....

I am trying to catch up on custom orders/requests as I really want to move on to some creative endeavors... We've been doing a spring cleaning in the house...redoing the boys rooms, painting, etc,,, PURGING... and NOW I'd like to IMMERSE myself in clay...

Who am I kidding?
This is not my life right now...to IMMERSE...
I keep thinking I will have a chunk of time to do it and well...
IT AIN'T HAPPENING....
I am not going to "wait for godot"...ya know?
I've got to accept my other responsibilities and realize there is no "IMMERSION" happening currently..
That workshop will be a brief immersion... I'll take what I can get...





LOOK,
I LOVE my family.
I do.
I'd be miserable without them.
I'm always torn.
SO....the art thing just is so hard... this creative desire...the DESIRE TO MAKE is great...."a blessing and a curse".
But if it's a curse... I will take it because the blessing is far to intense for me to let go of it.
And so it goes.
I'm sorry for the rant.
Just know that I know that I am a very lucky chick.
I get it. But many of you get it too.
That's what really helps to know...I'm not alone in having these feelings.
I thank you.

BLOG...BLOG.BLOG

Let me start by saying I am reading YOUR blogs RELIGIOUSLY.... even if I don't comment... I follow YOU PEOPLE...I have been posting new listings to my Etsy Site...LIKE a mad woman...

I also have been reading The Studio Potter Magazine and let me say... I LOVE THIS ISSUE!!! HERE is the magazine!
Chris Gustin's article was super:

I am so very excited that I took the plunge and will be taking his workshop: The Architecture Of The Pot at Anderson Ranch in Colorado this summer....
July 20-24th! I was able to fit it in while my kids are away at sleep away camp and BEFORE THEIR visiting day.... this is key. Frankly... I'd love to do a 10 day workshop but that concept appears to be far in the future...so this is perfect,they will be gone and I will hop a plane a few days later and grab one back in time to get home after midnight the day we drive up to the camp for visiting day... but so cool....
By the way this issue was "the body " and I just think every article in there speaks to me... so....Thank YOU!

Monmouth Festival of the Arts, OOPS!, and Taxes.

So here is the work I took in today for the show I am in...
This is my 4th year...It's an interesting venue...It's actually a juried show but I have pasted below how they describe it... The nice thing is that you bring in your work...and walk away! You can visit...etc... but you don't have to stay and be tortured by the selling process...you know what I mean???

Check it out:
The 39th Annual Monmouth Festival of the Arts, New Jersey's largest art invitational, will take place March 28 through April 1 at Monmouth Reform Temple, 332 Hance Avenue, Tinton Falls. It begins with the Artists Reception on Saturday March 28 at 7:30 p.m. The reception is a great opportunity to meet the artists, enjoy a catered cocktail party, and browse the works in all media by more than 200 artists.

Visitors to the Opening Night Reception will also receive a ticket to attend other Festival activities, including artist demonstrations, children's workshops, and evening series art lectures and music from Sunday through Wednesday. Cost for the Gala is $60 advance, $65 at the door. Reservations can be made by calling 732-747-8278 or 732-747-9365.

Now the "OOPS":










Ugly site right.... one of the worst feelings I think...
Well... I had my 8 1/2 year old son Sam in the car as I turned out first corner the boxes shifted and we heard it happen.... I wasn't sure but when I opened the box....but... It's a pretty clean break... So this will probably become a Tavill Household item if I can glaze glue it back together...Mike, however, is tired of the rejects...Hmmmpf.

Which brings me to may last ugly photo:











The TAX RETURN NIGHTMARE...
He's so mad at me 'cause I've blown this off until now...
It sucks.
You know what sucks the most for me...
I look at the numbers from my "business" and think, "WHAT IS THE POINT????"
Look. I know... I don't approach this business in a very efficient manner...
It's my art...But... It is RATHER frustrating. I'll get over it...I always do.
AND CERTAINLY this upcoming year AIN'T gonna be the big fortune maker... so... laying low... Once I'm dead.... TOTALLY COLLECTIBLE!

I Can't WAIT ANY LONGER!

I received my book that I was waiting for on Wednesday(The day I was supposed to head off to Colorado....had I gone, well... I wouldn't have had it with me... See- making lemonade out or lemons here...!!).
Apparently you have to buy it from England... BUT... It involves 2 Americans. A potter, Christa Assad, and a collector, Richard Jacobs.
It is called: Searching for Beauty: Letters from a Collector to a Studio Potter.
It's amazing and any potter or collector must read it.
I prefer to read each letter or 2 at a time and let the concepts sink in...
It's sort of intense. But great. Rich...
It cost a lot for shipping... I couldn't wait 8 weeks!!!

That was then...This is now...

So That was me circa 1995... I was the head designer/design director for Lilly Pulitzer... I worked my but off... I designed the garments, the prints, the sweaters... fit them...did specs... drew pictures of what an in store shop would look like, illustrated the line...smiled and spoke at little retail things...even painted windows in the "lilly " spirit... Being the independent spirit that I was... I branched off.. leaving Lilly to start my own line... well... that was double the craziness and then I got pregnant with Jake at the same time and closed it... continued to freelance for Lilly amongst others... moved to NJ... and then...longer story...eventually found clay.












I love clay.... I love putting my hands in... creating something from virtually nothing. It is totally different than fashion design and I NEVER thought I would end up here... my whole adolescence and early adulthood...that was it for me... and I had success with it. I was not a starving artist like many who go into these fields... I was able to get good jobs with benefits and met lovely people along the way...(well... I met un-lovely people too) I worked hard at what I did and when I was done, well...I was done . I have no desire to go back to it... I feel like I could instinctively, jump back in if I needed to. Lucky for me, I don't.

The reason I bring this up is that I got an email Sunday night(I think...) from my friend Ro Schuler... who is now a Vice President at Lilly... she was customer service when we worked together...she stayed, I did not... she wanted me to know that today(Wednesday) The Martha Stewart Show was doing an entire Lilly show... All Lilly, All the time. Also,they were having a big "party" in NYC after and I should come. I thought I'd be in Crested Butte, Colorado with my husband snowboarding so I told her we'd have to catch up another time...I also knew I'd miss the show...

BUT... as luck(?) would have it... Sam got strep throat and so did I and I sent my husband off early this A.M. with our friends... without me... so when the show came on.. at 11 A.M. I watched it.

It was FREAKY for me to watch... You can see the lead in to it HERE. Would that have been me on the show if I stayed with the company? It wasn't meant to be... We moved almost 2 hours away...but closer to NYC(Lilly is outside of Philadelphia)... Especially afer 9/11 I would have had a really hard time with all of the travel away from my 2 kids... (I went to Hong Kong and other places about 3 times a year) Just not meant to be...Not to mention... I don't really "LOOK" like the Lilly customer... their current design director is blond, bubbly and perfect for the part. Don't get me wrong... I'm a lot of fun but now I am me... just me... much truer to myself and I wouldn't have it any other way... I am really happy for Ro and the owners as I always felt they were good guys... and they came to my wedding in Baltimore...the men wearing Lilly bow ties and cummerbunds !!! They worked hard for this recognition... They built the brand... we planted the seed together and I am proud that I was a part of it... but I let go a long time ago.

Now.. I plant new seeds...MY SEEDS...not Lilly's.

Tick Tock. Drying and Monmouth Festival of the Arts

These are drying...another batch is in the kiln... need to get these bisque fired(I have 25 pieces going into Monmouth Festival of the ARTs which opens March 28th.... and closes April 1).
Check it out if you are in the area!!!

Of course we have our last little snowboarding jaunt happening... SMACK in the middle of getting the work done...
We are off to Crested Butte,Co on Wednesday EARLY and come home LATE Saturday night... Just the adults this time... staying with our good friends who built a gorgeous home there!
I'm excited... but have the usual stresses of how to get it all done...
It's gorgeous and peaceful there so... it's worth it!

I am a bit of a spastic perfectionist....and creative dichotomy.

So... I have these place settings ready to glaze and fire but I am a bit of a spaz when it comes to deciding what a customer will consider "part of the hand-made process" and what is shoddy workmanship...Now, mind you, there is no "CRANKING OUT" of work hapening here... I'd love to say I can do that but truthfully, I cannot. I have a very hard time looking at the pieces of the set as a whole as opposed to inspecting each piece as though it would be sold on it's own.(which is actually easier as it doesn't have to MATCH the other pieces). It reminds me of the struggle developing a line of clothing....back to my "fashion design days of old"...only different.... Each piece/style needed to stand on it's own as something someone would buy off the rack just because they wanted that piece...However...It needed to make sense as part of an outfit, as well as part of the story being told in the collection...

I digress.

Meanwhile... on a slightly different note...Rachel Power who wrote the awesome book The Divided Heart: Art and Motherhood WHICH I LOVED and any mother artist(writer,dancer,visual,creative type...) should read,
posted a link to this talk on TED (but I was able to access the same talk on my blackberry through You Tube...)
I thought it was great. YOU can see it HERE.

A while ago I read Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert...Loved it... some love it...some don't. I loved it... What's not to love?
Someone told me they thought she was whining through out the book...I have no problem with whining(I whine all of the time, I guess)...I don't think it's really whining... It's struggling... struggling with our place in this world in our body that we have on loan until we leave it...
For those of us possessed by a "creative drive", the road can be a bit tough... Not that it's necessarily tougher than other human existance...just,well, different.
She gave a great talk and didn't sound like WHINING at all.
Leave that for me to do, Elizabeth.