New Work, Old Inspiration

I'm having a great summer! I'm grateful that so many people bought my pots at Alma's Festival in the Clouds, and now I have room for more work in the studio. I've been attending to several different projects, as usual, but am making good progress.

One project was for my brother-in-law, for his birthday last week. Almost without exception, I have to form a clear vision of what to make someone when they request a gift. Luckily, Jesse told me exactly what he wanted: a flower pot for a plant that outgrew its old, plastic pot. He knew what size pot he wanted, and he already had a flower pot that would go beside mine.

The last time I made a normal flower pot shape was in high school ceramics, with my wonderful teacher Ms. Benham. The class lasted only one year, but she has stayed in my thoughts ever since. She encouraged me to express myself creatively and inspired me to adopt the attitude that anything is possible, it just takes imagination. I had a blast experimenting with different forms and styles of construction, and then meticulously decorating my pieces with the school's underglazes. Since Jesse's flower pot reminded me of that ceramics class so many years ago, I decided to mostly use underglazes for the decoration. I'm quite pleased with how nicely the pots go together, and I'm proud of myself for completing it on time! I'm usually behind schedule when it comes to gifts...

I'm also working on a dinner set for a show in October with Summit County Clay. I made a few carved condiment servers in July, and last week I started on carved pitchers. They're angled forward and the handle rests on the "butt" that sticks out. I mimicked the posture of the piece and decided it's a bit of a self-portrait of me in a goofy mood. When I demonstrated the posture to my husband, he laughed out loud.

I enjoy carving pieces; there's a similar satisfaction from cutting into the clay as there is in drastic gestures like chopping off 6" of hair or crushing a failed piece, except that carving has a serene quality of movement, like ripples on a lake. I first started to carve pots in the early 2000s after spending time with Yves-Marie, a potter friend in the south of France, about a half-hour from Spain. We'd work in clay all day and drink bottles of Spanish rosé wine in the evening. He throws very large pots and decorates the carved surface with oxides, much different from my style. I was immediately drawn to his technique of carving and have employed it with my own pieces ever since.

My last project is ongoing, creating work for the High Country Music Festival, which is coming up in only a couple of weeks. Thursday and Friday will be the last days for me to make new pieces. I'll bisque them next Sunday evening and glaze fire all day Tuesday so that they'll be ready to pack up for the festival. Priscilla and I will set up our booth on Friday afternoon, Aug 20, and then I'll sit back and enjoy music all weekend! What a plan.

Helpful people and forward momentum

I've been working on tumblers and plates for Magical Scraps, a fabulous Boutique & Studio on Main Street in Breckenridge. These pieces are a joy to make, since they involve stamps and lively colors. Unfortunately, I haven't stepped foot in my studio today. I'm working on administrative details instead: my logo and website.

James at Summit Creations turned my Sharpie logo drawing into the real thing when I opened Wild Iris Studio & Gallery (I'm proud to be listed as a client at summitcreations.com). Now we need to alter it to Wild Iris Productions LLC and make new business cards. I love imagining designs and playing with fonts and colors! My best friend Eric experiments with ideas and layouts on Photoshop. I don't know what I'd do without his encouragement, or without James for the professional end product.

I'm working with my longtime friend Nate Zander at Mountain Porcupine Design for my website. We finished a design for the gallery, but were only halfway through the legwork when I decided to close up shop, and now it's a relief to alter the format for what I want to do now, rather than starting from scratch again. I've sent off some ideas to Nate, and I hope the site will be ready to launch before September. Details to follow.

Finally, I emailed my friend Syma some photos I took of her work while she was a guest artist in the Arts District of Breckenridge. (See her blog for mountain photos of the Arts District.) She will have some of her works on display at Teal Gallery in late August, which means she'll come back for a visit! I find her enthusiasm inspiring, and it reminds me that I'm an optimist as well, when I forget.

I have a small Bottomless Vessel to Hold Change that she made last spring during another residency in Breckenridge. It is soothing to me, a gentle reminder to laugh off frustration about life in flux; if I know change is constant and inevitable, don't I see it coming? Don't I expect it to happen again?

A year ago, Piers and I were working hard on the gallery. It is remarkable how far we've come since then. The helpful and supportive people we have encountered along the way have helped transform our life. We work just as hard as we did then, but are becoming more peaceful and calm. Thanks to all who read this blog - and stay with us for exciting things to come!

A Look Back

Today I was going to upload pictures of my new "studio" but Piers took his camera with him (the nerve!) so instead I have a couple thoughts to share about the gallery. We're closing next week - Saturday, May 2 will be a Closing Celebration with wine and snacks. After that, my brother-in-law (photographer Jesse Peterson) will be moving in for a few months, and I'm putting the house on the market.

Piers and I opened the gallery last July, and it's been really rewarding. I proved to myself I didn't need a lot of money to do it, but the work and time commitment were intense! I'm ready to welcome a change in pace. Don't forget I have a day job - although beginning next week, I'm going down to a four-day work week. More time for art, hooray!

One of the principal reasons for closing the gallery is that I want to focus on my own work. After going to Phoenix, AZ for NCECA a few weeks ago (clay conference), I started feeling much more positive about this major change. I have a lot of good ideas I want to work on! My studio space is a bedroom on the main floor of our house. It's near the kitchen, the laundry room, and far from our bedroom (upstairs), so I have easy access to food and clean clothes, without worrying about any clay dust where we sleep. Progress pictures will come soon.

Here I have photos of the first two pieces Piers and I made together - I pit fire handbuilt forms, and then Piers carves, stains, and attaches bristlecone pine pieces he finds near our house. These are shots of the pieces in the gallery (stairs and shelves built by Piers). I recommend clicking on the photos for a more detailed view. (The smaller piece on the right has beautiful texture. Can you see the rock the root trapped?)


Pitcher 24" tall; "Earthbound" 13" tall

All my artists were a joy to work with: Chaz della Porta, Jenn Cram, Holly Stein, Nate Zander, Cooper Walsh, Kerry Feldman, Lisa Rivard, Lisa Kohlhepp, and Rick Karden. I will enjoy visiting with them when I return their work after the closing, but it's bittersweet to move forward without their beautiful art around me.