2020, What a year..........

 What can I say?  This COVID19 thing has really messed so much up.  I have to keep in mind that my family and myself are healthy regardless of other complaints.  

I'm the worlds worst about keeping up on social media....Facebook, Instagram, my website and this blog obviously falls last.  

This year really has taken the wind out of my sails.  I was experimenting with new Mishima designs which I still think look really great.  I had no desire to create more pottery when most of what I had be it new or old was sitting around in tubs in my garage.  It took me 6 months to get back into it (finally, upon the insistence of my youngest daughter, bless her heart).  Instead I took to my sewing machine making totes with vintage accents (doilies, hankies, tea towels, pillow cases, embroidered linens of all kinds) and masks (what I call the "quick and dirty" kind, efficient, but simple).  I've done so many water color cards.  I now offer a wide variety of blank cards in the 5x7 inch range.  And because the Joplin Empire Market went to online only, I offered various kinds of potted plants and fresh cut flowers.  I have to admit that I have enjoyed arranging the flowers especially because they come directly from my yard.  

But I'm back, nice to be back.  Maybe this is the year to upgrade my computer, so I can load images easier!

Hope all is well with you!

Up and coming activities!

I tend to neglect informing people of my where abouts.  I guess it's that independent nature that has been instilled in me just dealing with the challenges of life. So I'm going to make a list of up coming events that I plan to participate. Believe it or not, I'm trying to cut down...getting too old for these outside shows.

June 1&2 - Mulvane Art Show - Washburn campus, Topeka KS
June 15th - Summer Solstice -  Springfield, MO
June 29th - Art by the Spring - April Davis, Joplin, MO (south of Joplin, north of Neosho)

July - time off....too hot anyway

August  9th &10th - Women's World - Branson, MO, I'll be with Kristin Girard, Brenda Hayes and Dianne Miller....we are the Market Artisans for Empire Market

September 14th - Art in the Yard - Bobbi Kemna' place, Ft Scott, KS
September 20th & 21st - Art Fest - Joplin, MO

November 1st and 2nd - JRAC (Joplin Regional Artists Coalition) First Annual Studio Tour (of which I'm the head of the founding committee to organize this event).

These are in addition to working my shift at the Empire Market and what ever workshops that I plan to do.
 Let's just say that I'm really looking forward to July when I'll visit my  youngest daughter and her "puppy" in Atlanta with my "baby" Lucy, my St Bernard.  Oh the puppy is a German Shepherd who will be 8 months old by then.  We will also go visit Max's brother Duke during that time.  Then toward the end of the month, I'll go visit my oldest in London with a side trip to Menorca.  Oh my gosh, I can't wait!!

Wow, we are three months into 2019!

You know that old saying, "The faster I go the more behind I get"?  Well, that is me.  Sometimes juggling a full time job, a full time hobby plus all the organizations that I'm involved in, plus paying attention to my girls, my dog and my cat ...well, it get's the best of me.

So let's get caught up....again.  I'm no longer at Local Color.  It was just too much to do trying to work in MORE hours to work there during my actual work time.  Finally, I realized that I just couldn't do it anymore.  It's a great gallery and I was honored to be invited to participate.

Most recently at the Bourbon County Art Council's Fine Art Exhibit, I won not only first in the Pottery division, but Best in Show for the complete 3D division!  My favorite tea set did it again!  The same one that got me into the ICAN calendar for February.  Guess, I'll have to expand upon that whole concept.

Oh, and there was a generous cash award that went along with that title!  A little bonus as it were.

Work is continuing nicely with ArtForms.  I'm starting to teach wheel throwing at Cow Creek Pottery (which is just an off site location for ArtForms).  A big thanks to Sylvia to allow us to use her studio!  I've enjoyed seeing people progress in this area.  It's harder than hand building, but the rewards (I feel) are greater when there are successes.

JRAC is working on our first annual Studio Tour...guess who is spearheading this event?  Yep, me!  Sometimes, I feel like that is the only way to get things done.  Maybe when it's a success then others will take over.  The tentative date will be November 1st and 2nd.  My hope is that it will expand to two weekends at a later time.

The Joplin Empire Market is getting ready to celebrate their first anniversary!  And our group, The Market Artisans, will be there into the next year!!  I just love this group of ladies!  We get along and compliment each other's work nicely.  We appreciate each other.

Brrr - winter

Brrrrr....winter. 

Not my favorite time of year.  I guess, it makes us appreciate the other seasons so much more.  It is a time to regroup after the busy Christmas season when it's hard for me to even catch my breath (so to speak - I breathe just fine).  It's a time to plan for upcoming shows and events.  It's a time to try new things.

The regrouping consists of getting a handle on my inventory.  After much thought, I decided to remove my work and myself from Local Color Gallery in Joplin.  Christmas season was good there and I had a very successful Christmas Tree workshop, but I just can't squeeze in the hours that I'm supposed to work or justify the rent.  They are a great group of talented artists and I wish them the best. 

The first event will be this week.  I'll have my work at Memorial Hall in Pittsburg along with the other great artists from ArtForms.  Set up is tomorrow with the opening reception on February 8th.  So if you are in the area, stop on by.  We have great food and you can visit with your favorite artist.

I keep telling myself to slow down, that there isn't a fire, but it's a very hard thing to do.  I need to work with my beloved St Bernard, Lucy, to get her working as a therapy dog.  She's almost 2 1/2 years old and is finally starting to loose all the puppy behavior although she can get distracted easily even yet.  I know we can do it!

But I look at the shows coming up and wonder....do I really want to travel to Topeka? It's an art show and I did pretty well despite or in addition to the fact that my tent literally blew away.  And a fellow potter loaned me her tent....don't you just love people like that?  Otherwise, I would have simply packed what remained and just left.  And Mountain Home Arkansas looks intriguing in September, but that means three weekends in a row with shows...and less time with Lucy.

After more than six weeks, I finally dragged myself down to the studio and threw some mugs and my triple vases..all of which sell very well, so I was low on those despite an excess of work in the multiple tubs in my garage. Here's a fun video of them right after I pulled them out of the kiln...they are singing their song!


So I've got some things to mull over

I'm BACK!!!

Sometimes I feel like I'm in a  whirl wind.  There is a lot on my plate and apparently I like it that way because I'm the one who keeps adding to that plate. And this blog is something that has fallen off the plate.  And that's probably not a very big deal, but I feel a bit bad about it.  So I'll try to catch up from over a year ago!!

I re-read the last post and yes, my dear Joey past away on January 9th.  He went peacefully. I'm eternally grateful to my vet who came out to my house for his last visit.  RIP Joey.  Thank goodness, I have Lucy.  She has been a terrific "buffer" dog.  It is my hope that she will become a Therapy Dog, but that continues to be a work in progress.  She will be two on October 19th and is still very much a puppy although she has complete her CGC (Canine Good Citizen).  Believe me, that was  A BIG DEAL.  She had to sit and stay while I walked away then come when called.  But perhaps the biggest challenge is her meet and greet....she still gets so excited.  I hope she can calm down at some point.  She goes to work with me everyday and gives me great joy despite her slobbering..she is a St Bernard after all.

OK, so what else have I been up to?  Well, I had two opportunities present themselves at the same time this year.  In April, I became a member of Local Color, Joplin's premier art gallery.  It's been a challenge to fit into their group.  It seems that there are obstacles that I've not encountered before and I'm trying desperately to  not step on toes while standing up for myself and my art.  It hasn't been easy.  I'm the new kid on the block...time will tell.

In addition to Local Color, the Downtown Joplin Alliance has started a farmer's market in their donated building at 931 E 4th Street.  It was used by Empire Electric for years and now it's being "up-cycled".  And personally, it's about time that Joplin had a farmer's market!!  There's more of a variety of vendors there including my little group of five ladies aka The Market Artisans.  Allow me to introduce Dianne Miller - glass artist, Barb Dedrickson - pine needles weaver and gourd artist, Kristin Girard - jeweler, Brenda Hayes - fiber artist and, let's face it, she can do most anything and myself!  I love this group, we are so supportive of each other.  We take turns "minding" the booth (which is a wonderful set up made by Jim Miller, Dianne's husband) each week so no one person gets burnt out going every Saturday to the Market for 5 - 6 hours!  The minder puts out the majority of her work and the rest of us fill in the gaps, making little vignettes where people see how everything compliments each other.  We've had a few slow weeks, but anticipate a very busy holiday season ahead!  I truly look forward to my weeks.  I've seen people from my home town, old yoga classes, dog people, pottery people and just friends from all over.  If you live neat the Joplin area, I highly encourage you to check it out.  It's every Saturday from 10am to 3pm!!

Here are a couple pics from last weeks market:

Those adorable pumpkin gourds are selling like hot cakes!

So those are just two new endeavors.  Then I have come to realize that even if people aren't buying my pottery, they LOVE to make it themselves!  That means CLASSES!  Now, I have two places to do that, ArtForms (at Cow Creek Pottery) in Pittsburg and here locally at Local Color.  I just finished a Wind Chime workshop at Local Color last night and even though we did run out of time, the ladies had a great time creating their own unique piece of art.  I'm going to try to have one workshop at each place once a month...good luck with that one.

Here are some up coming events:

While I'm at it, I want to highlight student work from a previous workshop in Pittsburg where I just finished a butter dish workshop...these guys hit it out of the park!!  I hope the pic doesn't look distorted.  I did the green one and the others were my students.

And since I have all these classes that use stoneware versus the B Mix and porcelain that I normally use, I have lots of "scrap" clay left over which is totally reusable.  So I've told myself that I'm going to use up the stoneware before I get back to either of my usuals which means that I've changed what I make just a bit and it seems to fit the Market clientele better...here's some new old work.

Ok, you whom I can't see...I've feel much better about not being active...oh, one more thing.  I've started doing little water color cards (another Market product) that have been going over very well and it's another creative outlet!

So if you have actually read this.  Let me know. Leave some comments!
Thanks!

A brief respite from posts

    I know that usually I devote my posting to publishing pictures of recent creations.  I make use of the adage of a picture is worth a thousand words.  Could that be?  Am I just lazy?  It seems like I'm exploring all the creative outlets possible with my clay, sometimes water colors and even textile endeavors and then the marketing or "tooting of my own horn" has to come into play.  I'm telling you it's exhausting.  I love creating, I just wish people would instantly know that I've done the creating with my constant words.  When ever I do look at either this blog spot or my web site, I'm appalled at the amount of time that has escaped since the last post...forgive my human weaknesses.
   I have been busy.  I'm always busy.  I've spent a lot of time setting up my space at ArtForms LLC, www.artforms-gallery.com in Pittsburg, KS.  And not only that which isn't all that time consuming, I'm doing the accounting work for the gallery including figuring the commissions for the approximately 20 artists involved and the financial reports that will allow the partners to file their individual income taxes.  It's very important to me that each artist is paid correctly and that means working with the other 19 artists who work in the gallery to make sure sales are correctly recorded.  It can be challenging but I do love working with numbers too!  I know weird artist working with numbers and enjoying it..go figure (oh,  a little pun there).
   And then there is Joplin Regional Artists Coalition www.joplinrac.org  where I'm the Treasurer.  It's a growing artists group local more to Joplin, but still within a 100 mile radius.  That's more of a keeping track of members sort of thing, but yes, it too involves numbers...just not quite so intense as ArtForms.
  Then let's see, I've done shows in Topeka, KS and Atlanta, GA in October.  There were three or four different open house/Christmas shows in November and December.  The one in my home was a great success.  It was over a couple days that worked better for people's schedules.  It was a bit strange in that my "regulars" didn't necessarily come and spend a bunch (with a few exceptions), rather I had new people who hadn't been to my studio before...some who came back a second time...always nice.
  The best thing was Christmas...both of my girls were home and in celebration of that and because it was about time , I bought myself a most excellent Christmas present...a St Bernard puppy!!!  Her name is Lucy and she is, well, she is a puppy first of all and a St. Bernard second of all.  My hope is that she will be a therapy dogs just like her greyhound "cousins".  I know she loves everyone...maybe with the exception of that pet turkey she met last Saturday.  She didn't really know what to make of that. 
   The only down side is my beloved 10 year old male St. Bernard has bone cancer which has been operated on once so far.  I'm going to take this a day at a time, but my priorities are shifted for a while and I trust that everyone will be understanding.  My dogs are my family too ...so there, there are some words, but I'm going to add a pic just because...

More MIshima...

Some of these pieces are sold, but I'm trying to churn them out...more, more, more.  And I now have my own computerized kiln...going to get it properly wired on Tuesday, then watch out!!