Winner, winner Chicken dinner!!

The 68th annual membership show for Spiva Center for the Arts in Joplin opened last Friday, November 13th.  And I won third in 3D!!  To think that I entertained the idea of not entering at all.  See, I already knew what a couple of my friends were going to enter and thought it was an exercise in futility.  Goes to show that you just never know and it's all subjective.  Oh, and the darn piece sold too!! Fortunately, the new owner is Suzi Huntington owner of our local Crackpot Pottery clay studio.  I might have to borrow it for our groups exhibit at the KC NECEA show, March 2016.

But I'm working on another one that is in a darker clay body, so we shall see!

Here are the other 3D winners...all my friends!!

My good friend Debbie Reed's work that took over a year to complete. Honorable Mention.

My favorite jeweler, Randy Wright - always awesome.  Honorable Mention.

Steve Doerr - First Place.

Wm. Jeffrey Jones - 2nd Place.

Justin Hale - another Honorable Mention.

Linda Brown - the final Honorable Mention.
A pretty awesome bunch of people...so great!!

Look what I did!!

Today was an art kind of day. Demonstrated my clay art at a local gallery, Rose Gallery, for their open house of which I have proud to be included in their long list of artists.  Then I took a break in the middle to attend a class at Spiva Center for the Arts.  Learned a bit about fused glass art.  A quick insight into cutting glass and making a plate.  It was so much fun!!! Then back to the Rose Gallery to do more demos with clay.  I did manage to make quite a few ornaments and a few trays, a couple that were sectioned and one that I stretched.  All in a day off!!

Happenings ...November 2015

Sincerely, I just don't seem to understand where the time goes.  I suppose it flies by so quickly because 1)  working full time, 2) trying to work out on a regular basis just to stay healthy, 3) spending time with my St Bernard and 4) creating pottery and on the side throw in a bit of water color.... gee, I wonder....oh and try to make time for my girls and family every now and again..
Oh well, that's my life...busy.  And that is why, I'm constantly "behind" on posting on my web site...please, don't give up on me.
At present, I'm working on making an entry for the Cone Box show...so little things.  And I've been commissioned to make a complete little tea set including a tea pot, creamer and sugar bowl, 4 little cups and a tray.  So, of course, I had to give this customer a choice making 6 different pots and all that goes with those....over kill?

These are just two and they are NOT complete...I should have fours complete sets this week, at least thrown.  Then they have to be fired, glazed and high fired.  Hopefully, all done before December 1st.

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The above pics are just a few more recent creations.
Then I have a few more pieces where I've used decals.  It was really interesting how the glaze changed after the third firing.  The purple really popped

more things to show

Seriously, where does the time go?  Seems like I bust my butt trying to make new things (got to admit that I've been freaking out about over extending myself with all the shows coming up).  Then I feel ok about where I am at with my pottery and realize that I haven't kept up on the postings on blogs, social media and my web site...I need a clone, someone who can just do things by reading my mind.  Oh well, that isn't an options....here are pics of newer work over the summer. I hope you enjoy.  I know that truly I do enjoy the whole pottery making process.

 given to my friend, Melody

Sold at the Joplin Art Festival

 was at Spiva Center for the Arts

see Rose Gallery

 family vase...my girls on this side

At the Rose gallery

 sold at the Joplin Arts Festival

bud vases

Artist in Residence at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, KC MO

If you have been reading my blog (which I'm not so sure that there are that many of you doing just that), you know that I have some of my work for sale at the gift shop here at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, MO.  This has been  quite an honor for me since the Nelson is one of the top notch art museums in the area...maybe the best.  The staff has made me feel quite special by asking me to do basically a residency even though it was just for a few hours.  I am part of the "Artists is In" by demonstrating my art.  Couldn't quite see hauling my wheel up to KC, but I managed to do some hand building.  It was fun to engage the little ones by having them play with my texture tools on a slab to make their own art.  One little guy showed me a new way to use one of my texture tools just by using the opposite end...which I have used in some of my work.

I was most pleased by the fact that of all the pieces that I brought for the museum to sell, there wer only three pieces left!  That means more for them to buy later!!  And I have been asked to demo again in December!!! Thanks to Kory and her staff!!!

Prize won in "In Flight" show in Mount Vernon!

So here is yours truly in front of my entry into Joplin Regional Artists Coalition's show, "In Flight".  I won third in the 3D.  Thanks to JRAC and the MARC in Mount Vernon for providing the venue for the show.  For Joplin area artist's, I'd strongly recommend joining this wonderful group. We have tons of shows and a lot of them actually have cash prizes.  It's nice to get the recognition and network with a great bunch of talented folks!!

Joplin's First Thursday

So I will be participating in Joplin's 1st First Thursday on July 2nd.  This is a new thing for Joplin.  Eight years ago the powers that be started Joplin's Art Walk which was entitled Third Thursday.  It was a great effort to revitalize the downtown Joplin area.  It worked BUT what has evolved over the years is more of a family festival with more emphasize on outside activities as opposed to the actual art itself.  This new event will concentrate on the art not bouncy houses.  We hope that this will fill the need to show case all the really great artists in the Joplin area.  


It would be wonderful if the art lovers of Joplin will support this event.  Hope to see you there!!

Recent booth shots

So as you may or may not know, I belong to Midwest Clay Artists, a regional group of clay artists within a 100 mile radius of Joplin, MO.  We have sales twice a year at a local strip mall.  These sales are held prior to Mother's Day and Thanksgiving.

I believe that this sale had 15 different artists participating.  The weather was glorious and  as always we have a great time just catching up. 

These are two shots of my set up with me at the cash register above.  Have I ever mentioned that I by career choice am an accountant?  All my artist friends love that about me, so guess who usually handles the money?  Yep, you figured that out.

Here is a good pic of the little trays that I've been doing.  Some are sushi sets and some are just little trays with or without "compartments". They are textured which is just a blast. Sometimes, I find it hard to stop making them and as long as they sell, I will just keep on keeping on.

This is a pic of my booth at Joplin's Taste of Home event.  Please, note the colorful cutting boards and coasters in the display.  I have those made from my original watercolor paintings.  They are a fun distraction and add a lot of color to the booth.

I hope this helps the viewer get more of a feel for what my work looks like as a whole versus just a single picture at a time.

Work in May 2015

Just a very small sampling of the latest firings.  I'll add more pics of the other work at a later date.  I know this doesn't show it, but I really went crazy when it came to making cups, serving trays and those ice cream bowls which are shown above.  The glazing is similar...love the combination of the blue ash and the dark yummy chocolate temuko.  They meld together nicely..then add a dash of ash just to make it more interesting.  I truly love glazing!!!

oops, this is the real one

I forgot which pot was the one in progress.  This is the correct pot.  There are lotus and koi carved into the body of it which are quite muted by the glaze.  I love the way the glaze flowed down the pot.

And the finished products!

Here they are....I hope you like them!!

work in progress

here are just a couple of my latest pots in the works.  Please, note my little studio helper in the background!