Well, it has been about three months since I have been able to get in the studio as much as I'd like, and I think that I have gotten a system down. There is definitely still some room for tweaking, but I'm pretty happy with the consistency of my results at this point, which is saying something. At first, a new firing method and new materials was pretty daunting, but I think that the challenge of adapting to suit my new environment has pushed me to make better pieces, and I'm definitely looking forward to seeing what I can come up with here.
In other news, I am teaching a surface design workshop and mini-class next session (Jan-Feb) at Sawtooth for those of you in the Winston-Salem area. I'm super excited about it. The catalog will be out soon with more information. Also, the winter sale at Sawtooth called,"Deck the Halls" opens in December, so if you are looking for an awesome handmade present to give to someone this holiday season come check it out. The opening party is November 29th, more information is available on Sawtooth's website here.
Without further ado, here are some recent photos!!! These pieces will be available at Deck the Halls! Enjoy, Bianca
My first all around success in my new studio! Adjusting to this new firing method seems like it is taking forever!! But I finally feel that I am getting somewhere. It's just in time too, because when the new year rolls around I have to be ready to start teaching again!
So, I finally managed to get my Etsy store up and running. (Etsy link: http://www.etsy.com/shop/biancawilliams) This last batch of pots came out really well. I have lots of small pieces and a few big ones. Which will be for sale while they last. So, check em out. I've posted some examples of the work for sale below. Right now I am trying to do two things: I am developing a narrative that will be populated by my own characters. This is something that I have been wanting to do for forever, and I finally have some time to do it, I can't even describe how happy I am about this! There will a long paper on what the my narrative's goals are, how it came about, and how I want it to function in society that I will post here when it is finished. Probably not to everyone's taste, but with my background in creative writing and English I can't resist. The pieces are scheduled to become available as they are finished but the very best ones will be saved for Sawtooth's Deck the Halls Christmas sale event in the beginning of December. (Here is the link to Sawtooth's website: Sawtooth.org) Community studios are priceless and they need to be supported so if you are in the area in December I highly recommend stopping in, you won't be dissapointed.
In other news my business cards have arrived, and if you haven't seen them they look terrific. The folks over at Moo.com did great job and the process couldn't have been easier. You can see the pictures below as well.
I feel like I am finally starting to edge my way into my studio's inner workings (all it took was an absurd amount of questions from me and one very timely cleaning of a very dirty spray booth, or in other words two hours of me scraping dried glaze out a box the size of a refrigerator). I work in a community space and I am really appreciating all the input I am getting from these great new people.
In my next post I will be giving a short tour of my sketchbook. I love looking at other artist's sketchbooks so I hope you will enjoy mine!
So, I'm finally settling in, after what seems like forever but, in truth, has only been a month, to my new studio. I haven't been the new person anywhere in a long time, and there are a lot of adjustments that I will have to make whether I want to or not. The most important one being that my new studio fires in a reduction gas kiln... as a person who almost exclusively uses clear glaze to coat the outside of her work this is a huge problem. The clay and the glaze absorb a huge amount of smoke from the atmosphere coating everything in gray, which obliterates a lot of my designs and colors. I have managed to procure an electric kiln for this batch of pieces because they are already scheduled to go to different spaces and people, but this means that I will have to do a lot of testing to figure out what I can and cannot do, and I am kicking myself for not thinking of this earlier. Sooooo, if anyone has a recipe for a clear glaze that stays clear in reduction I would love to hear it. Otherwise, if you need to find me, I'll be the one with the huge stack of test tiles in the glazing room.
On a happier note, I went to Asheville the other weekend with my awesome family to check out some of the art galleries and studios, and got to tour Odyssey and talk to several people in their studios. They all made it seem infinitely more reasonable to go there than I thought it would be, and I have renewed hope for applying there in the future. Also, on this trip I went into a few stores that I think would be willing to sell my work (provided I can actually make some). I hope this works out, but it will be along time coming because of the learning curve that reduction firing has given me. I've been at the studio a lot these last two weeks but I haven't really managed to make anything that I would consider a success yet.
And........ the video that was made about my last body of work is finally finished and making its rounds on the internet. I posted it below with a picture of my first finished mug, and a snapshot of my new studio. Enjoy!
