Spring Is In My Studio

It took its time this year. It did, it really did. Yes, that would be the season known as SPRING that I am referring to. Last week we had snow showers on the Wednesday. How rude! I feel confident that we have finally turned a corner with the weather and we can finally, put all those winter accessories away til the autumn.

Spring sales wait for nobody and I have been working away in the studio in preparation. This coming weekend is the Hamilton Potters Guild sale in Dundas. 94 eager potters will be displaying their wares, myself included. My wheel and kiln have been running full tilt for the last couple of months and I am quite pleased with myself. I had so many people ask me if I had large bowls that would serve as wedding gifts, that I have a nice selection. Not many though!

More Poe inspired pots are currently in the kiln. I have done some large Poe bowls too. They won’t be ready til Thursday night, so no photos I’m afraid!

I will be working the sale on Friday, so pop by and say Hello!

Fancy some coffee? Why not a locally made mug too?

I have been drinking Planet Bean coffee since they opened here in Guelph, many moons ago. I can thank them for the jolt of caffeine when I was dragging my ass while trying to learn how to make pots on the wheel.  They were so conveniently located close to the old studio on Wyndham Street, that I could grab an extra cup or two for the studio mates. That was great, especially when I thought that buying Goldie Sherman an extra cup of Fair Trade Joe would keep her sweet while she patiently shared her wheel wisdom with me. Fortunately, all that apprenticing worked, because I can throw mugs with my eyes closed! Not that I do, I’m just saying I can.

What a great combination of supporting Guelph’s only Fair Trade & Organic coffee roastery AND some of your local potters! All three locations here in Guelph have our mugs until Easter. I was pleasantly surprised by how great the posters turned out (I was only expecting a wee flyer).  A great thing for us ‘downtown creative types’ is that the new folks to Guelph who live South of the ‘Stone Road Border Crossing’ can get an idea of the talents that hide out in other parts of our grand city. Even those folks out in the East end of Guelph can find our work while fueling with caffeine. I don’t know about you, but I find it hard to be in three different places all at once! I get all discombobulated!! Love that word! Feel free to drop that in a casual conversation. You can impress your friends! Hell, buy them a mug and impress them even more!

Before I go, can you guess what I am firing in my kiln? More mugs!!!!

Reduce – Reuse & Repurpose

Happy Spring! Spring has supposedly arrived. You wouldn’t know it today with the cold temperatures and the snow on the ground. I have left winter behind and the case of the flu it left with me. Thanks Old Man Winter, thanks for the three nights of no sleep and an aching body. I am done with you now and have moved on.

While I was surfing the net back in December, I discovered that fun thing called Pinterest. It reminded me of discovering the world wide web for the first time. So many things to look at and poke ‘pins’ into.  I did come across a picture of an old grannie teapot that had been turned into a birdhouse and it got me to thinking. Over ten years ago when I was a student of ceramics at Sheridan, I had made quite a collection of teapots. Some good and some not so much.  I realized that many of them were now cluttering up my shelves and collecting dust.  I didn’t want to get out the trusty hammer and condemn them to the landfill, so I lured my partner in crime to help me make these eazy-peazy birdhouses.

In Guelph, there is this great community workshop space called The Diyode, which my partner just so happens to be a board member of. We had all sorts of tools to make this job quick and painless. Not only that, there was free wood that was used for the bases. We didn’t get too technical or make them too precious, just something a passing nesting bird might want to raise a family in. These were gifts, free, no money exchanged. I have mentioned to people to scour their local charity shops to make their own and keep those old pots out of the landfill.

One of them has been installed down in Burlington. I am patiently waiting for the first occupant.

Studio Tabletop

Studio Tabletop, originally uploaded by BunnySafari.

There is a much different view out of my studio window today. A rather high pile of snow sits on top of the gardens water barrels. Friday we received 30cms of snow. Finally, a proper winter, when I was a kid. I remembered watching my Mum as she shoveled the driveway like a real trooper. She made great piles of snow for me to slide down. I now recall that I may have made her job more difficult by jumping in and out of those piles. Which has come full circle for me as I watched my son jump all over the piles of snow that had accumulated on my driveway…..thanks to the neighbor’s snow blower! I did shovel, I had to make a path out back to my studio. No big deal.

 

There is my Mum doing a fab job of clearing all that white stuff. That was back in 1971. I was too young to hold a camera, so I’ll bet it was Dad, documenting the first winter in the new house. I notice that the snow plow had just been and thus began the job of digging out the bottom of the driveway. I’m 100% convinced that my Mum was probably muttering the odd swear word or two at that point. I guess Dad must have cleared the sidewalk?

Enough Love to Warm the Coldest Winter Heart

Enough Love to Warm the Coldest Winter Heart, originally uploaded by BunnySafari.

Finally, a proper winter has perhaps arrived? Temperatures were bitterly cold last week just as they should be in mid January. Cold enough to freeze the snot in your nose and give you one of those ice cream headaches. So I hunkered down and immersed myself in a fascinating new book about the studio potter Michael Cardew. That still qualifies as work, no? The book is called;

The book is stimulating those creative juices again. I have enjoyed gazing at the sturdy pots that he made, so much so that I have dug out my sketchbooks and sharpened my pencils. Solid, practical forms that look as though they would feel comfortable in the users hands. Thanks to one of my former instructors at Sheridan for the heads up on the book. Nice one Tony Clennell!

What to do while in Paris

What to do while in Paris, originally uploaded by BunnySafari.

Way back in 2000, Mark and I flew to Paris for 5 days before flying down to Mali, West Africa. Paris, ah, yes, oui, Paris. We were out walking enjoying the warm sun when I had a flash of inspiration for a fun photo (way back in the day before crackbook and cell phones). We didn’t quite get the fountain spraying out of my mouth, more my nose really. But after scanning the negs, I just noticed the couple behind my head. I can only imagine what they were thinking. Mind you, I do remember saying to Mark, hell, its not like we know many people in Paris (only one) and we will never see them again………

This is what happens when artistic people need a vacation from their ‘boring, mundane’ lives. I haven’t tried to reshoot a photo like this in years! I guess you can expect something silly in the months to come.

Happy New Year by the way!

Now for the scissors….

Now for the scissors…., originally uploaded by BunnySafari.

I shot a whole roll of film, just cause I can. I think this is morphing into a series. Who knows when the time will come when my son tells me not to bring the damn camera with me anymore.

This one will be a challenge to print in the darkroom. Lots of those hotspots. I will have to wait to January to find out.

Til then, I have been happily very busy throwing pots for the crazy buzy season that is already upon us.