Cyber Monday Sale for 20% Off in my Etsy Store!

The title says it all! In honor of Cyber Monday and because I’ve just added 25 brand new listings to my Etsy store, I added a 20% off discount code for any purchase through this Friday, 12/6/2013. Please enter the code “cyber20” at checkout before completing payment. I will be adding more throughout the week, as well. 🙂 Check out all of my handmade porcelain mug, bowls, serving ware, jewelry, etc. just in time for your Christmas shopping needs or the equally enjoyable act of self-gifting at Alazan Ceramics on Etsy.

 

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11 Fresh Etsy Shop Listings!

I’m gearing up for all those Christmas shoppers who want to support independent craftsmen and shop handmade! In the interest of making as many options available as possible I’m going to be listing most of my inventory over the next few weeks. Check out what’s already up on Alazan Ceramics on Etsy and I’ll let you know as I add more.

Here’s a teaser photo of my pottery display from the most recent Fall Sale & Show.

Craft Guild Sale and a Cup Show

I have officially been accepted again as an artist for the Craft Guild of Dallas 2013 Fall Show and Sale! I’ll provide more details as the event nears, but mark your calendars for Oct. 31st through Nov. 3rd.

I am extremely excited to announce another new development! One of my submissions, a pair of sprigged liquor cups, has been accepted by juror Ben Carter to the Amelia Center Gallery‘s 6th Annual Cup Show: Form and Function at Gulf Coast State College. The show runs from Oct. 18th to Nov. 7th. I am looking forward to seeing the rest of the accepted pieces, too. Hooray!

Harbor Artisan Market, etc.

Hey pottery fans, sorry about the long hiatus! I am officially back on the show circuit, and my next event was just added for this coming Saturday, Sept. 21st. I will be displaying primarily pottery with some jewelry for sale at the inaugural Harbor Artisan Market and Art Festival at the Harbor in Rockwall, TX. The hours extend from 10 am – 6 pm and this event is running in conjunction with a regatta. In addition to up to 50 artists there is plenty of free on-site parking, eateries, shops, a Cinemark movie theater, and a lovely view of Lake Ray Hubbard. The event will likely be bustling (they had ~3,500 attendees last year) so plan accordingly. Hope to see you there!

For more details: Events & News at The Harbor Rockwall

Also, save the date for my next established event, Nov. 1 – 3 for the Fall Sale & Show at The Craft Guild of Dallas in Addison TX. Link here: Craft Guild events and homepage

P.S. The reason my production has temporarily slowed down is to allow me to focus on building my gas-combusting kiln. Here’s a photo of the 8′ x 10′ concrete pad I will be building it on, shortly after completion!

Next on the agenda? Pickup the remainder of the necessary firebrick from the Houston area in Oct-Nov.

Artist Trades = the Best!

I recently completed a trade with the uber-talented watercolorist Kelly McKernan. Check out her website and available artwork/prints HERE.

I completed a partially wheel thrown and partially hand sculpted jewelry tray out of high fire porcelain clay in the shape of a koi-like whiskered and hairy fish with expressive fins per Kelly’s request. Slip colored with blue stain defines the eyes, with pale green glaze on the interior and a responsive copper glaze underneath.

The whiskers are curled upward to allow rings or earrings to dangle securely.

I had to finish sculpting in one day, since porcelain is so finicky and prone to cracking or warping. Fortunately the long hours yielded a successful result.

Some Bright Green glaze colors the fish and tray interior.

 

Ryan’s Green to Black glaze on the exterior, featuring results from a cone 10 salt firing.

Kelly took my suggestions and examples of which pieces in her body of work I loved most and came up with this:

Watercolor painting on 8″ x 8″ cradled watercolor paper by Kelly McKernan.

I know, right? Needless to say it’s gorgeous and I love it. The cradled watercolor paper doesn’t require framing, and just needs a wire installed on the back to hang. If you love it as much as I do the set of mini-prints on Kelly’s web store includes this image, which she titled Elide.

Artist trades really are the best!

NCECA Conference 2013: Finale

Spring always keeps me busier than I expect, so in the interest in covering a lot of ground here’s the remainder of my photos from the most recent NCECA conference in Houston, TX. Almost all of them hail from the Santa Fe Clay La Mesa show, except for the last photo from a demonstration.

Bonnie Seeman cup and saucer.

A gorgeous place setting by the popular potter Molly Hatch.

Bird plates by Donna Polseno.

Lisa Clague expressive sculptural cup.

Leanne McClurg handbuilt dishes.

 

Sculptural bird cup, also by Ms. McClurg.

 

Liz Quackenbush cobalt and gold luster plate.

 

Matt Hyleck simply patterned place setting.

Sam Chung slipcast dishes with artfully aligned rim coloration.

 

Peter Beasecker porcelain string series plates.

 

Gwendolyn Yoppolo 2-person serving set with microcrystalline glazes.

 

Sunshine Cobb handbuilt earthenware basket with sandblasted glaze.

 

David Crane beautifully glazed nested square plates.

 

Kristen Kieffer stamped and patterned place setting.

 

Myungjin Kim place setting with beautiful black sgraffito drawings.

 

Brenda Lichman large soda fired serving bowl.

 

Steven Godfrey bird-topped salt cellar jar.

 

Jake Allee cut and reassembled vase from a live demo.

Photos from The Spring Show & Sale at The Craft Guild of Dallas

Firing back up to temperature after salting.

A solution of roughly 6.5 lbs of salt dissolved in nearly boiling water was sprayed into the kiln in increments, primarily through the rear ports located above the burner ports shown.

Just after opening the door, before unloading.

Almost all of the large pieces warped and/or cracked, and the higher than usual quantity of salt combined with a better volatilization from the water solution resulted in some both gorgeous and repugnant glaze effects. Yet another mixed bag. Thanks a lot lot, porcelain! (said with both sarcasm and appreciation)

TCG table setup after the Friday night reception.

I wore a Sugarhill Boutique horse batik dress from ModCloth with a Cynthia Rowley blazer from TJ Maxx, mint tights from Anthropologie, and All Black eel/fish skin kitten heels to work the Friday night reception.

A close-up of the pots on display, minus back-stock and what’s chilling in the Gallery.

I also have some things in the Gallery space at the front of the building and about 1/2 again as many pots holed up for re-stock and/or future events. I’ll be on hand again Sunday 5/5/2013 from 2-5 pm if you want to see something that’s not on display.

A close-up of some of the pots.

A final close-up featuring a dragon jewelry dish, necklaces, and assorted functional pots.

My work will remain on display through Sunday, so make plans to attend if you’re able! Hours tomorrow run from 10-6 and Sunday from 11-5. TTFN!

 

Spring Show & Sale at The Craft Guild of Dallas

I am proud to announce my continued involvement in the Spring Show and Sale and the Craft Guild of Dallas in Addison, TX next weekend, May 3rd through 5th. Which is to say, I will have a whole slew of pots for sale fresh from the salt kiln being fired tomorrow! All works available are handmade by members and instructors of the Guild and should include functional pottery, sculpture, jewelry, painting, textiles, books, paper art, etc. The reception and silent auction this Friday night runs from 6-9 pm with complimentary food and beverages. Additional regular hours proceed on Saturday from 10 am – 6 pm and Sunday from 11 am – 5 pm. Parking is free and the venue is located near the intersection of Monfort and Beltline, with the nearest parking adjacent to the Guild off of Montfort.

For more details, go to their website: The Craft Guild of Dallas

I hope to see you there! Watch the blog for fresh pottery teaser photos when we open the kiln on Thursday.

NCECA Conference 2013: Pt. 2

This is a continuation of the recap regarding my recent trip to Houston for the NCECA conference. I am like a hound on a scent with taking photos of finished work that I like. Enjoy the following photos with explanations.

Elephant by Lindsay Pichaske.

This clay sculpture of an elephant stood at roughly the height of a large breed dog, and has sunflower seeds carefully encrusted as a sort of strange skin. Lindsay Pichaske was one of the Emerging Artists for the conference.

A close-up of the elephant’s face.

The sculptor’s use of taxidermy eyes and expressive facial features somehow both adds to a sense of beautiful morbidity: lifelike deadness.

The other sculpture on display by Lindsay Pichaske.

This beast has a more human-like face and a strangely proportioned mythological overall appearance. Being coated in ombre silk petals will do that, I suppose.

Another facial close-up.

Onto the functional pottery…

Diana Fayt dinner plate.

 

This is the first of many images from a show I always truly enjoy and have made of habit of photographing at length, La Mesa hosted by Santa Fe Clay. Featuring all manner of tableware, the show always attracts scores of viewers and thus always stays close to the conference center for accessibility’s sake. Diana Fayt, shown above, makes beautiful drawings on her dishes accompanied by animal silhouettes and has a lovely sense of color.

More of her work.

Each artist presented either one or several pieces, in this case Diana Fayt executed a themed place setting.

Stacked plates by Susan Dewsnap.

The beautiful pattern style on Susan Dewsnap’s pieces probably utilize wax to resist the pattern from the glaze and likely received atmospheric firing due to the color variation. I suspect soda firing since much of her work elsewhere reflects that description detail.

The entire place setting.

I love a soda fired porcelain pot with a fumed copper glaze: a woman after my own heart!

Margaret Bohls flower brick.

Despite the name this stamped porcelain pot by Margaret Bohls really is light in weight. A vase to me typically has only one orifice for flora whereas a flower brick offers multiple outlets.

Another place setting, by Sarah Jaeger.

Some more porcelain pots, this time beautiful forms featuring a focus on glaze interface. Sarah Jaeger works meticulously on how she patterns and blends her glazes together.

Place setting by Suze Lindsay.

I have loved the line quality and quiet sophistication in Suze Lindsay‘s pots since my college days. Again, well-executed atmospheric firing brings about part of my admiration.

Multiple slipcast options by Hiroe Hanazono.

Resplendent in pastels a bevy of streamlined self-serving objects pepper this display by Hiroe Hanazono.

Silver luster on a jar by Jeremy Kane.

I am not that familiar with Jeremy Kane but I liked this jar for it’s craftsmanship and humor.

Pticher and teapot by 2 very different potters.

On the left another of my favorite atmospheric potters Charity Davis Woodard has elected to present one of her distinctive pitchers alongside a highly precise and meticulous teapot by an equally talented but totally different artist named Shawn Spangler.

Detail of the Charity Woodard pitcher.

I’m crazy about this form plus the handle feels amazing in my hand.

Oh, the lovely kitsch of Sue Tirrell!

A personal connection to farming and Western culture emerges in these absolutely killer drawings/pots by Sue Tirrell.

Detail of the dinner plate.

Would you be surprised if I told you Anthropologie is currently selling a few of Sue’s designs? I thought not. Also, google Objective Clay before midnight this Thursday to get the skinny on a happening group of potters, some of whom have work featured in this blog post. Stay tuned for the next segment of my conference recap!

NCECA conference 2013: Part 1

I recently returned from the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts conference, which was held in Houston, TX this year. As a native Texan I made sure to attend. I watched and experienced a number of inspiring and significant presentations, demos, and gallery exhibits from which I managed to photograph sporadically. The following should fall primarily into the eye candy category: enjoy!

My donation/entry to the cup sale.

Opposite side.

 

Every year hundreds of potters donate cups to be sold for scholarship funding, with a select few juried into the Cups of Merit category. My cup is grolleg porcelain, thrown on the wheel, altered, darted, stamped, slip-trailed, and finally ornamented with sprig molds.

 

 

Upside down equine.

 

 

The bottom.

 

I always strive to apply visual interest all over my pieces. The salt firing barely touched inside the foot ring, which exhibits a smooth, faintly shiny texture. The brightness of the blue slip goes pastel along with the speckling and fuming in the glaze overall. I quite liked this cup and I hope whomever it ended up with feels an attachment to it.

 

The above images partially serve as a visual record for myself, since I usually forget to photograph pots before they get disseminated into the world. I also added a couple of fresh pieces from other potters to my collection from various sources (18 Hands Gallery, Red Lodge Clay Center, NCECA cup sale) at the conference after a reasonably long hiatus from buying pots.

A. Blair Clemo medium sized bowl.

I try to spread my patronage out amongst the bevy of talent available in the world of ceramics. This texturally varied wheel-thrown and press-molded bowl is my first addition of Blair’s work, with one of his signature patterns and gorgeous bronze glaze around the flared rim.

Finally, I scored a Sue Tirrell horse plate.

If you don’t know already, I have sort of a horse obsession. Not just the subject matter but the beautiful colors, technique, and line quality justified this addition to our carefully curated plate collection. In reality the pots we use in our kitchen most often are the plates so this lunch-sized gem promises to serve us well.

A birthday present for hubby.

A wheel thrown earthenware cup by Adam Posnak jumped out at me, and after returning to it daily for 2 days I knew it was meant for my husband. The skulls, lunar vs. solar, and masonic iconography definitely fall in line with my mister Aaron’s spiritual practice plus the cup just sings with earthy beauty.

Freshen Up cat mug by Chandra DeBuse.

A wrinkly orange kitty, bright colors, and humor attracted me to this piece from a sweet and wonderful potter. The text “Freshen Up” inscribed on the handle makes me want to brush my teeth and drink orange juice from it just to be perverse. Also, I do brush my cats’ teeth, which seems pretty strange to me as a general rule.

Brooke Noble’s sizable Buck Up mug.

I admit to already having a tumbler by Ms. Noble, with vertical lozenges of varying pattern and equine silhouettes, but I couldn’t pass up this antlered face. I found two of my favorites from the handful of re-visits during submission in the cup sale early Friday morning: a cohort and I had lined up an hour early hoping to find at least some of the ones we had our eye on. It’s a beefy mug featuring a buck and bulls-eye on this side with a smaller spotted fawn on the reverse and the text “Buck Up” on the bottom. Definitely a super-sleepy morning kind of vessel suitable for a serious dose of caffeine.

My final NCECA purchase, a Nicole Aquillano house mug.

Part of the beauty of this mug shows clearly in the photo, but one angle cannot encompass the stairwell inscribed within or the house silhouette on the opposite side. The entire porcelain vessel glows with translucence and I find myself surprised that it took me so long to discover this stellar artist. I first saw a plate of her’s with a house drawing on Crimson Laurel Gallery’s website and without any prompting immediately understood and felt an attraction to the work. As I was checking out at the cup sale one of the wrappers informed me that one of her submissions won a Cups of Merit award, which hardly surprises me.

Next time I’ll begin rattling off gallery and demonstration images. I also need to backtrack and cover my gallery show from February. Sorry I’ve been out of the loop with blog posts lately: I’ve been distracted by the NCECA trip and trying to get my bricks in a row for the soda kiln! More on all of that to come, so stay tuned.