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Ok so it's only been a few years since I've posted anything. I've decided to turn this blog into my ceramic art/etsy/shows & sales blog. There will be some work going on. I'll be deleting anything that has links to family blogs etc and my personal postings for privacy issues. Anyhoo, keep checking back if you are interested in keeping up with my art!

xoxoxoxox
Michelle

A little late... but I still had to share... NCECA 2008

So yes, Way back when I went to NYC we also went to the annual NCECA conference (which was the whole point of the trip to begin with). This year it was in Pittsburgh, PA. So it's been awhile and I've forgotten a lot of the juicy details... look, pretty pictures! Um, lets see... this was our room... it was HUGE... you can't even see the bar or the beds or the bathroom! And here you see Melany demonstrating her guitar hero skills.

When you think of Pittsburgh some words that come to mind may include... industrial.... steel... dirty. Yeah, that was pretty much it. Na, it really wasn't as scary as I was expecting. However, it was a little difficult to navigate around town due to construction. Here you see the bus station that we stumbled upon in an attempt to find a shortcut to the hotel. It wasn't actually a short cut... we just kept dead ending at more construction... with out hotel in sight just through the fence. But then we may have never found this really cool dome thing so meh, a price worth paying.

Oh yeah, and we made a trip to Hershey, PA to see the Hershey factory. I still don't even know what to say about this one. It was a hit and run and they were about to close... and frankly, I'm just confused. It was kind of like Celebration Station only with dancing singing cows... and computer simulated "factory"... not at all what any of us were expecting... but hey, we looted the gift shop and walked away with a ton of chocolate so all was well.



It just wouldn't be NCECA without some ceramics pics so here's a few of my favorites. The army grenade was life size so the army men inside were impressively small and detailed. The middle is just a really cool flask. And hey, look ma, the last one is the guy from Texas, Ryan McKerley... the one who made that cup that you won in the raffle. Good stuffs.




I have to say I was a little disappointed with the conference this year... the demonstrators were... questionable, to say the least. It just wasn't as organized and it was difficult to get around to all the shows. It was actually supposed to be in New Orleans this year. So considering they did just throw it together I suppose they did a decent job. Maybe I just had a spectacular sampling the year before. And here is one of the demonstrators... wow. She didn't bring any tools or anything so she was just grabbing what she saw and slapping it together. She says this is just how she works and that's fine and all... but a little more planning for oooo the biggest national ceramic conference ever might be nice. The end product was... well you can draw your own conclusions.

Ah, so much to say. Saw Conroy's show, not impressed. There was a lot of bridges. OH... and as we were loading up the car for the trip home at 5amish it started snowing. Like real big flakes. Not that silly Texas stuff so I got to experience my first real snow falling. :)

Thesis Show and Graduation

I get to pick up my diploma tomorrow! Woohooo! I didn't walk (had to stick with the family tradition) but I really just wanted everyone to come to the show anyways.
For those who couldn't make it out: I did my thesis on a series of bottles called "Message on a Bottle." Conceptually, I was focusing on the concept of prayer. So I had people write out a personal prayer in their own hand writing and then I transferred them onto the bottles. Each bottle was soda fired to about 2400 degrees making them translucent so that they could be illuminated from the inside. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. After talking to a fellow artist who was requesting female volunteers to allow her to cast their breasts I came to the sad realization that it's easier to get someone to take their clothes off than it is to get someone to take five minutes to write down one of their personal prayers. Over the past year I've been collecting prayers from anyone who was willing to contribute to the cause. By the end of it, there was Christian, Jewish, Wiccan etc... prayers, children's prayers, elderly's prayers, drawings and prayers in several different languages. I am grateful for all the people who were willing to share something so precious and personal with me. It was a very humbling experience. The most intriguing prayers I read were the ones written by children. I wonder what I would have prayed for when I was little. God bless the innocence of childhood.
I've spent the past year trying to perfect all the details that went into this show. Everything from formulating the perfect clay body that would be translucent when lit (who knew there was so much chemistry in ceramics), making all the molds for the bottles, trying to perfect a rather complicated process of screen printing on clay, making all the custom pedestals (thanks mom and dad!) and installing and wiring all the lights. It certainly wasn't a smooth ride. In just the last semester I missed about two weeks work time while I was in NYC and Pittsburgh. Oh, and than about 3 weeks before the show all the bricks fell out of the door to the soda kiln I was using so I had to manually brick it up which takes about an hour longer to do... and then it takes twice as long to get to temperature. *eye twitch* Bad times.
All in all... after all the all-nighters, sleeping on top of tables in the studio with fireproof jackets for blankets (I'm sure the maintenance man thought we were crazy), and all the burns (because I was too impatient to let it cool down to unload) I would do it again in a heartbeat. Well OK... maybe after a few weeks to catch up on some sleep and family. :) One thing I do know is I have some really awesome family and friends. Thanks for all your help and moral support... I wouldn't have made it without you all.
So now you're all wondering where I go from here.
I think I'll take some time off to see which way God sees fit.

NYC

Well New York city was pretty much what I expected. It was crowded, everyone was in a rush, and everything was overpriced. We spent $80.00 on tolls and parking around NYC alone! I think my favorite part was China Town and Little Italy. Central Park was really neat, and I got to see the Guggenheim Museum and the Met Museum. We walked round about 15 miles the first day... needless to say I have some pretty nasty blisters. After that day we figured out the metro and sub system real quick. The St. Patricks day parade was a real bummer and it didnt help that it was 17 degrees with the wind chill. There was, no joke, a Starbucks on every corner and a Walgreens on every other one. There is too much to even mention. So... i'll just bring on the pics... in order from the top. 1)Central Park 2)Patty's Day Parade cops 3)Little Italy 4)Me at the MET with a big ol' pot 5)traffic 6) Twin Towers Ground Zero 7)St. Patricks Cathedral 8) Times Square 9) sky 10)sub station

Louieville, Kentucky & NCECA 2007

Our hotel in Louieville was pretty nice as well. The bathroom was tiny, but we had a fridge and a microwave AND I had a real coffeepot that made 4 cups of coffee!! Wheeee!! Probably the best part was waking up every morning and stepping outside to see Diane Sawyer's shining face.
But it could have been worse... If our hotel had been just a few blocks down it would have been The Kernal's face instead. Soooo I can't complain too much.
Louieville was a little more lively than Frankfort. We spent a day walking around town. There was a LOT of wig shops, and (much to my disapointment) the coffeehouses still closed at 5, as well as everything else. I found a little courtyard at a church next to our hotel that became one of my favorite spots. Every morning I got up early (8am) and took my camera for a walk, but I always stopped at the courtyard to drink my coffee. The church steeple became my guide back to the hotel whenever I was lost down town.
The guest speaker for the opening ceremonies was Bob Edwards, an XM satellite radio show host. He pretty much just went through everyone that was running for election and made lots of political jokes that went right over my head. I don't think I understood two words that came out of his mouth... well ok, truth is, as soon as I figured out it was political I just tuned out. Bad habit I guess.
The next day we did our gallery tours. There was so much to see, I still haven't been able to take it all in. But I'll give you the brief on a few pics I took.
One of the gallerys was all place settings. That was pretty neat to see. All the tables were designed aroud the tableware. Everything from the lighting to the style of silverware matched the pieces.


Outside one of the gallerys there was a HUGE old smokestack that we decided to climb while we were waiting for the bus.




I saw some beautiful functional work and then some pretty creepy ones as well.






I got a lot of new tools from suppliers and some info on grad schools. Blue Highway, a bluegrass band, did a performance one night that was really neat... from what I could hear anyways. I just can't wait for next year.