Saratoga Big Shots

Finished and delivered the Shot Glasses

I've been working on a set of shot glasses with a tray for weeks, and finally finished it.  I am entering the piece into a small, local, juried show called "Saratoga Inside Out" at the Saratoga Arts Center. The art is supposed to be based on the icons, landscapes, events, or ideas about Saratoga, but done in a new and creative way. In my piece, each of the 16 shot glasses represents the bars of Caroline Street...which is the center of night life in this town. Funny, because I dont do shots and I dont drink...but this town does...it likes to advertise itself as a community deeply rooted in "health, history, and horses"..but there is another side.

Making the piece was great fun...each cup is thrown, some are altered...then the designs were incised into the surface...after bisquing, underglazes were painted in layers...and transparent  glaze was applied over everything...fired to cone 5/oxidation.

 Saratoga Big Shots

Saratoga shot glasses

Onto more recent news..I am preparing a piece for a juried, local show at the Saratoga Arts Center called "Saratoga Inside Out". The artist is encouraged to examine the icons, symbols, landscape and events of Saratoga, and do something creative, different, and new with the image...

Most people focus on horses...or the landscape surrounding Saratoga..but after dark, Saratoga is all  about the bars..and Caroline Street.  Anyone who  comes out to Saratoga after dark cant help but notice how huge the crowds are and how much drinking is encouraged and used as a big part of our economy..so I decided to use Caroline Street and drinking as a focus for my piece...I made a group of shot glasses, each one representing a bar on Caroline Street...and a tray to  hold them all. As a non-drinker, its kind of a sarcastic approach to the theme...I dont encourage drinking...but I believe its a huge part of what this town is about...so its fitting for the theme...we shall see what the juror thinks..

10th Annual National Juried Cup Show

I entered my first juried cup  show back in March 2010...it was at my undergrad school, Kent State University in Ohio, where I got my BFA in...1975 (where did these years go?).... decided this show would be a good starting point.  I didnt expect to have my cup accepted...but it did! Went to  the opening..it was the first time I had been back to Kent in 15 years...and just enjoyed being there, and seeing all the amazing cups.
Mine had a red dot before the show opened..the first one they sold..really happy about that..

Coyote Celadons

Coyote Celadons are soft and sweet...like sherbet colors...the carvings show through well, with or without black glaze inlaid into the carving.
And the colors are unusual for celadons...the Sampler set includes 8 of their most used color choices.

Some new work for the upcoming shows

This is one of my carved jars, for a show themed on birds...I was inspired by Islamic tile art design as I carved the patterns into this...birds are part of it, but not the main focus.
This was fired at cone 5, in oxidation..electric kiln.

Making the Commitment

..I have been absent from my blog for months...but thats going to  change. I am making the commitment to stay current...to post photos...and to bring my thoughts here.
Having been absent from posting my news and photos in a timely way has created a huge back-up of things I will add over time...

Top Updates:
1. I retired from teaching.
2. I'm making pots full-time.
3. Working with color...finally.
4. Going to find a path to marketing my work.
5. I have a gallery in Woodstock, NY, representing my work..The Bearsville Graphics Studio and Gallery..and a new gallery in Troy, NY, called  "Art!"

Love opening the kiln!! The work in this photo just came out of the kiln last night at my studio at the Beekman Street Artists' Co-op in Saratoga Springs, NY...some of it is carved, black and white, others have colored celadon glazes from Coyote...they are for a upcoming group show at Clement Gallery in Troy, NY, on the theme of birds...
The other color work deeper in the kiln is going to be part of an entry into a local show at the Arts Center in Saratoga, entitled: 'Saratoga Inside Out'. I've made a tray full of colorful, carved shot glasses. I'll post photos when its done...