THANK YOU TO ALL WHO VISITED THE STUDIO THE PAST TWO WEEKENDS FOR OPEN STUDIOS!
So much gratitude for all 900 of you that came through my studio this during this years Open Studios Art Tour. It’s a lot of work to prep for this event but your conversations, thoughtful compliments and purchases make it all worth it! I hope you loved seeing my latest work from the Bone and Umbel Series, it was so fun to have a custom blue wall in the studio and watch you take selfies and family photos in front of it.
I’m hoping to have this piece done to share at Open Studios this weekend, but at the very least, it will be a work in progress to share! I’m really excited about the final steel form that my husband designed and adding on the ceramic flower heads makes it even better. I’m in the process of epoxying on each flower, sanding the connection point to create an even flow between the steel and ceramic and then painting the epoxy to match. It’s a time consuming process but of sanding and adding epoxy, but it’s worth all the effort in the end.
I’ve been wanting to make Fennel shaped umbel flowers for a long time now, I love their upside down umbrella structure with little bulbs of color on the ends of each pedicel. So I’ve collaborated again with my husband Nate to try to figure out how to weld up a steel structure for the ceramic flower heads to attach to. It’s still a work in progress but I’m really excited to get these assembled. Here’s what we’ve got going so far…
The main steel structure is designed to have 18 points and then each ceramic flower head has 18 smaller points and each of those has 18 points, so that the whole structure is a repetition of itself. Patterns like these are found all over in nature but I also love that each piece in individual and unique at the same time.
Way back in 2012, my work was included in the second issue of Ceramics Now Magazine and now nine years later I’m a featured artist on their website. They have work from my Lichen Series and Bone Series from 2014 -2021 posted now. Check it out here…
I was so lucky to have two great articles written about my installation at the Price Sculpture Forest. The Whidbey News Times did an article as well as the Whidbey Weekly – be sure to check them out!
Day three working on the installation was spent getting the 4th section of the composition installed and laying out the last section. It was a shorter working day because I was invited to a potluck by local artists and supporters of the Price Sculpture Forest. It was so lovely to meet everyone and get a chance to take in the gorgeous views the island has to offer. The community here has been so welcoming and supportive of my contribution to the forest. I will definitely be back here again but for playtime instead of work next time.
Day four was filled with finishing up the last section of the circle and then pouring concrete underneath the last three sections. It was tricky to get the concrete to run everywhere but we made it work and eventually everything was covered, with some drainage areas designed in too. There is so much that goes into creating a site specific installation like this; so many hours, so much labor and materials that are beyond the main medium of ceramics. The ceramic pieces are obviously the focus, but all the support systems that are built to showcase the ceramic pieces are often more work, cost and effort and yet go sort of unseen. Tomorrow will be the final work day on site and we’ll backfill over the concrete so the forest floor can return to its natural state and the piece will become a part of the landscape.
I’m really grateful for all the help I received to make this piece possible, from my husband Nate with design and fabrication ideas, to my artist neighbors sourcing materials for me and offering advice and to Scott Price for his vision on this sculpture forest, and who has been getting his hands dirty everyday helping me make this installation a reality. It takes a village to raise and artist and I’m so grateful to my village.
Final photos will be coming next week… stay tuned!
