Okay, to be honest, it may not have actually been sent yet!
As some of you may know, I have been quite busy preparing for my first solo art show for my pottery. It has been a lot of fun, but also quite challenging from an organizational and emotional standpoint.
Last week I was able to complete all of the pieces that I want to include in the show except for one. I lost a sculptural piece that I had spent over 24 hours working on. The piece was delicate and complicated. It is also now in numerous pieces.
I don’t regret making the piece, as it was a good lesson of learning when to let go.
Yesterday we set up the show! I am really pleased with the results. It was a great day, albeit a somewhat challenging set up that involved drilling into a concrete wall. Matthew, who is the lifeblood of this gallery was an incredible help.
There are two ways you can attend the show! If you are local to the area, please join us at the Oxford Riverside Gallery in Oxford, Nova Scotia on Friday August 30th from 7:00 P.M. – 9:00 P.M. for opening night. The show runs from August 30th – September 27th in case you miss the opening night.
Now I know many of you are located all over this beautiful world, but fear not, you can still share the experience of my opening night! This coming Saturday, I have a special opening planned for you! I will be posting a video of the show. I hope you will ‘virtually’ join me! Until then, here is a sneak peak of some of the close ups of the pieces in the show:
The name of the show is called ‘The Myth of Family’ and will explore the idea of family from a spiritual, cultural, emotional, and personal perspective through the use of sculpture and vases. Each piece tells part of the interwoven story that explores our collective roots and the twisted branches that tell the tale of our human family and experience through myths and stories from around the world and throughout time. The works included in this show are representative of my works over the last year.
In the meantime, you can check out more of my vases here! And if your are a facebook user, be sure to check out my page and show it a little love!
If you have read this far, I am going to let you in on a little secret. Soon I hope to launch a campaign to complete my first book, ‘A Potter’s Dream – Myths & Legends’. I am contemplating a kickstarter style campaign to defray some of the printing costs, where people can get an advance copy of the book. Some of the perks will even include raku pottery pieces! I hope to have more news on this soon. Would this type of project interest you?
In other news, I decided that everyone is a winner for our August edition of ‘Name that Vase’. There were so many great ideas and different takes on names for that vase that I have included a copy of the blog post and all your writing with it at the show, and a QR code that people can scan. You can read all of the ideas, writing and prose people submitted here.
I want all of my regular readers to know that I am deeply appreciative and grateful for all your encouragement and support. It means so much to me, and you have all played a role in making my first solo show possible!
Good luck with your show and book.
Thank you so much for your well wishes! I hope you are having a good weekend!
best wishes for your show!
Thank you so much! Sorry for the late reply! I hope you are having a wonderful weekend!
I wish I could have been there! Congrats! You’re going places, my friend!
Thank you so much Nova! Your support and positivity has meant a lot to me as I started here on wordpress! Sorry for the late reply, it seems some wordpress gremlins hid a few comments on this thread from me! I hope you are well and having a wonderful weekend 😉
I, for one, would be very interested. And needless to say, so would be Rocky & Missy!
Good luck on your show! By the way, I don’t think I ever replied to your email from a while ago. I am still interested in your throwing a piece for my dining room table– when you have the time.
M
Thanks for your kind comment! I think the wordpress gremlins hid it from me for awhile, but I am glad I found it! I am going to get that piece done for you soon. I should be throwing this weekend if we do not lose power here and I will send you a few photos of unglazed pieces so that you can choose the shape that resonates with you the most.
I hope that Rocky and Missy and all are doing well 😉
Alas, the 1,650 mile commute is a bit much. But I hope you have a fabulous show, even without my not-terribly-humble presence. [smile]
haha! Your presence was missed, but it was a great show! Thanks for your kind wishes Josh and I hope you are having a good weekend. I apologize for the late reply, I only saw this comment now for some reason.
Enjoy the journey. What a lovely feeling of family and creative awe you create through your posts and pottery. I imagine the people who come to your show will feel that sense of awe and family as well.
Thank you so much Jane! That is one of the best compliments that I could receive! You made my morning. I am so sorry for the late reply. I am only seeing this comment now. I hope you are doing well and that you have a lovely weekend! We are bracing to get hit by the hurricane/tropical storm here in Nova Scotia! I may get to sculpt by candlelight!
Congratulations! ❤️
Thank you!
Congratulations! It’s fun and exhilarating to be able to do this but can also be nerve racking! Have fun!!
Thanks for the congratulations! You are right on all of those insights! It was a great night and now I feel like I can relax! I hope you are having a wonderful weekend!
Good vibrations for a successful show!
Thank you so much! The show went very well! I appreciate those good vibes 😉 I hope you are having a wonderful weekend!
Stoke on Trent to Oxford in England is far enough! Have a great show!
haha! Indeed!
Lol
Some beautiful pieces, the glaze reminds me of Machiko work. Good luck with the show.
Thank you so much for your kind comment and the flattering comparison! I hope you are having a wonderful weekend!
Best of luck with your show tomorrow, Jay!
Since I read your tweet about the financial issues of artists,
I thought about how you can may increase your sales online and since your vases are set prices, maybe after the show you can put up a web-shop up which displays your items with prices for straight order.
I just say that from a customer perspective: Whenever I have to mail first to get a price, I feel a hurdle to overcome which you probably could diminish with an own shop.
But then again: maybe you have reasons for not putting out your prices straight away – you know best.
A successful time to all of you involved (you occasionally say “we”,
so maybe you are Harry Potter who has a bunch of house-elves for helpers).
Since this show is over, and I don’t clutter valuable other contents anymore,
I comment here about your website.
You know that a week ago I did send you two much to fast replies about your comments not working?
I actually have a suspicion what the problem here is:
Your comments are posted very slow, so are the likes,
and your likes sometimes don’t even load (I could not like your last comment to me for example),
So there are two potential causes for it:
Either your webspace is on a very slow server,
but that is hardly the problem, because the rest of your website loads fine;
or you may have some wordpress plugins running which make the site slow.
Maybe two of your plugins slow down each other.
I guess the best you or the person who deals with your website can do is to observe the site from a perspective of another external wordpress user.
In case you or your webmaster have questions, feel free to get back to me, because I did program websites in the past.
—
And btw: Thank you for your other comment about my two articles about the divine you liked.
This makes me happy, because there are few who even are interested in this matter.
I am currently looking into the issues you mention. I know part of the problem was that last week I was very busy with getting ready for the show!
I love your site for the information that it contains! I have spent a bit more time looking at it more closely and will do so again! Your information resonates with me.
Your preview is just beautiful. Have a wonderful show! Enjoy every moment. Wish I could visit it in person 😊
Thank you so much for your very kind words 😉 It was a great night, and I hope to have the video from it posted soon to share 😉 I hope you are having a wonderful weekend!
I’m happy to hear it was so nice. Looking forward to the video! Thank you 😊. May you have a wonderful weekend as well 🌷
Thank you for your kind words! I have managed to get the video up finally 😉
I’ll check it out 😉
Sweet! Let me know what you think of it 😉
Best wishes, great post
Thank you so much for your kind words. I hope you are having a wonderful day!
“In other news, I decided that everyone is a winner for our August edition of ‘Name that Vase’. There were so many great ideas and different takes on names for that vase ” : it’s a new way – and it’s the better one
Do you have a picture of the complicated piece that didn’t quite make it- b for it didn’t quite make it? One if the nice things about paper mache is it’s really hard 2 break a sculpture made from it .
Yes I do have a photo of it. I did not take any pictures after breaking, but you can find an image of it here:
https://rakupottery.ca/2019/03/07/studio-talk-burning-the-midnight-oil/
It’s the piece on the right side of the banner. Thinking of it now, I may have been naive in thinking it would survive!
It’s beautiful- I like the tree to. If you wanted to try recreating it that piece would b relatively e z 2 make with paper mache- or u could even take the busted ceramic parts and mache them together. And it’s also impressive for something made under sleep deprivation conditions 🙂
Thank you so much! I did have much love for that piece. I am not sure what I am going to do with the remains of the piece yet. I may try to build another piece that is similar incorporating what I have learned for another show coming up in 2020. I hope your week is off to a great start!
I remember asking you, sometime back, whether you’d had “shows”–and now here you are, here it is. HUGE CONGRATS TO YOU!
Thank you so much! I feel blessed to be able to move forward with my art work and to be able to have others see it and interact with it. It is truly a privilege. I hope you are having a wonderful weekend so far!
BRAVO–you should feel very proud.
Best wishes for your opening. How exciting!
Thank you so very much for your kind wishes! I hope you have been having a wonderful weekend!
Congratulations on the show! That is epic! The list items suck but onwards and upwards. I am really quite excited for you.
Thank you so much Mandy! I truly appreciate your support and encouragement. To me that is epic! Hope you are well 😉
I have no doubt that you will just shine at your show. Your work is stunning. Best of luck and be sure to let us know the results!
Thank you so much Eugenia! I am hoping to have the video footage that we took at the show edited and up soon!
I look forward to it!
Thanks Eugenia! I have managed to get the video up! I hope your week is off to a wonderful start!
😉
Congratulations! I love the show theme, perfect, and I plan to join you virtually from San Diego! Love your work!
Thank you so much Tiffany! I appreciate your kind words and encouragement! I should have the video up later today! I hope you have been having a great weekend!
Have a wonderful and very successful show. Many people will enjoy swimming in your deep lustrous finishes.
Thank you so much for your very kind comment Michael! Maybe I should have provided some towels 😉 (being silly). I hope you are having a wonderful weekend!
Hello
As I love your work, I allowed myself to nominate you for the Versatile Award! https://altairtheatre.com/2019/08/30/the-versatile-award/ . 🙂
Thanks for the like on my blog
of course! no problem 🙂
Break a leg or whatever positive comment is made for art shows without mentioning the l**k word. Loving the colours 😍
Thanks so much for your kind comment. I am not sure what the correct term is for art shows, but we can borrow that one from the stage. Hope your week is off to a great start.
Thank you for your comment,
but because of previous mentioned issues in your comment (only) is no “reply” function.
So I have to post my reply here.
I think I know the reason for this issue: You can set your threat-limits to 10 levels deep – it currently seems to be set at 3 levels only.
And about your comments regarding my site:
Thank you so much, and it may be worth for you to stay subscribed for a while,
because I just started to write down the chronology of the spiritual development when doing my meditation-yoga.
* starting from karmic lessons,
* followed by how my ego was deconstructed
* up to the mystical insights which come afterwards.
Next time you comment, it may be easier for me if you do it on my blog,
because each time I want to participate in a communication with you here,
I have to allow cross-site-tracking from my browser, which opens all doors for tracking cookies.
(Plus I have very few commenters anyway 😉
from Alchemist to Alchemist <3
I am looking forward to seeing your upcoming content and I will be sure to comment on your blog. I believe I had left a few comments there. I really appreciate and enjoy our dialogue. You have fascinating story and insights.
They’re so beautiful. Congratulations on your first art show. Hope you had fun.
Thanks Florence! It was a great night, surrounded by friends and interesting people. I hope your day is off to a great start!
If I am ever close enough to you I will certainly drop in. I’d love to see your pieces in person. They are beautiful.
Thank you so much! You are always welcome to do so! I hope you are having a good start to your day!