Meanwhile... teacups and spoons

Bright and happy sgraffito teacups, tumblers, mug and a giggle of underglazed spoons.

I'm back, she said sheepishly.

Rather than play catch up and make excuses, let's just pretend 

it hasn't been almost a year since I posted last.

We'll just take off from here.

 

Spoons! These are just a touch smaller than regular teaspoons

I've been meaning to make some spoons for quite a while,

and not long ago, faced with a good looking flat of left over slabs,

I suddenly decided that the time had arrived.

What is it about inspiration that it appears out of nowhere?

I joke about the clay goddesses smiling and the stars

lining up, but seriously...  

Guido. Quality control or maybe just Guardian of the Spoons.
I'm not sure.

The next batch of spoons will be designed to hang on the wall, 

and I'm looking forward to seeing how 

the colorful, wiggly things will look.

I'm also going to experiment 

with a larger, wall-hanging size (Thanks, Christine,)

so watch this space.

Here's hoping that sudden inspiration will smack you unexpectedly

and that you run with it.

Deep Sea Diving in Oak Ridge

I've nothing to share in the way of clay today.

The past several months have been tied up in major, 

long distance family moves:

Mom and her sweetheart to a new assisted living facility in Maryland…

and a more exciting move helping my daughter, Kelsey, 

from Tennessee to Boston.

So I thought I'd fill in the creative gap with some 'throw back' artwork.

A few years ago I was asked by a leadership group to create a mural for 

The Children's Museum of Oak Ridge.

I met with a small giggle of excited children who decided on an ocean theme.

As a wannabe marine biologist, I was thrilled!

I asked each child to draw a sea creature and then 

incorporated it into the mural.

I admit the 7 year old's interpretation of Spongebob 

was one of my favorites… along with an elaborate 

zebra striped goldfish cracker.

I also decided that my rubber stamping the other 3 walls 

with bubbles was a brilliant idea.

Cool but tediously painful.

Note the fish above the left window. I painted it on foam core and
suspended it from the ceiling. I wish I could have done
an entire school of fish like that!

Spongebob below the window… standing on a coral branch.
And the zebra goldfish in the clutches of a 'glove' anemone near the corner.

This project is one of my favorites, and it came together fairly easily…

except for that minor interruption of rolling my jeep when

returning from a college visit to Indiana.

During the rain it's a notoriously slick spot on the interstate 

according to the EMT crew. 

Yes. Yes it is.

Though we landed upside down, thankfully neither Kelsey

nor I was hurt. But an aching shoulder from the seat belt

restraint limited how high on the wall I could paint for a while.

Not complaining, you understand.

Spotted grouper and cleaner shrimp… along with signature catfish.

Foam core crab hangs from the ceiling above the book shelves.

A foam core pelican diving through the ceiling for a fish.
Notice the bubbles on the wall. Crazy.

The dark and bright blue background colors are interior latex paint.

As are the bubbles.

All the other colors are Liquitex Acrylic paints.

I still have the detailed sketch with all the paint colors identified…
in case of emergency touch ups.

Then… now… and in between...

It's late… which won't surprise anyone who knows me.

Yessss… a confirmed night owl.  

Even my cats are ready to go to bed before I am.

It's a lovely quiet night, and thankfully the skunks have gone 

to bother someone else.

A good time, I think, to post some random photos.

My hand built, coiled sgraffito pot recently sold at 

Bella Vista Art Gallery 

in Asheville, NC!

My beautiful, talented daughter promotes my pottery!

Guido.  Sun tiger.

Breakfast companions on the deck.

Shadows from window art….

I painted these designs in hopes that the birds

would see the glass.  It does seem to help!

Wanda Marie.  Looking sweet and peaceful.

 Be afraid.  Be very afraid.

New bowls designed with underglaze and wax resist!  

The one on the left sold at the Terra Madre Show last weekend.

But the one on the right will be at 

The Foothills Fine Crafts Show this weekend in Knoxville.

New sgraffito tea cups!

After a brief tussle the one on the right sold 

at the Terra Madre Show.

The one on the left will be leaving shortly for Planet Texas!

(Thank you, Christine!)

A new experimental piece with sgraffito decoration.  

This will be in the Foothills Show.

Carving this was interesting.  Because it takes quite a while to carve the 

intricate design, the piece began to open up a bit as it dried. 

To prevent it from opening further, I protected it with foam and sandwiched it 

between stacks of books as it finished drying.

…and the back.

Tripods ready for glaze.

Guido, Godzilla and me.

(Godzilla… a slow work in progress by my very talented son, Tyler.)

  

Oooooo! Bella Vista Art Gallery!

It's been a ridiculously busy spring and summer, 

and I cringe at the thought that I've neglected this blog.

The part of me that rejoices in neat and ordered things wants 

to list all the ridiculously busy events I've been tied up with.  

Chronologically.  With suitable detail.  

And photos.

The other part of me wants to skip all that, jump up and down, and shriek

"I'm in a gallery in Asheville!"

Christin Zelenka and Glenn Garson of 

Bella Vista Art Gallery

selected about 15 of my sgraffito pieces for their gallery

in Biltmore Village.

I am honored and ecstatic!

My 'Cat Nap & Bones' sgraffito platter.

My large coiled and sgraffito'd vase on left.

Sgraffito'd platters, tumblers and bowls, oh my!

I hope you can pop in and check it out if you're in Asheville.

  

www.bellavistaart.com

14 Lodge Street, Asheville NC  28803

828.768.0246

Catfish

This happy catfish mug will be my mascot for the 

Underglaze & Resist Workshop

next month at Appalachian Arts & Crafts Center

where we'll play with this majolica-esque technique!

I'll try to post pix soon of the soup bowls.

And hopefully we'll have figured out dates for this 

workshop to be held at the

Oak Ridge Art Center.

A Peek...

Here's a peek at a new mug ready to be glazed.

I'm afraid the colors are a bit off here... 

the lights in the studio aren't very good for pix.

The catfish's (merkitty? purrmaid?) body is yellow with orange stripes, 

and the tail is various pale greens.

In the background are some bowls for the Oak Ridge Art Center's 

fabulous fundraiser, Souper Bowl, to be held this Friday Feb 1st.

Please check out www.oakridgeartcenter.org for details.

(These bowls are a joint effort with the amazing Bill Capshaw

who throws lighter-than-air bowls!)

I plan on taking the mug to the Underglaze and Resist Workshop  

I'm teaching at the Appalachian Arts & Crafts Center in 

Norris, TN on Mar 2-3.

I hope to be offering the same workshop at the 

Oak Ridge Art Center, but I haven't coordinated a date yet.  oops.

For updates please check back here or 

my Jane Cartwright Pottery page on facebook.

Cats in the Garden

Coil-built white stoneware with sgraffito decoration.

Haha! 

Just under the wire I have successfully submitted these

photos to the Arts & Cultural Alliance in Knoxville

for their National Juried Exhibition.

No telling how many times I actually sent the entry form.

I had help.  And this time it wasn't one of my cats...

it was my daughter Kelsey's Amelie who, with pin 

point accuracy, leapt onto the laptop

and deleted (or sent) the form.  Twice.

My goal is to enter more shows and competitions,

and though I now have a decent photo set-up

there is still so much to learn about

the photography end of this biz.

If you'd like to see a pic of this bowl during 

the carving stage click on April in the 2012 archive 

to the right of this post. 

Guido is helping.

Wish me luck!