Here we have Part Two of the Up-Close and Personal Virtual Studio Tour. (Read Part One, if you like.) We take a look at the East Wall and its groaning shelves, tubs and binders. During my Santa Cruz Open Studios Art Tour weekends, visitors can peek into my studio, but not enter it. From the doorway (on the left in this photo) they really cannot see this workhorse of a wall. So here it is, from my daily vantage point.
Here begins a four-part virtual Studio Tour of my ceramic-making digs. We’re starting with the North Wall and will continue in the coming weeks to the other compass points. Expect sidetracks into the crannies of my small, semi-efficient working space. I’m sharing my studio up close and personal as a way to augment my Artist Number 207 2015 Santa Cruz County Open Studio Art Tour. During that Tour, visitors can peek in, but not enter this space. Even if they could go in, they would not get this in-depth description. Besides, it’s all cleaned up then, but you’re seeing it un-staged and in use.
Usually my ceramic conetop beer cans delight. People marvel and touch. They tell me their beer can stories. They take them home to their mantels, dens and patios. Yet in truth not all go along with my artistic ruse. I find it’s nearly always because they are avid collectors of real metal vintage beer cans, and can’t abide my ceramic interpretations. I call these guys The Beer Can Police and my work has been variously described by them as “fake,” “pretty bizarre,” and “weird beer can art.”
What follows are two instances where I got a chance to reply to their misguided objections and stick up for myself with kindness and perhaps a lil bit of schooling.
Actually, Guestbook, is the wrong name for it. To me Guestbook implies a memory book with poignant comments left by a clutch of visitors. Historical. Reception-y. Funereal.
And, if a simple listing of visitors and their comments is not the main goal, how to make sure the thing does what it’s supposed to do? I think I know!
Once upon a time I was a Commission-Phobe. I wrote that taking on a commission was like picking a scab: a bit hurtful and self-destructive.
It was true for me at the time and you can read my reasoning here. I have the horror stories to go with them: unreasonable deadlines, unending emails, design changes requested when it was too late, money refunded, non-payment. And I learned from them.
Since that post, the special request tide has turned. It’s not that my reasons for hating commissions were proven wrong. They are all still profoundly true, but I manage the associated difficulties in suitable ways and I find myself welcoming select commissions with grace and ease.Read More >
I’ve had a fine old time connecting with 19 out of 53 (36% so far!) folks from the “Local Talkers 2009” series of mini face jugs that I made back then and am now giving away to the folks who unwittingly posed for them. IF I can find them!
The whole idea is described in my last post, if you’d like to delve further. That post also contains the list of all 53 names AND who’s been located so far. I keep updating it and I will also include the shortened list at the end of this entry as well.Read More >
I am parting out and giving away this group of 53 miniature face jugs from 2009. They come with the caveat that I am hoping to give each one to the person who, unbeknownst to them, was the inspiration for it. After six years, that is still possible – a few have already been delivered! – but it will take some time and help getting the word out. Desperately seeking these folks – and the folks who know these folks – to put us in touch and complete a circle I never knew I was making.
The Backstory, The Epiphany, Spreading the Word and the List of Names follows.