F-U-N

It has been a long time since I've posted anything, not that I haven't been meaning too, and mentally beating myself up over it. A lot has been going on! I started a new job working with a Montessori school. The children are ages 3-6. It has been rewarding, challenging, all that jazz. I am really enjoying it and learning a lot! I am looking forward to my summer off, when I plan to make a big inventory of work. Also it is dead winter in Central New York. So I really have to challenge myself to actually leave the house. When the holidays were over I decided to just make something fun! As an artist I sometimes forget that making pottery actually is fun. Making cups with hearts and strawberries? Super fun.

Of course after I made these I came down with a serious case of the winter blahs and it took me forever to get them finished. So I am offering them with free shipping for the month of February in my online store.

A lot of the work I did in the fall came together and will be featured in these exhibitions:

Pour

Fourth International Small Teapot Show

8 Fluid Ounces

I am really excited about starting the year off this way! An exhibit from December just closed, Objects of Virtue. This weekend I really accomplished a lot and decided that winter is for planning. Sometimes, it's for lounging and keeping warm, but also for planning for spring. I got some library books about gardening, and berry bowls are up soon in the studio. Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm Shooting Slides in My Pajamas

Well, not right now, but I have been all week. I just wanted to take a minute and post that I LOVE digital photography. Gone are the days of spending all your money on film to find out that your pictures suck. Gone is the wait. You don't even have to take a straight shot, picasa will help you do that. And copies of slides, what? You can copy a digital image at home for free. You're applying for a show that requires slides? iprintfromhome will help you with that, in lightning speed. Here is an image of my home-made slide shooting kit.

It's been tweaked a little since I took that shot, I put a board under the light box to make it wider, and lowered the backdrop. It's also now permanently up in my office, so all I need to do is bring home my work, plop it on the back drop. My camera is conveniently located next to the computer, I can upload immediately. All while drinking coffee in my pajamas. I used to hate shooting slides! I would of course always do it at the end of the day when I was too tired to take a good shot, spend all my money on it, and not get really great results. When I got my new camera, I started to love shooting slides. I also really like immediacy in my work, so now that I have a permanent slide set up, the instant results keep me really interested and engaged. Here are the things that make my slide set up work: a flo-tone I used to have a large one that got wrinkled when I moved and I ended up ordering a smaller one that is more manageable and appropriate for my work. I can't afford really nice light boxes right now, so I started making them out of white foam. When I started making shinier work I needed more lights, and Vaughn figured out how to rig this one to light from both sides. I just use books or boxes to make it higher. I think I might add a third light because I am getting a little shadow and glare. I also use tungsten bulbs and set the camera on tungsten. This makes things very hot and it is necessary to turn off the lights frequently and let them cool off. Be very careful with this! Seriously!!!! That's all, just a short note on a modern convenience I love.

When Life Hands You Lemons...

You can make the most delicious risotto.


For the past few weeks I have blatantly ignored my once per week goal of posting. What have I been doing? Living. As an artist I usually get a feeling of anxiety when I feel like I'm not working enough. Balancing a part time job and studio work can be stressful, and often times simple joys in life get pushed to the side. Since moving to New York I have been able to add to my studio time a lot, and I have felt calmer as a result. So last weekend I trekked to Ancram, New York in the Hudson Valley and met up with some friends and headed over to Ayumi Horie's studio sale. Ayumi is a kind of a household name amongst contemporary potters, so it's really exciting for me to be able to make my second visit to her studio. This year her sale featured another potter and a furniture maker as well as her own work. I was so overwhelmed to see so much work in person! Usually I look at things I like online or in books, but here were hundreds of pots to choose from. After some cider and treats and much back and forth I left with a great plate, and an ice cream bowl. I spent the rest of the weekend at a harvest party, picking apples, playing with five year olds, and enjoying great food and wine. It was the perfect weekend for driving through central New York. Fall is my favorite season, and I didn't realize how much I missed it over the past four years. When I got back I made a gluten free apple crisp with my apples.

I like all the steps involved in cooking, peeling the apples and the way the different shades of the peels look so beautiful together. Chopping, mixing, the smell from the oven. Oh, and the eating. Yes, the eating. And the way the ice cream melts into the crisp.

So, the theme of the past few weeks for me, has been enjoying fall and the simple things around me. My days at the co-op go fast and I relish the time I can spend on my work. But, I also have to remind myself to relish the time I can spend doing simple things at home. With the cool weather, risotto had been on my mind. When I spied some meyer lemons in the produce department, I knew that this would be perfect for the dish. Risotto is a slightly longer process than most dishes, and requires care and patience. But it is worth every minute. As I prepped my kitchen before friends came over I was struck by a parallel feeling I get when making work. The thing about risotto is that it needs constant attention. So I had to get all my ingredients within reaching distance. The other two requirements are a glass of wine, and a back up person in case your arms get tired. I began stirring the rice and adding the ingredients. Anxiety set in. What if it doesn't turn out? The guests will be here in 30 minutes. Similarly, what if the kiln I am firing right now shuts off early or over fires? Ok, if the risotto is gross I have some pasta I can boil really quick and toss the ingredients in, Vaughn can't eat pasta, but he doesn't have to eat does he? I keep stirring the rice, is this how it looked last time? Should I be doing this in a cast iron skillet?

This must be life imitating art at it's best. Because I'm also thinking, did I put the glaze too thick? Was I rushing? Do I use too much of that new celadon glaze? Do I have other pieces I can apply for shows with? And then, the rice starts gently puffing up and getting creamy from the starches, and I know instantly that it will be good. I sip my wine, and get back-up help with stirring. The remaining ingredients are added right before the guests arrive. I sprinkle the top with meyer lemon zest and relax. Once I get out of my pajamas I'll open the lid of the kiln. I can only hope the kiln is as good as the risotto was.

CSMA Arts for All Marathon

I've realized a lot since moving. Sometimes I hate the process of moving, the packing, the money, the changing of jobs, the stress settling into a new studio can create. But I also love moving. I love shedding all the junk, I love decorating a new apartment, I love starting fresh. I have also discovered, surprisingly, that I really like the Northeast. I also discovered that over five years in Jacksonville I had made a lot of contacts that it's hard to walk away from. I've been invited to do several really excited things since I've left Jacksonville that I had to turn down, because I am no longer their local artist. So in the central New York area I am going to proactive in building those connections. My first step is participating in the Community School of Music and Arts "Arts for All Marathon". The Arts for All Marathon lasts 26.2 days just like a regular marathon is 26.2 miles. Artists can basically create their own way of participating, which really drew me to their cause. They are also having a post-it note show that Vaughn and I will donate an item to. Artists donate art on post-its that are sold for $5 each at the closing show. I really like how accessible they are making art to the general public while raising money. The CSMA offers a great variety of classes, and the money raised in the marathon goes to their scholarship fund. For the duration of the marathon, September 26th-October 24th I will donate 26% of sales on regularly priced items in my online store to the CSMA Arts for All Marathon. In addition my sale items are now 26% off. And I am promising to post new work before the end of the marathon. You really can have it all...fabulous pottery and donating to a good cause all in one!

Identity Crisis

So for months now I have been trying to establish myself as TRACY K MCEVILLY. I thought that it was a better "artist name". Sort of like when in fifth grade I insisted on spelling my name Tracie, because I thought it looked better. This name changing poses a few problems, one most people who know me don't know that my middle initial is K. So if someone wanted to find my work they would probably search "Tracy McEvilly". I hate to publicly admit that I "google" myself, but it's true. And more info comes up under Tracy K McEvilly, than plain old Tracy McEvilly, but Tracy McEvilly is more familiar to most people. Everytime I fill out show submissions, etc. I put in the K, to make myself sound more important. Then a few days ago I received a postcard for Jersey Shore Clay National. There it was plain old Tracy McEvilly. And it didn't bother me in the least. So I am updating myself to plain old Tracy McEvilly. It's who I am.

The Ups and Downs

This past week I experienced one of the main parts of being a working artist. Rejection. With a capital R. Now this is really nothing new to me, in fact often rejections don't phase me or slow me down. But three short polite letters in two weeks is a bit of a blow. Or so it felt like Friday night when I consoled myself with peanut butter cups and beer. I think it's a little difficult to accept that a cd of images and a resume doesn't really convey to the rest of the world just how hard you've been working or how much you feel that this time you really deserve it or have earned it. It being an international show, fully funded residency, scholarship, or grant. Luckily for me I had an awesome teacher who I haven't seen since my freshman year of college. I remember him saying that a critique should get you so spitting mad, that it should make you want to run to your studio and show them how good you really are. Which is what I am reminding myself to do after allowing an indulgence here and there and a little self pity. After all I still have two applications out, and five in process. Good thing the organic peanut butter cups I like are significantly smaller than a Reese's.