Port Hacking Potters 47th Competition 2012

Have been anxious about it for a couple of weeks now....the idea of entering a piece into an arts competition and finding out how people, and judges!, would respond to something that is 100% my own inspiration

So, last Thursday 20th, jumped in and entered one of my ceramic pieces in the Port Hacking Potters 47th National  Pottery Competition and OMG!!! I won my category!  
I was quite shocked for a few minutes there.

I entered one of my really fine porcelain/fibreglass/paperclay small 'object' pieces and the judge Greg Daly (yes, he of the very lush glazed and gold/silver foil bowls) said some lovely things while handing me a $250 materials voucher and shaking my hand.
How wonderful is that! 

Very surprised, very delighted, bit spaced out.....really does show how the unexpected can happen if we just take a chance!

Success with Markets but slow on my own!

 Well, the first Glebe Makers Market on 2 Sept. 2012 which I collaborated as my not-for-profit organisation, Starving Artists Inc. with Glebe Community Garden and GAPP went off very well.

The turn out was great, the treasures for sale were varied and lovely and the weather was stunning, what more could you ask?....some of my own sales, that's what.  What a slow day I had!

People stopped to look and I had great feedback about the porcelain jewellery I put out for sale - it's quite light and based on musical instraments. The shapes are made of porcelain with blue decal transfers on them of flowers or those wonderfully mad-eyed owls and, for the community nature of this Market I kept the price down by swapping sterling silver chain for waxed cotton with non-precious metal findings.

The photo above shows my son Dane holding the stall for me while I wandered around taking photos.   The hat?? The cow hat is the mascot 'head' for one of my community projects called COWBelles Community Craft for all those Creative Older Women out there who have such wonderful skills to share and the hat makes Dane part of it, though he doesn't seem all that certain of it in the photo!.

My other community arts project called P-plate Project 4 people, pets & plants also had a stall devoted to a pot plant fundraising collaboration to raise money for the project to run well. All the glorious little slip-cast, hand -painted pots sold out!! A whole nw batch will be ready for the Christmas market in December.

Also in my own work I'm getting ready for the Everleigh Markets stall that I'll have in November and I have heaps to do to get ready for it...not the least is to make more porcelain/silver jewellery in musical shapes! Looking forward to it - hope the weather co-operates with warm sunshine again.!

CCD work as part of the ArtStart year

As part of my year with Australia Councils ArtStart Grant I included my CCD work as part of my arts career development.
(For those unfamiliar with it : CCD = Cultural & Community Development...aka...community arts)

I've been running community arts projects since 2006.

The first 3 were with the Salvation Army in Sydney's Surry Hills, 2 with disadvantaged people and one for women in crisis.

End of June I completed one in the inner-Sydney suburb of Glebe for older women with issues of isolation and disadvantage and have 3 for this financial year. 2 again in Glebe and one in Rozelle. I know, very ambitious!!

The first Glebe one is called the P-plate Project: pots for people, pets & plants and held in the lovely Glebe Community Garden. The Rozelle project is delivered for Aftercare Mental Health Service in the glorious grounds at Rozelle Hospital.  Must say, this year's projects are by far in the prettiest settings I've ever worked in!

This photo is of the Glebe Community Garden where the P-plate group meets. We have a collaborative project with the community gardeners to make little pots for the seedlings which will be sold at the first Glebe Local Makers Market to be held 2nd Sept. which is my 2nd project in Glebe this year.






The people from Aftercare are a little shy and prefered not to have a photo taken but I will get photos of their work when it's ready for their exhibition day on 17th Oct.

I mostly enjoy this type of work - I like the mix of creativity and social responsiblity and I grow to really like most of the people involved as well. I have only had difficulty with a couple of managers 'over-managing' and strangling the fun out of being there. In the last project 2 women really wanted the project and what it offered but gossiped and gossiped and gossiped about people so much, that the group thinned out from 20-23 regulars down to 5.

 I have left those 2 in charge of that craft group now and moved onto the 2 ceramic craft groups and the organisation of the community makers market......yes, I am always busy!!

Recognising that not everyone wants to be a potter in these kinds of groups is essential and that people enjoy 'just playing' with clay. The person teahing at Aftercare before me was a 'potter' and so taught traditional technique and I am told by both staff and participants that some of the processes were quite tedious.

I teach clay as  'community engagement', which is to say that I aim to get fast results with easy-to do hand building techniques (basically, treat clay exactly like bread dough!) so we all get fast results and congratulate ourselves on our clevernes!!!  My  group participants respond very well and it does make me happy too see them achieveing and happy with their work - this is the all important win-win scenario that I aim for in my CCD work - I guess it's why I like doing them so much.

If curious about the projects go to:    https://www.facebook.com/pages/P-plate-Project/


or   https://www.facebook.com/pages/COWBelles-Community-Craft/



To left is the flyer for the communiy makers market day coming up.

If the weather is kind then will be another lovely day in the beautiful Glebe Community Gareden!!

Building a wood firing raku kiln workshop.

 Went to the wood firing raku kiln building workshop by Stefan Jakob organised for 4-5th Aug. by Ceramic Study Group.

Must tell you, was not overly fond of the building part on Saturday... something to do with wrestling tin snips!! But, you gotta love the old Aussie boys who bought along the power tools, nothing like an angle grinder with a cutting head to make short work of all the cutting!!


Did though LOVE the firing day on Sunday - there really is something quite mesmerising about fire isn't there? 

The line of firing kilns looked fabulous. Flames from the kiln fire mouths and plumes of smoke from the chimneys, the sound of crackling wood and that distinctive fire smell.

My first little pots were a bit underfired and I didn't leave them in the sawdust long enough for a good reduction but my second firing of a single pot worked exactly as it should - glossy colourful glaze and rich, black crackling.

 Can't wait to do another firing but thinking will go camping for a weekend and take a load of bisqued work and the kiln with me - wood firing a kiln in suburban Sydney is always an 'adventure' with the neighbours.

Mind you a weekend away for ANY reason is always good but with the new 'toy' it will be LOTS of fun!!!

Studio nearly ready!

Yay!!!
Kilns are finally in place and the materials and equipment are slowly coming in - goodness!! - it's taken a long time just to get this far.......didn't realise setting up the studio space could be so tricky.
Lots to think about......electricity, chemicals, workflows, storage, transport and a whole lot of other considerations.....but I am SO excited!! I have waited 7 years for my own studio space so I am very, very happy to be nearly there in the set up.

Have started off with a bit of ceramic jewellery to get myself used to working in the space and have started the research and drafts for the project i want to explore - the fusion between my Greek ancestry, my white Australian lifestyle and the rich cultural commonalities Indigenous Australia has with my heritage.

Couple more hiccups to attend to then the 'real' work can begin. So looking forward to it!!

Why use clay as an art medium to convey conceptual ideas?

Is there anything more sensuous, cool and maleable to the touch than clay? As an art medium, clay allows a wonderful scope of experimentation in intricate surface quality, textures and design possiibilities. Whether in form, surface or variation of treatment the exploration of ideas and approaches can be continually re-examined without any loss of anticipation in each new piece. 
That same energy of excitement crosses boundaries into photography, jewellery, drawing, mixed media and object design where materials, techniques and processes fuse into works of eclectic arrangement and intrigue.
My excitement and appreciation of clay based art mediums and the joy that creativity can manifest never wanes but grows consistently with every new idea.