Pots with drawings

I had a good turnout this past weekend for my Home Sale. It goes on next weekend too and I am open by chance or by appointment through the end of the year. I still have a nice selection of pots to choose from.

The trays with the drawings were a big hit. I also had a square vase with a drawing of flowers that sold first thing. These pots with drawings were fun to do and I plan on making more to see how I feel about them. My January firing will have some more trays, and vases, as well as jars, cups, and bowls with drawings. My main concern is that these aren't kitchy. I want them to maintain a bit of an edge. Coming from a sort of self imposed strict Leachian background I have a hard time 'playing' and being childlike with clay. Historcally man has drawn on cave walls, pots, animal skins, canvas, etc to express his life, journey, everyday occurances, animals, objects and numerous other things. Why should I have a hang up about drawing on a few pots? I have always been drawn to pots with imagery, yet I was never good with a brush so I gave that up pretty quickly. I have drawn since I was a child. My mom was a constant doodler. She'd talk on the phone to my aunt and fill up a page with doodles in pen and ink. When people ask about my art background I say I was a drawer and that I liked to build things with wood. It seems inevitable that I'd eventually draw on some pots.
For inspiration and validation I am going to the library at ASU on Wednesday to look at books on African and Indian art and pottery, textiles, petroglyphs and anything else historical.
I guess the main thing I should do is keep an open mind, have fun, play, and let my creativity flow. Life is too short to get caught up in over analyzing al this stuff.

Pots

I am getting all set up for the Home Sale which starts tomorrow. I unloaded the kiln today. Here are a few trays with drawings. I have been wanting to do something like this for a long time and finally just did it. They are really fun. I had a laugh when they came out of the kiln. I have more with fish, and different variations on the birds. My favorites are the two headed dog and the thunder chicken.

I have a studio full of pots!

Holiday Pottery Sale

Today I am getting the studio cleaned up and all the displays set up for our Holiday Open House and Pottery Sale. I fired the kiln yesterday so there will be some hot pots out on Friday. These include some limited edition trays with drawings on them. I have been wanting to do this for a while. They were really fun to make. The images are kind of cartoon-y, chickens, two headed dogs, giant fish, tiny humans, just fun stuff.

I will have a large selection of pots for the kitchen as well as some more decorative bottles and vases. The hot item this fall has been the animal jars with birds and turtles on the tops. I have some of these coming out of the kiln too.

I hope you'll make it out to see me and Sarah. This is always a good time.
Two weekends:
Friday Nov 25 10 am till 5pm
Saturday Nov 26 10 am till 5pm
Sunday Nov 27 Noon till 4
Saturday Dec 3 10am till 5 pm
Sunday Dec 4 Noon till 4
We'll have hot cider and snacks, lots of pots and holiday cheer

I will be unloading the kiln tomorrow. I''ll try and get some pics up between bites of turkey.
Happy Thanksgiving!

Philbeck Studios Newsletter Fall/Winter 2005

The Philbeck Studios Newsletter is now online. Click here to open the pdf file.
Please send this to your friends, family, and co-workers who may be interested in what I am doing. Thanks!!

Just Another Manic Monday...

la, la, wish it was Sunday, la, la
Remember that song by The Bangles?

Okay today wasn't really manic instead it was sort of slow and sticky and fuzzy and cloudy. Nice. Maybe it has to do with this build up of sinus pressure I am battling. I did get some pots made. Today is my last wet day for a while I think. I will fire next Monday and my Open House is the Friday, Sat. and Sun. after Thanksgiving, as well as the following weekend.
Philbeck Studios Newsletters went out today and I will have a pdf file up for viewing ASAP.

The show I did in Shelby this past Saturday was a great success for me. Lots of my local customers came out and got pots. I am so grateful for the local support I have. It's cool knowing I have pots in so many homes nearby.
I also connected with someone who bought a pot of mine from a garden center over 10 years ago. He send me a pic of it today, it was a pretty good pot, a shallow bowl with handles, and it has been used daily all this time. That was pretty neat.

I am going back down to throw a few yunomi tonight. Those will be the last pots for this load. Tomorrow I will cut feet on plates and bowls etc, slip pots and get things drying out. The warm weather has been helpful in that regard.

Later.

Movin' On

The American Craft Council show is over so there is some relief on my part although I still have plenty to do before the end of the year. This was my first year in ACC so it was exciting to be there. My booth and pots looked great. I was proud to be part of this great group of craftspeople from all across the nation.
I heard that public attendance was down this year which explains the lower than normal sales. I did come away with many new customers as well as a few who stroked my ego a bit (of course I am totally uneffected by that). :-)
I saw many familiar faces as well, and felt like I was the local boy on the block, at least on my row in the show.
One highlight was when Tom Gray from Seagrove showed up late in the day on Friday. I couldn't believe he was there. Tom has been so supportive of me from my beginnings in clay and I owe so much to him. He always has time for me when I call and we now regularly bounce ideas off one another and get inspired by each other's work. It was so good to see him and walk around the show together and then have dinner afterwords.
I came right home and got back to work making pots. I have some fresh ideas that are eating away at me and I plan to fire again just in time for the Home Sale, which is the weekend after Thanksgiving. I am doing some drawing on some pots, inspired by African art and Pueblo Indian pottery. This will be done mostly on some trays, and jars, maybe plates too.
Anyhow I better get to work. More later I hope.