So I just now finished getting everything photographed and uploaded to flickr! (well, almost everything).  I had been planning on re-photographing a few things, but decided that it was more important to have everything up now.

Anyway, in order to celebrate all this new work, I’ll be hosting a slightly impromptu opening at my studio tonight.  It’s going to be pretty low key, but I will have all of the new work there and on display, along with food and drink of some type. If you’re in the Seattle area, I recommend coming on by! It’s at 218 Florentia st, just on the south end of the Fremont Bridge. We’re in the building with the crazy mural. I’ll be there from 6pm to 8, and maybe till 9.  Stop on by!

For months, Florentia Clayworks (our studio), has been discussing repainting our building.  We’d shuffled paint chips, negotiated with the land lady, and talked with neighbors.  We’d talked about where to get paint, who would pay for the painting, and yet, had never made progress.   However, all that changed about two weeks ago, due to a chance meeting of studio mate Randy, our land lady, and the local muralist Ryan Henry Ward.  With in two days the walls of our drab and tagged studio blossomed into beautiful blues and purples.  Now more or less complete, our studio is covered with awesome monsters with hollow heads, and giant birds.  Neighbors who had overlooked us for months began to wander by and ask about us.

To celebrate our new look, we’ll be participating in the Fremont First Friday this week. I’ll be there from 6 to 9pm with snacks and drinks! If you’re in the area, I recommend swinging by and checking out the new look.  I won’t have any new work yet, but you’ll be allowed a sneak peak at what’s lined up for the next firing, if you want. I’ll see if I can get Ryan, the muralist, to join me for the art walk, but he might already be off working on a new building.

Getting started on the mural

This is just to remind folks that the Washington Potter’s Association art show at the Tacoma Art Stop will be having an opening tomorrow night.  It’s looking like it will be a fun show, with 20 some different clay artists.  Two of my pieces were selected to be part of the show – Stilt Beast and Flora Beast #2 – Grazer.  If you’re in the area, I recommend stopping by!

The opening will be from 5 to 8pm on this Thursday, Sept 18th.  The website appears to be down, but  here’s a link to their place on google maps.  If you happen to be going through the area at another time, the show will be up until October 17th, Tuesday -Fridays 9:30am – 5:30pm, Saturdays 9:30am – 4:30pm.

So the Pittsburgh show went very well.  I’ve sorted through my photos of the trip, and now have the best of them up on flickr.

The gallery was great, and it was really fun to meet Jamie and Kat, who organized everything. I was also extremely honored to have my work featured on the postcards, as well as an advertisement in The City Paper, a local weekly.  Below is a picture of the Society for Contemporary Craft.  It’s located in the strip district, an old warehouse district of Pittsburgh.  Now days, the area is mainly know for having the best ethnic groceries and food wholesalers for anything you could think of, all crammed into one 10 block stretch.  Well, known for that, and for an awesome gallery or two.  I highly recommend checking out the whole area if you’re ever in the ‘burgh.

The opening went quite well!  It was a great time all around, and very well attended.  It was also great to be able to see the work of Joshua Longo and Toby Fraley in person.  I got to meet Toby, who’s a pretty cool guy, but Joshua was off touring with a band or something, and couldn’t make it.  All in all, totally an awesome time, and thanks to everyone who showed up.  The show will be up for a bit, or until they sell all the work.  However, judging by the rate the pieces have been selling, that might not be that long.

The Society for Contemporary Craft also had me give a demonstration on creature making, the next day.  It was a new experience for me, being the first time I’d ever done anything of the type.  The strangest thing for me was trying to cram work that I would normally do over the course of a week or two into three hours, talking the whole time.  It meant I had to work with the piece much softer than normal and I had to fight with it some, but it worked out in the end.

I’m back from my Pittsburgh trip, which went very well!  I’m sorting through the photos from my show there, and will put together a post on it later this week. However, I wanted to get this info out in the mean time.

Friday is the first of August, which means our studio will be open for the Fremont First Friday Art Walk.  From 6 to 9pm, feel free to stop by, drink some wine, eat some snacks, and peruse the art work.  If I have time, I might even make a cake for people to eat.  I’ll have a few pieces from my most recent batch of work there, along with work by everyone else in the studio.

We are at 218 Florentia St, Seattle WA – just on the south side of the Fremont bridge.  Come take a look if you’re in the area!