That's all Folks

Well its actually been two weeks since I opened my studio and I have been so busy I have not had a chance to stop and think. The day after Open Studios I delivered some pots for a gallery up north - Fifiefofum and on the way back got caught in the most amazing (scary) thunderstorm - traffic was brought to a standstill - on the motorway!! - just by the sheer volume of water dropping out of the sky. We were surrounded by opaque whiteness and nil visibility - quite spooky!! Then this last weekend I went to London to deliver to the Harlequin Gallery in Greenwich - and again a disastrous journey across London which took me 4 hours!! It took me longer to go from North to South London than it had taken for me to get there in the first place. Anyway its done now and I am very much patting myself on the back for delivering the work several weeks early - that HAS to be a first for me.

Back to Open Studios. Of course we were only open one day and that day went well. We had more visitors than last year I think, there was a fairly steady flow - with no room to move at one point in the afternoon. I made some sales but not my fortune!! It was little things that sold, so there may be a moral in there somewhere... I do KNOW that small pieces sell more readily, but I just peversely continue to make large work. If I had more time in the studio I think this would change. As usual comments about the work were good - the ones that were allowed to reach my ears anyway, though also quite a few comments about the difficulty of "placing" my work - it needs its own special niche and also, even more demandingly, needs lots of space AROUND it. Would be so much easier if it would sit nicely on the mantelpiece.

I wasn't sure about my display - I had laid out plinths around the studio, but then felt quite nervous of people and their bags and leaning on the plinths. I'm not sure the backdrop of the busyness of the studio was good - in the past I have disguised it all with hanging cloths - but then people come to see the working space as much as to see the work so that's a compromise to be made I guess. One of my fellow potters at Persistence has a sort of permanent gallery area at the front of her studio which works very well - something for me to work towards I think.

It was also quite alarming when people walked beyond the plinths into the workspace as the intention had been for them to mark a boundary beyond which public were not meant to go - this clearly was not obvious enough. and it can be quite nerve-wracking - pottery is after all quite vulnerable. and there are some hasardous substances lurking behind there..

Which reminds me my Public Liability Insurance needs renewing. I might try the a-n (Artists Newsletter) offer through AIR - have any other potters used that? (Public Liability for potters can be quite hard to find at a decent cost because of using kilns - particularly if you do raku or wood-firing!)

Party tonight for Open Up artists at the Cubana in Sheffield - don't think I'm going to make it - Sunday night not a good night when you've got kids - especially if they are in the middle of revising for exams and quite stressed...Shame as I missed the party last year too.

Well you know, I think that's all from me. I shall post some final photos and start preparing for next time!! Have a good year.

Sarah

Final countdown

Just a quickie to say that my studio is more or less ready. I spent yesterday tidying up which included mopping the floor about 20 times - well, that's what it felt like anyway. And I have been absolutely exhausted this week, so felt like very hard work indeed. I never got a chance to paint my plinths so they are a bit the worse for wear, having been lent out and returned in a less than wonderful condition and what's more, I seem to have lost two large ones - I'm pretty gutted about that actually as they were really good and a perfect size for my work and I made them with some help from a friend and I can't understand how they can just disappear.... If anybody at Persistence has seen them knocking about I'd really appreciate their return. Or have I lent them to someone and just simply forgotten??

My studio has been subtly transformed from a working space to a half-baked gallery space with work-in-progress in the background. Actually what that means is it is neither one thing nor the other. Still, does me good to have a clearout. I still need to price up the work, though unfortunately much of it I will be reluctant to part with as its meant to be going off to galleries. Still, a generous offer would, I'm sure, persuade me to alter my plans. I also need to pick up my business cards, print off some flyers about future courses, and perhaps a flyer about my upcoming exhibitions and copies of recent features in specialist magazines. Ugh, I'm not so good at this publicity lark. But I AM looking forward to seeing people on Saturday, and seeing their reactions to my work. I always leave a comments book out, but don't often get any comments - people leave their contact details but no comments - any tips on how to improve this? (Mind you, I rarely leave comments so can't blame them).

I managed the last half hour of the launch party yesterday evening. It was good - a sizeable turnout and I liked the venue - the Novotel - it was spacious and light and airy and the food was quite good tho the sandwiches rock hard by the time I got there...I was chastised for not displaying my work there - but, geez, there's only so much a girl can do.

I finally got some feedback on this blog yesterday from several people. Its funny what a difference that has made to me - I feel much more inclined to write more freely just knowing that someone out there is reading and reacting to it. Shame its nearly at an end!! and I'm just getting into it.

I meant ot take some photos of my studio space once I'd tidied it up - I should have done a before and after actually - but by the time I'd finished I was SOOOOOOOOOO exhausted (honestly, if you saw me you'd think I'd got two black eyes) that I really couldn't even face getting my camera out of its bag. I shall take photos on Saturday however, and post them up for your delectation.

Hope to see you Saturday.

Sarah

AAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

How I hate computers sometimes! I have just been struggling to send off (admittedly belated) publicity for the weekend and have I succeeded? Well, frankly I don't know. I have had message undeliverable, recipient not known, mailbox full etc etc etc but also replies from some of thoses supposedly unknown or undeliverable recipients. So I'm not clear whether or who has received my information, and who has probably recieved it five million times. So many apologies to all parties...Would have been easier to do it all in longhand - let's all get rid of our computers like Will Self, who is apparently learning how to spell all over again...on an old typewriter.

Things are otherwise slotting into place for the weekend though. I have managed to get some cards printed in time, which is also good as needed some to accompany my pots to their exhibition at the Fifiefofum in Northumberland (somehow I've got to fit in delivering or arranging someone to deliver those over the weekend as well - I have to say I've been hiding my head in the sand about that one - and relying heavily on the Exhibitions Officer of the Northern Potters Association to help me out of a hole - she deserves a very very large medal (are you reading this Barbara?))

Its a bit of a shame about the timing of this exhibition vis-a-vis Open Up as it means my display will be sorely depleted...oh well.

Tomorrow I shall be going to the studio for a massive clear-up and plinth painting and display organising. I hope I'll be ready in time to go to the launch party at the Novotel (7-9) and not too grimy from the days labour!

Need to think also about a date for a summer course at the studio so I can advertise that and get people to sign up or at least register their interest.

I now need to go and get my beauty sleep (Ha - chance 'd be a fine thing!_)

Night night all.

More photos of anagama kiln, Rufford

Anagama kiln

What a relief!!

Phew! I can breathe again...We opened the kiln at Rufford today after yet another firing which was cut short due to lack of wood. The last time this happened the results were very drab, and so I was very very anxious about this one as I had alot of work in it and it is the last firing till end June and I need the work for my various imminent exhibitions, and, of course, Open Up. So I am very very chuffed that the firing was in fact, overall, a success. The shows I have coming up are at the Harlequin Gallery, London June 9th (I think), Fifiefofum in Northumberland 3rd May, and Hornseys Gallery, Ripon, any time soon.

I will attach some pictures of the firing, and will get some photos of the work up when I've taken some! But then with Open Up only a week away, there's not much time to go!!

I tried to scatter some publicity round Doncaster last week as that's where I live - however, the library no longer has much of a leaflets section but I left a couple there anyway, the tourist information wouldn't put the booklets out (though they are displaying the leaflets) so the rest have gone to contacts and doctor's surgery and I'm saving some for the Youth Forum that I am working with tomorrow evening. I didn't have many booklets anyway as YAS didn't seem to have a very large amount. The rest of my publicity has been an email round my mailing list. I haven't redone my business cards as just have not had the time, though I will see whether I can get a small batch done this week.

My studio is still an almighty health hazard, my plinths still unpainted, and my plans to make lots of small saleable items have come to naught. I am not a fulltime potter, and I have been paticularly hands-off for a lot of the time whilst I've been writing this blog...I am hoping to have a good crack at it in June, July and possibly August. But I am now confident I can put on a very decent show for next Saturday. And i'm looking forward to meeting new people and hearing their thoughts on my work - (NB to add to list - make sure I get out the comments book....)

See you all next Saturday - I shall write more in the week. In the meantime here are some photos of the kiln at Rufford in action.

Hotting up!

I wonder if anyone is reading this blog? It's very daunting sending out my thoughts into the unknown ether. A strangely public private exercise....Is there anybody there?

But then its a bit like that being an artist. You open yourself up. I was going to say that it can make me feel quite vulnerable to show my work, but actually I don't think that is the case. I do get nervous beforehand, and hope that people will like the work, or more specifically, I want them to have a reaction to it of SOME kind. I think I now know whether a piece has merit or not and nothing anyone else says is really going to change that, but I do find people's reactions and comments interesting, amusing, useful, and yes, sometimes, just plain flattering and ego-boosting. And whilst I won't change my mind about the quality of the execution or thought behind a piece, the comments people make might cause me to reconsider what it does have to offer. I do love listening to the interpretations that come out, and this does give me insight into what the pieces are communicating. The best reactions are the truly physical ones - even if it is shrinking away in horror - as happened with a recent piece ("Through a glass darkly") - though some people found it fascinating and theatrical others simply couldn't look at it - or squeamishness, which was the reaction of some people to an older but favourite (to me) piece that was variously seen as a stranded seal or an internal organ....Personally I had the latter in mind when I made it, but love the way an abstract form can suggest - quite strongly - many different things to different people.

Of course, if I'm completely honest, a poor reaction - eg critical, does make me feel vulnerable, but not too detrimentally. I did have an exhibition about a year ago which was very poorly received by the public - though not by fellow artists. My work was taking a new direction and I think was still in the working out stage - maybe the artists could see and relate to this, whereas the artbuyer wanted something more worked out/resolved. which is fair enough I guess. I did find it a little bit hard to take the sometimes quite hostile, and definitely very open, criticism - I was quite shocked that people felt so at liberty to be frankly, quite insulting, but my internal barometer kept me sane. And perhaps in a sense its also flattering that people should have such a strong reaction. It was good to make me think about what I was doing and what I was trying to achieve.

I say all this because Open Up is really not very far away now, and I'm clearly thinking about how my work will be received. There is plenty of old work to display which some people may already have seen, but I am hoping to spice up the display - you never know, the pieces may take on a whole new existence with a new display. And the new work is not hugely different - evolving rather than mutating into the future...

And I must get that publicity out there. It is such a shame that Yorkshire Artspace is only open for one day (26th April).[This is because of staff shortages at YAS - with one member of staff on maternity and another on sick leave they do not have the capacity for extending opening to other days]. Also, I think because of a misunderstanding about the type of entry YAS had applied for, the publicity leaflet has no details regarding Yorkshire Artspace at all. Had I entered as a solo artist I would have had my own personal entry, but for one day, and at a cost of £ 50, this didn't seem worth it. We do have an ad in the booklet, but are not, I think, on the map. Some YAS artists have paid their £50 and are showing their work elsewhere on the other days. Ho hum. I hope that people do turn up on the day!! Come one, come all! There are more artists opening up at YAS than last year.

Well, I really must get my beauty sleep, or there'll be no work done at all. Night night all.

Sarah

April already!

I cannot believe that it is April already, Easter is over and Open Up is only 3 weekends away. Time for panic! Actually, I have accumulated a fair degree of work and there is a wood-firing on the go at the moment in which I have a good number of pieces. However, I also have several other exhibitions coming up so will need to choose carefully which pieces go where... I'm still hoping for another couple of firings before the 26th though I'm rather busy with other work too. Still have my research project to get on with, and still continuing my Creative Partnerships work though that's a bit thin on the ground this term. Am doing some schools work and a couple of workshops at the Graves which I will enjoy.

My studio is an almighty tip and a health hasard into the bargain. I have been glazing a fair amount and with my methods I always seem to get glaze everywhere! There is clay recycling on bats aplenty, bubble wrap littered about, and books and tools strewn across the counters. I also need to reclaim my plinths which were lent out for an event and did come back a little bit the worse for wear. I think this year I shall set up my studio more like an exhibition for the Open Up. My shelves are getting a bit full and my work really needs to be viewed from all angles and with space around them - which would be possible with plinths.

I also need to really really get cracking on publicity. Email out to my mailing list and, unfortunately, get new cards printed - I had lovely new ones done not so long ago and then I went and changed my email address. This is extra expense of course, and a waste of the old ones of which I still have a number left. There should be a design whereby you can slot in small changes as and when - with 3 studio changes in the last three years I keep making my cards obsolete -perhaps I could paper my walls with the old ones - they are quite attractive and would make quite a nice pattern...hmmmm....

I also need to arrange a photographer for some of my new work - though I think I'm a competent photographer I gave up taking my own photos quite some time ago as having a professional in really does make a difference - although they do have to have an affinity for the work. Ceramics can be, I think, quite difficult to photograph in a way that really captures its essence. Luckily I have found someone who seems to have the necessary sensitivity and has now acquired the portable equipment required to do a really professional job. Costly again though. But its well worth it - improved photographs have definitely opened up opportunities to exhibit.

Some time ago I read a book called "Eat that Frog." Its a self-help book which normally I would steer well clear of, but one day waiting for the train at Kings Cross station i wandered into W H Smiths and the title of this book caught my eye. It is basically a book about using lists as an organisational tool. Lists for every occasion and every eventuality and every length of time - I can see that this is what I need to do now - make lists of what needs to be done now, this week, next week, by the week after, and on the day. His hot tip (for me) is that any entry on a list is judged by the consequences of NOT doing it - if those consequences are minimal then it needs to be deleted. Eg "Ironing" - eradicated, "meet with friends" promoted.

Better go see what I can eliminate.

Take care/keep warm.

Sarah

Easter greetings

Oh dear, I really have been lax. About the blog that is - not about anything else - except perhaps the washing ironing and vacuuming - but what does that do for the soul?? In other areas I have been rushing round like a maniac and this Easter weekend break is deliciously welcome. Just wish it would warm up a bit.

I have been busy with my Creative Partnerships work and not been in the studio much. But I did get the results of the wood-firing at Rufford which were kind of okay but not spectacular. It was a bit of a damp squib (literally) of a firing as we ran out of dry wood. I think this was caused by a combination of high winds during the firing and the fact that the wood was quite thin - both factors leading to a very fast burning rate. It was not a total disaster however, as the kiln had reached temperature; it just didn't get the soak at top temperature over a couple of days which we normally do. The effects of this is that the glazed surface is not so exciting and a bit dry in places. Some people's work was more effective according to the type of clay they had used. Mine tended to be quite dark brown in places but not bad. I was particularly pleased with our dog's tombstone which has finally been completed - I made this with my daughters when our dog died quite some time ago - poor thing - he was always running off - a saluki greyound rescue dog - and he had no idea about cars whatsoever, and finally met his maker on a dual carriageway near home. We were devastated but the tombstone (RIP - Run in Peace) is a nice marker for his grave.

I digress. About the wood - wood for a firing needs to be both seasoned and protected from the weather - we have a large shedload of the stuff at Rufford - I will post a photo - but its still drying out. We do have another firing coming up in April so hope the woods okay for that. But if anyone reading this blog knows of any good supplies of wood please please let me know.

I have not made any other new work though have a couple more pieces in the making. Have been doing some glaze testing as well, with some interesting results. I also finally fired my students work - sorry students! - and it is really fantastic. I hope they like it too.

I'm hoping to get three days of solid making in the studio over the Easter hols between family visits and trips out - decided not to go on holiday but just potter - we all are so busy during term time that its nice to just spend a bit of time at home. Besides the garden is in dire need of attention though its looking quite good there's lots of tidying up to do.

As far as preparations for Open Up, they are mostly in my head. I do have some nice ideas for some small pieces of jewellery and I will continue with my button making. Some of the pieces that came out of the Rufford firing are composite pieces and I am really excited by that - an earthbound fishy shape becomes mobile on a pedestal of fins, an exotic sort of seedhead is propped on a strange stem, so I'd like to extend this repertoire. I've always liked collections of things and these seem to be like strange objects in a museum display. In fact I think a visit to a natural history museum - or the Pitt Rivers Collection in Oxford, may well be what's necessary.

Well I think I might sign off now - the sun is shining and there is both work and play to be done!!

Happy Easter.

Sarah

Where does the time go?

Where indeed. I haven't stopped. Until now. And then it's only because an afternoon session in a school has been cancelled so I have two seconds to myself...

Perhaps this is self-inflicted though, with too many fingers in too many pies, and some of them very labour intensive pies.

So what have I been doing? Well, not alot of time has been spent in the studio, though I did have an intensive few days preparing for a wood-firing down at Rufford. If you haven't heard about this facility, let me enlighten you.

Down at Rufford Country Park (in Nottinghamshire, near Clumber Park and Sherwood Forest) there is an outdoor Activity Centre where workshops take place and also where the Rufford Wood-Firing Society (of which I am a member) has two wood-firing kilns. Wood-firing is a hugely labour intensive activity, and running a group of disparate people from far and wide (members have hailed from as far afield as Cornwall, Kent and Liverpool and occasionally the visiting potter from Australia or other far-flung corneres of the world) with egos and personalities to match is also quite time-consuming and difficult. We need a large number of people in the group because firing the larger "anagama" kiln (big enough for several people to get inside for the packing) is a big undertaking requiring a lorry load of dry wood that needs to be organised, chopped and stacked, and then five days and nights of non-stop stoking - not to mention a day of packing and half a day to unpack following a week's cooling. We work on a four hour rota but given people's other commitments to work and family, this can sometimes be quite hard to fill. I have to say though, once you are down at the kiln site doing your shift, it is magical, and all the troubles of the world are forgotten in the peace and calm of the woods.

It is a risky business - you are never quite sure how the pots will come out - each firing is different and other factors such as type of wood and clay used and placement in the kiln are crucial. The work is generally not glazed on the outside as the point of a wood-kiln is that the wood ash deposits on the pieces as it travels through the kiln and when this reaches a higher temperature this melts into a glaze on the work. This does mean variation on each piece and the shape and surface texture will also play a part in the resulting effects. I find the wood-firing works really wonderfully on my pieces - I use a very high quality white sculpting clay that results in a golden brown subtly variegated glaze on the best pieces. I also play with different textural effects which can be really exciting as the wood ash deposits on the extremities and tends to highlight both the form and the surface decoration.

I had been working on two scuptural pieces based very loosely on diatoms and microscopoic organisms but did not manage to dry them in time for the firing. Hopefully they will go in the next firing which is due to take place in April. As the gallery in London has requested wood-fired pieces I am hoping some decent work will come out of one of these two firings!! Although I do have some fall-back pieces, thank god.

I must go to work on my research project now - I have been commissioned by Creative Partnerships National Office to look at the work that Creative Partnerships has done in Pupil Referral Units and to look at recommendations for future working practice. This is a nice piece of work to supplement my studio practice and my other work as a Creative Agent (mentor, liaison, consultant, project manager) and Creative Practitioner in schools. It needs a concentrated span of time, however, which is very difficult to find!!

Who knows when I will next be in my studio. I will write and let you know, and will get some photos of my most recent work.

Till next time.

Happy spring!

Sarah

18th February

Well I missed posting a blog last week because I was fighting valiantly with my computer - I think, eventually, I won, although the victory was rather pyrhhic as it still rules my life. I also spent almost no time in the studio as it was half term, and my daughters, though teenagers, had all sorts of projects and events which they needed transporting to, and there were various DIY chores around the house to be done...yawn yawn. Nice to spend some time at home though - a rare commodity these days.

However, I did run a course last weekend in handbuilding - had some excellent students who produced some really exciting work - coiled, slabbed, pinched, and even some throwing. I have run quite a few weekend workshops in my studio and I meet some very interesting people that way, and with the best ones its always a two way process with me getting as much inspiration from the participants as they from me. It really gave me a thrill when I went into my studio this Sunday past and saw the students' work drying out - they had really been quite experimental and daring.

Yes I had a few hours in the studio on Sunday - I felt really inspired. I have been working on a couple of pieces for some time - snatching half an hour here and there - which is not an easy way to work with clay as you need to manage the drying so carefully if you want to carry on working on a piece - and on Sunday they really came into focus. That is how I work- I will start making and will have some idea in mind, but this will be developed as I go, and the original idea could change quite dramatically. I can spend quite a long time just looking at a half formed piece, or working on it, refining it, but not actually finishing it - delaying finishing it whilst I consider the options. This is probably the most exciting bit for me. Once I've worked out where I want to go with it, it will probably be finished quite quickly. But that working out can take quite a long time - and will probably also involve a bit of sketching, research and revisiting the wealth of visual imagery I have collected over the years - much of it from the natural world and with a scientific slant to it.

I am quite interested in working in pairs at the moment - looking at how two things might relate to each other or fit together - or not as the case may be. But I also quite like the idea of repeat forms in nature - so that what might seem to be a seed pod might also be a body part or a microscopic organism or an ancient long extinct creature. I seem to be working on both of these ideas at the moment.

I have a wood-firing at Rufford coming up so I am hoping to get these pieces done in time for that. I also need to start preparing for the exhibition which I have in London in June - I have been asked to put three pieces in a sculpture exhibition in a fairly well-known ceramics gallery in Greenwich. The gallery owner particularly liked the wood-fired pieces, and as the wood-firings are far and few between, and a group effort, it is really not something you can leave to the last minute.

Must go do some teenage taxi-ing - more on the wood-firing next week.

Have a good week!

Sarah

February 4th 2008

Hi. I have been asked by the lovely and extremely dedicated Open Up Sheffield and South Yorkshire team to write the blog this year. I have never written a blog before, and I have to say, rarely read them. But clearly some people do, and I guess the format is up for grabs.

I am a ceramic artist (mainly) with a studio at Persistence Works in Sheffield. I do lots of other jobs too, mostly in education, and mostly to do with Creative Partnerships. I have a permanent battle on my hands to juggle this work where there is a direct correlation between going out and doing a job and getting paid, and my work in the studio where there is no such correlation. I also have a mostly losing battle in the studio work between making commercial stuff which I can sell more easily, and indulging my artistic meanderings to make what I want, regardless of the client group. I could also do alot more to get my work "out there". Which is partly where Open Studios comes in. Of course, it doesn't get the work out there, but it does give it exposure, and I love the contact with the public. I know not everybody does, but I have found the Sheffield audience pretty receptive to my work, and I love the comments they make about it. I make quite large, sculptural forms which are sensual and evocative without being representational - I love listening to the interpretations people put on them - and it makes me think about the work too. I like the fact that alot of the people coming round are either artists themselves, or have a keen interest in the arts.

Doing Open Studios also concentrates the mind. It is an opportunity to show your work at its best and to network. And its a deadline. I think like many artists, and others, I have a love-hate relationship with deadlines, but I couldn't do without them. They often bring out the best work - but sometimes at considerable cost to my health and well-being. On the other hand there is nothing so satisfying as working all out to get something done and then being able to sit back and appreciate what you have produced with your blood sweat and tears. And it makes you tidy up the tip that the studio has inevitably deteriorated into - in my case anyway.

I have not been in my studio much recently, having had alot of other stuff on. I am beginning to think now about what I'll be making and how to arrange the studio. I do in fact have some ideas for much more commercial work which has come out of some of the sculptural pieces I have done. And, whilst I can't, and don't wish to, wean myself off the large-scale stuff, I will be working on a range of smaller items. I also like, perhaps a bit esoterically, making buttons. My daughter has an idea for little figurative pieces which she wants to make - and it'll be fun having her there to help on the day.

Which brings me to another point - unfortunately due to staff shortages Persistence Works will only be open for one day on the 26th April. This is a real shame, and I just hope that people realise this and make the effort to come round on that day. There is always the possibility of phoning any particualr artist and making an appointment to visit, but that goes for the whole year and is not specific to Open Studios. Its so great when there is a real buzz around the building with visitors and artists.

Well, I went into my studio today and searched again for my lost/misplaced glaze recipe book. this has all the glazes in it that I have been using over the last five or six years, plus alot of names and addresses for my mailing list. I am gutted to have lost it - my only hope is that in fact I brought it home sometime before Christmas and in the holiday melee it has been misplaced. I shall sign off now and go look for it amongst my mountains of paperwork and books. Till next time...Sarah