Ceramics update

I've spent quite a lot of my free time this summer working on some things in the ceramics studio. This is my first time throwing pottery on the wheel in 11 years, and my first time back in the studio since 2004. I'm still perfecting my skills, so not everything comes out exactly as I want, but I have been rapidly improving. Here's a peek at some of the more successful items so far:

Awesome weekend

It was my first free weekend at home in a month, and I got to do so much! My house is clean, I got to spend some time in the ceramics studio (bit by bit I'm regaining my old skills)...

I bought myself a ticket to see The National. They're not coming til October, but it should be well worth the wait. Check 'em out here, if you want.

Library loot! I got my library card--which never ceases to be exciting--and this is what I came away with for now. I've got a few holds on other sewing books. The Built by Wendy Dresses book has some fun ideas in it. Hopefully I'll have time to make something before I have to send the book back to the library. I'm hoping the Threads Fitting DVD Series will help me figure out how to get a better fit on this tricky vintage dress I started months ago. Bag Bazaar would be a good starter book for people interested in sewing bags. The patterns I'm interested in are fairly simple though, I could probably figure them out on my own.

There happened to be a street fair outside the library, so I stopped by and picked up some free Lara bar samples. Yum!

I also walked around the art museum for the first time, and snapped some pottery inspiration photos:

The handle and spout on this South American pot are so elegant.

And I love the simple yet striking designs on these pots.

Not exactly awesome, but I've decided, after all, to unpick the messy free-motion circles from my quilt. It's just too frustrating and slow to try to do this on a queen-sized quilt on my tiny sewing machine! I was pretty crazy to think this would be a successful idea for my second time quilting ever, but hey, I like to dream big. Once I finally unpick the edge I started, I'm going to machine quilt in a zig-zag pattern following the blocks. Hopefully that will be more instant gratification!

For the textile lovers

I picked up a couple Kuba raffia textiles last weekend at an African market. These textiles are from the Democratic Republic of Congo, and are only 5-6 years old. I have admired the striking designs used to weave these textiles for a few years now, so I'm pleased to be able to admire them from close-up, as much as I want. I chose two that had some really intricate designs and a lovely asymmetry. I'm sure they'll be even more striking when I find a place to display them (i.e. not on my carpeted floor!)


One of the things I particularly love about Kuba weaving is the pile weaving, which I hope you can see here in this detail shot. The contrast between the colors, and the flat and pile woven sections is just great!

If you want to see more impressive Kuba textiles, try here, or here. Enjoy!

Housework

I'm expecting my first house guests later this week, so it's about time I finish putting things away. My porch container garden is going pretty well. I'm really enjoying having so many fresh herbs at my disposal while I'm cooking. I also have some peppers growing, and some tomatoes which may or may not eventually decide to fruit.

I finally hung some artwork:

A hand drawn image purchased in Chennai, India.

My 'Bamenda bag' from Cameroon.

An embroidered tree silhouette I picked up at the Goodwill this weekend for $3. It's signed 'Paula.' I'm thinking about finding some other predominantly black images to couple with it.


And my favorites! Above and below, two vintage French posters that were used in schools to illustrate geography. They are double sided, and remind me a lot of Tin Tin illustrations. The one above is "La Plaine" and reminds me of flying over France. I've always wanted to make a quilt based on the geometric shapes of agricultural land. The one below is "Le marais salant" You can see various workers drying sea salt. My Aunt found these (and others) for 5 Euros a piece in France several years ago. What a find!

A week in Israel

I've been working in Israel for a week now, and everything has been fantastic. We're staying in a lovely guest house with gorgeous gardens and a beautiful view of the valley below:


Miriam Avitan, who runs the guest house with her husband, makes us 3 fantastic meals a day. Last week for lunch we had homemade falafel:


I do my conservation work in a covered shed at the guest house, while most of the team works at the dig site in the mornings. I was able to visit it for the first time last week to see how things were going. They have a gorgeous view from up there of vineyards, and you can even see the Lebanese border on nearby hills.


This summer I will be repairing a whole lot of pottery. Although I do something very similar in the museum setting, here I have added challenges. For example, even though the ceramic fragments are sorted into groups before they come to me, there are usually a few sherds that don't belong. The two pots below were found in the same bag. I also don't have any idea of what the pot will look like when it's completed--or if I have all the pieces. It's like doing a difficult jig saw puzzle without the box, and with a handful of pieces missing.


The cool part about it is that I am the very first person to work on these objects, and the first to see them complete! The pot below was really challenging to put together--if you look closely you'll see that it was actually thrown in two pieces and put together so that the wheel marks run in a different direction than you'd normally expect. It took me a little while to figure out what was going on!


I hope everyone is enjoying a great summer. Although my internet connection is super slow, I'll try to add some pictures to the blog on occasion.

A belated birthday brunch

There were flowers from my garden,

Vegan tofu scramble with a heart-shaped mushroom,

Cinnamon swirl buns,

Breakfast strata with potatoes, rosemary, and swiss,

A vegan ice cream cake,

And my lovely new butterfly pin from Chile, made with dyed horse hair.

New acquisitions

This weekend was another busy one for me. Although I was dreading a lack of free time, I actually had a very pleasant weekend. Friday and Saturday I helped out with the Southwest Indian Arts Fair. I checked in art that was submitted for the judged competition, and made sure it was safe and unharmed for the duration of the show. This gave me a wonderful opportunity to get to know some of the artists (many of whom are well known for their work). It was such a heartwarming and humbling experience to meet these artists and see the immense quality of their work. I managed to befriend a few, and was really happy when some of them won awards in the show. One of the people I was most proud of was Hector Valencia, a sculptor from Tucson who works in metal. The pieces he entered for the competition were quite large, and contemporary. In more ways than one, they really stood out from the competition. It was only his second time showing these pieces, and he was really honored to receive an award for achievement in sculpture. At the fair the next day, I was then truly honored, as Hector insisted on giving me one of his handcrafted bells.

I picked out this bell with a cow skull, as I think it will be a great souvenir of my time in the Southwest, and of my experience working with Hector and the other artists. Plus, I love the earthy colors, the perforated metal, and isn't that just about the cutest cow skull you've ever seen? I think it's pretty cool.

Following the art fair, I stopped by the University for another art show--this one consisted of students and alumni from the art department, and included my friend Jessica Drenk. This was her final show before moving to the other side of the country. I'm a huge fan of Jessica's work--it's the kind of art I would like to make, were I as talented and creative an artist as her. Although I'm sad to see her leave town, I am really thrilled to be the proud new owner of one of her works. The piece above (with a detail below) is called Bibliophylum, Excerpt #25. Jessica uses everyday items--in this case a book--and creates something entirely new and different. She draws a lot on museums and nature for inspiration. Please check out her website--and don't miss her Erosions series--this is one of my favorite.