I was working on this shrine in San Diego. I was visiting the Shepherdess Bead store – where I used to work…now owned and run by my friend Cooky. A week of classes, palm trees, visiting friends…The class was "Shrines and Icons" taught by jeweler/sculptor Keith LoBue. Although I was already doing ceramic shrines, it was an amazing experience to work with Keith, and think outside the box. Well, metaphorically…

The casing of the shrine I created in class was a cigar box, the tracery in the opening a deconstructed sandalwood fan.

Inside – triads. Three goddesses printed on fabric. Three altered pods, containing pearls, beetle wings and shards of glass; dangling from a vintage key. There is an element of excitement and anxiety when you start to irreversible alter an object – but the results are very satisfying.

So – I leave in 2 days to return to San Diego, to the Shepherdess, and to classes with Keith! I am very much looking forward to socializing, relaxing and creative rejuvenation!

New tiles: the definition series…

I love incorporating text in my work – from rubber stamped letters, to stamped metal, and now – transfers of dictionary definitions. The photocopied text is transfered onto packing tape and adhered to the tile. There are ways to do transfers and decals using ceramics techniques and materials, but I like this method – its easy, reliable and visually satisfying to me!

I have a whole stash of these tiles in the basement studio waiting to be glazed…

Last fall at Artsfest in Solomon’s MD I (www.annmariegarden.org) stumbled into a lovely conversation with an older woman about my shrines and their interiors, inspiration and the like. She offered me a collection of antique doll parts – a friend of hers had unearthed on a Florida beach years back. I was flattered, and excited by her generous offer. A while later, sure enough, a package arrived in the mail.

To thank her for her kind gift, I am making her a shrine with a few of her favorites from the treasures. Yes, it is long overdue… Here is the shrine in progress – it is clay, yet I am using acrylic paint, and constructing the insides with bookboard and fabric…

The text on the outside reads: Cherish memories/treasures time reveals/loves and lost/and loved anew.

I have to mention Nina Bagley (whose work I love!) and her use of doll parts in jewelry. An inspiration! http://ornamental.typepad.com/

I will post a finished picture soon!

Last week – Monday – we unloaded the large gas kiln at the studio. I have been using a variety of low temperature glazes lately, but for the first time in months, I had pieces in this kiln. Very exciting! Unloading is a team effort, people traipsing in from the courtyard, arms piled high with pots… It was chilly, but felt like spring in the air… After multiple trips, then a fresh cup of coffee and discussion, looking over glaze results and finished pieces. I was so excited to take these three home and install bits and pieces…

 …and I got a cold. I am not very creative when it feels like y head is full of rocks.

So now – here they are waiting for me. What will go inside? Sculpture, antique bits and bobs, artist’s books, collages? I dont know yet, but I will show you as these pieces progress along.

"We do not believe in ourselves until someone reveals that deep inside us something is valuable, worth listening to, worthy of our trust, sacred to our touch. Once we believe in ourselves we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight or any experience that reveals the human spirit.”        E.E. Cummings

“Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now. ”     Goethe

This has been a long time coming… having a blog. So on Leap Day let me take the leap. Will people read it? I am willing to wait and see. This shrine seemed very fitting to post here at the beginning. Over the last few years I have been getting adjusted to being an artist who teaches; where for so many years I was an art teacher with little time for her own artwork. Like a butterfly, I am transforming myself for this next chapter.

When I found a scrap of book text that read: "…heaven’s for flying. Wherefore, Oh soul, whose wings are grown, soar upwards to the sun!" – this piece came together quickly. No idea where the text came from… I spend so much time in the ceramics studio, time working in mixed media seems a treat. There will be more mixed media in 2008 – for sure.

Onwards and Upwards!