Studio Update: Week of 2/25- 3/2

On Sunday I loaded up my car and headed out towards Richmond, Virginia to drop off my piece for the upcoming NCECA Student Juried show. The drive was only supposed to be about 9 hours but as I mentioned previously, my friend had a superstition that something bad would happen if I took the first route... so a 10 plus hour drive it is!!!! I had a friend tag along to be my passenger princess and keep me company on the road, his main job was making sure the gps didn't reroute us to the death route. Monday morning I dropped my piece off at the Visual Arts Center of Richmond and then hit the road back towards Indiana. Tuesday I spent about 15 hours in the studio glazing my batch of work so that I could load it into a glaze kiln that day. That was the only way I would have my work out of the kiln in time for some March 1 deadlines, and even then it's pushing it. Later this week my undergraduate professor, Jeff Campana, was in town for the Southern Crossing Pottery Festival and he came to IUS to do a demo for our class. It was really good to see him again and get to hear about his new body of work. After his demo I unloaded the glaze kiln and photographed all my new work so that I could edit and write applications for deadlines due by midnight, again I said it was a tight time line. By 11 pm I was tired and ready to cry but I submitted everything in time. Friday and Saturday I volunteered at the Southern Crossing Pottery Festival after working my shifts at the coffee shop. By the time Sunday rolled around I felt like a shell of a human but I was really proud of all the things I accomplished this week. After hearing Jeff speak about his experiences as a younger artist, it got me thinking about the determination and sacrifice it takes to be a ceramic artist and I feel grateful that I have the stamina ( currently anyways) to do my best to make it happen.

Image 1: My work is loaded into the car, ready for the road trip

Image 2: Me standing in front of the Visual Arts Center of Richmond

Image 3: The view from my hotel room

Image 4: It was a pretty drive through West Virginia

Image 5: Back home and working on glazing some pieces

Image 6: Jeff Campana giving a demo