Dormant: BFA Culminating Exhibit

Well a lot has happened since my last post on here. A huge weight has been lifted since my BFA Culminating exhibition a few weeks ago. This show was up for a week, April 19-23rd, and the reception was well received and all of the food was gone by the end. My grandma flew in for this show instead of my graduation ceremony and trust me when I say that this type of event is more exciting than any graduation ceremony. I have included a few pictures from the show but feel free to check out my  website for more images...

Critique

Right now I feel as though I am this container that is pictured. I am balancing on this edge and every now and then I feel as though I may fall off, but that hasn't happened yet. Only two months, 60-something days, 1400 + hours until my undergrad college chapter comes to an end. I am excited but I admit it feels weird not to worry about registering for classes this fall...I am not sure what the future holds yet.

Chico State has returned from the St. Patrick's spring break and most the students in the art department have had to hit the ground running, or maybe they kept working all through break. Mid term cirtiques have either arrived or will be arriving soon - and many student and faculty are off to Philadelphia to attend the print conference or the national ceramic conference (NCECA). Last year I was fortunate enough to go to Phoenix for NCECA, but let me tell you what - I wish I could travel to Philly and not worry about graduating right now. Agh..o well.

Earlier today our advanced ceramic class had our 1 of 2 intense critiques. I will stop writing soon and flood your eyes with some pictures of the work. I felt out of all the advanced ceramic classes I have taken, this critique with this class has been one of the better ones. Many times students find crits to be just an uncomfortable blanket in the room of silence while the teacher calls on students at random to comment and sometimes you wonder why the class bullshits their way through an hour dissecting the tree-wire sculpture. With that said - I am glad our class was at such a comfort level where we can give genuine feedback and everyone participated in questions and concerns.

10 10 20

Well this past week was the reception for the 10 10 20 art show

held at Chico State. Our shop tech Dave Barta came up with the

 show as a way for students to get their art out to the public,
have a chance to show in a gallery setting, and best of all,
allow for people to purchase some great art work for
20 dollars. Many people take advantage of this sale

and stand in line for hours to get the panel that they
want. The first guy in linearrived at 9:30 am and the panels
did not even go onsale until 12:30 pm!

Not only was it a great reception but there
was an amazing amount of food to eat.
This event has been one of the best fundraisers I have seen

for the art department. Here are some pictures!!

You can see my panel - the top row second from left (above)
Checking out panels...(below)

Midnight Radio

About a week ago I attended a reception at the 1078 Gallery for an international juried MFA show. As I was leaving the studio the moon looked quite amazing in the sky so I grabbed my camera to take a picture. The show was well received by fellow Chico artists and was followed with a juror talk and award announcements.

Trevor Koch's piece...he won first place and will have a solo exhibit at 1078 sometime this year.

Two MFA candidates at Chico State

Earlier this week I purchased a 10  10  20 panel. The panels are made by our shop tech and sold to students to participate in the 10 10 20 show. The blank panels are 10 x 10 inches and cost 3 dollars, and then sold at the reception for 20 dollars (hence 10 10 12). This is a great fundraiser for the art department and this will be the second time around this show is happening and the last time I can participate as a student. The panels were due today and this coming week all of the student panels will be up in the B-SO Gallery Space in Ayres. Below is a picture of my panel. I rolled out thin slabs of paper clay and layered them inside the panel after staining the wood.

I slumped a glass plate the other day in glass class and I was very happy with how the plate came out. I crushed up blue plate glass and ran the particles through a fine screen so I had the finest powder to use for the iris color. I used a laser decal for the pupil and it is an image of my dad as a child.

Also...I have updated my website with some pottery that I got out of the kiln! I finally had an overcast, non-rainy day that I could take pictures outside.

Black Cat

The past week has been hectic with celebrating a friend's 30th birthday and finishing up applications to various residencies and classes.
I have been at work testing Cone 5 and 6 glaze recipes and believe I have found some good bases to work with. I will post more on that information later. It has been 5 weeks into school and we still have not had a high-fire done yet, there is finally enough work to fill the kiln and that should be fired off Wednesday. I cannot wait because I'll have more pottery to add to my website.


The past week brought sunny days and cold nights - I was walking to school the other day and encountered a cat just eating some grass. I thought a picture would be an amusing thing to add. He, or she, just stood around chomping on the grass. Below I have included pictures of a recent piece I have finished - I am having quite a love affair with paperclay. It is just something else...I have some pieces that have come out of a bisque firing but will wait until I get the pieces finished before displaying them on the website.

 \

(33)

It has been a long weekend with two furlough days, one February 12th and the other is February 15th. The furloughs completely fucked up the glass furnace, in the moment that our teacher decided to finally get the furnace turned on - we found out that the school was using the Friday furlough to shut down the power on the side of campus where ceramics and glass are located...so after 3 weeks and 200 dollars in lab fees there is still no hot glass yet. I know I could cast a bunch of the furnace glass - but until you have blown glass and had that experience - well..you don't know the pain some of us are going through.


There has been a group of us art kids going out during the week - it has been enjoyable. There seems to be phases of groups and friendships formed in ways that allow you to get out of the studio every now and then and enjoy a beer with people. This past Wednesday we went to two different bars - enjoying PBR and some others enjoyed their Maker's shots.

Last night I went to a friend's house for her boyfriend's birthday gathering and was lucky enough to run into some old friends that have since graduated the Chico Art Department. It is always nice running into them because once our studio friends graduate they usually disappear into their after life of college and work and what was once a familiar face is someone you see every now and again. There was an adorable puppy at the party that I took a picture of. This pup just kept sleeping while I pet him - he was a cutie. I threw in some random photo of balloon animals from a store window and cups I made earlier today. I have yet to get more in-progress shots of work. Stay tuned for more awesome to come around....

Nostalgia

Okay! Well it has been a few days since my last entry and things are definitely starting to roll along. Class projects, gallery sitting, glaze formulating, studio time, reception attending, music listening, entering shows, loading and unloading kilns, reading, and almond croissants are just normal activities that occur about 8 days a week for me.Yes. 8. 

I just attended my BFA graduation meeting earlier today and received information for my exit show and all the fun goodies that go along with that circus. Considering this exit show is a smaller space than my BMU show was and I have started on my current show sooner than I did for the first one - I feel that I am on a good track - doesn't mean I will start slacking in any way - I actually have to write my artist statement ahead of time and normally I enjoy busting that document out a few hours before the gallery doors open.

The funny thing about art students is that most of the true-to-form artist really spend most of their life in the studio: I only go home to sleep...shower...make sure everything is ok on the home front. My weekends are not spent sleeping in (well sometimes) or running out to stand in line for the bars...no sir not anymore. Last semester when I worked on my BMU show I was on a strict 7:30 am-8-9pm studio schedule Monday-Sunday. Not even kidding you. From Aug 25th-Oct 19th 2009- when I set up my show - I was lucky if I even went to attend other openings or spent a night doing anything different. I loaded and unloaded kilns immediately and just worked while kids were out in glass bbq'ing and having fun...but I needed this show and it was probably the best thing I could have chosen to do - and I [surprisingly] lived through it!

Application deadlines for classes and residencies are coming up and I just stumbled across images from summer sessions on the Pilchuck Glass School site. I am reminded of the amazing experience and amazing people I met up there, and have been reminded how badly I want to attend another class there this summer.

  Either way I will leave you with some pictures from the studio. It has been days and nights filled with harnessing nostalgia: listening to Talking Heads, watching Queen at Wembley Stadium, South Park, pictures, good and bad memories - I suddenly start to recount all of my semesters and Chico State and how each has been so different yet started to form together - Pictures...enjoy!

Our MFA student Sandi, working on a HUGE tongue. Really. HUGE.

Meaghann and her crazy rabbit/horse/puffer fish chimera!

Rose cups I am making - with cone 5 black clay and cone 10 B-mix w/grog.

"It was this big"