Winning 1st Place is sweeeet....

What a great weekend! I signed up a while back to do a brand new show in Thomson, Georgia, "Arts in the Alley" on May 8th. I really didn't know much about it, but my parents lived right down the road (OK, 45 minutes away ;-) and it was being held in the home of blues great Blind Willie McTell. A strong arts community, a cool show name, blues in the neighborhood and an excuse to spend time with my Mom (and Dad) on Mother's Day weekend... what could be better?

It's a fairly new show, this is its second year. I can tell that it's going to grow and there will come a time when people are fighting to get in. Marion Ivey did a phenomenal job with every aspect of the show. It was well organized, the entertainment was great and I had a lot of fun talking with he and his cohorts. What a nice community! I had a lot of fun and very much enjoyed the experience... plus some of my work found some new homes with people who really seemed to love my art. Although selling my art is special, I think some days that I enjoy soaking up compliments just as much if not more .

To give the show a permanent place in my "fond memory" category, I won 1st place for a piece of my pottery! It's always nice to win, and even better, it's nice to be appreciated.

You can't tell much from the photo to the left but I don't have time at the moment to take a better photo. This photo is one I took a month or so ago while experimenting with ways to photograph my work. It's looking down into the piece. It's titled "Treading Water". It's one of my absolute favorites. I fired it five times to get the glaze affects I wanted. 

The "bubbles" cascade inside and outside. It's "wavy" to emulate the ocean, and has "coral" type flutes. Ocean colors of course. You can't see the variations of the blues and aquas in my poor photo, nor can you see the lines of the piece... Ah well, one more thing I need is a good photographer who's willing to trade with luck.

I came home from the show with a nice 1st place plaque, a stunning basket by Delores von Rosen from Chappells, South Carolina and a few nice pieces from another potter at the show. I haven't unpacked yet so I can't give you her name. I will once I unpack and find her card. Delores teaches basket weaving and if she were closer I'd be heading over to take some lessons. She had some very well made basket ART, true art... unusual shapes, beautiful colors and excellent color combos.

I'm already gearing up for my next two shows... I'm still learning about which shows will work best for my kind of art. My work is what I'd describe as art sculpture. It's definitely not what most think of when they hear the word "pottery".

This weekend I'll be at the 42nd Annual Fayette Fine Art Show in beautiful downtown Fayetteville on the courthouse square (May 15 & 16). I'm not thrilled about the weather... it's supposed to be around 90 degrees! I'm in booth 36 if any of you would like to wander by and see me. It's a fantastic show, the first I ever did and one I'll always do as long as I live close enough. I won an award there my first year, too.

The Fayette show teams up with the Fayetteville Main Street organization and holds a number of different events throughout the weekend. They have the "Taste of Fayette" which showcases lots of local restaurants, caterers and chefs, plus a kids area with those big bouncy slide things and other fun activities for the kids. The Friends of the Library holds a HUGE book sale on Saturday, too. I'm a read-aholic so I'm a member and get to hit the show the day before the public. I'll cart away bags and bags and boxes of books.

The following weekend, the 22nd, I'll be in Buckhead (Atlanta) at another new show being held inside (yeah!) at the Old Buckhead Design Center. It's styled on a European market theme and will have arts, organic foods, events for the kids and other products. It's a last minute addition to my schedule. My son told me about it. He'll have a booth there so I thought it'd be fun to set up near him and if nothing else, bond. I'm trying to finish up a lot of smaller pieces as I think it's probably going to be more of that kind of show.

I don't do small pieces as a rule. Most of my work takes hours to make, not including the firing time. I need to get my butt in gear and get a nice portfolio and get my work in more galleries. My biggest problem in life is that I have way too many interests and don't focus on one well enough to do it right. I need a handler.

On another note, couldn't end without mentioned that they're having a blues festival next weekend in Thomson, GA. Go look up the McDuffie Arts Council or Thomson and Blind Wille McTell if you'd like to find out more... which reminds me!!! There was a very, very cool display by a wood worker at the Arts in the Alley show. Again, the card is packed or I'd tell you the name darn it. Anyway, he tracked down living relatives of Blind Willie McTell and received permission to use wood from McTell's old home. He makes gorgeous wooden knives and other items from the wood. He has prints of McTell playing framed in wood from the home. If you're a blues fan, you'll want to look this guy up and snatch up one of his pieces. Again, I'll share the name and info when I unpack.

Right now I'm heading to the studio to finish glazing some pieces I hope to have for this weekend's show...