My best gift and an exchange

I may have mentioned a few times that my family draws names for gift giving during the holidays. This year I got my sister, and as it happened my sister got me. My sister is not much of a shopper and I'll be the first to admit I'm not the easiest person in the world to shop for. Rather than leaving her with my standard "I'll be happy with whatever you get me " line, I had a specific request this year.

I wanted something that I knew I wouldn't get for myself. Also, I wanted to get something that was handmade. So I requested a french butter crock and included the email address of a friend of mine who lives near my parents who is a ceramicist who could probably whip one up with enough notice (keep in mind I made my request a week after Canadian Thanksgiving which is in October). Unfortunately for my friend she didn't get around to contacting her, but a handmade crock from another local potter was located.

It's lovely, the glaze is beautiful, the size is perfect and I put it into service before noon on the 25th.

Giving gifts to those not close by is a tricky concept. With the distance, it's sometimes hard to tell if your gift was appreciated or not. I just wanted to let my dear sister know that I loved it, that it was perfect and I don't know how I lived without it.


In other news Jen over at Chasing Domestic Bliss is holding an Art Card Swap to celebrate Imbolc. What is Imbolc you ask? To quote a quote from Jen's blog:

Imbolc celebrates the first stirring of the seeds, deep within the womb of earth. Just as nature is beginning to waken under its covering of snow, the birds sing again, the seeds to put forth the first tiny shoots, so we can feel ourselves beginning to look ahead, after long months of forced inactivity, to the plans and projects we will work on bringing to fruition in the greening season that is nearly here." -Celebrating the Great Mother by Cait Johnson and Maura D. Shaw

and to further quote Jen:

If you sign up you will receive a mailing address to send an Imbolc Greeting card to some one and you will receive one as well, this is not about being a great artist but about making something small and fun in as little as an hour or you can work on it for weeks. You can paint, collage, draw, take a photograph, use embroidery or even crayons. You can use Brigid as your inspiration or seeds stirring, you can make it very personal or keep it to a theme around an element or symbol that reminds you of this season. The sky is the limit and this is all about sharing and having fun so please join in.

Head on over to Chasing Domestic Bliss to read more about her exchange you can find out more here.

5 questions: Punk Mommy Pottery and More

This weeks feature artist is not only an exceptional artist but also a good friend in real life. Once upon a time Auvery, of PunkMommy went to the same art program as I did at Red Deer College. So I have had first hand experience of both her process and her personality and a few of her and her husband's beautiful peices in my personal collection to prove it.

As is often the case, after our program ended we went our separate ways, she married the big mountain of a farmer/sculpture/clay artist from the year ahead of ours, and together they started Reid Road Studios in Ponoka Alberta. Through the magic of social networking sites (thank you facebook) and the fabulous community that is Etsy; we've reconnected again.

On my recent trip back to Alberta I had hoped to drop in on Auvery and her family, but time constraints (trips to our home province are chock full of visiting family and more visiting family) as well as an exciting new addition to Auvery's family altered our plans. Auvery, her husband Joe and their son Koda brought home their new son Grant while we were in Alberta and I thought it would be best to take a rain check and visit on our next trip, when her now expanded family will have had a chance to bond and become settled.

While I was happy for Auvery and her growing family I was a little bummed that I didn't get a chance to see her studio first hand. I've seen photographs and their studio is stunning and makes me a little green with envy. It's a nice shade of green though; it brings out my eyes and makes my hair look shinier and it has more to do with how amazing I think their space is and the work that they do in it is .

Auvery's Etsy shop Punkmommy is full of work that really shows off the playful and experimental talent I remember seeing way back when. To keep up with what's happening at Reid Road Studios you can join the Reid Road Studios Group on facebook where Auvery and Joe often post photographs of their new work; it's worth a visit. If you are fortunate enough to be in Central Alberta, you can see her work in person in the Gallery on Main in Lacombe, plus she and her husband Joe's work can also be seen at the Alberta Craft Council Gallery in Edmonton in a show called "Hitched at the ACC" the theme is couples who work in craft together which sums up her marriage in a nice neat package.

I know you're itching to see what she had to say so here goes:

What’s the best thing about being an artist?

the best thing about being an artist is... all the extra cash it brings in..
not...it's not the money at all...it's building on a spark of skill I had naturally (a person would do much better financially with computer skills or even nun chuck skills) and sharing that...as it grows it will be great to be my own boss and work from home to be around my kids

What life or art lesson have you learned that has shaped your work?

life lesson...learning the realities of my personality through seeing myself in my work...i can only work in certain ways with certain results,trying to be someone else or please others is like swimming upstream and when i've made something honest i see myself in the work, it's not always what i want to admit, but i learn



Do you listen to music when you create? If yes, what's on your play list right now and why?

i love to work to music...i play typically ambient/chick music...i love to have it loud but not overly distracting.
i especially love-Neko Case
-Sinead O'Connor
-Neil Young
-Enigma
-Sigur Ros
-Bjork



What is your ultimate creator’s block cure?

creators block...from time to time (OK...a lot) i suffer from lack of motivation more than block really...life gets in the way of studio time...kids, laundry, time with my hubby etc. nothing fires me up like seeing other peoples craft and art in person...perusing the web is great but looking at object up close is really awesome

Which Children's book character would you be and why?

the childrens book character that came first to me was Ramona Quimby...if i remember correctly she was trying to maneuver in the strange world of adults in her own super clever way and things just didn't work out...like nobody got where she was coming from..i feel like that every day! or i would like just a couple of days as sleeping beauty