Posts filed under 'Art'
I’ll be doing a little demo at Pico Artists at Work! The day after my big art opening is a great walking tour of Santa Monica’s Pico Blvd based artists’ studios. Pico Artists at Work takes plase on Sunday October 14, 12 - 5 pm. Jennifer Joyce’s Pottery Studio will be open and my art will be on display!
I’ll be there from 12-2 and I’m going to do a little demo from 1-2. I’ll throw some shapes on the wheel and show how I connect them together and distort them to make my funky vases.
There hasn’t been much info online about it, but this showed up today. I don’t think this event has become too huge yet, but it sounds like a lot of fun. There are specific events for kids and children always enjoy watching artists in action. Hope to see you out there.
October 8th, 2007
Wow, the big pottery show is this week. Preparing for this show has been fun in so many ways.
Having a show has been a great incentive to make some nice new pieces. The new ones I’m completing this week are the best so far — though I shouldn’t say a thing until they come out of the kiln! I have some very large pieces that came together really naturally, from sketch, to wheel to glazing. I still can’t wait to see them after they are baked. And then I get to share them!
And this has been a great chance to invite people to a party and talk to all kinds of people about something I’ve been having fun with for a while. Putting this together has forced me to think about what I’ve been making and has helped me realize that there is a lot of intention behind it. I actually do have some kind of vision behind what I’m making. And since people are enjoying it, I have even more reason to make more.
So I’m looking forward to seeing friends and meeting some new people a the big opening this weekend — Saturday night at Jennifer Joyce Pottery Studio and Gallery. You can see the official unearthed pottery show site here. And read some blather about the pottery here.
October 8th, 2007
You’ve got to come check out my first solo art show! I’ve been doing ceramics for a couple of years now and I guess people have been diggin’ it, so Jennifer Joyce offered me a show at her gallery!
Working in clay has been so satisfying — plunging my fingers into something substantial, away from the computer, in real life. And being able to create things that just ooze out of my brain. No flow charts, no code, no organization, no usability testing.
So, with complete disregard for utility or what anyone else thinks, I’ve somehow been making some nice pieces that people like. I don’t want to whine… I’m not quite satisfied with the work I’m producing. I feel like I’m just now starting to control the clay more than it controls me. But I’m pleased with enough that I’ll be able to fill a small room with some interesting stuff I’ve made.
Anyway, the show is called ‘unearthed’ and you can check out a few pieces of pottery at www.quixo.com/unearthed. You can give each piece a little spin with the fancy interactive-online-art-spinning-widget. And I hope you’ll join me at the opening Saturday, October 13, 5-8pm.
I try not to analyze it too much, but I like to think of it as punk pottery, all spiky and pock-marked. But, you know, not the punk rock of pure oblivion, destruction and fury, but more the throw out the rules, start over from scratch, anti-pop punk. And I’m sure you can see the other influences banging around in my head too. It is abstract but with enough direct connection to the natural world that the forms are sensual, grotesque and maybe a little humorous. The kind of thing you might find in the forest or under a microscope or possibly just after a meteorite has made landfall delivering artifacts from a lost or future civilization. Or whatever. I’m just making this stuff up. Come on out and you can take from it what you like…
Oh, and the art will surely be upstaged by the yummy munchables crafted by Stacy TenHouten who is firing up her new business, Butterlove Bakery.
September 19th, 2007
Just a little reminder that the Eva Zeisel exhibit at the Los Angeles Craft and Folk Art Museum is starting September 9 and running through the end of the year. There is more on Eva Zeisel and the Los Angeles exhibit here in my previous post.
We just returned from the opening and this exhibition is set up differently from the San Diego show. In San Diego the work was grouped thematically, but here Zeisel’s work is laid out chronologically. This made for a great tour led by Pat Moore, my step-mom and the founder of the Eva Zeisel Forum. I had heard all the stories before but never all at once, in order and with examples laid out so beautifully. While I’ve long appreciated the work, Zeisel’s biography really hit home tonight. Highlights of the tour include hearing her history including traditional apprenticeship in Hungary, imprisonment by Stalin and a conscious move against the coldness of Bauhaus and modernism. Gonna have to break out some of her books (listed here). Anyways, check it out before the end of the year. (and the circus exhibit, also now showing, is great fun!)
September 8th, 2007
I’ve fallen in love with a website for hand-crafted kid stuff. Well it is more like a crush, I’ve only known about the site for a few days, but I just dig the whole hand-crafted movement, the beautiful design of the site and the idea of one-of-a-kind toys that are not plastic and were not made in China.
Mahar Dry Goods is a Santa Monica based web store with clothes, toys and other paraphernalia for kids. The site and brand are reminiscent something by retro comic hero Chris Ware
. It is a wonderful world to visit where you can buy hand made objects or just check out the blog for the latest on hand crafted toy food or inspiring crafty art.
A couple of weeks ago I posted a bunch of the best toys that were our favorites when my kids were small. It was a few years ago that we struggled in our search for more obscure and natural toys. I even designed a bunch of odd custom stuffed toys for babies and almost even finished sewing one (hey, twin babies are a little time consuming). And now it seems like there are tons of crafts people making brilliant original toys. (We also used to, by the way, search long and hard for cool, interesting or punk toddler clothes, and now you can’t open a trendy magazine without getting them crammed down your throat — hello, it is not cute any more. And toddlers shouldn’t have ‘juicy’ on their butts.) Anyway…
What I really enjoy about Mahar Dry Goods is that there seems to be a movement of people creating craft that is art and is still new and modern and is anything but mass produced. And the latest internet mumbo jumbo makes it possible for online communities to develop and share these very low-tech pleasures. It helps me understand a little better my appreciation and enjoyment of pottery. We are hooked into and inspired by this digital world, but there is still a place for tangible objects that are made from the earth and show the imprint of the person who made them.
August 26th, 2007
I take weekly classes with Jennifer Joyce in her Santa Monica ceramics studio. It is not easy being a traditional potter in Los Angeles. Amazed at the variety of work she produces I thought I’d share her work through a little interview. Jennifer creates all kinds of amazing sculpture and functional items in here studio. She hosts wine and clay parties and even helps Girls Scouts get their badges in pottery. But some of her most intriguing projects are larger scale works she produces for home construction and interior design. Check out this interview with Jennifer Joyce to learn a little more about the difference between creating small ceramic forms and large pieces for architectural use.
If you have any comments or questions, this is a good place for em.
July 23rd, 2007
Ok, here’s a little experiment. You can get your free Creepy comic (as seen on our quixo home page) for your blog, myspace, whatever. What the heck, let’s see how this goes.
Oh, the comic remains copywrite Quixo Design and can’t be used for commercial purposes, printed or sold without permission. This is a limited edition, no warranty, no promises, beta release. If I get slammed, I’ll stop distributing the link code (so get em while they last). But hopefully it will just be fun for everyone.
Stick this code whereever you like to stick code and let me know how it works out (REMOVE the ‘x’ in ‘xsrc’ so that it reads ’src=…’):
<iframe xsrc="http://www.quixo.com/windmills/creepy.htm" mce_src="http://www.quixo.com/windmills/creepy.htm" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" style="width:210px; height:300px" marginwidth="0"></iframe>
May 14th, 2007
What do you mean you don’t get it? He’s creepy, he dresses sharp and he’s got a throbbing helium-filled heart. Fun, right? And you can play with him. Pick your heart’s mood, make Creepy squat and a couple other things. Creepy was inspired by a song by Tin Hat Trio, sung by Tom Waits.
& (on Amazon)
.
Creepy’s on the quixo homepage at the moment. And, for a limited time, you can have a copy of Creepy for your blog, mypage or whatever. Here is the code and instructions.
(When I first started Quixo.com it was a repository for my wacky crude animated Flash comics. Hopefully this will be the first of many more!)
May 14th, 2007
Here is an absolutely brilliant web post on the disease of design. I have to say this guy’s got it bad. Graphic Design is not a flighty artsy field as some frequently think. It requires severe attention to detail and attracts some pretty focused people. Math, consistency, the ability to deliver files to a printer that are flawless. Plus an interest in, of all things, type. I have to say that I do not fall on the completely compulsive side of the spectrum. But I absolutely identify…. it is this obsession that compelled me to start the Donald T. Sterling’s ugly ads campaign.
Perhaps this will help friends and family of designers understand: The Disease of Design
January 29th, 2007
At the pottery studio where I’ve been taking classes, a great potter is offering to teach some very small, very hands-on classes. It will be a nice little intensive course combining instruction plus additional studio time. And the setting is great — a small studio and a creative environment. I really want to take this class so I hope we can get a couple more people who are interested! The time is flexible depending upon participants schedules — I’m hoping for mornings or evenings after 6pm. This class is for adults!
Starting February, 2007
+ Small Classes 4 to 6 people
+ $350 Includes:
- 8 - 2-hour sessions
- 8 - 2-hour practice sessions
- Initial 50 pounds of clay
- All work made in class will be fired and glazes are included
Instructor Jamie Weiss, a well-known New Hampshire potter has been designing and creating pottery since 1978. With 28 years experience he is teaching all levels of wheel throwing in this small, intimate classroom setting. Focus will be on individual need and interest.
Call 310-392-4626 to enroll. 50% deposit required to reserve a space. There will be daytime and evening classes. Times to be arranged to fit busy schedules.
Classes held at
Jennifer Joyce Pottery Studio
3028 Pico Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90405
(310) 392-4626
(near Trader Joes and accross the street from McCabes Guitar shop.)
January 17th, 2007
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