love this!!!

i often start or finish my day reading other blogs of people who inspire me. this is a blog post by one of my favorite artists, jenny mendes. check out these super cool illustrations!

Jenny Mendes: Venturous Vegetables etc.: "I love these illustrations by T. Benjamin Faucett! I found them after I had been painting my own tomato people. Now I feel even more..."

 T. Benjamin Faucett

cool artist and no sleep in BFT

a couple of nights week i work at the arendell room in morehead city, the premier place in eastern nc to get a fabulous cocktail. this week, the men of AR have taken a roadtrip. watch out! us ladies are taking over! the late night hours are not conducive to my early morning pottery making, so my studio hours this week are very limited. in the meantime, i can still eat, sleep, and think pottery.
check out todays cool artist alert!

katsuyo aoki

AMAZING!!!

as always, thanks for reading and wishing you well!

~trista

banksy

banksy, in LA.

cool artist of the day

http://www.ralphlgoings.com/

At first i thought it was photogrphy, but Ralph Goings is a realist painter.  This website is an overview of Goings work of the last forty years. It some of his early work from the 1960's.  As it closer to modern day  (beginning with the pickup series) he surveys the fast-food eateries, diner interiors and counter-top still life paintings of the 70's, 80's and 90's. Its cool to move through the decades!


This is about "ordinary everyday experience of American life... showing that there is beauty in the mundane".

My favorites are his earlier works, but i find them all fascinating and beautiful!


"My paintings are about light, about the way things look in their environment and especially about how things look painted. Form, color and space are at the whim of reality, their discovery and organization is the assignment of the realist painter."
---Ralph Goings -- 1978

mountain country

well, i made the old asheville turnaround this week. i headed home for clay supplies and a doctor's appointment. the smell of mountain air was missing from my life. i needed that smell so bad i felt like some kind of fragrance junky!

tis the season for me to be homesick! i always miss home the most when the seasons change. 

one of the blogs i follow is called appalachian treks, written by a photographer named mark peacock. . his lastest entry was about max patch.  max patch "by the way the crow flys" is just a hop, skip and a jump from the farm where we used to live. i love this blog entry. it takes me home!  the road between fines creek and max patch and hot springs and marshall is a winding mountain highway that i could drive in my sleep (albeit incredibly unsafe.... driving while sleeping that is). go check it out his entry. the photos are beautiful!

http://appalachiantreks.blogspot.com/2011/06/max-patch.html

happenings in the hills

its a good weekend to be in the mountains!
this weekend up in asheville is the Kenilworth Artist Association's Spring Studio Tour.  this semi annual event is really special to me for two reasons. first, because it is the neighborhood where my folks have been living for the last 12 years, and you know what they say... "home is where your mom is". 
check out there website.
http://www.kenilworthartists.org/
which also bring me to my next point.  one of my dearest friends kathie kline, and her husband robert are on the tour hosting a number of artists at their home. make sure to put her house on your list of stops. you can see her website here.
http://www.centerpointclaystudio.com/
the event has really gained a lot of momentum in the last few years.  if you are in the area, make sure to hit up the tour. its going to be great!
also, this weekend begins the annual Haywood Community College graduate show.  as a proud alumni i want to encourage yall to stop by the folk art center at mile marker 382 on the blue ridge parkway, outside of asheville.
http://www.southernhighlandguild.org/pages/posts/haywood-community-college-graduate-show-may-21---july-10-2011-33.php
i am truly amazed the amount of talent this program puts out every year!

and, since you are in the area and making a weekend out of art. head on out to bakersville and check out michaels kline's pottery. bakersville is a truly lovely part of wnc. the drive out there is beautiful and michael kline's pots are amazing. they are a huge inspiration to me.

http://michaelklinepottery.blogspot.com/2011/05/38-more-pots-preview-of-this-weekends.html

i guess that all for now!
as always, thanks for reading!
wishing you well,
trista

new to beaufort!

i like to hit the "shop local" button on my etsy page and check out who is making art in and around beaufort. today, i found this new shop, symbiotic sisters, here in town. interestingly, this super nice lady came by the studio the other day ( who later introduced herself as beep. aka symbiotic sisters etsy shop owner).  beep told me she has been traveling on her sailboat and was kind of new to town. just recently she decided that she might hang out in beaufort for the summer.  she also told me she made jewelry and took pictures. today i found her shop: very cool stuff! i love this little town full of creative people!!! i am so excited that another cool craftsperson has landed here. i wish her luck, and hope she decides to stay awhile!

one of symbiotic sister's not cards

check out more of her stuff here!

http://www.etsy.com/people/symbioticsisters

thanks for reading!

 and as always,

wishing you well!

~trista

appalachian treks

no matter how much (or little. ha!) i am infatuated with beaufort on any given day, my sweet sheltering mountains are always in the back of my mind, a little special place in my heart. when i am feeling unmotivated in the mornings, i like to get up and read other potter's blogs. this morning i cam across the blog "appalachian treks".

http://appalachiantreks.blogspot.com/

this blog is by a talented photographer named mark peacock. it features his photos, with inspirational literary quotes on nature (think Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Mark Twain), great mountain hikes, vast mountain overlooks, rambling scenic drives, and must-see parks in and around western nc and eastern tennessee.  i love it! it takes me home. it is such an accurate collection of beauty that describes those ethereal and haunting hills in all their splendor. and done by a person who has built his livelyhood capturing the mountains on film (okay so that might be a bit of poetic leeway, its probably digital now. but breathtaking all the same.) its definitely on my list of favorites! check it out!

thanks for reading!
~trista