old homes tour

old homes tour is this weekend and my studio will once again be a stop this year. the studio is TRASHED. oh well...looks like i gotta clean to do today!

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

throwing a bottle

super cool video by my former mentor and teacher, mr steve lloyd, of lloyd pottery. steve is the clay teacher at  haywood community college.

check it out! but don't blink. you'll miss it!

bummed...

this blog post is an ode.

an ode to days goneby,

where cheerful but un-useful pots were given a second chance.

happy to be repurposed

 for the last year,

they had become the hands that embraced my garden

out front of the studio.

it happened slowly.

a broken sugar jar...

vanished.

a cup found far from home.

and now, a huge gaping hole. all at once.

where someone took my garden love and made it theirs.

i knew it would happen. i didnt even think i d mind.

but i do.

those dirty thieves took a matching set

2 or 3 atleast

of blistered pinholed faultily glazed bowls.

i know! i should be happy that someone loves them

enough to take them home and use them in their state of fault.

but some how i am offended.

the blank hole not filled.

i took away the garden hands today. and replaced them with  a fence.

boo thieves. you stink!

montana blog love!

hey yall!

have i ever told you i love the word quirky? probably not, but i do.  i love it as a word, i love its definition and i love it as a description.  i remember the first time i heard the word quirky. i was in middle school, circa 1990, reading the now defunct magazine, "sassy".  a magazine that told me how i could die my hair with kool aid, informed me what doc martins were and what a rrriot girl was. it was so rad. i remember once they had a photo spread featuring "quirky" models. these women were not the barbie doll stick figures of seventeen magazine. they were something much more amazing: red headed, freckled, afro-ed, raven haired, noses too long, eyes too far apart etc.  they were young, fresh, original, normal, out of the ordinary, relate -able, extraordinary,

gorgeous...

so, there is this fabulous all female blog compiled by four quirky writer-slash-artists out in missoula, montana that i like to keep up with:

 the fantastic spatula!

 its witty and well written. and for the art lover, its definitely inspiring. 

i love this blog!!! 

one of the writers of fantastic spatula is  my colleague. she is a fellow artist and a native carteret county-an... the gifted and talented shannon kemp!  you might recognize her name from when i did an art show here in beaufort with her and another colleague (christal weatherly) last july.

so, on saturday may 21st guess what nc artist the fantastic spatula featured?
yep. yours truly. go see for yourself!

fantastic spatula

anyhoo, tis the season to sleep in the studio! gotta go make pots!

thanks for reading!

and as always, wishing you well!

~trista

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

night time

life in beaufort is sometimes difficult in ways you might not think....
 
but as i rode my bike home from the studio last night, the smell of jasmine, spiraling softly though the cool evening, i am reminded why i love it here. the moon reached full at 7:09 a.m. yesterday. the tide was so high it was nearly spilling into the streets. and i feel blessed that this is my commute from shutting down the kiln. the man in the moon makes taylor's sparkle and dance and it takes my breath away.

firing today?

it was a big fun weekend here in beaufort...BEAUFORT MUSIC FEST!!!!

a few worth checking out:
shannon whitworth - a fmiliar name from wnc. beautiful folk tunes (which i realized she was formerly of the biscuit burners - we used to go see them at the town pump in black mtn. i loved their music!!!)
justin james & co - voted most up and coming by relic magazine...think avett bros before they ditched the banjo ( um HELLO? why DID they ditch the banjo????)
american aquarium - southern rock-ish. they were brillaint at the backstreet pub that night.
onward, soldiers - recently performed at the legendary sxsw music fest in austin, tx. no words to explain their greatness. well, except greatness. if they are coming to a town near you...go. seriously.
and of course..... justin townes earle. god, he's so cool. even without his band.
enough of that...

i m so excited to get to the studio!

new elements? check
new thermocouples? check
new thermocouple wires? check
cone 5 test fire? check

time to fire!!!! the pots are piling up everywhere and i'm running out of room. but, i ve got a lot of pots that i'm super stoked about. first, i have to refire the last bisque that was grossy underfired.
hurray!
as always. wishing you well and thanks for reading!
~trista

on the road again....