Colorado Potters Guild Spring Show!
2012 Spring Show Invitation designed by Candice Kiesow
It’s spring here in Denver and that means one thing – time for the Colorado Potters Guild show + sale! Show dates are May 3, 4, and 5th – if you would like more info, please click on over to this link. Unfortunately, I will not be in attendance this year because the sale falls right smack dab in the middle of finals for me. Blergh….
Luckily, in a mere 22 days, I will have diploma in hand and can start the process of rebuilding some sanity in my life which definitely is going to include some clay therapy. It’s hard to believe that three years ago, I began the journey of completing my masters in landscape architecture and thought that it was a good idea, lol. Well, it was and still is a good idea, I’m just tired – actually make that exhausted from the mental and physical stamina that the journey has required. I’m trying not to project too far into the future since I still have finals to get through – but I want nothing more than to click my sparkly red shoes together to fast forward to Sunday, May 13th (the day after commencement) so that I can breathe a big sigh of relief and get on with my life.
The good news is that I most likely have a part time gig lined up with a landscape firm for which I interned last summer – though it is all dependent on how many projects are on the books. To be honest, flexible part time suits me just fine – it is going to allow me to do the other things in life that I enjoy (pottery) and to spend quality time with my family. In the time that I’ve spent in graduate school, my daughter has completed middle school and has morphed into a full blown teen ready to tackle high school next year. Speaking of my daughter, she has chosen to take ceramics 1 as an elective next year – it makes her momma proud! Though, I will be honest, my first thought was, “Really? I have had the wheel, the kilns, the clay and everything else since you were a babe, and now you want to have someone else teach you?” Actually, I get it – it’s hard to teach those closest to you and she’ll be more receptive to an official teacher who will most likely be more objective than I. After all, she is 14.5 years old now with all the typical behaviors of a teenangster.
Delayed
Bags-o-clay
I swung by the guild on Monday to clean. It is a bit cruel that I haven’t been taking advantage of the guild’s studio space, yet since we’re a co-op, I’m still required to clean about every 4 months or so. I know – who’s fault is that? No need to rub it in. Anyway…while I was there, another member was using the electric slab roller (what a luxury) to create slabs to take home where she is going to work at her leisure. She had quite the system in place, boards, plastic wrap, etc. etc. and it got me thinking about whether I might like to do the same. I love hand building, and have hand rolled my slabs in the past – something I actually enjoy doing. At any rate, I decided not to use the electric slab roller, but I did bring home yet another 25# bag of clay – this time a white ^10 stoneware called “Dover” which is now sitting unopened next to the bag of ^6 porcelain. I might as well start working at ^10 for some work since the guild has 2 large gas car kilns.
I do have a plan. It’s just taken me awhile to arrive at a course of action. Making a decision is probably my weakest skill – I tend to deliberate and then deliberate my deliberations before I can move forward. Once I make a decision, I rarely look back. So here’s my dilemma – I need a fairly unobtrusive, comfortable and convenient place to work. Last weekend, my husband asked me when I was finally going to open the clay I brought home a couple of weeks ago, and I mentioned using the laundry room in the basement as a quasi temporary/permanent space where I can leave work in progress out and to work during the winter months. It’s warm, has running water, has shelving, counter space and it’s not precious, so it won’t matter if I get clay on the floor/walls etc. I think I might even bring my wheel inside which is going to require a little extra muscle power.
The laundry room isn’t exactly ideal, but it’s a start. I had planned to get it all set up yesterday and then…I got a small job offer that I couldn’t refuse. I’m updating/adding content to a WordPress website this week. Who would have thought that by teaching myself how to use and customize WordPress for my website out of financial necessity a few years ago, that I could actually earn a little extra income on the side? So, clay is going to have to wait for the weekend. But, I had better not wait too long – my last semester of school starts on Tuesday.
I’m Borrredddd!
I guess that means that it’s time for me to go back to school. It’s been a good break, albeit a bit long and I still didn’t get everything accomplished that I wanted to in the past 5 weeks. My break has been punctuated by family visits, holidays, fun and then in the last week, the national news that pretty much consumed me as I scoured the internet for any and all information. I hate to be a pessimist, but the past week left me feeling a bit hopeless and drained. I suppose like many people, I needed time to digest everything and regroup. AND, regroup is what I’ve done because ultimately, I have faith in the human spirit.
Ginny Cash – Covered Jar
In between spending too much time online and being a lady of leisure, I have slowly continued to de-clutter and organize our house as we prepare to potentially move across town this summer between semesters – I do miss my former studio and look forward to inhabiting it once again. Thanks to my recent online dalliances and boredom, I retook the Myers-Brigg Personality Test for kicks and giggles. Actually, I retake this test every so often in an attempt to see if the results will change – they don’t. I’ve been an ENFP ever since I first took this test in my youth. I’d say it’s a fairly accurate – I’m an idealist and a people person which made the news out of Arizona last weekend very traumatic. I have such a hard time understanding why things like this happen – and don’t get me wrong, I’m not naive, just sensitive.
I finally cut myself off from all news and focused on the tasks I needed to complete before beginning my 4th semester of grad school, which begins tomorrow. News overload just isn’t healthy….
Meanwhile, on my to-do list this winter break is to update the Colorado Potters Guild website with photographs of work taken before our fall show. I began editing the photographs this morning and several caught my eye, including Ginny Cash’s covered jar above and Sarah Christensen’s covered jar below. Nothing like looking at beautiful handmade pottery to make me feel better!
Sarah Christensen – Covered Jar
Finally, I think I learned something about myself. I’m the type of person who can get a heck of a lot done when I’m busy. Sitting around, being lazy does nothing for me and in turn makes me even more lethargic – such a vicious cycle. Have a good week everyone!
Adding an Opt-in Email Sign Up Form to Facebook Page
Hello everyone – happy new week (sort of since it’s already Tuesday)! Between being a mom, going back to school and moving, I don’t seem to have enough time in the day to do everything that I want to do. Oh why, oh why do we need to sleep at all? It seems so frivolous to lay unconscious & prone for a good 5-8 hours a day (more if you’re one of the lucky ones). With that said, and realizing my limitations, I resigned as fall show marketing chair for the Colorado Potters Guild a few weeks ago. I just can’t manage to find the time to squeeze in one more obligation – though I haven’t gone cold turkey. As web-mistress for the guild, I agreed to continue in said position and am also doing the online marketing component by delivering event notifications to local online calendars, magazines, newspapers and am establishing a social networking presence. I just don’t have time to cold call and do all the press releases etc.
The Colorado Potters Guild Facebook fan page
As a marketing tool, Facebook just can’t be ignored by businesses, individuals and non-profits. It represents viral marketing at its best like the old Breck shampoo commercial – “I told two friends and they told two friends, and so on…”. While the Colorado Potters Guild’s Facebook page is in its infancy, I think the venue has potential. Today, I am super excited today to learn that I could add our Vertical Response Email Invitation sign up form directly on our Facebook page. I have the sign up form installed on our website – but being able to add it to Facebook should help us attract new invitees who are interested in handmade pottery.
Do you have a Facebook page set up for your business? Do you want to know how to add an opt-in email form to your site? In the search pane, type in “Static FBML” and then click on the application. Once you are on the application’s page, click on the link in the upper left that reads “Add to my page” → then a pop up menu will appear prompting you to select your page → after selecting your page, go to your business page and click on the link under your profile photo that reads “edit” → from here you click on the “static fbml” application and click edit → copy and paste the code given to you from your email marketing company → save your settings. Once you have saved the code, go back to the main page and click on the + sign at the top of your page and from here you can add the tab for your form. Voilà – I’ve tested my form and it’s live. If you use Vertical Response, they have a video tutorial highlighting the process – not hard to do and it took less than 15 minutes to set up.
Meanwhile I have a quiz for which I need to study, a paper to write (luckily I like writing) and am past due for my morning run which means I have to sign off.
Have a great week,
~Cynthia
