Colorado Art Studio

Colorado Potters Guild Fall Sale Invitation

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You are cordially invited to the Biannual Fall Sale featuring work by members of the Colorado Potters Guild.

Late last year I applied to become a member of the Colorado Potters Guild located on Old South Pearl Street in Denver, CO and was juried into the Guild as one of its newest members in early 2008.

The guild boasts 38 active and 10 associate members and we host a large pottery sale twice yearly. The Fall Sale opens on Thursday November 6 and closes Saturday, November 8.  It’s a great place to find handmade pottery by local Colorado artists just in time for holiday shopping.  Guild members staff the sale in shifts - I will be working Thursday evening and Friday & Saturday mornings if you want to stop by and say hello - especially if you know me through my blog.  If you have friends who appreciate handmade pottery, please pass this invitation along.

If you are a potter, the membership chair will be available to talk with you about becoming a member of the Colorado Potters Guild.  Openings occur occasionally and Marta Rodeheffer will be glad to provide more information about how to apply to become a new member of the Guild.  The guild’s facilities include 2 30 cubic feet gas kilns, 4 electric kilns, 1 vapor kiln, wheels, glaze mixing area, electric slab roller, extruder and a congenial group of people dedicated to clay.  The Guild also hosts workshops with nationally and locally known potters on occasion.

The show hours are:

• Thursday 6:00 - 9:00pm
• Friday 9:00am - 9:00pm
• Saturday 9:00am - 5:00pm

The Guild’s facilities cannot meet our space needs for our sales so we rent space for the weekend at:

First Plymouth Congregational Church
3501 South Colorado Blvd.
Denver, CO 80113
(Huge church at the SW corner of Colorado and Hampden - follow the signs)

In the meantime, as much fun as it is to prepare for shows, I’m looking forward to a more normal slower pace to return and hope to catch up with everyone later this week.

One last thing - thank God the election is over - and GO OBAMA! It was so exciting to see the results start trickling in last night.  I was alternating between glazing (yes I’m pushing it up to the last minute!) and watching the results until about 11pm last night.  Around 9pm, my daughter came bursting into my studio and exclaimed that Obama is the new president - I thought it was premature, but lo and behold, I came inside the house just in time to see McCain concede.  Wow.

Lots of things to do yet for the the sale and I have some exciting news on the horizon!!  Stay tuned….

~Cynthia

Yesterday, I finally nailed down a schedule for my after school clay class that I have decided to teach again this year.  If you’ve read any of the past month’s posts, you’ll know I have been on the fence about it - so it’s a relief for me to finally make a decision.  Instead of teaching twice a week like I did last school year, I have decided to teach one day a week this fall partly to help with burn out and also because my daughter has a super busy schedule this year including soccer practice twice a week, my clay class and a music class.  It means less of an income, but it frees up more time for me to make my own work during school hours - which is a good compromise if you ask me.

I have also been working on my website the past few days and uploaded the current enrollment form for my after school clay class to my Teaching Schedule page, along with a gallery of children’s art work which is a sub page of the teaching page. I’d be glad to hear any feedback if you have any.  Next up on  my agenda is to flesh out the gallery page for my own work which still shows under construction. Also, I am not sold on the current header image and am continuing to work on the theme template I’ve settled on.  I would like to have the colors of the little graphic icons and the text (titles, links, etc.) be in the same color family. I will be working on my website a little bit at a time when I have a spare moment or two and definitely don’t feel the same urgency as I did a few weeks ago after breaking my site.

The bear is really called “I see what you mean” by Lawrence Argent

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, I pulled my daughter out of school (with her teacher’s blessing) and headed downtown to see some of the sights and sounds of the Democratic National Convention that has taken over Denver this week.  I figured it is educational and  who knows when we’ll ever be in a city again where either party will be holding their convention.  First we traveled by light rail and went to the non partisan “American Presidential Experience” at Invesco Field.  There is so much security in town right now that it was like planes, trains and automobiles just to get there.  We were on foot from the light rail and ran into swat teams, secret service and all kinds of blocked streets which added quite a bit of travel time to our journey.  The Presidential Experience was interesting, but it is a commercial enterprise which devalues it just a bit for me.  I’m not sure I’d do it again, but my daughter enjoyed the event (especially touring through Air Force One, seeing an exact replica of the Oval Office, and seeing some of Jackie O’s Clothing) so I guess that’s what counts.

A normal 20 minute walk from Invesco Field to downtown Denver took us an hour because of road closures and other obstacles.  We arrived at our chosen lunch destination, The Market, bedraggled, hot and hungry.  Luckily the food there is delish and after refueling and cooling off, we set off for Robischon Gallery to see a political exhibit as a part of “Dialog: City” during the DNC.  In between, we saw some celebrities and almost literally ran into Senator Tom Daschle, and got caught up in all kinds of protest and demonstrators,  which was interesting but just a little disconcerting for my daughter who sort of lives in a protective bubble (like most kids should).

After spending some time at the gallery, we headed towards the convention center where many of the caucuses are taking place.  Surprisingly, we were allowed to go in and watch the caucuses after going through a security check point.  We wandered around from meeting room to meeting room and eventually went to a “watch” party which sounds way more exciting than it actually is.  We had intended to head on over to Civic Center Park where many of the demonstrators where camped out, but when I finally looked at my watch, it was 5:00 pm, so we decided to skip the park and catch a train back home.

Things are returning to “normal”,

~Cynthia

Guild members, Ginny, Jackie and Kate injecting salt burritos in the vapor kiln last April

On September 6 - less than 2 weeks from now, the guild is holding a group vapor firing for any members who want to learn about the process and participate.  Currently, only about 5-6 people use the vapor kiln at the guild.  I love the look of salt glazed pottery, and in fact, it’s mostly what I buy when I buy pottery for myself because it’s not something I make myself.  I need to get a few small pots ready between now and then so that I can get in on the action and  even think I still have a bit of cone 10 porcelain left in the studio to do so.  I don’t really know a whole lot about atmospheric firing because I fire in an electric kiln at home for convenience.  I borrowed the book below from the guild to read up on the process and philosophy before firing day.  I used to interchange soda and salt for this type of firing, but now know there’s a difference.  I’ll have to see what method the kiln director plans to use.

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Dream lino-cut

Relief printed stoneware platter with underglaze and glaze fired to cone 6 in oxidation, 15" x 15"

Welcome!  I create functional pottery, sculptural wall tiles and ceramic jewelry using porcelain and white stoneware clays in Denver, CO where I moved in 2004 after living in New England for five years.

In the past year, I have experimented with adding imagery and texture to my clay work.  Traditional printmaking techniques such as relief printing with lino-cuts, screen printing, mono-printing, and intaglio have allowed me to explore different creative avenues.  Additionally, digital applications offer exciting possibilities.  As my work evolves, I hope to settle on one or two methods that I find as a suitable means of expression.