I am happy to announce that I am the featured artist for the first half of June at The Art of the Lakes gallery in Battle Lake. I have a few ceramic vases and mugs on display as well as two paintings. The painting on the right has never been displayed before. It is one of my favorite pieces. Honestly I hesitated the morning of the install because I love both of those paintings so much I almost don’t want them to sell. The Birch tree shelf“Why did I do this to myself!” I keep saying out loud to no one in particular. I had a vision of a birch tree shelf and I was determined to bring it into existence. It would have been easier if I hadn’t decided to make it less than a week before I needed it. I am a huge believer that art is a product of time and place. If I had made it a month prior or later it would be a totally different piece. It’s not exactly how I envisioned but I like how it turned out.
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“This will end in tears, I just know it”Every time I fire up the kiln I know that there are two outcomes for each item I place in the kiln. Either it will come out fine or it will crack. The moment I close the heavy lid both reality’s are true until the process is complete. Every 2-4 hours I diligently check the kiln and slowly turn the temperature up. Once the desired temp is reached the kiln sitter trips and the kiln is shut off. Then I wait until it cools down to find out which reality I’m in. Today I will be unloading my first few pieces of stoneware. Two cups a plate and a large vessel. Update: Well, everything except the large pot made it. The bottom was completely destroyed. Well that’s the artist life. Sometimes you spend 10-15 hours making something only to lose it. I can only guess that I should have dried it slower. I’ll try a longer dry time on the next one.
I finialy had some success with making a cup mold! Third times the charm I guess. I just wish I didn’t have to learn so much the hard way. I have a fun cheeky idea for a set of mugs but I need them all the same size. I’m debating on whether or not I should try to make a new mold. Once I get further along with the process I will share some more photos. I also started on an ocarina. It’s a clay musical instrument. Although I couldn’t just make a simple one first time out. I decided I really needed a walleye ocarina. Hopefully it will work. The next step is to add holes
This month my mission is to get organized. I started in my studio area. It’s not exactly unorganized. However it could use a little refresh. I love the way it turned out. Next I focused on moving my office area from the loft into a nook in our bedroom. Hopefully that will limit the temptation from my 3 year old. She’s becoming very interested in the computer and filing cabinet. I have moved around a good deal the past few years. As a result I have half heartily started my business over and over again. This last move is likely to be the LAST move.
So I am ready to be focused and restart my business. I have the benefit of knowing what works and what doesn't. I thought about everything I did right and everything I did wrong and created a plan-well more like a road map for starting or re-starting a business. If you are starting or re-starting a business I highly recommend using this plan or coming up with your own plan. In the coming weeks I will go into more detail about each of the topics below. 1. Organize
2. Life Goals ask questions-
3. Identity
4. Legal
5. Policies & Procedures How will you Handle-
6. Location
7. Promotion
As always thanks for reading and if you have anything to add or comments please use the comment link below. This morning I am treating myself to a little whip cream in my coffee. Few things feel more comforting on a rainy morning then a cup of coffee. My LO is with her grandparents which gives me all morning to be completely quiet and reflect. Truth be told, since moving to this Minnesota town I have been a little down. I have moved around plenty in my life but this move is intended to be permanent and once again I find myself trying to build my reputation as an artist. My goal is the same as any artist, simply to make a living creating art. I don’t care if I’m ever rich or famous. Wealth would be a wonderful side effect. Fame I could most certainly do without. I have never wanted to draw attention to myself but rather to my work.
So I am going to try to take my own advice and start over for the last time. Every morning I may have to remind myself that life is full of possibilities. i am excited to be back! Where was I? I was taking a break from selling and promoting my work. I decided to create a human-from scratch. Now that human is less dependent on me and I'm getting the hang of this parenting thing. We might even be able to create art together. First up on my agenda- make an agenda of course.
After a lot of thought and research, I decided to design my own planner pages. I am about 90% done with the design of the daily sheet. Next I need a monthly, quarterly and yearly page. I know what you're thinking- "just buy a planner and be done with it!". But I can't, planers don't have drawing pages and then they have extra pages I don't use. The set up never seems right for me. I also like plain note pages and I want to be able to add pages. I will post more on that as I complete it. Thank you for reading, if you have any questions or comments please use the comment link. I have not been very productive in pottery this month. I have had two senior portrait photo shoots. I do portraits by referral only and I will not do weddings. This is essential to keeping photography fun. I worked in a portrait studio for a while and it was one of the most stressful jobs I have ever had. The photography part was fun and I absolutely loved working with familys. The thing I hated was the ten minute timeline and push for upgrades.
The place I worked only allow photographers 10 minutes to take pictures. I consider myself an artist and felt constrained by the cap on time. I also felt like some people would have benefitted from a longer photo shoot. Of all the portraits I have done, the best ones are outside. People are more comfortable when they can react with the environment. Children light up when you just let them play and photograph them on the run. It was nice to take mental break. I am almost done editing the pictures from the last shoot and then I will put my focus back on pottery. I do have a pending order o get started on next week. As always thanks for reading and if you have any questions or comments feel free to use the comment link. Tomorrow is the Buffalo Art Fair in -you guessed it- Buffalo Mn. I will have a booth there. 9-4 tomorrow. Hopefully the weather will hold. I am excited to show some new work. I got this set done just in time. I had an Oprah "a ha" moment, an epiphany, a light bulb switching on moment. Whatever you would call it, "it" dawned on me the other day. The advice I would give an artist or photographer trying to start a business would be hypocritical. It would be advice that I have learned by living and breathing art for the past few years. I realized though, I dont follow my own advice and I don't quite know why. Sure some things I follow but the harder ones not so much. Get organized
Have an office/studio space even if it's 1 desk in the corner.
Write out your policies -ie what's your return policy? cancellation policy? |
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AuthorMy name is Kathrine McDowell. I am a Ceramic Artist. This blog is where I will post pictures of works in progress, news and Random thoughts about Art. Archives
June 2019
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