It was a crazy year with additional responsibilities on top of teaching. I did not make time to update this blog very much. My goal for 2020 is to be better about posting all of the positive things that have been happening.
February was hectic with shows all over the place. In addition, I was asked to be a part of the panel discussion to close out the South Carolina Clay Conference. The panel was about the future of clay in South Carolina. We had a great conversation with a very diverse panel.
In April of 2019, I was a little blue from not being able to attend NCECA but quickly snapped out of that as I headed to Clemson University to fire the anagama there. This year I took three students along for the ride. Firing kilns is one of my favorite things to do and it was wonderful to be able to share that experience with my students. The faculty and students at Clemson are always super welcoming and really went the extra mile to make sure my students got the most out of the trip.
During the firing, I took a quick trip up to St. Charles, Missouri for an exhibition I was in at the Foundry Art Centre. The show was titled Ceramic Centric. I had two pieces in the show and received an Honorable Mention.
After jurying Artfields, Jr. in 2018 and not being eligible for entry due to not living in the Southeast long enough, I was able to apply in 2019. I was accepted and showed Moving On, Separately at Olio Studio. Artfields is a giant art contest in the Southeast region of the United States with $145,000 in prizes. The exhibition and contest take place every spring in Lake City, South Carolina. There are many different prize categories. If you are visiting the area at the end of April - the first weekend in May, you should definitely make the trip. More information can be found HERE. I recently found out that I was accepted for 2020.
One of the coolest things that happened in 2019 was being invited to be a part of the Mid-Atlantic Keramik Exchange in Iceland. I met a ton of really great people and had a few familiar faces there, too. It was odd being in a place that had light for 24 hours a day. Also, not only was the studio time amazing but the out of studio time was fantastic as well. I experimented with a few new concepts and am still working on evolving them. I will try to make a post specifically about that soon.
After trying some different ways of working and watching videos of people fixing porcelain bathroom fixtures with ramen noodles, I decided to make a mug out of ramen. Surprisingly, I used many ceramics techniques to create the mug. I titled the work of Ramen and it was included in Dirt in the Wrong Hands at Quaid Gallery from August 24 - September 14.
The final highlight of 2019 was being accepted into The Great Divide at the Morean Center for Clay. The exhibition was juried by Bruce Dehnert, Director of Ceramics at Peters Valley School of Craft, and will be up through January 31, 2020.
There were other little highlights in 2019 but these are the big ones. Things are already happening in 2020 and I look forward to sharing more.