Show is over

Hello everyone. Prism, our MA show is over. Yesterday evening, Mike and I went to the gallery for take down. I have also volunteered to help wrapping my work for customers, as some of them are tricky to handle. When we were about to enter the building, Hanna the receptionist came out, and told me that three more works were sold that afternoon. How wonderful!

Antelope mask had disappeared from the wall. The customers took it with them late in the afternoon as the show was closing.

Leather like texture

Wasted talent was also sold. I love the combination of the brown crackle glaze and bronze oxide.

She found a new home

And everyone's favourite on Etsy, the big whippet went to a new home.

Large marble whippet

It took me about three hours to pack every purchased work in total. They are ready to be collected from Tuesday.

Once back home we were exhausted. We had cups of tea and tea biscuits, then took a shower and slept. In the middle of night we woke up with thirst. This time it was our thirst. We found that it wasn't a good idea to have too many tea biscuits before sleep!

This week will be a busy once again. Tomorrow early morning before work, we will go to the gallery to collect some belongings. Tuesday I will do reduction firing, which means for about 9 hours I will kiln sit; taking a record of the firing every 15 minutes. On Wednesday, I will return to the gallery to touch up the paint. Thursday, I will unload the kiln. Also we want to do a firing at home. More glazing to be done!  I am not sure how we fit everything in! Another week of 7/7, I guess!

Rainy afternoon in the Sidney Cooper Gallery

Hello everyone. I had a lovely day again. Lenka, a graduate in ceramics, came over to see our show from London. How wonderful! We met for a lunch, and had a catch-up. When we left a restaurant for the Sidney Cooper gallery, just as it started raining. We got in there just in time. She makes slip decorated earthenware tableware, and also studied politics for a BA degree.

Lenka in pretty spotty shirt

Lenka looking at Angela's paintings

I had a great chat with a sculptor. One of the fun parts of being in the gallery is to talk with visitors. Lots of visitors are artists themselves. She is going to do Artists Open House soon. Mike and I will visit her.

Then another lady from Belfast asked me to write a message to her neighbour who likes greyhound racing, on my little whippet sculpture that she bought. (my whippet sculptures are in the glass cabinet in the reception now.) It is the smallest whippet I have made. So I made it short, 'Jim, good luck!' I hope he will be pleased! She has visited her family in England, and doing sightseeing before going back to Belfast.

After that, we had a quiet patch. Tony with his trademark iPad. He told me that they put WiFi in the gallery now! I wish I had known that!

Tony sandwiched between Dariusz (left) and Yvonne's works. 

I did some wrapping job with Harriet. I would rather do something than nothing.

Harriet and Tony are having a great fun!

In fact, Harriet is very busy at the reception.

A view from the reception

She said that someone has to go to the post office. I declined. It's raining. And I am supposed to be in the gallery!

Raining. A view from the front door

Our show has a catalogue. A bargain for £3. Harriet and I are not in it, though.

Just before five, I had a great chat with a gentleman who participates in Zen. He noticed that I mentioned Zen and Shintoism on my artist statement.

Over the weekend, I have made several masks. Once I start, I can't stop. Here are a few of them. 

White slip on masks; Peter (right)

Interestingly, Peter appeared again. I am looking forward to finishing his mask. You can meet him here. 

This is tree spirit. I had to wait for a while before she appeared from the clay. I will see what she could tell me. 

 This chap is inspired by my experience in the MA show. He is a character. He has some opinion!

My business cards ran out, and they are in printing. It is taking longer than I thought. I am sorry about that. If you leave your email and name at the reception, I will contact you by email for future events etc..  Thank you!    

 

Another amazing day

Hello everyone. It has been another amazing day for me. Yesterday a wonderful customer in Australia reviewed my shop. He said,

This amazing artwork is on our wall now - taking pride of place. It's cheeky, funny, witty and has so many people commenting on it, when they come into our house. Thanks for all your inspiration and hard work. May people rush to buy your artworks ...

Needless to say, I was most delighted. But I didn't quite realize that it would come true. This afternoon, I had a message from the Sidney Cooper gallery that a little rabbit and a large chameleon were sold. How nice! Then within one hour, another message came. The large rabbit and the small chameleon were also sold. Now there was only one rabbit left; they wanted me to bring more work to them! How wonderful! I soon thought of the customer's review. Wow, it became true! I took several works to the gallery after they closed. Now the glass cabinet is full again. Some works have never been for sale. One is the Minotaur which you see in my banner. I love his face and colours. The glazes look mysterious and beautiful. He looks great in the cabinet. Also the third chameleon is in the cabinet. I have promised ladies on twitter that if current chameleons are sold, I will make more, so I will start on them next week. I started working on a commissioned mask. That is going well, too. 

Today I share some of my other works with you. I have two rabbit sculptures. White rabbits are symbolic animals in Japan. You would see them everywhere on almost everything in Japan. These two are, however, a bit different. Topaz, our nervous dog, is very scared of fireworks and thunders. Once either starts, she shakes like a leaf. She become restless, and has tried to hide inside the laundry machine. She is too big for that! Even after it stops, she pricks her ears up, and listens. Nothing. But she still listens. She is waiting for next bang.That was the idea came from.

Waiting for Next bang I

  

Waiting for next bang II

  

Together on a shelf

Then some of you remember this cat. Another cat was broken on the way to assessment, so he is a sole survivor. I assembled in four layers. The brown sections are reduction fired stoneware grey clay.  

Close-up of Equilibrium - cat 

This is how they are set up.

The cat is in the middle. 

Last, let me share this incredible story with you. Late this afternoon, Mochaccino, our very old owl finch drowned. He is my office mascot. I turned back from the chair and saw a soaked and motionless Mochaccino in the water. His head was half under the water. I don't know how long he was in his water dish, but about one hour before, I saw him preening. He had a stroke some months ago. He lost the power of flight then. After that his one side of the body became paralysed. At the arrival of autumn, he became weaker. We thought he would not make Christmas. He is about 100 years old if he were a human. 

I wrapped him in soft Kleenex, and warmed him up in the hand, and used a hair dryer gently to dry him a bit. Then I prepared a hot water bottle, and placed a towel and him on top of it on our bed. He showed slight movement. I kept him warm, and changed the water bottle before it gets cold. After five hours, when I went to check the water bottle, he shot out from the towel from fear, I think. I was shocked and overjoyed at the same time. I shouted that he came back to life to Mike and the world via twitter. It's a miracle.

He is still very weak. He is now sleeping on the warm bottle in a polystyrene box, which has very good insulation. I will swap the water bottle with a heat pad when I go to sleep. May Mochaccino survive tonight.     

The main gallery at Sidney Cooper

Hello everyone. I had a big lie in this morning. I woke up at usual time and had breakfast in the bed while checking messages, but stayed there and fell into sleep again. I heard Pearl whining and checked the clock. Whoa! Noon! I had to be in the Sidney Cooper gallery at 1:30! I walked dogs very quickly, (of course, Pearl insisted that she would graze grass, but I dragged her back). After lunch, Mike dropped me off at the back of the gallery spot on time. Phew!

I had great chats with two gentlemen, a print maker and a psychotherapist. (Hello!) Then the lady who purchased Paper crown came. She was also interested in Tony, the photographer's works. So I volunteered to sit in the main part of the gallery while he was showing his works to her at the back of the building. I have looked at the works carefully with a price list in hand. But after that, I got so bored! People don't talk much there because it is the beginning of the exhibition. So I started taking photos. Now I might become a photographer myself!

So here is my guide tour of the main gallery space at the Sidney Cooper this afternoon.

Dani Flowerdew's installation

A close-up of Dani Flowerdew's installation

And again! Dani Flowerdew's installation

To the entrance

Main gallery

Fan was moving

Main gallery

Reflected view of the main gallery on Tony Smith's photograph I

Reflected view of the main gallery on Tony Smith's photograph II

Reflected view of the main gallery on Tony Smith's photograph III. Hello!  

Reflected view of the main gallery on Tony Smith's photograph IV

Reflected view of the main gallery on Tony Smith's photograph V

Reflected view of the main gallery on Tony Smith's photograph VI

Reflected view of the main gallery on Tony Smith's photograph VII

Lights and window

Projector

No wall is straight

A close up of a chance work by Dariusz Ryzak, collected from B&Q

I hope you enjoyed them.

 

What an amazing day!

Hello everyone. I had an amazing day. Do you know those days that start with good news, and feel so happy. Then everything gets better and better. Before falling into sleep, you really have to wonder if all these things happened in a day. Once some years or a decade, I have such a day. It happened to be today! 

Wasted talent

The first message I read while still in the bed this morning was from one of customers in USA. 'I received the mask today. I'm just crazy about it !!...'  How good is that! I was filled with excitement. If you create something, you know how I felt. In the end, what matters most is people's reaction. Artists feed on them. They are treasure to me. I still remember my first customer's message after she received my work. ( It was also from USA.) 

Wasted talent

Then I met Claire, a lovely graduate, for a lunch. She came down from Bedford to see our show. We had a catch up, and enjoyed a chat, so when I checked my watch, it was already the time I should be in the gallery! I left Claire to finish her drink, and ran. I relieved Yvonne from the duty. 10 minutes late!  

What Claire wore today! 

Claire looked at each work very carefully. She is an installment artist; she seemed to find some inspiration from some of students' works in the show. After she saw everything, I explained to her some of my works and how Mike cleverly secured my works to the plinths and walls. She could use similar systems when she does some of her works for display.

Answer was in the box II (Fit for a giant)

Then, our neighbours came with their friends. How lovely! They told me that they enjoyed the show. I wanted to show them what I do. They had no idea! 

Soon afterward, two very tall gentlemen came straight into my space in hurry. After a while, they looked upset. Just when I was about to ask if I could help them, one of them asked me if certain masks were sold. Yes, they are. They looked even more upset. So I offered to do a commission work for them. They want to go ahead with it. How wonderful! They are visiting Canterbury from Europe, so their mask will be shipped to the continent. Thanks to my Etsy shop, I have lots of experience shipping all over the world. I was able to quote the shipping fee from the top of my head, too.

Answer was in the box (eyes)

Then I had a great conversation with an English gentleman about my works. It is wonderful to be able to tell stories about my works. He was interested in Very old and even older and Out of sorts.

I was already very happy before the gallery gave me an offer to show some of my works after the show in a front room, which has not been used. I hugged Hazel, the curator. I always wanted to have a local gallery to show my works.

So after five, when I came out of the gallery, I couldn't care less about the light rain falling. Mike was waiting for me behind the gallery. I had lots to tell him.

  
  

     

   

 

Farewell

Hello everyone. How was your weekend? We mainly enjoyed relaxing time with our animal family and slept! I am going to take a week off from ceramics, so no studio time neither. First free Saturday since June!

Yesterday Mike and I popped in the gallery on the way back from the post office. I restocked my business cards. I have also checked red dots. Friday night we had to rush so we didn't have time to check them. Small human masks were strongest. They were all sold.

Answer was in the box III SOLD

Art theory discussion SOLD

Art theory discussion - side view

You have never seen last three. They went to the show directly from the studio, only after I realised I could show more than I expected.

Big Ears SOLD

Big ears SOLD

Mother SOLD

I made this after hearing a report that Syria government probably used chemical weapons on citizens.

Syria SOLD

Syria SOLD

Three sculptures had red dots.

Very old... SOLD

and even older  (the other side)

My friend was interested in her just before the show. But his wife wanted my porcelain jug, so they bought it instead. The next day, while we are setting up the show, a lecturer passed by and she snatched her. 

Out of sorts SOLD

I still can't adjust colours on this photo. Too many different whites on it.

 

Paper crown (left) and Angel

I add Angel here too although she had been spoken for prior to the show. She didn't have a marble plinth yet at this time. This is her true colour.

Angel - a loan from a private collection

I am often asked if I feel pain to part with my creation. I usually say, no, but when I see them together here and think back to the journey we have come together, I must admit I feel a bit of sadness. But they are going to really good homes and being loved. They will start their own new stories, so it is a bit like seeing a child leaving a nest, I imagine. Just like a parent, I remember all details of their stories when I see the photos. I had better take better photos!