Home Sweet Home!

Lots to report this week as well!  Here is a pic from the front porch of our country home; I'm looking forward to maybe getting a few alpacas and/or sheep in this field. The north branch of the La Have is in the distance but I'll get better pics of the river later.

 

"Wise One" - earthenware 

 

 

Last Sunday I joined the Lunenburg Art Gallery which I'm quite excited about.  It was a random sort of occurrence, I had gone in there with an invite for Helen Opie's upcoming show at Swoon and met some really nice people there; it's a great spot and celebrating its 40th anniversary this year.   Members get to have a piece in the member's gallery each month, so this month I put in one of my favourite earthenware vases "Wise One - a tribute to Jack Sures" as well as some stoneware ornaments and figurines for the display case.

My mom who is back in Richmond BC, and very supportive of our wanting to get into gardening, mailed us about 50 clippings from her red currant, black currant and gooseberry bushes.  She's given me instruction on how to tend them, and I hope they will thrive.  My father passed away in 2007 at the age of 81, and my parents garden was a huge source of pride and enjoyment for them; their rows of currants being a highlight so it'd be nice to have some of those memories live on out here.  Here is a photo of the baby currants sunning themselves in my new studio, with one of Joanne Colman's "dreamcatcher birds" at the top left, there are more pots of clippings in front of the other window too:

I thought about building a studio on to the house but realized the house is plenty big for 2 people and using an upstairs bedroom as a studio will be just fine, especially since it has a view of the river.  The rest of the room is a disaster right now but hopefully the transformation of cluttered room into magnificent "dream studio" won't take too long! 

There is a good sized metal outbuilding that I hope to get wired up so that I can keep my kiln in there, and even glaze out there in the warmer months:  

The last bit of exciting news is that the new Nova Scotia Potters Guild website is now live, and the website committee has been populating the members area with information about potters as they arrive.  I think it looks awesome and will be a great resource for the province's potters and pottery fans alike!

Lots of Catching Up To Do!

It's been a while since my last post but I plan on starting to make regular updates to my blog from now on!  2011 until now was such a busy time! June 26th I got married to my lovely husband, my "Petting Zoo" show at Swoon was shortly after.  Once it ended I had fun putting the animals out on the lawn and veranda for the perusal of the commuters of Hammonds Plains.  I think the chickens on the railing especially helped to draw in curious passers by who aren't quite sure what Swoon is all about.  

Later in the year I really indulged my love of creating art installations became excited about creating a large Halloween display for the front of Swoon.  This consisted of a 9' tall grim reaper and pet wolf, giant snake with a baby in its tummy, several tombstones, 5 giant bats and a black cat.  It made for a VERY messy house for about 6 weeks.  Better late than never, here a few pics:

These props were all made out of papier mache, painted with acrylic indoor/outdoor paint so they weathered the elements fairly well for the 2 weeks they were out.  October was a busy month at Swoon, with the October show opening at the beginning of the month, "The Other Side" Swoon's first group Halloween show, and a costume ball with the very swingin' Jazzette.

Right after Halloween I set to work on some papier mache Christmas tree ornaments which I used to call "Merry Creatures".  I hadn't made any since my last Christmas in Regina (2007) so it was a pleasure to make these guys again... little papier mache animals with Santa Claus hats.  I made over a hundred and fifty during my 3 years in Regina.  Saturday November 19th was Swoon's first annual "One of a Kind Christmas Tree Ornament Show and Sale".   It's off to a great start, and we think it will grow into a popular annual event!

December brought "Christmas Presence II" which is Swoon's second annual pottery show and sale, timed just right for people who missed out on the area's various craft fairs, and to provide potters a venue where they can just drop off their work and let Brandt work his talent for display.  this year in addition to ceramic ornaments and small ceramic figurines, I have begun making larger figurines, that are more the size of my "Pulp Creatures".  It's been fun to translate some of my favourite papier mache designs into clay.  Here are pics of a few, available at Swoon.  (the bunny is my favourite!)

Right after Christmas it was time to start packing and moving!  What a lot of work!  We moved out of my Halifax home on Westerwald Street, to our country home in Upper Northfield, which is near New Germany.  It is so peaceful and beautiful out here I can't wait to get my studio set up and get back to creating, and to try my hand at gardening and raising a few animals.  I'm hoping having Polish farmers for parents will have rubbed off on me somehow, despite having grown up in the suburbs...