How could 7 months go by so quickly?  So much has happened.

Jane Thelwell and I are collaborating on some work.  Please see our website: claywithwood.com.  Our work is being shown at a show called "Medium and Muse: Wood at the Guild Shop in Toronto and will be opening on the 12th of August.  The Opening Reception is on the 15th.  All are welcome to attend.

I will be doing 2 solo shows in 2014, one at the Dufferin County Museum & Archives and the other in Montreal at the Canadian Guild of Crafts.  There is more information on these shows on the Upcoming Events page of this website.

I have just completed a very successful show at the Ojibway Club in Pointe au Baril.  It was interesting in that the show moved from its regular date of the second weekend in August to the last weekend in July.  There were many new faces and the sales varied slightly from previous shows.  The one surprise was that the only dock wood piece I sold was a charger.  Last year I sold 11 chargers and several dock wood bowls.  That was pretty well the difference in sales between last year and this year.  When I got home from the show, the chargers all went to Circle Arts, my gallery in Tobermory, and the dock wood bowls went to the Canadian Guild of Crafts.

My youngest daughter was married in June here at home.  That entailed doing a lot of work on the house and grounds in preparation for the big day.  Lisa and I spent a number of weeks camping out in our house amid the drywall dust, paint cans, rollers and scaffolding.  To Do lists that were perhaps decades old were addressed and crossed off, the deck and cars were power washed and the deck chairs were repaired.  Excess furniture was put in storage so that there would be room for the 80-90 people attending.  Plan B was to hold the wedding in the house if the weather was inclement. 

The weather broke the morning of the wedding and my daughter was married in the Fairy Circle under a bright sunny sky.  (This is where the swing is and both my daughters, in their childhood, spent many an hour swinging and dreaming.)  Did I mention that the swing had to be repaired too?  We had to put in a new cross bar.  Good thing we did.  It was well used that weekend.

Upcoming, there is the imminent show at the Guild Shop, then there is a show with Headwaters Arts (HA).  I will post more on the HA show when I have dates and info.  After that I am submitting some work for jurying at the Art Gallery of Hamilton.  Again, I will post more info on this later.  Finally there is the Holiday Treasures show in late November and early December.  There is info on this on the Upcoming Events page.

Until next time...

...and just like that, 2012 slipped away.  It seems that as I get older time slips away faster and faster.

I am looking forward to a gentle 2013 with lots of studio time.  I have some artistic and technical things that I really want to get at, but for the most part I'll be working on the pieces that people want.

Jane Thelwell (a potter) and I will be doing a collaboration and, if successful, should provide a new product variation for our customers.

Over the past several years I have become more involved in the spiritual nature of who we are and why we are here.  This has included sweats and, most recently, helping to build a kiva.  Over the course of events I have been approached to make smudge boxes.  This, in itself, is an interesting project.  Due to the spiritual use of the smudge box, I felt that I could not ask for payment for these pieces in the usual manner.  I will not accept money for them.  It is so impersonal.  The arrangement that I have made is the receiver gives me something that represents the value that the smudge box has to them.  In many of the ceremonies that I have participated in, one has to give in order to receive.  I have tried to follow that idea with the smudge boxes.

While this has been a nice interlude, I really must get back to my studio sanctuary.  It is a place of peace, well-being and creativity.  I will stop back here again, but for now, I wish you all the best in 2013!

It seems like it was only a short while ago that I last made an entry here and yet it has been months.  I have been remiss and I apologize. 

It has been a very busy time with an extremely successful show on Georgian Bay and a number of commissions to fill.  I have been busy replenishing my inventory for the fall and Christmas seasons.

It is one of those times that I have often dreamed about: good cash flow, lots of work and new bodies of work to create.  It has taken 40 years to achieve!

My fellow crafts people are all crying the blues - no one is buying - how can they survive - the studio tours are dying - no one comes to the studio anymore - and yet I enjoy success.  Why is that?  I think that I now know the answer.

Somewhere along the line somebody started calling crafts people artists.  We were creators.  We started calling ourselves artists and we started believing it.  Therefore we had to create.  We stopped being makers and became artists.  

Artists want their customers to buy what they have created.  Crafts people sell what customers want.  It would be glorious to be an artist and only make the dreams I have in my head.  However, I am a craftsman first and an artist second.  90% of what I make is what my customers want to buy.  10% is what I create - this is when I am an artist.  90% of the time I am working; 10% of the time I am flying.  This is the formula for a successful crafts person.

I really feel for the artist who has lost their way as a crafts person.

My how time slips away!  I am busy in the studio making salad bowls.  This week I have been making them in walnut.  Next week I move to maple.  I am working on two styles, namely the B-Bowl and the T-Bowl.  These are my best sellers.

It is the salad time of year.  The weather has warmed up.  The trees are finally in full leaf (although the ash trees are just starting to leaf - they are always the last).

Many of my salad bowls are purchased for wedding gifts - it is that time of the year also!

I spend 5 - 6 hours a day in the workshop part of my studio.  In order to keep the price reasonable on my bowls, I follow a set format in making them.  As this is not a terribly creative process, I have a fair amount of time to reflect on the nature of what I am doing.  Here are some of my thoughts:

I have always considered myself as a craftsman.  In the last decade or so more and more people are saying that I am an artist.  Well, I don't think that I am an artist.  I am a craftsman - I make craft, some of it fine craft.  I think that the differences between art and craft are becoming blurred.  Many craftspeople consider themselves artists and many artists are considered craftspeople.  

An artist paints her vision - it may be a landscape or it may come from within.  A crafts person can be an artist and create something of textural and visual beauty but that person also can, and probably does, make functional pieces for everyday use.  An artist may need crafts skills in order to execute a work of art but that does not mean that they are a crafts person.

I have always thought that an artist works from a concept whereas a crafts person works from functionality.  The new thinking has this all mixed up and now everyone is an artist and everyone is a crafts person.

I would be happy to hear what others have to say about this.

It is a busy time at the studio.  I am making Todgham and dockwood bowls.  I have some orders for salad bowls and have to prepare for getting work out to various places for the summer.  Here's what's happening:

The Made of Wood Show (MOWS) has their "All Things Wood" weekend on May 5th and 6th as part of the "Spring Awakening" at the Alton Mill.  MOWS spent the first few years at the Mill and it was good to be back there for the opening on April 21.  I think the show will find a home there for the next few years.  If you haven't seen the Alton Mill recently or would like to take in the events of the Wood Show please click on the words in bold.

I have sent the first pieces to the Canadian Guild of Crafts.  These were "stick" vases and one "stick" bowl.  By the end of May I will have sent them some true Todgham pieces as well as some recycled cedar dockwood bowls.

I have started to work on Part 2 of the video series on making a stick vase.  I hope to have it ready in a couple of weeks - there is a lot going on right now so chances to work on it are spotty.  If there are parts of these videos that are not clear or fully explained, please let me know and I will create some addenda clips, as I have done for Part 1, to clarify those points.

It is coming to the time where I will be sending or taking a body of work to Circle Arts in Tobermory.  This gallery opens on the 24th of May long weekend and is open daily until Canadian Thanksgiving in the fall.  They usually get a cross-section of what I make including chargers, "stick" vases and one or two of my top end pieces.  If you are thinking of driving the Circle Route this summer or in the future, consider dropping by Circle Arts for a visit.  (For more info on taking this trip click here.  This is a good place to start and there are links for additional information on this site.)

This is also the time of year when I start to put together the work that I want to take to the Ojibway Art Show at Pointe au Baril, Ontario.  I have been a part of this show for many years and have enjoyed some real success at it.  It would be hard for me to believe that there would be anyone in the Pointe au Baril area in the summer time who has not heard of or been to this art show, but if you haven't, you really must go.  It is a delightful show with exceptional work by a broad range of artists and crafts people.  On the Friday evening opening, you will be able to meet me as I never miss the kick-off to this show!

Almost two weeks ago, I put two of my top pieces on display at the Orangeville Town Hall.  One of the pieces is A Touch of Imagination.  This piece was a NICHE Award finalist in wood turning for 2011.  The other piece is called A Touch of Elegance.  In 2009 it was selected for the Canadian exhibit at the Cheongju International Craft Biennale in South Korea and in 2010 it was selected for the Cultural Olympiad at the Museum of Vancouver.  It was also selected for display at the G20 Conference and it was a 2010 NICHE Award finalist.

If you are visiting Orangeville or taking in a play at Theatre Orangeville (part of the town hall), please stop to view the art on display there.

Telling you about what is happening around here has been a nice little break but I really must get back to the lathe.

I have added a page that gives my suppliers, their contact information and what I buy from them.  You will find this page in The Studio drop down or you can go directly to it by clicking here.

The Made of Wood Show opens tomorrow - Saturday, April 21, 2012.  The awards will be presented at the Opening at the Alton Mill Arts Centre from 1 to 4pm.  This show is sponsored by The Bartlett Gallery and the Crimson Feather Gallery at the Alton Mill.

There are two shows running concurrently, one is the Made of Wood Juried Show and the other is the Director's Invitation Show and Sale.  I have 6 pieces in the second show.  

In the coming weeks I will be sending a body of work to the Canadian Guild of Crafts in Montreal.  I will be adding their information to my Galleries page and updating various parts of the site to reflect the inventory they will have.