It's a cold, cold winter...
Well, winter has finally hit - and it's sooo cold !!! I really don't like the cold, every winter we both threaten to move. It was minus 2 degrees on friday and the ground was completely white with frost, brrrr - now it's blowing a gale and making a cold day even colder! 

.....but enough of that... what about the art!

Blue & White Anyone?
I decided to experiment with a bit of blue & white porcelain this week. I had made some miniature landscapes for 'Trading Place' using some Traditional Porcelain, but wasn't sure if I should decorate the same way as I had done the stoneware ones I had previously made (see earlier posts). 
That's when I thought about just doing them blue. I really wasn't convinced in my own mind, but thought, hey... why not give it go - I could always wash it off and redo if I was really against it, right? I was still a little unconvinced even after doing it.... but they are growing on me.... Here's some of the results pictured below.

Story Telling
Cass has been powering along with more spirit figures and 
story dogs and is busily decorating them in her story telling 
style. 
Here's a work in progress shot (right) of one of her new 
Story Dogs which will be featured in the end of year exhibition.

Sunday Ceramics
Sunday Ceramics is now up to it's 20th episode - 
read along by clicking here and check out the other studios, 
always worth a read.


New Horizons...
We are also looking to the future and planning yet another exhibition, probably for 2016, as 2014-2015 are all pretty much booked out already for us - busy beavers that we are. We have already started the process of making pieces which will feature in this exhibition - name & venue yet to be finalised.... watch this space!!!

...and until next time keep creating!!!!

Unpacking the Kiln...

Another very succesful kiln firing this week with great results. 
It's always so much fun unpacking a kiln after firing, I love the anticipation of wondering how that bowl looks, or did the spoons come out OK? Did the glaze work? etc... or knowing that you will have so many bisqued items to go on with and decorate to get to the next stage - good fun!
We were both so pleased with the results and we have several pieces which have 'made the cut' into the Trading Place exhibition in Port Augusta.

Mixed Messages...

The above photos show some of the great results - although some of the photos don't really do justice to the pieces (as I only took them with the phone) but they really are great! I especially love Cass' coconut bowls, they turned out fabulous.
Lots of my spoons turned out pretty good too, but I have mixed feelings about my miniature landscapes - some I love, some I'm not so rapt with, some I just can't decide.... does anyone else have this problem? 

Sunday Ceramics...

Not sure if there's a Sunday Ceramics this week, there was talk of it going bi-weekly - but check it out anyway... always worth it!

One of the Crowd...

Check out my friend Kim's pozible campaign - some great rewards offered. I think it has inspired me to try it - who wants one of our artworks in exchange for helping us out? Stay Tuned for details...

... and until next time keep creating...

In Print...

This week we collected our photobook of the Dancing Dingo Project undertaken by Cass & Jay last year (read about it on our Collaborations pages). I created the book online using images from the project and text written by Cass about the project, using the software template provided.
I must say that we are so pleased with the outcome. It's the first photobook we have made and are planning more, even though it is a relatively expensive process for just one book, well worth it, we think. What a great way to mark a project and have a record of it for the future, and, in this case, for our Son to keep. Here are some images of some of the pages in the book...
(Click on an image to see larger version)

Trading Places...

We are now ramping up our making efforts to create works for our 'Trading Place' exhibition. The premier of this project will take place in September at the Arid Festival in Port Augusta. We intend to make 100 artworks between us, all miniatures (which is a challenge for two people who like to work large) to take over to Port Augusta for trade. I have been busily making more miniature landscapes and find that it is something I really enjoy. So far I have used three different types of clay, all white varieties, as they take the underglaze decoration much better. I have just bought a pug of Traditional Porcelain to create some more and am interested to see how these ones will turn out.

Artist as Researcher
Well it has been another huge week for us at EFS - loads & loads going on, as always - and no signs of slowing down in sight!
There was not as much creating happening this week, although we did manage to pack, fire and unpack a full kiln load.
The week was mainly taken up with writing & research. We are both working on several projects at once (mad I know) and this includes our Uni work and our collaboration projects.
I am researching the concept of 'home' and what that means. It is a very interesting topic and enjoying it so far... especially researching artworks related to the topic.

Pieces of Place
The other theme we are working on is our Collecting Country projects and we have been researching Place-making and Sense of Place. I love this area of investigation and particularly like the idea of 'pieces of place' as souvenirs. This term refers to an object that has been collected in it's original environment as a memento of the place or event and the act of collecting the piece personally gives it extra significance to the collector. Our work relates to this concept as we are utilising pieces of place and the idea of collecting imprints on site to create our artworks and wish to convey this importance of connection to place to our pieces. 
We have had some great success with this (see previous blog posts for some images) and will be continuing with the process for some time.

Sunday Ceramics
As I haven't done much creating this week at all, I thought I would take today to do some Sunday Ceramics... that is actually get my hands muddy and make something! 

Please check out the other ceramicists on the Sunday Ceramics blog too to see what others have been up to for the past week.

Until next week... be creative!

Working hard ...
What another jam-packed week we've had at Earth Fire Spirit!
Firstly we officially started our Honours year at Uni and it was a little overwhelming to begin with, although I think we've managed to get our heads around at least some of it!
We packed and unpacked and re-packed kilns and , of course, kept creating more & more new work.

Location, Location, Location
In between all this we decided to take a day to photograph some of our work. We spent half a day in the studio taking studio shots and then we ventured outdoors...
Shelly Beach at Ballina provided the ideal setting for the look we were going for and even though the weather wasn't the greatest it didn't deter us.
Armed with boxes full of wares and camera gear slung over the shoulder we headed down to the water to take photos.
A bemused man walking his dog stopped to watch the proceedings. I'm sure he thought we were crazy as we squated in the water waiting for the waves to come in - and yes I did get a wet bum! 

Studio Incantations
The studio images also turned out fantastically and we were very happy with the results from this photo session too. 
We took some photos in our photography studio and others inside the gallery at Studio One29.
Pictured right is a piece we collaborated on together last year and was exhibited in the Northern Rivers Community Gallery.
It is a merging of our two art practices and this sparked the concept of a whole new collaboration project we have dreamed up. I will reveal more about this project in a future blog post ... stay tuned for that one, as it's very exciting - and could even involve some audience participation!

Material Matters
Last week my donated materials arrived for my Flatpack Habitat project.
Thanks so much to RCR International for your generosity and willingness to work with me on this project. Working with Big Business is very exciting and hopefully we can form an ongoing relationship (My head is full of more ideas!).
I started to assemble some of the pieces, as I just couldn't wait to get started, but quickly realised that some adjustments need to be considered. 
Not least of which will be the actual location where this piece will be ultimately exhibited, due to it's size and the size restraints of the exhibition space. The joys of being a 3D artist!

Big Things ahead...

So...another big week ahead of Art and creating, research and learning.
It's always a journey, but a wonderful one!
More and more opportunities on our horizon.

If you're interested in ceramics check out the other studios on Sunday Ceramics



Until next time... keep creating - or just go surfing!

Kiln Packed 
This week we packed the kiln with our first round of offerings, which is always an exciting process - it's just the bisque but still makes you feel good! I love the anticipation of waiting for the firing process to end and then opening the kiln again to see what treasures await. The bisque firing offers all the promise of what will happen and then deciding how the pieces will be glazed or finished - love it!

Dish it out 
We have now graduated from spoons to little dishes (although continue to make spoons as well)

Pictured above are some of the first lot of these dishes. They are fun to make and look great with the imprints. They just look like squares of clay but they are shaped to form small dishes or plates.

Little Landscapes
I have also been experimenting with creating some miniature landscapes (one of these is pictured right). These were also a load of fun and we will most definitely make some more of these. This one I'm calling Up Mallanganee Hill. It's a very steep hill and anyone who's towed anything up it will relate! Our previous vehicle really used to struggle and it was almost impossible to tow a caravan up there, luckily our current vehicle climbs the hill with ease!

Impressing Country
One thing about this process of responding to place is that we have a great excuse to go out exploring the region. This week we decided to go bushwalking in Bundjalung National Park and went on the Wedding Tree walk by the banks of the Evans River at the Evan's Head end of the park. This is of great significance to the Bundjalung People as it is the site of the first camp made by the 3 brothers who first arrived at the beach by canoe. The Wedding Tree is a kurrajong tree and was a wedding gift from the Wahlubal tribe from Tabulam.

It's such a peaceful place and full of wildlife too - we really enjoyed our time there, although the little one was complaining about having sore legs! "Bushwalking is really, really hard" he says, and wanted to be carried back.
I look forward to our next exciting adventure, all in the name of Art!

And if you're interested don't forget to check out the other ceramic studios posted on Sunday Ceramics.


Until next time.... keep creating!