nature-based...

I've noticed lately that instead of posting craft related updates, I've been focusing on plants, flowers, veggies and food. It's summer, so I'm a bit plant-crazy. But my current veg-centric view is not such a leap from my craft practice. I tend to look to plants and the natural world for inspiration for my ceramic forms, motifs, and patterns. Not super original, I know, but always reliable. I have a running joke with a friend who is a glass artist that all craftspeople seem to describe their work as "nature-based."

On a recent visit home to visit my parents and get away from the smoggy city, I reacquainted myself with my mother's garden. Originally belonging to my great-grandparents, our home came with a legacy of gardening attached to it. My great-grandfather grew his own vegetables in summer and canned and preserved them in the fall. When we moved into the house in 1994, we found pickled beets in the pantry, still untouched, marked with the date 1979. My dad claims they still tasted great!

So while I'm gearing up for a few new projects (bud vases, porcelain wall installation, upcoming craft shows) I wanted to post some pics of flowers I stole from my mother's garden to bring back to the city. Delphinium, lamb's ears, spirea, daylilies, hosta leaves and lady's mantle. xo

live a life of beauty...

I'm so happy it's finally summer! When I'm not at my business program I'm in the park smelling the grass, or in my veggie garden picking the first heads of lettuce and staking tomatoes, or on my deck where I'm growing annuals. Usually always admiring wild, growing things. Have you noticed all the yellow daylilies blooming in Trinity Bellwoods Park? I've also finally broken down and splurged on a few chenille plants and a ptilotis which has beautiful conical purple flowers (see example below!)

I've been reading "The Earth Knows My Name: Food, Culture and Sustainability in the Gardens of Ethnic Americans" by Patricia Klindienst. This book helps keep me from running wildly back into rural Ontario to become a farmer while I continue to build my ceramic business in the city...and yet it also inspires me to do the same. Highly recommended summer reading.

And last but not least, BIG thanks to all you lovely folks who visited the Garden Party trunk show at the Workroom last week...great to meet some new faces!

garden party trunk show @ the workroom

I'm very excited to have a great show coming up to tell you about...the good folks at the workroom and toronto craft alert are hosting a garden party trunk show to kick off glorious summer!

As an aside, I'm plugging away at my business incubation program. We're now in month two (of eleven). Though I can barely stay sane cooped-up in an office five days a week, I'm learning a ton. They don't teach you this stuff in art school, let me tell you! Break-even points, fixed and variable expenses charts, branding, operations plans...all for a little ceramic biz. I'm humbled.

Hope to see you at this great show! Happy (almost) summer!

May flowers...

Yay! I've got a new vase available on the goodEGG Industries website. In case you haven't already perused this lovely collection of Canadian craft, please venture over to the site to take a peek. There are so many amazing designers on this site. I love these Bok handmade wooden blocks by petit flaneur. I know they're for kids, but I want them too!

Word to your mother...

Two generations of great mothers...Helen and Sue (my nana and mom, respectively). The artistic talent from these two ladies could sink a ship (which makes no sense, but illustrates how heavily gifted they were/are). Painting, dressmaking, pattern drafting, drawing, calligraphy, jewellery designing, kick-ass perogie making, embroidery, cross-stitch, gardening, quilting, thrifty shopping, child-raising...amazing. Happy day to you, mothers!

twenty-five...

Today is my twenty-fifth birthday. It feels like a big deal. I know twenty-five is young, but it's a big number. I felt like I should mark the day with some kind of significant/wondrous activity.

I'm really starting (really starting) my business this year. My partner (who I've just started calling my partner, since he's not my husband but somehow more than just a boyfriend now) is about to open his own vegan/vegetarian cafe. And in June we will be moving into a new apartment...a very adult looking apartment.

To mark these things, I spent the afternoon in Trinity Bellwoods park with my best friend eating tarts (!) and bought a book of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tales. She got a collection of Marcel Dzama prints. Then I bicycled home. So many things have transpired for me in this park since I moved to this city, I really feel connected to it. If you are reading this then maybe you have a shared memory of us here.

And of course, my beautiful pink b-day tulips...

...quickly discovered by my cat...

...and thoroughly enjoyed by both of us. xo

New Beginnings:

I'm sorry I took so long to post this, but I've been wanting to show off my new favorite vase made by the inspiring Nesting Emily! I got to see all her lovely pots in person at last Sunday's Hunt & Gather trunk show at the Workroom. We've been mutually admiring each other's work for some time, so by the magic of trading I scored two porcelain treasures: a bottle-shaped vase and a howling wolf magnet! I love bartering with other craftspeople.


As an aside, my life has just changed dramatically as I've started an eleven-month business entrepreneurship program. I'm really excited to get to spend a year with other young, creative entrepreneurs, but I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed. I've had to give up much of my studio time, making time, and personal time (I know, insert the tiny violins here) to participate in this program. And a trip to Chicago...sigh. I'll keep you updated on my findings/feelings as I go along.