BIG Art on Small Business Saturday

My friend Wendy Gingel gets a big congratulations for having
her work accepted in the Anchorage Museum's Earth, Fire and Fiber XXVIII show this year (3 PIECES!!). She also has an impressive schedule lined up including: New Works in Tile, The International Contemporary Gallery -Anchorage, December 1 -31, 2011 and the Smithsonian Craft Show, Smithsonian National Building Museum, Washington DC April 19-22, 2012.

The Gingell Ceramics booth today at the Anchorage Museum Craft Weekend. We were only able to visit briefly as Wendy was busy bubble wrapping all sizes of her SOLD original ceramic ware! Her booth looked great and customers were purchasing not only the smaller works but the large, impressive platters and bowls. I can't wait to see her large wall tiles at the upcoming First Friday show next week!

Small Business Saturday may have been celebrated across the country but BIG ART was being sold at the Anchorage Museum Craft Weekend! I was fortunate to be able to shop "local" yesterday and today and saw many of my talented artist friends and their inspiring booths. I also enjoyed visiting all of the authors at the Read Alaska Book Fair that happened on the upper level of the Museum during the juried Craft Fair.

"The Lindas!" Artists Linda Weatherwax and Linda Smith
at their ever lovely booth today at Museum Craft Weekend.
The "Lindas" are normally my Bad Girls of the North neighbors and
I missed seeing them this year because of our big move.

Terri Atwell with Beadwitched. Daddy-O purchased
me a pair of Pearl, Iolite and Sterling Silver earrings from Terri. Cool how
he shopped while he was skiing today at Alyeska, huh?!

Original, hand fabricated jewelry by Susan Serna.

Susan Serna of Flora de la Luna who creates
jewelry in silver, gold and fine gemstones.

Elise Strauss' booth with her beautiful
lamp work beads.
My favorite was an incredible "Ringed Seal" necklace.
Customers were lining up
to have a chance to purchase her limited
edition Dancing Bear glass ornaments and
her one of a kind feature beads! 

Elise Strauss of Koi Creek Beads

Meet Wendy Gingell

Meet my friend Wendy Gingell of Gingell Ceramics. Wendy recently moved to Alaska from Washington and we have become fast friends, nudging one another out of our studios for weekly, girly-artist breakfasts, Farmer Market meet-ups or a quick morning of coffee fun! I'm fascinated by Wendy and her work -she's even attended the BIG east coast shows and her work is collected by loyal customers across the country. While unassuming she is also fearless. I want this to rub off on me. Wendy creates "hand built and functionally made ceramics, with love and heart especially for you." My favorite are her "little emotional monsters" pieces. The photo at left is of Wendy at the Spenard Farmer's Market this summer. If you are not able to attend a SOFA show or can't make it to Boston or Chicago -come see her on Saturdays at the Spenard Farmer's Market here in Anchorage! Wendy recently interviewed me for her series of artist interviews. Meet Wendy and maybe get to know a little more about me too, right here.

Cups From Near and Far

Saturday and Sunday were full of gifts. Perfect timing that made for a wonderful Mother’s Day weekend. On Saturday, Wendy and her husband came to pick-up my two kilns I sold her. It was a bit bitter sweet as I’m so happy Wendy is getting her studio set up here in Anchorage but a bit sad to see my kilns get loaded into their Honda Element. Yes, they fit one by one! As a thank you gift, Wendy gifted me one of her hand made, sgraffito ceramic cups. I especially like how she stamps her initials on the bottom. When Daddy-O brought the mail in he handed me the Mother’s Day card I had sent to MY mom last week...

it was returned for insufficient postage -20 cents short(!) that’s AFTER I had put two stamps on the envelope. It was a normal Mother’s Day card feeling only slightly heavier…don’t get me going about why the US Postal Service is having trouble. On the upside he also handed me a box! Inside was

a gift from my friend “Ang from down under” as I affectionately refer to her!! While she was stateside and touring with the Seagrove group she took time to send me ONE OF HER VERY COOL CUPS! Two cool cups in one day –I hit the jackpot! You don’t want to see the cup I normally drink my tea from. We don’t have the cabinets filled with ultra-artsy cool pottery that most of my potter blog buddies do. In defense of the arts, it’s because Derek has a strong arm approach to putting the dishes away and survival rate for nicer pieces is low. I now have a special “safe area” in the upper cabinet just for my two new cups! I admired the cup Ang gifted me when I first saw it on her blog. The artful handle, the lovely matte glaze and the comfortable shape that fits

my hand perfectly. I wrapped my hands around it’s full shape and felt the warmth of my tea this morning. Thank you so much Ang for thinking of me! I was really touched and proud to have such generous friends near and far.

Mother’s Day was filled with a morning walkies with Nimbus and my man to Fire Island Bakery having Monkey Bread outside on the Café tables. Followed by a long family bike ride through downtown and wrapping up with a movie and pizza at Bear Tooth with Will, his girlfriend Kim, Derek and Gus. Kristen is out at sea on a research cruise, but managed to call last week when they were forced to dock in Seward to repair the CTG and winch that had broke earlier in the week. She will be back just in time for graduation this weekend. It will be a push this week with family coming, graduation and all the final prep for the Market opening. Hang on, Alaska’s 90 days of summer is just about to begin!