Now where was I?

Not here blogging, obviously.

After Anacortes, things got busy. I had another show in two weeks, a smaller affair in Silverton, but also had pottery to make (shows coming up include Corvallis Fall Festival and Clay Fest) and graphic art work to do (ads for myself and Denise for the Holiday Market guidebook, plus posters and postcards for both Clay Fest and Clayfolk). My things-to-do lists have been brutal.

At the moment, I'm caught up, run out of clay and projects, so I figured I should at least check in. In exact, simultaneous order:

1. Silverton Fine Arts Festival. Silverton is one of my smaller shows, about on par with Roseburg. I started going there back when I couldn't get into the nearby--much larger--Salem Arts Festival for love nor money. I've kept going there because a) its a pleasant location, a wooded small-town park, with plenty of room between and behind booths for display and restock, b) it's close enough that we can commute (Not having to pay a motel room or a cat sitter are a big incentive to me.), and, c) they treat the vendors really well. Friday night after load-in, they have a vendor/volunteer appreciation dinner. Saturday and Sunday, the vendor service center had doughnuts, scones, muffins, fresh fruit and orange juice. (Oh, and, what's that smelly black drink? Coffee.) At 11:30 they close for an hour to put out bread, condiments, three kinds of lunch meat, four kinds of cheese, sliced tomatoes and lettuce and cukes and pickles, pasta and potato salads. And six different kinds of cookies. We usually pack sandwiches, cookies, and fruit for lunch, graze the food vendors for supper, but at Silverton, we brought a little fruit--some from the nearby Farmer's Market--and relied on the show for the rest.

2. Making pottery. After Silverton, I was out of three patterns of coffee mug, five patterns of soup bowls, down to only two elephant and stegosaurus banks, and two covered casseroles (one large, one small). I really desperately needed to make pots, but had maybe 12 boxes of clay left, so I planned my throwing list carefully. Three (25 lb.) bags for soup bowls, one for toddlers. At least two each for pie plates and dessert plates, only one for dinner. Serving bowls, colanders, casseroles, canisters. Stick butter dishes. Elephant and Stego banks, tall mugs, tumblers, cream pitchers. At the end of two busy weeks throwing, I checked off everything on my throwing list, with less than half a bag to spare. I'm expecting delivery of another ton of clay sometime tomorrow, to get me through the holidays.

3. Graphics. Back before I became the famous and successful potter I am today (snort), I was a commercial artist. First at my alma mater, then at a 4-color printer in La Crosse. I quit to attend grad school in Eugene, but kept my hand in; my first Graduate Teaching Fellowship (GTF) was writing and producing the Art Department magazine, Artifact. Previous GTFs had typed out copy on an electric typewriter, but the department head was excited about the possibilities with the new desktop publishing software. Which I how I became a beta-tester for PageMaker 1.5. Over the years, I've kept my hand in, doing postcards for Denise and myself, as well as publicity for a bunch of clay shows. Currently, I'm poster or graphics chair for Ceramic Showcase, Clay Fest and Clayfolk. The latter two of which are in October and November, respectively, so this is a busy time at my desktop.