NORTH(east)ERN EXPOSURE

Pots glazed and ready for firing.

Half ton of clay delivered on Friday.

Preparing to make sundried tomatoes with garden fresh sun golds and sweet selects.


Cherry tomatoes heading into the dehydrator.

Rolling out the pizza dough.
Only in an artist's kitchen would an LLBean thermos be used in place of a rolling pin...because the rolling pin is in the studio to be used on clay!

Last night's pizza LOOKED fabulous with whole grain crust, fresh-from-garden basil pesto, chanterelle mushrooms. and our own sundried tomatoes....too bad the oven decided to stop working!


Bouli....so photogenic.

Early morning walks in Lubec remind me of the 1990's TV program Northern Exposure. Do you remember the opening of that show, where a moose ambles through downtown? Luckily, I haven't come face-to-face with such an enormous creature in the prime of rutting season, but the critters are definitely making their presence known. The walk is a fairly basic route, past houses, fields, and down a quiet tree-groved side road. Two morning walks in a row I have seen a doe and her fawns. They notice me, give a slight flicker of the while tail, and then continue to go about their grazing. Canadian Geese rest in a field, preparing for their southward travel, and crows caw and cackle loudly in trees while eagles soar overhead. There are remnants of coyote scat all along the road, signaling a busy night and reason why we are so diligent about making sure the cats are in and undercover before nightfall. Perhaps the most recent amusing morning-walk spectacle was the flying spruce cones. First I heard this crackling and knocking sound like small branches breaking free and tumbling downward, then I noticed that these little cones were flying right out of the tree, raining down to the ground. The massive amount of shedding had me think that I had perhaps come upon the precise, magical, moment when a tree decided to shed its heavy-weighted cones, but upon further inspection I eyed a little squirrel near the tip of the spruce. She was shaking, knocking, and tossing cones to the ground in frenzied preparation of colder temps to come. We locked gazes briefly then she quickly returned to the task at hand.

Chris and I have been a bit like that little squirrel lately. The colder temps and winds that signal autumn combined with the shade-changing and tumbling-down of leaves has us scurrying to put food away for winter. Harvested basil prompted pesto-production, tomato bounty elicited sundrying (via dehydrator) as well as a big batch of spaghetti sauce which will be cooked and canned later today. The pole beans have been prolific so those will also be canned this week, and apples are being scouted for apple sauce. The garden produced much better results than last year, although, we fully acknowledge that we have much to learn about farming our tiny plot. It continues to be a work in progress.

Last night's gourmet pizza with fresh pesto, sun dried tomatoes, and wild-harvested chanterelle mushroom had our mouths watering. It had been a long day of work for the two of us and this late-night dinner was sure to hit the spot. To our extreme disappointment, we discovered that the oven had kicked-out on us, heating after over an hour to only 325 degrees. Apparently that was the only temp I had been cooking at lately and hadn't noticed any problems. Who knows how long the lack of heat has been an issue. Needless to say - the pizza looked far better than it tasted. Attempts to cook the bottom of the crust in a fry pan were not hugely successful. Let's just say, I woke at 4:00 a.m. a bit hungry from lack of adequate supper. Deja vu struck...wasn't it only three weeks ago that the pottery kiln wouldn't reach full temp? What is it with me and these ovens?

Happily, the elements are back to working order in the kiln. There are still issues though, noticing that the thermocouple is not reading the temps accurately. I have ditched all expectations of reliability and have resorted to firing with old-fashioned cone pacs. To regain some consistency, I decided to retest all my glazes at both cone 5 and cone 6. Yesterday the cone 5 test fire ran and I will unload and check those little wobbly lopsided mini pots later this morning. Once unloaded, I will reload for the cone 6 test firing and let that run while I am working on my fall semester projects for the Heartwood College of Art MFA program. As usual, I am multitasking and wearing several hats at once. With the change of my teaching job to half time, one would think I would have gained extra "free" time, but that would have been an unrealistic expectation I suppose. I am busier than ever juggling teaching, pottery, running the shop, MFA classes, and now we can add the proverbial winter nut-storing to the list. Note that photo above of the 1/2 ton clay shipment. Food isn't the only thing being stored for winter around here!

Next weekend is the Two Countries One Bay Artist Studio Tour. I look forward to that event each year and meeting new and interesting folks who are scurrying from studio to studio to catch the rare glimpse inside over fifty working-artist spaces. I have lots of prep to do before the event begins. I spent the past two days glazing work not only for the test fires but for the tour, too. I have been blessed with excellent sales this summer, and now the shelves are looking a wee bit bare to me. I look forward to restocking them for the weekend and for other upcoming events this fall.

The only other news to report (which isn't really "news) since the last time I blogged is that we survived Hurricane Irene in good order. Luckily for us downeast it wasn't so bad - a bit of heavy rain and wind but no damage that I heard of. News forecasts showed that others did not fare so well in the more northern parts and up through Vermont. We definitely skirted the worst of what could have been and for that I am thankful.

The cats continue to coexist as best they can. A bit of hissing and growling still ensues and Bello tries to stake his claim on certain areas while Bouli continues to dance on the edge of boundaries. If people could get along at least half as well as these two have after being thrust into each others' personal spaces, then we could say that we have come a long way.

Taking Clues from Nature

Arachne center-stage

She must have been busy all night....

Foggy morning sunrise in Lubec

"The word Arachnida comes from the Greek for 'spider'. In legend, a girl called Arachne was turned into a spider by the goddess Athena. Arachne said she'd win a weaving contest against the goddess. Arachne won, but the Athena got mad and made her a spider, for challenging a goddess."

- Wikipedia (http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arachnid)

Have you ever noticed how nature can sometimes be the wisest guide of all?

Meteoroligists can tell by weather patterns if a storm or bright skies are heading our way, but on some subconscious level, I think that we all have our own "meterologists" built-in. If open and observant enough, we can decipher the clues around us without any fancy equipment.

For instance, without looking at a printed calendar, we know that Autumn is upon us. The birds are bit less quiet in the morning, apples have fallen into piles to the ground, leaves are changing color, and the air feels crisp. The mornings are dark a bit longer, and the sun sinks down behind the trees around supper time.

This morning, I woke feeling well-rested and like my "change-of-season cold" is working its way out of my system. As I laid in bed, I thought of all the possibilities for today. When the weekend arrives I gobble up as much creative time as possible in the studio, but I am participating in the open studio tour this weekend and yesterday I was busy nonstop with visitors from 10:15 a.m. up until closing at 5:00 p.m. I enjoyed my day immensely but missed my time in the studio. At the end of the day, I spent about an hour and half with a current sculpture project, and that seemed to feed my craving temporarily. Today is day two of the tour, which is typically more quiet than the first day. So, it had me thinking that perhaps (maybe???) I could squeeze-in some personal creative time.

So many possibilities....do I start the next phase of the ceramic sculpture, or throw at the potter's wheel? Sketch some ideas (which seem to be coming faster than the hours I am allotted to bring them into physical manifestation), begin the next sculpture, or...or...or...????

I hauled myself out of bed and walked down the old, creaky stairs, greeted by the semi-stillness of the near-autumn morning. I gazed out the window overlooking the field and noted the pea-soup thick fog encroaching as each minute passed, all the while a ball of bright white sun was ascending from the bay.

Closer to to the door, opening it, and stepping onto the deck, I was awe-struck by the handiwork of Arachne. She must have been up all night working on her tapestry. There were glistening webs woven in several locations on the deck, each connected by a few single strands to one another, leading down from the deck to the lawn area where more webs were formed. Diagonal lines like high-wire lines moved this way or that, and each time my eyes followed them, I saw another perfectly constructed and quite intricate web. Had this one spider spun all these beautiful mazes? Was she inspired to create, or just particularly hungry and waiting for some yummy late-season newly-hatched flies to succumb to her trickery?

Either way, I got my answer. Today I weave.

Seasons and Routines Changing

Apples will be harvested today for homemade apple sauce

A spike pot from the Machine Series sold this week and is off to its new home in San Fransisco. This was one of the earlier pieces that I created in the series. With some artworks it is hard to say good-bye, but I met the collector and feel confident that this piece is where it is meant to be.

The most recent glaze firing (Friday, pre-Tropical Storm Earl) produced gorgeous greens and blues.

This glass case from David Brooks Goldsmith's (Hallowell) found a new home in the Cobscook Pottery and Fiber shop in Lubec. I love David Agronick's work and treasure my ring that he designed. Hallowell is losing a landmark business, but I'm glad to hear that David Brooks will still be designing, but from his personal studio rather than the downtown business.

Close-up of the new display case in the shop, showing here a new collector's series spike pot and a couple of my sister's creations from her jewelry business The Indigo Iris.

One of Kristin's (The Indigo Iris) pieces for sale in my shop - a beautiful coral fossil, fresh water pearl, and nautilus necklace with matching earrings.

Hurricane Earl swept through as a tropical storm and seemed to bring with him the seasonal change a couple weeks early. Last week's mid 90's scorching temps had us fooled into thinking that summer would never end. Come Sunday, it was too brisk to leave the kitchen door open and the warmest of socks needed to be retrieved from the over-bulged bureau upstairs. With change of season, also comes change of routines.

During the summer I am focused on primarily pottery production to keep the shop stocked. A constant flow of guests are in and out or we are on the road to visit family and friends. I wake each morning naturally, sometimes at 3:00 a.m., or sometimes 7:00. There is always a long list of what needs to be done but there is an impromptu quality that I relish.

Just before the official start of fall, routines are once again solid. The alarm is set for 5:30 a.m. and I am off to school to teach art to most all the children in this community. After school, I return home to tend to the business, and also to work on my Heartwood classes. The summer morning walks are now late afternoon jaunts and evening supper is set to a consistent time, as well as prep for the next day: lunch packed, clothes selected, and items gathered that I might need for a lesson.

This may seem a bit crazy to some, but I enjoy the changes. I don't mind that summer wanes and that soon it will be dark by late afternoon instead of 9:30 at night. I look forward to nor'easters and hunkering down by the warm fire while I watch out the window at swirling snow and swaying trees. But until that time is here, I will take advantage of the warming sun and the delights of autumn in Lubec.

Yesterday Chris and I hiked at West Quoddy. We watched the waves comb and rift with ferocity, greeted a pup seal that peeked its head by the shore, who just as amusingly watched us for a few moments. The birds were out in mass: honking Canadian geese, cranes, plovers, eagles, and others we did not recognize. The walk was the perfect end to a busy day of writing and sculpting.

Today has a full agenda as well for both of us, but we will also take the time this afternoon to harvest some apples to cook and can homemade sauce. Our garden, planted a month late, did not produce as much as we had hoped, but being our first garden, it has been an educational experience that will help us plan for next summer's crop. Basil has grown in abundance and we have enjoyed many batches of fresh pesto. Tomatoes, swiss chard, peppers, sage, cilantro, dill, tarragon, and thyme seem quite happy here. Something chowed the broccoli and none of the squash made it, except for one sort-of pathetically small spaghetti squash. Green beans are growing faster than we can eat, so we decided to can some of them. We discovered that a HUGE pile of green beans does not amount to very much when canned. But it was our first canning experience and we needed to begin somewhere.

The past week was busy but settled. The week before I was out of town with a family emergency. That event put a lot of things into perspective for me, as to what is really important in our lives. Know what is precious in your life and never take those things for granted. We never know for certain what the universe has in store for us, so be sure to live each day thoughtfully and with meaning.

I was glad to return to Lubec after almost two weeks away, to see Chris and Bello, and to be in my studio, creating, and in Lubec, celebrating the beauty of this magical place.

Before I sign off, I want to mention a couple of things going on around here. A lot of folks who pass through my shop are sort of out-of-loop on all the events that are happening. I always suggest that they check in with the visitor center/tour stop located at the Historical Society building. Ruta and her gang offer a wealth if information. The Visit Lubec Maine website is also run by this business.

A great resource for all events cultural and artistic is Culture Pass. If you go to their website you can subscribe to the listserve. Every Sunday you will receive an email listing all the events from St. Andrews down through to Campobello Island. This are is rich with culture. If you are thinking of visiting I suggest you sign on.

Two Countries One Bay Art Studio Tour
Culture Pass sponsors the Two Countries One Bay Art Studio Tour. That is coming up in two weekends, September 18-19, 2010. It is an annual event where you can tour through artist studios in both Canada and Maine. It is an often rare glimpse into the working lives of artists and should not be missed. I have been on the tour for four years now and look forward to the weekend and meeting some many wonderful, curious people. It's a great time to visit the artists, since they usually have some yummy goodies and interesting demonstrations happening those two days. I usually have supplies for folks to weave on the outdoor Earth Loom. I have another plan in mind too and will see if that develops, time permitting.

Last winter I hosted figure drawing sessions with pregnant model Anne Grant of Eastport. Anne also modeled in Eastport at Heidi Reidell's studio. The drawings that were created by artists throughout Anne's pregnancy and post-birth with baby Cecelia are currently being exhibited in Eastport at Heidi Reidell's Gallery/Studio. Please read the press release below and head on over to check out the show!

The Art of Life
Reidellevison Ink's Eastport School of Arts/Catbird Seat Gallery
Eastport, Maine
Through Sept. 24, 2010
Open 10-5 Tuesday-Sunday

The Art of Life show of drawings, sketches and some finished works depicting an entire pregnancy cycle and mother and child will continue at Reidellevision Ink's Eastport School of Arts and Catbird Seat Gallery #3 Dana Street in the Masonic Block in Eastport until September 24th. Gallery hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m Tuesday through Sunday.

This exhibit , showing model Anne Shields Grant in all stages of her child's development, and with infant model Cecilia, ( who modeled at three and four months of age,) shows the work of Bonnie Beard,Jean Bookman, and Shanna Wheelock of Lubec, Barbara Kendall of Calais, Kristie of Deer Island, and Arthur Cadieux, Elizabeth Ostrander, Patricia Johnson, Susan Bailey, Joyce Weber, Alice Bragdon and Heidi Reidell of Eastport .

It is rare to have an opportunity to draw and sketch a single individual throughout these human changes. Throughout the winter, Anne alternated between Shanna Wheelock's North Lubec Road studio and Heidi Reidell's Boynton Street apartment, offering life drawing opportunities.

Come celebrate the arrival of the beautiful Cecilia, and gaze at the wonder that is new life in the making.