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Help!

I am struggling ... I haven't thrown pottery on my wheel for over a year now. My Masters program, which is incredible and going to be a huge boost for me, is a business program.... Arts Management. Thats my priority as it should be. I need to have that forward thinking mind set.

But the lack of studio time is starting to wear me down. I am so enthralled with people and with learning new things... I am completely distracted by the new world here and I've lost the artistic orientation. I do love people but I am so in need of that alone time... I feel depleted.

Any thoughts? Advise? Readings? Words? Ways for a people lover to just say no?

Class notes... sort of.

School started again!

Enjoy some doodles from class...

Fundraising class... can you tell? :)

Hardworking Picasso man.

Textile?

Holding something crinkly. 

Fancy birds get the worms. 

Matisse inspired interior. 

His shoes. 

A fisherman finds an old friend.

Bikes in Madrid

Sustainable living is a topic of conversation around the globe... green is definitely the color of the decade. In this hue, bicycle shares, lanes, and shops are popping up all over the place as people seek an auto alternative, green-style. And, after reading Shop Class as Soulcraft,  the bike is looking much more attractive as a material possession that I can actually manage. (Read the book, its a good one.) 

Friends of mine, Reid, and his wonderful wife, Clara, live in Madrid. They are starting a very cool project. He called it a "project/space/shop dedicated to urban cycling..."

"The focus is practical, simple, and if possible cool-looking bicycles and accessories, coupled with a full-service workshop and strong focus on making available practical information for potential cyclists to make it easier to make the switch to a bicycle."

See the work in progress with a simple but inspiring video featuring obvious passion and skill.




http://dailybicycle.co

The following is a translated excerpt from their business plan. So cool!

Buena Suerte, you two! 

Handmade. Local.

This video is beautiful. I love to watch the crafters' hands as they do what they do best. Plus, I'd like an old bike like that.

Stephen Kenn : Inheritance Collection from Process Creative on Vimeo.

Enjoy.

Oh, that Sound Looks so Delicious!

I had the privilege of studying at an intensive fellowship program last year on the Eastern Shore. While there I wrote an essay and performed an experiential event of cross-sensory artistry. Sound complicated? Well, we humans are complicated!

The essay's foundation needed to be a question. My question: How can I, an artistically minded individual, properly and effectively bridge the gap between art and the non-artist? What is the missing piece that seems to be making that gulf wider and wider? How can I act not only as a translator but a motivator, a motivator to the non-artist to feel intrigued, accepted and enriched by all that art and beauty can offer?

The year was rich with discussion and I want to present you with some things and include you in my eventual findings.

Think about art. Does that word make you excited? Bored? Angry? Confused? There are so many controversies around that word. Lets step away from that word for a moment.

Think about a creative friend of yours. That one crazy friend whose brain just seems to endlessly come up with ideas, whose hands seems to make something out of nothing or something beautiful out of junk. Or that one friend who has incredible skills in decorating or throwing a themed party. What do they add to your life? They add interest. They add that other element that enlivens you. Those sorts of experiences make you feel something for which, at times, there are no words.

This brings us to our SENSES. We have 5 specified ones... Sight, Auditory, Touch, Taste, Smell. But there are more. What does it mean to have a sense of history, a sense of family, a sense of fear? We absorb an intense amount of nonverbal information. Not only that, but our senses play off of each other and change the experience. Smell connects to memory, sight to stomach, sound to taste...

Art is this multi-sensory experience ... like intense intellectual reading, conversation, or lecture, it brings us into another realm and makes us grow. Art plays upon our memories, our visions, our senses. Art is and always will be a part of us. I've written on this before (Touch, Language, Fluency) but am so intrigued by this idea that I want to keep revisiting and testing it out.

Here are two short articles about our senses crossing over each other and changing the whole experience.
Smells Like Bethoven  from the Economist. (Thanks to JJ)
What does Sweetness Sound Like? from the Food and Think Blog at the Smithsonian.com. (Thanks to RCA)

I hope this idea wakes you up, if not to art, to the crazy awesome world we live in. Eventually, I think, you will begin to appreciate art's place ... a strong tool for waking you up and pulling you up. And the arguments about what it is? Just another bee in your bonnet.

Sketches from Germany and Prague

I just returned from a fascinating trip to Berlin, Dresden, Leipzig, and Prague. My class, Museum Insights for Arts Managers, toured the cities and interviewed museum directors and curators. The resulting thoughts are still settling but here are some quick sketches among my pages and pages of notes from the trip. Descriptions are under each little sketch. 

The floor in the Neues Museum on Museum Island in Berlin.



A trip through the country-side. 3 different trees.



Steep A-line roofs. Tiny concrete dwellings.




A. Mucha and the Slovak Epic. Spanish Synagog details.

 
Raffael's Madonna and cherubs are so famous. The exhibit we saw in Dresden showed his work as well as pop cultural references to his work through the years... Including this funny cartoon of ladies studying his painting in the early 1900's.



The Alte Museum in Dresden had HUGE paintings. People were tiny in comparison.



Laying on the grass in the Teir Garden in Berlin looking up at a beautiful black and white tree.



Museum Island in Berlin. This is one side of the Bode Museum.



We met two local potters... this one I saw through a basement window. She was a character... swirls and squiggles follow her wherever she goes, I think. She wore a thick handmade dress over pants and a hand-knit sweater and stocking cap... She matched her whimsical pottery.

Salvador Dali on What's My Line!!! Hilarious!Especially around 6:55....

Drawing Life

Matisse. A video for the museum of modern art in Brisbon. Short and beautiful.

A Little Vintage Inspiration

The 1920's....




Highlights:

Fashion: Keep your eye out for the clips of the woman around 1:55-2:10... Talk about back in style!
Motor Car Designed for Women: 1:10
Liberation from a prison of Hair: 2:12

“He’s a Good Fellow, and ’t will all be well.”

LIX

“Listen again. One Evening at the Close

Of Ramazan, ere the better Moon arose,

In that old Potter’s Shop I stood alone

With the clay Population round in Rows.

LX

And, strange to tell, among that Earthen Lot

Some could articulate, while others not:

And suddenly one more impatient cried—

“Who *is* the Potter, pray, and who the Pot?”

LXI

Then said another—“Surely not in vain

“My Substance from the common Earth was ta’en,

“That He who subtly wrought me into Shape

“Should stamp me back to common Earth again.”

LXII

Another said—“Why, ne’er a peevish Boy,

“Would break the Bowl from which he drank in Joy;

“Shall He that *made* the Vessel in pure Love

“And Fancy, in an after Rage destroy!”

LXIII

None answer’d this; but after Silence spake

A Vessel of a more ungainly Make:

“They sneer at me for learning all awry;

“What! did the Hand then of the Potter shake?”

LXIV

Said one—“Folk of a surly Tapster tell

“And daub his Visage with the Smoke of Hell;

“They talk of some strict Testing of us—Pish!

“He’s a Good Fellow, and ’t will all be well.”

Omar Khayyam, tr. Edward Fitzgerald: “The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam” (1905)

found here

Catch it by the tail

Hello 2012. This year I started a masters program. I'm still not sure if that means if I am mastering something or if I am getting mastered! The program is an MA in Arts Management. I am taking 12 graduate credits and, while time consuming, every single class is stimulating and fascinating.

As I yearn for time to create I thought maybe my work for class, my reading, writing, and discussions, could fill this desire. Well, that sure didn't work. Ideas rush through looking for the old enthusiasm and action but find a stale academic instead. While a break from making is hard, I know that the things I am learning will only spur on even better creating later on.

In the mean time I am meeting wonderful artists and art-instigators. These inspirations are pushing me to work harder and dig deeper into this subject of what it means to be an Arts Manager and how to do it well.

The following TED talk is from Elizabeth Gilbert who wrote Eat, Pray, Love. While I didn't enjoy that book in particular, Gilbert, an artist of words and story, does an incredible job of describing the creative process and giving a better view of the artist. (Thanks to WB for alerting me to this video!)

If you are an artist, this will show you some balance...something we all need. If you are not an artist, this talk can help you understand the arts without feeling ignorant of the technicals. Enjoy!

A Christmas Surprise

This afternoon, amid wrapping and last minute gift creations, there was a knock at the door. It was the postman. I wish that he would always knock and not just leave it in the box. I loved answering the door and watch him shuffle through packages and letters, handing me ours with a smile and "Merry Christmas!"

In that bundle there was a package for me, wrapped in a familiar brown paper with a familiar U-S-A written across the front. I got a package from Spain! 

Seth, my wonderful British potter, mentor, and friend, dashed off a letter and package for me just in time for Christmas! I can't believe its been two year since I've seen him, since I lived and studied in that little stone Masia on top of a mountain, next to a dry white stoned river bed. 

He wrote on thin beautiful paper with that handwriting I know and love, telling of studio cleanings and friendly visits. He found an old pot of mine that I left behind. I left many pots behind since they all had to fit in my suitcases. A little syrup pitcher was stuffed in the package, with crawling glaze and Seth-esque blue lettering. Suddenly I had memories of sitting on my motorcycle-like wheel seat, bent over with brush in hand and cobalt oxide stain glopped in an old bowl, carefully lettering within Seth's rules. 

Oh how I miss him and his studio and that house and that bumpy road and my mountain! Merry Christmas, Seth! Merry Christmas readers! 

Pictures from my time in Spain:

Exciting happenings from my time in Spain My Surroundings in Spain

The Pottery in Spain

Photos of Everything I've Made!

Please note:

I have reorganized and replaced photographs.You can now view all of my creations conveniently using the links on the right-hand column that is always present on the blog. Look under "Sarah Coffin Artwork Photo Albums." The ReStyle albums contain, in order, photos of the projects from start to finish... the original salvaged goods to the finished product.

I will alert you to any updates.

This is the best I can do until I have my own website! Thanks and enjoy!

As always, if you see anything you love, please don't hesitate to ask. Everything is for sale. If it hasn't been sold, it can be yours! Just email me at sjcoffin@gmail.com!

Happy December and dropping temperatures!
Sarah

Pointy Finger Print courtesy of YeeHaw.etsy.com. Print of the letterpress hand available for $25 plus shipping. 

Tennis Rackets Turned Household Item!

I love the look of old tennis rackets. I've found a few in the passed weeks and fell in love with the worn leather, fine wood details, and the designs on each one.

Hanging them on the wall as is seems pretty cool but I thought it would be fun if it served a purpose... especially as I am not a tennis player!

Here are four different takes on a useful tennis racket wall hanging!


 Number One: "Melbourn"
... I love the vintage colors of this racket! The lighter wood and cream with black accents stand out nicely on a darker wall. This single hook could be used for any variety of things, keys, necklaces, something in your kitchen, your ID badge by the door... 

Number Two: "Davis"

... The two smaller hooks on this racket provide a symmetrical hanging devise perfect for a his and hers key holder! Also could be used for necklaces, ribbon, ornaments, or just as decoration. 

Number Three: "Ardmore"
... Affixed to it's traveling case, this racket is full of the old wood and worn paint vintage charm that I love. The four hooks can be used for anything from keys to jewelry. 

Number Four: "The Postman's knock"
... This racket is my favorite. I love the red details and what I turned it into! I hand painted the quote on the rim that read, "None will hear the postman's knock without a quickening of the heart" by WH Auden. I attached springs to the face and a hook to the neck. The spaces in the spring are perfect for mail and the hook is perfect for keys! Are there other uses you can think of?!