First Friday in March, Opportunity to Preview Gorge Artists Open Studios

Steider Studios Celestial Series

A quick update to let you know I’m still alive and producing art, packing it up and delivering it!

This week I delivered work to The Pines Wine Tasting and Gallery in Hood River OR for a preview show of the Gorge Artists Open Studios Tour.  The opening is tonight from 6 to 8 p.m., at Second and State and the show runs through the end of this month.  You’ll have the first opportunity to purchase our cool new maps for your self guided tour, April 13, 14, 15.  Notice, the tour is THREE days this year!  That will give you extra time to tour all our studios plus a bonus night in the Columbia River Gorge, surrounded by inspirational and magnificent vistas.  If you’ve followed my blog for awhile, you know where most of those vistas are.  If you haven’t, just leave a comment or send me a note and I’ll be happy to share some of my favorite haunts.

Steider Studios Celestial Series

Also celebrating our Gorge Artists Open Studios Tour during the month of March is the Columbia Gorge Hotel!  They are hosting artwork from a group of us in the lobby and in their Valentino Lounge.  There will be some other interesting events at the hotel this year, stay tuned!

Steider Studios Celestial Series

The majority of my time the last couple of weeks was spent preparing for the Glass Craft & Bead Expo in Las Vegas March 28 – April 1st!  I’ve been ordering supplies, glass, and kilns, for some fun new classes in addition to Exploring Glass Powders (the one day condensed version of Powderology).  Shimmer Shine and Sparkle was filled so we added a second class that’s still available!  I also have room for more students in Color Theory for Glassists and I’d love to see you in this color-filled class!  Are you going to the Expo?  What classes are you taking?  

Steider Studios: Celestial Series

Back to cutting glass and packing, I’ll see you at the party tonight!

Trash 2 Art, Setting up a Gallery Show

Bringing in a New Year with a new Gallery Show, I thought some of you might be interested in just how a gallery show goes up.  Columbia Arts is a community, non profit gallery, run by volunteer committees.  The Show Committee sets a show, selects a curator and sometimes works with the curator to choose participating artists.  The January show, Trash 2 Art was installed today.  Before the doors can open to the public for an artist’s reception there’s a huge renovation:

…starting with moving portable walls into place.  Volunteers have already applied fresh paint.  Curator Kathy Watne and her crew of volunteers set the stage for how our work will be displayed, taking into consideration the huge storefront windows.

After the walls are moved into place, the pedestals are brought out.

Since the walls are on wheels, they must be stabilized before any work can be hung.  The work is placed in an order that flows, usually by artist, by color or theme.  Sometimes it’s as simple as first to arrive selects their spot.

The work gets unpacked and tentatively set up as artists arrive.  Dave Sherburne’s work always catches my eye.

Sarah Burr Arnold creates gorgeous jewelry.  Here it awaits installment into the show.

Also waiting to be installed is one of Kathy Watne’s fabulous enamels.

My glass bowl looks too flat just sitting on this pedestal.  Tomorrow I’ll deliver a stand for it so you can see color and light filtering through.

Back to the installation….Sarah and Kathy attach tags while Caroline, the gallery director checks inventory sheets and prepares show labels in the background.  Artists submit written information about their work in advance to avoid dealing with these details at the last minute.

I can’t help myself, my eyes are constantly distracted by the wonderful artwork being delivered.  More coming in each hour.  This wonderful piece was created by Tracy Klas.

Mixed media panels by Kris Joy, known for her blown glass.  I LOVE her new work!

The artwork goes up, packaging taken away and within just a few hours the show is almost ready.  Tomorrow I’ll return with that stand; other artists may also return for additional tweaking.  Once the work is installed, it’s easier to see what might need adjusting.   Kathy will be there attaching show tags, aiming lights and fine tuning those devilish details.

One last photo, a piece by Kerry Lucia to whet your appetite for this fun and playful show, generously sponsored by Hood River Garbage!  Trash 2 Art features work made from objects otherwise destined for the trash or recycling.

Many friends are planning to join us at the opening, I hope you will too!  Friday January 6th from 6 to 8pm.  Columbia Arts at 215 Cascade in Hood River OR.  If you can’t make the opening reception, Trash 2 Art runs through January 29th.

Participating artists:  Sarah Burr Arnold • Marbe Cook • Peggy Dills Kelter • Tracy Klas • Dawn Elle • J. Neils Harvey • Terri Johanson • Kris Joy • Suzanne Keolker • Kerry Lucia • Kelly Phipps • David Sherburne • Linda Steider • Kathy Watne • MaCrae Wylde

Show curator: Kathy Watne

December Digest

December has been a whirlwind month with holiday happenings, sales and keeping my galleries stocked.  It’s been a wonderful month for me, and looks like it’ll end with a flourish.

I’m honored & excited to be included in the Flow Magazine’s 7th Annual Gallery of Women in Glass!!! My bowl is surrounded by such amazing inspiring glasswork, I feel humbled to have my work next to such talented artists.   TheFlowMagazine (on Facebook – go like them!)   The Flow Magazine.com  Go buy the magazine & check it out!!

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Not to mention our annual Baking Day with my grandchildren who are unbelievably more fun with each passing year.

Our idea this year was a 3D sleigh with reindeer.  My practice project turned out great, but we decided to have the kids decorate the cookies before ‘gluing’ it together with frosting.  We didn’t take into consideration how much frosting and candies would be used on each cookie.  Or that the weight would be different on each side.  So, they didn’t stand up perfectly, but they were very tasty to eat!

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In just a few days I’ll be delivering work for Columbia Art Gallery’s ’Trash 2 Art” show.  All the artists are working with recycled or reclaimed materials.  The opening is First Friday in January and runs through January 30th.  I plan to write a more detailed post about this event.

From my heart and little cabin in the woods, I wish you a safe and healthy…wonderful and joyful…spectacular and prosperous…2012.

Preview of Glacier Series, Shopping for Shops

My show at The Dalles Art Center opens Thursday evening, October 7th, where I’m premiering my new Glacier Series. The reception is from 5 pm to 7 pm on the 7th, and I’d love to see you there if you’re in the area.  My artwork along with Anthony Kiser’s and Scott Berger’s has been installed and runs through Oct. 23rd.

Many of you know that 1000 Markets has closed and I’ve been scrambling to find a replacement venue.  Our shops were transferred to Bonanza, for which I am grateful – uploading photos and descriptions, sizes and prices of every available piece of work can be tedious.  I’m not sure however, if Bonanza is a good fit for my work.  That’s where I temporarily parked my glass medium.  (Edit:  it’s now available at Artfire).  I plan to sell my other tools and supplies for glassworkers also that you may  have seen (and some of you have phoned to purchase) on my website.

After investigating price, ambience, ease of use, and what other artists are showing, I decided to try Artfire.  It has Art in it’s name – isn’t that a good thing?  And I can sell art supplies there.  One of the advantages to Artfire is I can have a kiosk on my Facebook Page!  After each long studio day this week I managed to get a front page open and upload a couple photos and descriptions.  As I said, this is tedious, even though it’s a simple copy & paste plus upload photos that are already cropped and sized.

Midweek I stumbled across a post in a 1Km Refugee forum that Zibbet had also imported all our shops like Bonanza did.  We have until Oct. 5th to open a shop there and utilize their import of our items.  I decided to jump in and try it & am so glad I did.  I think I’m going to love it.  The owner has already given me a new classification for my recycled glass wall pockets that didn’t fit any categories.

For now, I think I’ll leave the Bonanza shop up to see how it plays out, but my real comparison will be between Artfire and Zibbet.  Which of the three do you like best?  I’d love to have your feedback!

There are a couple other places I’d like to try out, but like everything else right now they’ll be on the  back burner waiting their turn.  Are you selling on-line?  Where?  Go ahead – plug in a link to your shop so everyone can see it in the comments section below.

Here are a few of those places I’m looking at, in the order that I’m going to take a closer look (if I ever have a spare moment again):

Cargoh

Big Cartel

Supermarket HQ

Rtist

Shop Handmade

Made it Myself

Craft is Art

I have signed up for Etsy also, but it didn’t seem intuitive to me.  It’s another one I will probably get back to.  Do you have recommendations or criticisms of any?

By the way, my banner for Bonanza was given to me by Alilbirdy2, another Bonanza member.  She thought my plain banner (the one I’m using for Zibbet) needed tweaking.  I used a combination of hers and mine for Artfire.  Not a graphic designer, I’m always appreciative of any help!

My Dance Card Overflows…

“Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’ … into the future”

How did the first fifteen days of September slip by so fast?  I’ll tell you!

September started off with a large order for my Celestial Series bowls from the Museum of Glass gift shop in Tacoma.  I can’t tell you how thrilled I am, especially since their focus is on blown glass, not kilnformed!  I spent days just cutting out the blanks for almost 5 dozen pieces, while doing a Happy Dance in my studio.  I can’t wait to see the display of bright colorful Celestial Bowls in their beautiful and well-lit gift shop.  I’ll deliver my work the first part of October and I hope you can go see …. I mean …. go buy it and take it home with you.

The first part of October also rings in with a gallery show at The Dalles Art Center.  I’ve planned and prepared for months and will be showing with Anthony Kiser and Scott Berger.  The opening is a first Thursday celebration, October 7th from 5 to 7pm.  Hope to see some of you there – come see my sparkly new work!

Along with my busy production schedule, preparations are underway for an intense class schedule in October.  If you’re interested in learning how to work with powdered glass and you’re in the Portland area, join us at Aquila Glass School for my two-day Powderology class on October 9 & 10.  It’s the first time I’ve been hosted in Portland – Thank you Don & Scott for inviting me!

If you’re interested in learning the basics of glass fusing, join us at The Dalles Art Center on Tuesday evenings, starting next week for my Glass-Fusing-for-Beginners class.  Or sign up for the Hood River Community Ed Beginning Glass Fusing and Intermediate Studies for the Returning Student on Wednesday evenings.  I promise you’ll have FUN and I’ll teach you so much that you’ll be able to set up your own glass studio if desired!

In November I’m excited I’ll be traveling to Austin Texas where I’ll present Powderology at Blue Moon Glassworks.  Traveling classes are fun, exciting, and intense because there’s so much to pack into such a short time frame.  If you’re in the area I hope you’ll join us!  This will be my first time in Texas – what are the ‘must see tourist attractions’ that I won’t want to miss?  Thank you Rose & Jim Berry, for hosting me – I can’t wait!

And there’s so much more…..but for now I must get back to the studio & produce all that work I’ve promised … so I can ‘Fly like an Eagle’……

Triple Red Success!

Preparing for ‘Red: From Alizarin to Crimson’, at Columbia Arts, my second attempt at the red bowl was a success.  Not that I had any doubts, of course, as I returned to my usual drop ring style instead of a bowl mold.  ’Red Cells’ is a shallow bowl, with a one inch drop.

The detail shot shows 22k ‘cells’.

If you remember from my last post, the first Red bowl blew a very large bubble right in the center while slumping, so I put it aside and started over.  Usually it’s easier and faster to just start over than it is to try to repair something.

I also had a second piece, ‘Plan B – Back to Square One’ underway, cutting squares to assemble into a bargello design.  Plan B came out of it’s first firing with devit.  Drat!  I had cleaned and dried thorougly, yet all of the dark red opaque squares were devitrified.  Plus I could see marks from the klyr fire (a glue for glass), a first for me, as I’ve always had klyr fire burn out cleanly.

Instead of a quick fuse & slump, I now had to mask the devit and refire.  Most people choose an overglaze for this task, but I advocate the use of clear powder.  Dusted with a fine layer of clear powder, back into the kiln it went.  At the same time ‘second attempt ‘Red Cells’ was slumping through a drop ring in another kiln.

Once ‘second attempt’ (as I fondly called it) was in the kiln for it’s final shaping, and Red plan B was in the kiln for it’s second firing, I turned my attention to the failed piece to see how I could resolve that big bubble.

Instead of letting heat and gravity flatten it onto a kiln shelf, where I might then have to grind the edges again into a perfect circle, I decided to place it into a shallow mold to see if I could get away with only one firing instead of two.

Firing slowly at 100 degrees per hour, I had to schedule it so I would be there viewing the bowl at process temperature.  There I was at 10pm monitoring it’s progress every five minutes, ready to reach in and push the bubble down if necessary (suited up with protective gear for the task).  After 60 minutes at 1200º, it had slowly slumped into the platter shape with the large center bubble finally settled snugly down into the mold.

So my success is threefold:  My second try at the red bowl, ‘Red Cells‘ turned out and was delivered in time for the show; a second piece, ‘Back to Square One’ turned out quite well, although not in time for the show; and my first attempt, which became ‘Red Cells II’, was saved and delivered just at deadline but still in time for the show!

If you’re in Hood River for February’s First Friday (Feb 5), do stop in & say hello!!  Columbia Arts,  Cascade and Third; from 6 to 8 p.m.  Oh, and wear RED!  Red ribbons and red prizes will be awarded for “Best of Show” and “Best of Dress.” Plus, you’ll be able to enjoy creative red refreshments!!  Hope to see you there!

What’s Up?!

Thanks to Doris for prompting me to get another post out.  I think about my next post all the time, but the kiln gods sometimes have a way of interferring with my plans.  Like the above bowl.  If you follow my ’365 blog, you already know what happened here.  Giant bubble has me starting this project all over.

So here it is again, my second attempt at perfection.  Not that I really think I’ll ever achieve perfection, but we can try, right?!  In the meantime I usually have a Plan B, so besides playing with powders I’ve gone back to ‘Square One’, which you can see below.  Stacks of squares ready to arrange into a sushi plate.

Both of these projects will go to ‘Red’, the February show at Columbia Arts in Hood River.  That is if they turn out!!

Invited to participate in another Hood River show at The Pines 1852 Art Gallery, titled ”The Red Alert” I already have these smaller bowls ready to go.

Preparing for two art shows, making hearts for friends, more glass boxes, and photographing one image every day for my 365 project, not to mention posting occasionally on  my garden blog has kept me tremendously busy.

Although I still consider myself inept at all things computer related, I am slowly educating myself a little each day.  Sometimes it’s an ‘aha’ enlightening moment and sometimes it’s a red-faced ‘I hope nobody saw me do that’ moment.  It’s a good thing I can laugh at myself, because believe me I spend a lot of time laughing!

The two current Red projects on my workbench.

Bumbling my way through blogging, I rarely change any parts of my format because I don’t want to mess things up.  I recently discovered I could subscribe and have my blog delivered in an email each time I posted!  I think you can subscribe too! Please let me know how my new subscription service at the top right of the screen works for you.  One new thing learned on the computer today, so I can get back to the studio!

Had to set up an extra table to work on glass boxes and hearts!

But first I want to share why I added my third blog, 365 One Day at a Time to my already overfilled schedule.  A long time friend who happens to be a photographer and recent inductee to the Shutter Sisters Blog pulled me into taking and posting one photo a day for 365 days.  After consideration I decided it might be fun because I love taking pictures but I wondered if I could stick to it.  I have to tell you, I am having so much fun with it that I’d rather be outside photographing than in the studio.  Yes, I said it, there’s somewhere I’d rather be than the studio!!  Well sometimes.  When I don’t have a deadline looming.  Anyone can join in.  You can do it just for yourself too, without the pressure of posting daily.  Give it a try.  A couple friends you might know who’ve jumped in are Terrie,  Barb, and Katie.

I am so honored that you stopped by to read my blog.  I truly appreciate it and hope I’ve made you smile or given you an idea about something new or beautiful.