All posts in Life in North Dakota
Scenes from the studio. Routine.
On April 4, 2012
In Art making, Life in North Dakota, Living with Greyhounds
With 2 Comments
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Scenes from the studio
Pugging clay. The old cans are on the shelf right in front of me. They were leftovers from the previous owner. The green and white Sinclair can is my favorite. Here are some of the cans and other photos from inside my studio.
An exhibition.
Weird how life works. I’ve been playing with my new camera and the 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens. I bought this lens in 2008, took a few photos of sterling pendants and such, then basically shelved it. It never produced what I wanted. With the new camera body, however, it’s a whole new experience. Anyway. I’m shooting in macro, having a ball, thinking about things in a new way. (Don’t you love camera lenses. Swoon…)
Then I go to the art show at the Dickinson State University gallery – and the paintings displayed are playing with the idea of macro and micro. Well played, Universe. Well played.
The work displayed belongs to Kevin Bernstein. He’s showing paintings and drawings. On the far north wall were these these three along with three other square format drawings. I am so drawn to squares and the way they can force the composition. These paintings were my favorite from the show. The header, above, shows the rich, vibrant texture of these works. Heavenly. Could look at these paintings all day.
I love how this work is so natural and yet mechanical.
This is a close up of another of the large paintings. I tried to photograph, within the limitations of my iPhone camera, how textural these paintings are. Not sure I succeeded… so if you’re in the Dickinson, North Dakota area, stop by the gallery in Klinefelter Hall. It is quite an experience.
Why I choose handmade mugs.
Almost a year ago, I made a choice to try to live more purposeful. It wasn’t some big spiritual awakening or New Year’s Resolution. Instead it was a simple idea. How can I make choices — good choices – in my life. Because I was feeling like my life was living me rather than the other way around. I was tired of that life.
I chose to make one simple change. I got rid of my mass-produced, machine made mugs. To goodwill they went (save one with a reproduction of Grant Woods’ American Gothic and another with a Greyhound etched on it). Then I began to develop my collection of handmade mugs.
I had purchased artist made mugs here and there. Now I wanted a cupboard full.
Here’s why: every morning I get up and make a pot of coffee. In the past I reached for any old mug I could find. Most were purchased at a “big box” store – one of many from a set, all identical. Now I wanted the first decision of the day (after coffee, of course) to be purposeful. Which mug do I want to drink out of today? Because each handmade mug is a different drinking experience. No more auto-pilot. The Cupboard of Choice awaits.
Here are some of my favorite mugs.
This mug was made by Robin Reynolds in Hebron, North Dakota. She uses native clay that she digs. The outside of the mug is unglazed so it has a unique textural quality that my other mugs do not have. A natural and simple mug with the bison skull on the side.
This mug is one of my most recent acquisitions. Made by Brian R. Jones in Portland, Oregon and purchased on etsy. I’m fascinated by the markings on this mug. Fresh and clean.
This mug is Tama Smith’s Prairie Fire Pottery from Beach, ND. This mug evokes thoughts of North Dakota. The glaze is spectacular – reminds me of the layers in the North Dakota Badlands. If you’re driving through North Dakota on I-94, you must stop at Tama’s shop. Must. Must. Must. Also, this mug keeps the coffee hot like none other. Must be the design? And feels great in the hand.
Sue Tirrell. I covet Sue Tirrell’s work. This one was a gift from a friend. Can you believe it? I was amazed when I opened the box. Like 100 Christmas mornings. Sue also does sculpture of horses and rodeo themes and much more.
Another new mug, Ayumi Horie. Oh do I love this mug. Its the go-to when I’m anticipating a tough day. Holding it makes me happy. I love the bunny on the side. I love the glaze. I love the shape and how it is slightly off of round. The detail in the handle. A beautifully crafted piece of art to begin the day.
And the last mug I’ll show today is this little brown mug, artist unknown. I purchased this mug for $15 at the Spearfish, South Dakota Art in the Park. Its lip is not level so one has to be careful when filling it. Somehow I end of reaching for it anyway.
I’m always on the lookout for new mugs to add to the collection. Of course, I’ve got a Pinterest board devoted to mugs I’ll add someday.
To surround oneself with beauty… To live purposefully…. Good goals.
Energy.
Lately, I’ve been thinking about some of the challenges and benefits of having a part-time job along with a full-time artistic practice. I feel pulled apart at times, struggling with shifting gears and making the most of my time. But the library job gets me out the house (and studio), out of my head and around people. No secret, art making is a solitary, sometimes lonely, activity.
My art process is a self-centered kind of a world. It is about my ideas, my thoughts, my feelings about a thing. A large part is shutting off the Chorus in my head and silencing the voices that have a running dialogue of “it’s not right, it should look like this, it could be better” – ad nauseum. This takes effort and practice. It isn’t easy, but the payoff is euphoria.
The job at the library is a different animal. Yes, at it’s root it is a creation job- to make a place that fulfills the Library’s mission. This is what I love about it. But the route to creating the outcome is different. Like art making, I make innumerable tiny decisions that effect the outcome. Unlike the art making, the Chorus is external and internal.
Budgets & time will keep my Vision of the Library from being a reality. I say this with a positive outlook. This isn’t Negative Nelly talking. This is reality. It won’t happen.
With the Art, I try again. Start a new piece. The library is like working on the same painting, forever.
I’m okay with this mostly. It’s a part-time job after all.
When the library job gets hard is when people complain. When the library job gets really hard is when I’ve worked on art in the morning, headed to into the library in the afternoon, and hear the complaints.
(Complaints is probably too strong a word. It’s more like… comments. And since this is the midwest people love the back-handed compliment. They are not confident enough to stand behind a full out endorsement of a thing. So their comments come out mostly positive, but with the nasty barb at the end turning the thing negative. Regionalism? Habit? Ugh.)
I haven’t been able to figure out why these negative comments bother me so. Why do they get in my head? Most of them have nothing to do with me or how I run the library. What the heck is this? I think I’ve finally figured it out. Art+Library days are worse.
On those days, I’ve spend the entire morning in the studio silencing my internal critics, letting the guard down, being open, and doing the work. It is optimism and vulnerability. Then to the library popping in to keep the plates spinning. Most of the time things are going great. But on these days, I hear the comments.
Now I realize the mile from studio to library is not a great enough distance for me to re-armor myself.
Humm.
So a series of sculptures on Armadillos? Or maybe tiles with turtles?
New friend.
Winchester has a new friend. Charley is his name. He’s a Great Dane.
This makes Winchester very happy.
Charley loves to run and play. He plays differently than the greyhounds. Winchester doesn’t know what to think of this, but he still tries to get Charley to play. Charley has his own ideas of course.
So Winchester dances. And leaps.
And stamps his feet.
“Should I bring it?”
Bring it!
Prairie Dogs.
Took the hounds out for a walk on Thursday morning – out into the countryside. It way a beautiful morning. Immediately I regretted leaving my DSLR camera at home. These photos are from my iPhone.
Annie - Queen of her field.
Winchester, Sage and Annie with Jason with a glimpse of the buttes in the background.
Sage and his shadow.
And oh did they run. Won’t forget my big camera next time 
Restless.
I should have scheduled a workshop. Or planned to attend the big event at the Bray. Or a vacation (what’s that?). Something to get away from this place for a while. Something to look forward to.
As it is, I’m waiting for boxes to dry. I’m working steady. Soon they will be dry and I’ll be loading the kiln, glazing and firing. Lots of interesting stuff to do.
But until then… North Dakota is dearth of inspiration. The rains keep coming but my creativity well is running a bit dry. Like the rain clouds… it’ll pass.
Gray and green.
Cold. Wet. Rainy. Gray.
On the bright-side the basement is dry. That can’t be said for most of my neighbors. Or those along the Missouri river here in ND. Flooding. Sandbagging. Stress.
I don’t know how long it has been raining – just that it seems like we’ve had more rain this year than ever. If memory serves, we’ve had three nice days in all of May. I long for 70+ degree weather. I had to turn the furnace on last night.
And no Greyhound Gathering in Kanab, Utah. And no Art Show at Dewey Beach, Delaware this year either. I sit with no set events this year. No finalized engagements. The calendar is wide open with not a deadline in sight. I’m not sure I like this.
But my memory box goal for this month has been met. The boxes are drying and should be ready soon (rain/humidity is slowing the process down… slow drying is a good thing… but it takes forever…) There are also smaller smoke fired greyhound and saluki sculptures ready to be fired. In about a week things might shape up around here. The kilns will be firing, at last. I’m excited for the results. I’m really liking this batch of boxes and small sculptures.
The hounds and I have been squeezing trips to the dog park in between rain storms. I’m not crazy about them running on wet grass, but there has been little choice, of late. They need exercise and while the leash walking does fulfill some of that, it isn’t enough. The dog park ground is squishy and saturated like a sponge that needs to be wrung out. The hounds don’t seem to mind it or the baths when they get home.
Back to work. May has been a productive month. Memory boxes started. Small sculptures started. Shipped a larger piece (cross your fingers UPS will be kind in shipment). Have two other larger works possibly sold. Am *this* close to completing a $36,000 grant at the library job. It’s all good.
And snow it goes
The temperature was near 70 degrees Fahrenheit. And the weatherman was warning of an upcoming blizzard. Such is spring in North Dakota. Turns out, this time, he was correct.
Winchester woke me this morning around 4AM. The wind was howling. He wanted me to be awake to hear it, I’m sure. The wind sounded like a train, but just a bit of snow. Wet and heavy. Then more snow… and wind. Ugh. Blizzard.
Just a few days ago, spring was here. The dogs and I have been visiting the dog park more often. We are all out of shape. We all love the sun. To be outdoors again.
Yes, every couple of days it snows. Then green grass and sunshine again. Just this time, the wind came.
This snow knocked down many (14?) of the very, very few trees that are in Bowman. We are short grass prairie. Every tree here has been planted. They don’t make it on their own.
I know there is green grass under the snow. The snow will be gone tomorrow or the next and the warmer temperatures will return. Such is spring in North Dakota.
Snow bricks.
So if you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all, right? I’m going to attribute my lack of blogging to something along that sort. But mostly being super busy with library stuff, not making much work in the studio thanks to various reasons, and generally blanking on anything good to write about. It’s all okay. Just makes for a dead blog… Let’s get back in the swing of things.
Earlier this week, Mother Nature decided to dump roughly 14 inches of snow on Southwestern North Dakota. I’m like everyone else around here very tired of winter. But the snow was good snowman making snow. When I sat down on the couch to watch Glee I began to think about this awesome snow. Like the best snowman snow we’ve had all winter…
I had to make a big snow Greyhound.
We made many, many snow sculptures in this front yard through the years. My Dad and brother, and sometimes the neighborhood kids, built snow people, snow castles big enough to walk around in and dragons of all shapes and size. We got pictures of our results in the local paper fairly often.
So when the newspaper editor showed up in my front yard with a camera in hand, I wasn’t surprised. It’s a small town. There isn’t much for news. As he was snapping photos of the gigantic Greyhound I’d built, he asked how I decided to make a snow dog.
“When I was a kid we made snow men and other things. I was thinking of those snow men and how all I wanted, back then, was one of those plastic brick shaped snow cutter things to make igloo blocks, you know what I mean?”
“No” he says with a southern accent.
So I continued, “You know… they advertised in the backs of magazines… the block cutter was red with a handle on top.”
“No” he says with southern accent.
“They were red…”
Then it occurs to me. Southern Accent. Southern US…. has…. no… snow.
Really, my brain was as frozen as my hands. Really.
Duh….
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and 
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