Vivian Challenge comes to an End

On our recent road trip, we found a few great windows that lent themselves for our Vivian challenge.

 

our road trip to the potters studio

Jo talked about our road trip to the pottery studio in her post. I, too, want to thank Lisa Skog for her generosity in opening her studio to us. She was very hospitable in showing us her work as well as her home.
Lisa's pottery is very inventive. She is not afraid to try anything from the looks of her work. She is a pretty savvy business woman as well. She created a lot--I mean a LOT-- of small easily sellable doodads for the Christmas market in order to make it possible for her to make larger more  artistic pieces .

I think that its very apparent that one of Lisa's philosophies of life is --Go for it!!! She has experimented with other crafts including stained glass but I think she has found her calling in pottery.
The aspect of the unknown is especially exciting. You really don't know what the piece is going to look like when you finish.


Her lovely home is also a work of art. Definitely not your cookie cutter decorating.  When you enter the home,  there is a feeling of serenity and safety. The colours are bold and the furnishings are beautiful pieces that came from Malaysia with lots of beautifully carved dark wood.
Thanks again Lisa and I can hardly wait to see our results.


One of the things that Jo mentioned is collaborating with artists of different mediums. I wholly agree with Jo's comments about how much we can learn from other artists. I hope that we might be able to do a little bit more with Lisa and any other artists that we meet along the way.


When I started making art quilts, I took several classes in painting and I am still doing that. I learned a lot about colour and composition from various teachers. These lessons have definitely influenced my fibre art. It's not easy to point at something in one of my pieces and say that I learned that in painting class but I do feel that other classes have influenced how I mix my fabrics and colours--and I am not afraid to mix bright colours--I just really feel that learning from other artists benefits my art work.


Thanks for stopping by!! What's your philosophy of life?
Karen

Fabrigos and a Road Trip

Yesterday we had the pleasure of an out to to visit the Studio of Lisa Skog.  Please check out Lisa's website to find out more about her art, pictures and where her art is available by clicking on her name above.

Lisa is a wonderful ceramic artist who has been published in books, has work in numerous galleries, is involved in the Hamilton Potters Guild and is a very good friend.

Often we see posts or in books to become a better artist to try something out of our normal medium of choice.

Well yesterday after trying and being thwarted by bad weather etc. we finally made it to Lisa's to view her studio, learn about her work and have a try at creating a few pieces from a flat slab of clay.

Here we are working intently in our own style.

Al

Karen

Karen

Karen

Robynne

Jo

Robynne

Al

Robynne

Al

Karen

On boards sorted for specific glazes

Robynne and Al Starting

Lisa has graciously offered to glaze them in our preferred colours. They will first have to be fired in the electric kiln so she can glaze them. And then she is going to raku fire them for us. This is a special process and it is not safe to have outsiders or basically people who are not trained involved with this process. 

When the finished product is done I will post a few pictures. This may take a while considering Lisa needs to have a good day to fire the raku kiln and work into her schedule. 

Then we have to get busy and create a piece of art with our collaborative ceramics. 

Lisa's studio was sunny, the tea was delicious and we felt so uplifted to have this day out in our cold January weather.

Who knows there may be some more collaborations in the future!

Do you ever do a collaboration with an artist inside your medium or outside?

On behalf of the Fabrigos,

Jo