Working At Last

Ilai and Omri loved in, especially in the rain.

Well, all the annoying and unprofessional features notwithstanding, the studio is up and running. Its too hot in the sun and will need roof enhancement, but it was waterproof in the rain, and its light and airy to work in when the sun is not too summery.
So, despite the fact that I recommend NEVER going to SOCHECHEI HASHARON for anything, here it is, ready for students ( some have already started) and I am back in my element, working in the studio every free moment I have, instead of searching the kitchen for other forms of satisfaction.
Here is to hoping this fact will eventually be reflected in my weight too....

At last. My studio.

I would
love to say it's over. But I have to advise anyone who is thinking of putting up a pergola, an awning, an enclosure - DO NOT use the company I used. Their service was bad, the information they gave was incorrect, the client is wrong never mind what and they do not discuss what they plan nor are they clear about what you are paying for.
Sochechei Hasharon. A large company, who have overcharged for bad work.

That being said, I am delighted to be able to set up classes and start working in the studio.
Classes will be Sunday and Wednesday evenings and Tuesday mornings.
Anyone interested- do call me.

Bewildered by The New Israeli Anti Spam Law

Not that I won't be happy to stop deleting 100's of spam mails from my Gmail spam folder, and not that I won't be delighted if the odd mass marketing mail doesn't slip through into my Mac Mail program there to be marked in brown as spam. But somehow this is a little over the top I think.

In any case I have sent out my pre-law request for people to advise me if they would like to be removed from my list of Ceramic Art invitations and news, and some have, which is fine. But perhaps I was supposed to do it the other way around and ask people to let me know if they would like to stick around for more news. Some of my friends have told me to keep sending...

But would it be spam again if I send out another letter asking people to answer in the postitive and isnt it more likely that NO's will send in their cancellation requests?

And am I still abiding by the law then??

And Please if you are reading this, ask me to take you off before you sue me. I really am not spam. I am nothing like the stuff I get in my spam box. Oh and by the way, 99.9% of the spam I get doesn't come from local Israeli senders....how long is the long arm of the law??

Looking forward to seeing you at exhibitions and on my blog.

pigeon pie

More stuff going on...
Turns out not only do I have pigeon nests, I have tiny drain flies. They too need extermination. And me still without the STUDIO or the LIFT.
Life is about changing plans as priorities lead you down a different path, spending your allocated money on things that are far more urgent.
Sigh....

where the studio will one day be

Let's
utilize the space for fun while we wait to transform it into a studio!!!

And now for something Completely Different

Public Health, hospitals, independence, dependence, age, Carpe Diem, provision for old age, pension, nest eggs, wealth, poverty - all this difficult stuff I never want to think about, these are the issues that took over this week.

My almost 90 year old mother fell and broke her elbow, which has thrown me into dealing with completely different issues in addition to the current fixing my studio, apartment etc.
She (we) had to wait around for 7 hours in the ER to get attention , fasted 24 hours instead of 6 while waiting for surgery which started 10 hours after schedule - here is the resulting cast. Its heavy and its huge.
Now she is back at her wonderful Beit Protea home, where warm and wonderful people take care of her and we hope she recovers completely and soon.

And so we progress

The frame is up . Not sure when the covers arrive, but for the moment it gives the terrace a nice warm look that begs for wisteria and geraniums. But dont look too closely. The workmanship and finish is NOT what I thought I was paying for...perhaps its just as well it will be mostly covered up and used as a workspace.

Another before photo

This is my studio. Before. Planks of wood on a wet terrace.
Waiting not so patiently, now for the rain to stop?

Country Living

Warm filtered light, a pot of flowers on a pine table, looks like country living in downtown Pardes Hana. The table is actually there temporarily till the studio is up and some of you will recognize it as the main work table.
It does look nice here. That is some compensation for the delays in the construction of the pergola in which the studio should be installed.
I have a new hopeful deadline for starting classes and scupture, beginning to mid November. A month late!!
More photos will be added as projects come to a finish. I am looking forward to putting up before and afters .

Leonie Barel's Ceramic Art: Sundown, Pardes Hana

Leonie Barel's Ceramic Art: Sundown, Pardes Hana

Sundown, Pardes Hana

Finally. Just over a month since the big move, I am at HOME again.

Sometimes the worry and concern about something we are going to have to do is far greater than the actuality.
This is not, definitely not, the case of my latest move.

Packing of home and studio in August was an impossible strain . The anxiety surrounding the dates of entry and exit and all the scenarios that had me sleepless at night however, failed to materialize. It didn't help to foresee all the possible problems because naturally the difficulties all popped up where they were NOT expected.

There were some unpleasant surprises in the apartment too. When you buy intuitively as I did, that is bound to happen. If I had brought an expert to check it, I probably would not have bought it - what a shame that would have been. I am taking risks and reaping the benefits.
So instead of the planned investments ( fixing the elevator) I have had to spend my budget on things I didnt know would need to be done. Its a gradual process, giving the apartment my personal feel, making it my own home. I love the process, and I am adjusting to some of the surprises and inconveniences and eventually, I hope I will just not notice them anymore.

The building itself is really neglected and ugly. I knew that, no surprise here.
Kickboxing twice a week for 45 minutes on the floor beneath you, can shake you up, and tinkle the glasses in the cabinet - at least I know when to expect it.... It is an unexpected fact that the drainpipe from the terrace would be an annoyance to the gym on the ground and basement floor, even though it did occur to me to worry about the owner being a feared and well known neighbourhood feature.

Waking up to the smell of freshly baked croissants at 5 am ( from the Goren bakery which is the building closest to my bedroom) is a shock I was totally unprepared for along with the trundling of a cart probably laden with baked goods, that sounds like I have woken up in a 19th century village.
I did worry about pigeon nests, and now I have them... soon to be dealt with.

The potential of the terrace was a strong factor in my choice of the apartment and it is truly fulfilling its promise. Candle lit dinners, morning coffee, evening wine all on the terrace, talking to my newly planted box garden of hopefully all the herbs I could hope for ( basil, rosemary, louisa, laurel, lavender, oregano, thyme etc) and watching the birds settle in the trees down the road at sundown, these are the prize for me at the end of the impossible move, which I could never have done without the help I got from Sharon the Packer and Organizer (get her phone number from me ), my amazing sons and daughters in law. My garden is thanks to my sister Erica.

Now I am waiting for the studio to be set up on half of the terrace. The electrical installations for the kiln are in process.
I can't wait to set up my studio and get back to working in clay. I have no idea what direction two or three months of total abstinence will take me. After this major change I am excited to start!

I am nearing the end of my extreme adventure. I have been on a vacation from the realities of livelihood for almost two months and its been good. The next chapter is about to begin .

Thank you Matt Nolen (Aida and Givat Haviva)

The two day workshop with Matt Nolen opened a new terrain of ceramic thinking for me. It ain't over till it's over is the bottom line; the possibility of adding and subtracting saving the best parts of a piece and taking it to the final potential, is possible now with all the tricks in his bag which he shares so generously.
Matt Nolen is a wonderful,warm and exciting artist, who manges to enthuse others with the joy of the possibilities of ceramic art, taking a fresh look at rules and regulations - breaking them to create more exciting and surprising results.
I am now in the process of redefining my finished pieces, some which I had thought done are going back into work, others in the process, have changed direction completely. With newly learned techniques and processes, the richness of layered pieces is tempting . It is a process of learning and will take a while before I find my way here, following my own style, while opening up and adding new dimensions. The process of learning, as always, the way to the goal, is the most exciting.
Thank you Matt, and Aida for bringing him, for the new horizons and renewed creative excitement that the workshop has brought.

And well, its also time to reveal that starting this month I will also be working full time - and I really hope that evenings and weekends will be exploited to the maximum for my art.

I feel blessed to have these options open up and the ability to follow more than one path at once. I shall miss being a full time artist, but my relationship with the bank will surely improve.

Change, change, change

At last its a signed deal.
I am moving to Pardes Hana at the end of the summer. Looking forward to change once again, and to having my own place to paint and repaint and celebrate with wall color and plan pieces to fit where intended and make it look like it really is my Home.

Hopefully to separate ceramic dust from home space though the studio will not be far away, so I will still be in it first thing in the morning and with my last energy at night...

To sum up the four years in this rented apartment(was going to be for one year when I moved in): it is not a place I would stay in any longer, not even if the landlord were suddenly to tell me I can stay in it forever rent free !

Pardes Hana closes a circle for me. I hope that the changes I can keep making in my own apartment will be as much as I need.... and that it might be a long time before I have to pack and move again.

Its a little far for some of you, but there will be much more I can offer you there!!

To the birds

How could the fine eggshells not lead to the next step, to the birds? Women, clothes, birds, makes sense doesn't it? Birds, chics, preening. ..
The connection was actually made by the curator at Gan Shmuel who suggested I take part in an exhibition of birds. As things tend to do when you are open and ready for them, the offer came at an excellent time, when I was taking those fine egg shell edges and putting them onto creatures as wings.
The kiln is waiting to fire with all the egg shells ( mine and my students') and fine edged bowls and cups and saucers, with experimental edging and glazing , and now there are cracked eggs with bug eyed chics in them waiting to be fired
along with the pelican.

Stasis

So many unknown quantities and directions in this period of suspended animation as I wait to hear the outcome of negotiations regarding where I will be living next year. So many changes to occur at the end of the approaching summer that I can hardly plan ahead until I know for sure what they will be.Life in stasis - hopefully only till I know for sure.
Or, perhaps as the heat sets in so does sluggishness, and perhaps the time limit of living in a place not my own - has been reached anyhow. Change, one of my major motivations - is calling out of every corner including the cupboards that need sorting out again....
And so it is not without reason that this brittle balance of time is in these egg-shell light pieces which are still to be refired with the glaze.
These fragile vessels are made in terracotta earthen ware, white fine clay and gray stoneware low fired. Fine and delicate as they are, absolutely NO paper clay was used after all.

Time Out

Despite my absolute faith to the contrary, it turns out that I am unable to do everything at once.
Job hunting, going to interviews, flat hunting, promoting my translation services and decision making regarding income and the immediate future - take their toll on my creativity.
I haven't really done any work in the studio since creating the Made in Israel collection, other than holding my workshops.
One of my students advised me tactfully, that she is disappointed when she comes into the studio and sees no new work of mine. I do get that and it has pinpointed my current state of mind.
I have started blogs a few times in the past month, but had nothing to talk about in terms of my art . Now I realize that in itself is a fact worth considering and solving.
Well, hopefully I will soon know the status of my home dilemma. Hopefully translations will start pouring in soon,and the new exhibition opening on the 1st of May will drum up more interest.
Something to guarantee an income unless I find a position that does that.
Meantime, my creative urge has been spent on apple graphic software ( instead of clay) making new brochures and a business card.

Visiting the Past

Time did not stop in the present while I went back into the early 60's in Israel, scooping up memories of bare minimalism for the exhibition in May, called "Israeli Made". I revisited those moments of discovering that everything we had known about clothes and utensils up until our arrival in Israel, was foreign and alien and just did not fit in here. Plain and simple was the new order.
As I remembered in clay, nostalgia took over and brought back all newly sculpted garments, shoes and accessories, souvenirs of the simplicity of Israel in the days we now remember as charming. But they were so difficult then.
I remembered the days at Alonei Yitzchak, as new arrivals, visiting the laundry to pick up clothes for the week, and finding it hilarious that we were not allowed to wear a white shirt except for the Sabath. Ata, Maskit, Dafna, Nimrod, these were the brands of the day. That word didnt exist in our vocabulary, but the uniformity and strange rules did. At the time I would never have believed that the strangeness would one day inspire me. A month ago, I had no idea that working with these memories would connect me strongly to such deep roots.

Working with focus and direction

There are times when the morning starts with a definite idea and theme and I barely make it through the rituals of shower/teeth/coffee, and in fact often go straight into the studio on the way to the bathroom and hours later, remember I have forgotten the order of starting the day, so caught up am I in the work and current project.
Then there are times like the past two weeks, when technique is the project itself, and nothing really materializes as a full blown direction. I have been back and forth and in and out of the studio a million times a day, doing little things here and there and wondering when the drive will kick in. Sometimes, it turns out, it comes with direction and focus given by an outside source.
I had been considering the work for a new group exhibition, called "Totseret Haaretz" or "Israeli Made" and going back and forth without a decision. Two words of direction from the curator and ZING, it all falls into place and I have the drive and energy back in place.
Despite the cost of taking part in exhibitions, and the obvious advantages and enjoyment of showing my work, there is an added value. Having a theme and a deadline - in fact a limit on creativity, does, sometimes, set off the ignition and a chain reation of great ideas.

The next best thing

The next best thing to following your dreams, is making compromises you can live with. I could be talking about my dream of creating large edifices in paper clay - then making do with a combination of this and regular clay, or carrying on with what I love anyhow, all kinds of earthenware clay. But I am not.
I am looking for the compromise between being a creative artist who wakes up in the morning to the joy of teaching and or creating a new collection, and looking for a job to earn a feasible living , which will not need complete dedication of all of my time. If I could do that, it would be the next best thing, and I would be fine.

However, and there was an obvious" but " here, I still haven't found this next best thing. After two and a half months I am still unemployed. Who would have thought that a 58 year old with a clear idea of the perfect part time job ( well paid, interesting , flexible , very little filing, working for a sweetheart of a boss), would not find this all waiting around the corner ?
What happened to The Secret? Here I am believing i will find the perfect job, the kind I want ; where is the law of attraction sending it? Could there be someone out there who wants it more than I do? Or perhaps dare I doubt its existence?
Well, if any of you happen to know of a post in translating, merchandising, correspondence, or whatever can be done freelance or part time, LET ME KNOW .

I in the meantime will continue trying to follow my dream while waiting for the next best thing.

Combined use of paper clay - prefire Painting

Paper clay sheets which have been dried on the plaster bats serve as great canvases. I had to be careful with the amount of wet glazes and underglazes used on the greenware. as it did start decomposing when it got too wet.
For my first trial I went for something really simple with a water color look, but it will be interesting to try more complex painting or the lazertan (www.lazertran.com) transfer paper to print my digital art onto these sheets, either before or after firing. The rough edges give a recycled paper look ( well, it basically is - its made from old newspapers and will have a rougher look once the paper has burned out) a kind of trompe l'oeil - because it will be a light weight ceramic tile.

Combined use of paper clay - prefire

The most recent batch of paper clay is dwindling, as I experiment, using it in conjunction with other clays. Here I used it to form an airy base for a small sculpture. Since the paper clay is pretty sturdy as greenware, it can be used to hold some weight despite its open work.

Using a bowl shaped plaster base to structure the coils on, I placed the sculptures in the right shape to fit the paper clay base.

Back to Blogger, back to sculpting

Back to sculpture after some weeks of trying out new combinations of paper and clay, ( not having given up on finding ways to make molds and castings but taking a break from that).
All of a sudden I realized that my restlessness and general feeling of discontent stem directly from NOT having sat down quietly to sculpt per se in a week or two. I obviously need the chemical exuded by my brain at the touch of my fingers to clean, soft, pliable, fresh clay and a couple of hours of following my heart to where it wants to go.
I have to say that the time spent was not wasted at all. Using paper clay in combination with my clay sculptures, offers possibilities unworkable before. I am soaring on the wings of ideas and working happily again. I will soon see how connecting between the regular clay and the paper mix works in firing but for the duration of the process of creating it, I will go blindly into the joy it brings.