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.