christa assad

As I scramble to pack my bags for my 2-week workshop at Anderson Ranch, I can’t help but sneak away from my suitcase to write a little bit about my incredible trip to Greece last month! I mean, how much longer can I procrastinate? I’ve just been so busy trying to get things rolling here in Berkeley at my new studio, and FAST, seeing as American Craft came by to do a little photo shoot there with me the other week and so I just HAD to kick it into high gear…

Anyway - my dear friend and fellow potter, Vicki Snyder, lured me out the gorgeous little island of Kea (first in line of the Cyclades) to help her set up HER brand-new studio - she is, incidentally, the only potter on the island!! Once we got past our initial hang-up of no electricity installed (i.e. no kiln), we breezed through the next hurdle of locating all the raw materials we needed and found plenty of time to get to the beach!

Vicki and our friend Stavros (the electrician!) in front of her new pottery studio

Getting to the beach involved some off-road driving, and Vicki proved to be one tough cookie behind the wheel of an unfamiliar Japanese-made car…with Bella (her Great Pyrenees) in back, we ventured to an average of two different beaches a day, making our way around the coast slowly but surely!

Bella, Vicki and the Aegean Sea!

I fell in love with the maze of steps that wound their way up the hill of Kea Village. I took a long walk every night that would get me good and lost…best way to get to know your way around a place!

My last two days were the first days I laid eyes on any pots, believe it or not! Like I mentioned - there were no contemporary potters on the island of Kea before Vicki planted her wheel there, and I wasn’t planning to visit Athens this visit…that is, until I missed my plane home! Lucky me!

Ancient scoops, at the Kea Museum of Culture

Full Moon over Athens Ruins

The best thing about traveling, though, is meeting people. My favorite local character was definitely Rolando, a jovial, flirtatious Greek chef of his namesake cafe…Roloando’s!

Have I mentioned lately how much I love California?! Well, I love it so much that I’ve decided I’m going to start a new category called “Why I Love California” so you can always check in for the quick stats on why this state is so fabulous. But I digress…what I really wanted to do was show you what I’ve been working on in my NEW STUDIO!!!! My friend Brian came up from L.A. to visit me last weekend and had some genius thoughts to offer about my work…so Brian, this teapot’s for you!

Those of you who know me might already know this, but I love the San Francisco Bay Area more than any place else in our fair country…and after spending a year in Kansas City, I am HOME at last! Don’t get me wrong - I had a great time in KC: great job, super-fun students, unforgettable BBQ, a new b.f.f. (TOM BINGER, YOU RULE!!), and rockin’ out at my favorite local venue, The Record Bar. But on June 14th, after an “epic” cross-country journey with my pal Gabriel, I landed right back where I started here in California nearly ten years ago — beautiful, sunny Berkeley! One of the very first things I did was run off to Stinson Beach with my girl, Whitney, to soak up some of that much-missed Cali-coastline!

My new studio, 4th & Clay Studios, is only a mile down the street from my new abode, and so I am happily skipping (or biking) down the street every day to make pots. You can find me working away with clay gal-pals Rae Dunn and Josie Jurczenia at:

4th & Clay Studios, 2390 4th St., Suite C, Berkeley, CA 94710

Come visit us!

Just before Christmas one of my favorite people in the world died of injuries from a house fire in Oakland, CA. He was 31 years old, full of life, and at the time was visiting the Bay Area to reunite and record with his long-time bandmates, The Japonize Elephants. I first met Evan about 11 years ago in Bloomington, Indiana. I was in grad school then, and Evan was the best friend of my then-boyfriend…well, back then dating any one of the nine members of the Japonize Elephants was like dating the whole band: we had Jaeger Thursdays (accompanied by reel to reel, old-school movies rented from the library), Bob’s Bacon Barn barbecues, group swims in the “Hair Pool”, and rainy night streaks down South Grant street. Oh, and lets not forget tending to the Cess! Whatever the event, Evan was always there standing in the center of the group of us, entertaining. His effortless stand-up routine left us all writhing on the floor and trying not to pee our pants. No one could wear Spandex like he could, and when GoGoYaYa arrived on the scene - forget about it! - might as well bring your toilet paper along in your bag…I could tell stories about Evan all night. Our paths intertwined closely over the past decade, as most of the Elephants moved to the Bay Area around the same time I did, in 1999. Evan split his time between these cities, balancing love and music, and any time he was in SF I was sure to find him. He just had that special sumpin’ sumpin’ - a magical kind of charisma that drew everyone to him. His wacky humor left nothing untouched, nothing sacred. But most of all, he used himself as the object of all jokes - add costumes, make-up, lights, music, whiskey…and off he went! Evan will always live on in my heart and in my laughter, I know, but his absence will be obvious. He was just so warm and cuddly, ready to give a really great hug, and always able to cheer me up. You couldn’t not laugh around Evan - and he included everyone in his circle. Everyone that knew him loved him - and he holds a special place in my heart. His loss is a very, very hard one for me to bear - so I’d like to post a photo of him here, so that I can see his fun-loving self every time I check in. Evan, you will never be forgotten! Evan leaves behind a wife and two boys. Evan and his wife, Jill, had just bought a house - and now Jill is left to support herself and her two boys without the much-needed help of Evan’s income. Her biggest fear is losing their new home. Any contribution will be gratefully accepted - whether you knew Evan or just want to help. Thank you!! To donate to the Evan Lives Memorial Fund go here: http://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_xclick&business=gogoyayaliveson%40gmail%2ecom&item_name=Evan%20Farrell%20Memorial%20Fund p.s. i didn’t even mention what a super-talented, multi-instrumentalist Evan was!!! Believe it!

OK, OK - it’s been two months since my last post…totally inexcusable! My apologies to you, gentle reader - I’ve been busy traveling from the east to west coast, plus there was the end of the semester at KCAI to bargain with! Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed the holidays as much as I did - didn’t get to make any pots, but I did get to express SOME creativity through the making of COOKIES!! Thought you also might want to see why I’m so in love with San Francisco and all of my friends there, so here is a small sampling of pictorial proof! Starting off with the herd of LIVE BISON that live right in the middle of the city in Golden Gate Park - who knew!?  I was staying with my gal Mary Mar Keenan (visit www.purplebirddesigns.com to see some of her creations) in the Richmond District, and it was only a twenty-block walk to the beach, so don’tcha know I dragged her out there for a winter stroll along the coast….ah, the stuff that memories are made of!Basically, I spent my ten days in SF going to all of my favorite places - restaurants, music venues, friends’ houses, and of course, Mount Tamalpais. (Joe, if you’re reading this - I know what you’re thinking!) It really is a magical place, as is most of the California coast.    I had a pretty amazing trip, all in all. 

I am very excited to announce that a wonderful, 5-year collaboration with Dr. Richard Jacobs has now reached fruition! Originally titled “Letters To a Young Potter”, the compilation of essays written to me by Dr. Jacobs has now been published by Kestrel Books (UK) as a scrumptious hard-cover with the new title, “Searching For Beauty.” This is a long-awaited treat, and I’m sure you will enjoy it, too! Below is an exerpt from the press release - please visit Kestrel Books’ website for full details at:
www.kestrel-books.co.uk/searching.shtm

In 2002, Christa Assad, now special instructor in the KCAI ceramics department, sold one of her works to California ceramics collector Richard Jacobs. This sale set Richard down a path that ultimately ended with the book “Searching for Beauty: Letters from a Collector to a Studio Potter.” The book was released last week by publishers Kestrel Books of the United Kingdom, and the book’s creation was described on the publisher’s Web site: “For whatever reasons, this single act, just one among many by a distinguished professor, educationist and ceramics collector, kindled a desire to set down in print the innumerable thoughts and questions of a tirelessly inquisitive and often heretical spirit. Taking his inspiration from Rainer Maria Rilke’s ‘Letters to a Young Poet,’ Richard Jacobs sets the tone of his letters to Christa Assad with his favorite quote from that classic work, ‘Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language … At present you need to live the question.”

Richard Jacobs
‘Searching for Beauty’
Letters from a Collector to a Studio Potter
Hardcover, 352 pages
ISBN 0-9548840-6-X

Available from 23rd October 2007

Retail price in UK £25.
Join the pre-publication mailing list here for a
20% discount on the hardcover edition to buy for just £20.00
For a limited period we are also offering postage costs to the UK and USA* of only £2.50

It’s a rainy Saturday in Kansas City - the first feeling of winter - and with the change of seasons always comes a flood of nostalgia for me. Today I thought a lot about Verdigris, my gallery business of the past seven years, and how the new owners of the Cannery just wiped us off their clean new slate. With all the big-box businesses gaining power, and l’il mom-n-pops like us being squeezed out (or crushed, more accurately) by these mega-corporations, what will our future culture look like? Until I have to face that reality, I will just indulge myself a little longer…with these pics of my lovely, gorgeous, much-missed girls. Mary Mar and Rae - I love you!

Wow - summer is over and today I teach my first class at the Kansas City Art Institute. It’s a busy time, this “back to school” business, but I just had to post a few photos from my amazing stay at Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village, CO. Doug Casebeer, Program Director of Ceramics at the Ranch, invited me and some fabulous folks to teach for two weeks at the beginning of August. If you have never visited the Ranch, I INSIST that you make it a priority for next year! Since my first stay way back in 1994 I have met many incredible artists there, but never before was I witness to the spectacle that was the Martin/Babu/Parady reunion! I was lucky enough to be a part of this session - and I won’t leak any of the juicier secrets of our party’s party! Suffice to say, a lot of work was made, even more food was eaten/drinks imbibed, and I think we counted 14 kilns that fired off. Oh, and there was hot-tubbing. Yeah - every sore-backed potter’s dream!
During my stay, Doug Casebeer put up a fabulous show of his sculptural work at the Harvey/Meadows Gallery in Aspen Highlands. Here’s Doug with my long-time friend and fellow potter, Bradley Walters. Owned by my favorite clay-pals, Sam and Alleghany, HM Gallery was chock full of treats for us to touch. Here’s a group shot of the gang: Scott, Alleghany, me, Sam, Victor and Andrew. Sam and Ghany even let us visit their “behind the scenes” rooms where all the buried treasures lay! Alleghany’s newest treasured creation was also on-hand…

What do you do on a steamy hot day in Kansas City? Go to the air-conditioned Nelson-Atkins Museum, of course! My friend and fellow clay artist, Leslie Baker, was in town on her way to her new teaching post at IU, Indianapolis, and the two of us spent half a day traipsing through the amazing collection at the newly expanded museum. One of my very favorite pieces was this Etruscan pitcher.

These earthenware plates were show stoppers - check out the narratives! An art historian friend of Leslie’s had informed her that the Nelson was a “four-day museum” - spoken like a true expert! We did the abbreviated tour, but I will surely be back for more soon. It’s only about a block away from the Art Institute - very exciting. On the way home I was reminded of the many things that inspire me OUTSIDE of the museums - oh, the simple joys of chrome and metal!

Kansas City Studio is Up and Running

I’ve been here in Kansas City for about five weeks now, and happily I am making pots again! Nothing all that new and fabulous, just some warm-up work to get me back in the groove.

Setting up a working clay studio takes some time and many trips to the hardware store – the tools of our trade are simple enough, but it always seems that I’m lacking that five–gallon bucket or secret stash of cobalt right when I need it!

Other news: last night I experienced my first roller derby bout! NO, I didn’t compete, although I am definitely tempted to dust off my 1970’s era rollerskates, skate covers, and present-day fishnets…but I do have to think about sparing my fingers and wrists from injury (kinda need them for this career). The KC all-female Roller Derby League championship consisted of smash-ups between four local teams: The Black-Eye Susans, The Victory Vixens, The Dreadnaught Dorothys, and The Knock-Outs. My favorite derby-girl was Lunatic Fringe, although it was tough not to root for Snot Rocket, obviously the most skilled skater in the rink. Princess Slay-ya was my choice blocker to watch – her hip-checks and facial expressions were the most threatening! Go teams!

Otherwise, not much else to report here, oh, except for an amazing gig at the Record Bar. Rasputina, hailing from Brooklyn, NY, rocked my Wednesday night with their scorching-hot cellos and eerie distortion. An imaginative, costumed three-piece, Rasputina’s cover of Barracuda (yes, Heart) flashed me back to a one of my favorite San Franciso-based bands, the now defunct Deadweight…R.I.P. Deadweight!

Apologies to you all, and especially my friend Whitney (www.whitneysmithpottery.com) for not having my camera with me for these fantabulous KC events…check out Whitney’s blog to see what amazing things she’s up to in Japan!!

p.s. did I mention that I’ve been throwing standing up for the past two years now? My wheel is rigged in the most primitive way, but it works like a charm! I was free-standing until this new studio allowed me a wall to lean against. I highly recommend trying this set-up if your back is giving you trouble…it has saved me!