It’s time!… For sleep-deprivation, road-tripping, and pottery-hawking, that is! Yep, Artstream Nomadic Gallery has hit the road - and will be making three stops on this spring tour. Hope you’ll drop by to say hi! 
March 13, 2008
2008 Artstream NCECA Exhibition Tour
March 10, 2008
Lester Goldman: A Life’s Work
One of KCAI’s beloved former painting and drawing professors, Lester Goldman, was featured in a mind-boggling retrospective exhibition here in Kansas City last month. A staggering amount of works on paper and paintings are still held on display in an unleased warehouse space on at 1619 Walnut Street downtown. Goldman, now deceased, was prolific during his months off between teaching semesters at KCAI - and apparently used every spare moment during the semester to paint and create works on everything from canvas to brown grocery bags! My good friend Sam Harvey of Aspen, CO, came to KC to snatch up a masterpiece for himself. He and Kathrin Goldman, Lester’s wife and keeper of this grand estate of artworks, lifted drawing after drawing from one stack to another, while a group of us art-whore-voyeurs peered over their shoulders… 
Occasionally I dragged myself away from the huddle to view the bright, abstract paintings on the walls around us. The entire space reminded me of Pee Wee’s playhouse - oversized, neon-green plastic spheres clustered in one area, tubular squiggles of some unidentifiable material in another - it was a virtual playground for the eyes! I looked at these two paintings the longest… 
March 5, 2008
Ken Ferguson Teaching Collection Room Unveiled!
On Saturday, March 1, 2008, we celebrated the grand opening of the brand-new Ken Ferguson Teaching Collection Room at KCAI. After the “ribbon-cutting” ceremony (no real ribbon or over-sized scissors!) and remarks by school president, Kathleen Collins, Ceramics Professor and Chair, Cary Esser, and Ken’s wife, Gertrude, we moved on to lunch at the Kemper Museum’s Cafe Sebastian. Lucky for me, assigned seating (always scary) landed me right next to Victor Babu, my pottery hero, and we shared two entrees like an old married couple. What a blast! Victor is so charismatic and engaging, I didn’t even notice that most everyone behind me had finished lunch and left - while Victor and I were yakking it up! 
February 24, 2008
Ceramic Matryoshka Dolls
I’ve been meaning to post these photos for a while now - think I was hoping I’d have some professional shots done first, but I can see that’s not going to happen any time soon…so here you have it: the glaze-fired Matryoshka Doll series I made at Linda Christianson’s workshop at Red Star Studios last November. Hilarious!
January 13, 2008
Evan Luke Farrell (1976-2007)
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!
Happy 2008! Plus holiday review…
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.
November 15, 2007
My Teapot’s Debut at the De Young Museum!
I was extremely honored to have one of my Iron Teapots included in a special exhibition at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco’s brand new de Young Museum. The teapot show is part of a fabulous exhibition, The Diane and Sandy Besser Collection, up through the beginning of January ‘08 (see de Young website for full details). I attended the opening (my first visit back to my long-lost homeland) and it was an INCREDIBLE show - and I’m not just saying that because my work was in it! Jason Walker’s piece blew my mind, as did Sergei Isupov’s (both represented by Leslie Ferrin Gallery, my dream gallery) and many others. There were 75 teapots in all, a virtual who’s who of contemporary American ceramics. A gorgeous color catalog is available - you can even buy it on-line for $29.95 and it is WELL worth the money…here’s the link for that. THANK YOU, Sandy, for making this all possible!!
The opening weekend was full of events for the artists and collectors, and many parties were held in Sandy Besser’s honor…we had tons of fun. Despite being shooed away by museum guards, my friend Whitney snapped this pic of me in front of my teapot!
November 9, 2007
Linda Christianson Workshop at Red Star Studios, KC
Last weekend I had the pleasure of taking a workshop with Linda Christianson, who I’ve admired since I first started potting. Linda has to be one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met, and her calming presence really helped me to hunker down and make some new work! Linda saddled up on the kick wheel and eased out a group of lovely pots - the group of 17 of us watched in amazement as she moved the clay up in two fluid pulls to finish each pot.
I stood at my electric wheel and felt like the tightly-wound, tight-ass potter I’ve come to be…wishing I could be so relaxed and loose! Once I got over my self-loathing I tackled a project I’ve been thinking about for some months now - the idea being a set of nesting jars based on the folk art of Russian nesting dolls (damn! I’ve forgotten the proper name for them…can anyone help me??). It seems like a kind of crazy idea, but what the heck - I gave it a try, along with my first attempt at Japanese Mish Ma decoration. Talk about crossing cultures! Soon I will work out a way to personalize this series with some type of contemporary American imagery…stay tuned. Here is a little sneak peak for you in the meantime!
October 2, 2007
Jun Kaneko’s Mission Clay Project Opening
Last Saturday a bunch of us KCAI clay enthusiasts attended Jun Kaneko’s amazing kiln opening of a project he’s spent nearly 3 years completing. In collaboration with Mission Clay of Pittsburg, Kansas - a manufaturer of commercial sewage pipes - Kaneko and his team built large-scale Dangos and Heads that were fired on-site in these gigantic beehive kilns. All of these photos were taken by Gabriel Reed of Kansas City. 
The Heads were some of the largest of their kind, and part of the intensity was entering the kiln interior to mingle with these incredible creations. I really loved viewing them in their “natural habitat”, so to speak. 
Jun Kaneko was a very generous host, providing a gorgeous barbeque banquet, live classical music, libations, and a setting for it all that couldn’t be beat. It was a beautiful day, perfect weather actually, and the kiln yard bricks, pipes, and other industrial jewels provided an inspiring landscape. Here is a shot of some of my students from the Art Institute - I think it is fair to say we all had a fantastic time! 
Thanks, Jun, for a very memorable day…
September 23, 2007
My Students at KCAI…
We’re about to start week 5 of the fall semester here at the Kansas City Art Institute, and I realize I’ve fallen behind on my own blog a bit - after assigning my students to update their new blogs at least once a week! You see, in our Professional Practice class I’ve required the seniors I teach to put up their own blog sites (for free) at WordPress.com.
I think it’s a fun and very useful assignment, and a great way for me to check on their writing assignments, too - resumes, artist statements, article reviews, etc. Plus they get to see the fruits of their labor organized and up on the web - and can make updates to these sites easily themselves. I thought I’d list the links to all of my students’ sites in case you are curious about what KCAI students are up to! And to the students - if you guys happen to read this and DON’T want your blog site linked here just send me an email or comment and i’ll take you out of here.
www.tarapolansky.wordpress.com
www.rubytapp.wordpress.com
www.amazinglarry.wordpress.com
www.tyraforker.wordpress.com
www.bryanmorris.wordpress.com
www.kroesger.wordpress.com
www.edwardross3.wordpress.com
www.albertoveronica.wordpress.com
www.caseywhittier.wordpress.com
www.ceramicsuperstar.wordpress.com
www.bowiecroisant.wordpress.com
www.stevennichols.wordpress.com
www.gabrielreed.wordpress.com
…and just because i love to post images, here’s a cup and saucer by Molly Hatch. She’s a fabulous grad at CU Boulder - met her at Anderson Ranch this summer and thought her work was beautiful:
