Thought you might enjoy a little glimpse of my new pottery-pal here at Givat-Haviva! Stay tuned for more amazing and inspiring photos…

xoxo

christa

Well, I’m missing out on all of the action outside my hotel door in central Athens, Greece, right now – so this will have to be quick! I can’t resist giving you all a sneak-peek of my amazing time on the sweetest of all the little Greek isles…Kea. Last week I taught the ceramics portion of the first annual Clay and Eating (unofficial title!) workshop, hosted by the fabulous Vicki and David Snyder (whose private studio the ten of us took over), and fearlessly led by Aglaia Kremezi and Costas Moraitis, our Greek hosts and founders of the delicious cooking school, Kea Artisanal. WOW! It’s difficult to know who to list/thank first – our Greek and US hosts made an unbeatable team – and Costas and Aglaia (who live year-round on this gorgeous island) were the most professional, informative, and gracious hosts you could imagine.

Aglaia Kremezi is a renowned Greek cookbook author, journalist, photographer and food columnist for the Sunday Athens paper Kyriakatiki Eleftherotypia and the Greek edition of Votre Beaute magazine. She also regularly contributes to the Atlantic Monthly food blog. Aglaia Kremezi, and her unbelievably knowledgeable husband, Costas Moraitis (don’t even get me started on the list of his degrees and interests!) fed our group of unsuspecting potters every day. The food, and the lessons in Greek culture (wine tastings, cheese tastings, olive oil, and more!) that accompanied each meal were really the heart and soul of our week. Honestly, I started to wonder what I was even there for – heck, I think we all could have dropped our pottery tools at the studio door and just camped out in Aglaia and Costas’ outdoor dining area all week! We drank, ate, and talked every lunch-time, took a seista, went to the beach, swam in the sea, visited Kea’s archaeology museum…and took the most amazing walking tours of the island (led by Costas).

This is our group at the ancient site (restoration just completed!) of Karthea, on the southern tip of the island. Breath-taking views every way you look, and not one tourist in site! This island is relatively unspoiled, and only visited by Athens folks with summer homes there, and perhaps a few wanderers like us! I could write on all day, but as I said, the Acropolis awaits me…I’ll tune in again later with more…wish you were here!

Speaking of groovin’ with texture…that was the theme of my workshop last week with Josh Copus and the Arrowmont gang. I met Josh last year at Art of the Pot, in Austin, and knew immediately that he and I would jive in the workshop setting. He just has that je ne sais quoi – that contagious enthusiasm about clay…and karaoke…and dancing and life in general. Our class was bonded by tuesday – they get a quick start out of the blocks there at Arrowmont, with a brief but useful introductory class Sunday night from 7:30 – 9:30 pm, after dinner and a welcome speech by Bill Griffith, one of the nicest guys out there…

So – our class was a mixed bag of never-touched-clayers to a workshop veteran, Hannah (in her 80′s?) from Brazil. All women – except for Josh, of course – and all ages. Gatlinburg is an amusing place, if you’ve never been there…here’s the girls, Kirstin and Kathryn, sporting the shirts they had made after Josh and I showed up the last day of class wearing the exact same airbrushed design! AWESOME!!!

What a treat to wake up this morning and find that an amazingly flattering blog has been posted about me today! SO cool. Handful of Salt is a visually gorgeous, informative, interview-style blog that “explores the idea and people behind what we call DesignCraft: great design that’s beautiful, authentic, responsible, locally-crafted, personal, and deeply human.” I feel incredibly fortunate to be featured as part of this powerful series of interview which includes some of my favorite artists and many friends…check it out when you have a free minute! Thanks, Regina and Handful of Salt – you’re the true heroine!

hope to see you  this weekend…we’ll have lots of new and some “must go” pieces from undisclosed times and places! Whitney Smith will be joining us, and we’ll have snacks and our usual selection of bevies…plus great Indian chat next door at Vik’s!

xo, christa

Just got back from an amazing week in NYC – - living by my mantra of “Just Show Up” (come and get it, Nike!), I flew to the Big Apple last wednesday, just in time for the V.I.P. opening for SOFA New York on thursday eve. Represented by Ferrin Gallery, of Pittsfield, Mass., I was excited to have a brand-new series of about 7 teapots debuting. Leslie Ferrin and Donald Clark, co-owners of Ferrin Gallery, did an absolutely stellar job of showcasing 19 nationally renowned artists’ work, as well as personally standing there at the (beautiful) Armory building for five days straight, connecting with collectors and curious New Yorkers and making things happen. With the best location in the show – - the very first booth to see upon entering the enormous room – - it was impossible to miss Ferrin Gallery’s diverse booth of 2D and 3D works.

My Transformer Teapot, above, sold on Thursday to Sonny Kamm of the notorious Kamm Collection (some 6,000+ teapots and counting!) and was reviewed, albeit briefly – but hey, I’m not complaining, in ARTINFO. Yeah! Great excuse to buy a new dress (okay, okay – so I’d already pre-bought the one above in anticipation) AND a new leather bag (spotted on Facebook)…all in all, I couldn’t have had a better time. Got to see some fabulous, much-missed friends…Rebecca, Claire, Josh, Paul, and Jake — AND make some new ones (Gerit Grimm is RAAAAAD!)…thanks to all of you for painting the town red (dots!) with me!!!

p.s. the in-studio shots of the two teapots above were taken by the talented Tom Story, of Emeryville, CA – thanks, Tom! Rebecca Bazell caught the candid…

What could be better than NCECA, you ask? How ’bout NCECA and a fabulous pre-conference…hosted this year by Michael Connelly and Alleghany Meadows at Montgomery County Community College, just outside of Philadelphia. The 2-day warm-up to our national conference was just what I needed to get in the mood…Making Through Living, Living Through Making brought together an intimate group of about 100 or more clay enthusiasts — primarily working potters — to generate and discuss ideas about sustaining our creative process in a changing economy. I had an excellent time working alongside clay super-stars Ron Meyers, Ellen Shankin, and Andy Brayman — here’s a little peek at us doing our thing – wish you were here!

p.s. you can see up-close shots of each of us, plus the panel discussions and other activities, at the super-slick web page of Dave Thomas — thanks, Dave!