GG's Holiday Open House

GG's of Statesville is hosting their annual Holiday Open House this Sunday, November 5th from 1:00 until 5:00.
Meet and greet with many artists, shop holiday gifts like Christopher Radko and Carolers collections, enjoy music and munchies. Start your holiday season off right!

http://ggsartframesgifts.com/index.html

Weekend Gallery Crawl, West Jefferson

What a fun place West Jefferson has become!

We spent a lovely evening this past Friday at the West Jefferson Gallery Crawl, enjoying artists and art collectors, wine and food, free music and great friends...new and old.

Then we went back to the mountain house for the weekend to paint and get things ready to put it on the market. Hmph! Sitting on the front porch swing when the fog rolls in makes us really think twice about selling out!

We bought the place when Sarah was in diapers, she's a rising Sophomore in college. It was Baxter's first experience helping us build a house, he's finished his BS and Masters and is currently working toward his PhD...married with a house of his own that he happily gets to remodel.

The kids grew up on the mountain, spending every spare weekend there and many summers. They built waterfalls in the stream, damned it to form pools, put in a nature trail to hike cleanly down the side of the mountain, canoed, kayaked, hiked, biked and galavanted all over the county.

The new property is in the same county. Just not West Jefferson. Which seems to be the new artsy "hot spot" in the hills. Boone has been taken over by the college kids. Todd (where the new homesite is) is being taken over by the college overflow...and losing a good bit of it's river water to Boone since they've decided to pipe it from the edge of Ashe County back up to Boone to supply their never ending building boon (isn't is smart to keep giving out building permits when you have no water left?).

Anyway, I'm rambling. The new property will be a great place to build a "downsized" empty-nester kind of home. Not so much land, not as much house, smarter use of space and wiser understanding of lifestyle. And, it is within driving distance of West Jefferson, it just doesn't have all of the sentimental baggage we'll miss from the other "hill". And if we build this one right, maybe we can sell the farm down the road and condense everything into one house! Maybe.

Tough job letting go.

Pottery Display and Gallery Crawl

I joined with a new gallery last weekend in West Jefferson, North Carolina. The display is underway and will hopefully be complete in time for the Ashe Arts first Gallery Crawl of the summer arts season! Join us at the Smart Gallery for a fun evening of arts and fellowship. The gallery features photographer - Rex Miller, watercolor artist - Robert Flowers, a fantastic jeweler, wood turner, stained glass artist, potter - Tena Wenta, and much more! It is a beautiful, soothing gallery in West Jefferson's historic downtown, and the place to be June 12th!

GGs Gallery and Gifts Pottery Display, Statesville, NC

Okay, I said I would be at GG's for the first Gallery Crawl of the season, (downtown Statesville, NC). Sorry if you looked for me, I had a funeral to attend in Pennsylvania. Totally unexpected.
Instead of visiting with art collectors, I was visiting with family I hadn't seen in years and saying goodbye to my Uncle Allen.

Carol says you all had a wonderful time without me. Glad to hear it. And the display they put together of my pottery looked great (pictured above). I'm glad some of my friends had a great evening of fellowship with them.

Now for the upcoming weekend:

Saturday, March 21st from 10 until 6
The Yadkin Valley Studio and Wine Tour
http://www.foothillsartscouncil.org/tour.htm

Be sure to visit Buck Shoals Vineyard (not listed on link above, but open during the event) to see my pottery display on the Swan Creek Wine Trail. New pieces will be added before the event. (Sorry, my studio won't be open - I have two soccer games to coach.) For directions to Buck Shoals hit the link to the right under "Sites I would visit"!

New Pottery : Lidded Urns & Wine Goblet Trees

It's very hard to work in the studio when your husband is at home. After 26 years of marraige and raising children while he worked 60+ hours a week, we have found ourselves at home together much of the last three months. It makes it very difficult to work when I could be spending time with him (not to mention my studio shares space with his and quiet isn't possible when saws and planers are running). Fortunately, he had time to create some beautiful pieces for our garden and our son and daughter-in-law's new garden, as well as gorgeous cabinetry for the media room. And we got to spend some time hiking with our daughter in the mountains. Not a bad trade-off!

So, here I am, after nearly three months, unloading a kiln full of new pieces, and there is another kiln soon to be fired full of special orders. I think the "break" did wonders for my perspective and I can't wait until the next firing because I love the pieces now drying in the studio.

These new Mossy Bark pieces, along with a new Misty Forest grouping, will be available at GG's Gallery and Gifts in Statesville. Visit us there this Friday night, March 13th from 5:00 until 9:00, for the first Gallery Crawl of the 2009 Arts Season.

Emilie is holding the First Annual Handmade in Todd Holiday Market December 6th and 7th.
Thank you Martha for using one of my mugs in the poster for advertisement. Isn't the felted doll adorable? Those are one of my favorite things! Artists in Todd will have demonstrations and offer a great deal of items at super discounts for the event. And, Emilie has a large display of my pottery - just in case you're interested. Come and see!
A great weekend for Christmas shopping in Ashe County, and cutting down your Christmas tree at one of the many choose 'n cut lots. (Join the President and get your tree in Ashe!)

Pottery at Wine Festival

Another weekend show! Shelton Vineyards Harvest Fest was very laid back and relaxing, great music and free activities in a beautiful surrounding. We sold a bit and got great publicity...best sellers - anything in the Foggy Garden Series (not one piece left). Good friends and family made it an even greater blessing. So, now, I am working on gallery sales and custom orders...and unpacking all this stuff to redistribute.

Shelton Vineyards is a wonderful place, if you have a chance, stop in and visit ( I-77 North to exit 93, Dobson, NC)!

First Road Show

My husband and I, and of course, Gabe, had a booth this weekend at Great Grapes, Wine, Food and Art in Charlotte. The sale started slow, but ended well (once the wine flowed a few hours). One of my sisters joined us in the afternoon, and her husband a while later. The music was great and the people were fun! But, Gabe can't believe he has to do this again next weekend.