I am SUPER excited for the opportunity to teach pottery again!!!! Join me for a pottery workshop this summer! Enjoy an outdoor venue at the beautiful Three Leaf Farm in Lafayette, Colorado for a 2-day workshops to explore the world of pottery and clay. We will hand-build several pieces that we will fire, glaze and send home with you. First up is the FLOWER & HERB PRESSED DISHES class on July 23 & July 1. Later in the summer is the TEXTURED FLOWER VASES class on July 20 & July 31. More details and sign up at the Three Leaf Farm website. www.ThreeLeafFarm.com
Artisan Markets
A few times each year, I attend Artisan Markets to showcase my artwork and sell my handmade goods direct to the public. It is a TON of work to make enough products to fill the booth space, gather all the products to individually polish, package, price, pack, build custom display and advertise to the right audience. The majority of the shows take place outdoors, often in cold or windy weather leading up to the holiday season and require long days, lifting and hauling heavy boxes of products, many hours to set up the display just right and standing for 8 straight hours, leaving me tired to the bone. Doing these shows mean long weekend days away from our young families and missing the kids’ sport games and weekend social events and take days to recover, clean up and re-set. But it normally pays off financially and emotionally to stand in front of your artwork and speak to appreciative audiences about how it was made, the background stories and inspiration behind the creative of products. I feel overwhelming amounts of pride to represent my artwork and watch how people respond to these products I handmade with love, and hold dear to my heart. Friends see glimpses of my work throughout the year, but when I put it all together in a tetris display bursting with color and textures, it is a sight to see. I encourage everyone to touch and feel the pottery, hold each mug or bowl and take their time to find just the right piece for their purpose. I like to provide ideas for use or brainstorm good gift times for customer’s friends and family. I am filled with pride and appreciation for the friends and followers who brave the varying weather and weekend plans to come visit, admire and purchase my pottery and watercolor prints/cards. Buying artwork directly from the artist/maker also allows the full value of the product to go directly into the hands of the creator - instead of only half of the cost which is what happens when consumers buy products through a retail shop. I am thankful for wholesale and consignment partnerships I have with retail shops but it is painful to give so much of our hard work and efforts to the the middle-man and make so little profit on goods that take so much time, effort and resources. Thank you to all who shop the Artisan Markets! It means the world to me.
Mountain trinket dish
I was asked by a local retail shop for “mountain” themed” pottery and it was a good challenge to get off the potter’s wheel and hand-build with carving tools and textures. From this, came the wildly popular “Mountain Trinket Dish”. A few area retailers in Louisville and Breckenridge have started selling them and you can also order them on my Etsy site https://www.etsy.com/shop/MelissaBeckwithArt
Private pottery sales - Dec 2020
Dec 2020 - I will be offering pottery sales by appointment only at this time out of my backyard pottery studio to local friends and community. Contact me directly to find days/time slots available!
New glaze combos
Summer 2020 was a strange time with the kids home with me 24-7 and an ever-changing schedule around the COVID craziness. Free time is rare these days, but I did manage to get out to the studio a bit when the kids attended a social-distance day camp, woo hoo. During that week I developed some new items that were small, unique and functional to sell at a nearby gift shop, Old Friends in downtown Louisville, CO. The store owner has graciously given me a shelf in her shop for consignment and I am working on a good variety of pottery pieces that are small to medium in size and not too expensive. Here are some glaze combos I am working on for these fun fridge magnet vessels…
Patience, patience, patience
I am usually pretty darn patient when it comes to working with clay. But I rushed a bisque firing and this beautiful set of mugs were not totally bone dry before they were heated to 1700 degrees, resulting in the bottoms exploding off. Obviously, in the thickest part of the base of the mug there were still some moisture particles in the clay!!! I skipped a step I learned long ago in art school… if you are not certain if a piece is totally dry, hold it against your cheek and if it feels cool to the touch it is not ready to fire yet!!! Dang it… but on the bright side, look how good the handle construction held up in that little explosion considering they were all sitting on their bases in the kiln shelf and tipped over from the pressure?!?!? Still learning after 15 years of working in clay!
Inspiration in Nature
I am constantly inspired by nature. Hiking in the Northwest, strolling along the beach, exploring a botanic garden, growing vegetable plants from seed or just getting down close to something on the earth and taking a slow moment to notice of its form and function. Naturally occurring beauty is the best. Simple, purposeful and tested through the times by Mother Nature herself. I recently visited the Mission San Juan Capistrano with my best friend and we spent a wonderful afternoon strolling through the gardens oohhing and aahhhing over the lovingly-tended gardens and photographing the natural wonders all around. The lotus pond was a favorite of mine - a symbol I am often drawn do in my design business and also my pottery studio. The perfect spread of petals, the soft gradation of color, the amazing way each plant floats on the water top nourished by its roots through one, long, spindly cord, not unlike the umbilical cord that nourishes a fetus in utero.
Family Time in 2017
2017 has been an exciting year for our family. My husband had a 3 month sabbatical from work so I ramped down my graphic design and pottery businesses and we hit the road with our 2 young kids, our trusty Subaru wagon and a pop-up camper and toured the NW for 63 days. It was an amazing quality time with our family (and also some challenging parenting moments) but overall a wonderful family adventure. Now my daughter is in 1st grade and my son is a very active 3.5 year old who needs plenty of outdoor time so my afternoons and weekends are busy playing outside with my young kiddos.
Needless to say, I haven't had a ton of extra time to work in my studio this year because of our road trip adventures and active young kiddos so I am not planning any pottery sales/shows this year. I do plan to make a small supply of inventory for family and friends and always have some pots on the shelf for sale, so contact me if you need to stop by and see what I have in stock. Otherwise, come see me at my next year art shows for some new pottery dishes.
Flashback
Just stumbled across this photo of my FIRST pottery sale!!! This was taken in the summer of 2005 at the Keystone Farmer's Market in Keystone CO. Back then, I had a fun marketing job for the ski resort and was a Teacher's Assistant under Bill Barry for the pottery classes at Colorado Community College in Breckenridge. I decided to sell my huge pottery stash I'd built up from all my years in art school and teaching pottery. I had no sales skills yet, so my booth was pretty dang bleak, but it was my first attempt at selling my art!
More mugs...
My biggest request (and best sellers) are mugs. We all love the comforting feel of a warm, smooth mug to wrap our chilly fingers around in winter. The past few weeks I have been focusing on making mugs - big and small - for the tea, coffee, hot cocoa or espresso drinker in all of us! I've evolved the hand-pulled handle over the years to be wider but not to thick. I like a nice groove at the top apex of the handle for the thumb to easily rest. I've added a new "Seaweed" green glaze to my palette and look forward to testing out all sorts of glaze combos on these beauties. Come to one of my upcoming holiday art shows to see the results!!!
