Dots, stripes, squiggles and checkerboards

Red-Handed pieces in process

Polka dots, stripes, and squiggles. That is dots, big and small, and...LOTS OF COLOR! That's my approach to my own work and for the most part, my fellow collaborators. I was able to try some new things with all the bisque ware but I mostly kept to ideas I know well and even resurrected one of my favorites that I haven't used in a while; the checkerboard.

Ewer by Pete Scherzer ready for firing

I'm lucky because when it came to decorating the work for Red-Handed, I generally decorate in a way that almost goes against the form. I try to draw the viewers eye around the piece using asymmetry. It was OK if my decoration didn't really follow the lines of the piece because that's kind of what I go for in the first place.

That doesn't mean finishing the work for Exquisite Pots was easy. It was challenging in a way I had not experienced before. Picking up where the other artists left off had me procrastinating for a long time.


When I finally started, it was works by Pete and Ursula that proved to be somewhat effortless. Their surfaces seemed familiar to me even though the shapes were obviously different than mine. One interesting thing that occurred to me is that Pete and Ursula are the only artists that I have met in person. I don't know if this contributed to the familiarity.

The most difficult work to finish turned out to be Lisa and Holly's. Their organic surfaces and rounded, bumpy-lumpy shapes were often not conducive to my masking tape method of decoration. But reflecting on the finished pieces, these turned out to be some of the best.
 

Red-Handed pieces in process

I'm envious of the artists that got to collaborate in person at NCC. It would have been great to connect with them on a personal level other than just the window into their artwork. I often found myself questioning what each person must be like while I was considering and completing their works. Strong, whimsical, delicate, serious, funny, demure, determined, patient...I'm sure I'll cross paths with everyone at some point. Until then at least I have this experience to remember.