It's that time of year again! Working like crazy to make pots for the annual Northeast Iowa Studio Tour. I always look forward to it, it's exciting to get so many people from far and near into my studio, and I always try to have some fun new pots to show them. If nothing else, I have a stunning view from my big windows! That's my studio in the picture, accessible from West Broadway, and if you come, look for signs like the one in the front. This year I am #8 on the map and in the brochure.
It's been a few months since last time I wrote a blog post. A long summer went by fairly quickly – it' always a busy time. Julia is out of school, which means less time in the studio for me, and we took a three week vacation in Norway, which was wonderful. I have been doing fewer art fairs lately. I did Lakefront Art Festival in Milwaukee in June, which was great (thank you, Milwaukee!), but that was it. Instead I concentrated on orders and translating. My love for languages and pretty good knowledge of two of them have found an outlet in a new career as translator (English to and from Norwegian), but the chance to get away from the wheel and decorating table a little bit just makes me want to work in clay so much more. So the variety is good. It changes things up a little bit, gives me an alternate source of income and keeps it interesting.
Then there are the textile products. I went to Las Vegas in May with a whole bunch of pillow, tea towel, and tote bag samples to show at a wholesale show there, and I did get some accounts! Now I only need to approach more stores and see what happens. Even though I have a seamstress, it's a surprisingly time-consuming venture. I am thinking of different ways of going about it.
So I am still trying to find a balance between these three jobs. It's pretty much all fun, but there's a lot to keep track of. But for the next three weeks, it will be (almost) all about clay and the Studio Tour.
And enjoying summer turning into fall and walking the dog every day.