Happy Gotcha Day! My Prince of Ethiopia! 

 

Three years ago today, our son made us a family!  We were in Ethiopia, we had just stepped off the plane, driving through a strange city, on our way to a new way of life, a family way of life.  And even before I could get out of the car, my son was in my arms.  I know this is a bit of a cliché but I can’t image my life without Vander now.  It’s truly hard to remember what it was like to have so much time to myself.    I have been humbled by this curious, active and independent four year old.  In watching Vander grow and bloom into this remarkable little boy all of my secret fears seem absurd.  Thank you, thank you,Vander for making us a family!  And to quote our little man, “I love you to the moon, to the stars, to the sun, to big blue, to the trees, to Miss Sherry’s house and BACK!”

[caption id="attachment_4109" align="aligncenter" width="384" caption="Julia Galloway"][/caption] This weekend I had the pleasure of going to Casper, Wyoming to see the Persistence in Clay: contemporary ceramics in Montana, at the Nicolaysin Museum.  Unfortunately I missed the panel discussion on Friday, because I had to teach, but I drove up for the demos on Saturday, the demos on Saturday with Julia Galloway, Alison Rientjes, David Smith and Stephen Braun. 

These pictures are from a new app that I have called "Hipster", it makes your pictures into postcards.  It automatically adds the location of where you are. 

I was delighted to catch up with with Julia Galloway on Saturday; we went to Alfred together, ooooh so long ago.  It’s been 20 plus years since Julia have seen each other.  As always it was great to sit down with old friends and hear what they have been doing.  I’m not surprised at Julia’s success; she was the hardest working person I’ve ever met.  She has really dedicated her life to ceramics.  The ceramics world is lucky to have her in it.  Julia’s work is absolutely stunning!  If you’re not familiar with her I recommend that you make the jump to her website and marvel at her prolific and amazing work. www.juliagalloway.com .

Take a quick tour of some of my favorites from the show.  I had so many favs I can't post them all. 

[caption id="attachment_4119" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Robert Harrison"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_4120" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Sarah Jaeger"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_4121" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Beth Lo"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_4122" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Shanna Fliegel"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_4127" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Stephen Braun"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_4118" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Robert Harrison talking about his work. "][/caption]

  Several days ago, well it’s probably more like a few weeks ago now; the wonderful people of Ceramics Now sent me pictures from the reception of Ceramics Now Exhibition.  Although, I don’t know a soul in the photographs it was fantastic to see everyone enjoying themselves at the reception.  It looks like they had a great turnout.  I wish I could have been there.  I am very proud of Vasi Hirdo and his very ambitious staff getting the first edition of Ceramics Now off the ground.  Without further ado here are some of the pictures from the reception of the first Ceramics Now Exhibition.  Plus I got my hard copy of the Ceramics Now magazine the mail the other day.  I was very excited to see the magazine in print and hold it.  I was thrilled to see it as a digital magazine, but there is something to seeing it on paper.  Maybe my age is showing and I haven’t really caught up to the digital age.  Plus I love the stamps they used!!! I started a Pinterest account!  So if you are so inclined please follow me and I'll follow you.  I just figuring out Pinterest, so I hope I get it. 

https://pinterest.com/connieknorman/

[caption id="attachment_4035" align="aligncenter" width="442" caption="An Ethiopian Christmas card. "][/caption] January 7 is Ethiopian Christmas.  We ventured to The Ethiopian Evangelical Church in Aurora, Colorado to celebrate.  My family had an amazing time.  This year we went down with a Wyoming contingent, we were three families that celebrated Genna (Christmas), from the Cowboy State.  My husband and I very much want to teach Vander about Ethiopian cultures, but we are at a huge disadvantage living in Wyoming.  I am so thankful for The Ethiopian Evangelical Church and Pastor Ermias he is so generous and cares for our children.  I am so pleased that Vander gets to be around many families that look like us.  [caption id="attachment_4049" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Vander and Mihretu enjoying their Doro Wat."][/caption] We ate delicious Doro Wat, a spicy chicken stew and Injera, a sourdough pancake that is like a giant crepe, with Ethiopian coffee.  Then we played games, the church set up tons of stations with Ethiopian games for the kids.  We didn’t make it to very many, Vander loved every game he played and didn’t want to leave each game to try another one.  [caption id="attachment_4041" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Vander learning how to eat Ethiopian style."][/caption] One of the games Vander played is called Quileblebosh.  The concept of the game is like Jacks, but with stones.  I was harder than it looked because in Jacks you catch the ball after the bounce, in the game you throw a stone and try to pick up five pebbles.  [caption id="attachment_4050" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Football! (Soccer!) The Ethiopian past time!"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_4051" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Learning to play Suzy 123!"][/caption] The next game Vander played was Suzy 123, it is a version of Chinese Jump rope.  And it is also known as bladder in Kenya.  [caption id="attachment_4055" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Suzy 123"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_4058" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Mehareben - Ethiopian Duck, Duck, Goose!"][/caption] The last game Vander played was Mehareben which is an Ethiopian version of Duck, Duck, Goose.  The way Ethiopians play, they say the verse, “Mehareben yayachu?” Have you seen my hanky?  And the seated children reply, “Alayenim.” We haven’t seen it.  The child with the hanky drops it behind someone who is seated, then that person becomes “it” and tries to catch the hanky dropper, who tries to get in their seat before they are caught.  We could not pull Vander way from this game to try any others.  They had nine other games to go to, plus hair braiding.  Hopefully next year we will be able to experience a few more.  [caption id="attachment_4059" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Mehareben"][/caption] [caption id="attachment_4061" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Vander & Mihretu learning how to dance Ethiopian style!"][/caption] Ethiopians follow a different calendar than we do in the U.S.  They follow the Ge’ez or Julian calendar, which Christmas is January 7.  Several other countries that also follow the Julian calendar are Russia, Ukraine, Serbia, The Republic of Macedonia and the Republic of Moldova.

I am very pleased to announce the arrival of the newest ceramics magazine, Ceramics Now, from Cluj-Napoca, Romania.  I just got my digital copy and it looks impressive!  The staff at Ceramics Now has been working so tirelessly for months now.  They are featuring 40 different artists, ceramic artists: Claire Muckian, Carol Gouthro, Ian F. Thomas, Cynthia Lahti, Carole Epp, Simcha Even-Chen, Liza Riddle, Patrick Colhoun, Mark Goudy, Chang Hyun Bang, Ian Shelly, Shamai Gibsh, Margrieta Jeltema, John Shirley, Jim Kraft, Blaine Avery, Shane Porter, Antonella Cimatti, Maciej Kasperski, Wim Borst, Merete Rasmussen and I am so lucky to be one of the artists as well!   Right now I am so flattered to be included on their website and to be one of their featured artists in the first issue.  They are offering the magazine at a fantastic deal $15 dollars or $4.00 for a digital copy or you can subscribe for a year for $59 with free digital subscription.   Please make the jump to Ceramics Now to read an excerpt of my interview on their website. www.ceramicsnow.org  Or better yet go become a subscriber to the magazine and read the entire article!

Thank you so much to Vasi Hirdo the editor and the rest of the staff!

  [caption id="attachment_4006" align="aligncenter" width="612" caption="Ceramics Now Exhibition - Press release"][/caption]

On December 3-4^th, Jonathan Kaplan will instruct a two-day workshop on mold-making, in the Plinth Gallery Studio.  Please see the attached flyer.   Cost is $150/person for both days which includes all materials, and lunch.   Please contact the Gallery if you are interested in attending this workshop, and feel free to forward to anyone you  know who may be interested.  This will be our last workshop for 2011, and coincides with our exhibition of Jonathan’s own work in the Gallery.