Congratulations to Laurie Erdman.  

It was a really hard decision!!!

 I read all of them.  And I knew so many people on the comments personally.  I didn’t know if I would be able to choose objectively.  So I had a friend choose a winner for me.  She really struggled with it as well. 

Thank you to everyone who wrote in.  It was really nice to read everyone’s story.  All of them were touching in so many different ways.  It was so nice to get know people this way.  And also it was nice to see who is reading my blog.

This is one of my favorite sayings for my bowls.  I truly feel that I am so lucky and so thankful for all the amazing family that I am a part of.  I thought it would be nice to share some “Luck”.    All you have to do to win this Lucky bowl is, write a comment on my blog about how lucky or thankful you are.  I’m a little nervous, I hope someone out there wants a gift from me.  I will pick Monday the 26th.  Don’t forget to include your email. 

Also, go to Facebook and “like” my page, (Connie Norman Ceramics) it would be great to get up to 900 followers.  I’m at 828 now.  I never believed that I could have that many followers.  When I started FB ceramics page I thought I would only have my friends and family “like” my page.

I had a wonderful time in Lander giving the Potter’s of the Wind River (POWR)  a workshop.  It was a two day workshop last weekend.  Lander is about four hours from Cheyenne.  And it is the home of NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School).  When you arrive in Lander you notice something is a little different there, for a Wyoming town of almost 7,000 people.  It’s not your average conservative Wyoming town.  Because of NOLS Lander looks like and acts like it is a small Boulder, Colorado.  The people either are super athletic outdoorsy type or ranchers.  It is a very interesting mix. 

I really love Lander, especially after this last visit.  All 15 spots filled in the workshop, and most of the people were experienced potters.  The pressure was on I had show them something new.  Thank Goodness I had a few tricks that no one had seen, such as my love of decorating with office supplies. 

I started off showing everyone my glazing techniques, and my love of office supplies.  We spent the day glazing and did a quick fire that night, so everyone could see the results the next morning.  I did everything backwards for this workshop.  We glazed the first day and then made things the second day, I figured I do everything backwards this just made sense to me. 

Here I’m showing everyone my deep dark secret.  Garage sale dots and a paper punch. 

Here are pictures of everyone working away. 

Some of the stuff that came out of the kiln.

The second day of the workshop building stuff with slabs, and getting your aggressions out. 

Thanks to Deborah Britt and all her hard work getting me to Lander, I got to have a great time meeting new people, hang out and talk a ton about ceramics.

I have a few interviews that are waiting to be published.  Because of our recent computer problems I wasn’t able to get them out.  I even lost one when my hard drive crashed.  (Sorry Paul!)  But I think everything is resolved now!!  I hope.  Look for interviews from Paul Barchilon, Shelia Hrasky, Melody Ellis, Bebe Alexander, and Lisa Pedolsky.

I was asked to make some salt and pepper shakers recently.  Someone asked why I never made salt and pepper shakers with the amber, green yellow combination.  Well, the answer is I’ve never thought to.  I think I was afraid that the green and amber glaze would run.  I love this combo in bowls.  Here are my experiments in that glaze combo on salt and pepper shakers. 

Also, I took these pics.  What do you think?  How do the images look?  What do you suggest for the next around of images.  I would appreciate all the help I can get.

Thanks

Connie

I’m very excited to teach a workshop at the Lander Art Center.  I was in a show there three years ago, in 2007.  It will be very fun to go back and see some friends and meet new people.  My friend Deborah Britt another Wyoming potter, wrote the grant and organized everything to get me to Lander.  She and I got to pal around in Philadelphia at NCECA this year.  I hope we have many more trips ahead. 

Ms. Norman will be conducting a two-day, hands-on workshop featuring hand-building and glazing techniques.

 

For a long time, no one was even sure the water at the Rise was the same water that disappeared into the Sink, but then scientists did dye tests and proved the two were one and the same. Tests also revealed more water emerges at the Rise than goes in at the Sink. No one knows where the water goes for the two hours it takes to get from the Sink to the Rise though … but that’s just fine: curiosities and oddities are even more curious and odd when they can’t be fully explained.

This has been a tough computer week.  We have three computers and all three decided not to work.  One is in the shop, this one I’m using went to the fix it place, the very nice man fixed it on the spot, and the last one the wireless isn’t working.  Since school is out I don’t have that computer to use.  I went to school in hopes of using my computer, but it was already bagged and tagged.  Any my room was completely torn apart for cleaning. 

These two posts show the majority of my DIA (Denver International Airport) commission.  I left out 15 bowls.  The biggest vessel(the first one shown) is going to Denver’s Mayor Hickenlooper, and the others and the bowls are going to Denver’s City Council, and some other people  sometime in July.  I was told that everything is on display in the DIA offices.  I hope to make it to Denver before July to see Wesley Anderegg and Jen Allen’s shows, and hopefully my stuff at DIA.   If you want to see the entire DIA commission click here  and here to see the ones that went to Japan.

These pics are my work.  I know I have a lot of hot spots, but I don’t know how to get rid of them with shinny glazes.  (Suggestions Please!!)  Please tell me what you think….  

Last Monday, Memorial Day I drove down to Denver to deliver some work to Plinth Gallery.  This Friday (June 4) is the opening of Jen Allen’s show (see her interview below) and the third anniversary of the gallery.  For the festivities Jonathan Kaplan, Plinth’s owner asked if I would bring a few pieces down for the celebration.  I’m delighted to have work as part of the birthday, and thrilled to be having a show at Plinth in the fall of 2011!!!

Here is Jonathan in the back room of the gallery with my work.  If you’re following the interviews Jonathan was interviewed on my blog in February.  If you missed his interview click here.

Saturday was a big delivery day, Laura from DIA (Denver International Airport) met me at Plinth to pick up the rest of the commission.  It felt really good to get it finished and delivered.  It was a lot of late nights making pots for them.  (I will post images of the pots in the next post.)  They will be on display in the offices of DIA, until they are given to Mayor Hickenlooper and the Denver City Council in July.  I’ve been told that they will send pictures of the event.  I’ll post them on the blog when I get them.

Another view of the back room of the gallery and Jonathan.  I love the built in shelving for the mugs and cups, a potter’s dream.  Plinth is the only gallery dedicated solely to ceramics in the Denver and Front Range region of Colorado.  It is  located in the River North Art District (Rino), which is Denver’s new and fast growing art area.

A view of a very small part of Hayne Bayless’  show and work, and the front of gallery.  Also a few pots made by Lisa Pedolsky, who is going to have an interview on the blog soon.

I wanted to get more pictures of the gallery, but these guys were waiting soooooo patiently to go to the Denver Zoo.  I was rushed with the pictures.   We had a great day at the zoo, with my friend Sherry and her kids.  It was so fun to watch the kids discover the animals.  And I got to use my new found knowledge of exotic animals, from my extensive studies of  Go Diego Go, The Wonder Pets, and Dora the Explorer.

I just found out that my work was accepted to 500 Vases by Lark books.  I’m very excited about the whole deal.  I’ve been lucky enough to be published in a couple of magazines, but this is will be my first time to be published in a book.  It has been such a long time since I applied, I had thought of it once or twice and assumed I had been rejected and never received the rejection letter.  The juror is Julia Galloway.  The book will be out in bookstores this coming fall.  Here are the pieces that got accepted.