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4 Meditation Bowls have just been entered in my site inventory.

They are now available for purchase.  For these 4 pieces, no shipping will be charged.

Meditation Bowl # 46, 4.5 x 7 x 7 inches, white earthenware, terra sigillata, oxides, glaze liner, $215 

Meditation Bowl # 47,5 x 6 x 6 inches, white earthenware with oxides, terra sigillata, glaze liner, $195

Meditation Bowl #49, white earthenware, oxides, terra sigillata, glaze liner, $215

 

Meditation Bowl #49, 3.5 x 3.5 x 3.5 inches, white earthenware with terra sigillata, oxides and a liner glaze, $75

Meditation Bowls # 48 & 49 as a Pair, a reduced price of $250 (a $30 savings)

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These Meditation Cups, I and II are headed for the Ogden Museum of Southern Art at the University of New Orleans.

It is an invitational exhibition called ART OF THE CUP 2016 and opens September 1st.  They were created as memory pieces while we were spending the summer in Nova Scotia.  Ferns in the yard of the 150 year old farm house we rented for a month, were pressed into the surface of these pinched pieces.  They were fired when we returned to our home in Greenville, SC in. They sell for $195 each should you be interested in a purchase. 504-539-9606.

ogdenmuseum.org

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Come One, Come ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Big Annual Penland Auction

2016 Annual Benefit Auction http://penland.org/support/annual_auction.html

Friday, August 12 & Saturday, August 13

The Penland School of Crafts Annual Benefit Auction is the premiere craft auction in the southeast, providing funds to support the operations of Penland School of Crafts while introducing new artists to collectors and expanding public understanding and awareness of craft.

Entering its 31st year in 2016, the auction attracts over 800 collectors and volunteers to the Penland campus in the mountains of North Carolina each August. The weekend brings artists and patrons together and provides collectors with opportunities to meet established and emerging artists, learn about trends in contemporary craft, and see and purchase exceptional new work. If you are passionate about art and interested in investing in the health and the future of the arts, join us for this gala event.

All attendees who register online by April 30 will be entered to win a pair of tickets to the historic Biltmore Estate in Asheville.

Pair of my Meditation bowls donated to the Penland Auction in honor of Paulus Berensohn.

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September 17, 18 2016, Midlands Clay Arts Society Presents Alice Ballard Workshop

THE MIDLANDS CLAY ARTS SOCIETY PRESENTS

Alice Ballard Workshop

Finding your Form through Nature September 17, 18, 2016, 10-4

Where: Edisto Discovery Park 1914 Wiley Street, Columbia SC 10AM–4PMeachday Potlucklunch

Description: Alice Ballard is an expert at Seeing and looking to nature for inspiration. She will be showing us several of her hand building and surface treatment techniques, including pinch pots, dowel pots and slab construction. This will include hands-on participation. Bring your collected treasures for inspiration or direct impressions into the clay surface. A journal is also necessary. We will create a series of pinch or dowel cups with a relationship. Participants will also get a chance to use terra sigillata on their own work that is dry or close to dry. Overall, other than discovering forms we like and using terra sig, this workshop is about connecting with the clay and ourselves, learning how to slow down, observe, feel, and respond creatively. Equipment list shall be sent upon your paid registration.

Attendance is limited to 15 participants.

TO REGISTER: Please mail a check and Registration Form, or give them directly to the registrar, Mary Lou Price. No space will be reserved otherwise. See fees and address below.

Registrations will be accepted in the order received, or by the postmark dates, and confirmed.

Refunds are available up to one week prior to the start of the workshop, provided your space can be filled. Because of obligations to the workshop artist, no refund will be given if your space can not be filled. Refunds for emergency situations arising within one week of the workshop will be considered at the discretion of the MCAS Executive Board.

If you’re registered & cannot attend, please notify the registrar ASAP:
Mary Lou Price legishap@aol.com
----------------------------------------------------Detach and Send-------------------------------------------------

MCAS Workshop Registration Form

NAME _____________________________________________________________________ PHONE_____________________________EMAIL_________________________________ ADDRESS__________________________________________________________________

Registration Fees: (Please check one of the following) includes half a bag of clay to work with _____MCAS MEMBER $ 95 _____NON-MEMBER $110

Make checks payable to: MCAS Mail To: Midlands Clay Arts Society

C/O Mary Lou Price 185 Carlyle Circle

Columbia, SC 29206
If the workshop fills, would you like to be put on a waiting list, or have your check returned? Circle one

Waiting List Return Check

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Do not miss this important event at the GCCA, this Tuesday, July 12 at 6:00

Detail, painting by Naomi Nakazato (Brandon Fellow), Telling Her Story,  GCCA 

GCCA Lecture Series  www.artcentergreenville.org/

I have the honor of introducing my long time friend Ann Hicks.  We met when she had just moved to Greenville to start her job at the Greenville News and our lives and our stories have been woven together in unlikely ways ever since.  I promise you, her story is one you absolutely don't want to miss! I hope to see you at the GCCA this Tuesday!

On July 12th at 6 pm, visit GCCA and spend an evening with Ann Hicks as she shares her story of starting life as a Hungarian refugee to the revered Greenville News art critic for 11 years.

 

The event is free and open to the public, no RSVP needed.

 

Come early and enjoy the full gallery exhibit "Telling Her Story" showcasing 11 women with ties to Greenville. Daydreams, questions of identity, motherhood, cultural stereotypes, nature, and technology are some of the themes interpreted in the artwork.  Many materials are represented, including textiles, ceramics, paint, papers and collected objects.

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How do artists stumble on their ideas? What is the process from a life changing discovery to a work of art that demonstrates passion, meaning, skill and unbridled creativity?

Such is the tale of the Pod...

Pods have long been interesting to me as a form and as a metaphor for the feminine, the womb, and potential. I’ve also been intrigued by how many different sizes, shapes, textures and colors they come in; the possibilities are almost limitless when you start combining and evolving individual elements. Despite the fact that I have been working with idea of pods for many years, I am still fascinated with both the form and the multitude of ideas that continue to inspire and guide my work.

 

That said, every journey has a beginning and this one started with the Royal Empress tree pod. I first encountered the form growing by the railroad tracks in Asheville near Odyssey, a well know ceramic center. After plucking a winter branch with a cluster of pods I set this newly captured inspiration aside to ponder for while as I often do. After walking by this cherished find in my studio on a daily basis and “pondering” it, I discovered the origins of the Royal Empress tree, also known as the Royal Paulownia tree. 

 

It’s a very fast growing invasive tree from China, where it’s often used as an ornamentation along roadsides. That fact alone caught my imagination, not to mention that it sounded like a shaman’s rattle when shaken. The flowers are purple clusters that bloom in May along with wild wisteria. Though similar in color the flowers are quite different. Wisteria is a vine with cascading clusters of flowers, while the Paulownia tree has clusters that grow upright like a Christmas tree. One thing I knew was that this heart shaped form which seemed more and more archetypal was going to become an important part of my journey as an artist.

 

Fast forward nearly a year. While teaching my first clay workshop at Odyssey, I had my class go on a treasure hunt for “natural stuff” in the surrounding area. Before we left, I showed them the blackish pod cluster and mentioned I would take them to see the tree by the railroad tracks where I had picked it. That’s when we discovered the pods in their fuzzy spring green coat! Later that day, I made my first small pinched half-pod. Who knew at the time that it would become so much more.

 

After returning to my studio in Greenville, that small form became the prototype for the first wall pod. After sculpting a larger half-pod in clay, I created a press mold in plaster. This then allowed me to make two halves and put them together to create a smoothly finished form ready for me to then add texture or carve into the surface. Each one of these perfectly smooth Pod forms has become like a small white, 3D canvas. I then alter them to reflect whatever is inspiring me at the time.

 

The first showing of this new series was a 15 Pod Triangle shown at Blue Spiral 1 along with the paintings of the late Will Henry Stevens. It was dynamic, yet feminine; soft at times, dark and crusty at others. It surprised all of us as we saw it for the first time after its installation in the gallery. Visually, the impact was such a blend of strength and softness that it became the show’s center piece. I will never forget seeing it hanging for first time after Jorden Ahlers so expertly installed it. This was the beginning of my love affair with the “Pod” shape and all its evolutions thereafter. I was immediately struck with all of the incredible possibilities that small and large groupings could have in a space.

 

That first show has led to so many variations, some of which can be viewed in the Commissions section of my website. Even the ones that are similar in number can be entirely different depending on the installation site, spacing, and configuration, not to mention their individual visual story they tell through, color, texture, value, complexity and content.

 

As to the future direction of the Pods, only time will tell. Pods in general, continue to fascinate me.  I know this because of all the little pods I discover in my pockets following our morning walks with the dogs.  Pods, bulbs, tubors,  along with all things that “sprout” continue to offer rich potential for my the creative explorations on my journey.  

 

Another fun fact:

 

Paulownia is known in Japanese as kiri, specifically referring to P. tomentosa; it is also known as the "princess tree". It was once customary to plant a Paulownia tree when a baby girl was born, and then to make it into a dresser as a wedding present when she married. Paulownia is emblem of the office of prime minister and also serves as the emblem of the cabinet and the government (vis-à-vis the chrysanthemum being the Imperial Seal of Japan).

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One more look at TELLING HER STORY at the GCCA, ends July 27, 2016

Paul Hyde, arts writer for the Greenville News, interviewed some of the artists in TELLING HER STORY today at the GCCA.  This seemed the perfect chance to get some pictures of the show and to have a chance to meet and talk to some of the other women artists.

I am including a slide show of some of the unique and highly personal artwork in the show.  If you have not seen TELLING HER STORY, you have one more month to drop by for a visit.  You will be glad you did!  

www.artcentergreenville.org/

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Penland workshop in October: "Finding Your Form Through Drawing & Clay"

Registration has begun for this class that I will be teaching this October at Penland School of Crafts.    http://penland.org/classes/classes_by_session.html

October 9-15

Workshop description: In this process-oriented workshop, we’ll move back and forth between clay and various drawing media, seeking inspiration from the beautiful Penland setting and the host of natural forms within that environment. Working inside and outside the studio, our ideas and materials will be our partners, and the creative process will lead us. Artists who are used to working in two dimensions and those who usually work in three will all benefit from the contrast and combination of these two ways of working. We’ll use earthenware clay and have some electric firing for small pieces, and we’ll make lots of drawings. All levels. Code F01CB

Alice Ballard, gift from Alex, charcoal, ebony pencil, conte, 22 x 20 inches

Alice Ballard, Quince, white earthenware, terra sigillata 12 x 7 x 9 inches

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Announcing a new look for Alice Ballard's SquareSpace site...

FROM THE STUDIO...

After much thought and discussion, my technology expert and web-master, who also happens to be my son Ryan, and I, decided the time had come to change the focus of my site.  The site is now focused on the work itself.  You may have read more about the history of the sequence of events that lead up to this change, in my post on "Day to Day".

Numerous questions from former clients and from people interested in the work, were a tremendous help in our decision making about how best to redesign the site. The hope is that the new features will help to address those questions and others about availability of work, technical aspects of the work, installation concerns, of course the time line is always a factor, and prices, along with other concerns. The new features and information should help answer many of those questions. 

One huge goal is to help a potential client visualize the work they are considering for a particular space(s). This is true whether they are considering work that is available or a commission.  For this purpose we have a section of available work and a section with images of many of the commissioned projects I have done over the years.  Testimonials from some of the clients, along with their contact information are available.  In addition, soon there will be a video explaining what is involved if you are considering  a commissioned art work. 

My site will include examples my newest work, event announcements for exhibitions and workshops and will feature images of work in progress in my studio. Other videos are being planned that will answer frequently asked questions such as, "What is terra sigillata?" 

Last but not least, I hope to do all of the above in a highly personal way that will reflect my 50 years + experience as an artist.  In my case, my life as an artist is woven with a tangle of everyday life experiences, teaching, travel. Sharing with others is part of my life's mission as an artist, a teacher, parent, mentor, grandparent, spouse, and friend.

Please give feedback! We are still ironing out the wrinkles. So bring it on! We would love to have your questions, thoughts and suggestions. What so you like, what is unnecessary, what don't you like and what will keep you coming back to check out what is new....Thank you!   

The Alice & Ryan team

 

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The Bascom Workshop in Highlands, NC, VESSELS FOR ALL SEASONS, was awesome!!!

The weather was cool, clear, not too hot and the skies were the vivid blue of Alaska skies in the summer.... 

Corbin Tucker met me when I arrived at the Barn on Sunday.  The studio was completely set up for the next morning.  Our friendship started when I met Corbin in my very first workshop at Odyssey in Asheville, NC. Since that time, our friendship has grown and flourished!  Corbin has become an accomplished ceramic artist and a beloved and trusted friend!  

VESSELS FOR ALL SEASONS had filled quickly with many returning friends from 4 VESSELS FOR 4 SEASONS IN 2014 along with a host of other clay enthusiasts of all levels and from many parts of the country.  With such an exceptional group arriving on Monday morning, it was not long before the Barn with its superbly equipped studio was buzzing with energy, excitement, laughter, and an explosion of creativity! We succeeded in firing at least 4 or 5 kiln loads by Friday.  The resulting work was stunning. A wide variety of sizes and forms were covered with a thin layer of terra sigillata in a rainbow of colors! Accents of brown and black copper carbonate looked stunning the way it brings out the texture and gives life to the form. The grand finale, however, was to see the final projects. Each person created an incredible arrangements that married the form of the vessel with their chosen "natural treasures" of branches, pods, rocks, blooms, grasses and leaves... It seemed a fitting way to bring our fun and the communion of being together to a chapter's end, a moment in time I will always remember, but certainly not an end.....  

Special thanks goes to each and every one of you who brought along your own special knowledge, experiences and your energy and you shared it with us! The sum of all of you together, created the unique, sometimes quiet and sometimes, wildly exuberant atmosphere of our workshop! 

Thank you Samantha Oliver, for being an outstanding artist-in-residence and superb studio assistant. Your willingness to stop and help was noticed and appreciated. Thank you Frank Vickery, for your incite, wisdom, knowledge and creativity that have lead the Bascom to having one of the most outstanding clay programs in the country!  Thank you again Corbin, Robert and pooches for your friendship, support and that fabulous party!!!!!

Alice

Here are a few images  from the Bascom workshop.  I hope some of you from the workshop will send me some of your best pictures, especially of your work and a class picture.  I will share them later!  Thanks! 

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