new shop...

I am delighted to have my work in the Barossa and recently been welcomed into the fold of an old adorable shop in Angaston.

Some stock refreshing happened over the weekend and also new wares ready in my studio store. All works are made by me in the Jamfactory, Seppeltsfield studio, visiting days are Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday 11-5pm.

Another firing in my gas kiln will be underway shortly and if you want to see more of process check out my facebook page Ang Walford Ceramics for current goings on. I’m also on Periscope a mobile app, where you can see works being made and generally stop by for a chat mid process.

And it continues, experimenting with surfaces....'I rode my bike' is a clear glaze fail but I kinda like it! 

More lovely shinos, with a tad too much wood in the firing causing the darker tones. I was trying to create lighter surfaces but more wood meant more colour, whoops!

throwing a narrow neck vessel...

Here's a short video. In the studio today making narrow neck forms, raku pots for open day raku demo. Sunday 16 October at the Jam, Seppeltsfield, Barossa. I'm demoing at 1.30pm time slot and the days activities start at 11am til 4pm. Hope to see you there...

the other state...

A few days away in another much warmer state, what could be better! I started searching for galleries before heading up to the the coast of Queensland just to catch up with what exhibitions were currently on...

 One impressive location is The Arts Centre Gold Coast,  Currently showing a mixed media exhibition, Shifting Sands-South Stradbroke Island Indigenous Artist Camp exhibition.

A good variety of social and arts activities including the upcoming Ceramics Arts Award.

30th Gold Coast International Ceramic Art Award is coming up 27 August - 23 October 2016 with Australian and International Artists.

We took off very early saturday morning for the Gold Coast, stayed at Broadbeach which had one of the loveliest views of a location that I've stayed at. Pepper Apartments have coastal views with only one drawback being the smoker next door!! so brekky on the balcony was out of the question!! It was so nice to be warm again!! Long treks on the beach pre-brekky were great, I still cant believe we hiked that much but my legs can :P so more about this award...

THE CERAMIC AWARDS

'We are pleased to announce the 30th Gold Coast International Ceramic Art Award finalists have been decided with a shortlist of 52 artists from Australia, UK, Germany, South Korea, Germany and NZ.'  

Background of the Awards

The Gold Coast International Ceramic Art Award is a biennial award for ceramic artists from around the world. The inaugural Gold Coast Ceramic Art Award held in 1982 was developed to encourage the creation and appreciation of art in clay. Initially it was held in the Gold Coast City Council Foyer at Evandale,  prior to the building of Gold Coast City Gallery.

Ruth Lyons, then Chairman of the newly formed Gold Coast Ceramic Art Award Committee, was the driving force behind the establishment of this award along with the support of The Gold Coast Potters Association and The Gold Coast Society of Sculptors. A succession of dedicated ceramic committee volunteers, potters, sculptors, sponsors and gallery staff members have ensured the longevity and ultimate success of one of Australia's longest running ceramic awards.

Image credits: Eloise Rankine, Grow with me, 2016, porcelain, Courtesy of the artist and Utopia Art Sydney/ Stephen Bird,  Men from Korea 2015, c lay, slip, pigment and glaze. Courtesy of the artist/ Irianna  Kanellopoulou, Busy Blue 2015, ceramic, glazes, multifired Courtesy of the artist/ Lynda Draper, Green Eyes Pink Kisses, 2015, Earthenware, various glazes, Courtesy of the artist

Tuesday am we headed off to Brisbane to Stephanie's Makers Gallery visiting the new Gallery by Stephanie Outridge Field, which is in a stunning street, tree lined and great wide curbs since I was being super careful with the hire car! We stopped in and saw the crossover of the Cuppa Survey Show and the next focus show of Woodfirer and Raw glazer - John James exhibition. Then off to lunch to a local Italian bakery pre dropping sis off in Brisbane then to the airport home. I tried my best to avoid toll roads but without my navigator beside me I found myself in a one way tunnel to the airport, then trying to find a servo to top up before taking the car back! 

Anyhoo round and round until finding the servo exit and nice surprise only using $23 of fuel for the whole trip! Might have to rethink driving my car into the ground!? False economy with the newer cars being so efficient ;)

Anyhoo, back home and cold again but enjoyed the trip immensely, combining a great family and arts combo long weekend! Enjoy the travel log....

South Australian Living Artists month...

SALA Festival 2016 Program has been launched.

SALA comes around once a year and is the biggest exhibition event in Adelaide.

This year I'm participating in a group show at Terrace for the 5th time. They are a very supportive crew and such a great open space which is usually their showroom sets up for the exhibition. 

And the imagery this year is still based on the 'Tale of Little Fat Bird'. Heavily influenced by the seasons, including deserts and blizzards! not that we have blizzards just thunderous storms and bucket loads of rain and hail this year... and so while I'm processing the tale and working on the surfaces, you know what ensues!! I started work on this years exhibition with the workflow of last years pieces fully formed in my headspace and so it was a lot easier to get the visual process happening. The flower boxes all relate to each other in ratio of the form.  The size all measure the same as do the bases, some are vertical, some horizontal but mostly square format. 

I fire the first firing over 22 hours and nice and slow allowing all the moisture to move slowly out of the work. Only 2 cracks out of 12 pieces which is acceptable considering the pace of the work & some very soggy weather conditions. The glaze firing was long too, 20 hours, not totally economically desirable but results in great heatwork that shows in the clay body with lots of iron speckles rising to the surface and some nice depth in the slipwork too. So here's a few pieces and the opening is thursday night.

SALA on Terrace features emerging & established artists in an energetic exhibition of various mediums- oils, collage, ceramics & sculpture. 29 Jul - 13 Aug Mon-Fri 9am-5pm, Sat 10am-4pm
Opening Event 28 Jul 6-9.30pm http://terracefloors.com.au/

Venue: Terrace Floors + Furnishings  51 Glen Osmond Rd Eastwood, 5063  8274 1125
Medium: Ceramics, Drawing, Painting, Photography, Sculpture. Event is suitable for children. Event has wheelchair access.

the professor gets a new groove...

           
The professor has a new do!! So new chimney and all we tested the fella out at my seppeltsfield studio ;) and like a super trooper he went off!!! only kevin will get the abba reference just for him ;) ;) ;)  and i'll let the results speak for themselves. Awww purdy... I'll give the pots a good wash and polish tomorrow and check for refire possibilities. All in all a successful test run yesterday and not too windy and not too much wood consumed this time either.

Raku workshops are held frequently at my Seppeltsfield studio in the winter season. Keep an eye on my facebook page 'ang walford ceramics' for the next event... and subscribe to my channel here...

My Saturday class starts next month too so keep an eye out if you're in the barossa, south australia or just want a gettaway, it really is lovely out there at the mo...

workshop...

Saturday it's the start of RAKU season at the studio 'JamFactory 730 Seppeltsfield Rd, Seppeltsfield, SA, stay in touch on instagram and periscope throughout the session. The raku kiln 'the professor' has a new chimney to test out and I'm hoping for some good air flow and super draft this time!!

raku workshop at gallery 1855

#100mugs + studio seppeltsfield

Well it seemed like  a good idea at the time....

#100mugs in 100 days 'have fun says Kim' from tassie, if you're interested check out the facebook page 

I reckon I'm about half way in the making and some ideas developing in the process which was my plan... but you know if I get to the end of this project at least the work flow in itself has produced 100 mugs, so i'll be ready for mugs day this year with plenty to choose from!! 

That's in Stirling at MILAN ROUGE CCD

 slip too soon!!!! I slipped these fellas and watched the handles fall off one by one...bahahahahahaha, so I stopped dipping them!

And then there's other studio happenings. A photoshoot of my last gas firing with some lovely peach bloom looks, just a tad of saturday hilarity interviewing apprentices :P and some new tapas experiments lighty drawn and mostly lime ;)

and some more shino, you know it's my fav...

my new website...

How do people find where I am? It's a whole new ball game moving your studio and setting up external classes in a regional area. I've been working on this new website for a while and trying to find something that is both economical plus has a tidy design.

So it's a wix platform and was incredibly intuitive to use. The mobile version of the site looks good too, which is imperative these days. http://angelawalford.wix.com/ceramics

My class bookings will run from the website too, along with my shop link and link back to my ol faithful blog!! You can contact me via the weblink form or facebook message for all class enquiries and when the weather is kinder some raku workshops will be happening.

Shortly Seppeltsfield, where my studio is located will be promoting the JamFactory tenants workshops for the shorter taster sessions, running from 30mins to 1.5 hrs with anything from glass and leather, to clay and knife sessions.

so much has happened...

So much has happened this month! Let's start with the fabulous ward kiln being wired in at my studio!! can I get a woohoo!! With lots of new work covered in underglaze decoration and some inlay lines it's prime timing. Having amazing friends always helps along the way, Kevin has made a stand for the kiln so loading can be the optimal height for me. And now just to get some cones for the sitter and we'll be off and firing!!

And making some notes for future reference, country cottage stripes 12oz cone 6 white body, stamp detail on the base of handle, extruded handle cut on angle at both ends.

A little fix it job at home this week up on the roof fixing some more shelter alongside my kiln space...trying to keep the rain out!

And the gas kiln is packed, which I hope to fire this week pending a good weather day!

And one of my favourite bowls in the studio that I could have sold several times over this week. It is such a talking point, about kiln atmosphere and what happens some times when clay remembers how it used to be ;) ...

A few wheel view shots and the eventual clean out that has to happen when I cant fit any more clay in the splash pan!! 

And I must send a shout out to the fab peeps at the terrace in eastwood who are stocking my raku and a selection of my functional wares and a few wall tiles!

 So you should have heard about #periscope this week. I jumped on a while back watching Claire Waddington doing street tours of #paris .... and it is fascinating to see someone elses world view! You may have seen a couple of scopes I did of the #janetdeboos exhibition at #seppeltsfield #jamfactory space but since then things have really taken off and so far everyone has been very inclusive and supportive of #pottersofperiscope the only problem being connectivity due to squished upload speeds and reception. But get on it and have a try even just to chat to others while they are working or chatting is such a great way to use this 'new app'. Adriana started a facebook page for other info and chats too, there are nearly 200 members and you just have to ask to join the group and you're off! Some of my favs this week on periscope are Tim See and Neil Chilani both also have fab websites and stunning work. So get the app and get on it! and some help if you need it periscope

anyhoo thats it for today I'm off to the studio!