Ceramic Necklaces

I saw these at the Dawkins store website. Here is the makers site.

The Original Tree of Life Ceramic Necklace  (or Ode to Charles Darwin in Gray)

Here is some info about the out campaign. http://outcampaign.org

And an interesting T-shirt from the website.

Here is the text from the back of the T-shirt if you have trouble reading the image.

“The Bible says modern people are the result of incestuous relations Cain and his brothers had with their sisters. Science says we are all descendants of Africans.
I believe science”

You're more unstable than I could have possibly imagined.

Will I find a solution to this problem? It has been a big distraction for me this year. Or I have been to distracted to deal with this problem. I have been thinking about religion, spirituality, my place in our universe and how it relates to my work. I have been questioning my understanding of the world around me for the past few years. The main problem was the relevance of spirituality without a soul. A resolution to this problem has been elusive. The existence or presence of a soul has always been a troubling concept that I have ignored in the past. Though it seems to me that a spiritual world may not be relevant...
 Here is a link to a recent post queerer than we can suppose. I have referred to spirituality in some of my posts and I have been considering how to and if I should include it in my work. My biggest concern is that we live in a country that is generally intolerant to different ideas. Religion is an area were this intolerance is the greatest. And to be honest I do not want to participate in this. Now is that a part of my consciousness declaring that spirituality is no longer relevant to me. Maybe I thought I needed it at some point in my life. I was going to introduce this topic of doubting spirituality in a post I have been writing about a mandala from the Kamakura period in Japan but then I saw this article and thought this was a better introduction to this topic. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11837869 This link is an article about possible big bangs before the big bang.

They have rights too!

A new big release from wikileaks today. When is wikileaks going to Jingdezhan to release clay and glaze recipes.

I have rights too!

Sometimes you have to stand up for your rights. Some readers who like textiles may find this interesting Now some people may not like this link due to the graphic nature of it. But it's not really offensive. Well the images aren't offensive, unless you're very sensitive to images of "sort of" nude people. I find the invasive and ineffective process offensive and what people are being put through.

Have you been to the AGO lately?

A little excerpt from a video about the Thomson collection and new building.

I thought the ceramic pieces are great. I appreciated the display of the maiolica in the gallery. The ability to walk around the work and see the front and back of the pieces is important to fully appreciate craft objects.  But the craftsmanship that is exhibited in the wood and ivory carvings is phenomenal.

From the pages of history comes the story of three men and one woman.

Oh! Now please don't do that with your underwear. It's only a penguin.

He does not move.

V. This is becoming really insignificant.

And now for the guinea pigs... (link)

Queerer Than We Can Suppose

Our perceptions of each other? How does this video relate to craft? Is that a silly question?

Motives are translucent

We often face conflict in our lives. The conflicts can lead to situations or decisions that we may later regret. They may be the wrong decision and hurtful to ones around us. Unfortunately some people lack the compassion and intelligence to see or regret their mistakes. They live life as if no harm was caused by their careless and selfish decisions. Some people have decided that they are going to reshelve George Bush's new book in the crime section in their local book stores. Here is a link to some websites about it.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/nov/09/george-bush-memoir-crime-section
http://wagingnonviolence.org/2010/11/wnv-campaign-to-reshelve-bushs-memoir-taking-off/

The Voracious March of Godliness by Bad Religion

Flickr update

Here are some photographs of mine that I find inspiring. flickr link

Living in the shadows of your song

I was out this morning to take advantage of the cloudy weather to photograph. Cloudy days are great to photograph because the clouds diffuse the light. Shadows are reduced and softened under the diffused light. It's the perfect weather to photograph and walk in. Though it began to rain too much and I had to leave early. It was very peaceful walking along the waters edge listening to the falling water.

Water fall

Suburban War by Arcade Fire

Magnificent Murals: 18th century Painted Tiles from Portugal

Here is the content of an email I received from the Gardiner museum asking to answer a survey about their future exhibition schedule. I have provided the link if you want to participate. I'm hoping to see the Magnificent Murals exhibit it is the 9th option in the survey. I have included the description of the exhibit at the end of this post.
 

Your opinion matters!

Please take 3-5 minutes to follow the link and complete a brief survey designed to help shape the Gardiner Museum’s long term exhibition schedule.

We are very interested to know which of the suggested exhibitions you are interested in seeing, the depth of your interest, and if you had to choose, which of the exhibitions you  would be most likely to visit.

If you have the time, please do complete the survey as your opinion will be used to help us choose the exhibitions we present in the future.

Thank you very much for your membership support of the Gardiner Museum, and for your consideration of this request for assistance.

Alexandra Montgomery

Executive Director

[Click Here to Start the Survey!] 

9. Magnificent Murals: 18th century Painted Tiles from Portugal
Featuring major works of art that have never been seen in Canada before, this exhibition shows how painted ceramic tiles were used to decorate the walls of churches, palaces, houses and gardens in 18th-century Portugal, and illustrates the relationship of those murals to paintings, prints and other art forms from the period.

Off with your head!

I did not photoshop the face. I'm not sure what to say about this. I'll leave it up to you to decide how you
feel about it. Christmas gifts? hahaha

I see you in a new light

It finally happened. I was waiting for this since last spring. I have a jade plant that I have been attempting to get a clipping from that would root. It looks like one will actually work. It was a difficult process for some reason. I tried one a few years ago that worked with little to no effort. It was planted in a broken shot glass that was made by my former instructor Bruce Cochrane.
 I attempted to make a light box to shoot some work in last night. Here are my first shots from it. It was made from a card board box, parchment paper to diffuse the light and a sheet of paper from a sketch pad. I just  used a couple of household lamps as my light source. Here are a few links to a couple of variations if you want to try to make one yourself to shoot your work. Next I will try to make a larger one for my other work. This box is too small for most of the work I want to shoot right now.
http://jyoseph.com/diy-light-box-for-product-photography/
http://www.digital-photography-school.com/how-to-make-a-inexpensive-light-tent 
http://www.wikihow.com/Create-an-Inexpensive-Photography-Lightbox

Flesh and Blood

Here is a fun stream from the world of flickr. Here is a good example of challenging and humorous use of figurative imagery and forms. Using the figure in ceramics in a new and innovative way can be challenging. I often shy away from contemporary issues in my ceramics. And I'm not sure if I am
going to continue doing that.  Many people use traditional techniques and styles with contemporary narratives. Here is the press release for the Shary Boyle show at the AGO. I am not as aware of Shary Boyle’s work as I would like to be.

Here is an excerpt from the Art Gallery of Ontario webpage promoting their Meet the Artist afternoon with Shary Boyle. “Highly crafted and deeply imaginative, her multi-disciplinary practice mines the history of porcelain figurines, animist mythologies and historical portraiture to create a symbolic language uniquely her own.”