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My friends Eric Rymshaw and James Fulton run a fabulous design firm in Philadelphia called Fury Design. We originally met in the late 90’s at the Philadelphia Museum of Art Craft Show. They have inspired me over the years with numerous projects. Last fall Eric shot me an email while I was the ACC Conference. He said a client MIGHT be interested in a grouping of vases. I shot back a quick sketch and low and behold she went for it.

Cyinders and Ovoids, 2010

Here is what I shipped to them today. The tallest piece is 23″ high. I am pleased with this collection : the scale, the whimsy, the color. These shapes inspire me to do more sort of tree like shapes. Thank you  guys!

MAD and Kathryn Scott at work

Interior designer Kathryn Scott spent the day here yesterday working on a project. It is my great pleasure to occasionally work with another artist or designer on a special project. Collaboration is an especially exciting way of working. I approach collaboration from a number of angles. The easiest way to enter into a collaboration with me is to aquire a set of dishes and set the table, prepare incredible food and have friends and family over to share. That is how I collaborate with most people. However, on occasion a designer or artist happens to be interested in entering into a more specific collaborative relationship. Skill and production capacity are rare birds in the US. If they are here in abundance they are shy. Look for them, find them, use them. Artisanal production is the soul of any culture, be it food or art. You must use it to help it flourish.

Kathryn Scott’s interiors are sublime. It is an honor to work with her and I will post outcomes of the project as they develop.

Stack of colorful udon bowls

Last night I finished loading a kiln and today it is cooling. It has the end of a set of dishes, I will post later, and 5 new vases for some designer friends of mine in Philadelphia. Fury Design. Fabulous Jim and Eric who I have known more than 10 years. They have been a catalyst for my dinnerware and have now inspired this latest collection of vases. Yay! Fury Design!!!!

I am working on drawing an hour a day, mostly birds, but also the circulatory system and nervous system. Will start posting soon. Am thinking about SXSW and am sending some work to a show in Austin to be held during the conference. Thinking about sending works on paper. Less fragile than ceramics.

I just love this shot of udon bowls stacked in the sunshine. Feels warm on a cold day. Hope your day is going well. Enjoy as much of it as you can.

Seth Godin’s new book, Linchpin,  is a grand dare. He dares us to be artists. He exclaims we ARE artists. In that respect, he is bringing the ubiquity of art to a brand new audience.

When I got my advance copy there was a note inside. It seemed written for me. It suggested I bookmark page 101, the chapter on resistance. Of course, I turned right to it. If you are a long time fan of Godin’s, its message isn’t really new. But it is honed. Steven Pressfield talks about the resistance in his book the “War of Art“, a book Godin references.

Seth’s overarching message is to blaze a trail. Make things happen. Take a risk. Get into trouble. Go out on a limb. All things artists do everyday. His thesis, that we are all artists rings true to the idealist in love with an alternative to current trends. A subterfuge to the sheep mentality. Do not go quietly into the night. Do something. Ship it. Do it again. Don’t follow a map. Explore. Invent. Create something different.

Marina Abramovic is a performance artist with a long history of endurance performance art. She is having a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art in New York In March. Mentioning her in the same article with Seth Godin is not such a stretch. Seth’s premise, that we are all artists, was originally proclaimed by avantguard artist, Joseph Beuys in the 1970’s and his work was among the most influential of any single artist in the 20th century. Abramovic met him early in her career and “Beuys helped me get invitations to perform in Europe because he liked me and thought me crazy”. (Yablonsky, Artnews, Dec 2009) Abramovic says “Going to the studio everyday is a really bad habit-it’s like being an employee,” she says “You have to live life. And from life comes ideas.” (Belcove, W, Jan, 2010)

These two events, Seth’s book and Abramovic’s furtherance upon the road of creation and discovery, point to a direction for making, doing, and thinking which I find very useful. It is basically to have serious courage; don’t be afraid to believe in something and make it happen. Over and over and over again.

A recent trip to New York City came with a cultural treasure trove of exhibitions. A couple I want to share with you here include the New York Ceramics Fair at the National Academy Museum and Art School and the Bauhaus exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art.

From the New York Ceramics Fair, the work I found particularly interesting and inspiring is that of Clarice Cliff, British artist/designer whose career spanned 1922-1963.

Here are some images of Cliff’s work from Cara Antiques. These pieces were designed by Cliff then decorated by “paintresses”, a term used in the industry. Her designs were so popular that at one time the paintresses numbered upwards of 100.

In September of 2009, The Victoria and Albert Museum in London opened its ‘New Ceramic Galleries’ and Cilff’s work was chosen to be included.

The Bauhaus show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City is a bit overwhelming. I attended a day long symposium in addition to seeing the exhibition. I learned a great deal more about this very famous institution. Mies van der Rohe said the Bauhaus was an idea, not an institution. I love that.

Walter Gropius's "Idea Organization of the Staatliches Bauhaus Weimar", 1923

The exhibition is a wonderful expression of student experiments from Weimar, Dessau and Berlin.  Joseph Albers, after enrolling as a student in the Weimar incarnation of the Bauhaus became a professor in 1925 at Dessau. When the school closed in 1933, he and Anni Albers went to North Carolina to teach at the Black Mountain College. Black Mountain College, a direct descendant of the Bauhaus, wanted to send out to the world ethical change agents.

My main take away from both exhibits was that skill is what will make the difference. Technology and industry are tools only. It is the skill of the craftsman that leads us out of the darkness. I might add that no amount of cleverness, posturing or acrobatics replaces the need for skill in the development of human potential. Skill forms the foundation of a truly independent mind that can solve a problem and have the patience and depth of character to surmount any number of obstacles.