Post-Presentation Relaxation

 Ahhhh...taking some time to put my feet up and wind down. Chris and I enjoyed an afternoon of kayaking on Rocky Lake in Whiting. This place is definitely one of those undiscovered hidden gems!

Series of six pods, ceramic with encaustic.

Shanna Wheelock, 2012

 

Garden has been planted!

Sun Gold tomatoes, spinach, lettuce, basil, pole beans, squash, zucchini, chard, garlic, rosemary, thyme, sage, and sunflowers.

Yep, That car sure was long overdue a good washing.

Today was the last day of school and in preparation for the impending celebratory circumstance, Chris and I spent yesterday sans work. (Well, almost!) After planting the bulk of the garden in the morning we headed out for a kayak adventure. Had we checked a tides chart, we would have known that our first choice destination in a secluded bay would be primarily mud flats. After that little discovery, we reached for the atlas and found a small lake about 14 miles from home. Rocky Lake, with bright yellow Monet waterlilies in bloom, was a peaceful slice of heaven. The rockface was powerful, the bullfrogs loud, and eagles plenty. We found clusters of frog eggs and several beaver dens. Dragonflies flittered about and not another human soul was to to be found. Home that evening, exhausted, we had a quick meal of scrambled eggs and for the first night in several, I fell sound asleep quickly and deeply.

The weekend previous found me in central and southern Maine. Saturday was my MFA end-of-semester presentation at Heartwood College of Art. I always enjoy my time on campus with my mentors, pod mates and advisors. One thing that I love about being back in school is the critique. It is an invaluable dialogue that gives me a sense of how others view my work and the interpretation of that work. I always come away from the meeting with a lot of food for thought. Luckily I had several hours and over 500 miles of driving this past weekend to process all that was said. I am, at this point, halfway through my master's program. I am proud of my self for coming as far as I have, and I look forward to the second half of the program and seeing where I am taken. My artwork has evolved and gone in directions that I wouldn't have predicted two and a half years back.

After the presentation at Heartwood, I felt a huge sense of relief. The past few weeks were a cluster of mad-artist high energy events: the Landmarks show, the closing of my MFA semester, pottery orders that needed filling, and the "winding down" of the school year, which isn't so much a winding down, rather a cyclone of celebrations, field trips, and art distribution. Today I delivered student work to the West Quoddy Lighthouse Visitor Center and three weeks ago student artwork was prepared for a summer student art showing at the library downtown. So, I am happy to say, that my young student artists are well represented here!

Saturday afternoon was spent with my mom and sis, tooling around in Portland which culminated in a fine grilled meal. There was an impromptu late-night furniture arranging at my sister's place in Hallowell. Her house is on the market and we decided to put in some muscle and start packing things in preparation for her and Neal's move. Chances are the house will sell fast (awesome location, well maintained, historic district, one block from downtown in a a super artsy city and the price is right! I wish I could afford to buy it as a getaway house in Hallowell!!!!)

I'm looking forward to the summer to be the potter for a while, enjoy the garden, and to have some time with family and friends. The bulk of my time will still be spent in the cave and tending to the folks who trek this way to visit the shop. This summer Lubec will try its hand at a farmer's market downtown, Saturdays beginning July 7th, from 9am-1pm. I am planning to set up a pottery display to sell wares. I'll probably spend far more than I make as it is hard for me to resist fresh homegrown and handmade goodies!!!

It is super exciting to see my new website coming together. Phase one of the development is the artist portion of the site which will house primarily photos of my artwork. Phase two, later in the summer, will be an online shopping site for Cobscook Pottery. I am hitting production in two days and will make some final decisions on which pieces to offer online. In the meantime, people who are looking for my functional pottery wares may find them here in Lubec at my shop or at Northern Tides, at The Red Sleigh in Perry, The Commons in Eastport, the Center for Maine Craft in West Gardiner, and at Ironbound Gallery in Camden. Also, my show at Landmarks is up until June 19th. There are still a few items from my Herring Collector's Series available.

Mid July, my work, along with art by Royane Mosley and Jean Bookman, will be on exhibit at Lubec Memorial Library. I'll post updated info when I have it. 

Enough for now. It is getting late and I am on dinner duty tonight. Cooking a special celebration meal for Chris and myself. I am celebrating the end of semester and Chris is celebrating an unusually high number of poetry acceptances this month. The guy is on fire!!! Woohoo!!! Congrats, Chris!