Monday, June 3, 2013

Summer Schedule Kicking In

Spark Plug at Low Tide
Shanna Wheelock, 2013
We are never at a loss for foggy mornings in Lubec.
 
 
Mark your calendar for these Summer Events!
Cobscook Pottery will be selling on location!
 
 
 
Bay of Fundy Marathon EXPO
Saturday, June 22, Noon-7pm
Lubec School Gymnasium
I made the awards for the marathon - eighteen handcarved top-placement awards, and eighty-four handcarved medallions. I'll be at the EXPO with my Herring Collectors Series pottery.
 
Bay of Fundy Marathon Race Day Celebration
Sunday, June 23, 9-?
Downtown Lubec
(I'll be with the Lubec Market folks across from the library)
 
Maine Crafts Guild at MDI Directions 2013 
July 26-28
Mount Desert High School, Mount Desert Maine
 
Maine Crafts Guild at Bar Harbor 2013
August 14-16
Atlantic Oceanside Hotel and Conference Center
 
Lubec Market
Downtown Lubec
Saturdays beginning June 15th
9am-12pm
Last summer the market was a huge hit! Lots of great fresh produce, cheeses, baked goods, crafts, and live music!
I'll be here most Saturdays unless it's pouring rain or I am out of town  for another show.
 
Cobscook Pottery
North Lubec Road, Lubec, Maine
(just down the road from Artworks of Maine and McFadden's Market)
OPEN most days in the summer. Look for the OPEN flag (and sign!)
I am potting most days in the summer, so if you show up to shop, be warned that I will most likely be clay-covered and wheel-dizzied!
We're tucked away off the beaten path. If traveling from a distance, feel free to call or email first to be sure that we are open. To send an email, use this contact form.
 
Also.... find Cobscook Pottery at these Maine locations
The Commons, Eastport
 
 
 Guardian
Ceramic, Shanna Wheelock, 2013
Mowry Beach, Lubec, Maine
 
 
Exposed: Series 3, #6
Encaustic, Shanna Wheelock, 2013
 
 
Factory C, Lubec, Maine
Digital Photo, Shanna Wheelock. 2013
 
 
 from the series:
Between the Silence
Ceramic, found objects
Shanna Wheelock, 2013
 
 
 
The calm before the storm. That's what today is. I've never been one to shun a good storm, and we certainly  have had plenty of that in the literal sense the past few weeks, but I am talking about the whirlwind of summer that is about to begin. Yesterday and today I am sighing a huge breath of release as several deadlines hit me all at once and now that each of those projects has come to closure, I am enjoying a couple days with my family before kicking it into high gear at the wheel. Wednesday marks the first big production day for summer pottery and this summer's schedule will prove to be the most rigorous that I have taken on, ever. Just running the shop and stocking a few Maine galleries is a full-time job, but packing wares to hit the road adds a whole other dimension. As hectic as it gets, I love it. I love it all.
 
This past weekend I packed up the car and drove about 260 miles to Kennebunk where I presented my semester's work at Heartwood College of Art. I am now in my 7th semester in the low residency/part-time MFA (Master of Fine Arts) program. Three more semesters to go and I will have those three capital letter positioned finely on my list of curriculum vitae doings. As I head into the final three semesters and the onset of my thesis work, I will be honing my personal philosophies and a body of work that represents where I am at this point in my life as an artist. I am looking forward to the couple months this summer without school work to give my noggin some recharge time, but I know that in between pots and love-peace mantras, I will be mentally formalizing my ideas.
 
That's the thing about artists...whether visual, musical, poetic...artists are ALWAYS thinking. We have these OPEN 24 HOURS kinds of brains that seriously never stop. We even dream our art. I'll admit it, even when you are having a conversation with me, my mind is juggling our conversation with ideas. When I take a walk, you know, that relaxing space of time when I am communing with nature....my mind is creating compositions and wondering what little nugget of found debris on the side of the road might be a springboard for a new piece. I guess we can use that cliché (in reference to being an artist) it is "not a job, it is a lifestyle."
 
I was relieved to finally finish up the four months of Bay of Fundy Marathon awards work. It is no big surprise, I underestimated my time for the project. Every award, including the eighty-four medallions, is handcarved. I am pleased with how they turned out and am excited about the marathon placers being able to accept an award that was made with love and care, and that these pieces will travel all over the world. I am thankful to the marathon committee who selected me to create the awards for this first year event, and that I was able to inject my own artistic voice by offering my Herring Collectors Series design. Marathon week is coming up quick and I have lots of work to prepare before the EXPO on the 22nd. Lubec has not seen such a mass of people in our little town since Chris and I have lived here. What a fabulous vision Katherine Cassidy had for our  little town. She should be so proud to see her idea come to fruition. Lubec will never be the same!
 
And speaking of our little fishing village, things in general are coming to life. Summer Keys begins in a couple weeks, the farmer's market, lots of live concerts, restaurants are open and serving eclectic and delicious meals, new shops are opening. When we first moved here it was a ghost town. Now, Lubec is found in all kids of travel destination magazines and national newspaper articles, including June's issue of Down East Magazine. It's amazing to be living here to see this transition, the revitalization of a town that was, only ten years ago, desolate and depressed. The people here are strong. They have endured a lot of hardships, but somehow like the phoenix they have risen up out of the flames.
 
 


2 comments:

Carol Steel said...

Thank you for posting this schedule. I hope we will get to Lubec to see your work sometime this summer.

Unknown said...

I just love the photo of your foggy morning in Lubec!

http://bonniefaulkner.blogspot.com/