Saturday, October 24, 2015

Silence

Save these dates...two pottery events coming up!

 Cobscook Pottery Annual Holiday Sale

  
 November 6-8, 2015
At my shop/studio
Lubec, Maine
Fri. 3-7, Sat. and Sun. 10-4

Pottery, jewelry, encaustic painting, drawing
Refreshments, raffle, and holiday cheer!



Cobscook Pottery at the 
United Maine Craftsmen Show
 November 14th and 15th
At the Augusta Civic Center, Augusta, Maine
Sat. 9-4, Sun. 10-3


 Bouli, hanging with the art in studio main.


An early autumn bonfire.


 Mowry Beach has the biggest heart I've ever found.


 Hamilton Cove 


 Lubec pier on a foggy afternoon, high tide.


 A successful show this summer at Harlow Gallery in Hallowell, Maine


I enjoyed my first season as a resident artist at Crow town Gallery. 
I look forward to next summer with a line-up that includes three exhibits, intriguing artists, 
and live music.


 Lots of carving in prep for holiday sales.


 I'm about as messy as they come when it comes to potters!


 West Quoddy State Park


 Johnsons Bay, Lubec, Maine


 harvested some Chicken of the Woods Mushroom. Yummy!!!


 Sliced and ready to be dehydrated, wild Chicken of the Woods mushroom.


It  seems my weekly blog posts are a thing of the past but I felt the pull to begin writing again these past few days. Facebook covers the day-to-day happenings (of which there are plenty!) and so lots has piled-up from the past three months of eblogger silence.  There is too much to recap fully here so I will just leave it at it was a summer-into-autumn full of art, music, family, friends, and continuation of self-growth.

Mostly what I am reflecting on is all the change that has occurred in the past couple years. I think we all have times in our lives when things ramp up and lessons come at a speedier clip than normal. If I were to look back at blog posts from three or four years ago, I think that I would mostly find weekly work accomplishments listed in paragraph form. I could still do that, as life doesn't ever seem to really slow down. What has slowed, though, is my presence within the whirlwind of everything around me.

With the MFA behind me and a shifting of gears into the rhythm of pottery and art, I find that the freedom of flexibility in my schedule allows for deep reflection on a fairly regular basis. By nature, my work hours are dictated by the needs of the clay. Some days I am at it from wake until sleep and other days I may find myself only in the studio four or five hours (or not at all....rare but it happens!). In an effort to work on self-love, self-care has become one of the main focuses in my life. When I was teaching full-time, building the pottery business, and going to school, lots of things for my own well being were put on the back burner. I now fully appreciate the "little" things like being able to break in the middle of the day for a walk, exploration along the beach or in the woods, a solid meal, baths, meditation, sleep, time with friends, or an evening out.

I am a domestic nomad. I move from space to space at home determined by which spot feels most beneficial to creative expression. When carving, I may find myself outdoors (weather permitting) where I listen to birds and wind in the trees, or if cold or rainy, I may be plunked down in my favorite chair fireside. While my hands are preoccupied, my mind is free. I use that time to either gain new knowledge through youtube videos (there is lots of interesting stuff out there!!!) or I find myself (most often) sitting and working in "silence". Two years ago, this was something i would seldom do, as silence was uncomfortable. I filled every moment with sound.
Now it is something that I have come to crave. True silence I have not yet experienced, but the most basic level being removal of voice and the drone of mechanical sound, I partake in as often as I am able. Noise is ever present and I do not know that it can ever be fully escaped. The closest I can come is a winter day when power kicks out. In winter, there is a stillness, even if the howl of  wind passes over snowy white mounds. Electricity has a constant hum that we seldom notice until its presence ceases.

Intrigued I am, still, that even in those conditions that silence is not found. While meditating in a windowless, enclosed dark space a few nights ago, I could still hear my own heartbeat and breathing, along with the currents of energy passing through electrical cords to items I thought silent....alarm clock and heater.  It's interesting how loud a heartbeat sounds when all other devices are "off" and darkness surrounds.

So for now, "silence" means an inward focus on self and the experience of the relative quiet of nature. More and more I long for that space, fortunate to find on my walks in the woods or at the beach or at home during hibernations. As I find myself still at times racing against the clock with  my seasonal work schedule, I fantasize those short, dark days of winter when the most quiet silence descends for solitude and deep introspection.






Sunday, July 12, 2015

Summer Shows in Swing!



Crow Town Gallery 2015
First group show to open this week!
It is an honor to be included among this year's resident artists at Crow Town Gallery, alongside Bonnie Beard, Sheryl Denbo, and Stephen Dinsmore. 


Group Show #1 (all four artists): Opens Thursday, July 16 at 7:00 p.m.
Group Show #2 (all four artists): Opens Thursday,  August 13 at 7:00 p.m.

Sheryl Denbo Website
Stephen Dinsmore Website
Shanna Wheelock Website
Bonnie Beard Website


Something My-Sti-Cal
Nextdoor Gallery
Estport, Maine


Opening Reception
Friday, July 17th, 6:00-8:00 p.m.


Artsipelago Artist Studio Tour
July 18 and 19
10am-5pm eastern time
Come visit me during tour weekend for a glimpse at my studio and art practice!


Artsipelago Website


Traces: Vanishing Landscapes
August 28-September 19, 2015
Harlow Gallery, Hallowell, Maine

 The Silence Between
Ceramic, by Shanna Wheelock

Traces: Vanishing Landscapes” highlights the visions of three Maine artists who examine what is left behind as the state’s economy “modernizes” and shifts.  The exhibit offers an engaging and contemporary dialogue on changing Maine life that is relevant throughout the state.  At the same time, the deep personal connections that Sarah Brayman, Lisa Tyson Ennis and Shanna Wheelock bring to their subject matter ensures a heartfelt meditation on change, threading together sense of place and small-town life. Permeating these three artists’ visions is a respect for common objects, and the people who made, used or sold them. National and global trends, such as the international migration of industry, fisheries depletion, chain-store domination of retail, and reorganization and consolidation of education will be grounded in the concrete realities of the areas the artists call home: Lubec and Brunswick areas of Maine, as well as the Canadian isle of Newfoundland.  


Cobscook Pottery is OPEN for the season!

Pottery, art, jewelry. Open most days this summer by chance or appointment. Look for the OPEN flag and sign in North Lubec. I am always happy to open off hours to accommodate your needs. Just give me a call or send me an email through my website or facebook:
Cobscook Pottery on Facebook

It's 11:30 at night a few days before I deliver work for two shows and prepare for a weekend of open studio time in the Artsipelago tour. Aside from that, the shop is open most days and in between greeting customers I am nose to the grindstone creating art and pottery.

People who have known me for years know very well the kind of work pace I keep. In the past, a docket like this one  (toss in an art opening and two days of gallery sitting to the aforementioned list!) would have sent me into a total flurry of fluster. Amazingly, I am feeling quite calm. I AM the proverbial "eye of the storm."

I decided about a week and a half ago to take a short break from pottery production in order to find my groove in studio main. I have had some ideas for sculptural wall pieces that I call "Column Constructions" and decided to finally solidify those ideas. With the help of a local engineer who came over to brainstorm with me and several tubes of high test epoxy, it looks like I am good to go! I'm excited to be showing new work at Crow Town Gallery later this week, and as always, the opening reception will be a blast, complete with good eats, wine, and music.

This summer is a transition phase of sorts. In summers past I spent a chunk of time on the road vending pottery. This summer I am keeping it all closer to home to focus on four gallery exhibits. As well, the herring orders are piling up and at this point it seems most wise to stay put and keep creating. Hey, I won't argue with that!

It's a bit too late and I'm a bit too tired to get deep with this blog entry. For now, I will succumb to these droopy eyelids and get some much needed shuteye.

Loving summer in Lubec!

Sunday, May 31, 2015

Swinging Into Summer

The summer schedule is forming!
Stay tuned for updates!

Traces: Vanishing Landscapes
August 28-September 19, 2015
Harlow Gallery, Hallowell, Maine

 The Silence Between
Ceramic, by Shanna Wheelock

Traces: Vanishing Landscapes” highlights the visions of three Maine artists who examine what is left behind as the state’s economy “modernizes” and shifts.  The exhibit offers an engaging and contemporary dialogue on changing Maine life that is relevant throughout the state.  At the same time, the deep personal connections that Sarah Brayman, Lisa Tyson Ennis and Shanna Wheelock bring to their subject matter ensures a heartfelt meditation on change, threading together sense of place and small-town life. Permeating these three artists’ visions is a respect for common objects, and the people who made, used or sold them. National and global trends, such as the international migration of industry, fisheries depletion, chain-store domination of retail, and reorganization and consolidation of education will be grounded in the concrete realities of the areas the artists call home: Lubec and Brunswick areas of Maine, as well as the Canadian isle of Newfoundland.  


Crow Town Gallery 2015 Resident Artists
It is an honor to be included among this year's resident artists at Crow Town Gallery, alongside Bonnie Beard, Sheryl Denbo, and Stephen Dinsmore. We have three shows slated for the 2015 season. Please join us at the opening receptions, listed below:


Sheryl Denbo Solo: Opens June 25
Group Show #1(all four artists): Opens July 16

Home Gardeners' Fair
Sunday, June 7th
10am-3pm
Lubec Consolidated School


I'll be there with my pottery!

Join in a fun and educational event with workshops and vendors provided by local expertise. Come learn about raised bed construction, raising vegetables, companion planting, soil building, canning, homesteading with animals and much more. The annual Downeast Coastal Conservancy plant sale will be there, along with seedlings for sale. The event is sponsored by the Lubec Community Outreach Center (LCOC), Transition Lubec, Lubec Open Market, Herbminders of Maine, Coast of Maine and Old Sow Farm. For questions, please contact Heidi Herzeberger 733-4688

2015 Bay of Fundy International Marathon

Catch me and my Cobscook Pottery wares this June at the:

Bay of Fundy International Marathon Expo
at Lubec Consolidated School
Saturday, June 27th
9:00 am  - 6:00 pm eastern time

Marathon Street Fair
Sunday, June 28th
Downtown Lubec
9:00 am -3:00 pm

Also note: there is a fair on Campobello Island on Saturday, too, with music and crafts. Grab your passport and head on over!! You'll find more detailed info on the marathon website, listed above.


Lubec Farmers' Market
Saturdays 9:00-11:00 am
Beginning June 13th

I'll be there vending my wares most Saturdays this summer! I tend to skip out on rainy days and occasionally have to miss due to other engagements. Either way, it's a wonderful way to spend your Saturday morning with yummy locally grown and prepared foods, arts and crafts, and live music!


Artsipelago Artist Studio Tour
July 18 and 19
10am-5pm eastern time
Come visit me during tour weekend for a glimpse at my studio and art practice!
Artsipelago Website


Cobscook Pottery is OPEN for the season!

Pottery, art, jewelry. Open most days this summer by chance or appointment. Look for the OPEN flag and sign in North Lubec. I am always happy to open off hours to accommodate your needs. Just give me a call or send me an email through my website or facebook:
Website Email
Cobscook Pottery on Facebook



   


My primary winter and spring pottery project has been creation of this year's marathon awards. It's down to the wire now!!! I'm just finishing up the last set of age category medallions. Bouli has been keeping and eye on production, as you can see.


The Enkindled Spring
by D.H. Lawrence
This spring as it comes bursts up in bonfires green,
Wild puffing of emerald trees, and flame-filled bushes,
Thorn-blossom lifting in wreaths of smoke between
Where the wood fumes up and the watery, flickering rushes.

I am amazed at this spring, this conflagration
Of green fires lit on the soil of the earth, this blaze
Of growing, and sparks that puff in wild gyration,
Faces of people streaming across my gaze.

And I, what fountain of fire am I among
This leaping combustion of spring? My spirit is tossed
About like a shadow buffeted in the throng
Of flames, a shadow that's gone astray, and is lost.

Barnacles and weed at Mowry Beach, Lubec.

A foggy day in downtown Lubec.



Boats in Johnson Bay, Lubec, Maine.


The annual Tide Mill farms seedling sale, heralding the start of planting season.
I snagged a few of my favorites, of course!!!


Old mill exterior, Grafton, Vermont

My sister and I had a night out in Portland, enjoying the the music of Xavier Rudd and The United Nations. This was my first time to Port City Music Hall, and I loved the venue!
Thanks for the photo, Chris Jandreau!


Bello with a carved scallop pot.

I've been away from blogging lately (I probably start most blog entries like this now!). It's taking some focus to get back in the groove and I hope to keep a more regular schedule. The positive point to this absence is that I have been keeping myself busy with various projects and even a bit of socializing and travel. A self-admitted workaholic, I have been attempting to change my ways and sprinkle in a bit of fun now and again.

My love affair with Lubec is still going strong and I am looking forward to staying a bit closer to home this summer to focus on creative projects in my own backyard, so to say. As one of the resident artists at Crow Town Gallery, I will be "sitting" one day a week(come say hello!!!), plus keeping my own shop open, and participating in the farmers' market. With the addition of two exhibits at Crow Town Gallery and one at Harlow Gallery in Hallowell, my work flow will be more varied this summer. Usually summer months are devoted wholly to pottery production, but this summer I am looking forward to sculpture, painting, and drawing....once I get shops stocked and marathon awards done and delivered, that is!

I also look forward to seeing the usual suspects this summer as they begin to filter back into Lubec. Beach walks are becoming a bit more pleasant with warmer temps and I sure am glad to see that the snow has finally melted in full. What a winter that was! I love all the seasons, even winter...but shoveling...not so much. Now it's all about blooming flowers, green trees, happy birds, peepers, and soon fire pits and fireflies. Live music never skipped a beat here, even in the coldest and darkest of days. I'm thankful for my friends who keep that rolling! And for all my crazy dancing friends!

Now to leave this laptop and move my way toward the cave for an afternoon and evening pot trimming session.

A potter's work is never done.

But that's a good thing!


Tuesday, March 3, 2015

Perceptions

Winter Blues
Pirate's Creek, Lubec, Maine

 Icy Reflection
Pirate's Creek, Lubec, Maine

 Missing Mowry Beach, warm wind, and the sound of waves.

 Downtown, snowed-in.
Lubec, Maine

Buried in snow.

 Me, after shoveling many feet of drifted snow. (See photo above!)
What a winter!

 
Sea smoke on Johnson's Bay
Lubec, Maine

 Icebergs at Pirate's Creek
Lubec, Maine

 
 The Fieldguides, heating things up on a cold winter night at Crow Town Gallery.
Speaking of Crow Town Gallery, I am excited to be part of the artist collective this summer, along with Bonnie Beard, Sheryl Denbo, and Stephen Dinsmore.
Check back for more info and exhibit schedule.

 
 Bello and Bouli sneaking in some cuddle time on their crazy cat mama's lap and legs.
It's hard to get work done with two cute cuddle bugs in tow.
 
 Sharon, Katie, and Erika on the bench, my thesis drawings above.
Holly Garner-Jackson, at Woodwind Gallery and Framers in Machias, did an awesome job framing my work for the show!

 "Rising"
Ink on Arches Hot Press, 22" x 30", Shanna Wheelock, 2014

 "Source"
Ink on Arches Hot Press, 22" x 30" Shanna Wheelock, 2014

"Merge"
Ink on Arches Hot Press, 22" x 30", Shanna Wheelock, 2014

Ghost of me, with Dean Susan Wilder, 
at Heartwood College of Art MFA graduation ceremony.


I'm in the midst of one of my winter hibernations. The past few months picked-up intensity as I rounded out five years of graduate studies. As of last month, I am the official recipient of an MFA degree. Thesis work kept me secluded much of September through January, but the drawings were finished and the paper written. I suppose one would wonder why, after nearly five months of minimal human interaction, I would find yet another retreat from the outside world necessary.

I found the process of writing a thesis, though a somewhat sedentary procedure, to be taxing on my body, mind, and spirit. I have a new found respect for writers and the struggle to find just the right words to express an idea. While I have an amazing ability to focus on project-at-hand, I also have a mind that scatters in a zillion directions at once, hopping from idea to idea. It was a challenge to narrow all that I wanted to say into a concise paper without my typical rambling. When all was said and done, I felt that what truly inspired me and snagged my interest most was contained (and only hinted upon) to perhaps one-quarter of the entire dissertation. I likely will not be truly happy with my words until I take that one idea and expand upon it, giving it the full attention it deserves.

Coming off graduation and thrust into a series of intense winter storms of record-breaking proportions, I was relegated Queen Shoveler for about three weeks running. Having lived through forty-five Maine winters thus far, I can say that this was the most snow that I have ever been privy to. Back-to-back blizzards did not afford my mind much else to think about other than how to get the snow moved so that the car would not be forever stranded in the barn. The whole town was in a bit of a tizzy with broken plows and highly-drifted and impassable roads. Needless to say, as hearty a Mainer as I am, I am feeling ready for spring to emerge. Bring on the daffodils and daily beach walks. Please.

I am taking this week to "regroup". The phone is off and internet connection is minimal. I will not venture out unless absolutely necessary. It is not people that I run from, rather, it is me that I run to. I use this time for self-care and to re-focus my thoughts. In the height of spring, summer, and fall when production, vending, exhibiting, and running the shop is in full swing, time for such personal reflection is fleeting at best.

During one of these recent introspective moments, amongst glazing, shoveling, meditating, drawing, and kitty-snuggling, I thought about "Perceptions." Follow as best you can...stream of consciousness is at work here.

We all have a perception of who we are.

In a recent small-group discussion, it became clear to me that each one of us has a strong self-perception based on how we feel we are perceived by others. I concluded from this that our perception of ourselves is distorted. We build our personal perception on what we perceive others to perceive of us.

(Have I lost you yet?)

Basically, we believe what we are told over and over, irregardless of the truth.

Beyond that, we often have a false perception of what others truly perceive.

For instance, I have been told that, through the eyes of some, that I am a type A personality. They see me as someone who is always working, professionally-driven, on-the-go, plagued by anxiety of the deadline. I came to believe this to be true. I have come to realize, however, that this is NOT who I am. Yes, I work hard. Yes, I am focused. Yes, I get cranky now and again. However, it is not in line with the inner me, with what feels to be a natural, peaceful, relaxed way of being. Only a small handful of people perceive me as a Type A, (or I perceive them to!) yet, I allowed my perception of their perception to in part define me. There is no fault, as each person bases their perception on their own experience, whether it is in relation to the self or to others.

This makes me question all perceptions that I have, not only of my self, but of everyone.

When I hibernate, I feel total peace. The flow is simple, graceful, and relaxed. I begin to touch base with my true essence. I realize that I am not a type of personality, nor am I a potter, artist, or teacher.

I am, most simply, everything and nothing at once.

I am a conglomerate of all that exists, yet I am less than everything that people perceive me to be.

Each of us is a single great being, and each of us is a tiny cell in the universe. This universe is a tiny cell in a greater existence. We are both the creator, and the created.

We over-exaggerate our role and our importance on an individual level, yet on a greater level, we underestimate who and what we are.

Our distorted perception of ourselves is based on others distorted perceptions of us.

And none of it is real.