Helping the Oregon Food Bank

Call to action -

In addition to volunteering when the OPA works at the OFB in October, there is another opportunity happening right now, and the Food Bank needs our help.

I received the below information this week and if you've got a few mintues, and want to help out, read the following and follow the link.

So far 8050 has taken the pledge to help.

Hello OFB Volunteer Community!

Remember back in March when we participated in the "We Can Do This" challenge? Thanks to your help, we won a truckload of food equivalent to 150,000 meals!

Now there's another opportunity to win Oregon another truckload of food! September is Hunger Action Month, and Feeding America is asking people who care about hunger issues to pledge to take action. The food bank that receives the most pledges wins!

All it takes is a few clicks. Here's what to do:

1. Visit our website: http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?llr=6jeyz8n6&et=1103698029669&s=30106&e=001AKwlfPegpzcR_4D4AfBfdkSDKj7f7Y77jZlcSQ8LTZLXj3uWfm7Oi88BmY-PA6rzsDw_042AjIMnTX3kkL-h4yQHbw9S0bgHmJ7X81mACZG19FRf28hIzlnLs8uSOc9S
2. In the bottom left corner of our home page, you'll see an orange box called "Take the Pledge".
3. Add your name, email address and zip code and click "Pledge Now".

That's it! Competition will be fierce, so please tell your friends in Oregon!

Thanks so much! If you'd like to keep up-to-date on positive actions you can take to help fight hunger in Oregon, join us on Facebook by clicking here.

Linkin' Up with the OPA

If you are in Portland tomorrow, Monday, Labor Day, stop by the OPA tent at Art in the Pearl. We'll be across from the Museum of Contemporary Craft for the day introducing kids to clay.

Tomorrow marks the third year in a row for the Links project and with 600+ links and counting, it will be an amazing day. Twelve OPA members will be volunteering throughout the day to introduce the kids to what they do in their studios each and every day. I have been so fortunate to have working alongside me for each of the past three years, Dawn Panttaja. On his second year in the booth, Mark Chapman. And joining us for the first time, OPA President, Margaret Synan-Russell, Showcase Chair Brenda Scott and fellow OPA Board Members, Denise Krueger and Tamara Bryan as well as fellow members, Melissa Ray, Chayo Wilson, Barbara Hertel and Rosemary Tobiga.

It is going to be a great day in the Park Blocks and I hope you stop by and say hi.

Creative Block

So my question for all of you out there is...How do you get out of a funk? When you are having a creative dry spell or feeling uninspired or unmotivated, what is it that gets you going again? Do you have tips? I can find all sorts of advice and techniques for writers block or for 2D artists, but I don't feel they apply to potters. I'd love to hear what you do.

thoughts on handmade

At a recent OPA meeting we were all trading ideas and thoughts and Finance Committee member, Cynthia Clother, shared a thought by her son, Chris.

"I feel rich in life when I eat out of something homemade."

I can't think of a better way to state it. Everytime I open my cupboard and reach for a bowl, mug or teabowl, I cherish all of the handmade pottery that fills my cupboard and my life.

I hope you'll share your riches, too.

A Rookie's Meanderings

There is so much to learn in the world of ceramics. Not just in the methods and techniques of creating ceramic work, but also in relationships, networking, collaboration, sales, business etiquette, and the list could go on forever. Being a relatively new and young ceramicist myself, I am learning so many new things every year, in all of the said realms. What I would like to focus here however, is the art of the craft fair.

Entering this world can bring about many new learning experiences, whether they are learned the hard way, or whether they are shared by kind individuals you come across along the way. There are so many things to learn about! What kind of canopy should one get? What color should the top be? How should the booth be set up? Where did they get those nice display shelves? Is there an easier way to transport all this work? How should I price my items? I could fill volumes with the questions I have asked myself about the world of art fairs, and the answers I have found.

I have learned many things by trial and error--for example, recycled plastic shopping bags may not be the most elegant way to present sold work to a customer (though of that I am still guilty, I must admit). This summer I learned something else though, something which inspired me to write this blog. I learned that there are so many nice people in the art fair world that are most willing to offer helpful advice and conversation. I have had many insights and learned many things about how to improve upon what I am doing--all from fellow artists generously sharing their experiences and information.

This also led me to the realization that many who attend these art fairs are not competitors or rivals of any sort; rather they are comrades, friends, and smiling faces who want you to do well, who want the world of art to continue thriving. Every art fair, gallery opening, and art function I attend I find myself learning something valuable. For that I would like to extend a big THANK YOU to all those friendly artists who make creating and selling artwork that much better.

Ai Weiwei - Dropping the Urn @ MoCC

If you're down in the Pearl - check out the latest exhibition. And if you still haven't seen the works on David Shaner, they are still on display. Two great exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Craft.

Ai Weiwei: Dropping the Urn

Ceramic Works, 5000 BCE – 2010 CE

July 15 – October 30, 2010

Curated by Richard Torchia and Gregg Moore

This exhibition of internationally acclaimed artist Ai Weiwei features his iconoclastic use of Neolithic vessels, blue-and-white Qing and Yuan dynasty replicas, and a work that consists of one ton of “sunflower seeds” crafted from porcelain. This artist’s first solo museum exhibition in the United States makes its West Coast debut at Museum of Contemporary Craft.
The exhibition is accompanied by a fully-illustrated catalog featuring four essays commissioned for the exhibition and appearing in both English and Chinese translation. Essays include contributions by Philip Tinari, Dario Gamboni, Stacey Pierson, and Glenn Adamson, as well as the first English translation of an interview with Ai originally published in his White Cover Book (1995). The exhibition catalog is produced in collaboration with Office for Discourse Engineering, a Beijing-based editorial studio, and will be distributed in the U.S. by RAM Publications.

Sara Swink @ Hanson Howard Gallery

OPA Member Sara Swink will be showing at the Hanson Howard Gallery in Ashland beginning with the Open Reception August 6, 2010 from 6:00pm - 9:00pm. The show will run through August 31. If you are in the Ashland area, stop by the gallery.

Sara's figurative ceramic sculpture explores ideas about how the natural world intersects with one's psychological nature in a new body of work called "One's Own Nature".

Also being shown: Paintings by Kentree Speirs


Hanson Howard Gallery
82 North Main Street
Ashland, OR 97520-2782
(541) 488-2562

Meet an OPA Member: Meaghan Kunzman

Three things about Meaghan that have nothing to do with clay.

1. Likes to kayak
2. Has a yellow dog. Molly
3. Grew up in Florida. West Palm actually

Studio Visit - Susan Roden

Over the past few months we've been taking a peak into the studios of our OPA members. Here is a peak at the new kiln that OPA Member, Susan Roden, has built and the results from her first firing.

Susan writes: "A year ago, I took down my gas-fueled pottery kiln, that I had built about 25 years ago. It took me almost nine months to build a new kiln on the same spot. This time I made it able to fire both natural gas (propane) and/or wood.

I knew that the pots would be different and I had many expectations, though I tried not to get my hopes up too high.

The first wood-fueled firing was Saturday, June 19. After a few days of cooling, it was opened Tues, June 22.

I was very pleased with the results.

Empty Bowls to feed the hungry

It's that time of year again, Blues Festival Time, and that means it's time to check out the Oregon Food Bank and OPA booth were they will be selling hand crafted bowls to help feed the hungry. You can find more about the story of empty bowls on our website, www.oregonpotters.org.

So go down to the Waterfront Blues Festival this weekend July 2 - 5, gates open at 11 am and close at 10pm. Listen to some great music and buy a beautiful bowl for yourself or a gift and know you are supporting a great cause.