PAULA J. BARRY

  Its been  a grueling summer, heat wise.  Gardening or lack there of, has been effected by the drought.  I to, have been effected by the drought.  A studio drought.  My home has a.c., so why would I go into a 90 degree studio to work.  Out of necessity I have brought some small projects into the house to work on, but it is not the same as working in the studio…I can make a big mess in my studio, and no one even notices….  a little clay here or there in the house…well, it gets noticed.  Clay is just an interesting product.  I work, I get cleaned up (so I think), then while at the grocery store, I start to notice, the clay on my arm, that I thought I got!  or the clay on my legs and feet!  Yup, I love working in the summer, barefoot….its great!  I feel like an old hippy.  But as you clay junkies know, you never get the stuff off you unless you take a real shower.  Cleaning up with a paper towel just doesnt work…….if you know what I mean

  Anyway, heat wave or not, the kiln will be running tomorrow, with a bisque firing.  It is full of hope, the kiln.  I have made a lot of test tiles/cups for experimenting with, because I have got to get my act together NOW!  I was thrilled to be juried into the League of NH Craftsmen 5 years ago. BUT, the work that got me into the League, was primarily art pottery, which is lovely, but in this economy, I must make mugs and small priced items to keep things going.

  I have one line of pots, that is pretty much established and I am happy with the progress.  I have my eye on two other lines, of which I have got to work the bugs out.  I get so itchy, and it is very hard to commit to something…which is another issue!  So, the kiln is loaded and ready to go in the morning…  there will be numerous glaze tests to run in the next two weeks…boy, I hope I am happy with how that goes…stay tuned for the details.

  Tomorrow is expected to be another day in the 90′s, but if I get out in the studio early enough, I may be able to create a few goodies.  wooo whooooooo.

  I survived the League of N.H. Craftsmen Fair, with only a few bumps and bruises.  It was wonderful to see familiar faces appear at my booth.  It is just a great feeling to see them, students, fellow potters, family and good friends.  Even a fan from facebook introduced herself. 

  I have been quite busy updating my online store, on 1000 Markets.  You can access this by clicking the link, or by scrolling down the right hand column of my website.  There are new pieces, and update (lower prices) and (lower shipping costs), on most items.  Keep an eye peeled, as there will be new items being added to the store on a regular basis.

  Classes resume in September.  You can access this information on the website under Classes and Workshops.  The Pipeline Pottery (formerly, Out on a Limb Pottery), has been repainted, and renovated in a great way.  The potters wheels look over the Nashua River, where we view some sights.

  6 Days left before set-up  for the League of NH Craftsmen Fair, Aug 7-15.  I have been preparing to packup the two vehicles with booth display items, pottery, bags, a chair, flooring, tools,  lighting and the list goes on.  My sleep has been distrubed as I mull over my to -do list in my head (even though I do have a list written down).  I also have to pack clothing and food for myself.  Even though this is just  for a week considerations for all sorts of weather must be made.  Will the brutal 90 degree and humid days of July, continue into August?  Will it be chilly?  Will it  rain the majority of the time, as it did several years ago?  Frequent fair goers know just what the rain can mean being on the side of the mountain….very wet feet.  Personally I would prefer 72-76 degrees and dry.

  There are other things to consider as well.  I worry about my family.  I will create numerous lists.  Pet care lists, husband care lists, how to keep the house cool and comfortable list.  I know they can think for themselves, but this is something I do and worry about.  Will my husband choose cheese and crackers every night or will he eat something prepared or that has been frozen for him.  Will the dog get what she needs?  Though she certainly will clue the guys in if she has been neglected.  Will the poor dog sit by the door waiting for me, or will she settle down on the couch watching for my return with one eye opened…. I feel really bad about this.  It’s a mom thing.

  Back to me…. I cant wait!  It has been my working vacation for several years.  The energy at the fair is contagious and there is so much to see and do.  Demonstrations are set up by numerous craftsmen.  I do love the demonstrations, seeing and learning to appreciate what goes into the craft.  A lot of years and love go into what each and everyone does.  You can see in the demonstrators faces and hands how much they care about their art.

 Please come by and say hello.  I will be in tent 5, booth 517.

  Attached is a photo of my booth, pottery, and assorted gear waiting to be placed in the truck and car.  It is hard to imagine all of this, and more (still in the garage) will fit in a 10 x 10 booth space.!  I envy jewelers.

The excitement is building. I am doing the last glaze firing today for the League of NH Craftsmen Fair.  AUGUST 7-15.  I have quite a bit of organizing to do yet.  It usually takes us most of a day to set my booth up, and get the pottery  into the booth. The fairgrounds are a bit uneven to say the least, an incredible amount of energy is spent just making the booth and displays level.  But the efforts are worth it.  The energy at the fair is contagious, its wonderful to see old friend.

I will be in tent 5!!!  Booth 517, please come by to say hello.

   It has been a busy few months getting ready for the largest craft fair that I participate in.  The League of New Hampshire Craftsmen Fair, Newbury NH.  It is a wonderful event, and I am quite proud to be a participant.

  I have been busy creating new lines of work as well as expanding on my current lines.  Glazing and firing, packing and other preperations seem to take over my summer.  But it is worth every minute.

I hope you will be able to attend this fair, as I dont think there is anything else like it….at least for me.

When you see my work, I hope you smile.  Inspired by Van Gogh, Dr. Seuss and Walt Disney.

 My kiln is in my studio, and I dont have a very good ventilation system. This situation forces me out of the studio to do other things around the house. One of my other passions are my gardens. They look fantastic right now.

Sometimes the best way to understand why and artist creates what they do, is to see what inspires them.  You then have a better understanding of their work.  So I thought I would share with you some of my sketches while working out design ideas.

Clearly I still have to work on my photography skills…..

  It has been a crazy month creating work.  I am in the process of making and firing work for the League of NH Craftsmen Fair.  I seem to be creating work faster than I can fire it though…it will all work out in the end.  My hope is to be done “making” work by mid June, finish firing by first week of July.  This would allow me to relax, lol.  I hope to finish the firings for the summer early July, as I find it difficult to fire during the summers thunderstorms and possible power outages. 

Bisque ware piling up

  July will be the month to pull things together for the fair.  Pricing and packing goods, packing my own things for a 9 day working vacation.  The fair is so much fun.

  My youngest daughter took photos yesterday for my slide show.  My oldest daughter is designing my new business cards.  This certainly is a group effort.

  New work has been created this season, and will make it’s debut in August.  There is always room for Ice-cream. 

Ice-cream bowls

  Everytime I create the pots for the horse hair firings, I say “never again”.  The burnishing process is tedious to say the least.  I use a clay body that I dont use for any of my other pottery, I set aside time to throw just the horse hair pots, and burnish them in their leather hard state.  My goal is to create enough pots to fill the top shelf of the kiln…and fire them all in one event.

  The firing is the exciting part of the process, and  it is amazing to see the results. It makes all of the preperation worth it.  Maybe I will make more of these pots….

Horse Hair Pot

  It has been so much fun teaching class this session.  I had a great group of students, who were all new to clay and were unaware of the challenges ahead.  Our motto was “don’t get attached”.   Soon the students realized what was meant by that.  We all get so excited by taking on a new challenge, and we hope the pieces come out really well.  We want to keep each and every piece we make, whether it is jewelry, woodworking, weaving or clay.  It takes time to look back at our work and be truly objective….

  Working with clay is so rewarding and the possibilities seem endless.  But we learn quite quickly that there are several stages to making a vessel, and at each step, a possibility for failure.  In our class most of the students chose to keep every piece, as they are their first pieces.  We learned to adapt and make changes to the piece when a mishap occured, trying to make it a tad more pleasing to look at.  This may seem like cheating, but there are skills learned while improvising.

  Take a look at these photos of the classes work.