Among the Living

As silent as I have been here for so long, and as embarrassing as it is to see when my last post was, I thought I would let you all know that I am still among the living! There have been some big changes since February, and though I made a few posts about it on Facebook, I am sorry that I remiss in doing so here.

Where have I been? Well, I accepted a job as the Head of the Ceramics Department at Jeffrey S. Evans & Associates. It was an opportunity that I didn't feel I should pass up and an experience I thought would be worthwhile pursuing. You might notice that if you follow the link that it is in Virginia, which has given rise to a lot of traveling between two states, but fear not, we are keeping the farm for now, and I am not taking down my kiln!

A case loaded up with ceramics I cataloged.

What am I doing? I work at an auction house cataloging a majority of the ceramics that come in for consignment. We do about 15 auctions each year, and around half of those will have ceramics in them. The auction house specializes in glass, so the other part of those sales are for glass. In some respects, is very different from working in a museum, particularly the pace, which is one thing that still throws me off occasionally. In other respects, it is similar to museum work and researching objects.

A beautiful white salt-glazed stoneware plate I got to handle and catalog for a sale earlier this year. 

Handling so many things is probably one of the highlights of the job, and getting to learn about such a variety of material is kind of exciting.

Creamware coffeepot with floral hand-painted design.

New Hall English teapot with paneled, molded sides. 

Though my passion for stoneware still remains, I have found an interest in creamware and learning more about pearlware and delft or tin-glazed earthenware.

I've had some time to do a few workshops at Historic Eastfield for their "Dish Camp", the Historic Deerfield Summer Fellowship, and with the Winterthur Program incoming class. I was particularly honored to do the Winterthur program since that is where I graduated from with my Master's.

Trying some different shapes for baskets.

And I am still making pottery. It soothes my soul and gives me the opportunity to focus on some new forms, hone some older ones, and try some new avenues. So, stay tuned for the new adventures!

There are never enough mugs!

There has also been a lot of this:

Engineer in training.

And a lot of this, as my son has become enamored with tractors (go figure!):

A love of tractors!

It's really hard to believe that it has been over 1.5 years since he was born. Motherhood is the best project I have done yet in my life, and I am thoroughly enjoying it. Mary Farrell with Westmoore Pottery has told me on numerous occasions that raising her children was the best thing she ever did, and I am fully in agreement. We haven't done the "baby in the clay" photo shoot yet, but I am sure it is coming!