Planting Party

Life has been SO busy lately that I completely forgot to mention the 'Planting Party' my friend Lori and I hosted last week.

What is a Planting Party you ask? Well, it's something I read about years ago in Better Homes & Garden Magazine. As spring approached I remembered the article and asked Lori if she'd be interested in hosting one together... And because A) I didn't feel like cleaning... and B) Lori's home sits on the Elk Neck River (gorgeous views)... I suggested we hold the party at her house. I know, I'm such a good friend.

Anyway, I made invitations and we invited a bunch of close friends from Art Space, the clay studio where I used to work. The guests were completely confused by the invitations because they'd never heard of a 'Planting Party' before and assumed they were being invited over to help Lori plant her garden. They thought they were being asked to provide flowers for this task. The guests who responded with an emphatic yes, before understanding the logistics are considered 'Keepers'.

Here's the way the party works:
Each guest brings a flat of flowers or greenery, annuals or perennials.
Each guest also brings any manner of containers, hanging baskets, pots, window boxes.
Each guest may also want to bring a trowel and garden gloves.
The host(s) supply the potting soil.
I also provided fragrant hand soap, nail brushes and lotion which I purchased at the $ store.
Once everyone is gathered together the planting begins. One could worry that you might be saddled with 10 flats of geraniums but the choices for our party were numerous and even though we'd hosted this party for a group of potters (think plethora of hand thrown clay pots) there were flowers left over.
Once the planting is complete, everyone gets washed up for lunch.

As the hosts of the party, Lori and I provided all the food... However, a pot-luck would work well too. For our particular party we had hoped to eat outside on the deck, looking out over the river... Unfortunately the weather was dark and dismal, sloppy and rainy (we set up our planting station on 2 long tables just inside the garage)... The weather turned out to be perfect for our newly planted flowers which received a gentle first watering by Mother Nature herself.

For food we served 'Chinese Chicken Salad' with rolls and Lori made an delicious Curried, Fruited Rice. There was a lovely fruit platter and I made a Tropical Waldorf style Trifle which received rave reviews.

After the food we all sat around and visited. There were roughly 10 of us, if I remember correctly. I'm still angry at myself for forgetting my camera. The party started at 11 am and I think the last guests left around 3 pm. Each with their own pots and containers filled with the flowers shared by friends. Here's some pics of my container... I took these this morning and am thrilled to see how everything is growing with such gusto!

Getting To Know An Artist

At ASoM the members of the studio, myself included (yipee!) are gearing up for a gallery showing on April 6th. We're all working hard at putting together pieces that will display our varying styles of pottery.

I've been put in charge of collecting Bio's for each member. The Bio's will serve to let the public know a little about the artist and connect more with a piece they may decide to purchase. One of the members at ASoM, I'll call her Sandy, surprised me when she explained that the idea of a Bio made her terribly uncomfortable. Let me explain that Sandy is an amazing potter, with an incredible imagination. Sandy, above all the members seems to me, the epitome of an 'Artiste'... She's studied pottery from various teachers and is planning a trip to Thailand in the fall to study clay under an instructor there. Sandy was the one person out of the group who said, "I just don't want to give people the impression that I think too highly of myself, a bio seems so pretentious, I don't want to pretend to be something I'm not." That's when all the rest of us felt like we couldn't come up with a Bio if Sandy couldn't... Because she's THE potter. Eventually we talked her into the Bio idea and she's given me a couple of photos to choose from of her with her beloved horses.

My initial reaction to Sandy when I first met her was that she was a potter who took herself VERY seriously. She seemed every bit the confident artist. How surprising it was for me to find out that she's insecure about her abilities. It's automatically assumed that if someone is really good at something, they must also be extremely proud and confident of that ability.

I wonder... If you were to purchase a piece of art, would you prefer to have some sort of insight about the artist who created it. Maybe a way to get to know them on a personal level? Or do you think it's too pretentious?

'Merry Potter'

Here I am... Involved in my new favorite past-time... 'Throwing Pots'

I have yet to accomplish anything of 'Ghost' like proportions (ie. Demi Moore & Patrick Swayze's erotic scene on the wheel.)... Meaning, conspicuous phallic pieces that soar to a miraculous height. Mostly I'm achieving ramekin size bowls, mugs and creamer size pitchers.... But, oh the joy and serenity of molding a slab of clay into a completely unique piece of art... It's one of those skills that looks incredibly easy when you watch someone else do it, but try your own hand at it and you wonder how in the hell they make it look so simple???

At some point I'll post pics of a couple of my finished pieces but SOME of the people WHO I know read my blog, just might be receiving a certain item for Christmas and I'd really hate to minimize the surprise before they get a chance to open it. ;-)