End of the Road...

I appreciate all the support I have received and I thank you all.  Recent events in my life has led me to the end of this road and thus the end of this blog.  New doors have opened in my life (as they always do) and new adventures await.  I will always work with clay, just not to the extent that life has allowed me in the past.  Thank you once again for all your support and love!  -Potter Joe

Summer WorkShop!!!

Here we are again! We can get close and intimate during the summer workshop since there are typically less than 10 students (usually 6 or so) and we can really get down and dirty.

Of course, this does mean that summer vacation is kinda over, but Susan and I had a great time in Cozumel. You can click over to the right (Flickr Badge) and check out some awesome dive shots we got with our new IkeLite housing!

Looking forward to some good times this summer!

Oh the End is Near...

It's the end of the school year again and it's my favorite time. No, No, not because work is almost over for the year and summer is arriving, although this summer my wife and I will be enjoying a week of SCUBA in Cozumel and it's going to be AWESOME! Truth be told, I enjoy work and I kinda miss my students over the break...but I digress.

The end of the year is when my students are busiest. They typically don't need too much assistance from me and I get to really see what I've taught them and, most importantly, what my students have retained. Unfortunately, because of the latter, students are rushing their work and making rookie mistakes, ie not hollowing out their artwork which results in their pieces...well...in pieces.

I also get to push my kilns to the limit; firing after firing. I love the constant need to pack my kilns (Playing Tetris) and scheduling so that I maximize my time at work and get the students' artworks back to them in time for grading.

I do the best I can...

Students, time is limited, but don't rush your work. Good foundations will lead to great projects. Remember that in the studio and remember that in life.

Have a Great Summer!

NCECA K12Clay

Got all the works back from NCECA and a little surprise too!
My student, Elliott, received the Orton Foundation Cash Award for his Zebra Mask (See below)!

How cool is that!?

Monterey

Monterey is so beautiful...
We drove up the 101 and the valleys were so green because of the recent rainfall. We had a great time driving along the romantic 17-mile drive and enjoyed the MB Aquarium, albeit a bit busy. Most of all, I believe Susan and I enjoyed the food! The drive down was beautiful as well...we coasted down the Pacific Coast Highway (1). The ocean seemed so blue and I enjoyed the notion that perhaps we as a society were making the right ecological choices. I was told later that the water has a tendency to be more blue in the winter when it is more cold....oh well.

Along the drive down we did notice some "driftwood" along the coast which were in fact Elephant Seals! In the spirit of enjoying our drive down we extended our trip by another day and stayed in the sleepy town of San Simeon so that we could visit Hearst Castle (Man...WR Hearst was a rich man!) the next day before completing our trip.

Enjoy the pictures here!

NCECA: K12 Clay

NCECA sponsors an annual juried exhibition for k-12 students (http://www.k12clay.org/). I found out about this exhibit this year and decided to have some of my students submit some work.

Well, it turns out they had their largest turnout and received about 1,100 entries, 700 from 11th and 12th graders acrnoss the nation. 150 total entries were chosen to exhibit this year in Tampa at the NCECA Annual Conference and 4 of them are my students!!!

Elliot Zebra Mask:



Sarah's Giraffe Mask:


Kevin's Octahedral Spinner:


Rachel's Tea Set:


I'm so proud of my kids! You guys rock!

you can see the selection of other works chosen for this year here.

Tied the knot: Check!

So the big day came and went...so did the honeymoon!
I'm a married man! And not like it's an excuse or anything, but i've been too busy to blog.

Many aspects of our wedding were DIY and I it sure makes it more personable. From the invites and wedding program to the wedding favors that I made (Celebrate Series), it was down and dirty and a whole lot of fun.

Here is the invite along with the RSVP:


and the program:


and the wedding favors with place cards tied to bubble wands:


You can also see some shots of the complete set: Celebrate Series

It was an awesome night, thanks to my family and friends. We had a great DJ and Emcee. The food was terrific and so was the cake. I couldn't ask for a better evening...it was the best day of my life!


Best quote:
"Mr Lee, how was your marriage?" -student

Well...I'm still married so it must be pretty damn good!