Monday, April 21, 2008

Micaeous clay, blue beveled beaded bowl.




My English teacher would be so proud of me. That was a lovely use of alliteration. I had to look up that word, and it is in fact, correct! Here is a glimpse of a bowl/vessel I just finished in micaeous clay. This one is particularly smokey. For more info on micaeous clay visit this link.

Here is a detail of the side view:


After I pit-fired it outside my studio, I sewed beads onto it using silk thread pulled through beeswax. Little seed pearls on the underside help to hold the glass beads in place. I have a similar one I use on my dresser for jewelry. You could also use it to contain sage or lavender or anything else that takes your fancy. For more details click here! You can see a slide show with the images LARGE here.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Parlez's Bird's Eye View



Holy Toledo Catwoman how am I gonna get down from this pole? Actually, I think I can actually see Toledo. It took me about 4.5 seconds to shimmy up, but the gettin' down is another thing entirely. Not one squirrel in sight but I can sure see a lot of other things. Like momma for instance, with that black box she's always carrying around and pointing at me. 

Alrighty, now that I've chewed on my tail and twizzled around a few times I guess it's time to disembark the pole. Sometimes you just have to go for it. Just look at that expression of focus and determination. And prayer.


Made it. 
If you'd like to view these photos a little larger, you can click here!

Sunday, April 13, 2008

Water Flowing Together Link

And here's the link. Oops!   Incidentally, most of my posts  have the link attached to the title as well. Just in case I space... 


Water Flowing Together

Our local PBS station aired a wonderful documentary last night from their Independent Lens series called, Water Flowing Together (named for the Navajo clan of which Jock, through his mother, is a part). Even if you are not interested in dance, if you are into inspiration, you may want to check this out. Gwendolen Cates did a wonderful job portraying his story. 

You can find out more about Jock and the film here. Here's a screen grab from part of the film, a mini version of which can also be viewed at the aforementioned link. Jock Soto is the boy standing to the right of Peter Martins, NYC Ballet's Artistic Director (I believe that's his title). At the age of 14 or so Jock was one of the last recruits to the company by the late George Balanchine. From what I could see Jock embodies all of what a great and true dancer is: Spirit, Grace, Strength, Discipline, Determination, Collaboration; and did I say, Spirit and Grace? Wow. Enjoy!

Monday, April 7, 2008

Parlez Plays Ping Pong


I think he's a righty.