Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Two Potters out in desolate rural Nevada







I took the landscape photograph above, in the old mining town of Tuscarora Nevada.
If you ever find yourself driving around the back and beyond areas of Northern Nevada U.S.A., there are some interesting artists and crafts people to be sought out. One is in the vicinity of the Black Rock desert where the Burning Man Festival http://www.burningman.com/takes place. ,it is called Planet X Pottery here's a link http://www.planetxpottery.com/.
I visited there some years back and bought a nice mug. unfortunately after much use I broke it.
Another favorite old ghost town full of artists is Tuscarora Nevada. It's in a rugged, hardscrabble setting, some 52 miles outside of the town of Elko Nevada. The famous potter Dennis Parks lives there with his family and his son, Ben, who now runs the pottery school out of the old Post Office. http://www.tuscarorapottery.com/history.htm
I have a few of Dennis Parks's pottery mugs, seen in the images above, as well as a signed, very well written book he wrote called "Living in the Country Growing Weird"
http://www.amazon.com/Living-Country-Growing-Weird-Adventure/dp/0874174848
Dennis Parks started out in academic life as an English Literature major.I found the book to be very informative and enjoyable. If you scroll down on the book link to the book description, you'll find the story very interesting.

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

New Work- custom dyed,hand spun,hand knit, semi- felted scarves






try saying that description quickly over and over again! I participated in a lovely successful craft show over the weekend. I'm having so much fun creating again, playing with color and texture. Color is such a welcome friend in winter. It really elevates one's spirits. The above photos are of two separate scarves