oh no, snow.

If I lay here long enough
still
the softly falling snow will create a casket around me
filling in each crevice
making my cocoon
an envelope of stillness
cold cold white.

Houston, we've had a problem.

Here I am at the Houston Hobby airport waiting to get on a standby flight to Las Vegas. We were supposed to be in and out of here, but our original flight was canceled, we rebooked, then when we checked into the airport this morning at Tampa we found out our connecting flight from Houston to Vegas was canceled too!! The only available flight was at 9:25pm, so we booked that and headed to Houston. We've been here for 4 hours and hope to get onto a flight at 6:35...but we'll see. Cross fingers.
Otherwise we'll be waiting for 3 more hours and I'll have nothing to do BUT homework. I'm not ready for spring break to end, but I'm also not ready to set up a home in Houston*.


*one bonus was going to lunch with Lauren. She picked us up from the airport and we hung out for a couple of hours.

What good is it to sing helplessness blues?

My trip out to Denver this weekend was wonderful. I had my interview on Saturday and I am wondering if I even want that job. So I may be back at the beginning of my search for "what do I do when I graduate?"

All I really can do it listen to this song, over and over.

my own time young

This past weekend, amidst the anxiety of finishing all the work for my final show, I decided to go to San Francisco. My friends were all going and there was space in the car for one more. We left Thursday and drove through the night, slept a few hours and then headed out to explore. I spent most of my time with Susan and Jesse. I haven't seen them in a year and they took me to a lot of wonderful new places in and out of the city.
We drove through the countryside, ate cheese by a duck pond, went to the old bath house (by the Cliff House) and the Musee Mechanique.
Susan loaned me her camera and I captured our whole adventure in hipstamatic style. Thanks for the great weekend!

just wondering

I can't stay in one place longer then a year. When did I become such a nomad?

Standing For Something

I am finally getting around to reading Pres. Hinckley's book. I couldn't even get through the first page without wanting to blog about it. Here's the first sentence, "Love is the only force that can erase the differences between people or bridge the chasms of bitterness." WoW! That's exactly what we need.
I really miss that man.

God bless us, everyone!

I wanted to send something special to my parents that they could open on Christmas morning. So the day before, Aaron and I made this video. We sent them an email that said they needed to check their email Christmas morning for Santa's surprise.
We hardly had time to practice and know it's not perfect, but the true meaning of Christmas is there: a big present and lots of bows!

connect

I love to analyze the energy/spirit people bring into my life. Each person provides a different atmosphere, phenomenologically speaking.

the greatest dad.

This weekend I reflected a lot on how wonderful my family is. I spent a lot of time with family as I stayed with Vanese's kids while she was at the hospital. I don't think I have given enough praise to my father and I would like to dedicate a paragraph or two to him...right now.
My dad is one of the best men I know. He was a wonderful father who took care of us in so many ways. He was always willing to tickle us, play creative games (like the rhino, CHARGE!!!), throw us around in the swimming pool, go camping, take us to the beach or to grandma's, and in general be there for us.
He is so generous with his time, talents and finances. He is willing to help anyone and has a sincere love for ALL people around him. Almost every night of my childhood Dad would come home and we would pray and eat together. He would ask us about our day and tell us funny stories about his. He always had a good joke to share and we would laugh together and then read scriptures. He would hug us and kiss us and carry us to bed if we fell asleep in the living room. (Sometimes we would pretend we were asleep so he would have to carry us anyway--we loved that.)
Some early mornings before seminary he would make us breakfast and share thoughts for the day. During my brother's last year of high school, in the morning he would read books to him out loud that would prepare him for a mission as my brother walked around the house getting ready for school.
He wanted to prepare us for life. He wanted to give us all the necessary knowledge we would need to be good citizens, people and saints. He truly taught us how to be happy and helpful in a world full of negativity and hate. My dad is honest, trust-worthy, smart, lively, positive, energetic, happy, unique, sincere, humble and vociferous.
He taught us how to garden, how to weed, how to work, how to play, how to eat healthy, how to practice, how to dance and how to gain a testimony and live the gospel.
He showed us how to be thankful and appreciate the bounteous beauty around us. So many nights and mornings he would pull us out of the house to see the sunrise or sunset. He would hike us up mountains so we could be on "top of the world" and lead us down canyons, through rivers and forest to show us his love for nature and all of God's creations.
You good-looking bear, don't you ever die. :)

oh so vogue

Tonight I drove into las vegas. I will always love descending into the valley at night. Here's a cell phone image of the scene:


I called up my sister to tell her I was on my way and she said my nieces were so excited to see me. They were telling her all the cool things we do together and how much fun we have. They told her we go to the park and play outside and do art, etc etc. But the 4 year old said that what makes me the best is because I am a good dresser. The 6 year old agreed that I am a really good dresser. I'm glad I could impress those girls.

let it snow.

we will just build castles.



love twin shadow.

Y O Y O Y O Y

seems like guys these days just want a fan club, not a help meet.

back in black

i love halloween.
here i am as a viking from denmark...give it up, because it's all holla's eve!

Svenske Sveske

The month of October has been different from the previous two I have spent here at Guldagergaard. I am finally getting the chance to learn Danish because the house is full of Danes! Before there was only one Danish speaker, so she rarely spoke Danish, but now they speak together all the time and I am getting more and more used to the language. I made my first good Danish joke this week when they taught me that "prune" was a term of endearment, like "pumpkin" in English. I remembered that Swedish sounded kind of like prune and thought it would be funny if you had a Swedish boyfriend to call him your "Svenske Sveske" (plus another arist came this past week, Gustaf from Sweden, so we call him that sometimes...)
Karen Lise said it gave me one gold star and that she hopes I can earn more gold stars with more good jokes in Danish.
We drove to Copenhagen this weekend. I decided to spend my last weekend in the city. I toured around by boat and on foot, went to a house-warming party for Katrine's friend and met up with my friend Caitlin's sister, Brittany who just moved here from the states because she married a Dane.
This weekend was a photo finish.

burning leaves of autumn

Denmark is shedding its leaves and leaving me solemn.
This October is more crisp then those I've passed before.
and I have recently discovered that the leaves are not more orange on the other side of the pond.
They are the same. Somehow I need to keep that fact present in my mind.
I went on a walk today around the lake and took some pictures of me falling into the light of autumn.

this week in ceramics

Like The (Potter's) Wheel.

This past week has been interesting at Guldagergaard. We have been working so hard this past month all together and this week 4 artists have packed up and headed back home. They were only staying for a month or two. So now I am at a point where I feel like I should be packing up, because I have worked just as hard, but I still have 3 weeks left here.
Now I am trying to refocus and think of things I want to do for my remaining time here. I made paperclay from some royal copenhagen slip casting clay. That was something I had never done before, but Claire and Merja were working in paper clay and they taught me how. I spread out layers of it slowly on big plaster slab and when it was thick enough I hand-built some tableware. They just came out of the bisque this week, so I am excited to glaze them. See below!
Last night I wrote out some goals so that I could manage my time well. Jody sold me her nice china porcelain clay for a reclaimed price, so now I can try to make some little sculptures that will be able to travel home with me.
Jody and I went to the post office yesterday because we decided mailing stuff home was the best solution. I bought a box and will mail stuff later this week. All of my sculptures are in an exhibition now, so I won't be able to mail them...I will just have to take what I can with me in a carry-on bag I bought from the second hand store last week and give the rest away as presents.
I am getting really excited to visit my parents in Romanis, finish school, graduate,and find a job...in that order. Von has been sending me info on different universities that are hiring ceramic professors. I feel like there are quite a few. That is good news for me.
Other good news is that there is an artist/designer working here, Rikke Hagen, who lives in Copenhagen and comes out to Guldagergaard a couple of times per month. I was feeling like I had too much time on my hands and she offered me a job being her assistant last week. So I will work for her a couple of days a week and get paid. Hopefully I can offset my living costs a little.
And in other good news, Mette offered me a job working their NCECA booth in Tampa this next March. I wasn't planning on going to NCECA, but wanted to be able to see Richard and Mette again. Then she told me I could have a free badge and she could pay me a little. WOW! So here I come Tampa. I've never been there before and I look forward to a new adventure. I will love to tell people about this place. I love Guldagergaard.

it finds you somewhere with your back to it

REAL LOVE.


Today I went to Slagelse, the closest big town to where I live. I was meeting some ladies from the church to use their sewing machine and fix some pants of mine. I ended up drawing a pattern for my backpack because one of the women wanted to make one just like it. So I measured all the pieces and showed her how I put it together. I still think that home-made backpack is a miracle.

After the sewing party, Christina and I went out to dinner at a Kebab restaurant downtown by the train station. She lives above the station so afterward she walked me there and we found out I had missed the bus by 3 minutes! If only we had left dinner a little sooner. Unfortunately, after 8pm the buses only run once an hour, so I had to wait for an hour to catch the next one. She waited with me and we talked about her future plans. She has dual citizenship, since her dad is American and I wondered if she would ever want to live in the US. I think she will apply to BYU for next year. Exciting!

Finally the bus came and we said our goodbyes (in English and Danish). The bus driver and this one guy were looking at us, but I just got on and moved to the middle of the bus. About 5 minutes later that guy came back and stood next to me and spoke to me in Danish. I said "what?" a few times and then he realized "You're not Danish." "No." He sat down beside me and we talked the entire way back to Skaelskor. He lives there with his family. He was flirting with me and wanting to know when he could see me again, etc, etc, but I never know how old guys are here (because the really young ones sometimes look really old!--I'm talking highschool teenagers looking like mid-twenties, no joke) I asked him his age and he said 22. Figures. Then he asked how old I was and he was shocked when I told him 28. He asked how old Christina was and I told him 20. He thought she was 16 and I was 19 or 20.
Thank you very much. I will take that as a compliment and start acting the age I look.

Here's a picture of my new found maturity.

recipes recipes recipes

Papa Was A Rodeo.
This week I have been glaze testing. I have mixed up a bunch of glaze recipes and seen one final product that I wasn't pleased with at all. I am used to certain results back in the states and my first test was a little disappointing. We have a few different materials and I had to do some substitutions. Those slight difference will change the mood of my work completely.
So I am tweaking my recipes and hoping for the best. We open the kiln tomorrow. Cross fingers.
Today I used a million more recipes in the kitchen. I wanted to make a cafe rio style taco salad, so I had to make the dressing! I found the recipe online, but didn't think I would be able to find ranch dressing anywhere, so I also found a recipe for that. I made buttermilk ranch dressing from scratch!!
Also for dessert I made a flan from scratch. I have never done that either. But I think I will do it more frequently now. I used this recipe and found it most delicious...so did everyone else!

I have been making bricks lately. Richard has a commission from the city of Copenhagen to make bricks to restore an old church in the city center. We have been moving clay to the mixer 80 kilos at a time, mixing more grog into it and then moving it back to the studio to wedge and form the bricks. Its a pretty arduous process and unfortunately last week I was sick for a couple of days. I had the stomach flu (or mild food poisoning) and stayed in bed for two whole days. Everyone told me I should go to the doctor, but I kept thinking it would be expensive, like in the states. Guess what? Its free...even for a non-citizen. Richard called the doctor and told them how I felt and then he put the doctor on the phone with me and we just talked over the phone. Then the doctor told me which medicine to get and that was it. Richard went and bought me the medicine, some yogurt and some apples. I was very grateful that he was around to take care of me.

I'm glad I finally feel better though. I hate not eating for days and feeling weak and tired all the time.

The three new artists that have come to the center this past week are Eva Funderburgh, Jody Greenman-Barber and Carol Grant. Carol and Jody both work in pottery and Eva makes hand built monsters. On Monday there is a throwing workshop with Takeshi Yasuda. He arrives tomorrow and the other participants will show up on Monday. I am excited to peak in on the workshop and learn a few things.






meal time is so nice time.

farvel

Dark Sedan.

I don't mind the transitory life style, making hello-s and saying goodbye-s. At Guldagergaard there are always artists coming and going. I have had a roommate, Claire from Ireland, since Aug 23rd, but she leaves tomorrow.
I will be sad to see her go. She is a great artist and she humored me when I wanted to listen to this song one-million times these past three weeks. TAK for that!

Three new artists came last week. Two from Cananda and one from the US. I'm sure they will have plenty to offer my studio practice and life in general. I love learning from everyone, hearing their stories and sharing meals together.
Tonight I cooked a Mediterranean style meal. There were 8 of us at dinner, but I think I made enough for 16. I have a lot to learn about food preparation. But too much is better than not enough, right? Now at least we have lunch for tomorrow.
All my pieces made it out of the bisque intact. Tomorrow I will mix up some glazes and do some tests. Then I have to prepare for my exhibition by glazing all my work.
Here is a flyer I made up for the show. Katrine translated it into Danish for me to print, but here is the English version.




soooo excited.

clay on your head!

For the Skaelskor Cultural Festival, the gallery asked us ceramic artists to participate in their annual "CLAY ON YOUR HEAD" project. I decided to go with an American surfer motif. It was a lot of laughs.