Washington Clay Arts Association "Bountiful" Show in Ellensburg

installing my work in Gallery One

This weekend lots of clay is happening in Ellensburg. I just got back from installing my Ericano bulb installation at Gallery One for the Washington Clay Arts Association juried exhibition, "Bountiful."

a detailed view of this installation in Seattle

The Bountiful exhibition opens Friday, June 1 with a reception from 5-7 and runs through June 30. Bountiful is in the second floor gallery space, while downstairs is another clay show, featuring work by the Dirty Canteen, a collective of military veteran artists. I read about work by three of these artists in the most recent issue of Studio Potter. One of the artists, Ash Kyrie, was at U-W Madison as an undergrad when I was earning my MFA there.

my planning grid on the wall, ready for drilling

The Bountiful show is a juried show of work by Washington state ceramic artists. I entered the show because the theme seemed a good fit for my installation work. Before I'd heard about the show, I had titled my most recent sculpture "Bounty."  Of course I forgot to bring Bounty to Ellensburg when I drove up today today.

"Bounty" (the piece I forgot to bring this time)

I drove up this afternoon after my office hours. I needed to be back in Yakima for something by 4pm, and this is a busy week with the holiday, the installation, raku firing tomorrow and the fast-approaching end of the quarter. I was paying careful attention to timing today and making sure I had everything with me to do the installation fairly quickly so I could get back in time. I brought my paper grid, pencil, ruler, level, tape, drill, drill bit, and L-screws. I confirmed ahead of time that I'd have access to a step stool. I dropped off the kid, went to work, left school basically on time, and got about halfway to Ellensburg before I realized I had packed everything for the installation, but not the second sculpture.

my work and other pieces partially installed

So, I installed the wall work and promised to bring the sculpture before the opening on Friday. The installation went fairly quickly--I had a little less space than usual (less height than I'm used to), so it took a moment to figure out how to reduce the installation, but once we'd figured out the location, I was able to hang the paper grids, drill the holes, and screw in all 80 L-screws in a little over an hour. I then brought in the boxes of bulbs and started hanging them. It took about an hour and a half to bring the stuff in, get set up, install, and bring stuff back out to my car. It was warm in the gallery space, so I remembered to take pictures early on in the process, then forgot entirely to take a picture of the finished product because I was anxious to get to a cooler area.

Part of this installation at Yakima Maker Space

If you'd like to see the work installed, or if you want to check out all the other ceramics in the gallery, join me on Friday from 5-7 for the reception. Friday is also the Ellensburg First Friday Art Walk. The Dirty Canteen artists are doing an artist talk at Gallery One on Saturday. The shows will be up through the end of June if you'd like to visit later.