me and chadwick

It was rather sensational for me to be able to see this in real and take this photo (the first one), after spending quite some time to research about her work and her for my dissertation (here). I always wonder what she would be making today if she was still alive? I am sure it would be original, thought provoking yet hard working art as she always did, unlike someone else. (sorry, I am bias.) 

You can see more work by several artists including Helen Chadwick at ‘Transformation’ exhibition at The New School House Gallery in York till 22nd December. Fancy a trip to York? xm 

Christmas Exhibition at Studio Eleven

Next exhibition info for you. 
The Christmas Show “Made with Love” at Studio Eleven in Hull starts this Saturday 10th November. My ‘mazekoze’ and ‘lilypad’ will be showcased alongside with many fabulous artists’ work. If you are near the area, please do pop over. The show will open until 20th January, but be aware that the gallery only opens on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 

only small amount is available. if you are interested, hurry!

For more info and direction, please click here. xm

when marigold is no good, you get roses

Although GP nurse managed to take stitches off from my finger, (and it was, I tell you, bl***y agonising!) it hasn’t healed as much as we wished. This is apparently because the state of the wound was ‘squashed’ like a tomato (expression by the nurse), not a ‘clean cut’, which would have been fixed quicker. Instead my finger is still ‘weepy’. (like a tomato?) Due to the nature of my work, I was given Dr’s sick note and am still off from clay (and water when it comes to that) for another week. With somewhat guilty feeling, I have been trying to make the most of my sick leave, doing untouched housework like piles of ironing and washing up with a half pair of marigold that doesn’t fit properly, and things that have been postponed till ‘when you have more time’, such as editing last family trip video, tidying up the front garden and sewing a teapot cover, with one hand. Actually stupidly inefficient, of course. 

Nevertheless, here is the good thing that happened this morning. Since I am not able to drive, I walk to those small town shops to get my chores done. On the way, there was a council man who was cutting roses in a street garden ready for the winter. Still half blossomed. I intriguingly asked what would happened to those cut roses and he said all get chucked away. I was saddened for the amount of beautiful waste-to-be, and could not resist to ask one more question. Answer was the above picture. I gave him a piece of ginger bread man bought from our local bakery for thanks. He smiled and I smiled. xm

She is here!

(from left) Minato & Hiroko Ishikawa, PASH’s duo owner Paula & Shelley

I have been so looking forward to this day, as well as being so nervous about it. Hiroko Ishikawa, the owner and stylist of Farmer’s Table came to North Yorkshire! 

Farmer’s Table is a fabulous shop in Tokyo and has always been one of my favourites since it opened more than 25 years ago! Today Japan has got so many shops selling things for interiors (they are often called “ZAKKA”), handcrafts, vintage, antiques from all over the world, but all that really became a big boom in late 80’s and thereafter. Hiroko started well before that with such fresh and fabulous sense of styling, and was a sort of guru. Her shop display was stunningly eye catching with all beautiful items carefully chosen by her that you haven’t seen anywhere else, certainly not following the trend. That still continues today in her new shop in Ebisu. (you can see the images of the shop from this video from last year: here)

It all started from a little conversation we luckily made when we were visiting her shop this summer. I’ve invited her here knowing that she is coming to UK for a ‘buying’ business trip. Then, the rest was history! Her husband, a graphic designer Minato Ishikawa, and Hiroko came all the way from London where they were staying, accompanied with her business partner, Yuko & Hideaki Takezawa, who are based in North London. What a great pleasure to escort them! I took them to PASH to start with (rummaging through their wonderful chocked full of goodies in stock!), then visited a few recommended shops in York. Yuko had a great experience and knowledge in selecting stuff too, which was rather educational to watch. They seemed to have a whale of a time and bought stuff that filled their car, which made me relieved knowing that it was a worthwhile trip! Now I felt honoured to have done this ‘escort’ role! It is such a joy just to imagine how those items are going to be styled in Farmer’s Table.

Hiroko and Minato enjoying PASH’s display

PASH dressing up for Christmas

guess which one is going to join in Farmer’s Table??

lunch at the scrumptious cafe the pig and pastry

i loved these drawers

“Banana Warehouse” seemed to be a hit

Thank you so so much for coming all the way, Hiroko-san, Minato-san, Yuko-san and Hideaki-san. It was lovely having you here and spending a wonderful day with you. Maybe I’ve managed to say “Yorkshire ain’t bad”? xm 

Crafted By Hand with my witch-crafted hand

Some of you might have seen the image of my finger on my facebook (personal one only, and I’ll avoid showing it here to the public!) I had an occupational injury at work on Friday and ended up in A&E in an almost fainted state. My “flesh” was half fallen off my finger tip after trapping it in between the hinge side of fire door! (yes, those heavy ones!) Fortunately (dispite the unfortunate trauma!) without breaking the bone or finger nail, my finger tip was stitched back together into one piece. Hence it was a wee bit of a struggle with last minute of preparation including packing and loading with my poorly finger, but we went off to the show in Masham with my kind hub’s support. 

Crafted By Hand was a great turn out. The town hall was heaving from the opening till the end. Lots of great work and nice people. We really had a good time. I had good sale both my new work and stock, as well as HELP JAPAN birds. Thank you so much for those who came along and left me lovely comments. Here are some images from my stall. 

porcelain hangings are out now ready for Christmas 

(I was intrigued by the hall’s gorgeous wall paper behind)

new porcelain rocking pebbles

these vases are mazekoze’s new face

ugly ducklings waiting for a new home

new hanetsubo ‘flying jugs’ went flying well today

how about wee bit of buttons?

I’ve met so many talented artists too. Here are some lovely people and work that I’d like to share. 

Fabulous printmaker Helen Peyton was demonstrating printing using this handsome 1800 Victorian press. How awesome is that? 

My fellow artist Emma Fountain displayed her skillful of needle felt work. The scale of her work is just amazing. I’ve bought a gorgeous felt accessory to treat myself. 

Very stylish etched glasses were by Andy Poplar from vinegar & brown paper. Absolutely wicked combination of typography and glass shape was just so wow! We’ve got a lab glass for this year’s sloe gin. 

Have you missed today? A few more fairs are coming up next month, so stay tuned for more info. xm 

Crafted By Hand - this Sunday!

Crafted By Hand is on this Sunday 28th October at Masham Town Hall. (The direction is here) I’m delighted to have a stall among with these great artists! All series of my work and print will be there, as well as the last stock of HELP JAPAN items with a special discount. So don’t miss this chance! 

If you would like an invite posted, please email me your name and address.

Looking forward to seeing you.xm 

weekend ahead

For the last couple days I haven’t been well enough to go to work, not much of physical moving involved, hence a wee bit of delay on my studio work, too. Looking at the things came out of the kiln, I thought I would take some photos to cheer me up so that I can look forward to the day I can work on decorating these porcelain lilypads. Hopefully soon. Hope you have a good weekend. xm

Creative Masham

Lately I have been featured in Creative Masham blog with a bit of sneak shot of my studio. You can view from here. Simple and short - nicely done. (thank you Josie!) 

They are organising the forthcoming event, Crafted By Hand, where I will be holding a stall. According to what it said in the blog, they will serve tea and cakes, which I think is unmissable! All sounds good so far, I just have to catch up with the preparation for Sunday 28th! (the image is from Masham by the way) xm 

HULL

I am currently working toward several forthcoming events and shows, including Studio Eleven in Hull. I have never been to Hull before but liked the way they are developing the water front into a cultural hub. Images are near the gallery, which used be a fruit market. xm 

a little red bird told me...

A little red bird told me that 20’s is a new beginning, and it certainly was for me after an unsound teenage era and discovering myself in the UK. Also said, 30’s is a new 20’s and it certainly was for me, even passing some rough times, it has been a brilliant journey. So, does life start at 40? (your thoughts & experience welcome!)

i can still happily fool myself

Looking back my mother at the age and all those friends who have got children, I feel like I am not mature enough to be a big 40. But all I can say is LIFE IS GOOD. GREAT in fact! Look forward to what’s coming along. 

mini maki (3) and the best mother in the world

Thank you everyone for the lovely birthday wishes via FB and elsewhere. Not that I am a big fan of celebration stuff, though it is always nice to hear from friends and family. 

There was another celebration this week. Graduation ceremony! I've finally received BA. My goodness, I never thought that I would make this day, after having failed to go to University when I was 18. You know it’s never too late to learn and we are always learning. This is a big fact. 

I've also received a special award! (with Ed, my hero tutor)

So many people helped me be here and be who I am today, and I am so grateful for that. Thank you so much for your support. Hope I can share more journeys with you from now on, too. Have a great week everyone! xm

a sense of place

Last week I took ‘a sense of place’ photography workshop by Kat Sloma. Kat lives in Oregon, USA, but thanks to the blogging network, I actually met her in York two years ago (posted here) whilst she was visiting from Italy where she was living at the time for her work assignment. Having a totally different career, Kat’s passion toward photography did not stop her moving forward and today she has been successfully running a number of photography courses. I simply admire her energy as a person. I also love her aesthetics. (look out for her beautiful photography here) When I found the news that Kat was coming to UK to run a workshop (and in Hebden Bridge!!), how could I resist? Of course not! So I went with my NIKON. 

This workshop was particularly set for photographing of places. It was carefully coordinated to work on different criteria, but what I found interesting the most was her approach to photographing places. It is about personal connection to the places, how we experience it and capture it, and reflection of self and place. Not to show off to people, not to convince others to go (though you may feel so as a result!), nothing like travel or documentary photograph. I liked that. As we went off to practice in the afternoon out in the woods at Hardcastle Crags, I simply followed my heart. Just feel & shoot. It was rather wet walk but lovely to feel Autumn is on its way. Hope some of Kat’s tips are seen in the result?

If you are interested in Kat's online courses, click here for the details. 

Why not photograph your sense of place? xm