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Clay, Glazes, and Heat by Judith Ernst

Have I learned yet to love uncertainty? Creating work in ceramic is not like painting. When you put a combination of glaze chemicals on clay and subject them to high heat, what you get is almost always surprising, even though you may have run many glaze tests and fired pieces under identical conditions. You do your best to control your outcomes,…

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Can You Trust Your Eyes by Anita Wolfenden

You look out and see the trees through the studio window. Green leaves, the sunlight making them yellowish with darker green shadows. Warm, tan tree trunks; deep, green foliage further away; a cascade of green in different shades. You assume that everyone looking out on these leaves sees them the same way that you do. So many people get cataracts…

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On Capturing Light Lolette Guthrie

On NPR some time ago, I heard part of an interview with someone who was discussing a depression era photographer by the name of Walker Evans. He quoted Mr. Evans as saying, “the truly hard part [of photography] is capturing the light in the air.”  I realized in that moment that this is exactly what I am continually trying to…

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A Meandering Blog About River Art by Ruthananda

Thirty six members of the Orange County Artists Guild were assigned quotes to illustrate for a sequel to the book TREE: a Community of Artists Explores the Meaning of Nature. This meandering blog is about Ruthananda’s experience creating her illustration for RIVER. Planning ahead is a really important part of any project and many details are considered along the way.…

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A Gift of Soul by Nancy L. Smith

After much heartache, my husband and I decided to sell our 30 foot sailboat, Sea Otter, last fall. Our final vacation on the boat was to Cape Lookout, the southernmost outer bank of North Carolina. This trip was memorable as neither of us almost died and nothing on the boat broke. We didn’t even run aground once.  Despite all this, the…

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How about Bookish Art by Clay Carmichael

I sent my newest young adult novel Brother, Brother out into the world today, or rather my publisher did. I delivered the manuscript nearly a year ago and uncorrected review copies have been circulating for months, but like the robin fledging that left its nest outside my studio over a week ago, my book’s truly soloing today, completely on its…

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The Theme of Community by Linda Carmel

I have always been interested in exploring the theme of community. In this series titled Women in the World, I examine the supportive essence of womanhood.  In the past I've lived and worked in communes where I've felt the strength that comes when everyone works together for the common good. Since the beginning of time, women have come together to…

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Early Morning Epiphany by Marcy Lansman

My painting style has always been realistic, whether I was using watercolors or acrylics, whether I was painting flowers, mushrooms, or people. Toothy Grin is a recent example of my realistic work. At the same time, I’ve always appreciated looser, more abstract styles in other people’s work. Several years ago, at a meeting of the Orange County Artists’ Guild, members were…

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25 Year Handmade Book Series by Emily Eve Weinstein

This article provides you with a glimpse inside Volume IV of my 25-year Handmade Book Series. Every year I take a lot of the art I’ve done, write about it, and turn the adventure into a book. Within the following paragraphs is a snippet of how the fourth volume of the 25-year Handmade Book series is coming along. This is…

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Plop! Swish! Whirl! by Trudy Thomson

This spring I attended a class in marbling silk at Penland School of Crafts. It's something I had tried many years ago and wanted to swim back into again. I say swim because you start by mixing up a very specific gooey bath. You carefully dissolve methyl cellulose into the bath so that a viscous substance floats on the surface. After…

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