It's been quite some time since I posted, my process being interrupted in part by the events of August 27, 2007. the day that Mars was the closest to earth that it has been in 250 years.

I was swimming in the ocean that day. I swam for half an hour to forty-five minutes in the ocean waters at Ocean Point in East Boothbay. There is a small shore surrounded by a dramatic rocky coastline. I like to come out of the water in such a manner that I am lying on the rocks with the waves gently rocking me back and forth. It was lower tide than usual so this meant I had to eventually step over rocks that are covered with seaweed, which I did with care, but as soon as I stepped on the first rock that was not covered with seaweed, I slipped. I used my right hand to brace my fall against the rocks.

For about two minutes I felt an intense pain, on which I briefly focused until it subsided to a mild feeling of discomfort. I noticed that my wrist was deformed but since it was not painful, my assumption was that I must have sprained it. Fortunately others talked me into going into the emergency room. Surgery was recommended, which took place on August 28th, and at this point my wrist seems quite normal, but my dormancy of posting activities have lingered longer than I would have desired.

We are once again preparing for The Opera House Holiday Craft Fair, organized by Elise. (Actually as time has passed since I started this post, it is now Dec 8th, the day of the show)

I have been developing my one of a kind decorating technique, with some success as the pieces sold throughout the summer even before photographs could be taken. I finally have some pictures of some of the results.

Monona and I have been working on glazes. For a long time, we have been trying to figure out the missing ingredient needed to make the "almost there" Blueberry glaze really sing. In the process we discovered how to make our Verdigris glaze a brighter shade of green, which also gives the glaze a greater depth of varigation. I glazed a couple of frogs, which will soon be available to order on the Internet, and we plan on casting many other pieces in this beautiful glaze. I am particularly interested in bringing back the beautifully formed salad bowl series, designed by Weston Andersen, using this vibrant glaze, also originally designed by Weston.

As for the Blueberry glaze, we tried the same thing as with the Verdigris, but it didn't produce the same result, as Cobalt interacts differently to the other ingredients than does Copper. We have a plan, however, and more tests are in the works. The beauty of the varigated glazes comes about through the flow and interaction of the particles causing the "varigated effect" that looks like areas of a darker stippling of color over the lighter shade of color in patterns that are naturally designed by the hand of nature, and beyond the control of mere mortals. It’s intrinsic to the beauty of naturally flowing ceramic glazes that the end result is a partnership between the choices made by individual artist in interaction with a larger order of events.

There are many more things to write about, but in the interest of actually publishing, I will close for now and so.....

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and Joy to the World, and if you would like to receive our Christmas sale, future sales, and general news about Andersen Studio. Please sign up for our email mailing list.

Andersen Studio News March 2007

March!
The day is mild and sunny; Night drops into the low 20’s. The afternoon sun stream thaws the stirring waters of the Mill Pond.

The Year 2006: Elise and Christine were active volunteers at the recently re-created Boothbay Opera House, which has been notably successful in attracting nationally recognized musicians to our small Maine Coast Peninsula, names such as Jackson Browne, Mark Knoffler, Marty Sterwart, Don Campbell, and Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes.

In late November, when the Opera House was festively attired in it’s Christmas greens and colored lights. Elise produced an impromptu Artist’s Craft Fair and posted fliers around town inviting the public to come and to “relax and enjoy”. The Fair became a local Christmas “happening”, pleasing the crowd with the abundant quality of Boothbay’s Artisans. For many weeks to follow, townsfolk still talked about how fun it all was! Noel Arrington followed suit with Ole Opry, featuring local musicians from around the state. It was a sold- out affair. On a cold night in February, usually the deadest time of the year, every parking spot in town was taken.

Dad (Weston) is working on a standing female figure sculpture as well as finishing up his bust of Brenda that he has been working on for several years. He is waiting now for Christine to make the molds. She is busy working on new molds of our established line, also needed.

Recently, Weston commented that when he told Eva Zeisel that he and Brenda were starting their own ceramic production studio. Eva was taken aback because, she said,”it is such a hard thing to do!”

Weston studied production ceramics under Eva in the industrial design department at Pratt Institute. Eva is a world-renowned ceramic designer recently celebrated her 100^th birthday. She was the head of The Russian Ceramic industry until she was thrown into prison and solitary confinement for allegedly being involved in an attempt to assassinate Stalin. Fortunately Eva escaped, which, as dad tells it, was due to the efforts of a group organized to aid artists and intellectuals in escaping to the free world.

Eva and Dad became close associates and friends as well as student and teacher, each admiring the other’s work, but while Eva was from a sophisticated European background, Dad grew up on a farm in Iowa. Dad remembers Primghar, Iowa, as an ideal society, even during the depression, when the two banks in town had $100000.00 dollars each, which in those times was considerable. Dad remembers Primghar,as a time and place when the food was good, and the community was close, and the homes well kept and clean. However, as dad became of age, it was also that era when family owned farms disappeared and were replaced by corporate farming

Running a ceramic studio is indeed a complex operation. Designing, production, wholesaling, retailing, and marketing, business management and maintenance - all under one roof. Which hat will I wear today? As “difficult” as that may be, it is also provides for creative independence. In an age of specialization, Andersen Design is an anomaly reaching back to a time when family farms were a common life style. It is difficult, but it’s
worth it. - In my humble opinion.

With all that has to be done, it has not been easy to find the time to design, -but not impossible - Elise is working on a cat sculpture, a duck, and a finch, and I am working with glazes and decorating colors to create both one of a kind pieces and new ideas for our production line

Dad sometimes wonders if he should have taken that apprenticeship with Russel Wright, or that job at Cranbrook, Perhaps it might have been an easier life, but then Andersen Design and Studio wouldn’t exist.

NEWSFlASH!
Weston’s grandson, Karen’s Son and our nephew, Colin Woodard has completed his new book, The Republic of Pirates, on the shelves on May 15^th. Check it out http://www.andersenstudio.com/Pirates.html

Colin’s other books are Ocean’s End, about the global state of affairs of the waters on planet Earth, and The Lobster Coast, about the history of the Maine Coast, a best seller in the State of Maine.

Cheerio,
Mackenzie Andersen