Winter Nights Arts

2011-04-19T15:02:00.000-07:00

Spirt of Egrets, a three-panel hinged stoneware piece.

2011-03-17T06:14:00.000-07:00

"Inner Beauty", a transformation mask, showing two aspects of ageing.

It is of stoneware clay fired to cone 6.

2011-03-16T13:53:00.000-07:00

This pot needs a name. It will be in the Ajijic Society for the Arts show end of March. To stoneware, I've added the inflorescences of palm (the branches that hold the little nuts). I use them a lot in my basketry.

It has a name: Winner!!! Frst Place in the ceramics division in the annual Ajijic Society for the Arts exhibit. What an honor! It also sold at the opening reception--yahoo!!

2011-03-16T13:42:00.000-07:00

At left is the unfinished piece, (just needs stain) "Spirit of the Egret", one of a series; the others being hinged tryptychs. The hingeing is tough but I shall master it.

Una Vida Nueva en Mexico

2010-06-19T17:56:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since visiting my blog ; I am indulging in a new lifestyle in Chapala, Mexco. I moved there last November to see if the climate and culture agreed and fell in love with the area--so much so I bought a lot a mile away from the town on Chapala, planted a cactus garden and started a compost pile for my organic vegetable garden which will go in during the rainy season in July. The two gentlemen at left are a part of my family now, Luis, my partner, and the wonder dog Pele, who appeared on our doorstep in Mexico, a little street dog who loves living with us.

We returned to Sitka in May, sold the house, a large collection of Alaska Native art and books, ordered a little 13' Scamp travel trailer to be delivered to Seattle which we will haul down Hiway 101 and into Mexico. We'll camp on the lot for a while, plant trees, the vegie garden and build a studio and eventually a house. There in Mexico, I am loving being involved daily in the creation of primative pottery (low fired -smoke and chemical colorants) and making baskets from the miriad natural materals nature offers in a semi - tropical setting. The three-legged pot is an example of recent work along with 7 new masks (the one pictured is entitled "Buho Dream"). Life is good.

Bull Kelp Rattles

2009-01-02T16:21:00.000-08:00

I've just finished making new bull kelp rattles. What fun! It took a long time testing the kelp to get it to dry right (dead kelp heads all over my house--pretty sad--they looked like shrunken heads) and then we had a freeze. Mother Nature took care of the problem for me, freezing the washed-up kelp into great textural forms. This is so much fun, gathering the kelp off the beach (people stop me and ask why) and then beach combing or scouring the woods for interesting pieces of wood for the handles. I fill the dried heads with glass beads and wrap them onto the handles, add ornamentation and here they are. Check out the great photography by my son Scott who used a plastic shopping bag for the background giving them their original marine environment look.

New Links

2008-12-30T15:53:00.000-08:00

I have added a few links of interest, the first being to Bird TLC , an Anchorage organization which rescues and treats injured birds with the hope of eventually being able to return them to nature. This group performs awesome feats with limited resources. I heartily encourage all to visit their site, see what they do and donate whatever you can afford.

A very dedicated is Dave Dorsey. He gives many hours to the organization and personally houses the beautiful Snowy Owl, Ghost and a falcon on his living room table. He has a scar on his cheek to attest to a reluctant eage he helped release recently.I've included a link to Dave's personal blog: great photos and news around Anchorage.

Another link is to my daughter, Britt Coon's photo gallery. She has a sensitive eye in viewing nature and is also a dedicated volunteer to causes which address the balance of nature with regards to humans and animals living on this planet together. The two organizations she is most devoted to are Bird TLC and the Alaska Zoo.

John Gomes is a friend of Britt's and her photography teacher. He is a professional photographer of Alaskan wildlife and landscape and the official photographer for the Alaska Zoo.

Latest Pieces

2008-12-11T08:41:00.000-08:00

Here are some of my pieces from Alaska pieces which sold at a local Artisans Market. The Devil's Club rattle is to honor the plant that helped me through chemotherapy. It has a Devil's Club wood handle and a gourd head painted with the Devil's Club plant. The other rattle is all bull kelp and has a great sound. The basket is macrosystis kelp with a scallop shell.

2008-11-25T13:27:00.000-08:00

The first piece is entitled "Save Some Herring For me" and is raku. It's my protest against the commercial sac roe herring fishery here each spring which I feel is depleting the resource. The piece on the right is a macrosystis kelp basket.

These photos are of a ceramic sculpture of a basketmaker holding a small lidded basket.

Raven House Mouse - by Jan Steinbright

2008-11-24T21:58:00.000-08:00

This is a childrens book about Tlingit culture. I wrote it for Austin Hammond, a great Tlingit leader who operated a culture camp in Haines on the Chilkoot River for youth so they could learn about Tlingit ways of doing things and values. The mouse in the book actually lived behind the dryer at the clan house, Raven House. I took the story from there. The book is beautifully illustrated by Robert Davis, a very fine Tlingit artist. Using Northwest Coast formline drawings, he brought the story to life as we follow this little rodent fellow from bring an orphan to finding a new culture and home with the Tlingit people of Haines. The book retails for $19.95 and is available from winternightspublishing.com. Britt Coon is the new manager and she will give wholesale quotes on the book also.

The first illustration shows the little mouse being afraid of the carved raven on the face of the clan house when he first sees him. The second one shows a great procession at the annual gathering of the Tlingit, Haida and Tsimshian nations in Juneau every two years entitled "Celebration".

This third drawing shows the mouse being adopted into the clan. Note the mouse reflections in the eyes.

All illustrations shown here are copyrighted by the artist, Robert Davis, and may not be reproduced without permission from him