NCECA Recap

Well, I'm back from my weekend at NCECA in sunny Phoenix. Yesterday was my 29th birthday, and the trip was a gift to myself to celebrate the start of my last year in my twenties.

This was my first NCECA and I had no idea what to expect. Because the conference is kind of expensive, I just purchased a day pass to go on Thursday. I had the opportunity to watch some demonstrations, go to a few panel discussions, and explore the annual cup show and sale and the K-12 exhibition (which was very cool).

So the conference was pretty cool, but the real fun started when I ventured out of the convention center. A number of concurrent exhibitions are held alongside NCECA, so I had the opportunity to look at a lot of people's work in one weekend. My favorite discoveries were the Artstream Nomadic Gallery show (where I snapped up a beautiful Jen Allen mug), and the "La Mesa" show put on by Santa Fe Clay, which featured 150 place settings by 150 different artists. After the other hands-off, pots-on-pedestals exhibits, it was such a joy to be able to handle and examine the work of so many talented artists. Here's a few you might recognize:

This is Lisa Orr's place setting. Lisa Orr produces work that is sort of the direct opposite of the aesthetic of my work, but I just love her vibrancy and the depth of her surfaces. More is more indeed.


Here's Bonnie Seeman, senior lecturer at the University of Miami, and the creator of some amazingly intricate and detailed work. Do you see the tiny bugs all over the cups?


And here's Christa Assad's place setting. I love the fresh feel of her work and the bright and somewhat unusual colors.


All in all, I had a fabulous time. Next year's NCECA is in Philadephia, which is a great, great town. Maybe I'll just have to attend that one too...