NY NOW....

Getting ready for the big wholesale trade show in august at the Javits center in New York City. Once again, I will be exhibiting in the Handmade Designer/Maker section in Javits north booth 9414 from August 17-21st.

Though the set up and prep for these shows can be a bit arduous, once there, settled in the booth for the 4 days..it becomes a small home away from home, albeit in a 10x10 space...
The days are long, but it is always fun to connect in person with folks who I work with through the year who sell my work as well as other people involved in the makers world...and for a studio artist, it is always gratifying to meet other makers, share ideas, get support and reinforcement in an otherwise solitary work world.. the camaraderie is welcome...
It is also a good excuse to organize, and create new work to show new and old customers.
Here is a small preview on some new work I will be bringing to the show-
more detail, images and information on these lines forthcoming in future posts and on facebook-(Lisa Neimeth Ceramics)

box sets:

handcrafted wooden boxes with found object detail in sets of 4 bowls,plates or cups- themes include: beach, object, baby, whites

chinoiserie:

classic blue and white updated for contemporary interpretation-

available in all table setting sizes including serveware and cake stands

scientific charts:
always intrigued by the bold coloration and artisan approach to science in the old school charts with their bold black and deep green saturated backgrounds--adapted to clay--on plates, bowls and platters-

cups:
new this year! cups--no handles but still great for coffee, water or wine-organic in feel and glazed top to bottom for dishwashing ease..

spirals:
swirling like the patterns out at ocean beach- transformed to bowls and plates-anchored by a found object observed..

please stop by the booth if you will be at the show! and if you are not going to be there, or if you are an individual and want to order anything directly from me, just get in touch:
email me or call 415.682.0599

the 5 and 10...

I ducked into my local "variety" shop the other day to pick up a few odds and ends- envelopes, string, wooden craft sticks, lined pads, and learned that the shop that has been in my neighborhood since 1965, was going to be closing at the end of the summer. The owner, a very dapper older man, looked wistful and a bit defeated. He had hoped to stay working at his shop until as he put it "he could no longer move around anymore". But the neighborhood is slowly changing. More building, more cafes, a wine bar, more young people..and with that comes raised rents and a cleansing of the old for the new. This neighborhood has always had an old fashioned throwback feel, and it will be a loss when that flavor is rolled over.
But the 5 and 10, that made me sad. It is a crazy kind of a place, disheveled, with dusty plastic dolls sitting next to a box of ball point pens. Faded oaktag paper lying near thimbles, bandanas and other notions. There is something for everyone here though. Stickers and packaged plastic animals for the kids; yarn, cups, laundry lines and wooden clothes pins for the seniors. I love walking in there and trying to find something and then sifting through boxes with typefaces from the 70's holding needle threaders and erasers. There was a 5 and 10 where I grew up that I also loved. It was called Jacobsens and my sister and I would head straight there whenever we had some cash and we would usually buy baby clothes to put on our dolls and embroidered patches that were in a display that rotated. We would scout out the coolest patches- a butterfly, a rainbow peace sign and some thread and needles and rush home and sew them on our jeans and jackets. That store was magical to me. SO much to look at all jumbled up together. I know my fascination with this store influenced my later delight in collecting and putting objects and images next to each other in crazy and unexpected ways. And I know that Joseph Cornell also frequented his local 5 and 10 and his finds fueled his intense creations of mini-worlds in a box.

My studio is like one big dusty 5 and 10-all the crazy things I find and set out near each other creating inspiration for the still lifes that go into a plate design.

joseph cornell piece spotted at LACMA yesterday--
straight out of the 5 and 10..

I will take advantage of the variety store staying open through the summer and will purchase some items and take in the chaos that has its own order and very much its own charm.

the old red white and blue..

fourth of july..always laden with so much hope and plans for memories to come..
I have such a vivid sense of what the air felt like on july 4th growing up- heavy, humid warm evenings-waiting impatiently for the first blast of a firework..holding onto a burning "punk"-basically an incense stick and waiting for dark to come..
east coast style..
and now on the west coast in chilled san francisco..we hope for the semblance of a clear evening on the 4th so maybe we can see the distorted light through the wafting fog and pretend we saw a full fledged firework over the golden gate..
I am hopeful as it is a sunny day today and maybe, just maybe we can have our fourth in all its glory without having to turn the heat on, grab a sweater and watch it on tv..inside..in our coldest of winters in the summer..in san francisco...

but we can still enjoy the colors of our flag- so bold and clean..

dwell on design..ed

just back from LA where I exhibited at the Dwell on Design show- I had attended this show probably 7 years ago when it was in san francisco and was small, intimate and the design world was newly percolating with prefab, modern and new ways of looking at the spaces we inhabit. I thought it was fun- of course my favorite thing from then was the Dutch tub--

the fiberglass mobile hot tub that was heated via a wood filled barrel that syphoned the heat through tubes into the water..since no chemicals are used you can dump the water when you are finished into the garden--I am still lusting after one of these (at 6g's--not an impulse purchase)

I honestly had not thought much about the show since then and only recently discovered that it had moved to LA where apparently most of the readership of dwell magazine resides. I do subscribe to dwell now after a lapsed period...but as we continue to research what we want to put on our land in New mexico that is sustainable and low impact-we resurrected our subscription in hopes of finding some fresh ideas to ponder.
I decided to exhibit at the show- though I limit my "shows" to the big trade show in NYC in summer- but thought this would at the very least have some interesting things to see.
My husband Peter and I took to the road and headed south to LA and stayed in the very fun Little Tokyo section. One thing I truly love about LA is the energy and the constant movement of people and the possibilities. Growing up in NY- this is a familiar sensibility. One that I somewhat intentionally moved from when I moved to San Francisco- a much slower urban lifestyle-but still crave and appreciate for sure.
We loaded up the large fallen monterey cyprus table that Peter made and a smattering of tableware and set up the cozy booth. 

The show was very satisfying in that I was able to connect with lots of great folks from Southern California and introduce my work to them. It was interesting to exhibit truly handmade work in a prefab'd modern environment. Though Dwell started out celebrating the small, it has moved towards the bigger and so many exhibitors were large companies with their large displays that clearly move from trade show to trade show..But there were of course, also the cool pre-fab homes, fun solutions to small home ideas and some other "makers", but not too many. I had many comments from folks who said- "oh thank goodness, someone who is actually designing and making..someone whose hands are clearly on their product". Now mind you Dwell tries to merge what is hand designed with how it can effectively be manufactured..but a better mix would have been nice, and from what many people said to me, I think the attendees would agree. They did have some interesting make on-site type projects and a myriad of educational opportunities though-I guess I am always a fan of the mix- the new and the old, the handmade rustic and the contemporary and try and infuse this into my own making. Sometimes those stark modern homes can use a bit of warmth...

But the nice thing about getting out of the solitary studio life and doing the meet and greet--is just that--standing on one spot but getting to talk to so many interesting people. One of my favorite conversations was with a man who is retiring and moving back to costa rica- for fun, he would harvest clay near his home in SoCal and create pots- burnishing and pit firing in his yard- and he loved it. I also loved being next to Lourdes and Addie from Quombo- a women's craft collective in San Salvador- and will be sure to journey there sometime in the next year for sure..the people from Danko- makers of beautiful wooden chairs using old seat belts...and great to meet Regina from Handful of Salt based up here in Berkeley- who is driving a California made (100% California) movement celebrating the amazing hand-makers here..
and potters Kristin Nelson and Sara Paloma who came by-whose work I admire very much...
Back to the coop now, must catch up with a lot of work and then gear up for the next show in NYC...I relish my studio time and taking back all that I see when I move around the country--and putting it on a plate..

out and about..

busy spring, early summer-criss-crossed the country twice,

industrial decline in new hampshire

dinner plates and found items from the vanderbilt mansion in newport 

north to oregon, east to puerto rico and of course, many hours logged in the coop.

lots of bowls delivered to Napa for the Napa Valley Auction vintners..
always time for ocean beach and inspiration for more beach boxes..

and prepping for the Dwell on Design show in Los Angeles June 21-23rd.

and more to come..