Working from Home with Blaire
Blaire, when you meet her, seems like she may be a pretty typical person. As you look closer you may notice that she dresses with a little more flair than your typical mom or office worker. If you get the chance to talk you’ll notice she is extraordinarily kind. If you’re lucky enough to ask her about herself and her work, you may be like me and feel transported into a new world. Like you are Alice, stepping through a looking glass. Blaire has a magical tool for getting us to the other side of the looking glass— through her photography.
Blaire wears a lot of hats. She’s a mom, a home renovator, an advocate for autism awareness, and (of course) an artist. Originally from California, Blaire has moved all across the world and landed in Phoenix with her parents in 1997. She describes her journey to photography as a mostly self-taught process, which she stared when she was on bedrest with her second child.
“I work mostly at home. In a tiny corner of my house that gets the best light. I love to photograph the mundane, I think it's beautiful. The only limitation you have is one you place on yourself.”
When I try to describe Blaire’s work to others, there’s one main word that comes to mind- magical. Which is actually a little strange, because looking objectively at Blaire’s work you see mostly very ordinary things: portraits, hands, flowers, water. What makes them magical is how Blaire has chosen to show them to us, through her lens. It’s quintessentially artistic to do as she does and transform ordinary objects into magical spaces. She has a skill for taking a singular thing —the color of someone’s eye, colorful pieces of plastic— and focusing the viewer’s experience on what she finds extraordinary. I think what I appreciate the most about it all is the clarity and voice that Blaire has developed- you truly feel like you are standing in her shoes when you look at her photos. Standing in Blaire’s shoes, seeing what she sees, is a genuinely amazing experience.
When I asked what she appreciates the most about Phoenix, Blaire said she likes Phoenix smaller, community-based feel for artists. “It's very small here, and we are a tight group! I am grateful for that,” she says. Her favorite local resource happens to be one of mine as well- The Artist Resource Center (or ARC) in Tempe. The ARC is a non-profit resource center that helps collect and redistribute art supplies. It’s free-of-charge for teachers and schools, and donation based for anyone else.
I find Blaire’s path to becoming an artist inspiring. She started a lot like many of the artists I know here in Phoenix- a little by accident. In fact, she had some great advice for starting artists:
“DO IT! We need more artists. However, if you're starting for money, you will fail. You have to LOVE what you do. No matter the fame or lack there of. And stay true to yourself. Always. I live and breathe for this craft. My heart would break if I had to stop.”
Phoenix is a desert, both literally and metaphorically. As much as we (the people who live her) strive to make this environment thrive, it’s a famously underdeveloped urban landscape. Especially compared to our closest urban neighbor- L.A.. That said, there’s room to grow. In fact, there is a NEED to grow. But, just like Blaire said, you can’t expect to “make it” financially on art alone. Women, POC, neurodivergent folx especially have it hard, and most of us are forced to wear multiple hats in order to survive. Blaire is inspiring because she continues to work her craft and share her joy with the world, in spite of the challenge of surviving here in the desert.
You can find Blaire’s work mainly on her instagram, but also through a curator, @carriescottcurates. She has an upcoming show in Paris, and has shown her work at Modified Arts here in Phoenix as well.
Atmospheric Wares with August “Augusta” Smith
There are few craftspeople as young or as passionate as August “Augusta” Smith. If you haven’t already experienced his fine ceramics while dining at Bacanora, Espiritu, or Cocina Chiwas, you may have found his work on display at Monsoon Market, For the People, Practical Art, and Dialog. Whenever I get to see Augusta (which is rare, because he’s often submerged in work at his studio), I’m always enamored with how he talks about his craft. Augusta loves clay. He loves his own work with clay and also keeps a wall of mugs he’s collected from other artists. If you get him started, Augusta could talk for hours about each mug, in great detail and even adoration for each craftsman and perfected (of imperfected) technique. Augusta is a true artist, and a master of his craft.
“I'm constantly enamored by the tactile nature of clay and the collaboration between surface and form, and how those impact presence and function. I make compulsively, to scratch an unscratchable itch.”
Why Phoenix? Augusta moved to Phoenix from South Carolina for school in 2014. He continues to stay in Phoenix for two main reasons: there’s an exciting art scene & room to grow. This summer, Augusta is headed to flagstaff to further perfect atmospheric tableware, with the ultimate goal of opening a large production studio to service local restaurants further & help train local potters.
This month Patreon Members of the Red Tier will be receiving recycled stoneware teacups. Augusta wrote about the teacups himself:
“These are made from a blend of high iron stoneware and porcelain, a blend reflecting the zero waste practice of my studio. Unless contaminated, all clay from failed pieces is saved and reclaimed, to honor the material and promote sustainability in my practice. They are thrown intuitively, without measuring, to a strong but light form that can be used for a small amount of your favorite libation.”
You can find Augusta’s work at any of the above listed boutiques and restaurants, as well as with his collaborative partner, HANDSEYESMIND and on his instagram, @augusta_pots.
Baking Magic with Wild Rye
Janurary 2023 I’m getting my Patreon members off their new year’s diets and onto the good things in life with Sarah Chisholm’s boxed baking mixes. Sarah’s company, Wild Rye Baking Co., is a Phoenix-based baking company focused on making the magic of baking accessible, fun, and (of course) magical.
I first came across Sarah Chrisholm’s work when I swung by Monsoon Market for a wine-tasting pop up. Sarah was there with a few of Wild Rye’s box mix cupcakes to sample, and as I eagerly tried “one of everything, please” Sarah explained how a few of her options were also vegan and gluten free. My in-laws are all vegan, and I have a lot of people in my life who deal with gluten intolerance. As I sunk my teeth into Sarah’s perfectly mouth-watering, spongy and sweet cake mixes, I couldn’t help but imagine myself hosting birthday parties, holidays and dinner parties- finishing off the evening with a perfect & easy cake from Wild Rye for all my guests of all diets to enjoy. No need to swing by wholefoods or risk of baking a brittle pie of my own.
Pumpkin olive oil cake with cinnamon cream cheese frosting! Head over to wildryebaking.com or Monsoon Market to see what Sarah currently has available.
It was love at first bite. From then on, I knew I would be sharing a whole lot of Sarah’s work with my friends, family and (of course) my patreon enthusiasts. Sarah describes her work as “. . . an expression of love.” Baking is an act of love & care, and Sarah was quick to mention that her focus on the craft has always been that act of love. She takes this act of love one step further by making it accessible through her variety of box mixes.
Before she was a baker, Sarah was actually a ballerina. Hailing from Chicago originally, Sarah moved to Phoenix in 2011 from Miami. She initially came to Arizona as a dancer with Ballet Arizona. As soon as she could, Sarah got involved in the hospitality industry and quickly found a home in pastry service. She then took a sabattical to travel and learn in France and Denmark. There, Sarah perfected her craft and vision, and upon returning to Arizona she took the position as Executive Pastry Chef at Chamberlin Hospitality. Although Sarah technically has no formal training, her mastery of her craft is evident through all of her -delicious- work.
I’m excited to share Sarah’s “baking magic” with my Red Tier Patreon members in exchange for their Janurary membership! Members will be recieving Wild Rye’s Chocolate Cake Mix along with Peanut Butter Coffee frosting (available with gluten free, vegan, or classic options).
The Red Tier on my patreon acts as a small, local grant which gets given out every month. In exchange, members of this tier receive a monthly gift! Members of all tiers are welcome to upgrade to the Red Tier on my patreon for the first week of February in order to support Sarah and Wild Rye Baking Co. and, in exchange, receive some delicious cake mix. $40 of each $45 pledge goes directly to the featured artist of the month, and you’re always welcome to upgrade, pause, or get refunds in order to be involved in this small, monthly grant.
Thank you to all of my patreons, your pledges help me with my work as an artist, as well as the work that goes into making this website!
That’s a Wrap
Studio update (featuring lots of tries and mostly failures)
There’s three things I set out to do in the last three months: bandanas, socks, and cards. October, November, December. I wanted to end the year by being the “featured artist” and send all my patreon members a thank you. That said, when you’re faced with the end of the year, you have to embrace that it’s really the end and you’ve ran out of time.
I want to take a few sentences to give you a brief explanation, as well as make a promise that things are on their way. My explanation is that I’ve been flying to Kentucky once per month to help my sister with childcare while her husband is deployed to Poland. While I thought I could handle that timeline, I didn’t anticipate one major thing: kids get sick. From my first visit in October, I’ve been constantly sick. R.S.V., COVID, the flu, possibly a cold, sinus infections and every possible illness, I’ve had it in the last three months.
My projects themselves proved difficult as well. The overarching problem I ran into is just that natural dye, as a material, is an artistic process itself. One wrong step in a series of time and labor intensive steps can lead to the color not bonding or producing an unintended color. That’s why I love the process of natural dye— it’s inherently contextual, medicinal and artistic. However, perhaps in my cold-medicine infused state, I made major mistakes with every project. Thread counts weren’t high enough, I used heat when I should have used ice, or I used the wrong tannins (did you know there are dark and light tannins? I did not.). Each mistake was costly, mostly in time. Natural dying is already a process which takes days at its fastest, weeks if done properly. If done wrong, you’ll see how weeks easily became months.
It’s been a humiliating learning experience, turning out the wrong things after money, labor and trust. What’s even more frustrating has been having to leave every month for around ten days, and then spending weeks getting my strength back. That said, all three projects are only one step away from being completed (even though all in all it took 10 more steps than I anticipated getting here!)
Here’s a summary: I’ve been makin bandanas, socks, and cards. These are my patreon benefits, and were also for the monthly artist feature in December. I’ve been delayed because I’ve been sick, but all of those benefits will be at your door in January (I’m so close!). After January I’ll be pausing my patreon to recalculate and hopefully launch something fun and new for 2023. Thank you all for you patience and support, even though I haven’t been able to deliver any products in the last 3 months I am thankful for the time to experiment, fail, and try again. Even though I wanted to deliver a special present for the holidays, looks like I’ll be delivering a special present for the new year instead!