Wassi Art: Pottery Studio in Ocho Rios Jamaica

Last week my mother and I visited Wassi Art pottery studio located in Ocho Rios. We got a tour and talked at length with the artists about the process.

Local clay is dug from the Blue Mountains.



Wassi pottery brings the clay back to their manufacturing studio in Ocho Rios. There it is processed. First it is washed to remove impurities.



Then it is poured into canvas lined troughs.



Once it is firmer it is scooped out onto plaster to further dry. When it is still soft enough to work it is wedged so that all air is worked out.



The master potter makes all of the wheel thrown vessels.



Then the artists are passed the pots to alter, paint with slip and do sgraffito. Each pot is unique.







Once they are dry they are bisque fired to about 2000ºF.



Then they are dipped in clear glaze and fired again to 2000ºF.



Each unique piece has the signature of the artist.

sweet sorrow

it is said that parting is a sweet sorrow. i have to agree.

tonight we had our last family supper together. we enjoyed shrimp, squid, stuffed eggplant, marinated then fried chicken, tomato mozzarella olive "skyscrapers," bread and white wine.

after supper a few friends came over to have a glass of cava (spain's champagne, very good) and bid me farewell.

santanet, natalia's partner, made me a mask. it is of his face and painted with gold and it is beautiful.

vanesa gave me her latest painting: Medusa. it is amazing. i can't wait to get home and frame and hang it. looking at it will make me happy.

my eyes are tearful and my feelings are mixed. today has been bittersweet.

tomorrow morning we go to the airport in barcelona. i head to jfk in new york and then to chicago's ohare airport. tomorrow night i will sleep in my chicago bed.

i miss my friends and family in chicago a ton, but i am very unready to leave my friends and family here. ay, ay.

august will be fabulous. i'll keep you posted.

Paris

i spent the weekend in paris. my aunt irene from california is there on vacation and she invited me to join her for a few days. she is vacationing with a friend whose daughter has been living in paris for the past 3+ years.

we had a fabulous time. we did an historic walking tour, visited some museums, churches and cathedrals, did a boat tour on the seine, ate lots of cheese and drank some wine.

my aunt and i got the chance to know each other better.

i took almost 300 photos. since the advent of the digital camera it is super easy to just click away. i am now tasked with sorting through the images and selecting the best to share with you.

in the evening the eiffel tower is illuminated. on top of that, at the top of every hour it literally sparkles for 5 minutes. photos simply don't do it justice.

there is so much to do and see and eat in paris that 3 days don't even begin to do it justice. however, at least now i have had a taste and know that i like it. someday i hope to go back to see and learn more.

for now, i am back in celrá for a few days until my vacation comes to an end and i return to chicago. i must admit that i am reluctant to leave. i love it here in catalunya.

i do also love all of my friends and family in chicago and i will be seeing you all very soon. for those of you waiting for postcards, i am sure that i will arrive before anything else...and i hope you weren't expecting a spanish stamp.

photo gallery

a myriad of photos from various excursions and experiences in Catalunya and southern France. i believe that if you click on the photo it will take you to the picasa web album.

23-27 junio

avignon road trip

last weekend vanesa, her mother carmen, and i did a road trip up the coast into the south of france (the border is about 55 kilometers from here). our final destination was avignon, to visit the town and view an exhibit of the art of Miquel Barceló.

along the way we made several stops. the first was in a town called Cèret where we wandered through a local market, signed a protest against bull fighting, and stopped in at the museum to take in some art. the featured exhibit was works by an artist by name of jean-pierre pinceman.
the permanent collection features many famous names including Chagall, Gris, Matisse and many more. there is a decent sized collection of Picasso's ceramics (more than on display in the museé picasso in barcelona).

from here we made our way up to the town of Sète for lunch. the waterway runs through town, somewhat reminiscent of venice, or so they claim. after lunch we walked for a while and we stopped into a bar for a coffee and to watch the argentina v germany match. my hostesses are from girona by way of argentina by way of girona. vanesa was born in argentina; her mother was born here. the french were all for germany. we left at the half, when argentina was down 0-1.

next we stopped in a town called Aigues-Mortes. here we wandered through the narrow streets of a fortress and stopped for a beer. by this time we had learned that argentina had failed miserably in its attempt to progress in the copa mundial; the final score was 0-4 for germany.

we went on to Arles to find a hotel, shower and look for supper. unfortunately, this particular weekend was that of their town festival, so all rooms were booked. we continued on towards avignon, and there we finally found a hotel, showers and food.

the next morning we set out to view the Barceló exhibit, which was actually parceled into three buildings: the Palais des papes, the Museé du petit palais and the Collection lambert en avignon. at one point in history (i believe it was the 14th century) the papacy fled rome to avignon. inside a section of this palace was installed part of the Barceló exhibit. his creations were everywhere, including some placements of masks on the heads of some of tombs. this was quite cool and fun. apparently barceló was following in the footsteps of picasso by exhibiting here.


the exhibits continued with a small selection in the petit palais and an extensive collection of paintings in the Lambert collection (no cameras allowed).

after sating ourselves with good art, we grabbed some sandwiches and hit the road back home.

unfortunately, we all wound up with colds. summer colds are no fun and i'm having a particularly difficult time kicking mine. i thought it was on its way out and today it decided to move back in full force. erg.
i have to kick it because this weekend vanesa and i are going to cadaqués...

bp oil slick

my friend Ellen is volunteering with clean up in Alabama. this is a link to her blog.

http://cleaningupafterbp.blogspot.com/


i know that i owe an update on my doings and i am working on it. i managed to catch a cold and was down for the count for a full day. i have my energy back, but with energy come full days.

besos.

barcelona

i spent another couple of days in barcelona visiting museums and such. it was very hot, but i had a good time. i went alone and stayed with a friend of vanesa's. i spent the days museum hopping and the evenings chatting over beers and sandwiches. the couch i slept on was only about half as long as i am, but i happily managed.

i visited La Pedrera (Casa Milá, by Gaudí) and la Fundació Tápies the first day.



the pedrera is amazing. above you can see the building from the street and here some of the sculptures on the roof. the self guided tour takes one through an exhibit about the building and about gaudí's approach and style. one then goes to the roof to experience an amazing view of the city, alongside the amazing view of the roof. there are organic sculptures and terraces throughout. then there is a tour of an apartment inside the building (no longer occupied). this is a truly amazing building.

the exhibits at the tápies museum were interesting. there was an exhibit of eva hesse that was built around her studio works - basically smaller studies and experiments, some finished and others not.
the second exhibit was called alma matrix and it featured the work of two artists unknown to me: Bracha L. Ettinger and Ria Verhaeghe.


the second day i went to the Fundació Miró, the Museu Picasso and the church of Santa Maria del Mar.

i was not disappointed at the fundació miró. i was greeted at the entrance by this sculpture.
inside and on the roof there is a very complete collection of miró's work, donated by himself, family and friends. there are also donations of artwork by many of his friends and there is a gallery that is dedicated to such works.

the museu picasso was mobbed so i was not super excited to be there. they have expanded it since i was last here and they now include some of his ceramic work. i wish there was more of his sculpture. i also remember that last time i was there his work was display in a manner that gave a better insight (for me anyway) into his evolution as an artist and what life experiences had particularly inspired and influenced him.

the church of santa maria del mar is impressive, as are most of the churches and many other buildings in this area.


tomorrow vanesa, her mother carmen, and i are going on a road trip. we are following the coast up to avignon, france. there is an exhibit of miquel barceló's work in avignon. we'll stop in a couple of groovy towns along the way and we are probably going to dine and sleep in sète. this should be fabulous!

the first few days

this whole business of writing a blog is a great idea, but i feel a bit at a loss right now. i arrived on wednesday morning and i feel like so much has happened that i want to record and share. at the same time, i don't want to get it all jumbled up. we'll see how it goes; i think i may try to write several separate posts...but for starters i will give you a quick summary.

wednesday the flight arrived only one hour late. immigration took all of 30 seconds, not nearly enough time for my suitcase to have appeared on the belt. it did appear shortly thereafter, complete and with a nice new orange tag that said "heavy. lift with your knees." so, i did. luckily it has wheels so i did not have to keep it lifted for any length of time. i wheeled it over to the customs area where there is a big green sign stating "nothing to declare" (in spanish of course) and two men in uniform watching as people walk through to freedom. super easy, no questions asked.

after 16 years, there stood vanesa waiting for me as i exited customs and immigration. she was exactly as i remembered from so long ago. it seems now as if no time has passed since the last time i saw her; it must have, though, because she now has 2 children ages 13 and 8 and i am certainly no longer a college kid.

when we arrived at the house the family welcomed me with open hearts and arms. i feel completely comfortable here. (by reputation the spanish are very hospitable, but i think that my family is even more so than most.) i had a snack and then a nap. at 2:30 we had dinner. vanesa's sister natalia, her partner santanet and their 2 children joined us. then, i had another nap.

that evening vanesa had planned a small gathering of friends for a supper party. supper, of course, is at 10pm. wednesday was also the eve of the day of saint john so everyone was celebrating. since the following day was a holiday, no one had to work. we went to bed early, for a holiday, at about 3:30. it seems that on a regular day one goes to bed at around midnight, perhaps even later.

thursday natalia and family again joined us for the dinner meal (at 2:30). everyone hung around chatting and drinking coffee and such after dinner. i also took the opportunity to give everyone the gifts i'd brought since they were all here at once. no one seemed disappointed.

friday we got ourselves going on the early side and drove to the beach at Pals. we spent a few hours there playing in the sea and toasting ourselves in the sun. then we gathered ourselves and went for dinner at a place the kids adore where we dined on chicken, french fries and salad. they also make a very nice sangría there.

friday evening vanesa and i went into girona for a couple of drinks. we met up with one of the friends who was at the wednesday supper party. abram is a hot air balloon pilot. we didn't stay out too late because vanesa had a gathering saturday morning for the end of her sign language course.

then saturday after an early dinner we grabbed the 3:20 train into barcelona. there we met up with friends dany and rita and made a stop at MACBA (museu d'art contemporani de barcelona / barcelona museum of contemporary art). the permanent collection was closed but there were 3 temporary exhibits that we viewed. it was OK but my understanding is that the permanent collection is much better.

from there we went to café de les delicies, where the anarchists used to gather and plot, and we had a beer. and plotted. the place was very cool.

next, we went looking for a bar where dany's friend used to work. that bar had apparently closed some time back, but as luck would have it the taverna valenciana was open across the street. none of us had ever been there but it looked very inviting. we had a glass of wine and watched the end of regulation of the US / Ghana match. we had to leave before the overtime started in order to grab supper before the restaurants stopped serving - it was close to 11 pm.

we had a super nice supper at revoluciona't. we had some patatas bravas and a mixed salad to share. then we each ordered an entreé, and of course we all shared those as well. the food was awesome and the company even better.


after dinner we went to a place called la torna (the change) and shared a porrón. normally this odd shaped glass container is filled with red wine, but we had a surprisingly refreshing mix of lemon soda and beer. the porrón has a long spout and one pours the liquid into one's mouth, hopefully without spilling it. this is a feat indeed.

our last stop was at a bar called raím. it is a cuban bar and evidently super popular because it was jammed. however, we had to have a mojito. after watching carefully to make sure we know exactly how to make these deliciously refreshing beverages, we walked back to the apartment where we were all sleeping.

today we got up and went for coffee and a chocolate croissant. then we went to the MNAC (museu nacional d'art de catalunya / national museum of catalonian art).
location, location, location. the museum is located in a palace on top of montjuic. the approach and the building itself are amazing.

the collections are vast so we chose to view modern art. i think we chose wisely. on our way out we did pop into the romanesque rooms to view the central apse from sant climent in taüll, which is from a church in catalunya and dates back to the early 12th century. it is one of the best preserved examples from this time period.

from there we hopped the train back to celrá. shortly after arriving, i went to the house of another of the friends from the wednesday supper party. roger is planning to do an intensive course in english at columbia university this fall and asked that i help him go over the application. it is one of those online applications that has several pages of questions and it's all written in english of course. so we made sure that he'd answered everything correctly.

now i'm going to read for a while and hopefully i can post this in the morning. for whatever reason i haven't been able to connect via the wireless router but i am just going to plug into the cable in the morning.

besos a todos

everything is fabulous here. i can´t believe i waited 16 years to come back.

more soon... i promise.

almost gone

i'm leaving for spain on tuesday morning. i arrive wednesday morning at barcelona airport. my friend vanesa will pick me up at the airport and whisk me away to her home outside of girona.

wednesday is the festival of sant joan (saint john) and the celebration of the summer solstice. my hostess is going to have a party at her home to celebrate this important holiday, as well as my "homecoming."

i am starting to feel less ready than i felt 2 days ago. this is probably in part because the actual departure date is closer.
however, due in large part to the generosity of my wonderful friends and family, i'm actually more ready than i feel. if left to my own devices i tend to wait until the last minute - in which case we'd now find me frantically trying to pull it all together.

instead, i find myself with my traveling wardrobe planned and set aside - just waiting to all be properly packed into my borrowed suitcase. i have travel guidebooks and a map of spain. i have an issue of SI that summarizes all of the teams participating in the world cup. i have traveler's cheques. i have gifts for my hostess and family. i have a brand new toothbrush... and so the list goes on. (thank you.)

so, i'm pretty well ready. i hope. i'm excited and anxious. i'll miss you all but i am planning to have a wonderful trip. i'll do my best to keep this blog updated.

xox