What an Honor

It’s been four weeks since my (former) home caught fire and I was forced to drop from my second-story balcony to escape, fracturing my L2 in seven places. My recovery from back surgery — two titanium rods and four screws now buttress the healing L2 vertebra — seems tedious, but a recent notable gain in mobility inspires me to look forward. Thanks to generous and loving friends in our clay community and beyond, I am confident that in due time I will be back behind the wheel. Thank you all for your loyal support, your continued belief in me — your emails, texts, care packages and cards — it warms my heart knowing you’re out there!

Wishing you the best,

Christa (pictured here in customized camo back brace, courtesy of reupped.net)

The New York Ceramics Fair, Jan. 22-26, 2014

Excited to be a part of this, thanks to Ferrin Contemporary! New Yorkers and ceramic enthusiasts, print this invitation and present at entrance for one free admission…here is a link if this page doesn’t print for you: http://ferrincontemporary.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/NYCFfreeadmission2.pdf

Below the invite you will find images of my teapots featured at the fair (two views of each). All three were recently housed by the Palmer Museum In PA. Thanks for looking!

 

 

 

 

Christa Assad Solo Exhibition to open at Abmeyer + Wood Fine Art, Dec. 5

I am very excited to share my newest works focusing on the Syrian Civil War. Please join me in Seattle on Thursday, Dec. 5, at Abmeyer + Wood Fine Art for the opening of Proceed With Caution. Exhibition may be extended through mid-January, 2014, so drop by the gallery if you’re in town! If you can make it on Dec. 5, please say hello ~ I will be venturing up to Seattle with a truck-load of work and staying the week!

Announcing: JAMAICA 2014!

 

…start saving now (you have 8 months to feed that piggy bank!), this is going to be my most exciting workshop yet! !

 

Aug. 5-9 at Santa Fe Clay!

Christa Assad

Five Days of Unadulterated Prototype Construction
August 5 – 9, 2013

Tuition $525  Lab Fee $50 

This hands-on workshop will focus on creating prototype models and generating ideas for experimentation to enliven any studio practice. Geared toward creative expansion, students of all levels will use the wheel to create component parts such as vessels, spouts, lids, handles which, when combined, offer a mind-bending multitude of compositional possibilities. Brainstorming, spontaneity, in-process critiques and problem-solving will be stressed as methods for bringing fresh concepts into your ceramic work. Stoneware clay will be used. Dry work can be bisqued after the workshop. 

Basic centering and throwing skills recommended.

For registration information visit:  http://www.santafeclay.com/registration.html 

 

The Can CAN

Happy summer to all of you. I head to Idyllwild Arts in SoCal in a week to teach my “Pottery Component Mash-Up” course (space still available, you last minute types!), followed by a week at Santa Fe Clay in August. In between, I will be working away in my studio on my newest ideas (still top secret ~ stay tuned). What I will say is this: either the work is getting BIGGER, or my studio is getting smaller…

Hess/Assad at artMRKT San Francisco Opening this THURS night

Streetwise 2013, a Collaboration

Jessica Hess (hand painted acrylic) and Christa Assad (wheel-thrown porcelain)

Represented by: Abmeyer + Wood , artMRKT booth #623

First trained as a studio potter, Assad currently uses the wheel to generate “blanks” of identifiable objects from the urban landscape. Collaborating with other artists using the exquisite corpse concept, in which one artist responds in a call and response to the other, her porcelain blanks are the beginnings of lively visual dialogues and social commentary.  Glamorizing an ordinary object, the spray can, led her to collaborate with San Francisco-based painter, Jessica Hess. “Our shared vision is to recreate urban street scenes in trompe l’oeil realism, involving faux found objects of ceramic and painted surfaces, stenciled “sidewalks”, and “tagged” gallery walls. I create the objects and Hess paints their surfaces. As visual documentarians, we are working to bring street art indoors to archive and make permanent these otherwise transitory public works.”

Working independently in the Bay Area, Assad in Berkeley and Hess in downtown San Francisco, each artist is firmly established in their respective careers with work in numerous private and public collections.  Assad received her MFA in ceramics from Indiana University in 2000 and has taught throughout the US and internationally while maintaining an active showing schedule from her home base.  Hess received her BFA in illustration from Rhode Island School of Design in 2003.  She moved to San Francisco from Boston to exhibit and participate in the west coast art scene that combines street art with fine art based in illustration.

Cup Show & sale this Saturday & Sunday at Fourth & Clay

Art Auction to Benefit the Artists – Friday, April 19, 2013

Please join us this Friday, April 19, at Incline Gallery, 766 Valencia St, San Francisco, from 6-9pm (or by phone!) for a rare opportunity to:

 

1) snatch up great works of art by your favorite Bay Area artist at (potentially) half-price!

2) meet and mingle with the artists whose works are featured

3) help create excitement and raise the bids — highest bid wins and ALL $$ goes to the artist!

 

That’s right, thanks to Matt Gonzalez, Aimee Friberg, Christo Oropeza, Peter Kirkeby, and Park Life Gallery, this event is created entirely to benefit the artists. Year after year, artists are called upon to donate their creations for great causes, and this is one unique occasion when the cause IS the artists’ need. 

 

Come celebrate art, artists, art collectors and art-lovers, and bid on some fantastic original works, including my “Giant Gunmetal Grenade”, pictured above.

 

Artist: Christa Assad

Title: Giant Gunmetal Grenade

Year: 2012

Materials: glazed stoneware, steel ring + pin addition

Dimensions: 20″ x 12″ x 11″

Retail Price: $3000

Opening Bid: $1500

Buy it Now Price: $3500

 

**NOTE: if you cannot be in attendance this Friday, please contact me for the phone # to call to place your bid during bidding hours, 6-9pm

*see attached card for list of participating artists

 

Thank you, and hope to see you there!

 

christa 

 

HOT CLAY at Idyllwild Arts, CA, this summer!

Spaces are still available in my week-long, hands-on course, “Pottery Component Mash-Up”, this June 16-22, 2013, at Idyllwild Arts, in glorious SoCal. It promises to be as kooky (yet informative) as the name implies: we will experiment, reinterpret, recycle it, and HAVE FUN!

See the poster for more information: