Naturally Fragile & Durable with Rachel Garceau

Rachel K. Garceau is a studio artist whose work has been shown nationally and has been published in Studio Potter, Ceramics Monthly, and National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts Journal, and also appears in CAST: Art and Objects Made Using Humanity’s Most Transformational Process. In this episode, Rachel talks about her preferred medium of porcelain and being inspired by nature, and she and Steve make plans to give new life to some of her past work. And definitely stay to the end as she shares an inspiring poem with us at the end of the episode.

Serenbe Stories is a podcast about making an impact, building a better life, and the extraordinary power of nature and community. Follow Serenbe on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Transcript

0 (1s):
Hey guys, it's Monica here. I wanted to tell you about a new podcast that I've started with my very good friend, Jennifer Walsh called biophilic solutions. Our last season of ceremony stories, building a biophilic movement was so popular that we decided to dedicate an entire podcast to it every other week. Jennifer and I will sit down with leaders in the growing field of biophilia. We'll talk about local and global solutions to help nurture the living social and economic systems that we all need to sustain future generations more often than not. Nature has the answers. You can find biophilic solutions on apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, subscribe and follow us today. So you don't miss an episode.

0 (41s):
All right, now let's get back to ceremony stories. Rachel K Garceau is a studio artist whose work has been shown nationally and has been published in studio Potter magazine, ceramics, monthly national council on education for the ceramics arts journals, as well as she's appeared in CAS, Arden objects made using humanity's most transformational process. In this episode, Rachel talks about her preferred medium of porcelain and being inspired by nature. And she and Steve make plans to give new life to some of her past work and definitely stay to the end as she shares an inspiring poem with this at the end of the episode,

1 (1m 21s):
No porcelain is so many things it's, it can be extremely fragile, like a teacup. It can be extremely durable, like four tiles. It goes into space, you know, it's, it's also, you know, we sit on it every day. It's toilet it's, it's so many different things.

0 (1m 44s):
Welcome back to ceremony stories today. We have our resident, Rachel Garceau with us today. Hi, Rachel. How's everybody doing

1 (1m 55s):
Good?

0 (1m 56s):
Well, we're so excited that you here today. Rachel is an incredible artist and we've done a bunch of different projects with her, but we're going to talk about some of them and all the work that she's doing. She's been on a bunch of residencies this summer, but one of the first questions we always ask all of our guests, Rachel, is how did you discover Seren B and what made you move?

1 (2m 21s):
Well, let's see, it was the summer of 2013 and I was doing a year-long residency in Tennessee that a friend who lived in Atlanta and he called me up one day and he said, Hey, would you like to come down here and go see a production of hair in a wildflower meadow? And I was like, well, that sounds interesting. Sure. So I came down and that was our first, my first time had you first sort of drove in down Selborne lane and wondered when that the facade of buildings that's just going to fall down.

1 (3m 1s):
Cause it seemed too good to be true. And all the beautiful gardens in front of the homes felt so like sushi in to me. And we had Matt to pull up a stool at the bar at the hill because it was so busy for everyone down here for the play. And I remember I had the role famous hill fries and then walked over to the wildflower meadow and experience this magical outdoor production. And then a few months later, my friend in Atlanta called me up again and said, Hey, do you want to come down and see a performance of sleepy hollow in a horse stable? And I was like, well, definitely.

1 (3m 41s):
So came down for that. And throughout the course of the next year, that friend became more than a friend and I moved to Atlanta. And so we continued to come down to and be for art over dinner may day, lots of Playhouse performances. And, and we got married at Sarah May. Mayday was on it. The Mayday event fell on may day. It was a Sunday that year. And after the festivities, we took a walk down the trail behind the Daisy with Steve and Marie down to the famous bench.

1 (4m 29s):
The be still and no bench. And Marie performed the ceremony and Steve was our witness. And then we had a lovely dinner with them at the hill afterwards. And not much time went past before we found out we were going to have a baby. And as someone who grew up in small towns in new England and then spent years doing residencies and little mountain artists communities, the thought of raising a child in the city was just beyond me. Now. I was just like, oh my gosh, I don't know how to raise a child in the city. Of course the punchline is I don't actually know how to raise a child anywhere, but definitely knew that I wanted to get out of the city.

1 (5m 15s):
And so we thought like, let's move down to Seren B, we'll rent a place for a while. We'll see how it feels. We'll have the baby. And as it goes, you know, about six months went by and we were flipping through Sarah and be real estate website and saw house or like wait Selborne lane. And then we looked out the window of our town home that we were renting and looked at our house. And that's where we've been living for the last four years.

2 (5m 45s):
So wonderful. And, and Ray and I are so honored to be in such an intimate setting with, with you and Grady. And it's one of my favorite moments and a very, very special,

1 (5m 58s):
Yeah, very, very special.

0 (6m 1s):
Right. And now ran how old, how old is Wren now? Your son? Four and a half. Four and a half. Okay. So this is now four and a half and he's at the school here, right? Right. Yep. Yep. And you guys are in the crossroads and tell us about your work that you do that you're able to do a little bit at home, but mostly you have a studio. So tell us a little bit, you've been at the goat farm and you know, all over the place. Tell us a little bit about,

1 (6m 28s):
Yeah, that's right. So when I was in Atlanta, my studio is at the goat farm and that was kind of like a saving grace for me. I had a really hard time living in the city, you know, the first it's, it's a mystery and a miracle really that our relationship lasted the first six months in Atlanta because it was a very difficult transition for me. But, you know, I found the goat farm and what was so special about that to me was that suddenly the community shrunk from like 4 million people to like 200 people. And so I was able to really find myself in that smaller community there at the goat farm. And of course that ties naturally to the community that one finds a Sarah and B.

1 (7m 9s):
And so then when we moved to Sarah and BIA had a small studio in sort of like in the garage of the townhome and then, cause it was important for me to be able to work at home while Ren was really young and then made the terrace level of our home. It has a nice, beautiful walkout porch. So I have my Killins outside the porch and then I have a workspace in the lower level of the house. And now I also have a space over, down, down the road, a piece over in Rico or Ricco, depending on where you're from that I share with Thomas or that I rent from Thomas Ponstan, Miguel foster here.

1 (7m 53s):
So, but it's really important to me to keep that studio at home so that I could work and, you know, after Ren goes to bed and then of course he comes down and he works with me all the time as well. So I'm primarily working in porcelain. That's sort of my chosen media and it's been a long journey from, you know, making that first mug and college to now making, you know, large sort of encompassing installations out of porcelain. So primarily what I'm looking to do is create environments out of this very fragile material and really invite people to come inside.

1 (8m 42s):
You know, there's something, you know, porcelain is so many things it's, it can be extremely fragile, like a teacup. It can be extremely durable like Laura tiles, it goes into space, you know, it's, it's also, you know, we sit on it every day. It's toilet, it's so many different things, but most of the time people have this perception when they think of porcelain that it's just extremely fragile. And so when I create an environment that's either made up of porcelain or covered in porcelain or you're walking on porcelain, there's this natural tendency for people to become more cautious, you know, could somebody be like, oh, there's something really fragile around me.

1 (9m 34s):
And so they tend to sort of slow down. They tend to move more slowly. They tend to move more cautiously. They tend, you know, it's like I can, as I wouldn't, you know, I'll sit at the gallery, I'll watch people, I just see this almost like melting of this, of their exterior sort of guard. And it's just so beautiful. And my, the question that I always ask is why, what prevents us from being that way when we encounter people, you know, why does it take like this material to put us into that state of, of, of, of tenderness.

1 (10m 20s):
And that's something that I really work with a lot just in my own personal practice in the studio. You know, I really, I really, I asked myself that, you know, I really, I really learn from the material. I learn that I need to be cautious. I learned how I need to handle it. I've learned all of these things from it. And so then I say, well, how can I take that out of the studio? How can I be cautious with my friends? How can I be cautious and vulnerable and careful and delicate with my family, with, you know, a stranger, you know, what, how can I carry that through?

0 (11m 0s):
Yeah. I think that that's really interesting that the art that people are exposed to changes them. And so we did a whole biophilic series and somebody came on and talked about all the concept of awe. And I wonder if, I mean, I know when I see your pieces and I react, react to them and the many of them are sort of natural forms that have been translated into this beautiful white porcelain. And so I wonder if people are sort of experiencing a bit of all with the pieces and then that changes you, it takes you a little bit outside of yourself and it, it sort of changes your mind and they say, when people experience awe, they actually have more empathy.

0 (11m 50s):
So, you know, perhaps your art is giving to them.

2 (11m 57s):
I mean, that's, that's one of the foundations that principle is why art is such an important part of being at ceremony because it is a way to open it to, to find that channel. And when you can't do it in, in the conscious mind or through our normal means of communication and, and Rachel, your, your work clearly does that. It, you know, it, as you know, that has had that effect on me in many ways. And you know, you, you have pieces that I have appreciated when I've seen it, but then it, it, it works me. I, you know, I think about it and some of those still moments are meditation.

2 (12m 39s):
And, and, and, and I think that's the, that's what art does. And sometimes the artist doesn't always know even what they're probably expressing, and of course for each person is different. So your work is it's unique, it's special. And it, and I think it really talks to people in a very meaningful way.

1 (12m 60s):
I really appreciate that reflection, Steve, you know, hearing back things like that, that let me know, like, okay, just, just keep going. It's just, something's happening. Just keep, keep making the work, keep putting it out.

0 (13m 14s):
Tell us a little bit about some of the installations. So, you know, we've said that you work in porcelain, you know, we'll put some images up in the show notes, but you know, one of the first pieces that I was exposed to was your installation at the goat farm. I believe it was at the corner of the umbrellas. Oh

1 (13m 34s):
Yeah.

0 (13m 35s):
So if you can talk a little bit about that and then maybe talk about a couple of the pieces that you installed in nature and what those looked like.

1 (13m 43s):
Yeah. So the umbrellas, that was my first go at a large, large scale testing, large scale. So, you know, just to step back a little bit, I'm typically making sculptures out of a variety of materials or using found objects and then making plaster molds and then slip casting with the porcelain. So pouring liquid porcelain into the mold to make the casting. So that's the process that I'm, I'm working in. So the umbrellas were the, you know, the largest piece that I made sort of. So I spent two years at Penland school in North Carolina, a craft school, and I did something called the core fellowship. So I was able to take a variety of workshops in a variety of, of material over the course of two years.

1 (14m 28s):
And then the school would close in the winter and the nine core fellows would have access to all of the instructional studios all winter long. So it's a really incredible, absolutely incredible to be able to really go, go deep and go large and use this space. So my second winter, I was like, all right, I'm going to, I'm going to do a thing before I, before I leave here. And so sculpted and form out of wood and clay, and then made the plaster mold of it. So the plaster mold life, like just scale life, scale umbrella. So 30 about 30 inches diameter actually designed to just squeeze into the film, you know, to just get into the kill.

1 (15m 11s):
And I had typically typically how I work, my scale is how big can I make it? And it still fits in the cup. So yeah, so this huge mold and gallons and gallons of slip to fill it and, and all this. And so I made the first one and got it safely into the kale and fired it. And it was like it was happening. And, and so I was just so excited and I start making more and they're, they kept breaking, coming out of the, like coming out of them. I just couldn't get them out of the mold without breaking. Cause there's these huge, unfired porcelain things. And I'm, I'm still working on my delicate touch at that point.

1 (15m 52s):
And so then I had a meeting with my mentor. Who's been a slip slipcast. He was called the grandfather of studio slipcast and who's been doing this for longer than I've been alive. And I said, Tom, I just, you know, I made this one and then now they keep breaking and there's just such a neat, Rachel. Sometimes I make something in ceramics one time and I can just never make it again. And I was like, well, not me and you, Tom, I'm going to make more. And so he just started, like, I think he knew what he was doing to just sort of give me that little push to really go for it.

1 (16m 32s):
And then, so I made a series ended making series of 11. And the interesting thing that happened with that was, you know, so I'd only been mold making slip testing for about a year. At that point, I had just learned that skill when I was at Penland. Yeah. Had come kind of out of wheel throwing and hand building and then discovered mold making and casting while I was there. So I was not, you know, I didn't have a whole lot of experience yet. And so making these large porcelain forms, the thing to know about porcelain in this context is that it's, it almost, I always feel like it, it lives somewhere between glass and ceramic because it is sort of translucent.

1 (17m 17s):
It does sort of, you move innate and it doesn't have any iron in it like a clay does. So it's that white. And, but it's not as more than silicone, so it's not quite glass and you can form it like clay. And so it lives in this space in between. And so when you fire it up to temperature, it fires up to around 2300 degrees and the Killam and it starts to sort of, it, it becomes molten and it sort of starts to relax and it can warp and shift. And the Kim, these huge forms, and I was firing the umbrellas upside down like bowls. And so as they were relaxing, they were sort of opening up more.

1 (17m 57s):
And I was, you know, in the moment I was like, no, I had sculpted this perfect form exactly how I wanted it to be. And now it's turning to something else in the kiln. And so I was so frustrated and then I just had to sit with it for a moment and I realized, wait a minute, here's an opportunity right now. I've got a collaboration with the film going on. So then I started firing them in different configurations in the, and so some, I would fire up, set on like bowls and then it looked like the wind was lifting up the umbrella. Some, I would drape over top of the smaller a shelf and it would sort of collapse, you know, sort of drape a little bit and look like a heavy rainfall was coming down.

1 (18m 38s):
And so I was able to take what I thought was just the worst thing ever and turn it into an opportunity to create this series of objects that all came out of the same mold, all looked different from one another. And so when they were the first time I installed them, I sort of installed them in, in a particular order. So it almost looked like you could almost see the wind sort of swooping down and then up and through and lifting the ones on the end. So it was really ended up being quite a learning experience, which I utilize almost every large scale project I do. And, but then had the opportunity to install them at the goat farm.

1 (19m 20s):
And that was for the, as part of the Atlanta film festival. So an artist named Danny Davis had video that he projected onto the umbrellas. So they were like projection screens. And so we had this like collaboration and it was in, in Goodson yards, like the really high ceiling performance exhibition space at the goat farm. So they were really floating up ahead and make casting beautiful shadows. And I was watching people dancing with the shadows as the projection was moving the shadow. It's really, really beautiful.

0 (20m 0s):
That's incredible. I love that. You told me one time that you w when you started installing some of the pieces in nature, cause I've seen, and I haven't, I've seen those photographs of them. I haven't honestly seen as in person, but one of them, I want to say you had tell, tell us the story about how you found it was an abandoned, it was it ski lifts, what was it? What were they abandoned? Ski lifts, you know, like whatever the, the chairs, the chair lifts, where were you? And then you were trying to hang from that. So tell us about that.

1 (20m 37s):
Yeah, that was sort of an epic story. So that was in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. Right? And so that's where I was doing this year long residency at Aramark school there and there in the woods up behind the school, there was just this abandoned chairlift that had been part of an amusement park that had been nearby. So it was sort of like Gatlinburg. I had just the weirdest thing. So it's just like a chairlift that you go up and you look and you come down and you don't actually go anywhere, you know, sight line. And so, but it was, it had been abandoned for long enough that trees were growing up through the chairs.

1 (21m 20s):
And there was this one that was just sort of perched right above a pathway. And, and I've thought, well, what if we hung an umbrella from that? So it's, so it's sort of, you know, the other thing with the umbrellas is that they're telling the story of the people that are beneath them without seeing the people beneath them. Right. So if you have, if you have, you know, and I'll get back to the trailer in a second, but if you have, you know, two of them hanging beside one another, and one is, and they're both kind of tilted towards each other, and one is a little bit higher up, and one is a little bit lower. You can kind of imagine two people walking in the rain below these umbrellas, carrying them.

1 (22m 5s):
And one is this tall and when is that tall? And they're tilted towards each other. So they're in a conversation. And, you know, so there's, there's a story being told about who's below the umbrella. So that, well, what if we put this umbrella on the chairlift? And then we've got a story about the person who is sitting on the chairlift, even though they're not there. And I guess they'll save you all the details of the tragedy I did and umbrella trying to get, trying to get it up there and nearly sent my friend, Molly tumbling down the hillside, but we, we persevered and, and with lots of pulleys and cables and, you know, pulling the chair, lift this way. And ganking the umbrella of that way.

1 (22m 45s):
We were able to situate it up there and, and it lived there for a couple of weeks, I think. And I mean, that's, that's one of the things that I get really excited about working in, in nature or in found environments, it's just setting these fragile white objects and kind of waiting for someone to come upon them and, and also sort of punctuating, like using them to punctuate a moment in space that I think is worth taking a look at that someone might walk by and not notice without that being there.

2 (23m 23s):
So Rachel is an exhibit in downtown Atlanta with just another one. Where are all of those?

1 (23m 29s):
I was going to say they did. They ended up in Atlanta, too. Yeah. In the basement <inaudible> of this large-scale work is it has a library hacks up. Let's talk about where we can free them. Okay. Yes. Free, free the word

0 (23m 56s):
Like across the Grange bridge or something. Those were illuminated the ones that they were hanging from, I think lampposts, right? Was it the same projection artists?

1 (24m 10s):
No, no. This, these, so this was, so the series of 11 that I made at Penland are there that's, they are a series. And then I made a second series for, I guess it was maybe 2015, elevate Atlanta, public long public art projects. And so I had to make a new mold. The thing about living at Penland was I had all my roommates there and then there was still staff there. And so I had this huge mold and I always needed someone to help me pour it out and flip it over. And I could usually just kind of stick my head out the studio and catch someone, go in and get a coffee and say, Hey, can you come in here and help me flip this for a second.

1 (24m 55s):
But then when I was at the, at the goat farm, I was working alone and I did have, I did have some community there, but not, not in the same way yet. And so I had to reconstruct a mold so that I could cast it by myself. So I had to make it in pieces so I could disassemble it and then move through the piece and do everything by myself. So that was sort of an engineering feat. So the, the major difference is that those umbrellas, I cast imagery into the umbrellas. So I, I, I made two porcelains, one was opaque.

1 (25m 36s):
So I had to add material to it so that it didn't let light through. And then another one that's actually made of this bulk Hanick material from New Zealand, which is really more like blasts, like particles made another porcelain out of that. And it's extremely translucent lets a lot of light through and has like this beautiful yellow glow. And then I created these stencils. And so I layered slip inside the mold using the opaque and translucent porcelain and the stencils. So once they were fired, if you looked at the, at the umbrella from the top, or if it, if there was no light shining directly on it, it just looked like a white porcelain umbrella.

1 (26m 21s):
But then if the sunlight came through and you were underneath this image appeared because light would come through the translucent area and be blocked by the opaque area. And so they would ruminate and they were hung from lampposts in Woodruff park. So at night during the daytime, you might see the image. You might not depending on the time of day and the shadows from the buildings and the weather, but at night, all the ramps was came on and all the imagery was illuminated.

0 (26m 49s):
I love it. Okay. We're going to go, we're going to make a little basement trip. I think what's down there.

2 (26m 58s):
Let's take a stroll fantasize about where we could free the umbrellas.

1 (27m 5s):
Let's do it. I love it. I love taking walks with Steve.

0 (27m 10s):
Well, and can we talk about that? There is a piece that has been, has been freed. Can we talk about that piece,

2 (27m 18s):
Talking about if Rachel is,

1 (27m 19s):
Yeah, let's talk about it.

2 (27m 22s):
Th this started Rachel went, when was your exhibit in Atlanta and the gallery? And

1 (27m 27s):
It was last September and October at white space in Atlanta.

2 (27m 32s):
And so Maria and I stopped in one afternoon just to see it. And, and of course as this things happen, there was Rachel sitting in the car over on a bench on the side as though it was just, you know, meant to be because she's not always there. And it was a great exhibit, but there was one piece that just caught my imagination and, and I just, I kept coming back to it and walking through it and around it and, and I wasn't even sure what, but, but, you know, I saw since then probably what I was relating to is it was clearly w how do you describe it racial, and then I'll tell you what it meant.

2 (28m 16s):
It meant to me. I mean,

1 (28m 18s):
I think we should do it the other way around

2 (28m 21s):
To me. It just captivated me without thinking about it. But now in the time, since that, it keeps coming into my conscious, I realize it's a portal and, and Sarah B is so much about a portal, whether it's into nature or into a more responsible way to live or to develop community. And I think Seren V more and more represents that for people it's, it's that it's that view into what they may be even imagined yet, once you, you, you looked through the portal, you, you can't stop thinking about it because, you know, there's, there, there's something that you hand imagined that is attainable in some level, whether it's through your, your own mind or physically.

2 (29m 13s):
And so I didn't realize it that day, but it has worked me over that time. And, and I just felt that it had to have a place at Sarah. Andrew will, because so many people are referring to Sarah B as a change agent for their lives or awareness. And, and so that, that was my journey into saying, Rachel, I think I have the place. What do you think? And we talked about Rachel and I watched it a few days ago, and then we came back and we just literally walked at this morning again.

1 (29m 46s):
I read it. Yeah. So Yes, it will be freed. Very exciting. Yeah. I love, I love hearing that, Steve, again, it's like, you know, as I make work and sometimes, you know, most often I, I just become obsessed with something and it's most often something that I discover in nature. And it just sort of like, you know, like you said, when the, after the piece was complete and you saw it, it kind of just kept working you, this is what happens to me. I see something or experience something in nature. And it just kind of works me until I've got to get in the studio and do something about it. And, and so the, the form of that piece is based on a Bower, that's built by a Bower bird who lives in Australia.

1 (30m 42s):
And the fascinating thing, I mean, there are so many fascinating things about these birds, but essentially they are artists, designers, architects, gallerists, and performers. These now are birds. So the males build the structures on the forest floor. So it's not a nest because the female later goes and builds a nest in a tree and laid the eggs and does all of that. So this is, this is a structure that they build to attract a female. And when they get the females attention and it might take them seven years to learn how to build a Bauer, that's good enough to attract a female.

1 (31m 23s):
So this is like, they're, you know, they're, they're learning. And so once they attract, get her get a female's attention, then they go into the Bauer and it becomes their they're performance based. So they do a song and a dance and they move around. And what I forgot to mention is that they also decorate. So there's a set and bowerbird will collect only blue objects to decorate the Bauer. So blueberries like berries, feathers, seashells. Now in Australia, you'll find bottle caps, drinking straws, anything that's blue.

1 (32m 3s):
Wow. And, and so then they do a performance and, and try to attract a mate. So, so it's, I mean, it just, you know, we're humans, like, you know, we think we're so elevated, right. But we've got, we've got birds who are creating something basically for the sake of art, you know, it's, it's just so when I discovered, so I think I first learned about these birds, like eight years ago, and it just kind of, it's been working the, I made, I showed Monica earlier, a drawing that I've, that I made, you know, three or probably four years before I started actually making the porcelain piece though, just been this been kind of in my mind for, for a long time.

1 (32m 47s):
And so when Susan invited me to do a show at white space, she invited me to do something inside the shed there. And then she, there's a beautiful garden and lawn that you pass through to get to the shed. And she said, enj, I'd love for, you know, do any, anything you want. She said in this space. And so at white space to get there you go through several fences and that, you know, you'll open a fence, you'll go under an Archway. You're sort of like all these passageways to get up to this space. And so I wanted to create an additional portal to use Steve's word, to sort of prepare people, to enter the shed, which was also, which was completely surrounded, you know, completely filled with porcelain wall, ceiling, floor, everything.

1 (33m 44s):
And so I wanted to have that opportunity for people to start that slowing down, right, to go through this porcelain portal, this porcelain pathway, where they would have that first moment of, okay, there's something different happening here. There's like this, I need to slow down. I need to take my time. I need to tread lightly. I need to just sort of be a little bit more present. And so that's, you know, really exactly what Steve experienced was exactly what I was designed to do and which, you know, hopefully we'll continue to do when it's after it's fried.

0 (34m 31s):
And, and the piece that was in the shed, I believe is the an I call it the pine cone piece. I'm sure that it has a better name than that.

1 (34m 41s):
Well, the two pieces together are called methods of embrace. So sort of the Bower as kind of like that, that temporary momentary embrace as you pass through. And then the piece inside the shed was that more, a more full embrace as you go down, you know, take the steps down and just are completely surrounded.

0 (35m 3s):
That's about what that is. And maybe Steve could tell us first, do you remember going into the sheds, Steve, or were you the Telus tell I tell us I didn't get to experience it in person, but I've seen pictures to tell us about that experience. And then tell us a little bit about your inspiration for it, Rachel.

2 (35m 20s):
Well, it was, so you've take your shoes off. And so you're not only visually experience it, but you experienced, you know, through your, your, your, your feet, your sensitive parts of your feet, because Rachel had stones and they were very specifically placed as I remember it. Rachel. And, and, and so you were, you were experiencing art on, on various levels and the, you only went in one at a person. And so th th th th there was, you know, in the quiet, there was also something that was happening. So it was a total embrace if you will.

1 (36m 4s):
Yeah. Well, I think it's actually worse. Steve mentioned the, the stones, which were porcelain hundreds, if not over a thousand course, a hand hand forms, porcelain stones on the, on the floor of the shed. And if we can go back to March of 2020, which was when this show was supposed to open, it's supposed to open March 20th, 2020. And of course, we all know what happened on March 13th, 2020. And so the, you know, the show was naturally postponed. And so I had been just full steam ahead. I had, you know, three people working in the studio with me, trying to get all the work done and get this show up and, you know, all work just kind of came to a screeching halt.

1 (36m 51s):
And so, you know, I had a lot of people who, who knew what I was working on, and they were like, oh, well, you know, you should just install it somewhere and take pictures or videos. And I was like, no, I mean, there's something as I've expressed to you already, there's just something that's so important about experiencing the material. And so then I kind of went back to the former Potter and myself who, who always thought, you know, when you slip your hand through the handle of a, of a handmade mug, you're holding the hand of the person who made that mug. And so I was like, all right, well, I know that when you hold a handmade object, you're holding the hand of the person who made it.

1 (37m 33s):
And so in this, you know, in that time we were all isolated. We weren't, you know, staying in your house, don't, don't go near people. Don't hug people, don't shake hands with people, you know, how, how do we connect? So I made a post on Instagram, inviting anyone to send me their address, and I would send them a pebble, you know, I think I titled it let's hold hands. And, and so I sent a few hundred pebbles through the mail and actually some, some Sarah and B neighbors reached out to, you know, responded. And so I would just drop on their porch and, and just reached so many people.

1 (38m 14s):
I mean, I was getting things like there was a nurse in New York and her wife lived in Nane and they hadn't been able to see each other for so long. And she said, will you send one of these to my wife? And, you know, just all, all of these beautiful stories that came back. And, and so then, you know, these were the stones that were on, on the, on the floor at the, at the, in the shed at white space. And, and I would invite, so Steve has one, I would also invite people to take one from that experience. And, and Steve, I just, I wish you could like write reviews for me because you really, really, really get it.

1 (38m 57s):
Steve, just that, that is so important that, you know, I'm, it's not just a visual experience, right? It's, it's getting people to, you know, it's, it's, it's sitting down, it's taking off your shoes, right? So there's this other sort of level of preparation, you know, it's like going into, you know, you go into a yoga class, you stop and you take your shoes off, you go, you know, things like this. And so it's a preparation. And then it's, it's, you know, most people wear shoes all the time. They don't walk on directly on the earth or, or on stone. And so their feet are really extremely sensitive. And so not only are you feeling it, the, you know, the pressure on your feet, all these little stones, there's a temperature, cause it's sort of the shed is set into the earth.

1 (39m 41s):
So it's a cool temperature. You're also hearing now because the stones are moving on top of each other as you see them. So your, your auditory senses engaged. So it's really like this full experience. And as Steve said, it's one person at a time going in. So it's a very independent experience where, you know, a lot of times you go to the gallery or you go to an opening and there's a bunch of people and you're drinking wine and you're, you know, you're kind of having more of a social experience. So this was designed to be a very individual experience. And I guess we should talk about the pieces that were on the wall, which were inspired by a pine cone. So there this, you know, so playing with scale is also something that, that I like to do.

1 (40m 25s):
And, and again, it's that concept of just drawing attention to things that we normally just don't pay that much attention to. So, you know, just the individual scales on a pine cone are this beautiful shape, this beautiful interlocking whirling tessellation, right there they're spiraling. And they all interlock perfectly. And, and I, I found these pine cones when I was in California that had these like long tendrils on the lower scales, have you fallen tendrils? And they're just sort of like alien and they were just memorizing. And so, you know, I scaled up an individual scale that might be, you know, a centimeter in diameter up to about 17 inches in diameter.

1 (41m 8s):
And, and actually, I, so I had sort of, I knew that I was going to make a piece and I didn't know what it was. I knew like I'm just totally obsessed with the pine cone. And I was walking one day down the path, you know, the, that Selborne lane loops around, you know, behind the Daisy, walking that path and just thinking about it, like how, what am I on? What's this pine cone thing going to be, how's it going to exist in the world? And it was like, boom, it just like dropped down on me in that moment where I was like, it's going to be like a pine cone, got flipped inside out and you step inside of it.

1 (41m 50s):
So scaling up to a human scale where it's like, you are inside of it. And that just like popped down right on me in the woods back there. And then, but then I was like, well, I don't know where I'm going to do that. You know? And then, you know, probably not two months later, Susan called me up and said, Hey, do you want to do something in the shed? And I was like, ah, that is the space to do it. Yeah.

0 (42m 15s):
And I'm, and I've been wanting garni and I've been wanting to free the pine cones too. That's right. Yes.

1 (42m 21s):
We

0 (42m 21s):
Are a little, a little obsessed with them. And so we wanted to put them in like the be well room or the real estate office. We just had a wall.

2 (42m 33s):
I didn't know this is going to be an idea session for the list. No one has ever heard this idea. This has all been in my head ever since I saw them. And we're early on, but I, I fantasized about a pine cone bar and could be in a place and you look up and it's a, so there's this giant dome, that's the pine cone. And yet, You know, and, and of course, you know, a lounge, a lounge in a, in a restaurant or a hotel could, you know, it's another form of spirit.

2 (43m 13s):
And, and while people may come in for one spirits that they hear are going to consume, we might be able to lead them into another spirit. You know, you could call it the bar and everyone has to figure out why it's named the home bar.

0 (43m 32s):
I'm in Steve. Let's do it. Pine cone bar, where are we putting it?

1 (43m 37s):
Yeah. I love that. I love that because that's actually kind of the, when the idea dropped on me back on the path there, it was, you know, all I could think of was I've got some sort of like half dome hanging from the ceiling and you have to like climb under it and stand up inside of it. So what you're expressing is basically that same exact concept. Were you there? Were you there on the past

2 (44m 2s):
To me? Cause that's the first time I've heard you say that. Cause I got when I went into the chat, but it was all different feelings, but yeah, I immediately started thinking about the dome overhead that you would look up into almost as though it was in the tree and had just enlarged.

0 (44m 22s):
Right. So whoever's listening wants to open the little specialty cocktail.

2 (44m 27s):
I know I had the place I'll share with you plans.

0 (44m 31s):
Wonderful.

1 (44m 33s):
I love it. Okay. So what are you working on right now, Rachel? I know that you have been on a couple trips this summer doing residencies artist residencies. Tell us a little bit about that or any projects you're, you know, you're working on right now? Yeah, well, let's see. I was, I taught a workshop up at Airmont in Tennessee where I had been a resident artist for a year. So it's always really special to get to go back there. And actually, you know, I had this project large-scale project, you know, I'm always kind of running into the forest with piles of porcelain and setting it out.

1 (45m 13s):
And, and actually Monica has, has gotten to experience that with me. She got to carry some horse linens to the fourth.

0 (45m 21s):
I did a whole beautiful installation at the waterfall for a photograph. Yeah.

1 (45m 25s):
Yeah. But I had actually left a couple of those pieces up at Airmont and I've forgotten. So it was like, I got to go back and visit, visit some old friends and then, and teach a workshop. And it was just so, so special. I just really love sharing what I know and what I do with, with people who are curious and want to use their hands and explore new territory. So it was really special. And then did a two week residency up at the Hambridge center in north Georgia. And that is an incredibly special place to me because for, for many reasons, but one of them is my first residency there.

1 (46m 9s):
I had had planned for several months. And then I think two weeks before my residency, I found out I was pregnant. And so I was still living in Atlanta at the time. So I had this three week escape up into the mountains to just sort of be, be alone and kind of begin to form my relationship with my growing child. And, and then I've had two residencies since then. And I've been able to bring Ren along with me on both of those residencies yet. It's really beautiful. They, they really support artists who are parents and support families and that's really special. So I spent two weeks up there, you got to bring Ren and it's always really fun.

1 (46m 52s):
And so when I was there, I started working on what I'm working on now. So those, you know, the little stones that we were talking about, the little sort of hand, hand Palm sized stones, you know, after making hundreds and hundreds of them, I've really become obsessed with that. That shape is very, very soothing oval, oval shape, and started thinking about scaling that up. And so I'm working on that a similar form. So I'm sort of calling them pillows and they're, cause they're kind of pillow, pillow sized, but so working on, and I don't know where those are doing that.

1 (47m 43s):
Yeah. And, and then also working with some, some visual texture in those really, really subtle kind of white on white patterning that might look like if you think about a pillow, if you think about fabric that maybe you've set your, your head on a lot of times in the same place and it sort of starts to wear away. So I'm not sure where those are going fully yet, except I am working towards a little pop-up sort of event at Bella Cucina, Alyssa head. Yeah. So the American craft council is doing a small live pop-up event posting about 40 artists.

1 (48m 33s):
So it's going to be in Buckhead village and it'll be openings Thursday evening, September 23rd and running the 24th and 25th. So just a three-day event, which is in conjunction with craft week, which is happening as an online event online and it'll, so that will host nearly 200 artists online marketplace artists around the country. And then it will also incorporate some additional things like prep stories and special collections, and just mostly highlighting artists in, in the Southeast artists and institutions in the Southeast.

1 (49m 18s):
And so a group of trustees wanted to have something in person as well. And so have put together this smaller pop-up event. And then we also invited some other shops in Buckhead village that have like handmade objects or, or our galleries, and then also galleries in Miami circle to partner with us and host events in their spaces as well. So Elisa invited me to have to have some work in her space. And what's really exciting is she'll be coming down here on Monday and we're going to do some collaborative pieces because she does the brush painting.

1 (50m 3s):
And so, yeah. So I'm gonna make some surfaces for her to paint on surfaces for her to paint on. Yeah. Well it sounds like that.

0 (50m 19s):
Yeah. Let's we need to, we need to find Steve where's the space. We can do a show. Oh, we'll figure it out. All the kids, the school's grown so big, they've taken over all of our empty spaces, which is exciting, but then we have no gallery space right now. And you currently have work displayed at the airport, right? So listeners give yourself time before you fly out of Atlanta and stop by the tea gate because her work is featured until July 20, 22. Where, where can we buy any of your pieces? Cause some of them are very large scale obviously, and people can come to you and get if they wanted a custom piece that they wanted an installation at their home or our office.

0 (51m 4s):
But you also have smaller pieces that I know that you've shown. And we had a, pop-up a pop-up shop here that you had a few pieces in, you know, some amazing porcelain sticks and like a huge like oversized, you know, walnuts in the sort of other seeds, if you will, are you represented by somebody or is there a way we can buy, do they just email Monica and Sarah and

1 (51m 39s):
Monica

0 (51m 42s):
Will free more arts. We will free it from your basement.

1 (51m 49s):
You know, I don't have a standing relationship with the gallery right now. You know, mostly as I've shifted more towards the larger scale installations, they're really more like full exhibitions or temporary public art, things like that. But I do as you go have, have pieces that are available. So it's really just kind of reaching out to me directly, you know, most, most of the projects are represented on my website, although it does need to be a little bit updated, but, and then of course my Instagram has a lot of my work as well. That's primarily, you know, it's primarily process and work and inspiration.

2 (52m 34s):
So Rachel, that that's another idea is, you know, we think about galleries being in four walls. So I think some of your work could be in a gallery outside if we found that space. We, you know, when you think about the Bible poster exhibit and why not, and with information on how to reach out to you interested parties, and let's, let's think about how create a, a,

1 (53m 2s):
This is an idea session

2 (53m 6s):
I see there. It's what happened people together. Right?

0 (53m 12s):
Well, our, our wrap up question is typically, and we will follow that is, you know, if you have somebody coming to Jeremy, who's never been and you wanted to give them a little bit of an inside something where to go, what to see what to do, what would be your sort of insider tip?

1 (53m 41s):
Let's see, I think I have to. Okay. So the first one is a destination and that is the labyrinth. It is so magical, had just beautiful experiences there. I walked the labyrinth when I was nine and a half months pregnant on the winter solstice and I've gone to wet, see the interfaith would do the Easter sunrise labyrinth walks.

1 (54m 21s):
And those were always just so incredible. I've guided 108 sun salutations over in the, in the open air pavilion, just beside the labyrinth. And there was one time, I think it was the autumn Equinox where there was, we were watching the sunset on one side and the moon rise on the other perfect moment. I mean, it's such a magical space over there. So I would recommend finding that. And then the other thing I would recommend is getting lost, just taking, taking time to not know where you are and I'm reminded of this Wendell Berry poem that talks about stepping off where just talking about actually, could I read it?

1 (55m 17s):
I have it here. Okay. So, and this is actually something that when you arrive at Hambidge, this is waiting for you in your, in your studio. So this is where I first found it, but it relates so much to getting lost at therapy as well, always in the big woods, when you leave familiar ground and step off alone into a new place, there will be along with the feelings of curiosity and excitement, a little nagging of dread. It is the ancient fear of the unknown. And it is your first bond with the wilderness who are going into, what you are doing is exploring you are undertaking the first experience, not of the place, but of yourself in that place.

1 (56m 3s):
It is an experience of our essential loneliness for nobody can discover the world for anybody else. It is only after we have discovered it for ourselves, that it becomes a common ground and a common bond, and we cease to be alone.

2 (56m 20s):
Wow, that's beautiful. Has that

1 (56m 24s):
Inspired any specific? No, it inspires, you know, what it inspires in me is, you know, I'm from new England. And so I have a little bit of like a workaholic thing going on. I feel like I need to be kind of have this, this innate sensibility that I need to be doing. And so what it does is remind me of the importance of not doing and just being in a space of not knowing and, you know, being able to, to allowing myself that time, we're not known for being lost for exploring,

2 (57m 6s):
Which is yeah. I mean, I love the fact that one of the best things to do when you get here is just be lost and it's amazing how many people are afraid to actually not have an exact path.

1 (57m 18s):
Okay. And you've designed Sarah and B in such a way that it's really easy to get lost.

2 (57m 27s):
A lot of the paths that people expect for all the signs. I pushed back to that very recent, you know, it's important that we experienced that at some point in life. Well, I should say if we experienced that, you know, on some of the journeys on a hike, it better prepares us for life because that's certainly true about life. Yeah.

0 (57m 50s):
Well, Rachel, thank you so much for being with us today. This was a wonderful interview.

1 (57m 57s):
Yeah. It's been a real delight. It's always, I know Monica got her history as an art historian and that's fun. Always want to talk art with Monica. And I just love spending time and talking with Steve and coming up with new ideas. Thank you so much.

2 (58m 14s):
Well, needless to say, we just love having you and gradient ran all here, a part of Sarah and B and, and being so present. I mean clear from our conversation, you, you are not just here. You're very present here on the streets and in the what ceremonies all about. Thank you. Thank you.

0 (58m 35s):
Thank you for listening to Sarah and new stories. New episodes are available on Mondays. Please follow us and leave us a five star review and visit our website to learn more about guests episodes and everything. ceremony@serumbstories.com. This episode is supported by the, in it ceremony, nestled in the rolling countryside of the bucolic community of ceremony where guests can walk on the 15 miles of private trails through preserved forest land, the wildflower meadow and the animal village, relax at the pool hot tub or in rocking chairs on wraparound porch, lay on the croquet lawn, grab a canoe and jump on the in-ground trampoline connects with nature and each other all while staying in a luxurious space at the end at Seren.

0 (59m 16s):
Be book your stay today at <inaudible> dot com, S E R E N B E I N n.com.