2020 Virtual Chuseok Festival

Fall is harvest time everywhere and to celebrate the bounty, every culture has its own version of the celebration. In its second year, the Bay Area Chuseok Festival will be virtual with music, arts, cuisine and local artists and artisans coming together. Celebration starts September 30 and continues through October 10th. I will be participating as a vendor and also offer a 10% discount through the Chuseok website links. https://koreancentersf.org/chuseok2020/

Sign-up and use the app to participate in all the events.

The Bay Area Chuseok Festival…

Celebrates the rich cultural diversity of the SF Bay Area by showcasing Korean traditions, music, arts, cuisine, and community. Our mission is to inspire exploration and discovery of Korean culture across communities and generations, while offering the area’s Korean Americans a way to celebrate together an important traditional holiday.

This year, in light of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Festival is going virtual and is dedicated to supporting local businesses, organizations and individuals working hard to overcome difficulties during these challenging times.

Building a Mailing List

I don’t have the magic answer on this subject considering I have never maintained a good mailing list. Generous customers have written them down for me at exhibitions, shows and festivals, but I have promptly lost every list collected. So, I am now making an effort to start fresh and allow Squarespace to manage the information for me.

And for those of you who have subscribed, THANK YOU!

And starting today through September 13th, please use the SUBSCRIBE10 for 10% off on your entire purchase. Might I suggest a new set of mugs designed and carved by Lance Rutter?

Urban Garden : 14oz Mugs in 8 designs: Bumble Bee, Daisy, Fern, Gardenia, Poppies, Thistle, and Verbena. $60 each.

Open Garage Sale To Be Announced

Display Shelving

The 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic of 2020 has cause many small businesses to suffer from income loss. Mine is a micro business since I don’t have any employees and I don’t come close to being able to support myself from my art.

Still, I enjoy making work, and I enjoy offering these for sale for other to enjoy as well, especially since my pieces are functional and for everyday use.

As I started to rearrange my studio space to make more room to create, I found myself uncovering excess inventory! Some are brand new and some are several years old and many are lonely ones separated from a set or from a series of work.

Photo is just a sample of work on display.

I will announce an “Open Garage Sale” in October. Stay tuned.

Husband and Wife Team

When Lance and I starting working together in the studio, for me, I wanted a way to find some time to share together and truth be told, I was a bit lonely in the pandemic forced home studio. For Lance, I suspect, a way to practice a bit more free-flow creativity. And, I hope, some time to share with me too.

It’s not that we spent much of our time in the studio talking with each other. We were both quite focused and I was more productive than I’ve ever been. I had a project to deliver… pots for Lance to carve. After the first batch, he started to tell me what types of surface area he would like to work on, and I created the forms with the surface area to highlight based on his style of carvings.

Picking out the glaze was the most troublesome. But I think we got it.

Ramen Bowls

Since the home quarantine started in mid March, we have had a ramen meal at least twice a week. That is not usual for us since it is of the opinion that we should try to feed our family more nutritious meals at home. Cooking 3 meals a day for the family is quite a task if not a chore and trying to come up with ideas that are new and exciting fell out of favor by the 3rd week of our 18-week, and counting, self-quarantine.

A instant ramen packet lunch, or more like brunch when the boys wake up around 11am, can be a delicious homemade option. Just modify a few things like, your own broth, fresh meat and vegetables. So, basically, use the ramen and spice pack, add everything else new.

My version:
Fry up some cabbage kimchi and leftover meat on hand or sliced porkbelly with a bit of butter until meat is fully cooked and kimchi is soft. Add water or more broth (unsalted) and spice pack until meat is soft, about 20 minutes.

While broth is at a medium boil, start the soft boiled eggs (bring water to boil with eggs, reduce heat and simmer for 4 minutes. Cool in cold tap water).

Taste the broth for flavor. need more spice? Add red pepper flakes. Not salty enough? Add soysauce. This is also the time you can add vegetables like Bokchoy if you didn’t start with Kimchi, matchstick carrots, spinach, zuccini, broccoli. If you wanted onions, should have fried them with the meat for a softer onion, but you can slice them thin and add now. Mushrooms, so many different variety, you can experiment. Chop up some green onions now for later. Sometimes, leftover vegetables from last night’s dinner end up in our Ramen.

Add noodles and cook to doneness, another 5 minutes. (I have also cooked noodles separately for a clear broth, but you can add to your soup to save having to wash another pot!)

Serve into Ramen Bowl, garnish with the chopped green onions and the soft boiled egg (peeled and halved). If you used the recommended liquid amount from the instant ramen packets, you should be able to pour the content of your sauce pan directly into my bowl…perfect size!

We like the Korean brands of instant ramen like Jin Ramen, Shin Ramen and Neoguri. These are quite spicey, I use about .75 of the spice pack and add about a teaspoon of soy sauce.

Enjoy!

SVOS 2020 Rescheduled: Saturday & Sunday, August 1 & 2, 2020

Updated July 5th, 2020: THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED

Silicon Valley Open Studios usually happens in the first three weeks in May. Due to the pandemic, it has been rescheduled for the first three weeks in August…at least for now.

I will be participating this year, but curbside to help reduce contact exposure and allow for plenty of social distancing.

Looking forward to showing new work in collaboration with my husband, Lance Rutter. He has taken inspiration from my thrown forms and added playful carvings. We will have covered jars, bowls, and maybe even small trays. And as usual, many teapots to choose from.

Here are a few work in progress photos!

Welcome to my new shop!

Here we are. The Teapot Lady has landed on virtual shopping mall.

Still navigating the overwhelming venture into virtual shop. Someday, I would like to own a shop, gallery, teaching studio of my own, but for today, this is a daunting task that I can barely navigate.

All of the wood fired pieces are from this year’s firing at the Springvalley Anagama in February. By far the best results seen in the 4 year of firing. With each firing, I learn a little bit more about what I like and what I need to do to achieve the results. For me, it’s not much about science, but more about trial and error. There is definitely science to wood firing, I just find it all too much to retain. I may or may not get lost getting home from Target!

Thanks for visiting. Drop me a note if you feel like it. I think there is a subscribe option too. Still learning.