Steve Banks: Punching Holes in the Rah-Rah: North On 71: Part I

A couple days after we had test fired the wood fired kiln, Veronica Watkins and I met a fellow artist/woodfire aficionado named Adam Jones. It was honestly the dumbest of dumb luck and the best of lucky timing. Ceramics was a common thread for all of us, but having just fired the wood fired kiln (which is no small task) helped to demonstrate our level of commitment. Here is a LINK to a post about our wood fire experience.

Anyway, NCECA (The National Council On The Education For The Ceramic Arts) is having its national conference in Kansas City in March. Long story made short: we were looking for an exhibition space/venue to have a show during the conference and Adam knew of a possible space we could use owned by his buddy, and fellow artist, Mac McClanahan.

Mac had recently acquired the building -which was still full of 'residue' from its previous occupants. We met with Adam in late December and decided that the space would be a perfect venue for an exhibition. At that point we had less than 90 days before the conference.

This is what the space looked like back in December.

So with a little bit of money and a lot of effort, North On 71 was born. Veronica Watkins volunteered to curate/spearhead organizing the show. She enlisted the help of Amanda Biddenback to design the post card for the show (we're getting 6000 of these bad boys printed off. Roughly 5500 of them will be included in the registration packet for everyone attending this year's NCECA conference!)

In mid February, we went to the space to build a couple of walls for the show. We were impressed with the progress Mac and his crew had made on cleaning up the space.

Not only did they have to jackhammer all of the waste concrete spilled on the floor, there was a bunch of trash/debris/junk that had to be removed as well.

Mac's crew had cleared one end of the building for us to start building, so we were able to dive right in.

Bob Schultz and Tia Calkins assembling one of several wall sections.

You may remember Tia from such family-friendly classics as 'Tia With Chainsaw' this past Fall when we test fired the wood kiln........you can see more of her artwork by clicking HERE (tiacalkins.com)

........and of course you remember Bob Schultz from such meditative classics as Bob Schultz With Goofy Smile In Studio.......

.....or Bob Schultz Jammed Into Wood Fired Kiln With Slightly Different Goofy Smile.....

....or maybe you just had your face rocked off when you saw his work an earlier POST I wrote about Bob's work. Or you can check him out at his own website by clicking HERE.

We relied heavily on Brant Weiland's carpentry skills to get the walls built.

You may remember Brant from such classics as 'From Where Did This Big-Ass Chain In The Shape Of The Contiguous Lower 48 States Come?'.........You can also check out Brant's work by clicking on this LINK to his website.

Veronica Watkins and Kwok Pong "Bobby" Tso putting in some corner bracing for the walls. Veronica is curating North On 71 and Bobby is curating a separate show called: From There To Here, at the Marietta Chair Building (right next to Leedy-Voulkos Art Center in the Kansas City Arts District). You can check out Veronica's website by clicking HERE (veronicawatkins.com)! You can check out Bobby's work by clicking HERE! (BobbyTso.com).