My glass calendar is shaped by two annual events.

The Box Show invites 150 local artists to turn a small box into a piece of art. They auction the boxes to support their wonderful art education programs. Early each spring my colleague Brian Huse and I get together to cogitate on what our box will be. Sometime around March or April, Gallery Route One tells us when our wooden boxes will be ready for pick up and what size they are, when they are due back, and when the auction starts. The Box Show is typically when I try to make a piece that is a little different or more demanding than I normally attempt. I work the glass and Brian works the wood. I spend most of the spring on one piece. When I look at pictures of my boxes over the years I am amazed at what we have learned.

Point Reyes Open Studios runs events on Memorial Day and Thanksgiving Weekend. PROS supports local artists in meeting their audience and market their wares. I normally participate over Thanksgiving. I try to have something new every year, along with a normal collection of plates and bowls. Open Studios is when you have to clean your work area, sweep the floor, sort the stuff you have been working on and separate the wheat from the tares. I like seeing folks year after year.

Occasionally I am invited to submit a piece for a show or for a charity auction. I love the Bolinas Museum and normally donate a piece for their fund raiser in early September each year. But every other year they have a Hardly Strictly Mini auction which you apply for and then get invited. That is a “Hardly, Strictly, Mini” show and the pieces have to meet strict size limits.