Welcome to the magical world of ShprixieLand where chickens run free and creative juices flow. Meet Shpriken and Pixie who will be grooving and selling at Make It Calgary!
1. Tell us a little bit about how ShprixieLand came to be?
Well, our nicknames are Shpriken and Pixie and one day a clever friend combined the names and called us the Shprixies and it stuck.
In 2002 we bought this place on Kootenay Lake in B.C. that consists of two houses connected by a foot bridge. Our dream was to have multiple art studios for pottery, filmmaking, painting, woodworking, you name it we pretty much wanted to do it. But the place was a real fixer-upper and instead of being able to make art we had to do all of these home renovations. It became sort of gruelling until we realised that the home renos could be just as much of an artistic expression as anything else. Our home became this huge sculpture and the name ShprixieLand just seemed to make perfect sense.
2. Your style is very unique and eclectic. Do you think it is important to differentiate yourselves from other potters?
We’re lovers of art. We collect a lot of other peoples art and pottery and handmade creations. I think that what we like most about it is that everyone has a unique voice that can come through in whatever it is they’re making if they take the time to cultivate it and to really listen to who they are and what they enjoy about their craft.
I think that this is all that we’re doing. It’s like we’re part of a dance with all of these other creative beings and everyone adds to the dance by sharing some free creative expression of who they are. So, no we haven’t actually decided that we need to differentiate ourselves from other potters. Instead our work has just naturally become what it is because we’re playing and because we have a lot of fun trying new things.
3. I noticed you have a well updated blog. How has social media impacted your business?
We’re very new to the whole blog thing. Actually it was the Calgary Make It in November of 2010 that motivated us to create a web presence for ShprixieLand.
Life here in ShprixieLand is a very colourful and often rather surreal experience and we felt that having a blog would help us to share this story. The work we make is so entwined in who we are and what our daily experiences are that the blog really helps to put it into context.
ShprixieLand is something of a hobby farm. We do a lot of gardening, we have our own laying chickens and so there is a definite rustic sort of element to our lives here. At the same time it’s sort of like this psychedelic fantasy with all of these bright colours and this scrolled out trim and surprising little details everywhere you look. I guess that we feel that the story of our work is enhanced by the story of the place where it was made.
As aficionados of the hand-made we love to know something of the story behind the items we bring into our lives.
4. ShprixieLand sounds pretty awesome! What is a typical day like for you guys?
We have our regular daily chores of letting out the chickens and collecting eggs, feeding the dogs, cat and parrot but for the most part we try to make up our days as they come and go without really holding ourselves to a schedule. This means that we need to be conscious of the fine balance between practical daily things that need to be done and the freedom to be spontaneous and to be able to drop everything because you have just gotten some great idea for something you’d like to make.
We’re very tied to nature here so our lives go through cycles with the seasons. Depending on the season a typical day could consist of anything from chopping firewood, cleaning out the henhouse or working in the garden, then throwing a set of bowls to experiment with some new stamping technique we’ve thought to try. Or designing a new curved front porch that will complement the cement patio and the huge blue spiral that is etched into it. Then later sitting together at the kitchen table in our pyjamas doing an assembly line production of Christmas ornaments while watching a movie. Each day is it’s own unique little painting and not everyone of them is a masterpiece but they’re all different and they each have their own inspired little moments of splendour.
5. What is your favourite part about selling at Make It?
We had lots of fun at Make It last November. We danced so much while working behind our table that by the end of the weekend we felt like we’d been at a three day party.
Make It is a veritable candy store of hand-made goodies so trading our wares for other’s wares is definitely a highlight. Not to mention that it’s located at the Chinese Cultural Centre so there are great places to eat on every block. Eating at ethnic restaurants is something we get to do rarely living as we do 45 minutes away from the closest town.
[...] you. Just when the kind folks who put on the Make It show in Calgary decided to present us as their designers of the week our website began to fall apart and needed some emergency [...]