Eight “talented friends” hanging out in the garden. A smaller, more intimate grassroots art fair. This is our third year hosted by my friend & metalsmith Amy Taylor. A great alternative to the mega-art fairs that can be a bit overwhelming. Easier to shop, chat with the artists, or just hang out and relax in Amy’s garden!

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Big sky show this morning. Incredible colors sweeping across the horizon all along the Lakefront. It only lasted a few minutes… but each one was better than the last.

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Sure, many might have taken today as a pre-race “rest day.” But then I would have missed the incredible sunrise this morning. No dice… I have priorities.

With the Rio Games coming to an end, it seemed only appropriate that we “celebrate” with our own Pottery Olympics. Tuesday night was the last class of the summer session. We typically have a potluck dinner, a pottery exchange and then we sit around without much to do. Typically there is no “wet work” during Week Nine. But in the name of “fun & games” I decided to introduce a little Olympic Throwdown into the mix!!!

So I had my class divide into two teams… choosing schoolyard style. Then I showed them what the seven challenges were going to be… kind of… with fairly cryptic messages. They needed to decide which of their team would be doing each challenge. We then went through them one by one. Seven challenges in all. Not quite a decathlon… but maybe a septathlon relay?!

ROUND ONE : Take a full bag of clay and divide it into even cubes that weigh 1-1/2 pounds each… without the assistance of a scale. They had to guess and even them out as much as possible. It was Catherine versus Taylore… with an initial lead taken by team Taylore!!!

ROUND TWO : Remember those 1-1/2 lb. blocks of clay… well now the race was to wedge them all. So it was Natalie versus Stephen. They were both a little overwhelmed, but impressed with themselves when they had accomplished the daunting task.

ROUND THREE : This bout was Rachel versus Erin to make the best bowl with a perfectly round bottom. At first glance Rachel was the clear winner… with bonus points “sucking up” to the judge (me) with a spiral in the bottom and a split rim pinched together. Two of my favorites. But… upon closer inspection, it was Erin who had a more rounded bottom. Rachel’s was actually a little flatter and wider, but still with a nice curve. Erin’s was more rounded as challenged.

ROUND FOUR : This round was the relay!!! A tag team bout of throwing ten cylinders the fastest. With each team member taking a turn, and then repeating until they had ten. I served as the judge to determine at what point it actually counted as a cylinder. They actually had to throw it, compress it, and make some thin walls before I would call it good.

ROUND FIVE : The challenge was to throw an enclosed form that is the closest to a perfect sphere. We’ve done enclosed forms in class… but never a sphere. Katie took a quick lead, while Sam never really got her’s together. She was close, and kept working at it… but it kind of self-imploded before she could finish the sphere!

ROUND SIX : Throw the tallest cylinder in five minutes.
They centered. They threw. We measured.

After measuring, they were pretty close… too close to call when we averaged out the two heights on Stacey’s angled rim. So I gave them each another minute to perfect it even more. And then we measured again! It was Melissa who won the point with the tallest cylinder she has EVER thrown!!! And now that I know she can do it… I’ll have “higher” expectations for her next session!

ROUND SEVEN : The final challenge… BLINDFOLDED!!!
It was Tony versus Natalie in the final round. They both looked as though they would be facing a firing squad. But instead, they challenge was to center & throw the best cylinder while blindfolded in ten minutes.

It was great to see the teamwork & support of their team members…

Such focus & determination… when I expected it to just be a fun & silly little exercise!!!

In the end it was Natalie who won the Blindfold Challenge. But each of them had a pretty amazing cylinder considering the lengths that I put them through.

It was a wonderful night of Pottery Olympics. And to tell you the truth, I;m not even sure which team won?! We all had so much fun, and everyone was so supportive and encouraging of each other. A great game. Several pots. A lot of clay… that has already been re-claimed & re-wedged. Thanks to everyone in my class for stepping up to the plate… err, podium… for a wonderful game. It was another great session of classes. Ending on a hug night of fun!!! You’re ALL gold medalists in my book!!!

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Have I mentioned lately that I LOVE trimming!

Don’t eat these ones – your dentist won’t be happy!!! My teaching assistant Erin made these amazing ceramic OREO’s for everyone in class! While everyone else exchanged ovals, Erin had a fun little OREO for each of us! A perfect complement to our OREO ADDICTION!!! Thanks Erin!

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Last night, in our final pottery class of the session, we celebrated with a great potluck. And a couple new flavors to add to our OREO addiction!!! I can’t quite read the packaging, but as best we could figure out… they’re Green Tea and Lemon. Neither one was all that great. A little too soft and cakey for my liking. I prefer the traditional OREO cookie crunch!

Surprisingly, when we opened the package, they all came out individually wrapped?!

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Last Sunday, I subbed for my friend Catherine’s Soda Firing class. We chatted, toured my studio, discussed & solved “all of the problems in the clay world”… and then I told them it could be “Demo On Demand”… and I ended up stamping a large platter!!!

Looks like my friend Cory McCrory has been “puffing & quilting” her paper clay getting ready for ART IN THE GARDEN. We’re just a couple weeks away from my next art fair in Glenview, Illinois. Details to come… but mark your calendars now for September 10th & 11th.

Sure, teaching weeks of Summer Camp can be rough.
A different group of kids every week. Different ages. Different backgrounds. Different skill sets.
It’s definitely not a job for everyone… but I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again…
I LOVE SUMMER CAMP!!!

So much fun week after week. And the rough times are quickly washed away when your campers are finishing their projects and they drop off a precious little gem like this one! Suddenly my favorite Camper ever!!!… well, at least for that week!