After a beautifully warm & sunny weekend in Minneapolis, it was great to get back on the bike this morning for another beautiful sunrise along the Chicago Lakefront.

Another wonderful evening of musical theater in the highly decorative Oriental Theater in Chicago. Hard to believe that it has been twenty years since I saw “RENT” for the first time… so good to see it again for the Anniversary Tour. Still an amazing show!!!

According to BroadwayInChicago.com…
As one of the first motion picture palaces whose décor was inspired by the Far East, Chicago’s Oriental Theatre opened to much fanfare on May 8, 1926. Designed by George L. and Cornelius W. Rapp for theatre managers Balaban and Katz, the theatre, a virtual museum of Asian art, presented popular first-run motion pictures, complemented by lavish stage shows. Turbaned ushers led patrons from the lobby, with polychrome figures and large mosaics of an Indian prince and princess, through an inner foyer with elephant-throne chairs and multicolored glazed Buddhas, to the auditorium’s “hasheesh-dream décor.”

Among the many stars that played the theatre are Paul Ash (billed as “the Rajah of Jazz”), The Three Stooges, Judy Garland, Al Jolson, Stepin Fetchit, Sophie Tucker, George Burns and Gracie Allen, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, Fanny Brice, Danny Kaye and Alice Faye. During a record-breaking week in 1930, as many as 124,985 patrons visited the Oriental to see the hit film “Flight.” Although management changed hands several times in the subsequent decades, the theatre continued to feature films until the early 1970s, at which time it hosted live performances by such artists as Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight and the Pips and Little Richard.

Soon the theater fell into disrepair. In an effort to preserve the theatre, it was added to the Federal National Registry of Historic Places in 1978, but the building continued to crumble. The theatre was closed to the public in 1981, and the site was considered for a two-story, 50,000 square-foot shopping mall and a 1,600 seat cinema. In 1996, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley announced that the Oriental would be restored to
its original grandeur for the presentation of live stage musicals. Renamed the Ford Center for the Performing Arts in 1997, the restoration of the theatre was completed in October 1998, at which time it was opened with the Chicago premiere of RAGTIME. In 1999, FOSSE debuted at the Oriental Theatre before embarking on a national tour. The list of hits goes on, including the pre-Broadway premiere of BLAST in 2000, the
world premiere of SING-A-LONG WIZARD OF OZ in January 2003, the record-breaking run of WICKED from 2005 to 2009, BILLY ELLIOT and the pre-Broadway World Premiere of BIG FISH in 2013. In 2014, the hits include the National Tour Premiere of MOTOWN and Disney’s NEWSIES.

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Just a few spoon rests rushing to get into the next kiln! Only a couple dozen!!!

And now drying after adding a few little accents of colored flashing slips!

A potter friend of mine up in Minnesota announced on Instagram today that he had a not-so-“little” kiln incident. Everyone is okay… the pots not so much. It could have been so much worse. A good lesson in kiln safety for us all to remember. If you’re headed up to Minneapolis this weekend, be sure to stop by the Rogue Potters to offer some support. Just don’t expect any “new” pots from Randal. Sorry buddy!

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Working in the studio trying to build enough new work to fill the soad kiln! It just seems so weird to me that my Summer Art Fair schedule is barreling towards me. And as always, I’m rushing to the finish line. Sure, I had months of cold winter months that I “could have” been working in the studio more. But somehow, I didn’t… and now I’m paying the price and cranking it out!!!

Kiln Layer #1 – a nestled tight layer of wall pocket vases.

Kiln Layer #2 – more wall pocket vases, mugs and a few mini vases.

Kiln Layer #3 – soap dispensers, mugs, ikebana vases and some mini vases.

Kiln Layer #4 – Flower pots, flasks, spoon rests, stars and ikebana vases.

And you know how I like to fill the kiln to the top… stacked high… flush to the top!
I figure as long as the kiln lid closes, I’m good. Right?!

Just some quick photos from one of tonight’s bowl demos for my Simply Soda class.
I coated the bowl with wax before carving the leaf pattern… and let it dry for a few minutes.
Then I painted the exterior and filled-in the grooves with colored slip…

After it set-up for a few minutes, I wiped the excess off the wax layer.
Thus filling in only the carved grooves for a colorful slip inlay.

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With Spring in the air, and art fairs around the corner, it might be the perfect time to crank out some quick flower pots?! Should be ready for my first art fair in three weeks! Mark your calendars… Schaumburg in three weeks!

Like a bull in a china shop… quite literally. One false move and I just took out one of the new mugs. Note to self: dried greenware is VERY fragile! A great reminder. Luckily, that “set” had five… so now we’re down to four matching mugs!

Beautiful colors this morning as the spring flowers are still in bloom. Some have already faded, but others are hanging on with the cooler weather we’ve been having.

Morning sun on my tiled basement window.
Simple squares glazed and hung on security mesh with small plastic zip ties.
So much better than a bare basement window!

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