Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery
A Chicago potter’s somewhat slanted view of clay & play
Categories: artists, color, patterns

Contemporary quilts in the Lillstreet Gallery Annex.
Abstract pattern by Sarah Nishiura… and gridded & printed by Jordana Robinson.

Categories: art fair, creativity

Who new that Pokemon was still a big deal?! Not me. But I do love this new graffiti mural on the City’s West Side… and I heard on the radio this morning that there is some Pokemon Go Fest happening downtown that is already SOLD OUT!!! Guess it’s more popular than I thought?!

Categories: food, garden

Stopped by the Farmer’s Market on my way home from the studio…
and found I had the perfect oval for my fresh beets!

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Categories: bike, sunrise

It was a breezy morning on the bike.
A beautiful sunrise… but methinks this is the last of the sun we’ll see today
as the clouds began to move in for the day!

Categories: process, studio

So tonight when I came back to my studio, I noticed some sort of random “fuzz” growing on my plaster bat. I use the bat to lay out my sloppy reclaimed clay. It sits on the bat for about a week before it is dried up enough to roll off and wedge up. I took my latest batch of reclaim clay off the bat about five days ago. I decided to leave my plaster bat sitting out so it could dry up a bit before laying out another batch of reclaimed clay slop. The bat is “elevated” on a couple commercial tiles so there is air circulation below it as well. I didn’t notice before… but I assume the fuzz has been “growing” since I took the clay off the plaster bat. I’ve seen little crystal-like build-up before, but NEVER this thick & furry!!!

Any thoughts of what’s going on here?
Should I be worried? Should I be concerned?
How do I fix the situation?… or is it too far gone? And time for a new plaster bat?!!!

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Categories: classes, mugs

Tonight was the second class for some of my Beginning Wheelthrowing students…
and they’ve already finished up their first batch of mugs! We’re off to a great start!!!

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Categories: mugs, porcelain, soda-fired, stamped

A small, stamped soda-fired porcelain mug to celebrate Mugshot Monday!

Categories: bike, sunrise

After yesterday’s windy century ride, this morning’s little jaunt along the lakefront was a simple “walk in the park.” Not so windy. Not so far. Just a bike and a beautiful sunrise.

Categories: bike

It was a wonderful day on the bike with my friend Chris today! Beautiful miles rolling through rural farms, small towns and endless cornfields. The weather was almost perfect… a bit windy… okay, a LOT windy… but so much fun pedaling close to a hundred miles!!!

First rest stop down. Twenty miles in, only eighty more to go!

And my new best friend… who let me pet her head and used my hand as her own personal salt-lick!

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Categories: bike, Chicago, sunrise

Clear skies with a cool breeze all the way down for a beautiful sunrise
on Chicago’s Navy Pier.

Looks like Navy Pier is gearing up for a busy Pride Weekend.

While the statue of Bob Newhart looks on… according to the Navy Pier website…
Designed for visitor participation, lie on the couch and pour out your troubles to bronze Bob Hartley, the 1970s psychologist from The Bob Newhart Show. Created by Studio EIS in New York, the life-sized statue was commissioned by nostalgia cable channel TV Land and unveiled to the City of Chicago on July 27, 2004 by the company’s president Larry W. Jones. In November 2004, the statue was moved to Navy Pier.