Mark your calendar… it’s only three weeks until “Art In The Barn.”
A fundraising event with 20% of the artist’s proceeds going to the
hospital auxiliary board. Plus, it’s my last outdoor art fair for the season!!!

Saturday, September 26th & Sunday, September 27th, 2009

It’s a great show out in Barrington on the original grounds of Quaker Oats.
Now the grounds of Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital, the barns, silos and
corn cribs are still there. And the artists are inside them!!! I will once again
be in the Lower Barn in booth E-4 and E-6… and I’d love to see you there!

As we continue through the summer art fair circuit, I find it’s time to replenish
the inventory… and what better place to start than with my favorite… MUGS!!!
Simple cylinders thrown tonight… soon to be transformed into stamped mugs!

Here’s your chance to save money again!
Just print out this coupon, stop by next weekend and redeem it at the
Evanston Lakeshore Art Fair
Saturday, August 1st & Sunday, August 2nd.

The two-day art fair is in Dawes Park in Evanston along the lakefront
of Lake Michigan on Sheridan Road at Church Street. My booth is at the
southeast end of the pond right on the lakefront. Stop by to say hi
at Booth #43… same booth location as usual.

And while you’re there… redeem the coupon and save some cash!
Then step into the booth right next door to see my friend Sarah Chapman
who will be showing off some incredible jewelry!!! Great stuff…
And what fun to finally be neighbors – we get to share the same “backyard”!!!

Mark your calendar… we’re just two weeks away from the
Evanston Lakeshore Fine Art Fair.
Saturday, August 1st & Sunday, August 2nd.

Located in Dawes Park along the beautiful lakefront of Lake Michigan
on Sheridan Road in Evanston at Church Street. I will once again be in Booth #43
at the southeast end of the pond. And this year, my friend & metalsmith
Sarah Chapman will be right next door! We’re gonna be neighbors!!! Yeah!!!

So mark your calendars… it’s just two weeks away!

It’s the second “online-only-web-offer” of this summer’s art fair season!
Remember, this coupon is only redeemable at the Hinsdale Fine Arts Festival.
Another chance to add a piece of pottery to your collection for a little less cash!
A chance for my loyal Blog readers to “really clean up”!

Just copy the image to your desktop – then print it out!
Fill in the information and save some cash at the Hinsdale Fine Arts Festival
this weekend! It’s just that simple.

Hinsdale Fine Arts Festival
Saturday, June 13th & Sunday, June 14th

It’s the first “online-only-web-offer” to kick-off this summer’s art fair season!
Remember, this coupon is only redeemable at the Schaumburg Prairie Fine Arts Festival.
Think of it as your pottery purchase stimulus package!
And a chance to thank my loyal Blog readers!

Just copy the image to your desktop – then print it out!
Fill in the information and save some cash at the Schaumburg Art Fair!
It’s just that simple.

And then check back again during the week before the Hinsdale Art Fair.
Another summer art fair, another online offer!
It’s just that simple… again!

The pots are being fired… the new business cards just arrived…
and the white tent is being dusted off to kick off the new season.
It’s time to start getting ready for this summer’s tour of art fairs!!!
Starting next weekend…

Schaumburg Prairie Arts Festival
Saturday, May 23rd & Sunday, May 24th – Memorial Day Weekend
Robert O. Atcher Municipal Center, 201 Schaumburg Court in Schaumburg

Hinsdale Fine Arts Festival
Saturday, June 13th & Sunday, June 14th
Burlington Park on Chicago Avenue between Washington
& Garfield Streets in Hinsdale

Evanston Lakeshore Fine Arts Festival
Saturday, August 1st & Sunday, August 2nd
At the southeast end of Dawes Park on Sheridan Road at Church Street
along Lake Michigan in Evanston

Art In The Barn: Barrington
Saturday, September 26th & Sunday, September 27th
On the grounds (and in the barns) of Good Shepherd Hospital on Route 22 in Barrington

And new this summer – “online-only-web-offers” for my faithful Blog Readers!!!
Check back sometime during the week before each art fair to receive a special offer
valid only at each of the summer art fairs! A different offer for each fair!
Information & coupons to come…

Well, the results are in… I was accepted into all of the art fairs I applied to.
Once again, I will be returning to the same shows as last year… and the year before!
Why mess with success – and the chance to see so many of my loyal customers
who come back year after year! So mark your calendars – and check back for
updates and special “blog-only” bargains prior to each of the art fairs!

Schaumburg Prairie Fine Arts Festival
May 23rd & 24th, 2009

Hinsdale Fine Arts Festival
June 13th & 14th, 2009

Evanston Lakeshore Fine Arts Festival
August 1st & 2nd, 2009

Barrington Art In The Barn
September 26th & 27th, 2009

Plus, mark your calendar for my annual holiday event…

“My Home For The Holidays” Home Show
November 21st & 22nd, 2009
More info to come…

A quick thank you to my loyal art fair friends!

It’s still winter… it’s cold, it’s freezing, it’s windy…
But it is also time to start thinking about the summer art fair season!
The applications are arriving in the mail, .pdf forms are being downloaded
and I’m starting to plan my summer season.

In today’s mail, I received the application for “Art In The Barn.”
Along with that was a nice letter stating that I was one of last year’s
“Top 10 Selling Artists” at last summer’s fair. Yeah!!!

So it’s a quick thanks to all of you… for making last season a success
and for once again “winning me” a double-booth for this year’s
“Art In The Barn” in Barrington. I’ll see you there in the Lower Barn…

Art In The Barn – September 26th & 27th, 2009
Mark your calendars… more details to come!

I met Cory McCrory a few years back at the Hinsdale Fine Art Fair.
She was a row over, and I could barely see her booth from mine… but the little
I could see definitely piqued my interest. She had clay fish swimming in her tent!
It was love at first sight… the colors, the patterns, the textures, the whimsy…
oh, and she was really nice too!!! Since our initial infatuation with each others work,
we’ve become good friends over the years. We shared ideas, fears, inspirations and meals.
We are both working our way through the world as self-employed ceramic artists…
both trying to carve out our own niché… both playing with textures!

Cory McCrory Workshop at Terra Incognito
Last weekend, Cory was the “headliner” at a ceramic workshop at Terra Incognito
in LaGrange, Illinois. As the supportive friend and Cory-enthusiast, I had to go.
It’s not every day that one of your friends is presenting a workshop!

She worked her way through the day presenting her techniques, making a couple pieces
and sharing her thoughts, inspirations & passions along the way. Cory’s work is more
sculptural in nature, filled with a wonderful sense of whimsy, yet often functional
at the same time. Tough to get all three to work in balance like that. She also works with
“paper clay” which affords her more time to “work the clay” as though it were more like fabric.
Paper clay is regular stoneware clay that has a large percentage of hydrated paper pulp
mixed into it. The result is a lighter clay body that retains moisture longer so it extends the
“workable” time before it dries out. She has also had great results with re-working pieces
even after they’ve dried to greenware. Apparently the paper pulp helps with dry attachments?!

As with a lot of my friends, I have quite a collection of Cory’s work… and always want more!
I do here graphic design for her… postcards, business cards, etc… in exchange for more.
I have a teapot, bottles, whistles and an entire school of her clay fish. And more to come.
There’s never enough whimsy in the world… and Cory just keeps adding more!