Time to mark your calendars… we’re just nine weeks away from the NORTHERN ILLINOIS POTTERY TOUR! I will be playing with my pottery friend Cory McCrory at her studio location in Sandwich, Illinois… along with fellow ceramicists Linda Kiepke, Nancy Gardner, Kenyon Hansen & Lindsay Heiden. Put us on your calendar for a fun weekend road trip for some pottery fun!!!

With a little extra time last night, we got to see the beautiful “Four Seasons” mosaic by Marc Chagall down in the Chase Tower Plaza in Chicago. Beautiful mosaic murals portraying life in Chicago through thousands of little tiles.

According to the Chicago Cultural Affairs website… “Composed of thousands of inlaid chips in over 250 colors, Marc Chagall’s mosaic artwork The Four Seasons portrays six scenes of Chicago. It features a vocabulary of images informed by the artist’s Russian-Jewish heritage and found in his Surrealist paintings such as birds, fish, flowers, suns and pairs of lovers. Chagall maintained, “the seasons represent human life, both physical and spiritual, at its different ages.” The design for this mosaic was created in Chagall’s studio in France, transferred onto full-scale panels and installed in Chicago with the help of a skilled mosaicist.

Chagall continued to modify his design after its arrival in Chicago, bringing up-to-date the areas containing the city’s skyline (last seen by the artist 30 years before installation) and adding pieces of native Chicago brick.”

Another wonderful season of the LILLSTREET THROWDOWN!!!
I know I had a wonderful time teaching this class again, and I’m pretty darn sure they all had a great time too! So much fun to push them out of their comfort zones, to encourage them to try new projects & to watch them succeed week after week! We all had so much fun… I thought they all deserved prize ribbons to commemorate our time together!!! Well played team!!!

Too bad Will had to miss out on the final festivities… but he still got a ribbon too!!!

Huge CONGRATULATIONS to Clara…
winner of the LILLSTREET THROWDOWN Season Four!!!

For the BIG BUILD project of the LILLSTREET THROWDOWN, I challenged my students to make a creamer & sugar set based on the work of a famous artist… assigned by Tracy! Including creamer with handle, sugar with lid, tray and a spoon! They all did an amazing job… most of them getting all of their pieces “done” for class. We did have a few kiln issues, so not all of the pieces were at the same place… some were bisqued, some glazed, some stuck waiting on a cart, and some missing? I felt sorry for Helen who was struggling to find her pieces on the bisque carts! Regardless, they did an amazing job embracing their inner Mondrian, Dali, Lichtenstein & Koons.

Claire : PIET MONDRIAN

Clara : SALVADOR DALI

Melanie : ROY LICHTENSTEIN

Tracy : JEFF KOONS

After the Shamrock Shuffle, Tracy and I wandered around Millennium Park taking in the beautiful day. Too many people all around Cloudgate… so I was more enchanted by these floating nuggets of blown glass by Christine Tarkowksi. A perfect way to enjoy today’s blue skies… with a little art along the way!!!

Fanciful butterflies flitting around on this large sculpture at the St. Louis Library. Pretty impressive as the late afternoon sun was still illuminating a few of the butterflies… err, mariposas!

Some times you’re just driving down a sidestreet… minding your own business…. you run across an EXPLOSION OF CREATIVITY! I just love this collection of handmade & handpainted birdhouses all over this tree! Just a normal house… with some AMAZING little houses hanging in their tree!!! So cool… so creative! What a great collection & fun for the whole neighborhood!

Also part of the sculpture show in Evanston this weekend, was another one of My Talented Friends Darlys Ewoldt… who makes these crazy cool metal sculptures!!! Swirling dimensional sculptures with great patina colors that are simply amazing. I have no idea how she makes them!!! Crazy, right?!

So much fun hanging with my friend & master metalsmith Sarah Chapman this afternoon… after her pop-up gallery show in Evanston this weekend. She makes such cool stuff… so talented, so creative. You should definitely check out her work… and then come see her this spring at the One-Of-A-Kind Show in Chicago!!! www.chapmanmetals.com