Another apology for being delayed in posting again this month.
Life has just been slipping by… and some of us had an IRONMAN to tackle!!!
So now that that’s over… yay me!!!… it’s back to the studio. Back to ornaments!!!

Here’s another batch of holiday ornaments made by me & four of My Talented Friends.
Remember, we’ve all signed-on for a Monthly Holiday Ornament Challenge.
The plan is for each of us to make a new ornament each month of the year.

My Talented Friend : Cory McCrory
Cory made adorable little mittens! So cute with their little thumbs. Their little textures. Can’t wait to see the pairs of mittens colored & glazed in time for the holidays!

My Talented Friend : Sarah Chapman
Sarah’s has embraced Fall moving into the Minneapolis area. Her September ornament is a copper leaf… complete with veins & textures. When set amongst actual Fall leaves, they’re kind of hard to discern from the real things?!!! Nicely done Sarah!!!

My Talented Friend : Roberta Polfus
Roberta made these wonderful textured & carved porcelain pod-horns for September. I love the subtle textures and how the light & shadows play on them.

My Talented Friend : Amy Taylor
Uh oh… Amy had a rough go of it this month. Too many art fairs, commissions and other commitments keeping her too busy to make ornaments this month. So we’ll give her a “one-time pass”… and really expect great things, and great ornaments, for her October entry!!!

My Talented Friend : … oh wait, it’s ME again!!!
My September ornaments are cute little Christmas presents with textured “gift wrap” and a fun little bow. I painted colored slip on the box so that there is some color contrast with the bow. The “presents” are destined for my next soda kiln – and I can’t wait to see how the flames created some wonderful flashings on my September ornaments.

So there they are… September ornaments from My Talented Friends Cory, Sarah, Roberta & whoops… NOT Amy this month?! Hopefully everyone’s schedule will settle down a bit and we can get everyone back on track with their October ornaments?!!!

Be sure to check out everyone’s websites. They’re all in the LINKS section in the far right column. And they all have fun Facebook pages too. Find your favorites & follow them everywhere!

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Huge congratulations to my friend & incredible painter Cheryl Holz
who won the top honor last weekend at ART IN THE BARN!!!

From Cheryl’s website…
Cheryl Holz is a midwestern artist whose mixed media artwork celebrates nature’s strength, beauty and diversity. Like sediment accumulates in a riverbed, she builds up layers of textured surfaces, organic painting processes, and relevant text on wooden panels. Portions are excavated to reveal botanical or geological specimens and natural patterns.

I met Cheryl a few years back and have admired her work ever since. Her imagery, her layers, patterns and combinations. The multi-media mixtures of nature & text. The color palette that is so close to my own personal palette… see my condo, see her colors… one and the same!!! And she’s one of the nicest people to boot. I’ve always said that I’m so happy to have so many Talented Friends!!!

Congrats again to my friend Cheryl… she deserves all the ribbon, prizes and accolades.
BEST OF SHOW 2016.

For more of Cheryl’s work, click here for her website… or in the Links column to the right.

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You know how much I love collaborations! I think it’s so much fun to see what other artists do when given a challenge and some fun clat pieces to work with. My friend & metalsmith Pam Robinson was given a whole bag of assorted clay “cabachons”… textured ceramic discs that I had made and soda-fired. I thought she might be able to make something out of them as a fun little collaboration. Little did I know that she would share them with one of the metalsmithing classes that she teaches. But I LOVE that she shared and challenged her students to incorporate my clay discs into their work.  After the Summer session, they presented their collaboration pieces at their final class. So much fun to see the final results. Wonderful pieces by an obviously talented class of metalsmiths. Huge thanks to my friend Pam for sharing my clay pieces and throwing out this great challenge to her students!

Laura made this wonderful copper pendant.

Sara very gracefully  incorporated the stamped shapes into the design of her pendant.

Katie used some fun silver squiggles to hold her square tile in place.

Debbie added a contemporary contour to her silver pendant.

Katie used mixed metals to colorfully accent my stamped disc.

Dianna went above & beyond with the necklace with stones & gems added into the mix.

Kathy added a touch of whimsy to my clay disc that had a “watery” glaze surface. She did a two-sided pendant with a whale (named Martin) on the front… to a view inside the mouth on the other side. Complete with a dangling uvula just above the tongue.

Pam worked in her trademark style keeping the shine and adding some bling. Pam loves her sparkle & shine!!! Her pendant is two-sided and hangs from a hammered silver necklace.

But then as a great surprise, and a Thank You for giving them the clay discs to play with, Pam also made me this wonderful necklace. One of my favorite textured discs on a fun textured silver background. Thank You Pam… I’ll give you more clay discs whenever you want them!!!

So for now they are all on display in one of the jewelry cases in the Metals Hallway at Lillstreet Art Center. Pam’s students did a wonderful job with these collaborations. So great to see the finished pieces hanging in the hallway… but I really can’t wait to get my new necklace from Pam!!!

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Came home from ART IN THE BARN with this beautiful porcelain tile from My Talented Friend Mike Skiersch. He hand carves the master tile and then makes a mold to produce these tiles. The glaze is one of studio recipes that looks incredible on his tiles. I love the color & the pooling. The crackling looks great on his tiles… not quite so good on my functional work.

To see more of Mike’s tile work, click here for his website.

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So what do you get when a group of artistic friends get together in a garden?!
You get a wonderful grassroots affair… ART IN THE GARDEN.

For the third year, we had a wonderful time in the backyard garden of my friend & metalsmith Amy Taylor. Seven talented friends all banded together to throw a little art soiree’. A more intimate art fair where you really get a chance to visit and chat with the artists. The weekend started out with a little bit of misty rain on Saturday… but by noon it had cleared up and the rest of the weekend was PERFECT!!!

We had a wonderful time. Thanks to everyone who stopped by The Garden. We loved seeing everyone. Taking time to chat with everyone. And making some new friends & customers. It was a merry band of artists hanging out and playing together for the weekend. Thanks to Amy, and her husband Tom, for inviting us and hosting everyone in her backyard. And not only did she host everyone.. she also created some wonderful award ribbons fro everyone… ‘cuz everyone was a winner!

So in case you missed it… here’s a quick recap of some of the artists and their works!!!

Cory McCrory : Whimsical ceramic pieces made with paper clay. Cory has a wonderful sense of humor, an upbeat color palette and a wonderful appreciation for textures & patterns.

Deb Anderson : Beautiful impressionist paintings of nature, flowers, trees and more. Wonderful images that look so realistic from a distance, but then “break-up” into individual brish strokes when you get closer. Just wonderful.

Jill Wallace : Spunky colors… so close to tie-dye that you know I just loved them!!! She actually does a special ice-dyeing technique to create these special colors & patterns on her silk scarves & wraps.

Martin Chadwick : Incredible surrealistic montage paintings that feature a LOT of imagery information to tell a story. Intricate details and spot-on visual references. Not only are his paintings incredible… his sculptural ceramic work is pretty impressive as well.

Donna Sauers : Beautiful handmade glass bead jewelry with sterling silver accents & chains.  Baubles & bangles with collections of beads.

Retta Hentschel : Stained glass windows, lamps and lawn ornaments with collections of vintage glass interspersed with traditional glass. The textures & faceting of the vintage glass make for very special windows.

And our “garden” host Amy Taylor : Whose work speaks for itself! Wonderful designs and impeccable craftsmanship… each with a nifty hinge. Yep, everything swivels, bends, closes ot somehow pivots on a hinge!!! A lot of semi-precious stones, gems, glass and other inclusions make Amy’s work quite special. I already have quite the collection of Amy’s amazing pieces!

Also, the collaboration pieces that Amy and I did together had their “Big Reveal”!!! These innovative necklaces incorporate textured ceramic disks that I made. And then the sterling silver “cafe” pendants that Amy made to hold them. They have a great hinge & clasp combinatin so you can open & close the pendant to trade out the discs. Each necklace comes with a collection of discs in different colors & textures.

And who’s coming home with the round one in the center… little old ME!!!

I also received my ribbon award form Amy… not surprising it had OREO’s, huh?!!!

And a special award for Amy’s husband Tom… who got the garden all ready for our invasion. Tom was always there to help each of us in the garden. Setting up, tearing down, figuring out where everything goes and so much more!

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Huge congratulations to one of my favorite teachers ever!!! Steven Young Lee and his new gallery show at the Renwick Gallery in Washington DC. Amazing pots. Fantastic artist. Incredible teacher. Thank you Steven for sharing your art, knowledge & passion with the rest of us!

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Looks like a great PBS episode of CRAFT IN AMERICA this evening.
This episode is focused on “TEACHERS”… artists as teachers and teachers as artists. The extra special role that an artist needs to become a great teacher and to carry on the legacy for the up & coming artists in their field. Navajo weavers. Hawaiian glassblowers. And functional pottery!!! Linda Sikora has been making beautiful pots for years. She was one of the first potters I remember seeing displayed in the Lill Street Gallery back in the day when I first started taking pottery classes there. Now if only they would do an episode about her husband Matt Metz too?!!!

Click here for a quick teaser video excerpt from tonight’s broadcast on PBS.
And then check your local listings for CRAFT IN AMERICA.

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We open in just a couple hours. Everyone is filling their shelves and putting out their wares. It’s always so hard to finish putting out my own pottery when all I want to do is gawk & shop in everyone else’s booth!!! Especially my “creative genius” friend Cory McCrory.

Be sure to stop by to chat with the artists, buy some handmade art or just hang out in Amy’s beautiful garden! In the backyard garden of my friend & wonderful metalsmith Amy Taylor.
1205 Hutchings Avenue, Glenview, Illinois 60025

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My friend Donna Sauers is apparently working late into the night to make just a few more beauties for this weekend’s ART IN THE GARDEN. Pack it in & go to bed Donna… we open tomorrow at 10:00am!!!

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Looks like something special in the works?! This is the kind of “magic” that happens when artist friends get together and collaborate. Come to ART IN THE GARDEN this weekend to see the final results. Amy Taylor is amazing!!! And let me just add two more enticing tidbits… “Limited Edition” and even better… “interchangeable.”

So we started with some textured clay “cabachons” or disc inserts.

Then Amy made some great metal “cases” to hold the discs. Practically everything Amy makes has a hinge on it somewhere, so it was no surprise that these do too!!!

A little cleaning up… and then polishing…

Insert the ceramic disk… and voila’… PERFECTION!!!
She’s amazing… and this one may just have to be mibe?!

And again… interchangeable ceramic disks in the hinged sterling case…
but VERY Limited Quantities this weekend only at ART IN THE GARDEN!!!