I stopped by my studio tonight and made the “mistake” of cruising through the Lillstreet Gallery. Everyone needs to buy themselves a pre-Thanksgiving gift, right?! I ended up adding two great pieces to my mug collection. One by Kristen Kieffer, and one by Jeff Campana. Love ’em both!!!

I’ve long admired the work of Kristen Kieffer. I love her combination if stamping & slip trailing. No detail is overlooked. With a smooth satin glaze that breaks in all the right places to accentuate the patterns & designs. For more of Kristen Kieffer’s work, click here for her website.

And then there’s Jeff Campana. Again, a beautiful mug… but even cooler when you realize how he’s making them. He actually makes the piece and then cuts it into pieces and then puts it back together! Crazy cool, huh?! For more about Jeff Campana Ceramics, click here for his ceramics website.

For a little Jeff Campana process-photo-explanation, click here for a blog post that shows how he puts them all back together! Here’s a sneak peek…

Cutting the form apart…

Putting it back together with a new bottom “groove”…

The thrown-separately “disc” bottom…

That fits perfectly into the groove ads the “new” bottom of the pot.

Check his website for more!

It’s amazing how fast 10-weeks flies by!
Tonight was the final class for my Beginning Wheel students. They were busy finishing up their pots, snacking at our potluck, chatting, laughing & hanging out. Basically solving all the problems of the world. And good thing we had plenty of sweets to keep everyone happy… especially me!!! I’ve trained them so well…

We finished our class with a “bowl” exchange game.
At some point we expanded the definition of “bowl” to any “vessel” they’ve made. Guess some students didn’t quite finish a bowl?! Anyway, after our “exchanging-trading-stealing” game, I came home with a great mug by one of my repeat students Nadine!!!

Tonight before class I had a wonderful visit with a fellow potter from South Carolina. Stephanie follows my blog and decided to put a visit to my studio on her itinerary while here in Chicago for her husband’s business trip. It was great to meet them both, talk pottery and give them a tour of Lillstreet Art Center. I hope they enjoyed their visit as much as I did… and Stephanie is taking a mug home as a souvenir!

While down at Navy Pier for a holiday meeting today, I got a quick sneak-peek into SOFA Chicago… which stands for “Sculptural Objects and Functional Art.” This huge art event runs through this weekend. If you have a chance, there’s a lot of great art to see down on the Pier!!! Sure, they were still setting up today, but a sneak-peek is a sneak-peek, right?

It was fun to come into the Lillstreet Gallery this evening and see a great table setting FULL of dinnerware by my friend & potter Delores Fortuna. It’s not every day you get to see so much of Delores’ great pots all in one place!!!

We didn’t get very far… until we stopped at Joe Christensen‘s studio in Hudson, Wisconsin to see some huge pots, vessels & sculptures with wonderful textures, carving, slip patterns & sgraffito. Not surprisingly, larger pots using more clay take a lot more time to dry. So these large vessels have been sitting out for days, and are different stages of dryness. The darker the stoneware clay, the wetter the clay is.

And you thought those ones were big… check out this huge one still sitting on the wheel…

You know how I love texture & pattern… so I knew I had to share these great surfaces with all of you. Some especially wide & deep sgrafitto through the white slip layer.

On the other side of Joe’s workspace are some finished pots. Already glazed & fired.
Now just waiting to go home with a satisfied customer!

For those of you in the Chicago area, Joe and his huge pots will once again be on display at “One Of A Kind” over the first weekend of December. Click here for more information about Joe Christiansen.

Next stop on our Minneapolis tour was a quick trip to Sarah Chapman’s new studio.
After moving north, she had to find a new studio location. She first landed in a small space above a groovy little diner. But then this new space opened up in the Casket Arts Building. It’s a beautiful space in a beautiful location. Apparently, it’s an old casket making factory that has now been turned into an arts building full of artists of all sorts.

Inside we found Sarah’s new studio space. A very quaint, and not surprisingly well organized space. Love the hardwood floors, the exposed brick walls and her assortment of really cool tools. Her inspiration board above her work bench. The antique wooden tool box overflowing with tools.

An assortment of lovelies in process on her work table. Some pieces she’s working on… and some pieces that are “ideas in progress” or wacky inspiration! Baubles. Beads. Earrings. Pendants. Tubes. Seashells. As well as some wonderful porcelain twigs by Roberta Polfus!

And every metalsmith needs a mascot, right?!

Meanwhile, just outside of Sarah Chapman’s space is the home of Quench Jewelry Arts.
A fully functioning metalsmith studio run by owner Sarah Michaela Sitarz. Quench offers classes, workshops, parties, corporate events, studio time and work bench rentals.

One of the coolest parts is the old vault door that’s still in place.
So cool that they’ve left it there… and even cooler that it has the original lock and more!

For more information, you can find Links to both metalsmith Sarah Chapman
& Quench Jewelry Arts in the column to the right on this blog. Yeah… over there —}
Or you can just click here for Sarah Chapman.… and click here for Quench Jewelry Arts.
In addition to running Quench, click here for jewelry by Sarah Sitarz.

The first stop on our afternoon adventure was a trip to Northern Clay Center in Minneapolis. Much like Lillstreet, they’ve got a gallery of ceramics, classrooms, artist studios and a lot of fun for everyone. Sarah, Pam and I were excited to get our shopping on!

Inside, we got our shopping on. Not only were there a lot of great ceramic artists represented in their retail sales area, bit there was also a great show in their Main Gallery. It was a collaboration show where one artist made the pieces, and then had other artists do the glazing in their own styles. Very cool. Makes me think that I need to some more collaboration projects in the near future. After the Gallery show, we toured the studios and the classroom facilities. It was Pam’s first time to Northern Clay Center so she was excited to see it all.

Anyway, we ended back in the retail space and we started getting down to business. After looking at all of the pottery, the sales associate told us we could open all of the cabinets and “shop” from there too. And then he said there were still some pots left from the American Pottery Festival in the back room… so we shopped in there too! So much fun! So many pots!!!

After looking at all of the pots, I had to start narrowing it down. I finally landed on three different mugs that caught my attention. The latest additions to my ever-expanding “Mug Collection.” The first one was made by Kenyon Hansen… who seems to be the latest “golden child” of the pottery world. He’s been all over Ceramics Monthly and creating quite a stir with his wonderful forms, surface treatments and glazed textures.

My second choice was a stunningly refined cup by Kyla Toomey. I’m been coveting these for about a year now every time I see them in the Lillstreet Gallery. This time, I found this sweet one glazed in a very light green celadon glaze. I love how these are created, cut, popped and refined… I’m not quite sure how she makes them. But I;m very glad that she does!!!

This last one is actually the first one that caught my attention! At first glaze it’s just a pretty normal, functional mug by Birdie Boone. Nice shape. Nice glaze. Nothing too extravagant. But then when you touch it… watch out!!! The bottom of the mug is rounded off with no foot ring… so it rocks! Literally!!! It rocks back & forth… and I fell in love instantly!

Please take a second to check out their work on their websites. Simply click on their names above the photos, or go to the “Links” section and click on their names there. You’ll go right to their websites to see more of their incredible work!

The 2013 Student Member Show opened today in the Lillstreet Gallery.
And while I’m not part of the show, it’s great fun for me to see so many
of my previous students & friends in the show. A lot of great pottery, sculpture,
jewelry & paintings by a lot of great artists. The show only runs for a week…
so hurry in today!

There’s a great new photography exhibit going on downtown these days.
Located on the plaza of North Riverside… just west of the Lyric Opera House.
“Butterflies & Buffalo: Tales of American Culture”

The first thing that strikes you is the HUGE camera sitting there on the plaza. Turns out, it is indeed the largest camera ever! So big that it actually rolls into & travels in a full semi-truck! Created by photographer Dennis Manarchy to capture cultures all across the country. This traveling photo exhibit is actually a truly functioning camera, using 4.5′ x 6′ film, which will be crossing the country to capture images & cultures from a truly personal vantage point. Up close & personal. Oversized prints from oversized negatives to capture every detail of every culture. The photography project is being timed to coordinate with the 200th anniversary of the invention of the camera. At the end of the traveling tour, the camera & images will be donated to the Smithsonian Institute in 2014.

From the website of Dennis Manarchy:
Unknown legacies lie among us.  Rich cultural heritage and folklore quietly resonate within our landscapes. The United States is the most ethnically diverse nation in the world, yet we have struggled to find commonality in our differences, and in our rapid daily quest to achieve the ‘American Dream’, we have lost touch with our roots. Now is a pivotal time.

Symbolic of our fragile surviving cultures and the enduring strength of the American spirit, “Butterflies & Buffalo” will forever preserve our nation’s dynamic cultural history through the largest film camera in the world and a 20,000-mile nationwide documentary journey. The magnificence of over 50 cultures will be captured and shared with the public to commemorate extraordinary people from all walks of life. Join us on this amazing journey. 

Click here to see more about this incredible photography project.

Have you EVER seen a larger camera lens?!

Here’s the centerpiece of the exhibit. A large portrait emblazoned on the side of the wall overlooking the plaza, the Chicago River and the back side of the Chicago Lyric Opera House.

More of the photos by Dennis Manarchy posted on the side of the building…

Here are a few of the stunning examples that are traveling along with the camera. Huge enlargements with incredible details. Each photo capturing the true personality & essence of the subject.

And my personal favorite… don’t you just want to be her friend?! She’s gotta be fun!!!

Don’t forget to click here for a video about this fantastic photography project!!!