I love to get comments from “fans” on my blog.
It reminds me that people are really out there reading it… and that it’s not just me
rambling on here for no reason. And then, when I actually find out that my
ramblings have actually “inspired” someone, that’s even better!!! And here’s one!

So I’ve gotten a few comments over the past few weeks from Sam Brown. A potter
out in the middle of Nevada who has been feeling a little uninspired… although
challenged with a wonderful project! She has been working on a making two hundred
& fifty bowls. 250! That’s a LOT of bowls! Here are a few of Sam’s early bowls…

And then she found my blog… and realized how much fun stamped textures can be!
We’ve “chatted” a few times through the blog and she finally sent me some pictures
of her newly “inspired” pieces. I love the new direction she’s going. And I hope that
I’ve been able to put a little “jump-start” into the final stretch of her 250 bowls!

Here’s a “new, improved & inspired” stack of Sam’s new bowls!!

Plus, she also sent me a few other pictures of her paintings and basket-weaving.
I was intrigued by her combination of clay & basketry! Keep up the good work Sam!!!

eBay Auction – March 24th – March 27th
to help the victims of the Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami

“Handmade For Japan”‘s mission is to raise money through an online auction for relief efforts
to assist the victims of Japan’s catastrophic earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear emissions.

“Handmade for Japan” is an online auction of unique, handmade art donated by concerned,
invited artists. One hundred percent of all net proceeds collected via the auction
will be donated to the relief efforts in Japan. Because of the urgency of the situation,
the auction will begin on eBay on Thursday, March 24th and end on Sunday, March 27th.
The auction items will be listed under the “Handmade for Japan” seller ID.

Click here to go directly to the “Handmade For Japan” e-Bay Auction.

Handmade For Japan was borne out of concern for Japan’s residents by Japanese-American
ceramic artist Ayumi Horie. She, Ai Kanazawa Cheung, and Kathryn Pombriant Manzella
have mobilized to solicit, promote, and auction handmade pieces of art generously donated
by talented artists throughout North America and Japan.

Remember, this auction ends at 7:00pm Central time on Sunday, March 27th.

Also at The Pier… interspersed in the Stained Glass Museum,
there is currently an exhibit of contemporary mosaics. Now generally I’m not
a huge fan of mosaics. But after seeing this exhibit, I may need to reconsider.
I was especially enamored by the mosaics of Laura Rendlen of Glen Ellyn
who does these intricate, almost “photo-realistic” mosaics with teenie-tiny pieces!

Plus a few others, like this incredible portrait of “Indian Prayers”…
not to be outdone by the whimsically crazy birds mosaic!

Thanks to the Chicago Mosaic School for bringing these out for all of us to see!

With last night’s surface decoration demonstrations…
including some techniques from my friend & potter Amy Higgason…
I was surprised with the HUGE coincidence of her posting some pictures
of her own work that she had done in her own studio up in Northern
Wisconsin that same day. So while we were “channeling” the carving style
of Amy Higgason, she was actually doing it too! And much better!!!

Here are some photos of the incredible platter she was working on…
See… THIS is how it’s supposed to be done!!! Stunning as always!!!

Check out more of Amy’s incredible work on her website or Facebook.
Search for Amy at Pigeon Road Pottery.

Okay, I have a basic art theory… one of something is okay, three of them make a set,
five make a collection, but THOUSANDS of anything can make something really cool!!!

Meet Andrew Myers, one of the most patient modern-day sculptors around.
This California-based artist goes through a multi-step process to create incredible
works of art you almost have to see (or touch) to believe. He starts with a base, plywood
panel, and then places pages of a phone book on top. (Cool fact: He’ll use pages from
his subjects’ local area.) He then draws out a face and pre-drills 8,000 to 10,000 holes,
by hand. As he drills in the screws, Myers doesn’t rely on any computer software to guide him,
he figures it out as he goes along. “For me, I consider this a traditional sculpture and
all my screws are at different depths,” he says.

One of the most challenging parts is getting rid of the flat drawing underneath because
he then has to paint over each of the screw heads, individually, so that in the end,
the sculpture looks like an actual portrait. Look through these photos and you’ll notice
that the real magic happens when you see these pieces from an angle.

You know how I like beautiful landscape photography.
And pride myself on a few of my own sunrise biking photos.
But here’s another friend of mine who takes great pictures!
Although I’m still wondering where the color went?

Personally I prefer my nature shots to be vivid color as Mother Nature intended.
But my friend Julie Wight sees the world differently through her camera lens
and creates these stunning, and sometimes haunting, black & white photographs.
I’m entranced by the composition, the contrast, the geometry… basically all of it.

The majority of the work I have seen of Julie’s has been this kind of austere nature shot.
But recently, Julie kicked off her own photography blog to showcase more of her photography.
And this time, it’s not all landscapes. I can’t wait to see where her blogging journeys take her.
Be sure to check out her new blog adventures – http://juliewight.blogspot.com/

If you’re looking for great photography of your artwork… here’s the guy!
Literally. His name is Guy.

Guy Nicol : Photography For Artists

It’s the beginning of the long & arduous season of art fair applications…
and many of us start the season with new professional photography of our work!
I’ve used Guy Nicol for years. But I’ve heard that many artists don’t have a
resource for professional pictures. And sometimes, they make all the difference!
So if you’re looking for a great photographer to make your artwork look even better,
check out Guy’s new website!

Guy’s studio is on the third floor at Lillstreet Art Center. So it’s very convenient for
those of us who work there. But others like to drop off or ship their work to him directly.
Guy offers a wide range of services from traditional slide photography, to digital
images, as well as ZAPP-formatted images for online applications.

His work is very professional and can be seen in many publications as well.
Including three of mine! Beautiful photos by Guy… ceramics by me…
“500 Cups” – page 265
“500 Pitchers” – page 357
“500 Tiles” – pages 219 & 240

Beautiful shapes. Beautiful textures. Beautiful glazes.
Gracefully combined by Kate Biderbost… another Talented Friend of mine!

I’ve know Katie for several years now since our days at the “original” Lillstreet Art
Center. In fact, Katie was one of my instructors early on as I was just getting started
in soda firing. Over the years, Katie has gone away for grad school and now returned
to Lillstreet as a studio member. She continues to teach around Chicago and…
she continues to make great pots!!! In fact, I’ve started quite the collection for myself!
Including a nice collection of Katie’s mugs as they’ve grown & changed over the years!
Her latest style is this beautiful “knit-woven” texture she creates with layers of slip.
Check out her new website and you’ll see her actually working on the detailing!

So now she finally has a website to share with everyone!
After many years of pots… many years of school… many years of teaching…
Katie has finally ventured onto the World Wide Web!!!
Check her out on her new website!!!   www.KateBiderbost.com

So it seems that the current trend is to hop onto the Etsy.com bandwagon.
For those who might not know what Etsy is… it’s an online store for handmade art
by artisans around the country. Seems like everyone is doing it these days.
Which could also be a problem… too many artists all competing for the same buck!

But of course, I’m questioning if I should do it too?
My initial thought is… another place to sell my pottery is always a good idea.
My second thought is… I really hate to pack & ship my things. Yuck. Hassle.
My third thought is… it seems like a lot of organizational busy-work!!!
So then my final thought is… I’d rather be biking right now.

Anyway, a lot of my artist friends are having similar thoughts. Very few of them have
been doing it for any length of time. So we don’t have a lot of “practical” experience.
My gut reaction is that it is too much work, a lot of organizing, photographing, tracking,
packing, shipping and more! Plus, the fear of the accidental breakage during shipping
and how to deal with that headache?! And then there’s the fact that I really enjoy seeing
my customer’s faces light up as they admire & fondle my stamped-texture pots!

The newest entry into the Etsy foray is my friend and fellow potter Marjorie Woodruff.
She holds a special place in my heart as she was also my very first teacher at Lillstreet.
Early on, she encouraged me to give up my corporate job and become a full-time potter.
Well, here we are now… and I tell her it’s all her fault!!! And now it’s a lot of fun as we
both teach classes at Lillstreet now on Tuesday nights. I’m teaching beginning wheel class
and she’s teaching handbuilding.

Anyway, Marj has just opened her Etsy store online – featuring some really great plates
that she has done some nice sgraffito illustrations on them. Such sweet little plates.
Including this adorable plate that she made just for me… with obvious inspiration drawn
from my morning sunrise bike ride photo series – thanks Marj!

So now I’m looking forward to her progress on Etsy to see if she finds it successful.
Check out her store on Etsy… Marjorie Woodruff of Maplewood Clayworks.

Plus, just a few more of my artist friends who are on also Etsy.com for you to check-out…
Amy Taylor – nifty hinged jewelry
Roberta Polfus – small-scale carved porcelain pieces
Molly Bitters – Macabi Studios jewelry
Zach Medler – relief print ceramics

If you have any insights, experiences or opinions on Etsy.com… I’d love to hear them!
I’m leaning towards “no”… but that could easily change.

It’s been a long time since potter-extraordinaire Amy Higgason stopped by
my beginner’s pottery class for a demonstration night of carvings, textures & patterns!
I posted the pictures from her visit way back on October 19th… go back and check it out!
I had dinner tonight with Amy at my favorite restaurant as she’s hanging out in the
Chicago area visiting with her Mom for the holidays before she heads back up to the
Northwoods. She finally got to see all of “our” collaborative pots… and now so can you!

For those of you who may have missed it the first time, here’s a brief recap…
I started by throwing all of the bowls and trying to get them “dried” enough for trimming,
stamping, carving, sprigging and all of the other fun decorative techniques that Amy and I
like to do to our pots! Our intention was to show how five “matching plain” bowls can easily
be transformed into five completely different bowls with a few decorative techniques.
People have asked if they would get to see the finished pieces… so here they are!

Amy trimmed, carved, textured and sprigged this bowl which was then glazed
in Josh Green and Temoku interior.

And blue carved bowl… without the dots, without the sprigs… with a groovy,
“wave” pattern around the bottom. Glazed in Josh Blue with a light spray of Temoku,
then line glazed with Temoku.

And another carved bowl showing off some of Amy’s more “illustrative & organic” style.
Glazed with Josh Green outside – and a beautiful Shino inside.

Plus, a collaboration bowl where I stamped, she carved, I squared & stamped again…
then liner glazed & inlaid glaze with Temoku and soda-fired for the final effect.

And the fifth bowl that I stamped in my own style then glazed with Josh Blue
and a slight spray-over of Temoku… and a nice, creamy Antique White inside.
Complete with Amy-inspired stylish foot-ring indentations!

So there’s the final chapter in my collaboration class & bowl demo with Amy Higgason.
We’re already talking about future projects. And trying to get Amy back to Lillstreet for
some sort of future workshops & demonstrations!!!

Remember, you can always check out more of Amy’s “solo” work at Pigeon Road Pottery.
www.PigeonRoadPottery.com