Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery
A Chicago potter’s somewhat slanted view of clay & play
Categories: challenge

It’s been a long day… but I finally made it home. Now I just need to find my car! You would think it shouldn’t be all that hard, right?! I was just gone for one night in Dover! HA!!!

Categories: challenge

WINDOW SEAT!!! Looks like we’re finally headed home!! Time for a nap! If all goes well I’ll be asleep before the plane takes off… and wake up when we land in Chicago!!!

Categories: challenge

So at least my plane is here now. Things are looking up… except for those crazy clouds!
Fingers crossed we make it outta here. I just wanna get home!!!

Categories: challenge

Okay, so I’m stuck at the Philadelphia Airport trying to get home after a quick overnight in Dover. Flights cancelled due to lightning in Texas… nowhere near this airport?! So our stand-by attempt to get home earlier was thwarted by those people rebooking. And now our regular flight was just delayed another two-and-a-half hours!!! Stuck in the terminal with nowhere to go!!!

Categories: challenge, classes, pottery

Last night in my Intermediate Wheelthrowing class, we celebrated the end of another session with a fun “white elephant” trading, exchanging & stealing game! Category was?… COOKIE JARS… many of them already filled with cookies!!! Nicely done team!

Categories: challenge, classes, lillstreet

HUGE CONGRATULATIONS to Ruth for taking home the First Place win!!! And kudos to everyone else who did such an amazing job this session! Turns out Season Six of THE GREAT LILLSTREET THROWDOWN was one of my favorites… with a great group of people all working hard, playing hard… and keeping it light, humorous & inclusive for everyone!

I know I had an amazing time this session… although I kept telling them all that they weren’t there to really learn anything. They were just there TO ENTERTAIN ME!!!” …and they did weekly!!! I’m already looking forward to next Winter when we get to do this all over again… with new peeps & new challenges!!! Thanks again everyone… it was another great class to teach!

Categories: challenge, classes

And what fun would a Throwdown “competition” class be
without having RIBBONS FOR EVERYONE?!!!

So I made a few to hand out…

Categories: challenge, classes

The final “Big Build” for this year’s GREAT LILLSTREET THROWDOWN was a functioning tabletop water fountain. My students received this challenge early on in the session so they had several weeks to get them all put together. They each also received a mechanical pump… and a single “word” to inform & inspire the designs for their fountain. All in all, they did an AMAZING job… some with a bit of a sputtering trickle, or an overflowing splatter of water… but I think that’s more the pumps fault than their fountains! It was an AMAZING finale for our Throwdown’ers!!!

RUTH : “labyrinth”

KATIE : “art deco”

ELLEN: “groovy”

EMILY : “zen”

TAYLOR : “floral”

SHANNON : “puzzle”

Categories: challenge, classes, sculpture

After an hour of sculpting time, my THROWDOWN students had finished their first cereal mascot sculptures. Only to find out that they weren’t done yet… and that they had to do a second one in just 45 minutes!!! They could have traded mascots… but instead, all decided to go with a new cast of cereal characters!!! It was so much fun watching them make these amazing sculptures… watching the parts & pieces come together in the final minutes!!!

Categories: challenge, classes, sculpture

This week in my GREAT LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class, I challenged them all with a sculpture challenge! Most of them had never done a three-dimensional sculpture before. And what better way to celebrate NATIONAL CEREAL DAY than by sculpting some of the famous cereal mascots!!! They may have been new to sculptures… but “They’re Grrr..rreat!!!