Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery
A Chicago potter’s somewhat slanted view of clay & play
Categories: art fair, artists, collaborations, handbuilding, terra cotta

Just a quick glimpse into Cory McCrory’s studio as she is working on our collaboration pieces for ART IN THE GARDEN. I see lots of parts & pieces in the making… can’t wait to see how she puts all of these little treasures together!!!

Don’t forget ART IN THE GARDEN is coming soon with lots of great collaboration projects amongst the artists! September 7th & 8th in Glenview. For more details… www.grassrootsartfair.com

Categories: art fair, artists, collaborations, sgraffito

Time for another collaboration project for ART IN THE GARDEN. A few porcelain pieces with some black underglazed rims… getting ready for metalsmith Amy Taylor to do some sgraffito “magic” on them! Can’t wait to see the cute critters she carves into them this year!

Categories: art fair, collaborations, handbuilding, terra cotta

With summer over… so are the Summer Art Fairs! But always fun to look back to a fun art fair highlight! I loved the collaboration birdhouses I made with my pal Cory McCrory for ART IN THE GARDEN… and the excited shoppers who scored one of the ten colorful birdhouses! Such a fun collaboration project… and so fun seeing everyone with their whimsical new birdhouses!

Can’t wait to do another collaboration with Cory for next year…
for the 10th Anniversary of ART IN THE GARDEN!!!

And an extra special birdhouse… where she “just had to have” this birdhouse with the two bluebirds on top. And then she explained that she is a TWIN… and loved the two birds on top!!!

Categories: art fair, artists, collaborations, porcelain, sgraffito, surface decoration

Another huge THANK YOU to all of our loyal customers who came out to our grassroots ART IN THE GARDEN last weekend. Especially those who got there and snatched up some of our one-of-a-kind collaboration projects! Like these black & white sgraffito platters… where I made the porcelain pieces & metalsmith Amy Taylor did the sgraffito doodles. I think they turned out great.. and they all disappeared very quickly!!! So thanks again for supporting your favorite artists!

Categories: collaborations, food, sgraffito

What’s black & white… and red all over?
Thanks George for sharing your fresh tomatoes in one of our porcelain sgraffito collaboration pieces from ART IN THE GARDEN! The colorful tomatoes totally “pop” on the black & white dish!

Categories: art fair, artists, collaborations

A sincere THANK YOU to everyone who came out to ART IN THE GARDEN last weekend. It was our ninth year of doing that grassroots art fair… and our ninth year of doing collaboration projects with the other artists. But this year, I think my pal Cory Mccrory really blew it out of the water with these amazing birdhouses. I made the textured terra cotta houses… and then Cory collaborated & added her usual sense of whimsy & color on top of them! We only made TEN… and they went fast! Quite the collector’s item for those ten lucky customers!

And now we need to start thinking about how we’re going to top ourselves next year for the Tenth Anniversary of collaborations with Cory! Any suggestions???

Categories: art fair, artists, collaborations, mosaic

This colorful collaboration came home with me from ART IN THE GARDEN. A perky flower made by Cory Mccrory surrounded by beautiful mosaics by Kristin Dann Conneely. I especially loved how the beauty of the day was reflected in the broken mirrors… blue skies, green leaves… beautiful day!!!

Categories: art fair, collaborations

Well, we’re open for Day Two of ART IN THE GARDEN.. and we still have a few collaboration pieces for those Sunday shoppers! We’re open until 5:00pm and the weather looks fantastic again today! C’mon by… we’d love to see you!

Categories: art fair, artists, collaborations, process, production, terra cotta, textures

Well, after all of the process posts… it’s finally time to show off our birdhouse collaborations for ART IN THE GARDEN. And I will say, I think this might be my favorite “Cory Collaboration” of all time!!! We’ve generally done separate parts & pieces that then go together or assemble later. This is the first time that we’ve actually “worked” on the exact same pieces passing them off part way through the process. I built all of the textured birdhouse.. and then Cory added on her pieces of whimsy!!! And I think that this “tighter” collaboration has really paid off. I can’t wait for people to see them this weekend at ART IN THE GARDEN. There are only ten of them… first come, first served… and sorry, no dibs ahead of time!

For more info – https://www.grassrootsartfair.com/

Categories: art fair, artists, collaborations

We’re almost ready… the show is tomorrow & Sunday!!!
Hope you can join us in Glenview!!!

Checkout the website for full details… https://www.grassrootsartfair.com/