Today’s the day!!! My Summer Camp “tour of duty” begins today… and continues through Labor Day! This year I will be doing mostly wheelthrowing camps with the kids, as many of the extra-fun “specialty” camps were not offered this year at Lillstreet. We still have Chess Camp at the very end of summer, but sadly, no super huge sculptures this summer!!! mwah, mwah, mwah…

Well, registration begins tomorrow morning for summer classes at Lillstreet Art Center. I will again be teaching my Intermediate Wheel class on Monday nights & my Beginning Wheel class on Tuesday night. Classes fill FAST!!!… so good luck if you’re looking for some summer fun playing in the mud with us!!!

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!

As we were racing towards the “big finale” of our LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class, we celebrated with quite possibly the “classiest candlelit” potluck ever seen at Lillstreet! Earlier in the session,k my students were tasked with making a trio of candlesticks in class. So it was great fun & very dramatic to have them all return for our final class!!! All lit up & providing a wonderful ambiance for our class potluck.

Class registration opened at 10:00am this morning at Lillstreet for the Spring session of classes! Good to see several of my “regulars” at the front of the line trying to register in-person… instead of battling online to snag a spot!!! Good news for me… all three of my Spring classes sold out in less than six minutes!!! Whoo-hoo!!!

After stacking the kiln full of pots, it was time to close the door last night… brick-by-brick, one at a time. Luckily, I had some eager volunteers to help with the process. The bricks of the kiln door have been well-used & well-worn through MANY soda-firings, so stacking them is an ever-changing challenge. With that, a little sealing of the bigger cracks with some wadding always helps. They all persevered and we finally got it closed up & put to bed for the night.

It was a LONG night of loading, with my SODA WORKSHOP students learning a lot & did a lot of the work! They did a great job collectively… working together to make some loading decisions & working together to get all of their pieces in! Most of them had never loaded a kiln before… so this was.a great learning curve for them!

Last night we started with an empty kiln for my 3-DAY SODA-FIRING WORKSHOP. So my “workshoppers” started their evening with glazing & wadding their bisqued pieces. The goal for last night was to FILL this kiln… and they did!!!

Last night was the kick-off of “season six” of the GREAT LILLSTREET THROWDOWN class! So exciting, as this is my favorite class to teach every year during the Winter session of classes. We started with each student throwing their own version of their “perfect” dinner plate… with some of them making their first plate EVER!!!

Once they finished the first plate, they were then challenged to make a second plate to MATCH!!! They had a great time followed by some good discussions & critiques.

And oh, but wait there’s more... their “homework” is to now decorate two plates to make their “matching” set solely with SLIP TRAILING!!! Again, a technique several of them have never tried before… more to come next week!

Mark your calendars… a quick pop-up Holiday Party at Lillstreet Art Center! Just two hours of festive fun next Friday night from 6:00-8:00pm. I’ll be in my studio with plenty of MUGS for everyone on your holiday gift list.

But if you’re looking for the full assortment, more pottery choices, snacks, decorations & sale discounts… remember my second HOLIDAY HOME SHOW is the following Saturday & Sunday at my condo!!!