Each year, Lillstreet Art Center brings in a couple people for their Artist In Residence Program.
Tonight I stopped into the metalsmithing room on my way out since I heard people talking
and I heard Sarah Chapman’s voice. While there, the current metalsmithing Resident Artist
was chatting… and Sarah suggested that she show me her latest piece. WHICH IS CRAZY!!!

Apparently, Michelle has a lot time on her hands… which “puzzles” me. But in a good way.
I love crazy, eccentric artists. So she etched the brass and handcut each of the puzzle pieces.
Twenty pieces down one side, by 17 pieces the other way… that’s 340 puzzle pieces to make
her handmade, etched map of the Chicago Transit system. Keep in mind that this entire
puzzle is made out of a single sheet of metal and measures only 6-1/2″ x 8″.

So glad I decided to stop into the Metals Room… otherwise I would have missed out on
seeing Michelle’s latest puzzle masterpiece. Such patience. Such precision.
To see more of Michelle’s work, click on – www.michellesallemi.com

Yikes… and pay no attention to my overly dried out finger tips from a long night
of throwing bowls. Looks like a little lotion is needed… but still, that’s a small puzzle piece!

Well, it’s Week #4 of the Spring Session at Lillstreet Art Center.
And most of my beginners are doing great… and those who aren’t,
are at least doing good and having a great time! So that counts for something, right?!

Tonight was “bowl night” in class and I demo’d how to make bowls on purpose
instead of a cylinder-gone-bad-and-oops-there-it-is-now-a-bowl. As we make the bowls,
I also encourage my students to design, alter & be creative with their bowls. Sure,
they need to make the typical round bowl. But I also like to open their eyes to some
of the other possibilities. There are a LOT of round bowls out there… why not express
yourself a bit to make that round bowl something special?! So, as part of the demo,
I threw ten “practically identical” bowls and then showed them how to do some quick
alterations, and introduced them to the world of colored slips! By the end of the demo,
the ten bowls were each very DIFFERENT bowls… and quick too!

Bowl #1: Plain — Bowl #2: Fluted rim edges

Bowl #3: Flared flange — Bowl #4: Flared & fluted flange

Bowl #5: Split rim & pinched — Bowl #6: Split rim, pinched & squared

Bowl #7: Flower impression — Bowl #8: White slip spiral

Bowl #9: White slip squiggles & line — Bowl #10: White slip chattered

Every time I do the bowls demo, for some reason every one is impressed by the ease and
simplicity of the little flower impression in the bottom of this bowl. A lot of people assume
that it’s a stamp… but instead, it a few impressions with a simple metal tool to create the
flower. I think I got the tool for a couple bucks at Chinese Clay Art. It always makes a
great “surprise” for someone eating out of the bowl when they get down to the bottom!

So there they are… bunches of bowls ready to set-up for the night, dry to leather-hard,
maybe some stamping, then some trimming before they head off to a bisque kiln.

So we’re in the third week of our new Spring Classes at Lillstreet Art Center.
And my “beginners” are progressing nicely. They’ve tackled the basics of wedging
and centering, basic cylinders and trimming. So tonight we pushed on a little further.
With their new “cylinders with shape,” we trimmed and then learned how to pull
and add handles to make mugs. They’re first mugs ever!!! And it’s only Week Three!

Plus, you know I like stamps… so why not encourage my students to make their own?!
And they did… we sat around the table and discussed stamps, textures, patterns and the
importance of “making their own mark” in the pottery. More fun to come once they’re bisqued.

And snacks… did I mention snacks? We may not have the professional pastry chefs
this session, but we do have some fine snack-makers! Last week we had some brownies
with cheesecake & peanut butter chunks in it from Hanna, plus a wonderful bag of
Garrett’s Chicago Mix Popcorn! My favorite… and SO addicting!!! Tonight we had a
wonderful Strawberry Margarita Frozen Pie Concoction from Sido & Will. So in between
making mugs & stamps… there’s always time for a few snacks!!!

So tonight was the first night of the new Spring Session at Lillstreet Art Center.
I’ve got another great group of wheelthrowing beginners… and some returning students!
Sadly, not a single pastry chef in the bunch. I think I got spoiled last session with so many
great treats every week. I threw out the “treats challenge” tonight…
we’ll see if they got the hint.

Oh, but wait… mid-way through class, Sido “ratted-out” her friend Cate by telling me that
Cate’s first job was making French pastries. Wait?… back it up. Okay, so maybe she’s not a
“working chef”… but who cares if she can make good treats? Sido told me all about some
incredibly decadent chocolate layer cake concoction that Cate has made before. Yummy…
Something about chocolate cake, chocolate cheesecake, chocolate mouse, caramel,
hazelnuts, cake, more layers, more chocolate, ganache, more mousse, more, more, more…
all wrapped in chocolate ganache and coated with some kind of yumminess crumble.

I’m in.
Maybe I need to be less subtle next week?…

Hundreds of Empty Bowls are up for grabs this Friday at “Empty Bowls.”
With handmade bowls being donated by students, teachers, studio members
and more, this annual event is sure to be a success again this year! I will be pulling
together a selection of my own bowls to donate towards the cause tomorrow.
So plan on stopping by Lillstreet Art Center this Friday night. Look through
hundreds of bowls, choose your favorites, buy them and fill them with soup!
It’s that easy… doing good for the hungry all around Chicago.

“EMPTY BOWLS” at Lillstreet Art Center
4401 North Ravenswood, at Montrose, Chicago, Illinois 60640
Friday, March 25, 2011, 5-9pm

Tonight was the final potluck celebration for my Beginning Wheel class.
Yes, after 10-weeks of clay fun, my beginners have all progressed quite nicely
and are now creating their own pots. We celebrated with a mug exchange… where
each student brought in a mug they had made and we did an “White Elephant” type
exchange game. So everyone who brought a mug went home with someone else’s mug!
Great fun… with a lot of sharing, encouragement & sharing!

But then… the highlight of the night???… a LOT of great food!!!
Yes, after weeks of some of the best class treats ever, this potluck did not fall short.
With pasta, spinach salad, homemade guacamole, chips, salsa, brownies, cookies,
caprese salad, scalloped potatoes, fresh fruit, Olivia’s sinful chocolate fudge creations
and possibly the best pasta we’ve ever had at a potluck. Yep, chef #1 brought in a dish
of whole wheat pasta with a pumpkin, goat cheese & sage sauce with spicy andouille sausage!

And what better end to the night than a slice of my homemade vanilla cheesecake
literally dripping in caramel sauce?! I’m just saying…

Yesterday was the Spring Open House at Lillstreet Art Center.
As a resident studio artist, we’re kind of “expected” to be there. Which is fine by me
as it’s also a great chance to have people stop by, see me working and hopefully they’ll
become a customer or student down the road. So there I was, working on a few projects…
finishing up my lidded jar class demo piece, and the extra “lid” which is now a small
dipping bowl… and throwing small plates for the new berry bowls.

It’s a long day of greeting people…
“Welcome, let me know if you have any questions…”
“Welcome, let me know if you have any questions…”
“Welcome, let me know if you have any questions…”
Repeatedly. Over & over. Until, imagine my surprise, when my parents turn the corner
and I throw them the same stock response… and then realize it’s them! They had read
on the blog that it was the Open House and they decided to come down to visit and
surprise me… and they did! So they hung out, visited a few studios including metalsmith
Rebecca Zemans who they met a coiple years ago as my art fair booth neighbor in Hinsdale!

And then… when the day was over, we decided to go out for dinner. I think it might have been
their plan all along to go to Rose Angeli’s?! I think the “surprise studio visit” may have been a
good “means-to-an-end” for us all to get a great meal?! Which I’m totally fine with as you know
I LOVE Rose Angeli’s!!! And we did have an incredible meal… I had some Chicken Vesuvio
filled ravioli with parmesan cheese & lemon cream sauce concoction YUMMY!!! – and we
shared three desserts!!! Bread pudding with pools of hot caramel sauce, chocolate & peanut
butter ice cream, and a hot chocolate fondue pot! Plus some quality time to get caught up
on  a bunch of stuff. Including all of the craziness going on at Lillstreet these days!

Holiday ornament batch #2 is now assembled, stamped, textured,
slip painted… and drying overnight!

New berry bowls are stamped, trimmed, hole-punched… and drying overnight!

Studio cleaned, organized, floors washed… and drying overnight!

Tomorrow…
The Lillstreet Art Center Spring Open House from 12:00pm-5:00pm.
Everything should be done, clean & dry by then. So stop by, say hello, see a lot
of great art, tour the facilities and participate in some free workshops!
I will be there all day working on some new pieces… Studio 205 West.

The Spring Session of pottery classes will being at Lillstreet Art Center in just two weeks.
I checked in tonight and found out there are only five spaces left in my class. Five!!!
Sign up as soon as you can… no one likes to be on the waiting list!

Beginning & Advanced Beginning Wheelthrowing… with me!
Tuesday evenings from 7:00pm-10:00pm.
10-week session beginning on March 29th, 2011
Register online at www.Lillstreet.com