Huge CONGRATULATIONS to Clara…
winner of the LILLSTREET THROWDOWN Season Four!!!

You know that every good competition needs a good trophy, right?! And that totally holds true for the LILLSTREET THROWDOWN!!! So I “may have” made a special trophy for the winner… as they’ve been accumulating points throughout the session for their challenges, projects & contests! It’s been a great session… can’t wait to see who wins this glittering trophy!!!

THE GOOD…
I have the most fantastic students!

Last night, Davis brought me this package of the brand NEW Oreo Ice Cream Sandwiches as a “Thank You” for another great pottery session! Since we’re still under a “no-potluck-zone” at Lillstreet, I put them in the freezer and said “Thank You so much Davis… can’t wait to try them later!”

THE BAD…
When I went just now to get them out of the Lillstreet freezer clearly marked “LILLSTREET STAFF ONLY”… not even 24 hours later… the box had been ripped open and half of them are already gone!!! Keep in mind, I was there until 11:00pm last night and no one else was there. Lillstreet opens at 10:00am in the morning… so that’s NOT EVEN NINE HOURS in the freezer when people were around… and they’ve already been plundered!!!

HOW RUDE!!!

So just when your AMAZING students continue to redeem your faith in Humanity… “someone” else has to bring you back down to Reality!!!

RUDE.

This morning I subbed for an intermediate wheelthrowing class. We talked & laughed… and then I did a couple demos. We started with throwing a large platter. And then, with a little “Julia Child kitchen switch-out magic” I switched to a platter that I had thrown a couple days ago and did a fun stamping demo for them. I think I may have won them over?…

At the end of the night, and a jam-packed three hours of LILLSTREET THROWDOWN fun, we finally tabulated the rankings for the teams.

And as the Olympics theme song played in the background, my handmade Olympic medals were awarded to my talented & exhausted students. Kudos to them for playing along with my silly Pottery Olympics games!!! So much fun for all of us!!!

Gold Medal WINNERS – Will & Helen

Silver Medal WINNERS – Melanie & Clara

Bronze Medal WINNERS – Claire & Tracy

Last night was the first night of our new “season” of THE GREAT LILLSTREET THROWDOWN! A fun class full of challenges, contests & projects! To kick-off the “season” I challenged them with both wheelthrowing & handbuilding tasks with a geometric twist… and a bit of multitasking! The challenge was a wheelthrown sphere, a 6-inch slab-built cube, and a 12-inch coil-built cone. Each with a limited time frame, as the challenges start to “pile-up” on each other as the night went on.

I always enjoy watching how my “contestants” approach a challenge, manage their time, and finish it all off in the end. It was a fun night & a fun challenge… and they all did great!!! We’re off to a great start.

So they started off with wheelthrowing a perfectly round sphere!

Part way into their allotted time for the sphere… I stopped the clock, called them over, and they found out about having to make a 6-inch cube with slabs. So now they had TWO projects to work on… multi-tasking & considering how to best utilize their limited time!

A little further into the challenge… we stopped the clock one more time… wished Melanie a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!… and then added a third challenge. They now had to also make a 12-inch tall coil-built cone!!!

So they now had all three challenges… and some more time to multi-task… so they kind of bounced around the place trying to finish all three in time!!!

At the end of the time, we pulled all three pieces together for critique & judging. We chose our top sphere, top cube & top cone… as well top trio!

Okay, so maybe one of the cones didn’t quite get finished in time… but bonus points for getting so creative with it!!!

But then there was one last-minute challenge… a little homework for the team! The cubes are not quite done… their “homework” is o take their cubes homes and do some creative textural carving on them for judging next week!

Okay, so since the pandemic changed the world… it also changed Lillstreet in many ways. Including a small little rule of not having food in the classrooms anymore. But they can’t really expect me to fully go cold turkey, right?! Crazy talk!!!

So we may have “smuggled in” a few contraband OREOs along the way with the code word being “yellow towel.” We gotta keep them hidden… cautiously sharing… and always cleaning up & hiding the evidence at the end of the night!

Another one of the benefits of Lillstreet postponing the start of our Winter session by a week… the overflowing buckets of reclaim clay from last session should be taken care of! Fresh new reclaimed clay for everyone!!! Hopefully.

And let me just say…
This pile of overflowing clay would NEVER have happened if my Summer Campers were still around! They love pushing it through the grate… breaking it down into smaller pieces as intended! This pile-up would never have happened in my camp!!!

With the Winter class session postponed for a week at Lillstreet Art Center, I know many students are missing their access to the pottery studio. But never fear… big things are happening while we wait it out. Many thanks to Bruce, Dave, the monitors and everyone else working at Lillstreet during the break to make things happen… like this BIG improvement!!!

For anyone who has taken a class in the new Wheel B room while there was a metalsmithing class going on next door… you’ll really appreciate this new solid wall with insulation all the way up to the ceiling BETWEEN the two rooms! Should make a big difference for everyone… and worth the wait!!!

So fun to have my potter-friend Mike Stumbras stop by my little Mug Sale today with some of his family! They got a quick tour of Lillstreet… and a couple new mugs… and I got a beautiful porcelain cup from Mikey! Lots of twists, slip trailing & gold lustre! If you’re not following Mike on Instagram… you definitely should be!!!

Beautiful pottery, incredible craftsmanship, historical references & plenty of videos & tutorials. Be sure to check him out. … @mikestumbras