Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery
A Chicago potter’s somewhat slanted view of clay & play
Categories: art fair, artists, friends, My Talented Friends, porcelain, pottery

Today was a fun day down at the 57th Street Art Fair. I think it’s always fun to visit some of “My Talented Friends” at their art fairs on weekends when I’m free. Great art to see, and a fun time to show your support. We all know how long those art fair days can be… and a few minutes of “fun friend diversion” can make all the difference. So today I pedaled my bike down to Hyde Park for the fair. The tailwind getting there was fantastic… the return ride home wasn’t quite so much fun. A better workout though.

Sarah Chapman made her return to Chicago in style with her beautiful jewelry designs… and a fancy new award ribbon for her collection. Now based in Minneapolis, my friend Sarah has quite the following of loyal customers here in Chicago all seeking out her beautiful jewelry. Some of “us” have quite the collection of her work… and by “us” I mean ME.

Roberta Polfus was there with her beautiful “mini” carved vases, vessels and pods. All with such wonderful textures and glaze effects… and some really sweet flowers from her garden!

Metalsmith Amy Taylor specialized in sterling silver jewelry that incorporates hinges!!! Beautiful metal work and stunning stones come together for some pretty wonderful jewelry.

Delores Fortuna comes in from Galena for the show – along with her beautiful porcelain pottery.

And Nancy Gardner with her whimsically painted pieces with such a rich & wonderful color palette.

Today was a wonderful day. So much fun seeing all of my friends… and hanging out with Sarah & Jules. Nice weather too… but the prediction for tomorrow is not so good. The art fair organizers actually offered up an option to the artists to stay late on Saturday, and then pack-up early to avoid the storms. Unheard of. We’ll see what tomorrow brings… and how many of them decide to stick it out and how many decide to go home tonight?! Glad I went down there today…

Categories: bowls, porcelain

“The Quite White Collection” made its big debut this weekend…
a surprising & enjoyable departure from my soda-fired, colored work.
One bowl found the perfect companion while on my booth shelf.

Categories: art fair, clay, mugs, porcelain, pottery, stamped

So I’ve been thinking about this for awhile now.
Wondering what my work would look like if I took away the soda firing effects flashing colors. Always looking for a different angle to try… I finally decided to go for it. And not only take away the soda firing, but let’s take away ALL of the color as well. So I’ve made a new collection of work… same shapes, same techniques, same stamps… only difference is it’s Quite White!!! All porcelain. All white.

The Quite White Collection.
I’ll be having a limited assortment of “Quite White” pots at both the Schaumburg & Hinsdale art fairs. No guarantee that there will be more… so if you want to some of The Quite White Collection, you might want to come early!!!

Categories: art fair, porcelain, stamped

What’s going on here?… they look Quite White?!

Get ready for the official “debut” at the Schaumburg Prairie Arts Festival this weekend.
Saturday, May 23rd & Sunday, May 24th from 10:00am-5:00pm.

Categories: mugs, porcelain, production, stamped

Like pinstripes on a new hot rod, I’ve been adding some colorful flashing slip accents to the latest batch of mugs & yunomis. The colors will “hopefully’ be more vibrant & exciting after the soda firing… if all goes as planned.

And for now they’re done. Mugs made with B-Clay. Yunomis made with porcelain.
Both headed towards the soda kiln… after a trip through the bisque kiln first.

Categories: kiln firing, porcelain, process

Latest bisque kiln unloaded… and here’s my new pile of porcelain pieces.
Now it’s time to start waxing the bottoms!!!

Categories: artists, inspiration, porcelain, pottery, YouTube

Here’s a beautiful video created by a wonderful potter Ayumi Horie.
She talks about her thoughts on clay. The beauty of clay. The meditative quality of all the repetitive work we do as potters. A lot of similar philosophies to my own. And you’ve got to love watching her add some textures & patterns into freshly thrown clay!!!

Click here for Ayumi Horie’s video on YouTube.
For more about Ayumi Horie and her pottery, click here for her website.

Categories: porcelain, process, stamped

Another batch of stamped ovals.
Thrown, oval-ed, stamped and waiting to be assembled.
This is the first time I’ve ever made them out of porcelain… I have high hopes. They’ve been a little more finicky than stoneware. Hope they make it through to the end?!!!

Categories: bowls, porcelain, stamped

Another batch of pretty porcelain trimmed & drying. Gotta love a well-trimmed foot.

Categories: mugs, porcelain, production

In between posting photos every day for the “Challenge”…
I’ve also had some time to finish making my first batch of mugs for the New Year.
Twelve down… many more to come!!! You know how I LOVE making mugs!!!

Yep, not so dirty… this batch is made with porcelain reclaim clay! We’ll see…