Another stamped platter. Fresh out of the kiln tonight…
and ready for next weekend’s Hinsdale Fine Arts Festival.

Saturday, June 13th & Sunday, June 14th.
Burlington Park in beautiful downtown Hinsdale, Illinois

I’m continuing my Spring cleaning efforts. And a few more “non-perfect” pots were the “victims” of my efforts. The first batch of pottery shards were snatched up by some Facebook Fans VERY quickly!!! I’m looking forward to see what they “create” with the shards. I believe that this latest batch of shards will go towards the new bricolage project in the back staircase of Lillstreet Art Center

It’s tough for me to smash my own pots…
luckily, my Dad was more than willing to take care of “the dirty deed.”

Last night’s class demo was assembling a teapot. We threw the parts last week…
the body “cylinder”, the small bowl for a lid,  a pulled handle and a spout thrown off the hump.
Showing my Beginners how they already know how to make all of the parts.
Now they just need the confidence to “put it all together.”

Another platter stamped and waiting to be trimmed.
It’s spending the night under plastic… hoping to trim it in a couple days.
It always seems like platters take a “lot” longer to get to a good trimming leatherhard state
than anything else. If you flip them to trim too soon, the center sags and causes problems!!!

Tonight I washed the dust off of some old bisque pots.
They’ve been on my studio shelf a little bit too long… and needed some good dusting.
So I literally hosed them down at the sink. Now they’re drying overnight so I can glaze them this weekend. Some new pots getting ready for the Hinsdale Art Fair in two weeks!!!

I always enjoy hearing from my happy & satisfied customers…
and I just LOVE seeing my pots in their new homes!!!
Keep sending me your photos & stories!!!

Dear Gary,
I attached a photo of the flower pot that my husband bought for me last weekend in Schaumburg.  I love it. Your design and artistic talent are remarkable. This pot is beautiful and functional right down to the swirl in the tray which is a nice detail and allows for better drainage! Your work is appreciated and I wish you much success.

Best Regards,
Nancy

Dramatic spiral. Crazy angle. Stamped border.
A beautiful platter in the making.

About three weeks ago, I went up for the St. Croix River Valley Pottery Tour.
It’s the biggest & best pottery tour of the entire year. So many great potters all assembled in one place. With a magnificent number of amazing pots to admire, caress, fondle and potentially purchase!!! Large white tents all over filled with pottery!!! What’s not to like?! Seven different studio locations hosting over fifty talented ceramic artists. Again this year, I did the tour with my friend & favorite metalsmith Sarah C. Chapman. She’s a pottery-lover too… so we tackled the Tour with reckless abandon!!!

So the question out there was….

Which three plates did I come home with?
I showed you fourteen different plate options and the challenge was to pick which three came home with me. Okay, so I said three… I guess I “forgot” to tell you it was TWO of each!!! My bad… oops!

And here are the Winners…

Beautifully slip-patterned & glazed plates by Ryan Greenheck.

And then we found these amazing plates during the stop at Will Swanson’s studio.
They are not only beautiful & stunning… but also incredibly crafted by the twosome of Ikuzi Teraki & Jeanne Bisson. The weight of the plates is amazing, the geometry, the simplicity, the texture, the feel, the color, the everything!!!

And I couldn’t stop at one set… because these ones were calling my name as well. Another amazing set of porcelain plates by Ikuzi Teraki & Jeanne Bisson.

So there are the winners in my little Plate Challenge.
Greenheck…     Teraki-Bisson…    and Teraki-Bisson.

Sure I should have stopped there. No need to get greedy… but c’mon…
With so much incredible pottery all over the place, how could I be expected to stop?!
So I also “had” to have these beauties as well…

Another set of bowl-plates by Bob Briscoe. I already have three sets of these and I use them almost every single day. I love them… I have three different colors & patterns, so what’s one more?

Plus, I “needed” to add another piece to my already-too-large” collection of Matt Metz pieces. He’s been working with a slightly new style with some new colors… including this buttery yellow.

I also got a set of tumblers by Shoko Teruyama… destined to be a beautiful new addition to my Mug Collection. Sure, they’re not mugs, but c’mon… they’re beautiful.

And who could resist a one-eyed panda?! Not me apparently!

The little add-on, unexpected purchase was this mask by Jenny Mendes. I was kind of hoping to get a mug for the “collection”… but Jenny doesn’t make mugs apparently?! Plus this rabbit-eared face was so much cooler, and so typically Jenny.

Another annual stop during the Minnesota Pottery Tour is a visit with The Rogue Potters. A fun group of wood-firing potters who aren’t really part of the “official” tour… but with a little grassroots marketing & signage, they’ve created a fun “addition” to the Tour. While there, I picked up this mug by Randal Anderson.

So there’s the recap. Another wonderful Pottery Tour up in the St. Croix area of Minnesota. So many potters. So many pots. So much fun. And so inspiring & rejuvenating… I need to make some more pots!!!

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!!!

Here’s another batch of flower pots that just came out of the soda kiln.
These will be making their first trip to Schaumburg this weekend for the Prairie Arts Festival. Perfect timing for those gardeners out there who are looking for a nicer alternative to the basic orange terra cotta pot!!!