Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery
A Chicago potter’s somewhat slanted view of clay & play
Categories: art fair, mugs, pottery, tiles

Special Thanks to everyone who made it to my condo this weekend for my Holiday Home Show. I had a wonderful weekend with lots of friends, family, customers, students & more stopping by. It’s my biggest show of the year with pots in every room. And every room is decked out with holiday decorations as well. Like my fireplace mantle… with my collection of handblown glass pieces.

Inside there were pots in every room. My dining room was filled with pots stacked up on the table. The shelves lined the walls and blocked the windows… pretty much making my condo a “store” for the next few weeks!

Around the place there were LOTS of pots to look at. Here’s a quick example of some of the work you missed out on if you didn’t stop by! Teapots, over 100 mugs, wall pocket vases, bottles, vases and so much more!

‘Tis the season… and to celebrate the season, of course I had a LOT of Christmas ornaments. First off, my wheelthrown ornaments with wire ring hangers were scattered in every room.

I also had collections of other ornaments. Plenty to choose from!!!

My living room wall had a selection of ceramic masks, ClayQuilt tile boards and my round, textured wall pillows. I love how they can be grouped in random “constellations” on the wall.

I also have a LOT of tiles. Not only did I have several ClayQuilt tile boards, but customers could also see the wall I tiled in my place. Just under three thousand tiles on the wall… and a few more ornaments hanging in the doorway!

ClayQuilts come in different color palettes. Always fun to see what hues & shades come out of the kiln, and then assembling them to create a unified “picture” with each Quilt.

In addition to tiled ClayQuilts, I also have tiled mirrors.

But one of the biggest “draws” for my regular customers is my annual “Tired Of Shlepping Sale” where I have my seconds, class demos and many pieces that I’m just tired of shlepping around from fair to fair. It makes my back porch a huge destination for the bargain hunters!!!

I also like to show off some of my other artworks & collections around my place. Even though they may not be for sale, it’s fun for people to see where I live, what my place looks like and what inspires me. I think an artists home says so much about them. I love seeing where they live and what they choose to surround themselves with. So this weekend may have been “insightful” for some first timers to my place! Including this textured button tapestry I made for myself a few years back.

As well as many of my collections all over the place. Sure, I could hide them all away… but why?! Instead they just add to the ambiance of my place. Including my collection of sgraffito beauties by Matt Metz.

But there always collections of MY pieces too… like this stack of stamped bowls & plates. All waiting in the kitchen for some snacks. Brownies were baked this morning, and cookies were cooling. These plates were waiting for the onslaught of customers!

And who doesn’t LOVE a huge bowl full of M&M’s???

At the end of their shopping adventure, customers were greeted with a fond farewell from my Santa bear… and another HUGE Thank You to everyone who stopped by. Whether you did your holiday gift shopping, bought a few goodies for yourself, or just sat on the sofa and snacked on cookies… it was great to have you stop by for a visit. You all made my weekend!!!

So?…. did I make you feel bad that you missed the Holiday Home Show this weekend?!

Well, there may be a “good chance” that there will be another opportunity…
maybe?… quite possibly?… a good chance of Saturday, December 13th.
Allegedly… hypothetically… and there may even be a Guest Artist too! I’m just sayin’…

More details to come… but go ahead and mark your calendar now!!!

Categories: art fair, pottery

Now it’s time to clean up, put some snacks away and then pull up some more pottery from the basement and replenish the shelves for tomorrow! Already added a few more things to the “Tired Of Shlepping Sale.”

Day One was great, looking forward to Day Two!!!

Categories: art fair, holiday, pottery

Special thanks to everyone who made it out my Holiday Home Show today.
It was a crazy flurry of holiday fun, with LOTS of pots moving everywhere.
It was great fun to see so many of my loyal customers all in one place… MY place!!!

Thanks so much… and I’m looking forward
to doing it all over again tomorrow from 10:00am-6:00pm.

If you need address information, just send me a quick e-mail or Facebook message.

Categories: pottery

Here’s a quick glance of my new bottles after the soda firing. I’m quite pleased with how they turned out. Still arranging & rearranging them into trios & groupings. Yet I’m sure people will re-arrange them and make their own sets to take home tomorrow. So this might be the last chance to see them all together in one place!!!

Categories: clay, pottery, stamps

I’m pretty excited about these new little cuties. They’re pretty much my “first” foray into porcelain… thanks to Emily for giving me all of her reclaim scraps a few months back.

They looked pretty sweet in the kiln, and even sweeter as I’m prepping them for this weekend’s Holiday Home Show. Love the soda finish on porcelain, and the colorful orange slip variations

Categories: mugs, pottery, production

First thing on tonight’s project list… prepping & pricing all of the pieces that came out of the soda kiln Monday night. Including “just a few” new mugs! My goal every year is to start the Holiday Home Show with over a hundred mugs. Pretty sure this batch puts me well over that. C’mon by and snatch up a new mug this weekend!!!

Yep, you just counted them, right?! Couldn’t stop yourself.

Categories: pottery

Nine bottles to a crate. Couple crates. Ready for the trip home… then onto a shelf or two for this coming weekend’s Holiday Home Show!!!

Categories: art fair, kiln firing, pottery, production

I had a wonderful kiln unloading tonight.

Always a fun treasure hunt finding new beauties as you unload layer by layer, shelf by shelf.

It might have been my quickest unloading yet?!… including all of the glamorous tasks that no one really thinks about. Packing into crates. Scraping shelves. Organizing bricks. Kiln washing shelves. Cleaning the firebox. Sweeping the floor. Taking out the garbage. Packing my car. Shlepping everything up three flights of stairs to my condo. You know, all that fun stuff. At least I have some beautiful pots to show for it… all getting ready for THIS weekend’s big sale!!!

Categories: pottery

My pottery is still on display at City Olive in Andersonville.
Last weekend was the Arts & Design Weekend, but you still have time to snatch up some Fire When Ready Pottery this weekend too! Stop by at 5644 North Clark Street in Chicago.

Categories: holiday, pottery

With a trio of soda-fired bottles by my friend & potter Emily Murphy.
She may now live in Minneapolis, but these beautiful bottles now live with me!!!