HEY LOOK… City Olive is #1 on the Andersonville Arts & Design Weekend.

So start your tour up north on Clark Street at City Olive… and remember to snatch up some Fire When Ready Pottery while you’re there buying your yummy olive oils & other treats. Stop by and hit the “BEST” first… they are #1 after all!!!

This weekend is the Andersonville Arts & Design Weekend. And I have been invited to be the Guest Artist for the weekend at City Olive. The festivities begin tomorrow… so I went in tonight to deliver my pottery and set-up. It’s a fun collaboration & mixture of fine olive oils & fancy foods alongside of my pottery.

Andersonville Arts and Design Weekend at City Olive
5644 North Clark Street, Chicago, Illinois 60660

Friday, October 10th, 2014 – 11:00am-9:00pm
Saturday, October 11th, 2014 – 11:00am-5:00pm
Sunday, October 12th, 2014 – 12:00pm-5:00pm

Karen has a beautiful store full of wonderfully edible & foodie-favorite surprises. For this special weekend, there is now a wide selection of pottery to choose from as well. All completely usable… food-safe, dishwasher-safe, microwave-safe, etc. So be sure to stop by City Olive for some fun this weekend. And to grab yourself some of my pottery – especially if you couldn’t make it out to any of my Summer Art Fairs!

Here’s a quick preview of some of the pottery “up for grabs” at City Olive this weekend…

I hope you can make it in this weekend. If you do, be sure to say “Hi” to Karen for me…
and tell her that your heard about it from my blog. Thanks.

Let the pricing & packing commence. Lots of pots. Lots of mugs!!!

It’s always nice when you get a phone call the day after an art fair…
from a customer who purchased work during the fair, but resisted from buying everything she wanted. But then found she couldn’t quite get it out of her head. And she thought about it all day long.

Today was one of those days when Louise called me and asked if I still had any Double Spice Pots left and could she still buy one?! Luckily, I did have three for her to choose from. So we met up at my studio and now she’s the proud owner of the piece “that almost got away.” Thanks Louise for having me stuck in your head. Glad I could be there for ya’!!!

It never gets old.
I still love watching other potters making their work. Whether throwing, trimming, stamping, carving, decorating. or whatever. Always beautiful. Always mesmerizing. Always a great creative inspiration for all of us. And these Icheon Master Hands from Korea are pretty darn incredible! Each one showing their techniques… and making it “look” so easy!!! Although we all know it’s NOT!!!

For a compilation video of five great Icheon Master Hands from Korea, click here.
If you want to see more… continue on. You’ll be glad you did.

For more video of Master Hand Choi In-Gyu… click here.

For more video of Master Hand Yo Se-Yeon… click here.

For more video of Master Hand Lee Hyang-Gu… click here.

For more video of Master Hand Kim Seong-Tae… click here.

For more video of Master Hand You Yong-Chul… click here.

Some great inspiration for all of us.
I especially loved the work by Kim Seong-Tae. The carving is pretty impressive, and I was pleasently surprised with the big reveal of the layered colored slips as he carved through to add colorful details to the remaining parts of the pots. So beautiful. So delicate. So inspiring.

Here’s a nice Facebook posting from another wonderful customer…
“My Costco flowers feel like a million bucks in your vase!”
Thanks for sharing Mary Pat.

Today was a great day in Schaumburg… and here’s a few more pictures of my booth & pieces. This was early on in the day, so a lot of them have already found good homes!

 

There were so many different styles & techniques displayed on the Minnesota Pottery Tour. So much eye-candy & visual inspiration. Taken out of context though, how many of these ceramic artists can you name based on a snapshot of their decorative technique!?

Artists names will be revealed some time next week!!!
Answers are now posted in RED as of 5/29/14.

#1 : Shoko Teruyama

#2 : Steven Hill

#3 : Andy Balmer

#4 : Bill Gossman

#5 : Dan Finnegan

#6 : Delores Fortuna

#7 : Ellen Shankin

#8 : Richard Vincent

#9 : George Lowe

#10 : Jeff Oestreich

#11 : Jo Severson

#12 : Jenny Mendes

#13 : Suze Lindsay

#14 : Steven Young Lee

#15 : Silvie Granatelli

#16 : Sandra Byers

#17 : Kent McLaughlin

#18 : Karin Kraemer

#19 : Robert Briscoe

#20 : Mark Shapiro

#21 : Mary Roettger

#22 : Richard Hensley

#23 : Simon Levin

#24 : Matthew Metz

#25 : Craig Edwards

#26 : Sarah Jaeger

#27 : Steven Hill

#28 : Sam Taylor

#29 : Steven Young Lee

#30 : Donna Polseno

#31 : Robert Briscoe

#32 : Karin Kraemer

#33 : Ani Kasten

#34 : George Lowe

#35 : Mary Barringer

#36 : Matthew Metz

#37 : Ernest Miller

#38 : Steven Hill

#39 : Naomi Dalglish

#40 : Steven Young Lee

#41 : Mary Barringer

#42 : Winthrop Byers

So many pots… so little time… and now far less cash in my wallet!!!
So much fun touring and seeing all of those great pots. Great to chat with all of the artists… and to add a “few” pieces to my already too huge pottery collection!

Starting with a new mug by Matthew Metz. And a slightly new style with a dark clay body dipped in a light slip and then carved with his signature sgraffito style. I especially loved the “finger prints” on the bottom of the cup where he held it to dip into the slip.

I also added a Bob Briscoe mug to my “mug collection”… and a new Bob Briscoe lidded jar… for M&M’s or Hershey’s Kisses?!!!

At our second stop, we met up with Steven Young Lee… a former teacher of mine. Of course I had to add another mug of his to my collection. I have quite a few “vintage” Steve Lee pieces. And now I have some of his new blue & white style. Unfortunately, I couldn’t decide… so I had to get a couple!!!

Blue & white… and a stark contrast with a carved monochromatic tea bowl.

On Day Two, we started from the beginning and did the Tour all over again! We started at Bob Briscoe’s again… and he had unloaded another kiln overnight. So he was restocked with a few pieces. Including these two bowls that “had” to come home with me… to join the other four bowls already in my kitchen cabinet.

 

I also picked up a mug by George Lowe… I loved the texture and the rusty, crusty finish!

One of our last stops on Saturday was The Rogue Potters. I picked up a couple pieces, including a mug by Randal Anderson and a plate by Mark Johnson.