Another huge THANK YOU to all of our loyal customers who came out to our grassroots ART IN THE GARDEN last weekend. Especially those who got there and snatched up some of our one-of-a-kind collaboration projects! Like these black & white sgraffito platters… where I made the porcelain pieces & metalsmith Amy Taylor did the sgraffito doodles. I think they turned out great.. and they all disappeared very quickly!!! So thanks again for supporting your favorite artists!

What’s black & white… and red all over?
Thanks George for sharing your fresh tomatoes in one of our porcelain sgraffito collaboration pieces from ART IN THE GARDEN! The colorful tomatoes totally “pop” on the black & white dish!

So we’re just one week away from my last art fair of the summer! And it’s one of my favorites… and biggest with a double booth full of pottery! Mark your calendars for next weekend to come out & visit ART IN THE BARN in Barrington! I’ll be in my usual booth in the Lower Barn… and we’ll have the “big debut” of the newest Halloween character to join “The Ghouls Collection”! Sure, they may still be warm & fresh out of the kiln… but who’s counting?!

Some of my favorite flowers in one of my favorite vases! A perfect combo for the back porch! Seasonal black-eyed susans in a stamped & soda-fired vase!

So this weekend is the RAVENSWOOD ART WALK. A great chance to wander up & down Ravenswood (on both sides of the train tracks) to see a lot of the studios & art spaces along the way. I will be working in my studio all day Saturday… and most likely Sunday as well. Those darn Ghouls aren’t going to make themselves!!! So please feel free to stop by, say Hello & maybe grab a new mug for yourself?! Yep, I’ll be stocking my studio shelves with plenty of handmade mugs for sale! So get outside, enjoy the day… and enjoy the art!!!

Lillstreet Art Center… Studio 205 West… halfway down the second floor hallway on the right hand side!

So apparently I’ve somehow become the “poster child” for the Chicago Festival Guide?…
or at least the Ravenswood Art Walk this weekend???

One of my studio friends said she saw me on WTTW… err, what?!

It’s our local PBS station and I had no idea what Annie was talking about. Later that night, she sent me the links to prove that she wasn’t making things up!!! And there I was… a photo of me working in my studio in one of my favorite tie-dyed t-shirts! And I have zero recollection of this?! But, I can tell you that the photo was taken back in 2016 when the Zombie was my new Ghoul for the collection. So I don’t feel too bad about not remembering! HA!!! Thanks for sharing Annie… and for the “eagle-eyes” while watching WTTW.

Always fun when friends & fellow potters stop by your art fair booth… especially when it’s Marsha and her kids! And to think that I first met Mikayla in 2013 when she snatched up one of my Mummy Ghouls at ART IN THE BARN… and in my head she’s still that cute little girl! Hard to believe it’s been ten years already!!!

From Marsha’s post on Facebook…
“What a beautiful day with my girls @mikayla_noelle_ and @alyssa_grace_101 at the Grassroots Art Fair in Glenview. Of course we couldn’t leave without @firewhenreadypottery Gary’s beautiful pottery!!! It’s been too long!!!”

A sincere THANK YOU to everyone who came out to ART IN THE GARDEN last weekend. It was our ninth year of doing that grassroots art fair… and our ninth year of doing collaboration projects with the other artists. But this year, I think my pal Cory Mccrory really blew it out of the water with these amazing birdhouses. I made the textured terra cotta houses… and then Cory collaborated & added her usual sense of whimsy & color on top of them! We only made TEN… and they went fast! Quite the collector’s item for those ten lucky customers!

And now we need to start thinking about how we’re going to top ourselves next year for the Tenth Anniversary of collaborations with Cory! Any suggestions???

Well, here they are… forty terra cotta cylinders waiting to be trimmed… and then GHOUL-ized!!! I have a plan, I have a doodle… but I’ll feel much better after I make the first new Ghoul to make sure it lives up to my vision.

And just to make my job harder, this year I’m going for another two-parter! Yep, twice as many pieces to make… forty of this & forty of that… and I have about a week to get them all done!!! YIKES!!!