Well, we’re open for Day Two of ART IN THE GARDEN.. and we still have a few collaboration pieces for those Sunday shoppers! We’re open until 5:00pm and the weather looks fantastic again today! C’mon by… we’d love to see you!




Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery
A Chicago potter’s somewhat slanted view of clay & play |
Well, we’re open for Day Two of ART IN THE GARDEN.. and we still have a few collaboration pieces for those Sunday shoppers! We’re open until 5:00pm and the weather looks fantastic again today! C’mon by… we’d love to see you!




Working in the basement trying to prep, price & pack three kilns worth of pottery for my next two shows!!! A lot to do… plus I might be miSTAKEn… but these still need to be prepped for this weekend! High STAKEs to get them done in time… HA!… any guesses?… new for Art In The “Garden”… hint, hint…


Well, after all of the process posts… it’s finally time to show off our birdhouse collaborations for ART IN THE GARDEN. And I will say, I think this might be my favorite “Cory Collaboration” of all time!!! We’ve generally done separate parts & pieces that then go together or assemble later. This is the first time that we’ve actually “worked” on the exact same pieces passing them off part way through the process. I built all of the textured birdhouse.. and then Cory added on her pieces of whimsy!!! And I think that this “tighter” collaboration has really paid off. I can’t wait for people to see them this weekend at ART IN THE GARDEN. There are only ten of them… first come, first served… and sorry, no dibs ahead of time!
For more info – https://www.grassrootsartfair.com/






We’re almost ready… the show is tomorrow & Sunday!!!
Hope you can join us in Glenview!!!
Checkout the website for full details… https://www.grassrootsartfair.com/


Come see this wonderful collaboration project between myself & mosaic artist Kristin Conneely tomorrow at ART IN THE GARDEN. There will be lots of fun collaboration projects all over the yard… we’ve been working hard & playing creatively with each other for the past few months. This weekend we finally get to show it all off!!!
For more details… https://www.grassrootsartfair.com/

Two kilns… twice the pottery… glazed & fired to cone six just in time for this weekend’s art fair in Glenview! Cooling now… cant wait to open it up to see some new treasures inside!



We’re SO close to the end of these collaboration birdhouses!!! Cory has added some clear glaze… yes, green now turns clear in the kiln. The roofs are glazed for weather protection… as well as some of the whimsical add-ons just to make them even more fun!!! Beautifully done Cory.

Oh great… now I want mint chocolate chip ice cream!!!

What a difference the underglaze wash makes, right?! The way Cory leaves it in all of the recesses just makes all of the textures & colors really POP!!! These birdhouses are getting SO close to being done. Which is good… they need to be done by Saturday morning when the show starts at 10:00am. So who knows?… they might still be warm from the kiln???


After painting all of the colored underglazes & bisque firing them, Cory then adds a layer of a black underglaze wash over the entire piece. The plan is to wipe it off again… leaving it only in the cracks, crevasses & indentations. It’s a long, time-consuming process… but it makes a HUGE difference in the final look… so THANK YOU Cory for putting in the extra effort to make the collaboration really cool !!!


So it looks like Cory McCrory has been extra busy in her studio doing some final touches & details on our collaboration birdhouses for his weekend’s ART IN THE GARDEN. It’s these crazy cool details that are just killin’ it… some underglaze here… a dab of color there!!! Can’t wait to see them in person this weekend!


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Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery
Lillstreet Studios ∙ 4401 North Ravenswood, Chicago, Illinois 60640 ∙ 773-307-8664 gary@firewhenreadypottery.com |