Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery
A Chicago potter’s somewhat slanted view of clay & play
Categories: flowers, friends, soda-fired, stamped, vases

Fresh flowers in one of my stamped & soda-fired square vases. Looks like Rhonda’s latest visit to the Farmer’s Market has helped fulfill the destiny of this two-sided vase! Thanks for sharing Rhonda… and for brightening our day!

Categories: sunrise

Cloudy & windy… not the best start to the day.
Still fun riding with the tailwind & splashing waves all around.
Not so much fun riding back home into the wind!!!
Pedal harder… pedal faster!

Categories: art fair, collaborations, stamped, textures

With ART IN THE GARDEN coming so quickly… many of the artists are working together to make some special collaboration pieces. Working with each other to create something fresh & exciting. I’ve got a few collaborations in the works… and these have got to move along in the process! Drying flat… and soon into a bisque kiln!

Categories: bike

Today we say goodbye to a classic. One of my favorite bike jerseys has seen its last ride. It lost its zipper pull a few months back, so I’ve been sliding it on & off over my head. And then this morning, the zipper split wide open under the zipper slider. It’s worn. It’s stained. It’s stretched out. It’s ready to go. But it is from 2001… so you can’t say I didn’t get my money’s worth out of it. Lots of great miles & memories in this biking jersey!

Categories: bike, sunrise

The morning started out with a clear ombre sky. But as the clouds moved in, the color appeared for a strikingly beautiful sky show. As the miles continued, the colors changed to golden reflections over Belmont Harbor as I pedaled past. Another beautiful morning before the heat & humidity settle in for the day.

Categories: bowls, food, friends

Looks like my friend Rhonda has been enjoying the “fruits of her labors” with a small harvest of fresh red tomatoes. Looking even more appetizing in a green glazed berry bowl with a fun altered & textured rim!

Categories: summer camp

We’re nearing the end of Summer Camp… only two more weeks… and some of the markers have seen better days. So this morning, when two of my campers came a bit early, I had them “volunteer” for a task… and they tested all of the markers!!! Throwing away the ones that were dried out. So much better now…

Categories: lillstreet, pottery, summer camp

A little early-morning Summer Camp still-life…
red & ready… the calm before the storm!

Categories: classes, clay

And apparently THIS is something new?… I guess the class last night thought it was a good idea to dry their clay in front of a fan??? Too bad it was still there this morning with the fan still going!!!! My campers would never let this happen! Just sayin’…

Categories: process, studio, summer camp

We started the morning yesterday with some of my Summer Campers scraping & cleaning the ware boards they had uses the day before. No one likes a dry crusty ware board… wouldn’t it be nice if EVERYONE would do this before they put the shared ware boards back on the racks?!