Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery
A Chicago potter’s somewhat slanted view of clay & play
Categories: friends, garden, pottery

Huge thanks to everyone who stopped-by this weekend’s PLANT & POTTERY SALE down in Peoria! My pals Rosene & Gerry have an amazing garden & grew hundreds of coleus plants for the sale… and I just popped-in with a collection of pottery to add to the festivities! It was so much fun seeing everyone come out for our little sale… excited about plants & pottery! Thanks again for playing with us!

Categories: sunrise

Early morning glow behind the trees… nice day for a road trip!

Categories: flowers, nature

On a gray & rainy day like today, it’s great to get a bright splash of color around the corner. Beautiful pink dogwood blossoms on graceful branches.

Categories: inspiration, pottery, process, production, studio, wheelthrowing

Last night I had the pleasure of doing a little ZOOM studio tour & demonstration for the Glenview Art League. They all “stopped by” for some chatting & banter…. then a few demos of throwing on the wheel, followed by some stamping & surface decoration… and more discussion. Hopefully they all had fun… I know I did. After all, it was all about ME!!!… ha!

Such weird times when we’re still showing our studios, artwork & process through a small, non-tactile computer screen. I so look forward to getting back to in-person face-to-face fun! Keep getting those vaccines so we can get some herd immunity and get back to more normal days!

Categories: flowers, friends, garden, pottery

Spring is here & things are popping up all over! If any of my Central Illinois fans are around this weekend, I’ll be “popping-up” in Peoria this Friday & Saturday. Beautiful homegrown plants, colorful coleus & more for your yard, containers & windowboxes! Plus an assortment of my pottery… mugs, vases, flower pots & more! You’ll also get to see one of my totem poles in the garden… and meet me very first art fair friends from “several” years ago!

Friday, May 7th & Saturday, May 8th – 9:00am-4:00pm
2314 Skyway Road, Bartonville, IL 61607

Categories: classes, surface decoration, textures

Gotta love playing with some thick slip! This was made as a class demo last night, so I guess it kinda still fits under Texture Tuesday… even though today is Wednesday???

Categories: bowls, classes, process, surface decoration

Last night in my Beginner’s wheel class, we glazed for the first half of the class. Followed by a quick not-so-basic-bowls demo! Not enough time for the full-blown bowl demo we’re used to… but we did tackle how to throw “a bowl on purpose” instead of a cylinder gone bad. Followed by some quick decorative techniques to make each one a little more special!

Categories: flowers, friends

Looks like my African Violet isn’t the only one that’s enjoying its “new digs” in a handmade ceramic flower pot!!! My friend Keith recently transplanted this violet and now it’s THRIVING!!! Thanks for sharing this stunner Keith!

Categories: bike, Chicago, sunrise

Just a sliver of sunshine early on… then clouds, clouds & more CLOUDS! Nothing but gray clouds covering the sky, a chilly breeze & low-flying clouds hovering amongst the Chicago skyline… so glad I caught that sliver of color!

Categories: glaze, process, production, stamped

Celebrating with another batch of mugs… this time for a quick special order. My fingers are crossed as the request is to “match” an older mug from a previous firing. Of course I didn’t keep notes on what I did for that first mug… so I’m kinda flying by the seat of my pants and “hoping” that I have the color combos right?! The blue color is a soda flashing slip, and the brown liner glaze is tenmoku. I’m just hoping that these work out… and “match” as much as any soda-fired piece can!!!