Also at The Pier… interspersed in the Stained Glass Museum,
there is currently an exhibit of contemporary mosaics. Now generally I’m not
a huge fan of mosaics. But after seeing this exhibit, I may need to reconsider.
I was especially enamored by the mosaics of Laura Rendlen of Glen Ellyn
who does these intricate, almost “photo-realistic” mosaics with teenie-tiny pieces!

Plus a few others, like this incredible portrait of “Indian Prayers”…
not to be outdone by the whimsically crazy birds mosaic!

Thanks to the Chicago Mosaic School for bringing these out for all of us to see!

Okay, I have a basic art theory… one of something is okay, three of them make a set,
five make a collection, but THOUSANDS of anything can make something really cool!!!

Meet Andrew Myers, one of the most patient modern-day sculptors around.
This California-based artist goes through a multi-step process to create incredible
works of art you almost have to see (or touch) to believe. He starts with a base, plywood
panel, and then places pages of a phone book on top. (Cool fact: He’ll use pages from
his subjects’ local area.) He then draws out a face and pre-drills 8,000 to 10,000 holes,
by hand. As he drills in the screws, Myers doesn’t rely on any computer software to guide him,
he figures it out as he goes along. “For me, I consider this a traditional sculpture and
all my screws are at different depths,” he says.

One of the most challenging parts is getting rid of the flat drawing underneath because
he then has to paint over each of the screw heads, individually, so that in the end,
the sculpture looks like an actual portrait. Look through these photos and you’ll notice
that the real magic happens when you see these pieces from an angle.

You know how I like beautiful landscape photography.
And pride myself on a few of my own sunrise biking photos.
But here’s another friend of mine who takes great pictures!
Although I’m still wondering where the color went?

Personally I prefer my nature shots to be vivid color as Mother Nature intended.
But my friend Julie Wight sees the world differently through her camera lens
and creates these stunning, and sometimes haunting, black & white photographs.
I’m entranced by the composition, the contrast, the geometry… basically all of it.

The majority of the work I have seen of Julie’s has been this kind of austere nature shot.
But recently, Julie kicked off her own photography blog to showcase more of her photography.
And this time, it’s not all landscapes. I can’t wait to see where her blogging journeys take her.
Be sure to check out her new blog adventures – http://juliewight.blogspot.com/

If you’re looking for great photography of your artwork… here’s the guy!
Literally. His name is Guy.

Guy Nicol : Photography For Artists

It’s the beginning of the long & arduous season of art fair applications…
and many of us start the season with new professional photography of our work!
I’ve used Guy Nicol for years. But I’ve heard that many artists don’t have a
resource for professional pictures. And sometimes, they make all the difference!
So if you’re looking for a great photographer to make your artwork look even better,
check out Guy’s new website!

Guy’s studio is on the third floor at Lillstreet Art Center. So it’s very convenient for
those of us who work there. But others like to drop off or ship their work to him directly.
Guy offers a wide range of services from traditional slide photography, to digital
images, as well as ZAPP-formatted images for online applications.

His work is very professional and can be seen in many publications as well.
Including three of mine! Beautiful photos by Guy… ceramics by me…
“500 Cups” – page 265
“500 Pitchers” – page 357
“500 Tiles” – pages 219 & 240

Beautiful shapes. Beautiful textures. Beautiful glazes.
Gracefully combined by Kate Biderbost… another Talented Friend of mine!

I’ve know Katie for several years now since our days at the “original” Lillstreet Art
Center. In fact, Katie was one of my instructors early on as I was just getting started
in soda firing. Over the years, Katie has gone away for grad school and now returned
to Lillstreet as a studio member. She continues to teach around Chicago and…
she continues to make great pots!!! In fact, I’ve started quite the collection for myself!
Including a nice collection of Katie’s mugs as they’ve grown & changed over the years!
Her latest style is this beautiful “knit-woven” texture she creates with layers of slip.
Check out her new website and you’ll see her actually working on the detailing!

So now she finally has a website to share with everyone!
After many years of pots… many years of school… many years of teaching…
Katie has finally ventured onto the World Wide Web!!!
Check her out on her new website!!!   www.KateBiderbost.com

So it seems that the current trend is to hop onto the Etsy.com bandwagon.
For those who might not know what Etsy is… it’s an online store for handmade art
by artisans around the country. Seems like everyone is doing it these days.
Which could also be a problem… too many artists all competing for the same buck!

But of course, I’m questioning if I should do it too?
My initial thought is… another place to sell my pottery is always a good idea.
My second thought is… I really hate to pack & ship my things. Yuck. Hassle.
My third thought is… it seems like a lot of organizational busy-work!!!
So then my final thought is… I’d rather be biking right now.

Anyway, a lot of my artist friends are having similar thoughts. Very few of them have
been doing it for any length of time. So we don’t have a lot of “practical” experience.
My gut reaction is that it is too much work, a lot of organizing, photographing, tracking,
packing, shipping and more! Plus, the fear of the accidental breakage during shipping
and how to deal with that headache?! And then there’s the fact that I really enjoy seeing
my customer’s faces light up as they admire & fondle my stamped-texture pots!

The newest entry into the Etsy foray is my friend and fellow potter Marjorie Woodruff.
She holds a special place in my heart as she was also my very first teacher at Lillstreet.
Early on, she encouraged me to give up my corporate job and become a full-time potter.
Well, here we are now… and I tell her it’s all her fault!!! And now it’s a lot of fun as we
both teach classes at Lillstreet now on Tuesday nights. I’m teaching beginning wheel class
and she’s teaching handbuilding.

Anyway, Marj has just opened her Etsy store online – featuring some really great plates
that she has done some nice sgraffito illustrations on them. Such sweet little plates.
Including this adorable plate that she made just for me… with obvious inspiration drawn
from my morning sunrise bike ride photo series – thanks Marj!

So now I’m looking forward to her progress on Etsy to see if she finds it successful.
Check out her store on Etsy… Marjorie Woodruff of Maplewood Clayworks.

Plus, just a few more of my artist friends who are on also Etsy.com for you to check-out…
Amy Taylor – nifty hinged jewelry
Roberta Polfus – small-scale carved porcelain pieces
Molly Bitters – Macabi Studios jewelry
Zach Medler – relief print ceramics

If you have any insights, experiences or opinions on Etsy.com… I’d love to hear them!
I’m leaning towards “no”… but that could easily change.

It’s been a long time since potter-extraordinaire Amy Higgason stopped by
my beginner’s pottery class for a demonstration night of carvings, textures & patterns!
I posted the pictures from her visit way back on October 19th… go back and check it out!
I had dinner tonight with Amy at my favorite restaurant as she’s hanging out in the
Chicago area visiting with her Mom for the holidays before she heads back up to the
Northwoods. She finally got to see all of “our” collaborative pots… and now so can you!

For those of you who may have missed it the first time, here’s a brief recap…
I started by throwing all of the bowls and trying to get them “dried” enough for trimming,
stamping, carving, sprigging and all of the other fun decorative techniques that Amy and I
like to do to our pots! Our intention was to show how five “matching plain” bowls can easily
be transformed into five completely different bowls with a few decorative techniques.
People have asked if they would get to see the finished pieces… so here they are!

Amy trimmed, carved, textured and sprigged this bowl which was then glazed
in Josh Green and Temoku interior.

And blue carved bowl… without the dots, without the sprigs… with a groovy,
“wave” pattern around the bottom. Glazed in Josh Blue with a light spray of Temoku,
then line glazed with Temoku.

And another carved bowl showing off some of Amy’s more “illustrative & organic” style.
Glazed with Josh Green outside – and a beautiful Shino inside.

Plus, a collaboration bowl where I stamped, she carved, I squared & stamped again…
then liner glazed & inlaid glaze with Temoku and soda-fired for the final effect.

And the fifth bowl that I stamped in my own style then glazed with Josh Blue
and a slight spray-over of Temoku… and a nice, creamy Antique White inside.
Complete with Amy-inspired stylish foot-ring indentations!

So there’s the final chapter in my collaboration class & bowl demo with Amy Higgason.
We’re already talking about future projects. And trying to get Amy back to Lillstreet for
some sort of future workshops & demonstrations!!!

Remember, you can always check out more of Amy’s “solo” work at Pigeon Road Pottery.
www.PigeonRoadPottery.com

After spending an entire “Mud & Metal” day with Sarah yesterday at my place…
selling, chatting, schmoozing, replenishing, drinking grape soda and just plain hanging out…
we also celebrated Christmas with a little gift exchange. Merry Christmas to me!!!

I was excited when I opened my present from Sarah to find a new addition to my
“Chapman-wear Collection”! Another beautiful necklace made just for me! With a beautiful
orange stone that she had picked out just for me. And in typical Sarah Chapman style,
this one is also double-sided so I can wear it either way – silver or bronze!

I hope she liked her gift as much as I like mine?! A pair of stamped & soda-fired mugs
plus a special ornament I purchased during the One-Of-A-Kind Show. The ornament was
made by Brad & Sundie Ruppert of “Vintage Sculpture”. They make these really great
sculptures out of recycled materials – especially bottle caps! And after a little searching,
I found the perfect ornament to celebrate Christmas and our mutual “love & admiration”
for grape soda! And now we have matching ornaments too! Follow the connection?

A couple years ago, I purchased another wonderful piece of art from Brad & Sundie Ruppert.
It’s a wonderful piece made of wood, letter blocks, wire and bottle caps! And a wonderful
motto to live by. I love it… and it makes me smile every day! I was so excited to find them
again this year at One-Of-A-Kind… and to add a little more art to my Christmas tree…
and Sarah’s tree too! Merry Christmas to the both of us!

Well, I’ve been working all day trying to get everything back together for tomorrow’s
Holiday Home Show. It always surprises me how much time it takes to pull it all together.
The last home show was just weeks ago, and who knew that I would need to do so much work
getting ready to do it again? I guess that happens when you “live” in a pottery store!
Which is what my condo has felt like for the past month!

So everything is back together… and ready to go for tomorrow’s big sale!
Pottery in every room, bargains on the porch, snacks in the kitchen – great gifts for everyone!

Mud & Metal : A Holiday Collaboration
Saturday, December 11th from 10:00am-6:00pm
With metalsmith Sarah C. Chapman and knitter-crocheter Nancy Jana Kent.

If you need my home address to make it to the sale tomorrow, shoot me a quick e-mail
or call my cell phone for directions & details – (773) 307-8664.

So my place is all set, decked out and replenished for tomorrow’s show! I’ve made room
for Sarah & Nancy to display their pieces as well – including their own “shlepping” discounts!
I’ve even re-purposed some calla lilies & kangaroo paw for fresh floral color in the kitchen!

Okay… so I did “take a break” from setting up today to run up to Stirling Hall in Lake Forest
to see my friend Katie Biderbost who runs the art center up there. Tonight was the kick-off
night for their weekend holiday sale. Lots of fine pottery, paintings & jewelry! Sadly…
no discounted “Tired Of Shlepping Sale.” So here’s my suggestion… come to my place FIRST
and then go up to Stirling Hall, say hello to Katie when you get there and buy more art!

This coming Saturday is my second Holiday Home Show – this time it’s “Mud & Metal.”
A holiday collaboration with a couple of my talented friends. Metalsmith Sarah C. Chapman
and knitting & crocheting Nancy Jana-Kent. Both of them will be joining me at my place
this Saturday from 10:00-6:00pm. Luckily, I have tomorrow to finish replenishing the
shelves, gathering up some more “Tired of Shlepping” pieces to markdown, and make some
room for the guest artists to show their stuff too! Beautiful stuff like this…