I’m sure you’re running around with a lot of things going on for the holidays, but…
What are you going to do in January?

Why not buy yourself an early Christmas gift and take a pottery class with me!
Registration is already open for my Tuesday night Beginning & Advanced Beginning Wheelthrowing Class that starts in January. Sign up soon… no one wants to miss out on the fun. Santa’s List, yes. Waiting List, no.

Click here to register online.

Register for my wheelthrowing class quickly and save some money!!!

Yep, I will once again be teaching my Beginning & Advanced Beginning Wheelthrowing next session at Lillstreet Art Center. My class is on Tuesday nights from 7:00pm-10:00pm. It’s pretty much for “beginners” of all levels. Whether you’ve thrown on a wheel before or not… whether you’ve ever touched clay before or not… or just like to play in the mud!

Registration is already open – and my class is filling up fast! Don’t miss out!!!
Click here for online registration.

Tonight was the opening reception for “Sense Of Scale” at Lillstreet Art Center.
Celebrating the work of four inspired metalsmiths – and the beautiful work they make in metal.
Whether it’s sculptural pieces or wearable art, they are all wonderful beauties!

Of course, my favorite metalsmith Sarah Chapman was one of the celebrated artists!
Always making beautiful pieces, it was great to see her work on a larger scale – creating a textured metal constellation piece with beautiful insets of stitched stones & pearls. Additionally, the smaller glass cases had many of her jewelry pieces on display. For more of Sarah Chapman‘s beautiful work, click here for her website.

Sure, the installation grouping is wonderful. But the real beauty is in the details.
Textures. Colors. Architectural designs.

The second metalsmith was Darlys Ewoldt. I’ve seen here around Lillstreet, especially during Summer Camp working with the kids. I must admit that I was unaware of her larger, sculptural works. Her large sculptures were amazing. Great swirling movement and beautiful patina colors. For more of Darlys Ewoldt‘s work, click here for her website.

Sculptural crocheted wire pieces by Heejin Hwang were hanging from the wall & ceiling. Heejin was an Artist In Residence last year at Lillstreet, and is now teaching classes. I love the “hollow” volume of each, and even more, the “shaggy” layers of metal pieces at the top. For more information on Heejin Hwang‘s work, click here for her website.

One of my “crazy” favorites is the sculptural works of Stacey Lee Webber. She was also a Lillstreet Artist-In-Residence a few years back. Everyone was quickly enamored with her quirky style and use of everyday metal objects to create her unique works of art. Coins. Screws. Pennies. In fact… she once constructed a full-size ladder out of copper pennies!!! But I digress… for more of Stacey Lee Webber‘s work, click here for her website.

Like this wonderful bouquet made of screws… whether bundled together…
or flattened out to become the petals of the flowers!

Chain link necklaces made of copper pennies… or gold-plated screws!

Or a large installation piece dripping with chains made of coins… AFTER the faces have been cut out of each coin. YES – ACTUAL REAL COINS!!! So the chain of coins is draped on the left… and the Presidential coin heads on the right!!!

All in all, a wonderful show opening tonight at Lillstreet. It was great to see some of our favorite metalsmiths show off their larger “sculptural” style… along with their smaller jewelry pieces. Be sure to stop by Lillstreet to see this fantastic metal show.

“Sense Of Scale: Metal Sculpture and Wearable Art” through March 2, 2014.

So I just checked in and found out that my Tuesday night
Beginning Wheelthrowing Class at Lillstreet Art Center is already FULL!!!
All 18 wheels will be filled with fun people ready to play in the mud with me!
Whoo-hoo!!!

Tonight before class I had a wonderful visit with a fellow potter from South Carolina. Stephanie follows my blog and decided to put a visit to my studio on her itinerary while here in Chicago for her husband’s business trip. It was great to meet them both, talk pottery and give them a tour of Lillstreet Art Center. I hope they enjoyed their visit as much as I did… and Stephanie is taking a mug home as a souvenir!

The soda kiln has been rebuilt. Brick by brick… with a nice curved arch.
Remember, the old kiln was suffering from a sagging arch, so it’s good to see it back in place. And so fresh & clean. At least for one last day. It will never be this clean again… the Lillstreet soda class is loading the kiln tomorrow night for the inaugural firing of the new soda kiln. Firing on Saturday… the new soda will be added Saturday night leaving it’s permanent mark on the fresh, clean bricks!

Good thing I fired my soda kiln last weekend and unloaded Monday night.
The soda kiln I use was completely demolished on Tuesday!!!
Looks I got out just in the nick of time!!!

Yes, the soda kiln at Lillstreet Art Center was completely torn down yesterday so that they can make a newer & improved version. Everything is gone except for the burner system!!! The current kiln was having some”moving” brick issues… and the arch was pretty much flat and “non-arch-like” towards the end. So now we have a practically empty kiln room… except for the piles of sand, dust & debris.

There are pieces & parts everywhere. Trying to save as many bricks as possible.
As well as the steel framework from the floor… and the side & corner posts.
Might be reused… might just become a souvenir?!

And bricks pretty much stacked up everywhere… in the kiln room, on carts, on shelves…

This will all be cleaned up and a new concrete foundation will be poured. Once that cures, they will start building the new kiln brick by brick. It’s pretty exciting… but a HUGE amount of work. Oh, I remember… I was one of the ones who built the very first soda kiln at the new Lillstreet location along with my friend & potter Emily Murphy. Special thanks to all of the volunteers who are working on this kiln demolition & re-building project!!!

The new Summer class schedule is out and registration is now open.
Sign-up for a class and play in the clay this summer! 10-weeks of fun!

I will once again be teaching my Tuesday night class for multi-level beginners.
It’s the perfect class for brand new beginners, and repeat beginners who still want to refine their techniques… as well as people who may have played with clay years ago and really just want to get dirty again! The class syllabus is customized to fit the mix of students each session. Of course we cover all of the basics, but we also push a little further to cover topics that the returning beginners are ready to tackle!

Beginning & Advanced Beginning Wheelthrowing on Tuesdays from 7:00-10:00pm.
The ten-week class session runs from June 18th through August 20th.
And if you register before May 27th and save twenty bucks off your class!
You can register in person at Lillstreet Art Center or click here to register online.

And lookey here… on page 6 of the Lillstreet Summer Class Catalog,
there’s some beautiful stamped mugs drying on a studio shelf… if I do say so myself.