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

Five more ceramic artists will be part of the Burr Ridge studio location of Jean Burnett for the NORTHERN ILLINOIS POTTERY TOUR.

She will be hosting with invited artists Nancy Gorman, Nancy Jana-Kent, Chris Cox & Deana Bada Maloney! This year they will all be participating online… with plans for a live in-person pottery tour next year!

For more info – www.northenrilpotterytour.com

Categories: art fair, artists, pottery

Another “stop” along the NORTHERN ILLINOIS POTTERY TOUR will be in Aurora, Illinois hosted by Jon Pacheco. He will have four invited artists along with him… Chelsea Dubick, Tanvvi Agarrwal, Levi Yastrow & Carly Connelly.

Check out the website for more information… www.northernilpotterytour.com

Categories: art fair, artists, pottery

Another stop along the NORTHERN ILLINOIS POTTERY TOUR will be in Plano, Illinois. Hosted by wood-firing Amy Song, with invited guest artists Jess Dougherty, Sam Hostert & Susan Messer-McBride. You can check-out all of their work when the tour goes “live” online next weekend June 18, 19 & 20th.

For more information, go to www.northernilpotterytour.com

Categories: art fair, artists

For the NORTHERN ILLINOIS POTTERY TOUR, I am one of the Invited Guest Artists at the Sandwich, Illinois location! I will be joining my pal & uber-talented paperclay artist Cory McCrory, along with Nancy Gardner & Linda Kiepke. Unfortunately, this year the tour will be “virtual” with online sales by all of the ceramic artists! I can’t wait for next year when I get to play in-person with these three talented women!

For more information : www.northernilpotterytour.com

Categories: art fair, artists, pottery

Next up on the schedule… the NORTHERN ILLINOIS POTTERY TOUR! It’s the inaugural year for the tour with twenty-one potters! This year will kick-off with a virtual online event… but we’re going live & in-person next year. So watch out!!!

Check us out at www.northernilpotterytour.com for more information!
And I’ll be sharing more info soon…

Categories: art fair, kiln firing, soda-fired

Here’s another quick peek… after I had taken off all of the door bricks! You can see the difference of before & after the soda firing! Some of the colors come from glazes & colored flashing slips, but a LOT of the magic comes from the soda-firing itself. Introducing soda ash & soda bicarbonate into the kiln creates this wonderful atmosphere inside the kiln that makes wonderful surfaces!

And look, you can still see the brick blocked peep on the right side above… and it now cleaned out below!

Perfect timing… as a LOT of these new pots will be making their way to the Hinsdale Fine Arts Fair this weekend!

Categories: glaze, pottery, process, production

Well, my studio cart is all glazed, wadded & full…

…with masking tape “seat belts” in place for the arduous journey downstairs via the rickety old freight elevator! Always hoping for no jumpers or speed bumps!!!

Categories: art fair, artists, My Talented Friends, pottery

Today’s MY day apparently! Excited to be today’s Featured Artist for the NORTHERN ILLINOIS POTTERY TOUR! We’re just a couple weeks away from our inaugural Pottery Tour… virtual this year, in-person from then on! June 18th, 19th & 20th.

Honored to be part of the Tour… along with several of My Talented Friends! Mark your calendars… and follow-along for more details @northernilpotterytour … as well as our new website www.northernilpotterytour.com

Categories: pottery

Gotta love some well-used pottery.
A dish drainer full of handmade functional pottery…
some new, some vintage, all loved.
Thanks for sharing Rosene & Gerry!

Categories: art fair, artists, pottery, special events

Well lookie here… there’s a lot of great potters getting together to put on a brand new NORTHERN ILLINOIS POTTERY TOUR! Many of them I already know as “My Talented Friends”… the others I can’t wait to add to that list! So many potters, so many pots, so much talent all in one Pottery Tour. Going virtual this year June 18-20th… but looking forward to a full on-location Pottery Tour in 2022. More details to come… and check us out at www.northernilpotterytour.com