Unloaded my soda kiln last night. Lots of bright colors…
not all browns & grays much to the chagrin of my soda students.
See, a soda firing CAN be colorful!

Now to pack it all up for this weekend’s art fair in Schaumburg!

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And counting the days until the big Minnesota pottery tour. It’s the 25th anniversary so I can’t wait to see everyone, covet all the pots and “quite possibly” add a piece or “two” to the already-overflowing collection!

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Last night was the last class of the Winter session.
Last class with a lot of student pots!!!
I always encourage my students to bring in their finished pots so we can all look at them. I especially love seeing how fer they’ve progressed during the 10-week class.

It’s just three months away… and time to start counting the days!
To my favorite Pottery Tour of the year. The St. Croix Valley Pottery Tour.
And this year’s tour promises to be one of the best ever!!!
It’s their 25th Anniversary!!!

As usual, there are seven host locations on the tour. And this year they have invited fifty-two guests artists to join in the celebration. Promising to be an incredible three-day weekend in Minnesota!!! So many pots to see. So many potters to chat with. So much fun for everyone!!! I’ll be coming up as usual to play at all of the locations… and “quite possibly”, add a new pot… or two… or twelve to my collection?!!!

I know I will be going up for the weekend. Wouldn’t miss it. It’s an annual adventure!
Unfortunately, I haven’t been “invited” to be one of the guest artists… yet… so I will still be there shopping, chatting and admiring a TON of wonderful pottery with everyone else!!! It’s the best pottery weekend every year… and I’d love to see some blog fans there!!!

To see the full list of participating potters, and complete Tour details,
click here for the Minnesota Potters website.

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While down in Chenoa celebrating the New Years, I found out that one of  the kids received a pottery wheel from Santa! And Rosie was anxiously waiting for a private tutorial with her Uncle Gary!!! So we set up her little clay studio… okay, a dining room chair for her wheel, and another dining room chair for her water bucket… err, I man cereal bowl?! And then we had a little tutorial and she couldn’t wait to get her hands dirty!!!

So she started centering and quickly found out it wasn’t as easy as it looks!
But Rosie was a trooper and kept trying…. and trying… and trying…

And then all of a sudden she got it…

Here it is… a centered piece of clay… so NOW what do I do?

So we continued the tutorial and talked about opening the clay, not going down too far (which she did the first time), and making the hole wider.

Once she had the ball of clay opened, it was time to start raising the walls. Two fingers inside, two fingers outside, thumbs crossed, both hands working as one unit!

She kept having trouble with that whole “elbows down” concept…

And then one of her brothers started hovering like a vulture waiting on its prey.

So when Rosie had had enough and saved her first piece of pottery, Finan was quick to swoop in to give it a spin! He jumped right in and gave it a whirl solely based on the online video he watched while Rosie was practicing.

And he did pretty well… except for that whole “elbows down” thing I kept telling them!

His cylinder was looking pretty great… still working on pulling up the walls…

And then… WHOOPS!!!… looks like the clay went one way and fingers went the other!!!

And again, I kept using my favorite classroom mantra…  “It’s just clay.”
Even if it’s all muddy all over your hands!!!

Today at the “One Of A Kind Show” I met a potter from Denver, Colorado. It was my friend Sarah who noticed his work first and then sent me over to check out his pottery a little closer. She was “intrigued” by his lidded boxes. When I went over to “investigate” I met Peter Karner and admired his work. His functional pieces are well-made and beautifully glazed. His surface decoration is created primarily with a wax resist over a base shino glaze, then a second layer of a colored glaze. It’s the wonderful interaction of the two glazes that works so beautifully on his pieces. Melting, blending, “halo” effects and carbon trapping to create beautiful “one of a kind” finishes.

Click here to see more from Peter Karner Pottery.

But it was these wonderful little boxes that caught Sarah’s eye…

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So my pottery students are doing great this session. They’re all returning “beginners” so we’ve been doing a little bit more than a true “beginner’s” class. And I love when we get to this stage of the class. We’re entering Week Eight of their ten week session. So at this point, they’re making a LOTS of pots. And I love seeing them all bring their finished pot to share in class. So great to see them admiring, critiquing, sharing information and being so supportive & encouraging of each other. Such a great group of students this Fall session… all making great pots and having a great time!!!

Since my pottery students are all doing so great this session. I decided it was time for a “POP QUIZ.” I handed out folded sheets of paper. Told them each to choose a number between one and ten… and write it on the outside of their folded paper. After they had all chosen their numbers, I had them open the sheets to find out what their number “decided” their challenge was to be!!! They all tackled the challenge… and they seemed to appreciate being “pushed” out of their comfort zone and being “forced” to try something new that they might not do on their own. I love Pop Quizzes!!!

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As part of the last pottery class, I like to challenge my students to a pottery exchange. So this session everyone had to bring in a mug they had made in class. We then did a fun trading-stealing White Elephant sort of game… and everyone left with another person’s mug. I came home with a twosome of tumblers by Megan… complete with some crocheted little cozies!!!

Good luck Megan as you move on to Colorado…
and continue your pottery adventure in the Rockies!

Last night in class it was great to see so many of my students cranking out the work. Megan had plates & cups everywhere, Natalie was slip decorating a full set of mugs with her “Starry Night” design, and everyone else was up to their elbows in clay! Hard to believe we’re already at Week Nine of classes… so proud to see how far they’ve come.

As always, we had a wonderful time at the St. Croix River Valley Pottery Tour.
I toured as usual with my friend & talented metalsmith Sarah Chapman. We both told ourselves we were going to “be good” this time. Good to our wallets. Good to out bank accounts. I would like to think that I did pretty well… maybe?… kinda?… sorta???

The first stop on our tour is Bob Briscoe’s place every year. It’s our favorite… great pots, wonderful artists and good friends. While there, that little itch in my wallet starts up… and I feel completely helpless and MUST add another Matt Metz piece to my collection. It was this sweet little flask that caught my attention. I picked it up right away… and when Sarah pointed out that I was caressing & fondling it… I knew it would be mine!!!

Our second stop was Connee Mayeron’s studio… AFTER a little detour around the construction road closure. Sarah has a slight “addiction/fascination” with the work of Shoko Teruyama. So another piece from her was on Sarah’s list. And let me just say… Sarah’s “fascination” is rubbing off on me too. We both got blue & white tumblers last year form Shoko. This year it was this sweet & colorful floral mug. Detailed carvings with colorful glazes.

At the tent next door… another “addiction” for Sarah… and me…  Jenny Mendes. So much detailed painting, line-work and imagery. Her color palette is always “slightly off”… but in such a cool way.

We then went to Guillermo’s. And then off to Will Swanson’s. It was there that Karin Kraemer’s colorful work brought a smile to my face again. I first saw her work there last year… but the carrots were NEW!!! Such a wonderful color palette. So fun, so cheery. And in Karin’s words “She really stands out against all of the brown pots.” I love her illustration style… and the little surprise she hid in the bottom of the mug!

I did really good in resisting the temptation on Friday…
but not so good when I came back to the Tour on Saturday flying solo. I didn’t have Sarah’s “voice of reason” and just couldn’t resist. I just HAD to have some of those carrots!!! Last year I got a rooster.

At the same location, I found another beautiful mug by Ryan Greenheck that “just had to go home” with me. So much for being on my best behavior?! My wallet never even had a chance… too many great pots. Far too much temptation.

So there they are… the newest pots in my pottery collection. I think I did pretty well adding some beautiful mugs to my Mug Collection. And another Matt Met to my Matt Metz Colleciton… a bit redundant, but you get it.

Until next year…