Stop by tonight for the kick-off of Andersonville’s Arts & Design Weekend.
A little “after hours” fun at City Olive where they will be featuring my pottery for this special weekend!!! The festivities continue until 9:00pm tonight… and continue Saturday & Sunday.

This weekend is the Andersonville Arts & Design Weekend. And I have been invited to be the Guest Artist for the weekend at City Olive. The festivities begin tomorrow… so I went in tonight to deliver my pottery and set-up. It’s a fun collaboration & mixture of fine olive oils & fancy foods alongside of my pottery.

Andersonville Arts and Design Weekend at City Olive
5644 North Clark Street, Chicago, Illinois 60660

Friday, October 10th, 2014 – 11:00am-9:00pm
Saturday, October 11th, 2014 – 11:00am-5:00pm
Sunday, October 12th, 2014 – 12:00pm-5:00pm

Karen has a beautiful store full of wonderfully edible & foodie-favorite surprises. For this special weekend, there is now a wide selection of pottery to choose from as well. All completely usable… food-safe, dishwasher-safe, microwave-safe, etc. So be sure to stop by City Olive for some fun this weekend. And to grab yourself some of my pottery – especially if you couldn’t make it out to any of my Summer Art Fairs!

Here’s a quick preview of some of the pottery “up for grabs” at City Olive this weekend…

I hope you can make it in this weekend. If you do, be sure to say “Hi” to Karen for me…
and tell her that your heard about it from my blog. Thanks.

Let the pricing & packing commence. Lots of pots. Lots of mugs!!!

Last night I unloaded my soda kiln. After a full day of firing and a full day of cooling, you’re always a little anxious to unbrick the door and get your first peek of what’s inside. The front of the kiln is always “pounded” with a bit more soda… and there fore a bit more “gray.” But the backsides of those pots on the edge are usually pretty sweet, with great contrast to the soda blast zone. Here’s the front stack of the kiln…

And then the back stack of the kiln…
looks like pretty good coverage throughout. No dry spots that I can see so far.

Yep, everything turned out pretty well. A good coverage of soda on the pots.
A lot of nice flashing. Some sweet glaze effects.

A LOT of mugs… you know they’re my favorite thing to make!!!

A couple new sets of salt & pepper shakers…

And some new tiles, in a few new sizes…

It’s always nice when you get a phone call the day after an art fair…
from a customer who purchased work during the fair, but resisted from buying everything she wanted. But then found she couldn’t quite get it out of her head. And she thought about it all day long.

Today was one of those days when Louise called me and asked if I still had any Double Spice Pots left and could she still buy one?! Luckily, I did have three for her to choose from. So we met up at my studio and now she’s the proud owner of the piece “that almost got away.” Thanks Louise for having me stuck in your head. Glad I could be there for ya’!!!

Here’s a nice Facebook posting from another wonderful customer…
“My Costco flowers feel like a million bucks in your vase!”
Thanks for sharing Mary Pat.

There were so many different styles & techniques displayed on the Minnesota Pottery Tour. So much eye-candy & visual inspiration. Taken out of context though, how many of these ceramic artists can you name based on a snapshot of their decorative technique!?

Artists names will be revealed some time next week!!!
Answers are now posted in RED as of 5/29/14.

#1 : Shoko Teruyama

#2 : Steven Hill

#3 : Andy Balmer

#4 : Bill Gossman

#5 : Dan Finnegan

#6 : Delores Fortuna

#7 : Ellen Shankin

#8 : Richard Vincent

#9 : George Lowe

#10 : Jeff Oestreich

#11 : Jo Severson

#12 : Jenny Mendes

#13 : Suze Lindsay

#14 : Steven Young Lee

#15 : Silvie Granatelli

#16 : Sandra Byers

#17 : Kent McLaughlin

#18 : Karin Kraemer

#19 : Robert Briscoe

#20 : Mark Shapiro

#21 : Mary Roettger

#22 : Richard Hensley

#23 : Simon Levin

#24 : Matthew Metz

#25 : Craig Edwards

#26 : Sarah Jaeger

#27 : Steven Hill

#28 : Sam Taylor

#29 : Steven Young Lee

#30 : Donna Polseno

#31 : Robert Briscoe

#32 : Karin Kraemer

#33 : Ani Kasten

#34 : George Lowe

#35 : Mary Barringer

#36 : Matthew Metz

#37 : Ernest Miller

#38 : Steven Hill

#39 : Naomi Dalglish

#40 : Steven Young Lee

#41 : Mary Barringer

#42 : Winthrop Byers

So many pots… so little time… and now far less cash in my wallet!!!
So much fun touring and seeing all of those great pots. Great to chat with all of the artists… and to add a “few” pieces to my already too huge pottery collection!

Starting with a new mug by Matthew Metz. And a slightly new style with a dark clay body dipped in a light slip and then carved with his signature sgraffito style. I especially loved the “finger prints” on the bottom of the cup where he held it to dip into the slip.

I also added a Bob Briscoe mug to my “mug collection”… and a new Bob Briscoe lidded jar… for M&M’s or Hershey’s Kisses?!!!

At our second stop, we met up with Steven Young Lee… a former teacher of mine. Of course I had to add another mug of his to my collection. I have quite a few “vintage” Steve Lee pieces. And now I have some of his new blue & white style. Unfortunately, I couldn’t decide… so I had to get a couple!!!

Blue & white… and a stark contrast with a carved monochromatic tea bowl.

On Day Two, we started from the beginning and did the Tour all over again! We started at Bob Briscoe’s again… and he had unloaded another kiln overnight. So he was restocked with a few pieces. Including these two bowls that “had” to come home with me… to join the other four bowls already in my kitchen cabinet.

 

I also picked up a mug by George Lowe… I loved the texture and the rusty, crusty finish!

One of our last stops on Saturday was The Rogue Potters. I picked up a couple pieces, including a mug by Randal Anderson and a plate by Mark Johnson.

We started out at the studio of Robert Briscoe. Always our first destination. So many great artists all in one location. It’s also the furthest north… and then we work our way down from there. There are seven studio locations on the St. Croix River Valley Pottery Tour… showing 51 artists along the way. It’s a wonderful day of pottery fun with friends, artists & pots!!!

So many great potters… so much great pottery… which only makes me dream…
“Wouldn’t it be GREAT to be one of the invited guest artists of the Minnesota Pottery Tour?”
Of all the locations, Bob Briscoe’s would be my dream location to join the group!!!
The array of work there is wonderful. Closest to my style and yet completely different.
Plus the artists there are all so nice… I would love to “play” with them for a full weekend!
Some day… dare to dream… maybe we need to start a grassroots, write-in campaign???

Bob Briscoe pots… so many everywhere… so many that I would love to take home with me!

Fun to see so many pots… and so many people admiring them. Like this pair admiring the work of Suze Lindsay. It’s a great weekend for potters everywhere… promoting the “culture” of handmade wares by ceramic artists from around the country.

And a welcome “surprise” from Matt Metz with a slight change in his signature style… dark clay with a quick slip-dip before his trademark sgraffito technique.

One of my favorites at the first stop… ceramic banana salt & pepper shakers
by Kent McLaughlin!!!

So many pots… so many textures… so many great ceramic artists in such close proximity.

Fun to get a glimpse behind the tent of my friend & potter Steven Hill… and his box of overstock mugs!!! Especially good to see that there are so many “holes” in the box from those that have already sold!!!

Throughout the day, it was so nice to see so many of the vase hosting beautiful flowers – fulfilling the “destiny” of the vase and its ultimate purpose!

One of the most “shocking & amusing” sights during Day One of the Pottery Tour?… discuss.