POTTERS GUILD OF NJ SHOW

While Ellen Mulligan is gallivanting around London, England (we miss you Ellen, but have a spot of tea for us!) - Itsuko Ishiguro, Sandy Pancrazi and Cynthia Shevelew will be selling their work at the POTTERS GUILD OF NJ show - see below for details!

  

Potters’ Guild Hosts Annual Pottery Festival & Sale  

Where:       Community Presbyterian Church

                   1459 Deer Path

                   Mountainside, NJ 07902

When:         April 26th and 27th, 2014

                   Saturday 11 AM to 5 PM                          

                   Sunday Noon to 5 PM

Highlights: This increasingly popular event draws hundreds of customers from throughout New Jersey and the tri state area.  Available for sale will be a fabulous selection of vases, wall pieces, pitchers, teapots, platters, casseroles, raku and pit-fired vessels in varying colors and styles, and one-of-a-kind sculptures and decorative objects of art. The show is the perfect place to find a unique item or gift.

Admission:   Free and Credit cards now accepted!

 

Directions:   Route 22 to New Providence Rd, Mountainside.

                        If going east on 22, cross over 22 at New Providence.

                        If going west on 22, go right at New Providence Rd.

                        Follow the double yellow lines up the hill to Deer Path.

                        Go straight ahead to the church on your left. 

My Friend 'KALO'

circa 1982

When I was an art major in college, back in the '70's, I made a life-long friend, Paul 'Kalo'. He is a wonderfully talented artist, with a way of looking at the world that is so happily peverse, so obsessive about the details of his work. Every day with him was fun, and I will always consider him one of my closest friends, although I never get to see him.

The photo strip on the left is 'KALO' as he appeared (sort of) in 1982 - on the back he calls himself 'Stan Koolski - Polish hipster'

For the last 25 years or so, my family has been lucky enough to receive his Holiday greetings. We get together on Christmas day, and it's always the first thing my sisters and I say to each other...'Merry Christmas! Did you get Paul's card?'

And the Halloween cards, some very special Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, the list goes on.

He recently designed a wonderful coloring book. As soon as I saw it, I thought of using the images as decals on cups, and we now have a great collaboration. I tried to keep the cups as simple as possible, because his artwork is the star of this production.

I am now selling these on etsy, and really encourage you to check them out, even just for the entertainment factor. I have a wonderful postcard that Paul sent me in 1981 that I modified to be a signature decal - me as Humpty Dumpty, from an antique German postcard, I think. Look for it on the back of the cups.

-from my iPad

Cups and Saucers

So, I grew up in a pretty traditional Irish-American household. Lots of tea drinking.

Usually from some chipped cups in the cupboard, and in a low bowl used as a saucer, that I would pour the tea into to cool off faster. Yes, I grew out of that.

My Mom collected fancy cup and saucer sets. As we grew up we were allowed to use them for dessert-time on family holidays. Each one had a very unique personality – we even named some of them. Everyone had their favorite.

So one of the fun items I tried this year was my own version of collectible cups and saucers. They were a lot of fun to make, and as I sat down to decorate them I hit a roadblock – so hard! It now makes total sense that factories had specialized ‘decorators’ who never made the forms. It is a totally separate mindset.

bisqued cups and saucers, ready to decorate!

I have always been a fan of the Bloomsbury Group. The lush, decorative interiors are just the sort of world I’d love to crawl into. I remember reading about Quentin Bell, Vanessa Bell’s son, on growing up in that household. He trained as a potter, and had a studio set up at Charleston, their country house:

‘For many years after the war, when Quentin was married and living far from Charleston in the north of England, he would return with his family, and work in the pottery during the holidays. Duncan and Vanessa loved to find a pristine set of cups and saucers newly fired and ready to be painted – rather to Quentin’s chagrin, for he was looking forward to painting them himself!’

from ‘CHARLESTON A Bloomsbury House and Garden’

by Quentin Bell & Virginia Nicholson

I wish Vanessa and Duncan could visit, and steal away my bisqued cups & saucers!

Here are my attempts – Day of the Dead, with a Mexican influence, and Kitchen wallpaper (self-explanatory).

Inside Day of Dead cup, and the saucer