More at Baltimore 2010

Continuing with our Baltimore cruise, here are a few more 'must see' artists.

Worthington Woodworking: this husband and wife team are actually from Saugerties, REAL neighbors. They do absolutely wonderful work in several mediums but I've only seen their incredible woodworking. Their booth here at Baltimore is #2007 or you can view more of it at www.oilswoodstone.com

David Bryce's drawings and ceramic sculpture have a lovely Chinese flavor ...very unique. They have a wonderful fresh quality of spontaneity. He is an artist that we consider a friend though we only see him at art fairs. He's here at Baltimore in space #2206 or you can check out his website at www.flycreekstudio.com

Judy has been a friend of ours for a long time also.
Over the years we have enjoyed watching her work grow and change. Her work reflects the joy she has in communicating new ideas through her medium. This year she is displaying in Booth # 1302 or you can see more of it online at www.judyrand.com

John Russell always has a story to tell. It is absolutely appropriate that he makes marketry boxes to hold them! 

You can catch his work at www.wood-veneers.com/gallery14.html

Booth #1107 at Baltimore

This furniture is made by a couple we just met, Edward and Sherry Schoen. They call themselves Signature Gallery and make furniture in an Arts and Crafts style. You can see their work in Booth #2101 here at the Baltimore show or online at www.signaturegallery furniture.com

Candone Wharton's ceramic has such a special distinctive regal look. You just have to come to her booth #1303 at Baltimore or else view her work online at www.candone.com

Suzanne Crane Fine Stoneware
Suzanne and her husband, Matthew, make a beautiful combination of ceramics and wood. Their booth installation is an art piece in itself and makes you feel right at home. At Baltimore their booth # is 1204 and online you can see more at www.suzannecrane.com

All these artists are excellent in their particular medium. It is a delight to see their work at the show. Plus they are all really good people. 

There are many more but I'm limiting my selection to just a few here. If I've only wet your appetite, go online to http://public.craftcouncil.org/baltimore where you can view all 700 artists' work.

ACC Baltimore neighbors

Here we are at the American Crafts Council Show in Baltimore's Convention Center where we have been camping out since Sunday.

 

I thought you might like to meet our neighbors. 

Across from us on one side are bronze artists Jack & Alice McLean:

You can see more of their work at www.Mcleanbronze.com

Adjacent to us on one side is a furniture designer, R. A. Laufer:

More of his work can be seen at www.blackwaterwoodworks.com

On the other side is a wood sculptor, Michael Bauermeister:

 

You can see more of his work at www.michaelbauermeister.com

Then we have a large aisle between us and the three neighbors across the way. 

Jeff is a ceramic sculptor:

 Visit his website at www.jeffmargolin.com.

and Helen makes whimsical woodworks:

 Her website is www.helenheinspeterson.com

Next to her and diagonally from us is an Iron sculptor, Robert:

who can be contacted via email: robert.crecelius@gmail.com

All these artists are really fantastic. Their work is very high quality and it has been wonderful to have them as neighbors under the mercury lights!

Tomorrow I'll venture out a little further to give you a look at some more great artists at the show.

If you are in the area, don't miss the opportunity to see firsthand any of the 700 artists from all over the country. This show is one of the best art fairs for consistent top quality.

Going for the Gold......

We set up our display in our living room before packing because our work has been changing a lot over the last 3 years. We no longer have as many larger pieces to anchor the display. Our thought was that the practice run will save us some sloppy discussions after driving 6 hours to Baltimore. It also precipitated our buying new shelves (the old ones were splitting) and cleaning the rug thoroughly. The only question that remains is whether we'll have adequate lighting. Knowing that we usually have dark spots when we do a corner booth, we ordered a halogen light that extends beyond the booth and would allow light to shine in from outside. The light looks good and we may have solved the problem but the real test will be in the convention center on Monday when we set up.
The car is almost packed and we plan to leave tomorrow am. Sounds like the weather is holding for our traveling; however, Baltimore may get some bad weather on Wednesday and Thursday.
We will be settled by then but we are hoping the weather information is WRONG.
This is a wonderful show... 700 excellent craftspeople from all over the US... we always look forward to seeing our friends' and newcomer's work and catching up with the group. I'll send some photos along if I can....

Final Push/ Feb. 18 Firing

Our final firing for the Baltimore show is completed. We are pleased with the results. All in all there were some nice surprises and some disappointments. We'll have more of a chance to step back and draw conclusions once we set up at the show. Right now we are focused on getting there with everything we need in tow.

Here's some photos of the last kiln load...



I was pleased with the way the Birch trees came out:

Back to back firings 2/16 & 2/17

Continuing with glazing and firing, we unloaded two kilns, one yesterday & another today. Tonight is our last firing before Baltimore. We leave Sunday.




Here is a grouping of those Tesselated pots Steve has been working on.

Firing 2/14/10

This firing went smoothly without mishaps and with good results.

Here's a new piece by Cherie... a willow tree. The first photo shows her waxing the leaves after the green glaze is applied to protect it from the bright blue which is applied on the rest of the pot.




and then, here we go again.
We'll fire the next group probably tomorrow night.

With a little bit of luck

We are now finished making pots for the Baltimore show but continuing with our glazing and firing. Above is a photo of Steve loading the bisque and below you see us glazing and waxing.



Above is the loaded kiln before firing 2/12/10 and below shows the finished pieces.



The real story here though is that Steve got up again to check the firing at 5:30 am this morning and this time it was done and cooling fast. After checking the temperature of upper and lower levels of the kiln, he turned off the exhaust fan to slow down the cooling process. At this point it was down to 1700 degrees Fahrenheit. Sleepy eyed he turned the kiln back on and went back to bed to catch a little more shut eye. When he returned at 7:20 am the kiln was back up to full temperature! O no! We thought we lost the entire kiln load of pots because the length of time that the pots remain at a given temperature actually increases the "real" temperature the pots are feeling so......we really thought we were cooked! Imagine our surprise when we opened the kiln this afternoon and discovered that none of the glazes had run on the shelves or blistered and only showed a little extra stress!
These pots had two lives! That's a little bit of luck!


Here's a closeup of our favorite in this kiln. One of the colors on this pot (behind the turquoise) is an improved warm brown.... a keeper.

Kiln Firing 2/9/10

These last two photos feature the new work Steve has made. I posted photos of him making them on 1/6 and 31/2010. The glaze combination on the top one is especially nice and there's more to come.

Back to back firings

While everyone else is getting a lot of snow, we are continuing to work. The storm stories dominate the news but we only got 3-4 inches.


We fired a couple a couple of kiln loads of pots since we last spoke(!) Here are some photos of the first firing which was on 2/7:

We fired a couple

Some glaze tests before we glaze "problem" pots ie.. new pieces we aren't sure about. There are some tiles in front... yep! we have one more tile floor to do in our house.. the entryway and we just might do something unusual there as a conversation piece!
I'll post some photos of the second firing later.