Mug mug shots

These figured mugs are wheel thrown and decorated with colored clay slips, sometimes called engobes.
I cut a detailed stencil in order to replicate the images. Usually the back of the mug has a mountain from a stencil and around the figure are free-hand mountain "paintings."
Each mug holds a generous 11 oz. at approximately 4" x 3" x 3" and is made of high fired stoneware: dishwasher and microwave safe.

Elk

Moose

Hawk and Eagle

Aspen Forest, extra complex

Brown Aspen Leaves

Bicycle (road bike)

Mountain Bike

Climber

Fisher

Hikers

Kayak

Dressage

Jumping Horse

Western Rider

Alpine Skier

Telemark Skier

Snowboarders "Shredder"

Golfer Man

Golfer Woman

MUGS--THE LIST

sampling of figured mugs, front view,
showing two versions of hiker, climber, and skier

Each of these mugs are about 4" tall and 3" in diameter, hold a generous 10 ounces, cylindrical with muted blue and brown/tan slipwork under an oatmeal glaze. You can see some pictures on a previous post in February of 2010, and more pictures to come. Mugs are $20 each. Most of the images are also available a large stein (about 16 oz), still only $26 each.

the back of the mugs usually have mountain scenes

MUGS, THE LIST

Columbine (brushwork)
Aspen leaves - blue
Aspen leaves - brown

Mountains around
Elk
Wolf
Moose
Eagle
Cranes Dancing
Cranes Flying
Hawks
Hummingbirds

Alpine skier
Nordic skiers
Snowboarders
Telemark skier
Dogsled team

Climber
Hikers
Kayak
Fly fisher
Mountain bike
Road bike

Runners
Golfer man
Golfer woman
Tennis players

Western rider
Dressage riders
Jumping horse
Sail boat
Ballet dancers
Musical notes

I also do a detailed Aspen Forest, which sells for a few dollars more than the other images.

2011 Art and Craft Fair Schedule

Our winter schedule has two shows:

November 25-26 (Thanksgiving weekend) Arvada Center on Wadsworth in Arvada Colorado
December 3-4, Holiday Art Fair in Paonia at the Blue Sage on Grand Ave.

See you at the fairs!
If you can't make it to the fairs, feel free to give us a call to place an order. 970-527-6570

Or, you may find what you're looking for at our Colorado galleries:
The Earthen Vessel in Durango
Handworks in Crested Butte
Working Artist's Gallery in Grand Junction
Max'ims of Greeley and Estes Park
Munson's Main Street Gallery in Cedaredge
and our newest: Sundance in Buena Vista.

Art and Craft Fair Schedule, 2010

Our final shows for 2010 will be Thanksgiving weekend in Arvada, Colorado at the beautiful Arvada Center, followed by the Paonia Holiday Craft Fair at the Blue Sage Center in Paonia.

We look forward to seeing you at the fair!

You can see images and descriptions of our pottery in earlier posting of this web log.

Exciting news accompanies this announcement:
Our Peruvian Family will be joining us!

You may be aware that we have been visiting Taquile Island, Lake Titicaca, Peru since 1986 and have a deep and close relationship with extended family and friends in that indigenous community. The excitement is that a Taquile dance troupe is being brought to Albuquerque (at the U of NM Nov 16-19) and we are then bringing three of these textile artists to the two shows where you can see our work:

The Arvada Center Holiday Art Show Thanksgiving weekend:
9-5 on Friday Nov. 26 and Saturday Nov. 27. 6901 Wadsworth Boulevard in Arvada.
Our booth is #132 on the main level in the center of the room to the left of the stairs and the Peruvian Natives booth just across from ours in #119

The Paonia Holiday Craft Fair at the Blue Sage in Paonia: 3-8 on Friday, Dec. 3 and 9-5 on Saturday Dec. 4, where we will take over the whole stage with pottery and textiles plus weaving and knitting demonstrations.

Both shows will have our pottery booth with our unique Stoneware Fruit/Bread Baskets, Bowls, Figured mugs, and all the functional and sculptural work we've been making for you this year--AND a textile display from Taquile, a designated A UNESCO Cultural Heritage Site for its Textile Art, with open fingered gloves, wool hats, woven belts, ponchos, shawls and bags.

In addition, we will make two public presentations with our Peruvian guests:
in Aspen at ACES on November 29, 6:00pm, and
in Paonia at the Blue Sage on December 6 at 6:30pm.
See more information about "A View from the Andes" at www.taquilefriends.blogspot.com

See you at the fairs!
If you can't make it to the fairs, feel free to give us a call to place an order. 970-527-6570

Or, you may find what you're looking for at our Colorado galleries:
The Earthen Vessel in Durango
Handworks in Crested Butte
Working Artist's Gallery in Grand Junction
Max'ims of Greeley and Estes Park
Munson's Main Street Gallery in Cedaredge
and Toklat Gallery in Basalt.

Bowls

PEDESTALED BOWLS
Three bowls with open curved feet, glazed in turquoise and multiple green. The pedestals give presence to the bowls and also function to facilitate stacking.
Made of stoneware, as is all of our functional work, therefore dishwasher safe--and the open foot avoids water pooling in the foot in the dishwasher!
The dimensions of these three bowls are 7" x 12 ½" x 12 ½", 5 ½" x 10" x 10" and 4 ½" x 8" x 8"
We also make mixing bowls and soup/cereal bowls without the pedestals as well as other glazes, such as the Colorado Columbine brushwork, Aspen Leaves, Royal Blue and Honey Gold.

Galleries and Gift shops that carry our work

We'll be traveling until May of 2010. You can follow our travel blog at www.taquilefriends.blogspot.com
To find our work in the meantime, our pottery is sold at the following Colorado Galleries:
Earthen Vessel -- 115 W 9th St -- Durango -(970) 247-1281
Blue Sage Gallery-- Grand Avenue, Paonia
Handworks -- 302 Elk Avenue -- Crested Butte -(970) 349-6731
Munson's Main Street Galley -- 260 West Main Street -- Cedaredge -(970) 856-6070
Working Artists' Gallery -- 520 Main Street -- Grand Junction -(970) 256-9952
Max'ims of Greely -- 818 9th Street -- Greeley - (970) 352-9341
Max'ims of Estes Park -- 513 Big Thompson Avenue -- Estes Park -(970) 586-6546

Examples of slip-painted work

Tara decorates much of her wheel-thrown work using stencils or natural objects to resist pigmented clay, painting around the objects to create surface textures and adding details with sgraffito technique (scratching off the slip to reveal the lighter colored clay body underneath).

Top: 11 oz mug showing mountains. The other side could be decorated with a variety of wildlife of muscle-powered sports figures. and a 17 oz stein with a moose.

Hummingbird design on a round platter with handles, 11 ½" diameter.

Oval Platter with Elk and Hawk with Mountains and Aspen Forest. 14" x 11" x 2"
The oval platters have an attached foot ring and hanging wire so they can be hung on the wall as well as used for serving food. The raised foot lifts the platter off the table to function as a handle.

Pie plate with Brown Aspen Leaf design, 10" diameter.
Real leaves are used to resist the pigment and the veins are painted in after the plate is dry.

Spoon rest with Hawk and Mountains, 5"

All work is dishwasher, oven and microwave safe.