Summer 2016 Art Fairs

Fourth of July Cherry Days Celebration
We will have our Pottery booth in Paonia Town Park fully set up on Sunday, July 3, and Monday July 4. 
Note: This link: Table of Contents 
          will help you find specific items of our work.
If you come by on Saturday, July 2, you may find a partial display, depending on the weather. 
Paonia is our home show, so we use it for our annual Seconds' Sale, so come on Sunday for bargains of slightly flawed or experimental work. 
You will also have an opportunity to buy UNESCO-recognized textiles from Taquile Island, Lake Titicaca, Peru, textiles we have fair traded directly with the artists, mostly for solar gear. See My Travel Blog for stories about our Peru connection.

For the Cherry Days Schedule, check out: 
http://www.paoniacherrydays.com/schedule.html

2016 button design by Elena Niermann

Carbondale Mountain Fair at July's end
The 45th Annual Carbondale Mountain Fair takes place on 
July 29, 30, and 31, 2016
The show opens at 12 Noon on Friday, July 29,
10am on Saturday and Sunday, July 30 and 31.
Selling closes around dusk on Friday and Saturday; 5pm on Sunday.
For more information about the fun fair schedule, check out:
http://www.carbondalearts.com/mountain-fair/

Summer 2016 Art Fairs

Fourth of July Cherry Days Celebration
We will have our booth in Paonia Town Park fully set up on Sunday, July 3, and Monday July 4. 

Note: This link: Table of Contents 
         will help you find specific items of our work.

If you come by on Saturday, you may find a partial display, depending on the weather. 
Paonia is our home show, so we use it for our annual Seconds' Sale, so come on Sunday for bargains of slightly flawed or experimental work. You will also have an opportunity to buy UNESCO-recognized textiles from Taquile Island, Lake Titicaca, Peru, textiles we have fair traded directly with the artists, mostly for solar gear. See My Travel Blog for stories about our Peru connection.
For the Cherry Days Schedule, check out: 
http://www.paoniacherrydays.com/schedule.html

2016 button design by Elena Niermann

Carbondale Mountain Fair at July's end
The 45th Annual Carbondale Mountain Fair takes place on 
July 29, 30, & 31, 2016
The show opens at 12 Noon on Friday, July 29,
10am on Saturday and Sunday, July 30 and 31.
For more information about the fun fair schedule, check out:
http://www.carbondalearts.com/mountain-fair/

Springtime in the Rockies

Spring Production
Note: This link Table of Contents 
          will help you find specific items of our work.
Preparing for a beautiful show in Estes Park on the edge of Rocky Mountain National Park in an area of abundant wildlife. Themes in our work include this wildlife. The show is all three days of Memorial Day Weekend.
Here's a platter from last year. 

Oval Platter about 11" x 15" x 1.5" Slip painting underglaze 

Similar pieces are inside the kiln today as we begin firing. This is the bisque firing, or biscuit, which could be called, "half-fired." I work in Stoneware, high-fired ceramic, for many reasons. One is because Stoneware is impermeable and very durable; could last for generations or centuries. I fill every cubic inch of my 25cu.ft. kiln; a "tight" kiln. I know we are using fossil fuels and fire as efficiently as we can.

warm glow on the underside of the kiln; propane venturi burners

Please join us at our Memorial Day Weekend show on the Eastern Slope of the Rocky Mountains.

The 17th Annual Estes Park Art Market

Saturday and Sunday, May 28-29 ~ 9:00 - 5:00

Sunday, May 30 ~ 9:00 - 4:00

Bond Park, right on E. Elkhorn Avenue, the main drag traveling through town; you can't miss it.

Back home, it's a bit difficult to concentrate on making pottery when spring is so beautiful in our own back yard.

Our Next show will be Cherry Days, the 4h of July weekend celebration right here in Paonia.

What's in a Tray?

Note that this link: Table of Contents will help you find specific items of our work within this blog.

Serving tray, tea tray, ash tray, pipe tray, paint tray, jewelry tray, vitamin tray, teabag tray, spoonrest tray, business card tray, food try, mushroom sorting tray....

~How do YOU use a tray?~

My newest and most exciting (to me) work is a series of hand-built trays. Their forms are very free and the glaze in the flat bottom is over the top! with depths of glassy glaze in pools of colors and swirls. Here are a few examples:

This 9" tray has especially rich glazes:

2 1/2" x 9" x 4"

 I needed a wide shallow vessel for my big brush to dip water-based pigment; the smaller trays made handy brush holders for small brushes:

paint tray lg: 1 3/4" x 5 1/2" x 1 1/2" smaller ones 

When sketching--and erasing--the eraser will blacken with graphite. The bottom of stoneware pottery is a dry and slightly rough surface, perfect for cleaning the eraser. As a bonus, while doing art work you get to USE a sculptural little piece of art to hold your tools:

green one is 1 1/2" x 4 1/4" x 3"

One size small tray is perfect for business cards:

Amazing color under those business cards 1 1/4" x 4 1/4" x 3"

This 8" tray was just the thing for grading an abundant harvest of fairy ring mushrooms:

Fairy ring (Marasmius oreades) 

Autumn 2015 Art Shows

Note: This link: Table of Contents will help you find specific items of our work within this blog.

Estes Park, September 19-20
Just in time for the elk bugling and the fall colors in nearby Rocky Mountain National Park, the Fine Arts Guild of the Rockies presents the 40th Annual Fine Arts and Crafts Festival right in the center of town in Bond Park.

Over 90 artisans, well juried, will be exhibiting. Our booth, #87 will be located on Elkhorn Avenue on the sidewalk on the side of the library. Keep your eyes out for our fruit baskets and for hanging platters celebrating those bugling elk!

Santa Fe, September 5-7 
Thanks to all who helped make that show an excellent success.
Santa Fe Fiesta, now in its 303rd year, kicks off on Friday night, September 4th with the burning of the Zozobra. The next three days presents the Arts and Crafts Festival over Labor Day Weekend. Hours are 9-5 all three days, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.

Our booth location is in the direct center circle of the Santa Fe Plaza, on the east side of the famous obelisk, easy to find.

Western Colorado Art Fairs

Note: This link: Table of Contents will help you find specific items of our work within this blog.
Paonia Cherry Days

Our home grown Paonia show celebrates Independence Day for three days this year. The theme for this 69th annual festival is “Valley of Abundance.”

Because this is our home show, in addition to our top-of-the-line pottery, we will present our annual Seconds Sale. You will find some bargains of slightly flawed or experimental pieces, always a lot of fun. We will also be bringing a sampling of textiles from Taquile Island, Lake Titicaca, Peru.

Show hours are 11:00am to dusk on Friday July 3 and on July 4. 

Sunday hours are 10:00am to 5pm. 

The Festival starts Friday with merchants and banks on Grand Avenue in Paonia celebrating “Downtown Days” with special offers and food. Saturday is the Parade. Sunday starts with a church service and then a talent show. If you come Sunday, you will see Sam and I take a break from our booth to join our dance class for the last act of the Talent Show, around 12:45. Here is a link to Paonia Cherry Days, with a full schedule.  http://www.paoniacherrydays.com

Carbondale Mountain Fair

Dates for Mountain Fair this year are July 24-25-26. We will be in our usual location on the north side of the park. This is a great fun community festival. http://www.carbondalearts.com/mountain-fair/

Ridgway Rendezvous Note that we will NOT be showing at Ridgway this year, so to catch us in Western Colorado come out to Cherry Days or Carbondale Mountain Fair!

See you at the Fair!

Art Market in Estes Park

Note: This link: Table of Contents will help you find specific items of our work within this blog.

Our first show of the season will be in Estes Park over Memorial Day Weekend, May 23, 24 and 25, 2015. We have LOTS of new work. 

14" platter of Rocky Mountain slip painting. Elk and Aspen Forest with Hawk and snowy mountains.

The rest of our summer schedule will include a couple of Western Slope shows:
Paonia Cherry Days on July 3 and 4
Carbondale Mountain Fair on July 24, 25 & 26

Then, allowing time for class reunions and fun festivals, gardening, making more pottery and custom commissions, we start up again in September:
Santa Fe Fiesta September 4, 5 & 6
Estes Park Fine Arts and Crafts September 19 & 20

As the holiday season approaches, you will find us at
Loveland "The Ranch" (Larimer County Fairgrounds) November 21 & 22
and back in Paonia for the Paonia Holiday Fair, December 4 & 5

Come see us at the Fair!