‘Tis the season for the glass pumpkin patch and the annual descent of glass pumpkin collectors who simply must add to what is probably already quite a collection. This year, hundreds of thousands of glass pumpkins will be lovingly hand made by glass and clay artists alike, but it is the glass pumpkin patch that most appeals to the imagination.

The humble, approachable pumpkin offers endless variety and color, and these pumpkins amount to affordable, collectible art. Each one begins with a lump of molten glass, transformed by the artist into a textured, transparent or translucent, magical vessel that suggests enchanted midnight carriage rides or idealized dietary goals.

We checked in with our glassblowing members and have assembled a list of pumpkin patch venues for our readers below. Look for one or more in your area or begin your quest to visit them all. Happy Pumpkin Patching!

Chris Johnson Glass

Viscosity Glass

Bay Blown Glass

Ballis Glass

Nick Leonoff Glass

CHRIS JOHNSON GLASS

October 28 & 29 – 10am-4pm
Live Oak Grange Glass Pumpkin Patch
Live Oak Grange Heirloom Garden
1900 17th Avenue Santa Cruz

Hand made glass pumpkins and gourds created in the glass blowing studio of local artist Chris Johnson. A portion of all sales donated to the Live Oak Grange to support the awesome work they are doing to promote food security and sustainability in the community. Plenty of Free Parking.

VISCOSITY GLASS

October 14 & 15, 21 & 22 – 11am – 5pm
Santa Cruz Open Studios Pumpkin Patch
13163 Azalea Ave Boulder Creek

Sept 30 & Oct 29
Blow Your Own Glass Pumpkin
Viscosity Glass Boulder Creek
Sign Up Here

BAY BLOWN GLASS

Sept 23 – 24 – 10am – 5pm
Delfino Farms Pumpkin Patch – 3205 N Canyon Rd, Camino

Sept 30 & Oct 1, – 10am – 5pm
Great Glass Pumpkin Patch – Palo Alto Art Center – 1313 Newell Rd, Palo Alto

Oct 6 – 3pm – 9pm,
Oct 7  –10am – 9pm
Oct 8 – 10am – 5pm
Glass Pumpkin Patch at Santana Row – 377 Santana Row, San Jose

Oct 14 – 15 – 10am – 5pm
Hand Blown Glass Pumpkin Patch – Folsom Parks and Recreation – 48 Natoma St, Folsom

Thursdays – 1 – 7pm
Fridays – Sundays – 11am – 5pm
now until Thanksgiving!
Benicia Art Glass Gallery – 309 First St, Benicia

BALLIS GLASS

Sept 23 – 24 –10am -5pm
Delfino Farms Pumpkin Patch – 3205 N Canyon Rd, Camino

Oct 14 – 15 – 10am – 5pm
Folsom Glass Pumpkin Patch – Folsom Parks and Recreation – 48 Natoma St, Folsom

Oct 14 – 15
Halfmoon Bay Pumpkin Festival

Oct 21 – 22
Great Ballis Glass Pumpkin Patch – Ballis Glass, Fresno

Oct 28 -29 – 9am, 11am, 2pm, 4pm
Pumpkin Workshop – Make Your Own
Email for reservations

NICK LEONOFF

Glass Pumpkin Patch of Carmel
Hilton Bialeck Habitat – Next to Carmel Middle School – 4380 Carmel Valley Rd, Carmel-by-the-Sea
September 16 – 17
Saturday 10am – 5pm
Sunday 10am – 4pm

Don’t miss our dazzling display of hand-blown glass pumpkins created by nationally recognized glass artist Nick Leonoff and a curated group of local glass artists. A portion of proceeds will directly support MEarth’s environmental stewardship education programs, reaching over 2,500 youth across Monterey County every year.

APPLY NOW FOR LIFETIME ELIGIBILITY

The ACGA welcomes your application to sell your work at the Association of Clay & Glass Artists of California’s annual Palo Alto Clay and Glass Festival on the beautiful grounds of the Palo Alto Art Center. Festival Eligibility is a lifetime status as long as your membership is current and you participate regularly in our event.

The ACGA Clay & Glass Festival is a great opportunity to develop relationships with customers, send your work to new homes, and strengthen your network of fellow clay and glass artists. Joining ACGA brings you into a strong community of clay and glass artists.

I have had two careers – High-Tech and Ceramic Art.

Ceramic art has not always been my professional focus. In my youth, I enjoyed drawing and sketching, and during my high school years I took fine arts classes. My father, David, was a mechanical engineer and I expected to follow in his footsteps as an engineer or scientist. After graduating from Johns Hopkins University with a BS in physics. I then moved to California to pursue graduate studies at Stanford University. There I earned my PhD in high-energy physics and solid-state physics.

At Stanford I planned an academic career, but, while designing and constructing the equipment for my thesis experiments, I realized that I was more interested in creating new, useful instruments. Thus, after Stanford, I worked with a colleague to found a new company based on the instruments I had built at Stanford – X-ray florescence analyzers.

At our company, Nuclear Semiconductor Inc., we successfully developed X-ray analytical spectrometers. These instruments were used by industry to analyze semiconductors and other high-performance materials for defects, by museums to authenticate art, and by academia for materials research. Tracor Northern purchased our company and, after mergers, is now a part of Thermo Fisher Scientific.

I was recruited to work for Raychem Corporation in Menlo Park in California, not far from my home in Portola Valley. Raychem was a material science company that created proprietary materials and products used in the energy, electronics, automotive and telecommunication industries. During my tenure in R&D, I invented and developed several conductive polymer devices that were used to protect electronic circuits from over-temperature and over-current conditions. This product line, called Polyswitch, grew to be nearly a five hundred-million-dollar business protecting mobile phones, small motors, automobiles electronics, and telephone equipment. Many of my 35 US patents relate to this new product line.

My final job at Raychem was as General Manager of the Medical Ventures. Of particular interest were the arthroscopic surgical instruments we developed using Raychem’s shape memory alloys. I patented numerous medical products based on this and other Raychem technologies. When Raychem decided to license the medical technology rather than spin off a new venture, I decided to move on. I joined Nellcor Corporation as Senior Director of sensor technology. Nellcor is best known for its successful commercialization of low-cost pulse oximetry. Pulse oximetry is a procedure used to measure the oxygen level (or oxygen saturation) in the blood. Over the next few years, I became Vice President of R&D for the Hospital Division, Nellcor Puritan Bennett (with sales of $1billion).

After Mallinckrodt Corporation acquired Nellcor Puritan Bennett, I decided to take nine months off for travel and to explore art. That led to taking ceramics art classes at the Palo Alto Art Center and Foothill College. When it was time to return to the high-tech world, I decided ceramic art would be a great new career. So here I am!

Now on to Ceramic Art.

From my earliest work on the pottery wheel, I was always fascinated by the natural texture that develops on the outside surface of the thrown piece. This occurs if you expand the piece, usually a cylinder, from the inside only without touching the outside. (This takes a little practice as most potters work both the inside and outside surfaces.) In this way the surface develops a natural grainy, geologic, or continuously irregular pattern. The surface can then be thinly glazed to retain the surface texture.

When I visited Japan in the summer of 2000, I had the privilege of meeting Shimaoka Tatsuzo, a “National Living Treasure.” There I saw his wonderful “Jomon Zogan” – rope-impressed inlayed work. I was so captivated by his textures that I returned home to copy his technique. Soon however, I began developing my own deeper textures, which I applied prior to expansion of the cylinder on the wheel. Although we have very different styles, I continue to use his work as inspiration.

This new technique (for me) took a lot of practice: How to get the texture to match all around the vessel, especially where it wraps back on itself. How to prevent distorting the cylinder when deeply impressing it. How to retain a uniform pattern during expansion. And many other issues. From this I developed textures and vessel shapes that I felt reflected curves, shapes, and elements in Nature.

Now after over twenty years, although I continue to enjoy the process and results, I sought new expression for textured work that was beyond the symmetric wheel-thrown forms. I experimented with altering these forms, incising the work, and other ways to break the complete form into space. Potter Bob Kinzie introduced me to the idea of creating large slabs from my textured cylinders and using them to hand-build.

After creating a few of the wheel-thrown textured slabs, I immediately was drawn to creating textures and forms that you would identify with stone and wooden structures created by man. The final ceramic forms trigger thoughts of towers, lanterns, and ancient buildings. I feel most of them convey a sense of serene, weathered ancient places and times. More recently, I was exposed to the fine decoration on Harrison McIntosh’s classic vessel forms. I visited both his retrospective exhibition and his home near Pomona. There, Harrison carefully explained his techniques for sgraffito and glazing. My work in sgraffito vessels now reflect his influences.

As I visit galleries and museums and review images in magazines and books, I believe I stand on the shoulders of many other artists. In particular, Gary Clarion, the supervisor of the Palo Alto Art Center, has strongly influenced my development. His informal instruction in basic ceramic methods enabled me to acquire skills rapidly. And his critique and suggestions are valuable lessons I use today.

*****

Lee creates highly textured, organic surfaces on classic ceramic forms. Although functional, his work is often prized as decorative.  He has participated in three solo exhibitions, 85 group exhibitions in the USA and 48 international group exhibitions. He is past president of the Association of Clay and Glass Artists. He is a founding member and North American Chair of the International Ceramic Artists Association headquartered in Zibo, China. Lee is a member of the International Academy of Ceramics – Geneva, Switzerland. He combines his ceramic career with his strong interest in Asian cultures by accepting invitations to several artist-in-residencies or ceramic woodfire festivals in Asia each year. This September/October he has organized a woodfiring workshop in Aomori, Japan.

LAST CHANCE TO SEE FROM A GIFT TO A COLLECTION:

IGAL & DIANE SILBER AT AMOCA

From a Gift to a Collection: Igal & Diane Silber, closing September 17, 2023 at the American Museum of Ceramic Art, celebrates AMOCA’s recent acquisition of more than 300 ceramic works collected by Igal and Diane Silber. The exhibition will present a selection of 100 works from this unparalleled collection, representing artists from Europe, the Middle East, the Pacific Rim, and North America.

Igal (1936-2021) and Diane (1944- ) Silber began collecting art early in their marriage. Initially they were most attracted to contemporary figurative painting and sculpture. Then, in the late 1970s, the Silbers received the gift of a green crater glazed bowl by Otto and Gertrud Natzler from their friends,Robert Logan and Robert Cugno. The gift of this bowl, clearly a serious work of art, invited the Silbers to consider ceramics as an art form worthy of further study and pursuit. While at first the Silbers focused their ceramics collection on the vessel form, their interests gradually shifted to include figurative and sculptural works as well.

The Silbers added to their collection not by choosing pieces by famous artists, or by seeking to round out missing elements. Instead, Diane shares, “each piece was selected because of its impact on us.”While building a significant contemporary ceramic collection may not have been the Silbers’s initial goal, it was an endeavor that brought the couple joy and allowed them to learn about and meet countless fascinating international artists. As members of the International Academy of Ceramics (IAC), the Silbers traveled the world, befriended many artists, and continued to collect varied and compelling pieces. Collecting, both an appreciation of creativity and a creative process in itself, turned out to be an enriching gift for Silbers throughout their lives together.

Exhibition Overview

Over 90 artists, hailing from South Korea, New Zealand, Japan, the United States, Canada, Turkey, Israel, Switzerland, Sweden, Spain, Poland, the Netherlands. Hungary, Germany, England, Denmark, the Czech Republic, Belgium, and Austria have work included in From a Gift to a Collection: Igal and Diane Silber. Artists in the collection include ACGA alumni Mary White and James Lovera. Click here to the full list of artists.

Approximately 60% of the work shown has origins beyond North America, and about two-thirds of the objects on view in From a Gift to a Collection relate to functional forms and vessels; the other third is figurative, sculptural, or narrative.

From a Gift to a Collection: Igal & Diane Silber opens at the American Museum of Ceramic Art,399 N Garey Ave, Pomona, CA 91767 on April 1, 4-6 pm with opening remarks at 4:30pm. The exhibition runs through September 17, 2023. The museum is open Friday-Sunday, 11am to 4pm. For more information:https://www.amoca.org/upcoming-exhibitions/collectors-silber/ or (909) 865-3146 orcommunications@amoca.org.

This exhibition is organized by the American Museum of Ceramic Art.

About AMOCA

The American Museum of Ceramic Art was founded in 2003, in Pomona, California. The mission of the museum is to champion the art, history, creation, and technology of ceramics through exhibitions, collections, outreach, and studio programming.

Museum Hours

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, 11am – 4pm

Admission

General $14, Senior $9, Student/Pomona Resident $7, Members & under 12 Free

Location

American Museum of Ceramic Art

399 North Garey Avenue, Pomona, CA 91767

(909) 865-3146 • www.amoca.org

THE de YOUNG OPEN 2023

Opening Day Celebration on Sept 30, 11 am – 4 pm

Building on the tremendous success of the inaugural The de Young Open in 2020, the second triennial of this juried community art exhibition will feature submissions by artists from the nine Bay Area counties: Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma. Artworks will be hung “salon style,” installed nearly edge to edge and floor to ceiling, maximizing the number of works displayed. Designed to celebrate and support our local arts communities, this exhibition allows artists to offer their works for sale and retain the proceeds.

The de Young Open exhibition at the de Young Museum will be open from September 30 through January 7. Entry to the exhibition is free during the Opening Day Celebration and every Saturday for Bay Area residents.

ACGA members Mari Emori and Scott Jennings have had their work selected for inclusion in this exhibition.

Emil Yanos

Sarah Brown

OPEN STUDIOS  – NAPA VALLEY

Sept 16-17 & 23-24

Open Studios Napa Valley is a free self-guided art discovery tour which takes place over two weekends: Sept 16-17 and 23-24.  Seventy artists are participating this year at 43 studio locations.

Whether you’re an avid collector or just curious about art, this is your opportunity to peer into the creative spaces of Napa Valley, meet the artists, watch demonstrations and buy local art right from the source!

Napa Valley Open Studios is presented as a collaborative effort by the participating artists of Art Association Napa Valley.  The program exists because the artists believe in the value of opening their studios to visitors and sharing a unique artistic experience.

Participating ACGA artists include Akemi Adams, Sarah Brown, Karen Winograde and Emil Yanos.

SANTA CRUZ OPEN STUDIOS ART TOUR

Oct 7-8, 14-15, 21-22

South County studios kick off the tour on October 7-8. Get the free online artist directory at the link below – and look for the guide out wherever you find @goodtimessc on Sept 11.

This annual three weekend event is presented by Arts Council Santa Cruz County and features over 300 local artists! This is a great opportunity to purchase original work direct from the artist and experience their creative process first-hand.

➡️ October 7-8 – South County
➡️ October 14-15 – North County
➡️ October 21-22 – All County

ACGA members participating include Cristy Aloysi & Scott Graham, Yumiko Aso, Drake Bialecki, Jeannine Calcagno, Christine Charter Moorhead, Chris Johnson, Elaine Pinkernell, Randie Silverstien, and Peter Vizzusi

Functional Fall: A Seat at the Table, Juror: Jessica Putnam Phillips

Clay Art Center, Portchester, NY, Sept. 1 – Oct. 16.

More Information: Clay Art Center

Submitted by Linda Fitz Gibbon

Glass work by Hannah Nicholson and Alana van Altena, second-generation glass artists working in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada.

PLACER ARTISTS TOUR

Nov 10-12 & 17-19

The Placer Artists Tour celebrates 30 years this year. It is the largest studio tour in the Sierra foothills region, featuring a diversity of art, artist demos and special events. The Tour  happens every November in artist studios, galleries and art schools throughout Placer County. This year’s Tour includes 136 artists, galleries and schools at 82 unique locations.

Glass and clay artists will be represented including ACGA members Emilie Righetti, and Nicholson van Altena Glass.

We hope you will join us for this free tour, which takes place on Veterans Day weekend, Friday, Nov. 10, through Sunday, Nov. 12, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. Many artists will also offer an “Encore” weekend Friday, Nov. 17, through Sunday, Nov. 19, to give patrons more time to visit artists. You can pick up a Guide at Blue Line Arts in Roseville and preview one artwork from each participating artist during the Taste of the Tour exhibit October 21 through November 19. The reception is November 4 from 5 to 8pm.

Visit PlacerArtistsTour.org, for profiles of all the participants, an interactive Tour map and a robust events calendar of all Tour events. It is a year-round resource for the arts in Placer County.

JANE GRIMM

FINDING THE FORM: BAY AREA SCULPTURE

Sept 15-Oct 8

Three of Jane Grimm’s sculptures have been selected to be included in the show, “Finding the Form: Bay Area Sculpture”, at the Sausalito Center for the Arts, 750 Bridgeway, Sausalito.

Show dates are September 15-October 8.

PIERRE BOUNAUD

LOS ANGELES POTTERY SHOW

Oct 14 – 15

The Los Angeles Pottery Show, now in its 23rd edition, will be held the weekend of October, Saturday the 14th from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm and Sunday the 15th from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm at the Glendale Civic Auditorium. LAPS has a strong emphasis on the collector’s market, with a mix of antique art pottery, vintage art pottery, and contemporary ceramics. It is one of the few places on the West Coast where ceramics enthusiasts come to grow their collection and discover up and coming artists.

ARAKAWA POTTERY

Sept 9

Thomas and Kathy Arakawa are participating at the Midori Kai Arts & Craft “LIVE OUTDOOR” Boutique

September 9, 2023

9:30 am to 4:00 pm

Lakeside Office Plaza

1279 – 1299 Oakmead Parkway, Sunnyvale, CA 94085

SUSIE RUBENSTEIN AT MILL VALLEY ARTS FESTIVAL

Sept 23 – 24

Immerse yourself in the lively atmosphere as you explore the various booths and exhibits, interact with the artists, and discover unique treasures to take home. Whether you’re an art enthusiast, a music lover, or looking for a fun weekend activity with the family, the Mill Valley Fall Arts Festival is not to be missed. Mark your calendars and join us in Old Mill Park on September 23rd and 24th from 10-5:00. More information is available at Mill Valley Arts Festival.

Submitted by Susie Rubenstein

REMEMBERING SHELLEY SIMON

Shelley Simon, a great artist, teacher, friend, and core member of the Ruby’s community for many years, passed away in July. Shortly before she died, Shelley donated $10,000 to Ruby’s to purchase badly-needed new kiln furniture, which we may come to know as “Shelley’s Shelves”. During a celebration of Shelley on August 27, dozens of people filled the studio to share beautiful photos, humorous stories, and—in true Ruby’s style—a vast array of delicious food! We fondly remember and are incredibly grateful for Shelley’s wonderful spirit and generous contributions to Ruby’s over the years.

Repost from “The Slip Bucket” Newsletter for Friends of Ruby’s Clay Studio & Gallery

KANAYAMA WOODFIRING WORKSHOP

September 17th to October 8, 2023

Lee Middleman will host a woodfiring event in Aomori, Japan, September 17 to October 8, 2023, accompanied by 2 American and Canadian potters: ACGA members Miki Shim-Rutter and Chelsea Fried and Alan Lacovesty.  Lee has participated and organized over 10 such events since 2004.

Between 2002 and 2012, over 130 ceramic artists and potters from around the world participated in similar woodfire programs at Kanayama. The program focused on the exchange of techniques and ideas about ceramic art and wood fire. By working together and freely sharing information, the sponsors encouraged mutual understanding and cooperation among potters throughout the world.  Lee hopes this mini-program revives the tradition.

They will also explore the Jōmon ceramic history and Aomori culture.  The Jōmon pottery (縄文土器, Jōmon doki) is a type of ancient earthenware pottery which was made during Jomon period (c. 14,000 and 300 BC) in Japan. The term “Jōmon” (縄文) means “rope-patterned” in Japanese, describing the patterns that are pressed into the clay.  Fragments have been dated as early as 14,500 BCE.

This is Lee’s first return trip to Japan since Covid interrupted his strong interest in exploring Japanese ceramics and culture.  He will post activities and results on social media.

Submitted by Lee Middleman

Our communications tools now allow members to post their news items directly to the ACGA News Blog, for daily publication. Posts must be admin-approved and may take up to 48 hours to appear in the blog. Incomplete submissions may take longer. The web-based news blog is a living document and posts items in the order they are published. You can scroll through the entire history of the ACGA News here: https://acga.net/acga-news/.

In addition, our monthly ACGA newsletter is emailed to approximately 5500 subscribers. This news is less time-sensitive than more immediate forms of communication such as the news blog and our social media accounts on Instagram and Facebook.

Social media is the most effective and most instantaneous way to reach your audience, provide a platform that can be posted to repeatedly and often. We encourage members to cultivate their own social media accounts on facebook and instagram, to build your own audience and market your wares. We are happy to amplify your message to our followers from time to time when the following conditions are met:

• Captions must include who, what, where, when details.
• Posts must relate to something a collector or student can engage with such as a gallery event, an open studio, or an upcoming sale. Posts that lack context will not be reposted.
• We will not repost items projecting more than 2 weeks in the future.
• Posts should be tagged @theacga to ensure we can find them

ACGA social media accounts have more than 17,000 followers, so following these guidelines could be valuable to you. News items must be written in grammatically correct form, include all details including names (first and last) of members involved, links to artist websites or social media, studio or gallery locations and hours of operation.

Be aware that we have over 350 members and will strive to be fair and equitable, and to showcase the wide variety of accomplished artists who comprise our group. Publication is not guaranteed, and is not a perquisite of membership. If you have an event with frequent updates or an extended window of time, we expect you to manage your news on your end and we may or may not repost at our discretion.

CLICK HERE FOR SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

Congratulations are due to the winners of the inaugural “People’s Choice Award”: Ren Lee – (Clay – Tied)

Kevin Scheer (Clay/New Artist- Tied)
Daniel Wooddell (Glass/New Artist).

This unique program has enriched our Festival experience, and we thank everyone who voted and celebrated their exceptional talents.

Pictured: Kevin Scheer and Mari Emori
Submitted by Mari Emori

I took my first ceramics class at Cabrillo College in 1975 and was immediately hooked. By the fall of that year I was at UC Santa Cruz in a major called “Arts and Crafts and their History”. It was open only to Juniors and Seniors with all their other prerequisites filled, the course of study being three quarters of ceramics for 2 years, a quarter each of drawing, painting, and printmaking, and the same for art history also for two years. Most of us spent all our time in the ceramics studio learning from Al Johnsen of Scott Creek Pottery whose teacher was Marguerite Wildenhain. The focus of our program was functional pottery and I have not strayed far from that in my own ceramic work.

By 1978 I was a member of the Santa Cruz Art Center and an apprentice to Al Johnsen in his Davenport studio. It was a pivotal time for me, learning about being a potter as a way of life, and I loved it, but a relationship had a stronger pull and for a time I was in northern California homesteading and ceramics was on the back burner. Discovering that as much as I was drawn to a rural way of life, it was a 24 hour job that wasn’t going to allow for ceramics for a long time, so by 1982 I was in southern California working in the Laguna Beach School of Art’s studio (currently Laguna College of Art and Design) and teaching part time at Irvine Valley College. In 1983 I returned to school to further my study at the Kansas City Art Institute, but after one semester in ceramics I transferred to the Fiber Department, and from there did my graduate work at Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan. It was not long after graduating that I returned to clay. Those years were tumultuous but important in that I found a source for integrating form and surface. I continue to look at textiles, translate some of the surface treatments to a ceramics process and am constantly grateful to have friends and colleagues in both disciplines.

As the need to generate income became a priority, I held many teaching jobs including at the Orange County High School of the Arts, Arts in Corrections (teaching inmates at several CA state prisons), Soka University, Saddleback College, and finally landing a full time position at Mt. San Antonio College where I was the lead faculty for the ceramics program. I retired in 2020 and now can work full time in my studio in San Juan Capistrano.

I’ve been a member of the ACGA for about five years and on the board for two. Although the pandemic was disastrous in so many ways, it did allow the ACGA to hold board meetings online, which has increased the representation of members throughout the state. I hope that my presence on the board and serving on the communications committee will help promote even more diverse representation, both geographically and in general membership. It’s been a great experience being part of this organization and I look forward to expanding our reach.

“Clay pipe was invented for specific uses; it never would have been invented for art.
It took a few ceramics geniuses to imagine new possibilities.”

— Tom Franco, Mission Clay artist-in-residence

Have you been introduced to the captivating world of the Terracotta Corridor? This expansive outdoor exhibition is now on display in Napa’s Rail Arts District and boasts 21 impressive clay pipe sculptures. Presented by Mission Clay Products and Rail Arts District Napa (RAD), it’s a fusion of artistry and industry that’s truly a sight to behold. Curated with care by Shelly Willis and John Toki, the exhibition features selections from 11 exceptional artists, including Alan Chin, Cameron Crawford, Ann Christenson, Carolyn Ford, Tom Franco, Robert Harrison, Susannah Israel, Lisa Reinertson, Patrick Siler, John Toki, and Rimas Visgirda. These artists brought their creations to life during residencies at the esteemed Mission Clay Art & Industry Program. Remarkably, a total of 21 sculptures made their journey to Napa, California.

I had the privilege of attending an enthralling presentation on the Terracotta Corridor by John Toki and Bryan Vansell, the visionary Founder and Director of the Mission Clay Art & Industry Program. This event unfolded during the California Conference for the Advancement of Ceramic Art (CCACA) in Davis a few months back. Some participating artists shared their experiences during the presentation. Hearing their stories, challenges, and inventive solutions was fascinating. Can you imagine some artists had to complete the process of carving and glazing the 6 to 8 feet clay pipe extrusions within days due to the fast drying speed at the location of the residency program in Phoenix, Arizona? Following the enlightening presentation was a book signing for the recently unveiled exhibition catalog (the cover image above). This beautifully illustrated 80-page catalog delves into the history of the Art & Industry Program, the sculptures themselves, and the brilliant ceramic artists behind them, adding depth and dimension to the viewer’s journey.

What makes this exhibition unique is its ingenious concept and dynamic viewing experience. The exhibit harmoniously blends creativity and industry with the Mission Clay Products facility, renowned for its sewer pipe production, which also serves as the very origin of these extraordinary sculptures. This fusion transforms ordinary sewer pipes intended to be underground and unseen into impressive standing masterpieces. As John aptly noted, “Unique to the viewing experience is that artworks in most cases viewed in ‘in motion’—people traveling on the Napa Wine Train at 20 miles per hour, people on bicycles and scooters, and those running or walking or even driving around the city of Napa near the Vine Trail.”

Why not treat yourself to a day of artistic exploration? Experience the enchantment of the Terracotta Corridor in Napa and witness the transformative power of clay, passion, and imagination. I’m excitedly planning my visit. The exhibition is accessible along the Napa Vine Trail, Oxbow Public Marketplace, and near the Culinary Institute of America (Copia) until December 2023. You can see the location of the sculptures on this map.

If you want to know more about this amazing project, an exquisite exhibition catalog titled “Terracotta Corridor” is available now at the Napa Wine Train Gift Shop at 1275 McKinstry Street in Napa. If you are interested but can’t make it to Napa, the link to purchase the catalog will soon be added to the RAD website. Owning this catalog is like holding a piece of the exhibition’s magic.

And, make sure to check out these captivating short videos: Installation of Terracotta Corridor – Rail Arts District, Napa, CA. 2022; Mission Clay Art & Industry – Making Pipe Sculpture 2022.

LH Horton Jr Gallery presents VISIONS IN CLAY

August 28 – September 21, 2023
Gallery Reception August 31 • 5:00 – 7:00p.m.
Zoom Reception: September 9 • 11:30a.m.–12:30p.m.
Free & Open to the Public

STOCKTON, CA – Located on the campus of San Joaquin Delta College, LH Horton Jr Gallery presents the 14th Annual Visions In Clay Exhibition, August 28 – September 21, 2023. The Gallery Reception is planned for Thursday, August 31st, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Admission to the Gallery exhibition and reception is free and open to the public. In addition, the Gallery will host a Zoom Reception with artists from around the country, on Saturday, September 9, from 11:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Visit the Gallery’s website for the Zoom link access. Joan Takayama-Ogawa, Professor of Ceramics and Product Design at Otis College of Art & Design in Los Angeles, was this year’s guest juror who selected the artwork and awards for the exhibition. The awards were given for a body of work in three award categories (Best of Show $800, 2nd Place $600, 3rd Place $400) sponsored by the Horton Gallery Foundation, and the San Joaquin Potters Guild presents a $300 Founders Award each year. There is a fifth award for $800 funded by San Joaquin Delta College for a Regional Artist-in-Residence selected by Ceramics Professor Shenny Cruces. The Regional Artist will present a ceramic art demonstration and artist talk to the ceramics and sculpture students. The awards will be announced at the Opening Reception on Thursday, August 31st.This year’s exhibit features 57 works by 47 artists from around the country, including 5 Delta College Alumni students, Abraham Alvarez, Bonny Barker, Samantha Holcomb, Zoe Nelson, and Melodie Sidhu. We are all so very proud of our Delta art students – Go Mustangs!

“Creative people know that what is ‘work’ is nothing of the sort. To understand what an artist does is to consider the whole of their existence. The dedication borders on obsession.”

— Joan Takayama-Ogawa

Visions In Clay was founded by the San Joaquin Potters Guild in 2002 through 2007, and turned over to the Horton Gallery in 2010 to continue presenting the ceramics based exhibition. Visions In Clay is the largest exhibition of ceramic works in the San Joaquin Valley. Elaine Quave Crossroads CactiVisions In Clay 2023.

ACGA members whose work (pictured above) was selected for the exhibit include Linda Fitz Gibbon, Vicki Gunter, and Ren Lee.

Press Release by Jan Marlese, LG Horton Jr Gallery, San Joaquin Delta College

60TH KINGS MOUNTAIN ART FAIR
LABOR DAY WEEKEND

This is the KMAF‘s 60th year! Several ACGA artists will be participating. Ceramics: Barbara Glynn Prodaniuk, Peggy Loudon, Fred Stodder, Lyn Swan, Justine Tatarsky. Glass: Cristy Aloysi & Scott Graham, April Zilber.

Breakfast is available 8:00-10:30 am and lunch from 11:30-4:30pm. Art Fair open 10am – 5pm every day. Shuttles run from the parking lots to the event.

More Information:

Kings Mountain Art Fair

Submitted by April Zilber

LINDA FITZ GIBBON AT CLAY ART CENTER FIRST ANNUAL FUNCTIONAL FALL EXHIBITION: A SEAT AT THE TABLE.

This National Call For Entry Exhibition brings everyone to the table through ceramics that serve, featuring work from artists at all stages of their careers throughout the US.

Functional Fall: A Seat at the Table, Juror: Jessica Putnam Phillips

Clay Art Center, Portchester, NY, Sept. 1 – Oct. 16.

More Information: Clay Art Center

Submitted by Linda Fitz Gibbon

NICHIBEI POTTERS ONE OF A KIND KILN OPENING & CELEBRATION

For potters, there are few things as exciting as opening a kiln load of  freshly fired pots.

Being able to share that process with our customers is even better. For the last 25 years, we have hosted an event at our studio where we do just that.

But this is not just any kiln load full of pots it’s a load full of all one-of-a-kind pieces. This year‘s event will be on Saturday, August 19 from 1 to 5 at the Nichibei studio In Sebastopol. Seating is limited and reservations are required but if you’re interested in attending please email Cheryl or Mikio at potters@nichibeipotters.com

SUSIE RUBENSTEIN AT MILL VALLEY ARTS FESTIVAL

Immerse yourself in the lively atmosphere as you explore the various booths and exhibits, interact with the artists, and discover unique treasures to take home. Whether you’re an art enthusiast, a music lover, or looking for a fun weekend activity with the family, the Mill Valley Fall Arts Festival is not to be missed. Mark your calendars and join us in Old Mill Park on September 23rd and 24th from 10-5:00. More information is available at Mill Valley Arts Festival.

Submitted by Susie Rubenstein

“Out of the Fire” at Pajaro Valley

Arts Sudden Street Gallery in Watsonville showcases artwork created or affected by fire, such as a kiln, welding, blown glass, and other methods. ACGA members Christi Aloysi and Scott Graham, Tamara Danoyan, Laurie Hennig, Chris Johnson, Cynthia Siegel, Randie Silverstein, and Bev Zerbib-Berda are among the 55 participating artists.

This multi-media exhibit explores artwork that utilizes fire as a transformative tool in the making of the work. The use and control of fire has been critical to the survival and advancement of humankind. For thousands of years, fire has been used for warmth, light, defense, ceremony, and communication. Fire has been used to transform elements into tools and processes that affect all areas of our lives. We are still in awe of both its productive and destructive qualities. We invite you to enjoy the transformative processes in this exhibit.

“Out of Fire” Exhibit opens August 9 at Pajaro Valley Arts Gallery. Opening Reception is Sunday, August 13 from 2-4pm at

37 Sudden St. Watsonville.

SAC OPEN STUDIO EXHIBITION

Verge Center for the Arts
Sacramento, California
Kick Off Party, Sept. 7, 6-9 pm
Exhibition Dates: Sept. 7 – 17

Linda Fitz Gibbon‘s Woodland studio will be open Sept. 9 & 10, 10 am – 5 pm.

CLICK TO VIEW THE SAC OPEN STUDIOS GUIDE

VINCE MONTAGUE
“INTRUSIVE THOUGHTS” AT  h u g o m e n t o

Hugomento is excited to present “Intrusive Thoughts,” a solo exhibition of ceramic sculptures by California artist Vince Montague, on view now through September 2.

Making art and writing poetry is an intrusive-thinking area in Montague’s studio practice, a place of risk and freedom, an opportunity for him to welcome ideas and images into his atelier, to make sense of them if he can. Montague creates sculptures and writes poems out of his own obsessions, his own worries, his own doubts, traumas and encroaching preoccupations.

h u g o m e n t o
795 22nd Street,
San Francisco, CA 94107
info@hugomento.com

Submitted by Vince Montague via Instagram

ANN WAGENHALS in    “1000 VASES” IN PARIS

Ann Wagenhals has had two vases accepted to the “1000 Vases” (actually ~90 vases!) Paris exhibit during Paris Design Week. Her pieces–one pit-fired vase and one horsehair raku vase–titled together “Serenity, Motion & Joy” will be shown at Galerie Joseph in the Marais September 7-10. Ann is on Instagram @annwagenhals and her website is Annwagenhals.com.

1000 Vases is on Instagram.

Submitted by Ann Wagenhals

KANAYAMA WOODFIRING WORKSHOP

September 17th to October 8, 2023

Lee Middleman will host a woodfiring event in Aomori, Japan, September 17 to October 8, 2023, accompanied by 2 American and Canadian potters: ACGA members Miki Shim-Rutter and Chelsea Fried and Alan Lacovesty.  Lee has participated and organized over 10 such events since 2004.

Between 2002 and 2012, over 130 ceramic artists and potters from around the world participated in similar woodfire programs at Kanayama. The program focused on the exchange of techniques and ideas about ceramic art and wood fire. By working together and freely sharing information, the sponsors encouraged mutual understanding and cooperation among potters throughout the world.  Lee hopes this mini-program revives the tradition.

They will also explore the Jōmon ceramic history and Aomori culture.  The Jōmon pottery (縄文土器, Jōmon doki) is a type of ancient earthenware pottery which was made during Jomon period (c. 14,000 and 300 BC) in Japan. The term “Jōmon” (縄文) means “rope-patterned” in Japanese, describing the patterns that are pressed into the clay.  Fragments have been dated as early as 14,500 BCE.

This is Lee’s first return trip to Japan since Covid interrupted his strong interest in exploring Japanese ceramics and culture.  He will post activities and results on social media.

Submitted by Lee Middleman

Our communications tools now allow members to post their news items directly to the ACGA News Blog, for daily publication. Posts must be admin-approved and may take up to 48 hours to appear in the blog. Incomplete submissions may take longer. The web-based news blog is a living document and posts items in the order they are published. You can scroll through the entire history of the ACGA News here: https://acga.net/acga-news/.

In addition, our monthly ACGA newsletter is emailed to approximately 5500 subscribers. This news is less time-sensitive than more immediate forms of communication such as the news blog and our social media accounts on Instagram and Facebook.

Social media is the most effective and most instantaneous way to reach your audience, provide a platform that can be posted to repeatedly and often. We encourage members to cultivate their own social media accounts on facebook and instagram, to build your own audience and market your wares. We are happy to amplify your message to our followers from time to time when the following conditions are met:

• Captions must include who, what, where, when details.
• Posts must relate to something a collector or student can engage with such as a gallery event, an open studio, or an upcoming sale. Posts that lack context will not be reposted.
• We will not repost items projecting more than 2 weeks in the future.
• Posts should be tagged @theacga to ensure we can find them

ACGA social media accounts have more than 17,000 followers, so following these guidelines could be valuable to you. News items must be written in grammatically correct form, include all details including names (first and last) of members involved, links to artist websites or social media, studio or gallery locations and hours of operation.

Be aware that we have over 350 members and will strive to be fair and equitable, and to showcase the wide variety of accomplished artists who comprise our group. Publication is not guaranteed, and is not a perquisite of membership. If you have an event with frequent updates or an extended window of time, we expect you to manage your news on your end and we may or may not repost at our discretion.

CLICK HERE FOR SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

Jacob Miller

Brenda Soi

Holly Coley

Marienne Chapman

Christopher Parris

Drake Bialecki

Daniel Wooddell

Matt Vinci

From the very beginning of the Clay and Glass Festival, the ACGA has been raising money for the California Fund at CERF+ (Craft Emergency Relief Fund).

Jan Schachter, who along with James Aarons, has been leading the CERF+ fundraiser at the show recalls “Initially we gave out CERF info and sold CERF+ merchandise — tees, aprons, tote bags, notecards — and of course asked for donations. In 2000, someone suggested we make & sell millennial mugs, which we did. That started the process of our artists donating work to sell. Over the years other organizations have donated their members’ work to us to sell – Baulines Crafts Guild and CGAF Ceramics and Glass Foundations. We have also sold the work of collectors, who have donated pieces to us.”

Thanks to the ongoing generosity of artists at the ACGA Clay and Glass Festival who donate work to sell at the CERF+ booth at the show, these efforts have raised over $60,000 to support the California Fund at CERF+. With these funds, CERF+ is able to provide vital emergency relief funds to craft artists after fires, floods, illnesses, injuries, and more.

“Uncertain times and financial worries are a constant reminder of how difficult it is to be a professional artist, and after my car accident and cervical spine surgery, the reality was unimaginable. I am forever grateful that organizations like CERF+ exist and can offer help in times of need. I am on the road to recovery and still work at my art as a Glassblower!” – Paul Counts, San Marcos, California

To date, over one hundred craft artists have received emergency relief grants that include funds raised by ACGA members to support the California Fund at CERF+. “This fundraiser, driven by artists for artists, embodies the spirit of CERF+’s mutual aid origins,” notes CERF+ executive director, Ruby Lopez Harper. “This support is especially meaningful as we continue to support more artists every year who have been affected by climate-related disasters in California.”

To learn more about CERF+, visit www.cerfplus.org

Submitted by Carrie Cleveland, carrie@craftemergency.org

I came into ceramics because I wanted to take an easy class in college. Jim Wayne was the instructor. I was seventeen and I had no idea that it would be a life changing experience.

Jim was my mentor until I got drafted. After I served my time, I carved out a studio in my garage where I worked for five years until we moved where I developed my basement studio setting up kilns in the back yard.

While my wife, Cheryl, was working on her MFA at San Jose State I was introduced to Stan Welsh. I ended up working with Stan for the next twenty years there. Able to retire from my day job in 2000, I was then able to do my pottery full time. I started expanding doing shows and teaching a various venues, including Palo Alto Art Center, Higher Fire, Mother Earth, and Cabrillo College. I’m still at SJSU as a resident artist.

I fine tuned my pit firing skills with San Jose State and got to give pit fire workshops from Ocean Beach to Orlando, Florida.

Joining ACGA was a step in the direction of becoming a professional potter for me. Being able to be with other career, ceramic artists has meant a lot to me for the past thirty years.
One of my greatest joys was being able to throw pots for James Lovera when age kept him away from his potter’s wheel.

Submitted by Joe Battiato, Festival Committee

Sally Jackson, Three Books, 2023

The Art of a Story

13th Annual Juried Exhibition
Village Theater & Art Gallery
233 Front Street, Danville, CA 94526
June 9-August 11, 2023
Three ceramic pieces by Sally Jackson are included in this multi-media exhibition, which features art inspired by books, stories, and literary themes. Open Monday and Tuesday by appointment, Wednesday-Friday 12 – 5 pm, and Saturday 11 – 3 pm. Stop by if you’re in Danville — the gallery is close to I-680 just off Diablo Drive.

Click here for more details: Village Theater and Art Gallery

Majolica Garden – Ceramics by Liz Lauter

The San Geronimo Valley Community Center debuts Liz Lauter’s Tree of Life solo ceramics collection July 3-28. Her recent work features elaborately embellished Arbol de la Vida candelabra forms, wall mounted sculptures and “istoriato” painted platters with narrative themes of Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden as seen from Eve’s perspective. She uses the traditional Italian majolica technique of terra cotta clay, tin glaze and vibrant hand painted overglaze colors.

Liz’s clay artwork weaves threads of Mexican folk art, Islamic design, and botanical illustration into her own form of expression which is new at the same time familiar. They all meet in her Garden of Eden.

Gallery Hours: 12-5 and M-F from 10-5
Artist Reception Sunday, July 9th from 4-7

Liz Lauter

GET INSIDE ART – JULY 29-30
THE DOONART ANNUAL STUDIO TOUR

Chris Johnson Glass will again be participating in this unique event in which artists in the Santa Cruz Mountains and in the village of Davenport open their studios to the public. ​Hidden within the majestic redwood forests of Bonny Doon and on the Pacific Coast in the historic village of Davenport you will discover the wonderful art created in this quiet and inspiring environment.
For more details and a list of the participating artists, please visit
http://www.doonarttour.com/index.html

Submitted by Chris Johnson

ONGOING: Landscape Perspectives

June 2–July 22, 2023
June 9, 5–8pm: Reception and Art Walk
July 14, 5–8pm: Reception and Art Walk

Artworks Downtown Marin
Gallery 1337

The exhibit, Landscape Perspectives, reimagines and celebrates traditional landscape-based artwork by offering a diverse collection of expressions, approaches, and interpretations. From realism to surrealism, to abstraction, and beyond; viewers will surely enjoy this multi-dimensional experience. Features works by ACGA members Emil Yanos and Kathy Pallie.

Submitted by Emil Yanos

Emil Yanos, Outcropping, 2023. Ceramic wall sculpture, thrown, carved and altered. Underglazes, fired to cone 5. 10.75″h x 10.75″w x 3.25″d

ONGOING: NY2CA Gallery Presents “Reciprocity”

NY2CA Gallery Presents “Reciprocity”

A Two Person Exhibition
by Melina Meza
and Melissa Woodburn

June 8 – Aug. 6
Artists’ Reception June 10, 3–6pm
617 – 1st Street, Benicia, CA

Immerse yourself in the beauty of artistic expressions and celebrate the reciprocal relationship between art, nature, and the human spirit. At the reception for artists, experience visual delight, harmonious sounds, and culinary pleasures as they seamlessly come together at this extraordinary exhibition.

Submitted by Melissa Woodburn

Our communications tools now allow members to post their news items directly to the ACGA News Blog, for daily publication. Posts must be admin-approved and may take up to 48 hours to appear in the blog. Incomplete submissions may take longer. The web-based news blog is a living document and posts items in the order they are published. You can scroll through the entire history of the ACGA News here: https://acga.net/acga-news/.

In addition, our monthly ACGA newsletter is emailed to approximately 5500 subscribers. This news is less time-sensitive than more immediate forms of communication such as the news blog and our social media accounts on Instagram and Facebook.

Social media is the most effective and most instantaneous way to reach your audience, provide a platform that can be posted to repeatedly and often. We encourage members to cultivate their own social media accounts on facebook and instagram, to build your own audience and market your wares. We are happy to amplify your message to our followers from time to time when the following conditions are met:

• Captions must include who, what, where, when details.
• Posts must relate to something a collector or student can engage with such as a gallery event, an open studio, or an upcoming sale. Posts that lack context will not be reposted.
• We will not repost items projecting more than 2 weeks in the future.
• Posts should be tagged @theacga to ensure we can find them

ACGA social media accounts have more than 17,000 followers, so following these guidelines could be valuable to you. News items must be written in grammatically correct form, include all details including names (first and last) of members involved, links to artist websites or social media, studio or gallery locations and hours of operation.

Be aware that we have over 350 members and will strive to be fair and equitable, and to showcase the wide variety of accomplished artists who comprise our group. Publication is not guaranteed, and is not a perquisite of membership. If you have an event with frequent updates or an extended window of time, we expect you to manage your news on your end and we may or may not repost at our discretion.

CLICK HERE FOR SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

Taka Unno

I am a ceramicist based in San Francisco. I am fascinated by the concept of beauty in imperfection. My ultimate goal is to reflect the concept in my ceramic design and create flow and harmony.

I hope you will enjoy my works.

Taka Unno

Cory Ballis

I work with hand blown glass that is melted in a furnace.  Before I start blowing glass I will hand mix 10+ colors that I will use throughout my body of work. Once I have the correct amount of glass I will add color to the outside of the vessel.  This gives the glass a textured finish.  This texture is achieved by different colors stretching and expanding at different rates and it feels very nice in the hand.  The vessel is then blown to shape.  For my drinkware I use blow molds to achieve roughly a common shape.

Cory Ballis

Fred Stodder

Fred Stodder grew up in Laguna Beach California and began seriously studying ceramics at age 16. By the time he was 18 he was exhibiting his ceramic work. He went on to receive a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from the University of California, Irvine.

His ceramic art is regularly exhibited in galleries and museums throughout the country. He is the recipient of numerous awards, appears in many important collections and has been featured in Ceramics Monthly as well as other national arts publications. Fred has exhibited at the Festival of Arts for at least 30 years.

Fred Stodder

Tamara Danoyan

I am inspired by lithop and conophytum plants, which grow in South Africa and Namibia. I am inspired by their size, coloring, and button-like shape. Another body of work would be sculptural vessels. These pieces are bisqued and then printed on with various leaves and flowers. The process is called eco printing or botanical printing. The plants leave their imprints and give their pigment to clay. You never know for sure what you are going to get. The transformation continues as the moisture dissipates: certain colors fade, others appear, new shapes come through.

Tamara Danoyan

ACGA: Tell us about your journey with Glass. How old were you when you began and when did you first know you wanted it to be your profession?
I found my life’s work, inadvertently- seeing hot glass action across the hall from the ceramics studios at San Jose State where I was an avid student, then at Old Town, Los Gatos, where the self-styled pirate Rick Strini had built a rudimentary furnace. Then, fortuitously, during the Italian section of my post-college European tour, hopelessly lost, November, cold and wet, in the Venetian maze, I boarded the wrong vaporetto and ended up out on Murano where I strolled past a dozen glass studios; furnaces blazing, alive with hot glass activity.  One particular shop seemed welcoming, and I warmed myself, shared some of my American cigarettes, and watched them make some generic tourist ware.

ACGA: What were the most important things you learned that prepared you for life as a glass artist?
By the next year, at age 24, I caught the wave of 1970s, post-college, baby-boom entrepreneurial energy, and landed a hot glass job in Santa Cruz making stems, feet, and punties (for about $8 per hour, and working the booth at the Renaissance Fairs in Novato and L.A., bringing our early goblets and art vessels directly to the market.

This early to mid-70s era was the perfect environment for self invention. Without tradition, and with a scarcity of technique, information, materials, tools, etc. aspiring “glass artists” had to build it themselves.  We salvaged, scavenged, re-purposed, repaired, and “appropriated” when necessary. We spent more time in scrap metal yards than in museums. I traded my sports car for a pickup, grew a beard to look older, learned some very basic combustion engineering and safety systems, got a permit, and built my own studio at the Santa Cruz Art Center.

I need to mention that many of us who worked hot glass in California owe some of our technique, work ethic, and general “hot shop” culture to the young Mexican glass blowers from Guadalajara who worked with us here.

ACGA: What prepared you for a life in glass?

I was a decent ceramicist, I could build things (my dad was a craftsman, a draftsman, and a general contractor), I surfed with my future boss, was enamored of his girlfriend, was ambidextrous with good depth perception. I was attracted to the intense heat, and was generally available.

ACGA:  How Do You Determine Pricing? 

I’ve used the intuitive method. Pricing in just enough profit to maintain a decent lifestyle in our desirable location. There’s a sweet spot in pricing a functional glass or decorative art vessel, a price point that’s reasonable to our customers, but covers the considerable overhead (energy, labor, materials, equipment, shipping, insurance, coffee, etc.).  These days, later in my career, I’m more inclined to hold on to pieces that may represent my work in a future historic collection.

ACGA:  What do you love most? 

Initially I was attracted to the rhythm, choreography, and immediacy of glass making, and I still enjoy the meditative repetition of a productive day.  I’m proud to identify as artigiano, working with traditional techniques, guided by my own design sensibility. On rare occasions, I’ll wander into the studio and be inadvertently  surprised by my own work- the shapes, colors, the iridescence, the textures, and patterns; as if someone else had made them, with myself as medium, briefly communicating with long-forgotten glass masters.

ACGA:  What is your advice to someone considering a career in the crafts? 

Dive deeply into your chosen medium, specialize, master at least one technique, experiment (and record the data), change the formula, break the mold, be alert for the felix culpa, find your own voice. Know your audience and make something they absolutely can’t resist.

ACGA:  People would be surprised to know that…

The late, esteemed Czech glass luminary and master Stanislav Libenský once asked me, across the table at Pilchuck Glass School, to “Please pass the salt”.

Submitted by Cheryl Costantini for Peter Vizzuzi

I came to glass through a convoluted process– not through college or employment, but through curiosity. I was pursuing blacksmithing when I was first exposed to glassblowing at the Northern California Renaissance Faire in 1991. I started learning how to work with the medium for a couple of seasons, and really enjoyed it. But then life took over and I didn’t get back to glassblowing for 7 years. In the meantime I enrolled in San Francisco State, where I studied film, print and color management on desktop computers. It turned out that all of that work helped to inform my direction in the medium of glass. During that time I developed a sense of design, and more crucially, color, which is now a central focus for me in my glass art. Another factor that  contributed to being able to pursue glass was the years I had been working as a general contractor, which also provided me with a useful skill set that served me well when it came time  to build my own shop.

In 1999 I was  offered an apprenticeship with Art Ramos, of J. Fine Glass. After a couple of years with Art,  I got a job as the glass studio manager  at the Bay Area Glass Institute (BAGI, and ) a few years later I was hired by Clifford Rainey at The California College of Arts and Crafts (now CCA). I have also taught at MIT and San Jose State University. The time at CCA was invaluable; my time as studio manager allowed me to deepen my knowledge of the craft and learned a wide range of techniques (including fusing and slumping, kiln casting, and cold working)  as well as how to build and maintain a hot shop. I also learned how to manage and mentor a large shop full of college students. This experience at CCA helped me develop and refine my skills, and prepared me to design and build my own hot shop a few years later.

Ultimately I took up glass because it’s potential fascinated me. And I like hot things.

I always figured that when you look at a piece of glass that the first thing you see Is the color; the second thing you see is the shape. I believe that color speaks to us on a very direct level, and has the ability to awaken and energize our awareness. There is no other medium besides glass that places color in such a relationship to light, and it is only by light that we perceive color. Because of the ability of light to pass through and illuminate the glass, we can experience color at its most beautiful intensity. My goal is to continually push the boundaries of the medium in order to explore new possibilities for color so that I can offer truly original pieces that surprise and delight. Though I am always reaching for the new, my work is rooted in an artisan tradition that dates back over two millennia, a tradition I am proud to be a part of. I create each of my pieces — drinking glasses, vases, lighting bells, and sculpture—by hand, using only hand tools and the blowpipe.

I have always added some kind of random element to all of my designs. “Stochastic glass” is the term I use to describe my interest in chance operations in the creation of glass. From the Greek word for “random,” stochastic is a term most commonly used in mathematical probability theory, suggesting the deliberate incorporation of a random element into a set of known variables. The creation of art glass using Stochastic techniques depends upon the ability of the artist to respond to the combination of both unpredictable and known behaviors when molten glass is exposed to intense manipulation such as stretching, reheating, layering, cracking, and crimping. Each piece I create is the happy combination of design, skill, and serendipity.

For example, I have recently been developing a new effect that creates wispy lines and reticulated patterns in certain colors. I call it “fingerprinting.” This new effect complements an old line of work I call the turbulent series, which I am now revisiting, as well as being sufficiently interesting to stand on its own as a design.  It starts with radical manipulation of color prior to shaping the glass. This results in a 3-D like quality in these pieces and produces random designs that lead the viewer to find their own imagery in  each piece (example above).

I love sharing my knowledge of glass and frequently do (my partner claims I  talk about it incessantly). Fortunately I have an outlet; I spend a great deal of my time teaching glass both privately and through our local Cabrillo Community college art’s extension program. There is nothing like the joy expressed by someone’s first taste of working with this magical material. I am currently running lessons in glass blowing Wednesday nights with a group of continuing  students.

I joined the board of ACGA in order to deepen my professional ties to the arts community in our area, and to give back to the community that has supported me. As a board member it has been my privilege to run the jury that selects new members to join our Festival. I have been very proud to watch the jury take such care in discussing and considering each and every applicant with open minds and a critical eye. Every jury is different yet I have noticed one aspect they all share, which is that they all want to arrive at  a clean and bias free conclusion. Watching the deliberation has been wonderful and fascinating. They do not spare their opinions yet they all listen to each other in full measure. I would like to thank each and every juror for taking the many hours it takes to be on the jury and for their service to our group, and for welcoming new artists into the ACGA community.

Submitted by Chris Johnson, ACGA Festival Jury Coordinator @chrisjohnsonglass

WORKSHOPS

Wine Country Teapot Workshop with Miki Shim

Join Miki shim on this one-day teapot workshop and wine tasting in Sonoma Valley, California.

Participants will use hand-building techniques to design and construct functional and decorative teapots.
After the workshop, enjoy wood-fired pizza and wine tasting reception hosted by Quail Run Winery.

Fee: $325, includes all materials for the workshop, morning refreshments, lunch and evening wine tasting reception.
Register: www.mikisr.com

Submitted by Miki Shim

EXHIBITS

Landscape Perspectives

June 2–July 22, 2023
June 9, 5–8pm: Reception and Art Walk
July 14, 5–8pm: Reception and Art Walk

The exhibit, Landscape Perspectives, reimagines and celebrates traditional landscape-based artwork by offering a diverse collection of expressions, approaches, and interpretations. From realism to surrealism, to abstraction, and beyond; viewers will surely enjoy this multi-dimensional experience.

Exhibiting Artists: Chris Adessa, Sheldon Bachus, Barry Beach, Benjamin Benet, Debra Bibel, Jenny Blackburn, John Bucklin, Annette LeMay Burke, Morgan Carhart, Gail Caulfield, Dana Christensen, Patrick Cosgrove, Norma Dimaulo, Janey Fritsche, April Gavin, Wendy Goldberg, Lisa Gonzalves, Gail Gurman, Janet Jacobs, Clementine Keenan, Catherine Lee, Kathleen Lipinski, Liz Mamorsky, Michael Manente, Gary Marsh, Gail Morrison, Kathy Pallie, Cindy Pavlinac, Amrita Singhal, Sue Weil, Rusty Weston, Emil Yanos, June Yokell, Jeffrey Zalles

Juror: Kim Eagles-Smith, owner and director Kim Eagles-Smith Gallery, Mill Valley CA,

Juror Statement:
“In my selections for this exhibit I used the following guidelines:  The artist’s ambition, that they made a serious attempt to create a work of substance. That the artist exhibited a suitable rigor of craftmanship. I was also looking for examples  that began with a creative idea to express the theme of this show and was more than a simple depiction. I also was mindful of selecting as much diversity of media as the limits of selection and works submitted would allow.” —Kim Eagles-Smith

Submitted by Emil Yanos  @emilyanosdesign

NY2CA Gallery Presents “Reciprocity”

A Two Person Exhibition
by Melina Meza
and Melissa Woodburn

June 8 – Aug. 6
Artists’ Reception June 10, 3–6pm
617 – 1st Street, Benicia, CA

Immerse yourself in the beauty of artistic expressions and celebrate the reciprocal relationship between art, nature, and the human spirit. At the reception for artists, experience visual delight, harmonious sounds, and culinary pleasures as they seamlessly come together at this extraordinary exhibition.

Submitted by Melissa Woodburn

Delicious – Works Inspired by Food and Drink

Studio Gallery
June 8th – July 3rd, 2023
Opening Reception:
Sunday, June 11th, 2 – 5 pm
This is always a wonderful show of mostly small works from local artists in all media.  Melissa Woodburn is showing two ceramic sculptures from her persimmon series. To see the online galleries click here.

Submitted by Melissa Woodburn

Majolica Garden
Ceramics by Liz Lauter

The San Geronimo Valley Community Center debuts Liz Lauter’s Tree of Life solo ceramics collection. Her recent work features elaborately embellished Arbol de la Vida candelabra forms, wall mounted sculptures and “istoriato” painted platters with narrative themes of Adam & Eve in the Garden of Eden as seen from Eve’s perspective. She uses the traditional Italian majolica technique of terra cotta clay, tin glaze and vibrant hand painted overglaze colors.

Liz’s clay artwork weaves threads of Mexican folk art, Islamic design, and botanical illustration into her own form of expression which is new at the same time familiar. They all meet in her Garden of Eden.

Gallery hours: 12-5 and M-F from 10-5

Artist Reception with Liz Sunday, July 9th from 4-7

Visions in Clay Call for Entries

Entry is open now through June 26, 2023
Exhibition Juror:
Joan Takayama-Ogawa, Professor of Ceramics and Product Design, Otis College of Art & Design, Los Angeles,California

Gallery & Online Exhibition:
August 28 – September 21, 2023
August 31, 5:00-7:00p.m.

Gallery Awards
$800 | $600 | $400
San Joaquin Potters Guild Founders Award ~ $300
Regional Artist Award $800

Entry Fees:
$30 for 3 entries / $45 up to 6 entries
For the complete Prospectus Guidelines and to enter go to:
gallery.deltacollege.edu

– Call for entries
LH Horton Jr. Gallery, San Joaquin Delta College
5151 Pacific Ave.
Stockton, CA

Our communications tools now allow members to post their news items directly to the ACGA News Blog, for daily publication. Posts must be admin-approved and may take up to 48 hours to appear in the blog. Incomplete submissions may take longer. The web-based news blog is a living document and posts items in the order they are published. You can scroll through the entire history of the ACGA News here: https://acga.net/acga-news/.

In addition, our monthly ACGA newsletter is emailed to approximately 5500 subscribers. This news is less time-sensitive than more immediate forms of communication such as the news blog and our social media accounts on Instagram and Facebook.

Social media is the most effective and most instantaneous way to reach your audience, provide a platform that can be posted to repeatedly and often. We encourage members to cultivate their own social media accounts on facebook and instagram, to build your own audience and market your wares. We are happy to amplify your message to our followers from time to time when the following conditions are met:

• Captions must include who, what, where, when details.
• Posts must relate to something a collector or student can engage with such as a gallery event, an open studio, or an upcoming sale. Posts that lack context will not be reposted.
• We will not repost items projecting more than 2 weeks in the future.
• Posts should be tagged @theacga to ensure we can find them

ACGA social media accounts have more than 17,000 followers, so following these guidelines could be valuable to you. News items must be written in grammatically correct form, include all details including names (first and last) of members involved, links to artist websites or social media, studio or gallery locations and hours of operation.

Be aware that we have over 350 members and will strive to be fair and equitable, and to showcase the wide variety of accomplished artists who comprise our group. Publication is not guaranteed, and is not a perquisite of membership. If you have an event with frequent updates or an extended window of time, we expect you to manage your news on your end and we may or may not repost at our discretion.

CLICK HERE FOR SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

GLENN EVANS

I am drawn by the juxtaposition of precise geometric forms with natural, organic ones. When I look at the Golden Gate Bridge I see the triangles, rectangles and parabolas that create its strength, resilience, and stability. Simultaneously, I see the sparkle, reflections, shadows, and movement of the environs that no human designed yet are intrinsic to its beauty and to my aesthetic experience. I am guided by the same principles in creating fused glass – precisely executed geometric forms integrated with organic shapes and color.

Over the last year or so I have been particularly fascinated by the transformation of precise geometric arrangements into intricate organic patterns using drop rings of various sizes. For this submission I have focused on a recent series which uses a variety of pattern-bar-like components as the starting point for each piece. This approach demands exactitude in the assembly and cold work, yet the final result depends equally on the serendipity that happens in the unseen red glow of the kiln.

Glenn Evans

RACHEL COX

Growing up in an artistic family in Atlanta, Georgia, I always had art supplies at hand and was encouraged to play and experiment. When I settled in San Francisco, California as a young adult, I discovered my love of ceramics at City College of San Francisco. I studied the medium independently while traveling in Mexico and Central America, and later earned an MFA in Applied Craft and Design from Pacific Northwest College of Art / Oregon College of Art and Craft. I also hold a BA in Sociology from Brandeis University.

Spiritual traditions of various cultures and archetypal symbols have long interested me. Over the years, I’ve integrated those visual elements in my art while applying contemporary designs and patterns. I have exhibited art in San Francisco, Pacifica, Oakland, Portland, and Seattle. After a long hiatus from exhibiting while working in academia, I reemerged in several art shows in 2022. I make my work at a community ceramics studio and at my kitchen table in San Francisco.

Rachel Cox

KEVIN SCHEER

Although my strongest passion lies in the ceramic arts, I have spent over 30 years in a variety of disciplines ranging from photography and jewelry, to studying acoustic guitar and publishing photo-realistic art. I feel that my diverse interests have provided me with a broader understanding of how we all interact with and truly need art in our daily lives to nourish ourselves.

Having taken ceramic courses at a variety of facilities and having my own studio, I consider myself mostly self-taught. I do enjoy studying work from students of the Leach/Hamada tradition and have currently been influenced by those who studied under these two great craftsmen. I believe I am continually on my journey of working toward my own aesthetic and individual style, further defining myself as a unique ceramic artist.

Kevin Scheer

MORAN NHEL

Moran was born in Cambodia, near the border of Vietnam.  Cambodian art & culture, Angkor Wat, and the natural tropical landscapes (forests, rivers & the great lake Tonle Sap) influenced his artistic mind.  As a boy, he entertained himself by making figures of animals & people from clay found in the riverbanks.  As the Vietnam War came to an end, the Cambodian Genocide by the Khmer Rouge began.  Moran was separated from his family as a teen during the brutal Khmer Rouge regime. In 1975 he escaped and made his way to a refugee camp in Thailand. A year later, he arrived in San Bernardino, California as part of a US refugee program.  After learning English and earning his GED, Moran started college at Cal State San Bernardino in 1978.  In 1980, he studied abroad for a semester at the University of Paris.  The art and culture in France changed his outlook and his major.  During college Moran showed his work in Southern California art festivals such as Burbank – 1985, La Quinta – 1985, & Beverly Hills – 1986.  Moran earned a Dual Bachelor’s Degree in French and Fine Arts, with an emphasis in glass sculpture at Cal State University, San Bernardino in 1986.  Over the years, his style has changed from sculpting a single subject in one material – stone, bronze, glass or ceramics; to incorporating a mixture of those media in order to create a complete artistic idea.  Currently, Moran is focusing on fused glass art.

Moran Nhel

Mari Emori “Celestial” – 19″H x 13″W x9″D – 2022

Mari Emori Awarded 1st Place

Mari was awarded 1st placefor her sculpture “Celestial” in OFF CENTER, An International Ceramic Art Competition, by juror Garth Johnson, Paul Phillips and Sharon Sullivan Curator of Ceramics at the Everson Museum of Art in Syracuse, New York.

“My “Drop Series” is deeply inspired by nature, both its beauty and the destructive power of its forces, as a single drop of water signifies life and the environment. I create pieces that reflect my connection to the natural world. When I’m not in the studio, I love to spend time in nature, hiking and wandering, always taking in new impressions that find their way into my work.

“Most recently, I have been looking toward the night sky, inspired by a renewed interest in space exploration. I have expanded my “Drop Series” and created variations representing our universe and its beauty. “Celestial” represents the vastness of our universe, inspired by our galaxy. Wispy arms of stars reach out amidst a sea of emptiness while a mass of heavenly bodies cluster around a center that could be a black hole or a portal to the unknown.”

OFF CENTER: April 8 – May 20, 2023

www.bluelinearts.org/off-center-2023

Blue Line Arts: 405 Vernon St #100, Roseville, CA 95678  gallery@bluelinearts.org

Submitted by Mari Emori  @emoriceramics

Second Saturday Art Walks May 13, open through 8pm and online at

https://brumfieldgallery.com/show/brumfield-gallery-deborah-bridges

‘Persona’ is an ongoing series of works by Deborah Bridges. The exploration of an idea in a piece is central to Deborah’s art. She works in a series until the idea is exhausted within the form.  This current body of work, “Persona”,  began in 2018. When asked what is it that she is expressing in these serious faces with masks and puppet-like bodies?  She says,  “I love the incongruity of them. I love the complicated and mysterious humanity of them.  My figures are grappling with the full range of human experience, the dark as well as the light. The face paint points to the masks we wear as we try to hold on to the stories of our apparent separate selfhood, our personas.”

Reposted from https://brumfieldgallery.com/show/brumfield-gallery-deborah-bridges

WORKSHOPS

Saturday June 10th, 10am -4pm

Non Student Rate $70 Student Rate $50

Register at this address: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/press-mold-and-paper-clay-technique-with-wesley-wright-and-malia-landis-tickets-607701450397

Join Wes and Malia for a collaborative workshop with hands on demonstrations! The workshop will begin with lectures discussing the broader applications of their process, followed by concurrent demonstrations.

Wesley will use larger press molds to construct an animal totem while Malia will construct flower and plant forms in paper clay to be added to the totem toward the end of the demonstration.

Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in the hands on demonstration and work alongside each artist. Use of press molds, ceramic sculpting techniques and how to approach working with paper clay will all be covered…. plus so much more!

Join us for the fun.

Malia Landis @malialandis, malialandis.com

Wesley Wright  @wesleytwrightart, wesleytwright.com

Reposted from Wesley Wright Instagram

Submitted by Chris Johnson chris@chrisjohnsonglass.com, @chrisjohnsonglass

WORKSHOP WITH ROCKY LEWYCKY

LOCATION: Mendocino Art Center

INSTRUCTOR: Rocky Lewycky
CLASS TITLE: Alternative Materials and Finishes: Stretching the Creative Process
DATE(S):  August 21 – 27, 2023
DAYS OF WEEK: Monday – Sunday
HOURS: 9:30 am to 4:30 pm
SKILL LEVEL: Intermediate/Advanced

COST: $1155

The heart of this workshop is in the exploration of alternative firings. We will be working and exploring everyday with new firing techniques and processes. Students will bring both greenware and bisqueware to the workshop to fulfill each process. You can visit my website and click on “workshops” to see examples of what you will be learning in the workshop. Below is a list of firings that we will be exploring:

–   Ferric Chloride Saggar Burritos
–   Ferric Chloride Spray Over Clear Crackle
–   Pit Fire over Greenware Terra-Sigillata Base
–   Pit Fire over Bisqueware Terra-Sigillata with Mica Colorants Base
–   Horse Hair/Feather Firing with GreenwareTerra-Sigillata Base
–   Cone 7 Seashell Side-Fire with Matte Crystal Glazes (Oxidation)
–   Cone 11 Side-Fire Shino with Wood Ash (Reduction)

Along with our exploration of alternative firing techniques, we will also spend some time experimenting with alternative materials and surface treatments.  will demonstrate how to make and use the following:

–   Greenware Greek Style Terra Sigillata (Greenware)
–   Greenware Terra-Sigillata with Mason Stain Colorants
–   Bisqueware Terra Sigillata with Mica Colorants
–   Paper Clay with Burnout Legumes
–   Feldspar Inclusions
–   Micaceous Clay

Finally, I will teach you how to clean and finish your pots with the following techniques:
–   Dremel Tool Sanding of Side Fire Wares
–   Wax Sealing of Low Fire Wares
–   Introduction to Gold Leafing Materials and Sizing Demo

**Please note that you will need to purchase an organic vapor mask to participate in the Ferric Chloride processes  (~$45). In preparation for the workshop, you will need approximately 20-40 small to medium pieces at various stages of completion. Please allow enough time for this planning. Detailed information will be provided upon registration.

Mendocino Art Center Website

https://www.mendocinoartcenter.org/classes-1/alternative-materials-and-finishes-stretching-the-creative-process

Rocky Lewycky Website

http://www.rocksart.com/workshops-2

Submitted by Rocky Lewycky @rockylewycky

EXHIBITS

Painterly – characterized by qualities of color, stroke, or texture perceived as distinctive to the art of painting, especially the rendering of forms and images in terms of color or tonal relations rather than of contour or line.

This show features works by Josie Jurczenia @josiejurczeniaclay, David Swenson, Lisa Orr, Masayuki Miyajima, Ron Meyers, Bede Clarke, Hayne Bayless, and more.

Reposted from Schaller Gallery

May 13+14, May 20+21,
11 am – 5 pm

East Bay Open Studios is almost here! Over 185 artists across the East Bay will open their studios to the public so you can discover art where it happens.

EBOS is an opportunity to connect to the fabulous artists who live in your cities and neighborhoods. Meet artists, see or purchase their artwork, and build community. The event is free and family-friendly.

EBOS is self-guided and you can visit as many studios as you want. You can use the map on our website to locate studios or download Vibemap to participate in a Treasure Hunt and win prizes. If you need help getting oriented, start at one of our Community Hubs or RSVP to our Opening Celebration and Exhibition at Uptown Station on Friday, May 12. We can’t wait to see you there!

East Bay Open Studios

https://eastbayopenstudios.com

@eastbayopenartstudios

East Bay Open Studios is a program of Oakland Art Murmur www.oaklandartmurmur.org

Deb Sullivan (clay)

3234 Fernside Boulevard, Alameda

www.debsullivanpottery.com

Itsuko Zenitani (clay)

731 Jones Street, Berkeley

www.berkeleypotters.com/artist/itsuko-zenitani

Mari Emori (clay)

731 Jones Street, Berkeley

www.berkeleypotters.com/artist/mari-emori

Javier Perez (clay)

8001 Terrace Drive, El Cerrito

www.Javierperezstudio.com

Vivien Hart (glass)

894 Dewing Avenue, Lafayette

www.glasshart.com

Submitted by Mari Emori  @emoriceramics

Glass Hart Studio opens its doors to visitors during the 2nd weekend of east bay open studios,
May 20-21, 2023, Sat. & Sun. 11-5pm.
Glass Hart Studio is a working kiln-forming glass studio based near downtown Lafayette. You can find glass wall art, sculptural bowls and small gifts. Light refreshments will be served. A convenient 10 minute walk from Lafayette bart. You can also find street parking nearby.

Look forward to seeing you then!

Submitted by Vivien Hart

Website: www.glasshart.com

IG: @vivienhart

The San Joaquin Clay & Glass Spring Festival will be on the grounds of Redeemer Lutheran Church, 1084 W Bullard in Fresno, Saturday, May 13, 10am – 3pm.

The Central Valley’s best clay and glass artists will be presenting their latest fine, fun, and functional works just in time for Mother’s Day. Exhibiting artists include ACGA members Kliss Glass @klissglass, Hannah Witter @hannah.rose_ceramics and Ren Lee @renleestudio will be on hand along with 25 other accomplished local artisans working in clay and glass.

Please like and follow @sanjoaquinclayandglass on Instagram.

Posted by Ren Lee @renleestudio/renlee000@gmail.com

The much-anticipated 25 th Anniversary North Auburn Artists’ Studio Tour will be held Mother’s Day weekend, May 13th &14th. Twenty-one well-known North Auburn artists will be showing their art at 14 different studios. The FREE tour is open to the public on Saturday and Sunday from 10:00 AM until 5:00 PM.

There are sculptors, ceramic artists, painters, photographers, glass artisans, wood workers, jewelry, textile and fiber artists on the tour. This is an opportunity to watch the artists working in their studios and ask questions about the medium they create in. This is an event that will interest and please the whole family. You may also purchase and take-home original works of art, cards or prints from the studios. An online tour guide is available at the
website www.northauburnartists.com

Submitted by Hannah & Alana Nicholson van Altena

BARBARA GLYNN PRODANIUK’S SPRING OPEN STUDIO

June 2,3 &4
10 am-5 pm each day
15576 Waterloo Circle
Truckee, Ca 96161

Come enjoy a lovely day in Truckee,
browse a wide selection of functional
pottery and sculptural pieces in both an
outdoor garden setting and inside my potterystudio.
Posted by Barbara Glynn Prodaniuk
https://bgppottery.com/
@bgprodaniuk

Visions in Clay Call for Entries

Entry is open now through June 26, 2023
Exhibition Juror:
Joan Takayama-Ogawa, Professor of Ceramics and Product Design, Otis College of Art & Design, Los Angeles,California

Gallery & Online Exhibition:
August 28 – September 21, 2023
August 31, 5:00-7:00p.m.

Gallery Awards
$800 | $600 | $400
San Joaquin Potters Guild Founders Award ~ $300
Regional Artist Award $800

Entry Fees:
$30 for 3 entries / $45 up to 6 entries
For the complete Prospectus Guidelines and to enter go to:
gallery.deltacollege.edu

– Call for entries
LH Horton Jr. Gallery, San Joaquin Delta College
5151 Pacific Ave.
Stockton, CA

Delicious – A visual art exhibit about culinary delights

Art Works Downtown – Delicious 1337 Fourth Street, San Rafael

April 7–May 20, 2023   Thursday–Saturday, 1–8pm April 14, 5–8pm

OFF CENTER 2023: An International Ceramic Art Competition

April 8 – May 20

Blue Line Arts 405 Vernon St #100, Roseville

OFF CENTER is Blue Line Arts’ annual ceramic art competition, juried each year from entries from across the nation and abroad. The exhibition hosts work from 41 different artists working in a variety of styles, from functional studio pottery to imaginative installations. Alongside OFF CENTER, you can also catch solo exhibitions in different mediums for Nina Temple, Robert Obier, and Brooke Aruffo. Blue Line Arts @bluelinearts www.bluelinearts.org, 405 Vernon St #100, Roseville, CA 95678.  Open Tuesday through Saturday from 11–5 pm or by appointment.

ACGA Members Showing

Mary Catherine Bassett: @mcrathergather www.marycatherinebassett.com,

Michele Collier: @burningclay www.burningclay.blogspot.com,

Mari Emori: @emoriceramics www.berkeleypotters.com,

Vince Montague: @vincemontague www.vincemontague.com,

Jan Schachter: @janschachter www.janschachter.com

Clay & Earth . Where We Stand . NY2CA Gallery

April 20  – June 4

Vicki Gunter exhibits 16 eco-justice ceramic sculptures, as the first invited artist to NY2CA, a new Gallery in Benicia, CA. A Percentage of all Vicki’s sales will equally benefit SFBaykeeper and Sogorea Te’ Land Trust. She is collaborating with Greenpeace creating QR codes for visitors to further explore and contextualize each sculpture. This is a Dual exhibition with NY2CA co-owner and painter Terry Twigg. Your purchase can support art, the SF Bay watershed, Indigenous Ohlone, a new gallery, your joy and sanity!

Our communications tools now allow members to post their news items directly to the ACGA News Blog, for daily publication. Posts must be admin-approved and may take up to 48 hours to appear in the blog. Incomplete submissions may take longer. The web-based news blog is a living document and posts items in the order they are published. You can scroll through the entire history of the ACGA News here: https://acga.net/acga-news/.

In addition, our monthly ACGA newsletter is emailed to approximately 5500 subscribers. This news is less time-sensitive than more immediate forms of communication such as the news blog and our social media accounts on Instagram and Facebook.

Social media is the most effective and most instantaneous way to reach your audience, provide a platform that can be posted to repeatedly and often. We encourage members to cultivate their own social media accounts on facebook and instagram, to build your own audience and market your wares. We are happy to amplify your message to our followers from time to time when the following conditions are met:

• Captions must include who, what, where, when details.
• Posts must relate to something a collector or student can engage with such as a gallery event, an open studio, or an upcoming sale. Posts that lack context will not be reposted.
• We will not repost items projecting more than 2 weeks in the future.
• Posts should be tagged @theacga to ensure we can find them

ACGA social media accounts have more than 17,000 followers, so following these guidelines could be valuable to you. News items must be written in grammatically correct form, include all details including names (first and last) of members involved, links to artist websites or social media, studio or gallery locations and hours of operation.

Be aware that we have over 350 members and will strive to be fair and equitable, and to showcase the wide variety of accomplished artists who comprise our group. Publication is not guaranteed, and is not a perquisite of membership. If you have an event with frequent updates or an extended window of time, we expect you to manage your news on your end and we may or may not repost at our discretion.

CLICK HERE FOR SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

Clockwise from top left, works by: Mary Catherine Bassett, Michele Collier, Mari Emori, Mari Emori, Jan Schachter, Vince Montague

OFF CENTER is Blue Line Arts’ annual ceramic art competition, juried each year from entries from across the nation and abroad. Ranging from functional studio pottery to mixed media installations, works in this show offer a vibrant cross section of contemporary clay in a variety of styles. Cash prize awards will be announced at the opening reception. Check out three concurrent solo exhibitions in different mediums while you are at Blue Line Arts.

Exhibition: April 8 – May 20, 2023

Opening Reception: Saturday, April 15, 5:00 pm – 8:00 pm

“As someone who is surrounded by the greatest works in the history of studio pottery at the Everson Museum in Syracuse, I’m astounded by the energy that is driving the field today. Community studios are having a hard time meeting the demands of a public that is increasingly turning to ceramics for solace and to transform their environments. The resulting show, OFF CENTER, is truly that. It’s full of work that makes me curious and excited about what is to come.”
— Garth Johnson, Paul Phillips and Sharon Sullivan Curator of Ceramics at the Everson Museum of Art

Congratulations to the five ACGA members who juried into OFF CENTER!

Mary Catherine Bassett: @mcrathergather www.marycatherinebassett.com

Michele Collier: @burningclay www.burningclay.blogspot.com

Mari Emori: @emoriceramics www.berkeleypotters.com

Vince Montague: @vincemontague www.vincemontague.com

Jan Schachter: @janschachter www.janschachter.com

ONLINE SHOP

Blue Line Arts @bluelinearts www.bluelinearts.org
405 Vernon St #100, Roseville, CA 95678

(The announcement and images provided by Blue Line Arts)

Open Studio – Portola Valley

Jan Schachter will be hosting 5 artists for her open Studio on May 6-7 in her garden at 190 Golden Hills Drive, Portola Valley CA 94028 10am-5 pm
Sally Jackson @sallygjackson, Jane Petermann @clayaddictjane, Lindsay Marx @l_g_marx_art, Peggy Forman, and Nina Else @ninaelse.

We will also have a table of donated work that will be sold to benefit CERF+ @cerfplus

Posted by Jan Schachter janschachter@gmail.com www.janschachter.com

BARBARA GLYNN PRODANIUK’S SPRING OPEN STUDIO

June 2,3 &4
10 am-5 pm each day
15576 Waterloo Circle
Truckee, Ca 96161

Come enjoy a lovely day in Truckee,
browse a wide selection of functional
pottery and sculptural pieces in both an
outdoor garden setting and inside my potterystudio.
Posted by Barbara Glynn Prodaniuk
https://bgppottery.com/
@bgprodaniuk

ACGA Artist Barbara Sebastian

May 6 – 7, May 13 – 14
11am – 5pm

Reception: May 12, 5pm – 8pm

Marin Society of Artists – Open Studios

1515 Third Street, San Rafael, CA

ART & ECOLOGY ONLINE GALLERY SHOW

Art & Ecology
juried by Obi Kaufmann
with poetry by Linda Martinez Robertson

O’Hanlon Center for the Arts
https://www.ohanloncenter.org/2023/03/art-and-ecology/
Artists were invited to submit works that address the subject of Ecology including the topic of climate change and environmental resilience.

Featuring work by ACGA artists Vicki Gunter and Emil Yanos

VICKI GUNTER
Sky Blues – Canary & Elephant Series, 2014
Clay, glazes, antique bailing wire, steel plate, magnets, 24h x 31w x 5d inches
Sky Blues represents the air all life breathes, and a few of the endangered animals that live in the California skies: the CA Condor, Bay Checkerspot, Smith Blue and Monarch butterfly with bejeweled chrysalis. I was in awe of the Monarch chrysalis as a child. How does it paint that gold on there? The cautionary yellow Canary alerts us of the Elephants in the room: Loss of habitat, Roundup® = less milkweed = fewer monarchs. A Lead bullet; Condors are dying from lead poisoning due to eating abandoned game, but, celebrate a bit! As of 2019, all ammunition must be 100% lead free in California. It’s still a problem so if you are a hunter beware of your ammunition please. Smoke stack srepresent air pollution from numerous sources, causing asthma in our children, especially those of color and lower incomes.Will we choose a profit-driven-system of over-consumption or the awe of the Monarch chrysalis?

EMIL YANOS
Cling
Stoneware, glazes, engobes, 13h x 13w x 4d inches
My work is an examination of texture. Each piece plays with contrasting surfaces: rough verses smooth; matte verses shiny; large-scale verses small-scale, adding visual depth and tactile interest. Textures, drawn from the natural world—such as seed pods, barnacles, and rocky outcroppings. They are an invitation to touch. As you run your hands over, the sensation is a reminder of a place you once enjoyed.

Cling is reminiscent of the tide pools I was intrigued with growing up in Hawaii. These depressions in the rocks captured creatures, and pebbles, and shells as the waves crashed over them. We are now clinging to our land as the sea levels rise we as are caught between land to live and land to grow food.

Submitted by Emil Yanos @emilyanos

Visions in Clay Call for Entries

Entry is open now through June 26, 2023
Exhibition Juror:
Joan Takayama-Ogawa, Professor of Ceramics and Product Design, Otis College of Art & Design, Los Angeles,California

Gallery & Online Exhibition:
August 28 – September 21, 2023
August 31, 5:00-7:00p.m.

Gallery Awards
$800 | $600 | $400
San Joaquin Potters Guild Founders Award ~ $300
Regional Artist Award $800

Entry Fees:
$30 for 3 entries / $45 up to 6 entries
For the complete Prospectus Guidelines and to enter go to:
gallery.deltacollege.edu

– Call for entries
LH Horton Jr. Gallery, San Joaquin Delta College
5151 Pacific Ave.
Stockton, CA

SAVE THE DATE!

Clay & Glass Festival at the Palo Alto Art Center – July 15-16, 2023

Our annual clay and glass festival is held on the beautiful grounds of the Palo Alto Art Center on July 15-16, 2023.

LEARN MORE

HOW TO POST TO ACGA NEWS AND CALENDAR

Members who want to share upcoming news, events, milestones, studio equipment for sale, shows, awards, and other craft-related items with our audience of fellow artists and collectors can now fill out a few lines on our website and get posted to our online calendar of events or our news page.

Submission Process, Learn More:
https://acga.net/acga-news/new-year-new-communications-model/

Vicki Gunter

Vicki Gunter is a Bay Area native whose home and ceramic studio are located in East Oakland.

“My first teacher in ceramics was Clayton Bailey in 1968 at DVC, but most of my adult life was as a professional dancer/teacher/motion therapist. In those years I attended ACGA shows and dreamed of being in one someday. My first official submission as a ceramic artist was as a new ACGA member to Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History MAH in 2010. I was 60 years old. I won the People’s Choice Award. My dreams came true! I feel I owe a lot to ACGA and would be proud to be a board member.”

www.vickigunter.comunter.com
@vickigunter

Iver Hennig

Iver Hennig is a ceramic artist and educator residing in the Santa Cruz mountains. His ceramic work consists of thrown and sculpted pieces using themes of animals and nature mixed with mechanical strangeness. “I have been working professionally in ceramics since 1992 selling ceramic art. I graduated from Humboldt State University and started Live Clay Pottery with my wife Jennifer. Our work is a combination of thrown and sculpted pieces with an emphasis on animal themes. I am currently teaching ceramics at Santa Cruz High and have been there for 20 years.” — Iver Hennig
www.iverhennig.com
@iver_hennig

Sonja Hinrichson

Sonja Hinrichson is a Bay Area artist and immigrant, and landed here 23 years ago for graduate school. Her art background is in video, installation, and photo-based art forms, and she organizes community arts projects that intertwine nature experience and art-making.

“I came to ceramics 9 years ago – out of necessity for a conceptual arts project. And I got stuck in the sticky clay and have since never been able to let go. I throw and hand- build and have been exploring atmospheric high-firing techniques. I teach ceramics for kids and adults at City-run art studios in San Francisco and Oakland. I joined the ACGA about 1.5 years ago, and would like to contribute to the thriving of the larger California Ceramics community through service on the Board.” – Sonja Hinrichson

http://sonja-hinrichsen.com/ceramics/

Barbara Prodaniuk

Barbara Prodaniuk is a potter working in my home-based studio in Truckee for the past 40+ years.

“I make both sculptural and functional pieces in white stoneware and porcelain and fire to cone 10 in a gas kiln. I do both wheel- thrown and hand-built work. I have been a member of ACGA since 2004 and would like to make a greater contribution to the group by serving on the board”

www.bgppottery.com
@bgprodaniuk

MEMBER NEWS

SAVE THE DATE!

Clay and Glass Festival at the Palo Alto Art Center
July  15th and 16th 2023

We’re looking forward to our summertime Festival – held on the grounds of the Palo Alto Art Center on July 15-16, 2023. The Festival application is due to be emailed to eligible members Monday, February 13. Artists who haven’t yet juried for Festival eligibility can visit our jury webpage – the next jury will be held in Spring 2023. Read More: https://acga.net/clay-and-glass-festival/

Read More:
https://acga.net/clay-and-glass-festival/
Posted by April Zilber, Festival Chair

How to Post to ACGA News and Calendar

Members who want to share upcoming news, events, milestones, studio equipment for sale, shows, awards, and other craft-related items with our audience of fellow artists and collectors can now fill out a few lines on our website and get posted to our online calendar of events or our news page. Submission Process, Learn More: https://acga.net/acga-news/new-year-new-communications-model/

Posted by Ren Lee