Above are views of the Krauss under various filter effects. Chris noted his pride in using the scientific process i.e. running experiments in order to bend light through glass using tension to create art in a process that to his knowledge nobody has ever used in glass before.

“Our wide ranging talks were a delight, and I will always value that time.

I still enjoy having wide ranging  discussions with Ross.

In fact, we have decided to  produce a podcast together.

It’s a little bit about glass.  It’s a little bit about physics

but who cares?

We’re having fun.”

—Chris Johnson

Sebastopol Center for the Arts

282 S. High Street, Sebastopol, CA 95472

info@sebarts.org

Gallery Hours

Thursday – Sunday 10am – 4pm

Submitted by Chris Johnson and Ross Greenwood PhD, Edited by Ren Lee

ACGA: Where were you born and raised? Would you say that art was part of your upbringing?
BF: I was born in Honolulu, Hawaii but was raised in Roseburg, Oregon. My parents owned their own printing business, utilizing a large, offset lithograph press that operated in the kitchen area of our home. A large guillotine paper cutter was in the living room. As far as art went, that was about as close as it got. I remember falling asleep to the rhythmic sound of the press running late into the night.

ACGA: When did you start working with clay? Tell us a bit about your journey with your craft.
BF: I first learned how to throw on the potter’s wheel in high school. Making pottery was a fun thing for me to do, although I never thought I could make a living at it. I had to go out there and get a real job. After barely graduating high school I knew l and wasn’t ready for college. I left home and worked a lot of different, minimum-wage jobs. Later in my mid 20s, the clay bug really bit me while attending community college in the Bay Area (Diablo Valley Community – Shout out to Karl McDade and Mark Messenger) and I learned I could be a professional artist. A couple years later I found myself driving into Logan, Utah to attend Utah State University. I was hell bent on learning how to make the best functional pottery I could and the program with John Neely and Dan Murphy was the place to do it. I got my degree and kept making pots anywhere I could. I worked as a production thrower and ceramic tech and did a few residency programs as well. I’m working now as the Senior Lab Tech of Fine Art at Saddleback College, in Mission Viejo, CA.

ACGA: Are there things about your techniques that are unique to your process?
BF: Most of my decoration is based around a grid network and splitting the space into nicely drawn, repeating patterns which is nothing new. What’s unique is the graphic, woodblock print quality and look of the surface. I love prints and making prints (which I do now and then).

ACGA: Is there one person or event that significantly inspired you?
BF: I spent 4 months studying abroad in Jingdezhen, China when I was in college. Talk about eye opening. Seeing the steps of the ceramic processes broken down and specialized by many different people to finish one ceramic object gave me a whole new perspective on clay and what I thought Art was. Prior to that trip, I had the notion that each step of making had to be done by me and me alone! Boy was I wrong.

ACGA: What is one thing that would surprise us to know about you?
BF: My oldest sister, Emily Free Wilson is a potter and art educator. She runs an art school called the Oregon Coast School of Art in Gardiner, Oregon. I worked with her to build up her pottery business, Free Ceramics during and after college. Our studio was in her living room and we slowly expanded over several years. Now she’s running her successful non-profit Art School and pottery business with her husband. The school offers artist residency opportunities, community events and art classes.

Bobby Free Website Bobby Free Instagram

Back in the day when phones were attached to the wall by curly cords and messages were recorded in the thin skin of clay left on a bat…

I first witnessed a potter at work during a grade school field trip to Old Sturbridge Village, Massachusetts, and immediately wanted to try it myself. Although I couldn’t persuade the potter to let me have a go that day, I made a promise to myself that I would find a way to explore ceramics, and I did just that.

My journey with clay began in college and has remained a constant in my life ever since. I served as the ceramics lab assistant at Moorpark College, apprenticed under potter John Schulps in Calabasas, California, and earned a BFA from California State University, Northridge in 1978.

Following graduation, I rented space in Frank Masserella’s studio in Canoga Park, CA.During this time, I served as a Summer Program Instructor for Ceramic Basic Design at Moorpark Junior College in 1980.

On my way to Truckee to set up my first studio

In 1981 I set up my first studio in Truckee, CA. In 1989 we built our own home with my current studio. I sold my work in galleries, shops, and shows. I was the ceramic instructor at Sierra Nevada College in Incline Village, NV, from 1994 to 1997.

While I enjoyed teaching, I had two small children and my salary as a part-time instructor didn’t quite cover the cost of daycare and the doctor bills that were a result of daycare. My heart always belonged to my studio, prompting my return to being a full-time studio potter and allowing me to be home for my kids.

I had to learn how to work with small increments of time and how to hold onto the creative thread despite many interruptions. Surviving as a full-time studio potter takes a lot of hard work. Long hours, and the flexibility to change as opportunities rise and fall. I continue to sell my work through galleries and shops nationwide, participating in shows, and running my studio and online shop.

Barbara Glynn Prodaniuk working in her studio, Truckee, California

Joining the ACGA in 2004 opened many doors for me. It introduced me to many extremely talented artists and afforded me opportunities to participate in a variety of venues. I have actively contributed to various projects, and I’m currently pleased to serve on the Board. I encourage everyone to find ways to get involved and contribute their time and expertise to this community. Your efforts will be rewarded with the connections and friendships you build. Clay remains a central part of my life. My work stands out due to my imagination, strong desire to explore new ideas and techniques, and continuous evolution of my sculptural pieces. I primarily work with white stoneware and a porcelain clay body, utilizing both a Raku kiln and a high-fire gas kiln. Some pieces incorporate mixed media elements. Over the past 45 years, my dialogue with clay has deepened into a lifetime commitment that grows more rewarding with each
passing year. I currently operate a pottery studio in my home, drawing inspiration from daily life events and experiences, as well as the beauty of the surrounding Tahoe andGreat Basin areas and their abundant life forms.

Learn more at Barbara Glynn Prodaniuk or @bgprodaniuk

The American Museum of Ceramic Art (AMOCA) is delighted to announce Fahrenheit 2024, the revival of our juried exhibition. Launched in 2018, Fahrenheit 2018 received an overwhelming response and showcased over 80 artists’ best ceramic creations juried by Patti Warashina. This year, AMOCA features the talents of artists contributing to the contemporary ceramic arts community. We are honored that Kathy King, Director of the Ceramics Program at Harvard University, is the esteemed juror for this year’s exhibition.

Artists whose works were selected through the jurying process will be celebrated at the opening reception. This exhibition will provide an invaluable platform for showcasing a diverse range of work and fostering recognition within the ceramics community.

ACGA members represented in this exhibition include Mary Catherine Bassett, Bobby Free, Suzanne Long, and Vince Montague.

On View: January 20–September 8, 2024

Opening Reception: January 20, 2024, 4–6 PM

Tour + Meet Cute: February 10, 2024, 1–3 PM

399 N Garey Ave Pomona, CA 91767
909.865.3146 | info@amoca.org
The museum is open Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays, 11 AM–4 PM. Plan your visit by clicking here.

In 2018, International Cultural Exchange Week was created by Miki Shim with support from Palo Alto Art Center with the invitation of two Korean Ceramic artists and Adam Field presenting workshops, demos and exhibitions at Palo Alto Art Center, Higher Fire in San Jose and Sonoma Community Center. The concept was to invite international ceramic artists and pair with other renown US artists practicing similar artforms. The following year, 2019, four renown Chinese ceramic artists and Hsin Chuen-Lin presented workshops and demos in Palo Alto and Sonoma, plus 10 visiting Chinese artists were invited to exhibit at the Art Center. A third event was scheduled for 2020, highlighting Japanese artist, ceramics, Ikebana and tea culture. But COVID shut us down.

The re-imagined International Ceramics Exchange (ICEX) returns to the vibrant city of San Francisco. Hosted at the SOMArts Cultural Center, this three-day event promises a unique cultural journey into the heart of Korean ceramic artistry that transcends time and tradition.

ICEX: International Ceramics Exchange

Come join us at SOMArts in San Francisco, CA, USA

for an unforgettable cultural experience!

Immerse yourself in the captivating world of Korean ceramics as the International Ceramics Exchange (ICEX) 2024 returns to the vibrant city of San Francisco. Hosted at the SOMArts Cultural Center, this three-day event promises a unique cultural journey into the heart of Korean ceramic artistry that transcends time and tradition.

ICEX 2024 proudly presents six distinguished Korean ceramic artists, each a master of their craft, converging in San Francisco to share their expertise, innovative techniques, and rich cultural influences. Join us for an exploration of the ancient and contemporary as these artists— Kim YoungSoo, Kim InTae, Kim JaeBeom, Shin YoungTaek, Lee SangHun, and Lee JinWook, unveil some of the secrets behind their renowned creations.

Discover the diversity of Korean ceramics as these artists showcase specialties such as Naked Raku, Buncheong, Traditional Coil & Throw, Porcelainware, Cobalt Painting, Sanggam, and Korean Traditional woodfire techniques. Through engaging demonstrations and insightful presentations, guests will gain an intimate understanding of the artists’ processes, bringing to life the intricacies of this ancient art form.

This exchange transcends borders, offering a rare opportunity to witness the fusion of tradition and innovation in Korean ceramics. Whether you are a seasoned ceramic enthusiast, a collector, or a business looking to align with the arts, ICEX 2024 invites you to be part of this important cultural event.

For more information and to secure your participation, click the link below to purchase general admission tickets. There are additional options to become a VIP attendee or Sponsor, as well.

Your journey into the enchanting world of Korean ceramics awaits!

Friday Night Artist Reception and Exhibition
March 29th, 6-8pm, SOMArts Main Gallery, SF
Free and open to the public
Meet the artists and see their works on exhibition in the main gallery. RSVP requested by registering for the event.

https://bit.ly/icex2024

Saturday and Sunday Open Demo and Exhibition
March 30-31, 11am – 4pm, SOMArts Main Gallery, SF
Ticket holders will have the rare opportunity to watch the artists work in an open demonstration setting. A “spotlight” schedule will allow each of the artists to offer short demos or presentations throughout the weekend.

Artists’ work will also be displayed and offered for sale with 100% of the sales proceeds going to the artists.

https://bit.ly/icex2024

All events will be held at SOMArts, Main Gallery.
934 Brannan St, San Francisco.

Miki Shim is a small batch ceramic artist working in her home studio in San Carlos, California. Since relocating to the Bay Area from Chicago, Illinois, she spent 7 years at the Palo Alto Art Center as Associate Programming Coordinator, served as a board member of Association of Clay and Glass Artists of California (ACGA) and also on the board of Orchard Valley Ceramic Artists Guild (OVCAG), she has lead many programs to bring the ceramics community together through education and inspired engagements. Currently, she is a committed instructor at local ceramics studios, travels to teach workshops, and produces ceramics focused tours in the US and South Korea.

Submitted by Miki Shim : www.mikisr.com

Deadline for submissions: February 3, 2023 by 5pm

Prospectus

Application

Show: March 2 – March 31, 2024

Call for Functional Ceramics using innovative techniques. Wall pieces and free standing pieces that meet this criteria are encouraged.

Juror: Cheryl Costantini

Bio: Cheryl Costantini has been a full-time Studio Potter for over 40 years. Cheryl apprenticed for six years as a potter in Japan at three separate traditional kiln sites. She and her husband formed Nichibei Potters in 1985 and they continue to produce high-quality elegant ceramics in their northern California studio. Cheryl’s work focuses on innovative tradition, rather than trend, with a keen eye for excellence in both process and product. Cheryl is a past president of the Association of Clay and Glass Artists of California.

Show Awards:

1st Place $500

2nd Place $300

3rd Place $100

One $50 Coordinator’s award

Entry-Fees: SebArts Members

$25 for one entry/$35 for two entries/$40 for three entries.

Entry Fees: Non-Members

$35 for one entry/$45 for two entries/$50 for three entries.

Note: SebArts Individual Membership is $75/year. Joining upon submission is encouraged (though not required).

Call Closes: February 3, 2024 5PM

Notifications: February 8, 2024

Opening Reception: March 2, 2024 2-4PM

Dive into her beautiful world with us as she shares with you her techniques for creating stencils made from your own designs. She will cover what materials to use, how to transfer your artwork to the stencil material, how to cut out stencils, including what details to emphasize when creating stencils. From simple to complex, these stencils can be re-used over and over so you can swiftly and easily create colorful artwork on your ceramic surfaces.

Witness the magic as Diana showcases the application of these stencils using colorful underglazes on both flat and curved, leather-hard clay surfaces. Delve deeper by exploring the layering technique with multiple colors and discover how to create mesmerizing relief images that breathe life into your pottery.

On the second day Diana will guide you through more advanced ways to use stencils to create even more depth and richness to your clay surfaces. She will show you how to incorporate stencils with her lo-tech newsprint transfer method, how to use carving to enhance your stencil images and how to incorporate overall color onto your clay surfaces. To round out the workshop, Diana will also share how she uses glaze to create yet another layer of interest.

Join us for this special and  immersive experience with a master visiting artist, and take home not just pottery but a newfound skill set to elevate your artistic expression!

This is a 2 part workshop that can be taken as a 1 or 2 day workshop.

Robert Brady Sculpture at TRAX “What’s the Use”  mixed media including ceramic, wood, and cloth, small and large sculptures made during his summer endeavors at the St. Croix River in Minnesota.

Exhibition Dates: Feb 2 – 18

Gallery Reception: Saturday, Feb 3, 5 – 7pm

Gallery Hours: Friday – Sunday, 12 – 5:30pm

1812 5th Street, Berkeley, CA 94710

www.traxgallery.com. info@traxgallery.com. 510.5408729.

Please note: TRAX Ceramic Gallery is closed for January and will reopen to the public February 2.

The 16th of February marks the 100th Birthday of Warren Mackenzie and TRAX will offer several of his pieces for sale during a special showing Friday, January 16, 5 – 7pm.

These pieces are very special, never before shown and cherry picked by Sandy over 24 years of exhibiting his work at TRAX.  Warren passed away in 2018 at age 94. His generous spirit is revered by many of  us, his former students. Warren said, “just do it” before Nike ever did.

Warren MacKenzie’s work is in museum collections all over the world. Click below to learn more about this American Treasure.

FRIDAY, SATURDAY & SUNDAY, JAN 26–28, 2024, 10AM–5PM

In this three-day, hands-on workshop, Berkeley-based master potters Sandy Simon and Bob Brady will demonstrate and work with participants to teach their techniques for throwing, creating new forms, trimming methods and surface decoration and resolution.  Bob will demonstrate dry-throwing for bowls of all sizes, drawing through slip, paper stenciling with slips, foot-trimming techniques, various forms of thrown and altered vases, large thrown jar forms and cups. Sandy will demonstrate how she works with porcelain, focusing on lids of all kinds and how to make inside and outside flanges. We’ll be working with Cone 9/10 stoneware and porcelain. Expect lively conversation and discussion about life as full-time potters, running a gallery and the different ways they approach working in clay.

Bob Brady is a San Francisco Bay Area sculptor who works in ceramics and wood. Brady came out of the California Clay movement and the Bay Area Arts scene of the 1950’s and 60’s, which includes artists such as Peter Voulkos, Viola Frey, Stephen de Staebler, and Robert Arneson, who was his mentor and teacher in college. Brady attended the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland before entering the University of California, Davis, where he received his MFA in 1975. Brady has lectured and taught workshops nationally and internationally and was a Professor of Art at California State University, Sacramento for 33 years. His work is in numerous private and public collections.

Sandy Simon was a student at the University of Minnesota in the late 60′s studying under Warren MacKenzie and Curt Hoard, having contemporaries such as Mark Pharis, Wayne Branum, Michael Simon,and Randy Johnston as her classmates. Sandy is a studio potter and in 1994 opened TRAX Gallery in Berkeley, CA to provide greater representation for ceramicists dedicated to utility.

Advanced-Beginner to Intermediate Wheel-Throwing Skills are required.

Cost: $500  (PS members & PS students $425)

Enrollment is limited.

To Register for this workshop:

email events@berkeleypottersstudio.org.

Submitted by Sandy Simon

Take a great  hands on workshop with Kathy Skaggs from AMACO in February. In this 2 day workshop everyone will learn and practice a number of wonderful techniques from stencils, silkscreens and much more. Leave the workshop with new skills and samples to further the creative clay journey on your own. And what a bargain as well, only $95. Check it out at: OVCAG.org

“This year’s edition of A Generous Kingdom is a bountiful feast for the eyes. It serves as a reminder that generosity is an extension, a form of reaching (if you will), and the ability to go beyond expectation. Many of the selected works describe stories and metaphors that extend toward something; whether through the reaching out of arms, rays of light from screens, the reach of tree limbs, and stairwells that ascend to the unknown. The environment looms large with towering trees, the magnetism of the moon, or wind chimes of seeds (which translated is a song that plays the future)! The realms portrayed describe the fabric of our culture, technology, and the vastness of our accumulations. These thoughtful works put us in a moment of caring and consideration of our place in the world.  How will we thrive in this new frontier and what components, algorithms, and hieroglyphics will it take to truly comprehend the massive impact of our footprint? As always, I am drawn to questions and process, more than answers and controlled outcomes and this Generous Kingdom is riddled with inquiry, diverse materials, and unpredictable outcomes…enjoy!”

—Jennifer Gillia Cutshall, Curator

A Generous Kingdom is an exhibition of Verum Ultimum (meaning the Ultimate Truth) Juried & curated by Jennifer G Cutshall.

“Mother Nature, depicted as African, represents our common origins. Her hair is entwined with African flowers & fish, prehistoric gingko leaves, stars, seaweed & a yellow cautionary canary. Earth is cradled in Mother Nature’s arms — the Sanctuary for all known life. Subtly kinetic, tears fall from her eyes into earth, as ice slowly melts. I create sculpture inspired by our Generous Kingdom’s beauty to enchant people into guardianship.”

—Vicki Gunter

TOP TO BOTTOM

Vicki Gunter, Clay Mariposa Lily – 12 x 28 x 14.25

Vicki Gunter, Our Poppy 2 – 21 x 21 x 7

Emil Yanos, Rumble – 1.4 × 14.3 × 7.3

“Natural Elements” is an art exhibition that pays homage to the varied forms and forces of nature. This collection features artists whose work directly reflects natural themes or is inspired by the environment. The art displayed ranges from literal interpretations to abstract expressions, all rooted in the natural world’s influence. ACGA members showing in this exhibition include Vicki Gunter and Emil Yanos

 Blue Line Arts

405 Vernon Ave. Roseville CA
Juror: Marianne McGrath

Emil Yanos, Tempest I, 2.8 × 15 × 15

Greater Bay Area Open: Potentiality / Actuality

Nov 17, 2023 – Mar 9, 2024

The Greater Bay Area Open (GBAO) is a juried fine-art-only competition and exhibition presented by the Los Gatos Art Association (LGAA), designed to promote fine art and artists from the greater Bay Area. Starting in 2015 and held biannually, the GBAO is now in its fifth showing and is presented biennially. This exhibition forges an exciting and dynamic association between the LGAA and NUMU, host to this collaboration.

Spanning twelve Bay Area counties, from Sonoma to Monterey, this juried event draws artists to compete for awards and recognition but also brings exposure to respected jurors, galleries, and art collectors from the region. The GBAO embraces artistic excellence, accepting both two-dimensional and three-dimensional fine art into a premier venue.

In every moment of creativity, there is an option to explore one’s perspective and expression. For this exhibition, LGAA invites artists to push work past usual boundaries to embrace the movement between potentiality and actuality. All artists are encouraged to interpret the theme, “Potentiality / Actuality” in their own way.

Vicki Gunter, Wild Iris (Iris douglasiana) …In Everything Series — clay, underglaze, stains, beeswax – 13 x 17 x 15 in

“While hiking in East Bay Regional Parks the pizazz of this native Iris captured me and caused a departure from my usual color palette. I also departed from my usual slab built technique to working solid, hollowing out and reassembling. This allowed me to push the clay into the arc of leaves and meeting of earth and sky. It is inscribed with several DNA helixes and is 7x’s natural size in clay.”

—Vicki Gunter

Emil Yanos, Super Storm
Ceramic Wall Sculpture
17″ x 17″ x 3″

How we connect with our outer and inner worldsExhibition Dates:

Saturday, Jan 13 – Sunday, Feb 11, 2024
Reception and Awards:

Saturday, January 13, 3-5 PM

Gallery Route One
11101 Highway One, Ste. 1101
Point Reyes Station, CA 94956

Including works by ACGA Artists

Melissa Woodburn and Emil Yanos

Juror:  TaVee Lee, Gallery Manager, Transmission Gallery; Exhibitions Director, Gearbox Gallery, Oakland, California

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

For September, 2023, I organized a 3-week woodfiring workshop in Aomori, Japan at the Tsugaru Kanayama studios of my friend Ryoji Matsumiya. I have known Ryoji for over 20 years and have worked at Kanayama more than 15 times. Here is brief journal of our experiences.

Day 1: Kanayama Pottery was having a ceramics festival starting today for 9 days. Miki Shim-Rutter and Chelsea Fried both members of ACGA, Alan Lacovetsky from Manitoba and I demonstrated as our part of the festival activities. We had great fun interacting with visitors/customers.

Days 2 thru 7:  Making work and enjoying the pottery and town of Goshogawara.

We made many pieces: teapots, cups, bowls, vases, and tea bowls. We needed to stop making and allow these to dry enough to fire. We “once fire”, no bisque firing, so pieces needed to be bone dry when loaded. Since we “candle” overnight (low heat) we can put some smaller thinner pieces in that are not quite dry.

Days 8 thru 10:  Throwing, trimming and assembling continues, but we manage some sightseeing.

Visited the Jomon period archeological site, Sannai-Maruyama Museum. It contains the ruins of a very large Jōmon period settlement and thousands of pieces of pottery. 3900 BCE to 2000 BCE. Amazing.

The Goshogawara Nebuta Museum is a must visit. Every summer, the world’s tallest paper sculptures, known as Tachineputa, parade through Goshogawara City. The 23-meter-high illuminated creations, weighing 19 tons in total, feature legendary samurai warriors and folk heroes. They are pulled and pushed by up to 50 volunteers. Each sculpture takes an entire year to create.

Days 11 & 12:  Preparing and loading the kiln is a two-day effort. We were responsible for the first chamber, while the pottery staff loaded and fired the remaining three chambers. Loading in a tight space with fragile greenware (the pieces are only fired once) and heavy shelves is a strenuous job.  Miki and Alan loaded most of the ware with Chelsea and me selecting and passing work and shelves to them.  Thanks Miki and Alan.

Days 13 thru 15: Using pine wood, we maintained a rise of 30C per hour. Since the work is not glazed, this local clay must be fired to a high temperature (cone 13 flat) to be tableware. Working in two-person 4-hour shifts, we got to temperature in 24 hours. We then soaked the kiln at cone 13 and then added charcoal for color.

Day 16: While we waited for the kiln to cool for 3 to 5 days, we  now explored more of Aomori prefecture. Off to a hot springs onsen to relax and enjoy the country side. This onsen is a great experience in the winter with 6 feet of snow and only oil lamps for light at night.  This time I settled for a day visit.  Great local food.

A visit to the Hirosaki Castle gives you a feel of the samurai days. It is a hirayama-style Japanese castle constructed in 1611. Built on the top of a hill, it is easier to defend.

Days 16 thru 18: With time on our hands, we decided to go to Hakodate City on Hokkaido, Japan’s northernmost island. It is an easy fast shinkansen train ride from Aomori City. Hokkaido is famous for its seafood. Looming over the town is 334m-high Mount Hakodate. The mountain’s summit, reachable by aerial ropeway gondola, offers dramatic nighttime views. Alan and I stayed in a hotel in a washitsu, a Japanese-style room.  Very pleasant and relaxing.

Days 19 to 21: Returning to Kanayama, we cleaned our studio and residence. We made a quick stormy trip to the sea to savor fresh, grilled squid and an onsen by the sea. The day before we left, it was exciting to open kiln. The firing was a success, meaning we were happy with many pieces and learned from our mistakes and experiments.

We were blessed with good friends, good weather, good clay and a good firing.

The amphora is an ancient clay vessel with a pointed base used to transport wine, honey, pickles, olive oil, and more, on ships. As a potter and archeology buff, I wanted to know why it was the shape it is and how it was constructed.

Why is it pointed? Let’s get this question out of the way— it’s not to stick it in the sand, which is the biggest misconception. After all, clay vessels are not known to run away from their owners, nor needing to be balanced if they had a flat foot.

This question vexed me ever since my childhood in Lebanon. The country’s seaside is dotted with ancient trading ports and whenever there was a construction dig, these amphoras, or amphorae, other clay vessels and ancient artifacts would undoubtedly be found.

Fast forward thirty some years, I was done with my Master’s degree in engineering and contemplating whether to go for my PhD.

But I realized those learning ceramics in the university I was going were having way so much more fun than they would be in the engineering department. I was jealous… and the decision was made, no PhD and ceramic courses at the local junior college, it is.

So why are amphoras pointy? The answer is purely functional and for a very smart reason: maritime transport. They were stacked in layers in the hull of a ship and one piece would stack in the space between four amphoras at the layer beneath. See image left: it’s key to note that the floor of the ship was not flat, and having a small, pointed base allowed the vessels to adjust to the topography of the floor and optimize stacking!

This formation provided a secure structure in the hull of a boat which would undoubtedly be unstable during navigation especially in severe weather conditions.
So that’s it? Is that all there is to an amphora? Of course not, these unique vessels hold a trove of knowledge about ancient trade routes, economies, and standardization.

Thanks to modern archeology, a pottery shard can hold a wealth of knowledge about trade routes and sometimes content of the vessel.

How about for storage? This seems to be an efficient way to store liquids. That, however, seem to be less likely, as they were very porous. They were used at maximum twice for transport, then broken into a big mountain size pile, aka amphora graveyard!

Note: Tree resin residue was found in some amphoras seemed to have been an attempt to seal the surface and negate the porosity. The resin, however, changed the taste of the wine and made it less savory.

So that’s it? Is that all there is to an amphora? Of course not, these unique vessels hold a trove of knowledge about ancient trade routes, economies, and standardization.

Thanks to modern archeology, a pottery shard can hold a wealth of knowledge about trade routes and sometimes content of the vessel.

But how on earth can a mere shard have any telltale clues about where it came from? It’s the fascinating process of ceramics petrography where engineering meets archeology. An arche-ologist finds a shard on the shores of Crimea, gets excited beyond belief and takes it to the lab. After careful cleaning, a sample is then extracted from the shard and ground to less than 100 microns fine grain (A micron is 1/1000 of a millimeter). The mineral and metallic contents ratios are then examined under a real fancy microscope and recorded.

These ratios are well documented to specific regions and specific kiln sites throughout the Mediterranean and Black Sea. The archeologist is now ecstatic to know that the shard is from a Sinopean Carrot (because it looks like a carrot) amphora from a city called Sinop in modern day Turkiye.

Modern science is now also allowing us to extract samples of the content that came in contact with the shard: olive oil, honey, wine, pickles, etc.

Now that we know that these vessels played a crucial role in ancient trade, we can use that knowledge to infer the significance and size of economies.

Much to the chagrin of their sailors and to the joy of modern day archeologists, complete shipwrecks are often found in the bottom of these trade routes. Considering the size of the cargo, possible content, origin and destination, how many trips can the weather allow per year and other factors, archeologists can estimate the size of the trade and the wealth of a region as sometimes corroborated with historical accounts and clay tablets.

A shipwreck might have held 200 amphorae but how was the value determined? When a merchant buys 200 Byzantine amphorae, they need to know the exact amount of wine they are getting.

When the Byzantine Church chipped in 2 large cargos of wine from their vineyards to finance Heraclius’ war against the Persian empire in the 7th century, they needed to keep track of that wine quantity so that Heraclius will never hear the end of it. https://medlab.stanford.edu/projects/yassiada

A method of standardization must then be in place. In other words, a gallon of milk is the same quantity of milk wherever the one gallon unit is used. This means that the volume has to be the same, and so is the case for these amphoras. This prompts another conversation about forming methods with which a potter can produce same size/volume amphora and within what accuracy, why a certain shape was used vs. another, how fast can they be produced, etc.

Clay vessels are now at the heart of the topic of standardization in antiquity. Archeologists employ cutting edge modern technologies to conduct fascinating studies on this topic.

The Yassiada shipwreck is one of the two cargos from the Byzantine church that did not survive the trip and its content is researched extensively by the MedLab at Stanford University Department of Classics.

THROWING AN AMPHORA

You can’t possibly throw a pointy bottom form like that, on a wheel, and I couldn’t get straightforward answers on the web. The best I could do was to speculate, test on the wheel and access academic papers. A small to mid size wheel thrown amphora is likely thrown in 3 steps:

https://medlab.stanford.edu/projects/amphora-standardization

Step 1: Form the top 80-90% of the body as usual.

Step 2: Flip it upside down on a chuck after the top dries and then use the (still wet) bottom portion to form the pointy bottom.

Step 3: Attach handles.

But this was not always the case for different shapes and sizes. Some amphorae held 50 litres and they would be impossible to throw on the wheel. Remember, no electric wheels back then and it becomes a tour de force to center 25 lbs on a kick wheel. Potters then need to resort to coil/throw, coil/paddle,  throw/paddle, multiple sections techniques to achieve bigger volumes and certain shapes.

Archeologists today have cutting edge technologies that allow them to perform detailed 3D scans of the inside and outside of the amphorae. Advanced geometry healing algorithms are then used to smooth out nicks and materials build up on the surface of the vessel to get an accurate representation of size, volume, thickness, forming methods.

About the author: Khaled Nikro is a daytime engineer and nighttime potter. He teaches and fires at Higher Fire in San Jose.

In San Geronimo, two monumental vertebrate obelisks stand sentinel in front of the home of sculptor, performance artist and professor Nathan Lynch.  Scattered in their glossy presence are dozens more. Puffed-up podiums and deflated, cratered soap boxes, a five-foot-tall drooping trophy, bathtubs with ceramic bubbles at their feet and an army of amorphous blobs that look equal parts Dr. Seuss and David Cronenberg, depending on where you stand.

Lynch, whose work is currently on view in a three-person exhibition organized by the design firm Studio Ahead  for the SF-based Jones Institute, has been the chair of the ceramics program at California College of the Arts since 2006. Wry and nonchalant, the 49-year-old has a professorial demeanor and abundant energy, evidenced by the work strewn across his property. He approaches art with humor and invites interaction. His sculptures often comment on politics and environmentalism—or the folly that can come with both.

“I think a lot of my work has to do with Americans and their well-intentioned efforts going awry.  A lot of these sculptures look like they were inflated and then collapsed. Whether it’s fitness, economics, politics or that salmon ladder on the golf course, it comes up all the time—the folly of improvement. And I’m not being critical, but it’s good to laugh at it. Something about the unlimited aspiration of humans to make things better is endlessly amusing to me.”

Lynch’s work is informed by his upbringing in a conservative pocket of Washington State, where the duck-hunting, football-playing, nuclear-bomb-building ethos has provided plenty of creative fodder in the years since he left. His hometown, Pasco, just minutes away from Hanford, is where three other iconic Bay Area artists (William T. Wiley, Robert Hudson, and William Allan) grew up and where the plutonium for the “Fat Man” bomb dropped on Nagasaki was manufactured.

In school, Lynch was precocious and engaged in various DIY art projects. His first was a waist-high papier-mâché Noid—the alien-like Domino’s Pizza mascot that bounced across television screens during commercial breaks, but was discontinued after it sparked a hostage crisis in the 1980s. Years later, on a family trip, he found a how-to book at an ice cream shop for different papier-mâché monsters and mythical creatures. It taught various techniques for sculpting and a diverse selection of creatures of which Lynch made dozens—scaly green lizards, some as tall as himself, with big, goofy grins. After a high school summer program at Carnegie Mellon University, he decided sculpting was his path. “Being up late in the studio by myself was kind of like a high I hadn’t experienced before,” he said.

After he graduated high school, Pasco’s local paper, The Tri-City Herald, published a full-page feature headlined “Monster talent: Pasco sculptor molds promising future in arts with crazy creatures.” He told the Herald about his inspirations—humor, absurdity and conversation starters.

Lynch had his choice of schools but eventually decided on the University of Southern California for its forward-thinking approach and proximity to Hollywood. (He initially intended to study special effects.) In his first semester, he signed up for an introductory ceramics class with Ken Price, the legendary abstract ceramicist best known for applying multiple layers of paint (rather than traditional glazing) to his sculptures.

At the time, the divide between pottery and ceramic sculpture was deep.  Lynch recalled visiting SF State, where one professor told him ceramicists don’t “paint” their work, period.  Price, however, was operating differently,  applying auto-body lacquer to his work in the late 1950s in L.A.  “Pottery people thought that was really sacrilegious,” Lynch said. “I wasn’t raised like that, though.  As I see it, you could use bubblegum or piss or wax to make the work you want.”

Price recognized Lynch’s potential.  However, he wouldn’t find another teacher who made as much of an impression until he attended Mills College for graduate school. There, he met Price’s friend and contemporary, Ron Nagle, a sculptor of equal stature. “At the time,” Nagle recalled, “ceramics was pretty narrow in terms of what was expected, but Nathan broke out doing all kinds of neat stuff.  He became extremely prolific, started to develop his own style based on stuff he had been exposed to.”

At Mills, Lynch collaborated with dancers, musicians and other artists, inspiring a foray into performance art.  On stage, Lynch felt uneasy and vulnerable. To counteract those feelings, he began wearing an orange moped helmet. “If you already look dorky or stupid, it gives you permission to make a fool of yourself,” he said. “ By making himself vulnerable, he became “more open.”

Lynch moved to the East Coast in 1999 after grad school. There, between 2001 and 2004, he embarked on his first lengthy performance project, Where is your Wheel, in which he wore his orange helmet and walked through cities (New York, Boston, Washington, D.C.,  Las Vegas, Aspen, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Berkeley, Edinburgh) and small towns tugging a long thick rope attached to a two-foot-diameter pine wheel.  On his website, he describes the performance as “a hybrid of Neanderthal activity, dog walking, and drag racing…intended to question the habits and patterns of American culture. It was an idiosyncratic act focused on interaction with the public and aimed to challenge their perception of rationality. What began as a simple Fluxus gesture evolved into an examination of American culture, with increasing references to the environment, energy costs, and transportation.”

“People would be like, ‘What are you doing?’ and I’d be like, ‘I’m going to the post office, what are you doing?’ If you tell someone it’s art, they don’t try to solve the puzzle; they just put it in this category of things they don’t understand,” Lynch said. “Think of this guy in his big American muscle car showing it off.  In a sense, it was kind of like the inverse of that.”

In 2002, when Lynch was at a residency in Snowmass, Colo., he applied for a teaching position at CCA. After working part-time for four years, he became chair of the ceramics program. The promotion changed his life, allowing him freedom to model his classes on anything ceramics-related. Examples include classes he’s taught about San Francisco Bay mud and the ceramic shorebird nests he made for the Farallones, Año Nuevo Island and Oahu. “I really enjoy thinking
about what the stranger corners could be, would be, should be or might be,” he said. “Open doors, open hearts, say yes to everybody.”

The expansive environments of USC and Mills inspired him to hire teachers who would do the same at CCA. Over his two decades of teaching, he has fostered a new generation of cutting-edge ceramic sculptors. Woody De Othello, for example, was featured in the Whitney Biennial last year and has been lauded in this publication and others (Artforum and the New York Times) for his experimentation with materials and processes. It all began, says the Oakland sculptor and painter, under Lynch’s tutelage.
“Nathan is bulletproof,” said De Othello, who graduated from CCA in 2017. “He’d let you know that you don’t necessarily need to have all of the language as you process things, but you can trust the impetus with making rather than having the reason or logic to make something. He’s a force out here in the clay community and clay culture. To this day, I’ll still ask him about stuff.”
Inverness resident Mariah Nielson started studying architecture at CCA the same year Lynch was hired. She became familiar with his work when she asked if he would fabricate a line of ceramic cups modeled after hand-crafted sets created by her father, JB Blunk. He declined the job but referred her to another studio. Last year, Nielson curated Same Blue as the Sky, Studio Ahead’s first exhibit that featured the work of Lynch and other Marin County artists.

“There’s real humor there,” Nielson said of his work. “The shapes and the propositions and the suggestions. “His work really slips between the functional and the decorative, and I think he enjoys that slippage.” Lynch said prioritizing experience over functionality drives his creativity. “When I was a student, if I made something remotely functional, somebody’s always going to put a fucking flower in it: ‘Oh, it’s a vase!’ If there’s an openness or invitation, that opens up a new thing for me. For me, [a piece is] not finished until a person is interacting with it.”

Doubledrink, a three-foot-tall drinking fountain he made for the Headlands Center for the Arts, features a large basin with two spigots. The piece, commissioned in 2017, requires users to face each other as they awkwardly slurp water. In 2014, Lynch was asked to contribute to Yerba Buena Center for the Arts’ seventh Bay Area Now triennial. The tall, shimmering sculptures that now sit on either side of his driveway were part of Dead Reckoning, an interactive exhibition that addressed the precarity of human existence amid environmental and economic fragility. The forms, Lynch said, reference buoys. “San Francisco was really lost coming out of the housing crisis, and I was making these markers for finding our way,” he said. “There are a number of different buoy meanings. The best one is the unknown hazard—the one that says, ‘There’s something below here and we don’t know what it is.’”

“The Lily Too Shall Function” features work by Nathan Lynch, John Gnorski and Jessica Switzer Green @ the Jones Institute through December 10, 2023. A film by Pavló Fedorov documenting their work screens @ Minnesota Street Project, also to December 10. Artists’ talk: November 16 at 6 pm @ MSP. A version of this article appeared in the November 2, 2023 edition of the Point Reyes Light. Reprinted with permission from David Briggs, Editor.

About the Author: Sam Mondros is an Inverness-based writer and staff reporter for the Point Reyes Light. When he’s not covering western Marin County’s breaking news, he’s exploring its arts and cultural movements, highlighting the importance of legacy and place.

I have been working with clay since I was 4 years old in the basement of a ceramicist in Queens, N.Y.  Here is a piece my mother saved for me!!

I did a little clay as I grew & up a bit in High School, but I guess it never let go of me.

I graduated from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst with a B.S. in Microbiology in 1963.

I think my education in the sciences enhanced my abilities as a potter to deal with the glaze components and weigh and mix my own glazes. I returned to clay part time shortly after college and attended numerous classes at Greenwich House Pottery, New York City, Old Church Cultural Center, Demerest, New Jersey and Clay Art Center, Port Chester, New York. In 1977, I was the founding director of The Gallery at Hastings on Hudson, a non-profit municipal gallery. I was also a founding member of the Hudson River Potters, a potters mutual support group. My family and I moved to California in 1978, and I have been a full time potter ever since. I have had pots in numerous national & international exhibitions.

When we moved to Palo Alto in 1978, I immediately found the Palo Alto Cultural Center, now Art Center, ceramic studio, and that got me going full time. I met a more experienced potter there from Ohio, Kathy Veverka, and together we rented an old garage in Mountain View on Old Middlefield Way. We bought an Olsen 24 kiln kit, put in the gas line and set to work.  Kathy was only there a few years, and she moved back east, but I sustained the studio myself.  Of course, the property got developed, so my next studio was in the office of a vacant lumber yard in Palo Alto on Homer Street – right off of El Camino. I moved the Olsen 24 and got it going.   This is where the Palo Alto Medical Foundation is now located. A move was a must. In 1993  my husband & I bought a wonderful house in Portola Valley.  It did not have a space adaptable to a studio, but we built one behind the garage.  Having rented a couple of spaces, I knew exactly what I wanted, and we built it from scratch – and of course, I moved my Olsen 24 again.  That makes it over 40 years old – and with some gentle repairs – it still fires great.  I used to bisque in my Olsen, but got an electric kiln for bisque when I started my PV studio.

Through the years I have done extensive travel over much of the world and always focused on the local crafts – and of course especially ceramics. My other crafts passion has been textiles. I learned to sew, knit, embroider, crochet and weave.  I still do some mending.  My handles & lids have a bit of a textile base.  But the big move was when I started ‘weaving’ extruded coils of clay into ‘plates’ or wall hangings.  Here is a closeup of one from 2006 and a picture of one of my newest ones.

I primarily make pots for everyday use; each is a subtle variation of a form – usually created in a series. I am a perfectionist (as much as the process allows) and am constantly in search of the perfect surface and ideal form while striving to create pots that have life and vitality. I love having the opportunity to fire in a wood kiln and make special work for that to take advantage of the ash and heat.

I joined ACGA in 1982 or so, after seeing an exhibition of ACGA artists at the Palo Alto Cultural Center. The jurying was of course ‘live’ and it was done in the Le Beau Gallery (not sure I have that name spelled right) in downtown San Francisco.  I have vague memories of setting up my work on the landing of the stairway within the gallery.  I was asked to join the board fairly early on, and became the recording secretary briefly a treasurer, a Vice President, and then President from 1991 – 1993.

In addition to being a potter, I am an advocate for crafts and the life of a crafts person. I was on the Board of Directors of the Craft Emergency Relief Fund (now CERF+) from 1992-1997 and on the Advisory Board of Watershed Center for the Ceramic Arts in Maine for 2 years. I was on the board of the Palo Alto Art Center Foundation for 10 years and was co-president in 2009-10.  In addition, I am on the Editorial Advisory Board of ‘Ceramics Monthly’.

Submitted by Jan Schachter

In 2018, International Cultural Exchange Week was created by Miki Shim with support from Palo Alto Art Center with the invitation of two Korean Ceramic artists and Adam Field presenting workshops, demos and exhibitions at Palo Alto Art Center, Higher Fire in San Jose and Sonoma Community Center. The concept was to invite international ceramic artists and pair with other renown US artists practicing similar artforms. The following year, 2019, four renown Chinese ceramic artists and Hsin Chuen-Lin presented workshops and demos in Palo Alto and Sonoma, plus 10 visiting Chinese artists were invited to exhibit at the Art Center. A third event was scheduled for 2020, highlighting Japanese artist, ceramics, Ikebana and tea culture. But COVID shut us down.

The re-imagined International Ceramics Exchange (ICEX) returns to the vibrant city of San Francisco. Hosted at the SOMArts Cultural Center, this three-day event promises a unique cultural journey into the heart of Korean ceramic artistry that transcends time and tradition.

ICEX: International Ceramics Exchange

Come join us at SOMArts in San Francisco, CA, USA

for an unforgettable cultural experience!

Immerse yourself in the captivating world of Korean ceramics as the International Ceramics Exchange (ICEX) 2024 returns to the vibrant city of San Francisco. Hosted at the SOMArts Cultural Center, this three-day event promises a unique cultural journey into the heart of Korean ceramic artistry that transcends time and tradition.

ICEX 2024 proudly presents six distinguished Korean ceramic artists, each a master of their craft, converging in San Francisco to share their expertise, innovative techniques, and rich cultural influences. Join us for an exploration of the ancient and contemporary as these artists— Kim YoungSoo, Kim InTae, Kim JaeBeom, Shin YoungTaek, Lee SangHun, and Lee JinWook, unveil some of the secrets behind their renowned creations.

Discover the diversity of Korean ceramics as these artists showcase specialties such as Naked Raku, Buncheong, Traditional Coil & Throw, Porcelainware, Cobalt Painting, Sanggam, and Korean Traditional woodfire techniques. Through engaging demonstrations and insightful presentations, guests will gain an intimate understanding of the artists’ processes, bringing to life the intricacies of this ancient art form.

This exchange transcends borders, offering a rare opportunity to witness the fusion of tradition and innovation in Korean ceramics. Whether you are a seasoned ceramic enthusiast, a collector, or a business looking to align with the arts, ICEX 2024 invites you to be part of this important cultural event.

For more information and to secure your participation, click the link below to purchase general admission tickets. There are additional options to become a VIP attendee or Sponsor, as well.

Your journey into the enchanting world of Korean ceramics awaits!

Friday Night Artist Reception and Exhibition
March 29th, 6-8pm, SOMArts Main Gallery, SF
Free and open to the public
Meet the artists and see their works on exhibition in the main gallery. RSVP requested by registering for the event.

https://bit.ly/icex2024

Saturday and Sunday Open Demo and Exhibition
March 30-31, 11am – 4pm, SOMArts Main Gallery, SF
Ticket holders will have the rare opportunity to watch the artists work in an open demonstration setting. A “spotlight” schedule will allow each of the artists to offer short demos or presentations throughout the weekend.

Artists’ work will also be displayed and offered for sale with 100% of the sales proceeds going to the artists.

https://bit.ly/icex2024

All events will be held at SOMArts, Main Gallery.
934 Brannan St, San Francisco.

Miki Shim is a small batch ceramic artist working in her home studio in San Carlos, California. Since relocating to the Bay Area from Chicago, Illinois, she spent 7 years at the Palo Alto Art Center as Associate Programming Coordinator, served as a board member of Association of Clay and Glass Artists of California (ACGA) and also on the board of Orchard Valley Ceramic Artists Guild (OVCAG), she has lead many programs to bring the ceramics community together through education and inspired engagements. Currently, she is a committed instructor at local ceramics studios, travels to teach workshops, and produces ceramics focused tours in the US and South Korea.

Submitted by Miki Shim : www.mikisr.com

Beth Gabow

I am a ceramic artist who works out of an amazing studio full of creative ceramicists in the heart of San Francisco. My focus is on functional pottery. All of my pottery is wheel thrown using stoneware or porcelain clay bodies and fired to a high temperature.

My functional pottery is as much about how it feels as it is about how it looks. I am especially interested in and fascinated with surface treatments, particularly carving. Sometimes I plan out a carving but most often I have no idea where it will end up, and it is this process of discovery that is so exciting to me. Each piece is carved without rulers or measurements resulting in unique designs with imperfections and differences.

Global travels inspire much of my work. I am drawn to the aesthetics of indigenous design and vibrant colors.

My work has been featured in various art shows and fairs (see below for a list).  Sign the email list to stay in contact and be notified of upcoming shows and new pieces ready for sale.

Eri Sugimoto

Form, pattern, and texture—these are the significant elements of my work. Through the paper resist technique, I am always exploring an infinite variety of combinations of clay and slip that maximize the appeal of these elements.

I design and hand-cut distinct paper patterns for each artwork. Then, using the ceramic body of the piece as a canvas, I lay out these paper patterns on it. After applying the original slip or glaze slip (which I make) over it, I peel off the patterns. Before the bisque and the final firing, I add the finishing touches carefully and repeatedly by hand.

In my work, I make two-dimensional patterns look three-dimensional through the placement of the design on the organic curve. The asymmetry and dynamic composition in my work was influenced by my experience of studying Japanese Middle Age art on folding screens, ink paintings, sliding screen paintings, and illustrated scrolls in my early days as an art history student.

I was born in Tokyo and raised in Yokohama, Japan. In my final year as an art history student at university, I decided to enroll in a design school, which opened the way to my creativity. Following design school, I began my career as an industrial designer. Then, I completed a master’s degree in industrial design. While working as an industrial designer again in Tokyo, I encountered the world of clay and started learning hand-building at a ceramic studio. After moving to the United States in 2005, I began learning wheel throwing. Since then, I have been enjoying and challenging my creativity in my studio in Orange County, CA.

The de Young Open 2023 runs through January 7, 2024, at the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park, which stands as the pinnacle of exhibitions hosted by the Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco. This grand display showcases 883 carefully selected artworks out of 7,766 submissions. The presentation adopts a “salon-style” layout, arranging pieces nearly edge to edge in multiple rows to offer the broadest representation possible.

Focused exclusively on art crafted within the past three years by Bay Area artists, the exhibition’s thematic groupings highlight the diverse artistic expressions found in the region. Spanning various mediums and styles, it serves as a testament to the rich and varied talent thriving within the Bay Area. Artists exhibiting their work in one of the nation’s premier museums not only gain prestige but also have the opportunity to sell their pieces, keeping 100% of the proceeds. View Web Gallery

Among the featured artists, the exhibition showcases sculptures by ACGA members Scott Jennings (#585) and Mari Emori (#559).

Since its unveiling in late September, the exhibition has garnered rave reviews by local and international media.

“It’s a dizzying, bursting-at-the-seams extravaganza of an exhibition, designed through an open call process to take the pulse of what local artists are thinking and making.” — The New York Times

“Instead of gatekeeping, the de Young has thrown its doors open. Instead of featuring two or three major name national or international artists for ‘blockbuster’ fall exhibitions, the de Young placed its emphasis on local artists–and did they ever respond!” — Forbes

“It’s a dazzling tsunami of painting, drawing, printmaking, fiber, photography, sculpture, video, and digital art.” — Hyperallergic

The de Young Open 2023 remains a must-see, concluding on January 7, 2024. Admission is free to all on Saturdays, although entry to the exhibition on Saturdays requires a timed ticket. Don’t miss the opportunity to experience this extraordinary showcase of Bay Area creativity.

Submitted by Mari Emori

Now is the time to nominate yourself or another ACGA member for a seat on the Board of Directors. The ballot will go out in early January, and votes will be tallied by January 20. Results will be announced via email and at the All-Member Meeting on Saturday, January 27. The election is for a two-year term.

Our Board is a vibrant, creative group of ACGA members who enjoy working together to run the organization. We oversee exhibitions, social media and newsletter content, membership, the annual Clay and Glass Festival, finances and budgeting, twice-a-year festival juries, website content, and anything else that strengthens the ACGA community.

Joining the Board is an excellent way to add your voice and opinions as we navigate toward our goals. Monthly meetings are held via Zoom, and because we now meet online instead of in person, we’re looking for nominations from anywhere in the state.

Consider putting your name or the name of another member on the ballot this year.

Submitted by Sally Jackson, ACGA Secretary

Dive into her beautiful world with us as she shares with you her techniques for creating stencils made from your own designs. She will cover what materials to use, how to transfer your artwork to the stencil material, how to cut out stencils, including what details to emphasize when creating stencils. From simple to complex, these stencils can be re-used over and over so you can swiftly and easily create colorful artwork on your ceramic surfaces.

Witness the magic as Diana showcases the application of these stencils using colorful underglazes on both flat and curved, leather-hard clay surfaces. Delve deeper by exploring the layering technique with multiple colors and discover how to create mesmerizing relief images that breathe life into your pottery.

On the second day Diana will guide you through more advanced ways to use stencils to create even more depth and richness to your clay surfaces. She will show you how to incorporate stencils with her lo-tech newsprint transfer method, how to use carving to enhance your stencil images and how to incorporate overall color onto your clay surfaces. To round out the workshop, Diana will also share how she uses glaze to create yet another layer of interest.

Join us for this special and  immersive experience with a master visiting artist, and take home not just pottery but a newfound skill set to elevate your artistic expression!

This is a 2 part workshop that can be taken as a 1 or 2 day workshop.

Visit the Nichibei Potters showroom in Sebastopol Ca to see our latest offerings. Mugs, bowls, carved work and more!

1991 Burnside Rd., Sebastopol, CA hours hours December 16 & 17, Saturday & Sunday, 10 to 4

FRIDAY, SATURDAY & SUNDAY, JAN 26–28, 2024, 10AM–5PM

In this three-day, hands-on workshop, Berkeley-based master potters Sandy Simon and Bob Brady will demonstrate and work with participants to teach their techniques for throwing, creating new forms, trimming methods and surface decoration and resolution.  Bob will demonstrate dry-throwing for bowls of all sizes, drawing through slip, paper stenciling with slips, foot-trimming techniques, various forms of thrown and altered vases, large thrown jar forms and cups. Sandy will demonstrate how she works with porcelain, focusing on lids of all kinds and how to make inside and outside flanges. We’ll be working with Cone 9/10 stoneware and porcelain. Expect lively conversation and discussion about life as full-time potters, running a gallery and the different ways they approach working in clay.

Bob Brady is a San Francisco Bay Area sculptor who works in ceramics and wood. Brady came out of the California Clay movement and the Bay Area Arts scene of the 1950’s and 60’s, which includes artists such as Peter Voulkos, Viola Frey, Stephen de Staebler, and Robert Arneson, who was his mentor and teacher in college. Brady attended the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland before entering the University of California, Davis, where he received his MFA in 1975. Brady has lectured and taught workshops nationally and internationally and was a Professor of Art at California State University, Sacramento for 33 years. His work is in numerous private and public collections.

Sandy Simon was a student at the University of Minnesota in the late 60′s studying under Warren MacKenzie and Curt Hoard, having contemporaries such as Mark Pharis, Wayne Branum, Michael Simon,and Randy Johnston as her classmates. Sandy is a studio potter and in 1994 opened TRAX Gallery in Berkeley, CA to provide greater representation for ceramicists dedicated to utility.

Advanced-Beginner to Intermediate Wheel-Throwing Skills are required.

Cost: $500  (PS members & PS students $425)

Enrollment is limited.

To Register for this workshop:

email events@berkeleypottersstudio.org.

Submitted by Sandy Simon

TRAX is having a big back yard sale on Sat., Dec. 23rd.

Great deals on pots by many different potters, some seconds, clearance of many wonderful thigns, greatly reduced pricing on all pieces.  Cash and Carry

Submitted by Sandy Simon

www.traxgallery.com, info@traxgallery.com

KATHY PALLIE is pleased to announce that three of her “Facets of Light” ceramic artworks will be in The Small Works Exhibit at Art Works Downtown Gallery at 1337 Fourth St., San Rafael.

The exhibition can be viewed Nov. 18 -Jan. 20, 2024.  Thursday – Sunday 1 – 8pm.

There will be an artist reception linked with art walk Jan. 12 from 5:00. -8:00.

Carolyn Means passed away peacefully September 10, 2023 in her home in San Anselmo.

Carolyn grew up in Connecticut and went to Wellesley College in Massachusetts majoring in English literature. After colleges she moved to California and taught 3rd grade in the East Bay. Carolyn took a pottery class at Richmond Art Center, and she enjoyed it so much that she continued, finally becoming a potter herself, Moving to San Francisco, buying her own house in Noe Valley, she built a high fire gas kiln in her backyard. She participated in the San Francisco art and craft shows at the SF civic center plaza, and also in the SF Potters Association sales during the 70’s and 80”s in the hall of Flowers in Golden Gate Park, continuing in those sales at the Palo Alto Cultural Center. Carolyn traveled to Italy in the early 80”s and helped set up a ceramics course in an old flower pot factory which was part of the Scuola di Visione in Tuscania led by the painter, Rudolf Kortokraks. He had been first assistant to Oskar Kokoschka at the Summer Academy for Art in Salzburg and continued the school in Tuscania Italy.

Carolyn finally moved to San Anselmo and moved her Pier 9 pottery to Point Reyes Station. Carolyn loved to work hard,   to experiment with her ash glazes, getting the results she wanted. In Point Reyes she fired with a large Quile gas kiln. She had transitioned from her copper red glazes to both Shino and ash glazes. She had a devoted following that came to her sales in SF, Palo Alto also and at her studio in Point Reyes. Carolyn had a major exhibition at the Bolinas Museum a few years ago. It was very successful and nearly all the pieces were sold.

Carolyn had a great love of the Italian language and loved reading books by contemporary Italian authors in their own language. She also found inspiration in the colors of the local Italian landscape, sketching and drawing with carefully chosen colored oil pastels from the high end art shops in Florence or Rome. Working with Kortokraks, she discovered about making pictures on paper at which she worked hard. I think all this influenced her pottery.

Carolyn leaves behind many beautiful pots and many devoted friends.

Submitted by Mardi Wood

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

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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

California has been in the midst of a climate crisis for years. Wildfires are a part of the state’s ecology, and have been documented in newspaper reports since the late 19th century. According to the state agency CAL FIRE, which began tracking fires in earnest in 1932, eight of the state’s 10 largest wildfires have occurred in the last five years. Moreover, two of the state’s worst wildfires on record were in Northern California. The August Complex Fire in 2020 and the Dixie Fire in 2021burned a combined total of 2 million acres, leaving ecological and economic devastation. Wildfires destroy everything in their path, denuding vegetation, killing wildlife, and wiping out homes and businesses. Charred soil and burnt timbers remain only to wash away during the annual spring rains, furthering erosion and the scope of the environmental tragedy. California has been at the forefront of climate change, experiencing its impact and forging solutions.
In 2000, sculptor and potter Scott Parady purchased 80 formerly-logged acres 100 miles north of San Francisco with a plan to develop a wood-firing program while applying sustainable land practices. Over the years, he established an ecologically sensitive settlement with active kilns, residents’ housing, and a homestead. His resourceful environmental approach purposefully addressed the severe dryness in Northern California, which leads to more extensive burning as fires quickly consume tinder-dry vegetation. In the tradition of other Northern Californian artists like J.B. Blunk (1926-2002) in nearby Inverness and Marguerite Wildenhain (1896-1985) near Guerneville, whose historic potteries and studios were sites of cultural influence, Parady constructed and renovated buildings while attending to the land acre by acre. Cobb Mountain Art & EcologyProject emerged, supporting ceramic artists while reinvigorating the climate-challenged region.

Scott Parady, “Tree Tumblers,” 2015. Stoneware, 6 ½ x 3 inchesdiameter (each). Photo courtesy of Scott Parady.

Parady has experienced firsthand the devastation wildfires cause. In 2015 the Valley Fire rapidly swept through a corner of his property, threatening his homestead and all he had built. Cobb Mountain Art & Ecology Project survived in part due to Parady’s proactive measures, like establishing firebreaks and, as he describes, “burning ahead of the big burn” as a part of adapting to new climate realities. Whereas Blunk and Wildenhain could reliably develop their remote art practices in the1940s –1980s without wildfire threats, similar art ventures today face an uncertain ecological future.

Parady collaborates with many organizations including the Forest Stewardship Committee, Lake County Prescribed Burn Association, and the Clearlake Environmental Research Center, which uses his property as an example of good resource stewardship.

All of these organizations are important in developing informed responses to climate-induced fires and floods. He also consults with registered foresters, biologists, and Native Pomo leaders regarding their successful fire resiliency practices. He strives to nurture a place, “where the ideas of the ancient past meet the intentions for the distant future,” an idea borrowed from Robert Smithson, sculptor of “Spiral Jetty,” 1970. Parady prepares the land by burning miles of firebreaks and extensively thinning trees. Reforestation of endangered native flora like the Indigenous Cobb Mountain Lupine also contribute to land regeneration and natural biodiversity.

This ecologically-centered mindset influences his work as a ceramic artist. Six kilns operate on the property, the largest being his well-protected anagama which he built with artists in residence. Drought-stressed trees killed by beetle infestation provide much of the wood fuel needed to stoke an eight-day firing. This stewardship of materials and land also reflects Parady’s respect for traditional Japanese ceramics and wood kiln practices. In discussing his art practice, he has noted, “For me, [the work] has to reflect the experiences of the maker and the place that inspired it.” Renderings of specific trees from Parady’s property appear on his tumblers, illustrating this idea. Imperfect, leaning conifers and their weathered lifecycles are visually commemorated on clay. The wall sculpture, “GravityFeed,” 2021, conveys a resilient ecology through the wood-firing process and the deliberately charred and unexpected imperfections in the sculptural form. Both his wood-fired vessels and sculptures embody Parady’s symbiotic process. The volatile tool of fire, for both forestry care and ceramic practice, has aligned his pursuit of creativity with sustainability.

As an insightful steward, thoughtful leader, and prolific artist, Parady engages with Northern California’s changing climate and addresses environmental truths in his ceramic practice.He is an accomplished artist and steadfast environmentalist who also heads the ceramic department at California State University, Sacramento, where he shares his methodology with future generations of artists. His blended approach to art and ecology fosters biodiversity while sustaining artistic practice.

This article first appeared in Craft Quarterly, James Renwick Alliance for Craft Summer 2023, Reprinted with permission of the author, Nancy Servis.

Vivien Hart is a glass artist working in Lafayette, California. She uses a collage of labor-intensive and time consuming techniques incorporating sifted powders, sheet glass, kiln carving and glass etching to fuse or cast pieces into a unified whole. She has been a member of ACGA since 2013.

ACGA Where were you born and raised? Thinking back, would you say that art was part of your upbringing?

VH I was a bit of a nomad. I was born in Concord, MA on the 4th of July on a day we were moving. My father was a Norwegian radio astronomer. My mother is British. We lived in Peru, Puerto Rico, Norway and one year in Germany close to good radio antennae. Yes my parents liked the arts-theatre, museums, Peruvian artifacts etc. My grandfather was a woodworker. My mother wove, sewed and knit.

ACGA When did you start working with glass? Tell us a bit about your journey with your craft.

VH When I was little I loved the outdoors. I used to make acorn people. My favorite pastime though was sitting on a boulder at the edge of the woods and picking out pieces of mica.The mineral mica bears a strong resemblance to glass and has great transparency. That’s where my love of glass first started. Later I had a one week work experience in middle school in Norway and worked at a glass laboratory. They made glass laboratory equipment on a flame.

I attended college and got a degree in social work. I worked with abused and neglected children. After my husband and I married and had children I rekindled my love of glass by taking a class at Studio I in Oakland. I was hooked! I have been a glass maker for 20 years now.

I have been fortunate enough to take workshops at Bullseye glass’s flagship factory in Portland, the Corning Museum of Glass and workshops with many talented glass artists across the country. A few years ago we moved to Lafayette, CA and I was able to build my first dedicated studio space.

ACGA Are there things about your techniques that are unique to your process?

VH I love to combine techniques in glass. In past years I was dedicated to small functional works such as knobs, pulls and glass tile as well as functional bowls and platters.

Since I moved into my new studio space I have been focusing more on abstract fine art glass work. I create sculptural glass bowls I like to call “Every Drop Counts” and more recently I have been making wall art and glass castings. My wall art and castings involve sifting and layering glass powders and encasing them in sheet glass. These processes entail firing pieces many times to get to the final piece.

My most recent work is conceptual. I feel our planet is at a turning point. If we are able to create connections and care for soil micro organisms such as mycelium and other networks, perhaps they can help heal our world starting from the ground up.

ACGA Is there one person or event that significantly inspired you?

VH I am inspired by many artists and people. I love Alexander Calder’s work. I love the delicacy and aesthetic of Japanese art. I often perceive my work as having perhaps a Norwegian minimalism while aspiring towards the more delicate beauty of Japanese art.

My love of glass spans many years. In glass form I celebrate the slow processes of nature, freezing in time glimpses of earth and its rhythms through the elements of air, fire and water. This may happen through the play of light and shadow, time’s passage, or perhaps the moment after a stone strikes still water. Collectively these moments express earth’s rhythms and inspire my work every day.

ACGA What is one thing that would surprise us to know about you?

VH My favorite pets are rabbits—so much so that when we lived in Puerto Rico and my parents said I could get a chick instead of a rabbit I got a little yellow one and named it “Bunny”. Poor little chick!

I live with my husband, a dog, two cats and our house rabbit “Kenzo” from Savabunny Rabbit Rescue.

REVEAL: Recent Acquisitions 2020-2023, showcases a remarkable variety of ceramics that AMOCA has recently acquired for its permanent collection. AMOCA’s permanent collection encompasses almost 13,000 ceramic objects that date from Pre-Columbian to contemporary times. The collection has been acquired through the generosity of many individuals who wish to share their gifts with the public.

Within the scope of this exhibition, AMOCA will display a range of previously unseen works from artists including Beatrice Wood, Clayton Bailey, Natalia Arbelaez, Beth Lo, Ron Nagle, Jun Kaneko, Tony Marsh and many more. This diverse grouping of forms, styles, and techniques highlights a range of art movements in the ceramic community.

ACGA members represented in the collection include James Aarons, Nancy Adams, Trudy Chiddix, and Ruenell Foy Temps.

Executive Director Beth Ann Gerstein commented, “We’re grateful for this opportunity to share selections from AMOCA’s collection with the public. REVEAL focuses on recent acquisitions, making work from both well-known and under-recognized artists available for visitors. Through REVEAL, viewers will be able to experience traditional and innovative practices in ceramics as rendered in vessel, sculptural, and figurative forms.”

Exhibition Overview

REVEAL presents a selection of approximately 150 acquisitions, featuring ceramic objects acquired within the last three years. The museum’s permanent collection houses almost 13,000 objects, dating from pre-Columbian to contemporary times and includes one-of-a-kind functional and sculptural pieces as well as popular, mass-produced “production ware.”

Works included in REVEAL range from Vernon Kiln souvenir plates, to a large-scale figurative sculpture by Wanxin Zhang, to a Pillow Pitcher by Betty Woodman. In addition to presenting a variety of vibrant, serious, tactile, diverse, iconic, and/or playful objects for visitors to explore, this exhibition also tells the story of how museums safeguard cultural heritage through their work of acquiring, preserving, exhibiting, and interpreting objects.

AMOCA is grateful for the generosity of many individuals who have made it possible for the museum to acquire these important ceramic pieces and to share these gifts with the public.

Complementing the in-person exhibition experience, numerous public and educational programs will be mounted, including lectures, artist conversations, college-level tours, and tours for Title 1 schools serving grades K-12.This exhibition is funded, in part, by a grant from the Dew Foundation and by support from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Department of Arts and Culture.

CALENDAR LISTING

REVEAL: Recent Acquisitions opened at the American Museum of Ceramic Art, 399 N Garey Ave,Pomona, CA 91767 on October 28, 2023. The exhibition runs through July 21, 2024. The museum is open Friday-Sunday,11am to 4pm. For more information: https://www.amoca.org/future-exhibitions/revealrecentacquisitions/ or (909) 865-3146 or communications@amoca.org.

Credit

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

Contact
Press: Genevieve Kaplan • communications@amoca.org • (909) 865-3146 x6
Education and Coordinated Programming: Chinelo Ufondu • education@amoca.org • (909)865-3146 x4

It’s hard to say which came first for me, art or science. I doodled a lot and embroidered as a kid, and studied classical guitar, but my first experience with glass art was a high school stained glass class taught by Mary Quagliata. Around the same time, I got very interested in biology and biochemistry. I liked biochemistry because it explains how things work inside living creatures. I liked glass because of the way colored glass interacts with light. In college I didn’t have any glass experiences, but I did start to study plant biology and biochemistry. In graduate school where I did research in photosynthesis, I continued to think about glass and decided to take a year off for glass art after I completed my studies at UC Berkeley.

Luckily, I was able to apprentice for a year with stained glass artist Dan Fenton in Oakland. He had started to explore glass fusing, and that’s what he taught me. Thanks to this training, I had the opportunity to work for Narcissus Quagliata as his fused glass production technician. I learned a lot while working on his projects for 2.5 years. Alongside my training, I started equipping a studio space that my landlords (later dear friends) made available where I was living. As my art practice grew, I was able to rent a little more space, then a little more, until I had all the equipment I needed and plenty of space to store and work with large sheets of glass.

While the work I made for Narcissus was very linear and geometrical, in my own work I started experimenting with organic forms in fused glass. Eventually I got hooked on making tree portraits and flower mandalas. I was also making a lot of flame-worked beads, but repetitive strain injury led me to focus more on fusing and less on beadmaking. My newest line of inquiry is musical glass, which for me means creating various shapes of fused glass panels that are tuned to musical pitches. This endeavor engages my glass expertise, my science training and my musical background. The work requires intense focus, but seeing people’s faces light up when they play the Bell Plates and talk about acoustics with me makes it well worth the effort.

I joined ACGA about 6 years after I made the leap into glass. New ACGA members were required to attend two board meetings, and I enjoyed the intelligence in the room so I decided to become a candidate for the Board. I’ve learned so much while wearing various hats for ACGA. Kimi trained me to succeed her as ACGA’s Treasurer, and 23 years later I’m now training my successor, Julie Taber. It’s more of an equal exchange, because she is actually a professional bookkeeper! I just get along with math and spreadsheets. I’ve assisted with Exhibitions, the annual Palo Alto Festival and the short-lived San Francisco Festival. I’ll be looking for someone to replace me as Festival liaison, so if you’re interested in shadowing me for the 2024 Festival, please get in touch soon.

Everything we do in life influences everything else we do; I enjoy the synergy that emerges along the way.

Submitted by April Zilber

The de Young Open 2023 is now on view! Explore a captivating collection featuring 883 pieces from artists selected from a pool of more than 7,700 submissions. These artworks span various mediums and styles, showcasing the rich diversity of the Bay Area’s artistic talent. We’re thrilled to announce that ACGA members Scott Jennings and Mari Emori‘s works are included in this prestigious exhibition.

Following the resounding success of the inaugural presentation of The de Young Open in 2020, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco present this triennial juried community art exhibition. The exhibition draws submissions from artists residing in the nine counties surrounding the bay— Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma. The displayed artworks are arranged in a “salon style,” filling the space from edge to edge and floor to ceiling, showcasing a maximum number of works.

This exhibition celebrates and supports local arts communities in the Bay Area. Artists have the opportunity to sell their works and keep the proceeds. To purchase any artwork, you can directly contact the artists. In the Web Gallery, click “Detail View” beneath an artwork image to access pricing and the artist’s contact details.

The de Young Open 2023 at the de Young Museum is free every Saturday and requires a timed ticket to enter the exhibition.

Submitted by Mari Emori

The count down is on! In less than a month, we’ll be taking over the @cranewaypavilion with 200+ artists & craftspeople to bring you the handmade shopping event of the season!

Coming out to show your support for KPFA radio? In lieu of an entry fee, you can make a donation directly to @kpfaradio by stopping by the broadcast booth at the front of the fair!The CCF features over 200 diverse exhibitors, including both master artisans and emerging newcomers. Artists and craftspeople are a vital part of our local, small business community, and craft fairs like ours provide an opportunity for them to showcase their work to the public.

ACGA Members participating in this event include

Marienne Chapman Curvy Clayworks

Tina Fossella Pottery

Sue Barry Tiles

Susie Rubenstein Ceramics

Lissa Herschleb

Itsuko Zenitani Ceramics

Alex Beck Ceramics

Ross Spangler

Katie Morris Ceramics

Forrest Middleton FLM Ceramics

Suellen Fowler Flamework Glass

Sean Alcala Alcala Designs

Lee has recently returned from a three-week woodfiring workshop that he organized in Aomori, Japan. He invited three other artists to participate – Alan Lacovetsky, a woodfire master from Winnepeg and ACGA members Miki Shin-Rutter and Chelsea Fried from northern California.

Visitors to Lee’s Winter Open Studio will see some firewood pieces that Lee brought back from Japan. These are for sale. He will also be displaying and offering new textures –Scallop and Gingko shown in the image here.

The open studio takes place on Saturday and Sunday, December 2 & 3 at Lee’s studio and gallery at 16 Coal Mine View, Portola Valley, CA. He can be reached at Lee@LeeMiddleman.com

Submitted by Lee Middleman

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.

Thursday–Saturday, 1–8pm: public hours
Dec 8, 5–8pm: reception and artists talk 2nd Friday Art Walk
Jan 12, 5–8pm: reception and 2nd Friday Art Walk

Art Works Downtown announces The Small Works Exhibit, an annual offering of quality fine-art to holiday shoppers and the art-loving public. This dynamic showcase will feature over 80 unique artworks in the award winning Gallery 1337. ACGA member Emil Yanos wall piece “Retro Activity”was juried into this show.

Juror: Eleanor Harwood

Owner and Director; Eleanor Harwood Gallery, www.eleanorharwood.com

Submitted by Emil Yanos

This exhibition showcases a diverse collection of art that harnesses the raw beauty and profound influence of nature.
Show Dates: Dec 2, 2023 to Jan 13, 2024
Opening Reception: Dec 16, 2023, 4- 8pm

Blueline Arts
405 Vernon Street #100,
Roseville CA 95678

ACGA members included in the exhibition:
Emil Yanos, Rumble and Tempest 1
Vicki Gunter, Our Poppy and Clay Mariposa Lilly in her …In Everything Series.

Glenn Evans will be showing his fused glass art at Bargetto Winery’s Art in the Cellars event on Sat/Sun, Dec 2- 3. Enjoy a weekend filled with Art and Wine with over 30 local artists and food vendors.

The show will be at Bargetto’s Tasting Room at 3535 North Main St, Soquel, CA and will be open from 11am to 5pm both days. Admission is free. Food and wine tasting are available for purchase. Find more information on the Events page at bargetto.com.

Glenn Evans will be showing his fused glass at ART on the Square’s Holiday Show in Redwood City on Nov 18 from 10 – 4. Whether you’re looking for stocking stuffers or splurges, you’ll find perfect gifts for everyone on your list at this not to be missed, one day event.

More than 25 artists in a variety of media will be offering their personal creations under the spectacular stained glass dome of the San Mateo County History Museum, 2200 Broadway on Courthouse Square in Downtown Redwood City. Admission is free. More information on the show at artonthesquarerwc.com.

See more of Glenn’s work at GlennEvansGlass.com. Follow him on facebook.com/glennevansglass

Submitted by Glenn Evans

Holiday Gifts ~ Hostess Gifts ~ Unique Gifts!

Ring in the Season at Gamble Garden’s Winter Festival!  Enjoy one-stop shopping for holiday gifts, Gamble greenery, and home holiday décor in the festive Gamble Garden atmosphere.

Activities include:

• A Festive Marketplace with vendors in the Gamble house and outdoors.
• Over The Garden Fence ~ Winter Edition. Gamble’s signature sale always draws crowds! Purchase previously loved and vintage treasures at remarkable prices.
• Entry includes one Raffle Ticket. Purchase additional tickets to win a beautifully decorated tree! 1 ticket for $5 or 5  for $20
• Bid for holiday gift baskets, exclusive experiences at more at our Silent Auction. Can’t wait? Skip the bidding and select Buy It Now!

Tickets: $5

All ages welcome. Children age 2 and under FREE (no ticket necessary).

Elizabeth F. Gamble Garden

1431 Waverley St

Palo Alto, CA 94301

Submitted by Thomas Arakawa

ArtSpan’s annual SF Open Studios offers people the opportunity to engage directly with local artists by visiting their studio spaces. Although my creative space is at Ruby’s Clay Studio & Gallery, this year I’m participating in SF Open Studios with a group of 75 diverse artists at Fort Mason, Pier 2. Visit us to learn more about our work and process, purchase work, and enjoy a lovely setting by the San Francisco Bay on Saturday and Sunday, Nov 11-12, 11 – 5. SF Open Studios is free to attend.

Submitted by Rachel Cox

New Work by Ren Lee

Ren Lee works with the notion that clay has consciousness, like an owl or a lizard, and that when you observe a work of handmade ceramic art, it observes you back, possibly changing its behavior and  adjusting its attitude.

Two years in development, this show is about exploring that concept. Pieces range from observant pots to scrutinizing humanoids to disembodied eyeballs. It will be fun. Opening November 2 which happens to be the second Day of the Dead, at Clay Hand Studios Gallery, 660 Van Ness, Fresno.

The Small Works Exhibit, an annual offering of quality fine-art to holiday shoppers and the art-loving public. This dynamic showcase will feature over 80 unique artworks in the award winning Gallery 1337. ACGA Members, Geraldine GaNun and Melissa Woodburn are included in this dynamic juried showcase featuring 80 unique pieces of quality fine art for sale to holiday shoppers. The exhibit can be viewed from November 18, 2023 to January 20, 2024 and will be included in two Art Walks; December 8th and January 12th 5-8pm in downtown San Rafael.This exhibit is at Art Works Downtown located at 1337 Fourth Street, San Rafael 94901.

Submitted by Geraldine GaNun and Melissa Woodburn

The Terra Linda Ceramic Artists, including ACGA members Jo Clarke, Geraldine GaNun, Nadia Tarzi Saccardi and Melissa Woodburn, presents ACTIVATION, a unique and imaginative interactive exhibit.  This exhibit is hosted by Falkirk Cultural Center, 1408 Mission Ave., San Rafael 94901 and is open to the public Tues-Fri 1-4 and Sat 10-2. Additional information at https://www.terralindaceramicartists.com/news-events.

*This venue is closed for private events so please check ahead of time

West Coast Craft features 275+ of the best artist and designer craftspeople working now in the Festival Pavilion at Fort Mason Center  in San Francisco.

ACGA members participating in this show include Alex Beck, Holly Coley, MMClay, Tina Fossella

The American Craft Council presents an online artists directory Pop-Up Marketplace.

Shop online: Nov 6-19, 2023
features a wide range of juried artists including ACGA member Barbara Glynn Prodaniuk at shop.craftcouncil.org

GLENSHIRE HOLIDAY OPEN STUDIOS
Dec 1 – 3, 2023
Doors open at 10 am.

Come out to Glenshire to shop some of your favorite local Truckee artists! Pottery, jewelry, home goods, and more are all made by our local artists. This is a self-organized event and there will likely be more artists opening their studios this weekend. Look on artist websites for more details and yard signs during the Open Studio weekend.

#Glenshire OpenStudios2023 on Instagram

Submitted by Barbara Glynn Prodaniuk

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Nov 3 – Dec 23, 2023
Opening Reception – Nov. 5, 12 – 6pm
20th Anniversary party – Dec. 3, 12 – 6pm
1641 Pacific Ave., San Francisco, CA 94109

Join ACGA member Melissa Woodburn and over 220 other local artists for this celebration of small works.

Submitted by Melissa Woodburn

A Woodfire Workshop with Miki Shim

An introduction to wood firing with Miki Shim will cover the basics of creating work, firing a wood burning kiln and learning the etiquette of being part of a wood fire community.  This workshop is recommended for those with intermediate level experience, wheel work and hand-building.

Fee: $1100

Includes one 25# bag of clay and 2 cu.ft. of kiln space.

Only workshop clay will be accepted for firing.

Additional clay available for purchase.

Dates: 

Make work: December 1, 2, 3  at Southbay Ceramics, Mountain View, CA

FIre work: December 8, 9, 10  at Springvalley Anagama, San Jose, CA

Unload: December 16  at Springvalley Anagama, San Jose, CA

Location: 

South Bay Ceramics, Mountainview, CA

www.southbayceramics

Contact: carla@southbayceramics.com

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

A book launch reception was held at Chinese Clay Art in San Jose, California the afternoon of September 23rd to celebrate the launch of this exciting reference volume by Zhou Guangzhen. It started with a lecture by the author and was attended by a number of Silicon Valley ceramic artists . The event was hosted by TV anchor Ms. Diana Ding. Starting with Stan Welsh, Professor Emeritus at San Jose State University, the seven artists in attendance spoke. During the presentation, Jan Schachter gave a short history of ACGA. The volunteer-based ACGA is one of the most successful organizations in the U.S. and attracts thousands of visitors to the Palo Alto Clay and Glass Festival each July.

The wall of the exhibit hall, “World Ceramic Cultures in Pictures” features 104 images selected from photographs taken by Zhou Guangzhen during his travels around the world and from his collection of black-and-white postcards from the early 20th century. The images show the changes in ceramic culture around the world over the past hundred years in the form of contrasts between the old and the new. The images include a variety of drawing and molding processes, ceramic firing, kilns, village fairs, potters and vendors in various costumes, and more.

On the purple round table is the “Forest of World Ceramic Art,” a landscape of dozens of pots, vases, and plates representing cultures from around the world. Regardless of the ceramic materials, molding techniques, decorative patterns, and firing temperatures used, each ethnic culture is a member of the forest of ceramic art. The curators believe that every visitor will be able to feel their own familiar cultural atmosphere in this exhibition.

Joe Battiato

Barbara Brown

Monica Van den Dool

Tom Decker

Bill Geisinger

Hsin-Chuen Lin

Lee Middleman

Jan Schachter

Guangzhen Zhou

This book looks at the world’s ceramic cultural heritage as a whole, exploring the interrelationship between ceramic technology and the development of human history, as well as the inheritance and influence of various regions and groups. Over the past decade, the author, Guangzhen Zhou, has visited hundreds of ceramic towns, villages, historical sites, and related museums around the world, combining recent archaeological discoveries with information from across different languages.

From the 1950s to the 1980s, many Californian ceramic artists one after another laid a foundation for the development of modern and contemporary ceramics in the US with their unwavering pioneering spirit. California’s ceramic art community and tradition hold an important historical position in the United States, and we proudly carry on the torch.

The artists participating in this exhibition are mainly members of the Association of Clay and Glass Artists of California (ACGA), and professors and alumni of San Jose State University. The artworks in the exhibition include both ceramic sculptures and vessel forms; showcasing the spirit and drive of the innovative Silicon Valley and the rich diversity of California.

The artists participating in the exhibition are: Joseph Battiato, Barbara Brown, Tom Decker, Bill Geisinger, Matt Hoogland, Hsin-Chuen Lin, Lee Middleman, Jan Schachter, Stan Welsh, Fred Yokel, Monica Van den Dool, and Guangzhen Zhou.

Over 100 images in this show depict various types of ceramic shaping techniques, kiln firing methods, pottery vendors and markets, and so on. These photographs showcase the richness of world ceramic culture and historical heritage across a hundred years. Images were selected from photos taken by the author on his global travels, as well as black and white early 20th century postcards from his collection, illuminating the changes in world ceramic culture over the past century by juxtaposing old and new. The pictures include various types of pottery wheels, building techniques, fuel materials, kiln firing methods, rural markets, potters and vendors of many kinds and styles, and more.

Whenever I arrived in a new area, I would contact relevant peers, experts, friends, or friends of friends. I would like to express my sincere gratitude for the support and assistance of countless people from the ceramic culture and art industry around the world during my journey! Thank you to many colleagues and friends for arranging the reception, giving recommendations and introductions, translating and explaining, driving together, and warmly welcoming me and seeing me off. This book could not have been published without the support and assistance of countless colleagues, scholars, and friends in the ceramic art field everywhere.

Participating artists

Clay Planet

Thanks to the teams of Art Center

My co-workers at Clay Ground – Chinese Clay Art US

Submitted by Guangzhen Zhou

Miki Shim, October 2023

When I look at the photo above, I cannot help but to be little emotional looking back at the time spent with this group of people who put their trust in me to guide them on a 12 day tour of Korean ceramics in South Korea. I have never produced one of these before. And for some reason, they met me in Seoul for this clay journey.

My husband, Lance, named this tour “Miki’s Spectacular Korean Ceramics Tour!” A build-up to which I didn’t know I could deliver when I launched the registration in May. Looking back, we had many hurdles and detours, negotiating the twists and turns of coordinating many moving parts, some expected and some completely blind-sided. But, through it all, it was spectacular!

Back Story:

At the end of summer 2022, Lance and I traveled to Korea to visit family and friends. Lance’s first trip and, while this is a return trip for me, first time with a ceramics focus. With a little help from friends, I was able to see, visit and experience the heart and soul of Korean Ceramics firsthand, see their work, processes, the life and the business of pottery. When I returned home, I wanted to find a way to share this with others. Instagram photos and posts only skim the surface of the real experience. Setting up a tour was not the first thing that came to mind. The logistics of moving with a group more than 4 seemed a bit crazy! After brewing the thought for a few months, I decided to gamble with crazy and started the planning process by floating the idea with Lance, recruited an assistant and lined up a few artists in Korea. First registration arrived within day of launching the announcement on Instagram in April, and sold out 15 seats by May. By June, 16 people plus me and my irreplaceable assistant and friend, Kyungle Han, were confirmed to hang with me in Korea for 12 days, starting on the last day of August.

The numbers:

3 hotels for 12 nights in 6 cities on 6 tour buses for 18 people eating 36 meals taking 12 local city bus and transit rides to see 2 demos and 3 workshops by 8 local artists and topped it off with a 10 artist group exhibition in Yeoju. Not counting the taxi rides, there were thousands of steps logged and cups of coffee at Cafe Galapium in Ulsan.

The people:

Some were 20 year veterans of ceramics, some just had 6 months of experience. A Raku artist,3 woodfire artists, a writer, a sculptor, a ceramics tool manufacturer, architect, software engineer, moms, in-the-middle-of-a-career-change professional, a mechanical engineer, studio owner, doctor, tea master, a National Intangible Cultural Asset or 3, product engineer, x-ray technician, ER nurse, a business coach and a few ceramics instructors. All now connected by clay.

Behind the scenes:

Negotiating the ever changing landscape of last minute location changes, transportation logistics and meal planning were the hardest to navigate. Luckily, I had a fluent speaker to help me make the phone calls for reservations, argue the charges and figure out how to pay the large sums of money the bus company wanted…in cash. But I had the good fortune of an amazing group of people who were ready to move with the changing current of waters that, to me, seemed like the rapids. The full itinerary has been posted on my website: mikisr.com, so I will not go into the details of our tour, except to mention that we changed the venue of the woodfire workshop at the last minute due to a family  emergency.

Cultural exchange:

Since moving to the SF Bay Area in 2012, I have broadened my network of ceramic artists around the world though personal experiences. This has allowed me the opportunity to create a cultural exchange program connecting the local ceramics community to the ceramics around the world to inspire, provoke thought and to make friendships. I have found that clay language is universal. Our tour group met for time in Seoul, at the hotel’s lounge for a breakfast buffet of Korean and western style foods. It’s always interesting what ends up on the plates and how the flavors get mixed intentionally, or not. We sat 4 to a table, getting to know each other a little, trying to memorize the names and faces with whom we will be spending the next 12 days.

Fast forward the end of the trip, to 18 Californians and one Michiganian standing on the steps at Seoul Station, trying to hold back tears, arms flying to make sure everyone gets a hug, and promise of a reunion event of Miki’s Spectacular Korean Ceramics Tour 2023 very soon. This is a rerun activity of when we parted from MoonDoBang, DoBan artists of the Yeoju exhibition, and woodfire team of artistis: Kim JaeBum, Kim InTae, Kim YoungSoo and Shin YoungTaek.

In a brief amount of time, we have made life long friendships.

I’m looking forward to the next one… June 2024

Korean Artist Studio Visit, Demo and Workshop

Kim Yikyoung Ceramics, Porcelain, Seoul
MoonDoBang, Porcelain, Bundang @moondobang
Ohbuja Pottery, Onggi, Yeoju @heejunonggi
Kwak Kyungtae, Onggi, Icheon @kwakkyungtae
Shin YoungTaek, Buncheong, GeoChang @youngtaek_shinKim
YoungSoo, Naked Raku, Yeoju @young.soo.kim
Kim InTae, Educator, Woodfired Stoneware, Ulsan
Kim JaeBeom, Woodfired Stoneware, Ulsan @firewood_gama.jaun

Cities Visited

Seoul, Icheon, Yeoju, Bundang, Ulsan, Busanki

Internationally known ceramic artist, Miki Shim-Rutter, works from her home studio in San Carlos, CA. She also works from the Palo Alto Arts Center adult studios where she teaches ceramics, coordinates Private Events and Workshops—and conceived and coordinates the Art Center’s annual International Ceramics Exchange. Shim-Rutter is an active member and past Board Member of the Association of Clay and Glass Artists of California (ACGA).

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 been an ACGA member since 2006 and have been on the Board for most of those years.  I joined ACGA when my husband and I moved to San Francisco after 16 years of living on the East Coast.  This was a “return home” for me since I had grown up in the Bay Area.  Shortly after arriving in SF, I reached out to ACGA and was pleased to find a group of kindred spirits.

I was raised in Los Altos, CA, and discovered ceramics when I was an undergraduate art major at the University of California Santa Barbara. Clay has been my passion and pursuit ever since. After graduating from UCSB I stayed in Santa Barbara for a number of years working as a functional potter and part-time ceramics teacher.  I also organized workshops for the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, directed the Santa Barbara County Arts Festival, and founded and ran the Palm Park Craft Center.

Eight years after receiving my BFA, I returned to school and earned a Masters Degree in Art Education from San Francisco State University. While in graduate school I met my husband, Jim Chiddix, an East Coast transplant living in Hawaii.  After my graduation I joined him there to begin our life together.

Over the years we have lived in several interesting locations due to Jim’s career in the telecommunications industry.  I treasure the friendships and experiences gained while living in Hawaii, Connecticut, New York, Colorado and San Francisco, as well as traveling the world, including places with deep ceramics traditions such as Japan.  In each place we have lived, I established an art studio and exhibited and sold my work.  Since 2005 we have split our time between San Francisco and Evergreen, Colorado. In San Francisco I work in a converted warehouse that has studio space for 100 artists, while my Evergreen studio is located on our property surrounded by pine trees.

I have continued to develop my artistic skills by attending workshops at institutions including Watershed, Haystack, Penland, Anderson Ranch, Honolulu Academy of Art, Pilchuck, Urban Glass, and the Art Students League of New York.  While living in Manhattan I spent endless hours in museums and galleries, and studied glass as an artistic medium. For the last 20 years much of my work has combined glass with clay.

My art is often inspired by traditional crafts and folk art found while traveling in foreign lands or wandering through museums.  These discoveries inform my vessels, wall pieces and abstract figures. My ceramics practice has evolved over the decades and has included exploration of a wide range of fabrication and firing techniques. For many years I have favored hand-building with slabs and coils which enable me to create expressive surfaces and distinctive forms.

My arts community participation currently includes serving on the board at AMOCA, the American Museum of Ceramic Art, in Pomona, CA.  I’m pleased to have a piece in their permanent collection.  I have attended more than 30 annual conferences of NCECA, the National Council for Education in the Ceramic Arts.  In 2022 I was selected to co-lead a residency at Watershed Ceramics Center in Maine.   Also in 2022, at a meeting in Geneva, Switzerland, I was inducted into the International Academy of Ceramics, a branch of UNESCO.  I was not only honored by this recognition but was also thrilled to meet fascinating ceramic artists from around the world.

Sept 30, 2023 – Jan 7, 2024

The de Young Open 2023 is now on view! Explore a captivating collection featuring 883 pieces from artists selected from a pool of more than 7,700 submissions. These artworks span various mediums and styles, showcasing the rich diversity of the Bay Area’s artistic talent. We’re thrilled to announce that ACGA members Scott Jennings and Mari Emori‘s works are included in this prestigious exhibition.

Following the resounding success of the inaugural presentation of The de Young Open in 2020, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco present this triennial juried community art exhibition. The exhibition draws submissions from artists residing in the nine counties surrounding the bay— Alameda, Contra Costa, Marin, Napa, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Solano, and Sonoma. The displayed artworks are arranged in a “salon style,” filling the space from edge to edge and floor to ceiling, showcasing a maximum number of works.

This exhibition celebrates and supports local arts communities in the Bay Area. Artists have the opportunity to sell their works and keep the proceeds. To purchase any artwork, you can directly contact the artists. In the Web Gallery, click “Detail View” beneath an artwork image to access pricing and the artist’s contact details.

The de Young Open 2023 at the de Young Museum is free every Saturday and requires a timed ticket to enter the exhibition.

Oct 14 – 15,  11am – 5pm

ALTADENA, CA – ALTA Arts Collective is thrilled to announce the ALTA Art Tour 2023.  A captivating two-day event showcasing the vibrant and diverse artistic talents of Altadena and neighboring communities. This unique art tour will take place on October 14th and 15th, offering art enthusiasts and the local community a chance to visit the creative spaces of local artists, witnessing their artistic processes and gain insight into their inspirations.

An array of talented artists will open their studios to the public, most studios will host 1 or more artists, however, there will also be solo artist studios participating in the tour.

Visitors will have the opportunity to view and purchase original artwork in various mediums including painting, sculpture, ceramics, photography and more. The art tour is free, making it accessible to all. Visitors are encouraged to click below for a complete list of participating artists and studio locations; interactive maps with turn-by-turn directions available each day of the 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.

➡️ Oct 7 – 8 – South County
➡️ Oct 14 – 15 – North County
➡️ Oct 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

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.

RUBY’S CLAY STUDIO – CERAMIC EXPRESSIONS

Jane Grimm has a one person show at Ruby’s Clay Studio Gallery of her recent ceramic sculptures.

552A Noe Street, San Francisco

Oct 27 – Nov 22

Monday, Wednesday – Friday 9am – 1pm
Tuesday, Saturday – Sunday 1 – 4pm
and by appointment

SFWA ANNUAL BAY AREA ARTISTS’ CHOICE 2023

One of Jane Grimm’s sculptures is included in the SFWA Annual Bay Area Artists’ Choice 2023 show at the San Francisco Women Artist Gallery in San Francisco.

647 Irving Street, San Francisco

Oct 3 – Nov 10
Tuesday – Saturday 10:30am – 5:30pm

THE AVENUES

One of Jane Grimm’s sculptures has been included in the group show “The Avenues” at The Drawing Room Gallery in San Francisco.

The Drawing Room

210 Clement Street

Wednesday – Sunday, 11am – 7pm

Sept 16 – Oct 21

ARTSPAN SF OPEN STUDIOS

Jane Grimm will be having a Artspan SF Open Studio at Ruby’s Clay Studio and Gallery.

552A Noe in the Castro

San Francisco

Oct 28 – 29, 11am – 6pm

Glenn Evans will have two pieces of his fused glass on display at the 57th National Mother Lode Art Exhibition. Sponsored by the Placerville Arts Association, the Exhibition is a national, juried, open show held at the Mills Station Arts and Culture Center (MACC) in Rancho Cordova. The show will open November 3 and run through November 18. The Artists’ Reception and presentation of awards will be held on November 3, 5pm – 7pm. For gallery information and hours, see the MACC website.

ARE YOU BUMMED YOU DON’T LIVE NEAR OR CAN’T JOIN US ON THE MOUNTAIN?

You can still shop great pots AND give to our growth from the comfort of your own couch!

THE RECIPROCITY PROJECT

An online fundraising exhibition for the Resident Artist Program.

Online Gallery

Oct 30 – Nov 3

Our current artists will donate 5 cups for this online feature exhibition and all proceeds go to the continued growth of the Resident Artist Program.

Open Studios
Oct 27 – 29

Please join Trudy Chiddix for her Open Studio the last weekend in October.  100 artists will also be exhibiting in the same building at 1890 Bryant Street in San Francisco.

Preview Party:

Fri. Oct 27, 6 – 9pm

Oct 28 – 29, 11am – 5pm

Trudy’s work combines clay with fused glass.  She shares kilns and workspace with 8 clay artists, while art of various mediums is created by other artists in the building. Lots to see on 3 floors of studios! Look for Trudy in Studios 201 and 210.

New Work by Ren Lee

Ren Lee works with the notion that clay has consciousness, like an owl or a lizard, and that when you observe a work of handmade ceramic art, it observes you back, possibly changing its behavior and  adjusting its attitude.

Two years in development, this show is about exploring that concept. Pieces range from observant pots to scrutinizing humanoids to disembodied eyeballs. It will be fun. Opening November 2 which happens to be the second Day of the Dead, at Clay Hand Studios Gallery, 660 Van Ness, Fresno.

Glass Artist Randie Silverstein

Please mark your calendars for this two month show at Santa Cruz’s Oswald Restaurant at 121 Soquel Ave in Santa Cruz, opening November 4 until the end of the year. I will be showing my kiln fused glass art, both on the wall and in the air! This is a colorful body of work, with some very new pieces, you won’t see elsewhere! My work has been hanging there for the last few years and now it’s time to refresh. Plus a dozen or so other pieces. Plus the food is terrific. Reservations advised. Open Wed-Saturday for lunch and dinner. If you’d like a preview of My new glasswork, please come to Open Studios in Santa Cruz, October 14 and 15 and again October 21 and 22.

Marinwood Community Center

Please join Melissa Woodburn for this one-day event.
Oct 21, 3 – 7pm
Marinwood Community Center

775 Miller Creek Road

San Rafael, 94903

Submitted by Melissa Woodburn

Terra Linda Ceramic Artists

Oct 13 – Nov 17,

Opening Reception Oct 12, 5 – 8pm

Falkirk Cultural Center,

San Rafael, CA 949901

This unique and imaginative member show includes an interactive component to the exhibit.  Over 30 TLCA Members will be showing at least one ceramic piece of art that you will be able to interact with!  Follow the little green hand stickers throughout the exhibit, gently activate the piece and see what happens!

Marin Society of Artists

Oct 6 – 28, 2023

Please join ACGA Member, Geraldine GaNun, at DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES, where two of her mixed media ceramic pieces were juried into the show.

Hosted by Marin Society of Artists

1515 Third Street, San Rafael, 94901 October 6-October 28, 2023.

Opening reception Oct 13, 5 – 8pm

Linda S. Fitz Gibbon’s ceramic sculpture will be featured alongside work by Katie Applebaum and Brian McNamara in an exhibition at Butte College, October 2 through November 2.

Closing reception with Linda S. Fitz Gibbon is Thursday, Nov. 2, 2 – 4 pm.

Gallery hours are M–Th, 9 am – 3 pm.

Submitted by Linda Fitz Gibbon

Portola Valley

Open studio with Jan Schachter, Sally Jackson, Lindsay Marx, Jane Peterman, Nina Else, and Peggy Forman in Jan Schachter’s courtyard.

Nov 4 – 5, 10am – 4pm

190 Golden Hills Drive Portola Valley

Come visit!!!!

Nov 26, 11am – 4pm

Don’t miss my one day big sale where everything will be 15% off.

Hand made and intricately hand painted menorahs, platters, candelabras, trees of life, candle sticks, pedestal cake plates, wine bottle stoppers, goblets, seder plates, and much more.

180 Montezuma Ave. Forest Knolls, Ca. 94933

A Woodfire Workshop with Miki Shim

An introduction to wood firing with Miki Shim will cover the basics of creating work, firing a wood burning kiln and learning the etiquette of being part of a wood fire community.  This workshop is recommended for those with intermediate level experience, wheel work and hand-building.

Fee: $1100

Includes one 25# bag of clay and 2 cu.ft. of kiln space.

Only workshop clay will be accepted for firing.

Additional clay available for purchase.

Dates: 

Make work: December 1, 2, 3  at Southbay Ceramics, Mountain View, CA

FIre work: December 8, 9, 10  at Springvalley Anagama, San Jose, CA

Unload: December 16  at Springvalley Anagama, San Jose, CA

Location: 

South Bay Ceramics, Mountainview, CA

www.southbayceramics

Contact: carla@southbayceramics.com

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

‘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/