Taking a break...sorta...

Howdy.

For the last week I have been on Spring Break. The funny thing is that the phrase "spring break" still conjures visions of the past...time off school...sunshine and partying...yes, still...I'm an early 20 something 40 something... even as a teacher /adjunct professor sucking the higher ed teet. C'mon...everybody loves Spring Break! I am definitely one of those people, its just that to be technical...my break still happens in the Winter. Having an early spring break(2nd week in March) in the foothills of western PA kinda sucks. I made no plans to scamper off anywhere as my wife and daughter both have breaks later on and also not at the same times. So I stayed home and made it studio time...day and night. I did get a lot of my work mostly finished and I am popping open the electric kiln later this afternoon. So in the mean time, I thought I would stretch my jammie time this morning/afternoon by telling you about my week and showing off some of Birch Frew's and Cathy Bizousky's gorgeous wood fired pots from the recent firing.

That's one of Cathy's at the top of this post.

So let me start at the top...this past weekend came in with rain and wind...not too bad temperatures and then...the snow. I started the weekend checking out all the new growth happening in my garden beds...see below.

Then it was over and this happened.

Now we are back to just the rain and wind again but pardon me...this sure don't feel like the Spring Break of yor. Whatever...at least I wasn't running back and forth from my office this week and a little down time from some faces is probably a good thing. So in the free time this week I also did a fun workshop/presentation on decals for Christy Culp's high school art class. Christy is a potter friend from the area, she makes great majolica work, click here for the link to her blog. She teaches at a nice school near Pittsburgh with the best high school ceramic studio I have ever seen. It was a little extra dough and she gave me a great mug too! Check it out below...
Today, I was shooting images for the good folks at Stoke Hole Pottery and thought I would toss a few images out on my ol' blog because the work looks so damn good! The link above will take you to their etsy shop and you can click here for their facebook site. Here are some images of a few Birch Frew mugs...

The other images are of a couple bowl sets and a small squared off vase by Cathy Bizousky. Be looking for these sweeties soon on their etsy shop.

Speaking of bowls...Nancy Smeltzer and Harmony Ritchie have organized another "Empty Bowls" event that will happen March 15. I will be donating a meager dozen that will be soda fired by Nancy at IUP's ceramic studio and I have volunteered to serve up soup for that afternoon at one of the stations...come and say hi! I have been very happy to be involved with this event for the past several years. Each year we raise several thousand dollars for our local food bank by doing this nationally recognized event. Nancy and Harmony always do a great job getting great tasting soups and great looking bowls to eat from! If your in the area, I hope to see you...11-2 in the lobby area in front of The Common Place Coffee House...Grant Street...same as the last few years! But for now, I need to go out and trudge around in my lovely "Spring".