Show & Sale Goodies

I'll be filling my extruded vases with flowers

Potters Place Spring Show and Sale is Friday through Sunday, May 4 - 6 at 127B Old West Street in Walpole, MA.  With 23 members creating in clay, there will be so many wonderful pieces to looks at, purchase, and study for future inspiration.  The show and sale is a means for the members to exhibit and sell their work, as well as, raise money to offset the costs of running a not for profit pottery school.

The show theme is Flora and Fauna. Here's what you'll see from me when you arrive at the studio.

Lily of the Valley Collection

Assorted Votive with floral surface decoration

plates, bowls, mugs of all sizes and shapes

embellished platters

and Much More!

Friday night is the artist reception and I'll bringing some goodies to serve on some handmade pottery. 

The Food and Pottery Connection ~

Serve these:

Blondies (not Brownies)

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 2 cups white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheets.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Stir in the flour just until blended then fold in the white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. Roll the dough into walnut sized balls. Place the cookies 3 inches apart onto the cookie sheet.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until golden brown on top. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. 

On this:

 dishwasher safe hand crafted platter

Blue petal platter

 

Public Art and Rabbit Food

During the spring, crouching rabbit sculptures will be painted & placed across Dedham.  Each sculpture will be painted by a juried selection of local artists – and will be sponsored by local businesses, individuals and organizations. 

I've be thinking about submitting an application to participate in the Dedham Public Art Project. The deadline is this Thursday...

  

Marietta Apollonio, an artist painter and co-founder of the Dedham Square Artist Guild is painting the first of 15 bunnies for the project.  I love her work and her bunny, which she has named David B. Unny will be yet another wonderful creation of hers. She shares her palette but not her ideas...smart lady!

Why a Crouching Rabbit?
The Dedham Public Art Project will feature a crouching rabbit - an iconic form found on the historic Dedham Pottery, which was produced in Dedham over 100 years ago. The pottery was characterized by a signature crackle glaze and border designs in thick cobalt blue. The most common and recognizable design is a repeating crouching rabbit officially referred to as “the Dedham rabbit.”

During the Dedham Square Valentine's Day event, I went to check out the first bunny who was on view at the Dedham Community Theatre. 

"He" wasn't as big as I thought a 4ft bunny would be.  I guess it's his ears that really add the height.

Next door to the theatre is Heart of the Square.  I noticed they had real Dedham Pottery and had to have a closer look.  They were nice enough to let me take a few shots of my favorite pattern: the Azelea flower.

Many artists are submitting ideas.  I can't wait to see what they'll come up with.  As a potter, I'd like to see a Dedham Pottery Bunny.

At the conclusion of the public display over several months, the completed sculptures will be auctioned off to support the proposed Mother Brook Arts & Community Center slated for the old Avery Elementary School. 
 

My husband picked out Dedham Pottery as our every day ware when we were registering for our wedding.  

We've been using "bunny" plates and bowls and mugs and dishes for all our married years.  It's not the real stuff but Dedham Pottery is with us at almost every meal.  

The pottery I have was slip cast and hand painted in Concord, Ma at the Potting Shed.  What's makes my collection special to me is that each piece has the year it was created painted on the bottom (hint: my wedding year).

One of my favorite Dedham Pottery pieces is my egg dish. One could use it for painted Easter eggs or deviled eggs.  For the food and pottery connection, here's a recipe for deviled eggs...

• 1 dozen eggs
• 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
• 1/3 cup mayonnaise
• Lawry's Salt (which has paprika in it)

1 Hard boil the eggs. 

2 Peel the eggs. Using a sharp knife, slice each egg in half, lengthwise. Gently remove the yolk halves and place in a small mixing bowl. Arrange the egg white halves on a serving platter.

3 Using a fork, mash up the yolks and add mustard and mayo. Spoon egg yolk mixture into the egg white halves. Sprinkle with Lawry's salt. Makes 2 dozen.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE FOR The Dedham Public Art Project for ARTISTS IS MARCH 1st

 should I?

Carpe diem!

Winter has arrived in New England after a clear night and a full moon.  The dusting of snow has set the calendar right and with the seasonal shift, the light has giving birth to new colors. 

Spotting the snow first thing this morning, I found my curiosity peaked. I began roaming my house in search of the gifts created by the dawn of a new day in a new season...

Seeing my new photographs intermingled with ones recently taken on holiday to New York City, I found colors of a similar ilk.

And then I noticed a tonal similarity in a collection of my own pottery....
 

The combination of browns and blue side by side and together like the colors of the earth and the sky.

Life is Art. Art is Life.

The world is a beautiful place.  We can't forget to take the time to look around and see what is right before our eyes.  I can't imagine living anywhere else but in the ever changing landscape of New England.

Carpe diem!