Minnesota Monthly Pick!

I was thrilled to find out that one of my bowls is included in the December issue of Minnesota Monthly magazine as one of Elizabeth's Picks, a gift guide featuring Minnesota-made gifts. They found my work at Gallery 360 in Minneapolis, where I have a five-foot show up (this is like a featured artist) through mid-January. I have a really nice selection of work there for this show, including pots, ornaments and some brand new tile designs. By the way, this is one of my favorite gallery/gift shops in the twin cities! My husband has learned that when he needs to find me a gift, he can't go wrong buying me jewelry or art from this cute shop.

Made in MN Gift Guide

I've been included in the Made in MN Gift Guide 2008 put out by Minnesota 2020! This seems like a great resource for spending your holiday gift dollars locally and supporting local businesses and independent artists (even better...buy locally and handmade!). A picture of my snowman ornament made it onto the cover of the accompanying report on boosting MN's economy. I haven't had a chance to read through the report yet, but I'm pretty interested in what it has to say. Visit Minnesota 2020's website to read more about the report and download the Gift Guide.

Holidays at the Good Life

If you're in the Lake Minnetonka area be sure to stop by the upcoming Holiday Showcase at The Good Life in Wayzata. It opens next weekend and runs through the holiday season. I'm delivering a lot of ornaments for this show so there will be good selection available. I also have a nice selection of work in their shop on an ongoing basis. Happy shopping!

Art Attack - today and tomorrow!

This weekend is Art Attack, Northrup King Building's annual studio crawl. Over 150 artists will be showing and selling their work over the next two days. I have lots of new pots, new designs and holiday ornaments for sale. Studiomate Lucy Grantz is showing her adorable ocarinas and Claudia Poser is showing ceramic sculpture and jewelry. It's a great way to spend a cold fall day wandering the building. Be sure to wear walking shoes and bring a stroller if you have little ones.
Hope to see you! Visit http://www.northrupkingbuilding.com website for event details and directions.

"Made in Minnesota" Ornament Show

I am once again participating in Clay Squared's 6th Annual Made in Minnesota Ornament Show and Sale. The sale opened on October 18 and runs through December 23 so there is plenty of time to get over there to check out the multitude of great handmade ornaments. The show features unique interpretations of the ornament by more than 25 locally and nationally recognized artists from Minnesota working in ceramic, metal, fibers, mosaic, polymer, fused glass, paper and more. Every year I go home with a few ornaments by other artistst that I just can't live without! I have both my flat cutout ornaments and my larger ball ornaments in the show. There is an Artists' Reception on November 1st 11am-5pm during which customers will 10% off their ornament purchases! Eli and I will try to stop by although he is a terror around so much breakable art.

Pumpkintime!

I think having a toddler is the best reminder to be in the moment. I tend to get stuck "in my head" worrying about everything I have to get done, worrying about whether my pottery is good enough, whether I will have enough work done for my shows, will I ever make any money or will I have to go back to a "real" job (although in this economy, what does that mean anyway?), etc. It's easy to forget to appreciate all the things that I should feel lucky about. I've got a healthy kid, a husband that puts up with my business/obsession, a cute (albeit tiny) house, and I get to go to the studio and do exactly what I really love. Eli constantly reminds me to be in the moment as he gets excited about the little things that happen every day. We recently went to the farm to pick pumpkins and he's been excited about it ever since. Every time he sees his pumpkin in the porch he yells "pumpkintime!" I'm going to try coming into the studio and everytime I look at my happy pots, yelling "potterytime!"

Holiday Sweets

My first batch of round globe ornaments are out of the kiln and while they're an amzing amount of work for such a tiny piece, I just love them! I strung them today and they are pretty darn cute. This batch is already pretty much spoken for, but I have more in various stages of completion. I will definitely have them available in early November for Art Attack (our fall open studio tour happening Nov. 7-9) but hopefully sooner.