“California Ceramics”

Second Annual 

Ceramics Show and Sale  

We are elated to announce that our second annual California Ceramics sale was a great success, and the gallery's best attended event ever!   We would like to offer our heartfelt thanks to the artists, our customers and supporters, and our friends who helped us make it a memorable show.  

Attendance exceeded our wildest expectations, with over 500 people visiting the gallery throughout the weekend.  We have had many compliments on the event and the artwork, and are inspired to make the show bigger and better in 2003!  The gallery's goal for next year is to expand participation to include work by artists from throughout the state.

 

The show featured ceramic arts and functional ware by fifteen contemporary California ceramic artists. Artists represented were Central California artists Adrian John Castelo, Kris Kessey-McDonnell, Mark Eaton, Ken Foster, Frances Powell, and Ann Mendershausen; San Joaquin clay association artists Rami Hanna, Amy Morgan, Rita Watkins, Justin Smith, and Tiwi Wood; and Santa Cruz artists Jacqueline Butts, Steve Hum, Sandy Kinzie, and Cindy Searles.  

 

While much of the work shown was brought in especially for the two day opening sale, a large body of work will remain on display at the gallery from September 23rd through the Christmas holidays .  

 

Our outdoor display expanded from a single tent last year to two twenty foot tents centered on Ken Foster's display booth packed with hundreds of beautiful hand-made bowls, mugs, planters, and other functional ware.  Adrian Castelo's metallic, raku-fired  fish, teapots, and trays sparkled like diamonds in the sun.  Mark Eaton's sagger fired ceramic weavings were a prominent feature of the gallery's indoor display, and a grouping of three of Rami Hanna's large scale head planters created a powerful centerpiece on the gallery's "feature Wall".  Ann Mendershausen's work was wonderfully diverse, including functional pitchers and tea sets, pit-fired vases, and a delightful raku box shaped like a house with a cat leaping from the chimney entitled "Cat House".  

 

Click here to learn more ABOUT THE ARTISTS

 

Artists Adrian Castelo, Kris Kessey-Mcdonnell, Ann Mendershausen, Mark Eaton, and Tiwi Wood mingled with our guests and answered questions about their work, adding a personal touch to the festival-like atmosphere of the event.  Ann Mendershausen worked her magic with clay, demonstrating hand built pottery techniques, and creating small clay figures for interested visitors.

Budding seven year old artist Bailey Powell displayed her talent and imagination creating colored pencil drawings all day Sunday until her wrist got sore!  Demand for her work was high, and several of her drawings sold during the event. ( Put that money away for college Bailey! )

The show also featured ceramics created by clients of the Heartland Opportunity Center in Oakhurst.  In preparation for the event, local artists Frankie and Richard Powell, Gloria Garland, and gallery owner Jon Bock worked with the staff at Heartland to teach the basics of pottery making to developmentally challenged adults, and to help them to complete a body of work for the show.  

 

Heartland has been creating beautiful ceramic wind chimes for many years as a means of fundraising for the center, and has the kiln and supplies for creating pottery already in place.  The project provided a  productive and rewarding activity for Heartland’s clients, and offered them an opportunity for creative self expression.