Steve Mendelson Memorial Award

Ken & Carol Mendelson and I

Ken and Carol Mendelson have initiated this award in memory of their son, Steve, who was a very accomplished artist. He graduated from Rhode Island School of Art and Design and soon became an illustrator for the Washington Post. He illustrated several books for Art Buchwald. His aspiring drawings of "The Song Of Amergin" were shaped by the artist's battle with the AIDS virus, which eventually took his life in 1995.

Melanie Sherman
Schnabelschuh I
Steve Mendelson Memorial Award 2009

My Cup Collection

Ah, 19*C and sunny - what a super day to officially announce the existence of my very own cup collection?!

it all started with this cup from Diana Fayt; purchased on Etsy.com:

Jon Joss; purchased at NCECA 2009 (cup sale):

Heather C. Morrow; purchased at NCECA 2009 (cup sale):

Susan Beiner; purchased at NCECA 2009 (ASU Ceramics Research Center):

Preston Tolbert; purchased at NCECA 2009 (cup sale):
(apparently this cup has been fired in Don Reitz train kiln ;^)

A yunomi is a small cup, usually used for tea in a traditional Japanese tea ceremony. The walls are generally thick enough so that the cup can be held while full of the tea. (Or, some say, the tea should never be so hot that you cannot hold the cup in your hand.)

Ben Bates; purchased at NCECA 2009 (cup sale):

Lorna Meaden; purchased at NCECA 2009 (cup sale):

Eileen Coleman; purchased at NCECA 2009 (cup sale):

"Frank"; purchased at NCECA 2009 (cup sale):

Joseph Pintz; purchased at Main Street Gallery in Edwardsville, IL:

CLC Student Art Competition

Two pieces of mine got into the CLC Student Art Competition. The Gallery reception will be on Friday, April 17 from 7-9. The show ends May 16th. Hope to see you around :^)

PTE 4 phil:

Schnabelschuh I:

Woodfiring Spring 2009 -- unfired pieces

I'm back!

I'm back from my skiing vacation in the B.C. Rockies, my business trip to Miami, the wood firing near SIUE and NCECA in Phoenix and will post pictures by the end of this week of all my wood fired pieces [that turned out - or not]. If you are my friend on Facebook you are already seeing what went in the anagama, but I haven't had the time + patience to post it here.

Will be busy for the last weeks of the semester to come up with something for final critique. Maybe I will test some glazes... FUN!

Jewelry Dishes on "Worldview"!

I just got an email that the jewelry dishes will be going out TODAY:

You may know that Jerome has made it a pledge drive tradition to present a special “Worldview” quiz. That’s going to happen on Friday’s show (tomorrow). And we thought it would be a perfect match for your hand-crafted, one-of-a-kind jewelry dishes – offer one to each listener who wins the quiz. It’ll be a great way to encourage folks to call in, answer questions, and—we hope—make a big pledge to WBEZ!

So tune in today at 12PM CET and listen to Worldview with Jerome McDonnell on WBEZ, Chicago Public Radio!

Give to WBEZ!

For next week's pledge drive, I am giving 16 jewelry dishes to Chicago Public Radio. Listen to WBEZ, 91.5 FM and pledge now to shorten the Spring Drive!

Jewelry Dishes

Set of cups

I made several cups to practice pulling handles and this set came out very nicely - although it reminds me so much of what we had in the 70s in Germany :) Heavy, rustic cups (+ a long forgotten vase in the same color)! But I have to admit they are all nice to drink out of. They don't spill, the handle is nice to hold and the lip is smooth. I might give one to my Dad for his B'Day... He's a real coffee drinker and would appreciate the good feel of these!

Vase turned into a teapot

I've been working on a teapot - that was supposed to be a vase, but after I threw it, it became just a boring vase. So I turned it around, put a bottom on it, cut off the top, made a lid out of it, attached a spout and a handle and some decoration. Ever since my teacher looked underneath one of my pieces and noted that it wasn't finished and looked sad I try to add detail, where one might not look at first, but once he examines the piece; the inside and the bottom.

Et voila:

New Porcelain Bowls

I hope these 2 porcelain bowls will make it through the bisque firing without cracking and without everything falling off...

Teapots (update)

Here are the teapots I have been working on for the past weeks. I added trimmings, nails, and slip and will finish with a black overglaze and iron oxide. These will go into the wood firing in the beginning of April:

Chili Bowls (almost done!)

Alright, here is the Chili Bowl countdown! I got another couple of bowls out of kiln and am happy to wrap up this project (and the bowls!) and give them all away! I kept the nice ones (Mandela Quote). I'm not sure I succeeded, but it was a great practice - at least I know now what I DO NOT want to do for the rest of my life *grin*:

Chili Bowls w/ Mandela Quote

I'm very happy with the way these three bowls turned out. I am amazed how the red glaze is really RED!!! The inside and rim is nice and smooth and rich, while the outside is rough and rustic. I love it! So these are a keeper, while all the other bowls are going to the charity sale.

Fall 2008

Here are some pictures from my projects for the Fall 2008 semester. I am very much into surface "manipulation" and love to take my time with a piece. It sometimes takes over a week to get one piece finished. I also love to just throw or cut clay and then piece it together somehow. I have been lucky with firings; no major cracking so far! I've stayed away from glazing as much as possible, since I find them very unpredictable ;)

This piece has been inspired by Jason Briggs' "Ground". It was very interesting to look at the original and see what can be done with the porcelain surface (although I somehow missed his source of inspiration at first ;)

This is a four-piece porcelain vase, put together, decorated; black underglaze, then sanded.

This is a similar piece, this time a teapot. I was lucky to just end up with this great spout and lid; it was thrown to see what I came up with and ended up perfectly as part of this teapot.

This is a six-piece porcelain teapot, put together, decorated; black underglaze, then sanded.

This teapot was inspired by Steve Hanson's work. I find it amazing, how he uses his images on different forms. Instead of sending out a political message (as Hansen does), I simply put my hubby's initials on with slip and this was his Christmas present.

This is stoneware, slab built with tons of slip.