The bright and whimsical creations of Judy Johnson grace our "Featured Artist" windows this month - see the Rossmoor News article just below. They'll be on view through September 9, so be sure to come on down to the Gateway Plaza and take a look at the Ceramic Studio's display windows!

Here are a few more photos of people & things happening around the studio, in a slideshow format.  Included are some of our members showing their work, looking at one another's art, and playing in clay with grandchildren, as well as a new crop of Orientation students being shown the ropes. We now have 16 new members!

(NOTE: some of the thumbnail images underneath may appear to be upside down or sideways, but when you click on one or start the slideshow they will all be right side up.)

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Above is the Rossmoor News article about the current CAC Featured Artist, Janet Welch. Below is the article about our previous Featured Artist, Diana St, James. We are very lucky to have such talented people in the Ceramic Club! Keep an eye on our display windows; the next time the display will change is August 13 - and there will be a new Featured Artist then.

John Terlip is currently the CAC member with a Featured Artist display in one of our studio's windows. The pots are beautiful and unique and have sparked a lot of interest. They will be there through June 10, when all of the window displays are to be changed. Hope you have the chance to see them!

Shown here - the pit on Friday May 11, when it was about to be unloaded. [Thanks are due to Ralph Atkins, a friend of CAC, who took all of the pictures below.]

And here are some photos of what came out of that pit - interesting things, beautiful colors! (See our previous post for more photos from this year's Pit Fire.)

It was great! Wednesday May 9 was a beautiful day and the loading of the pit went very well.. see below. (Note: the photos are NOT in chronological order.)

Be sure to keep on scrolling down for pictures of the firing. then the unloading, plus some of the results of the Pit Fire. Also, more of the pieces will be shown in a future post, so stay tuned!

Okay - the firing of the pit was next. This is always dramatic! It happened around noon to 1:30 pm.

Unloading of the pit was done two days later, on Friday May 11 (first picture below). It was like an excellent archeological dig! And here are some of the results, right after everything was unloaded. Lots of nice color, and most people were quite happy!

Here's the Rossmoor News article about Anne Shulenberger, the artist whose sculpture is currently in the studio's window. It will be changed next Monday (May 14), to feature the beautiful pottery of John Terlip. So stay tuned!

We recently started having one of our members designated a Featured Artist each month in order to show a wide variety of their ceramic work in one of our display windows. Actually it's not a new thing - this used to be done here many years ago, as Nancy Meaden (a long-time CAC member) pointed out when she suggested that we start doing it again. So our first Featured Artist was Nancy, in fact - and from February 12 to March 14 2018, her beautiful pottery was showcased in the Ceramic Studio's front windows. Unfortunately however, we didn't have our act together yet about how to publicize this, so she wasn't interviewed for the Rossmoor News. (However perhaps she'd be willing to have another display dedicated to her pottery at a future date.)

Our second CAC Featured Artist was Judy Preston Hirsch. Her wonderful sculptures were on display from March 5 to April 8, 2018, and they were enjoyed by many of our members as well as the general population of Rossmoor as they paused to browse our windows. The Rossmoor News published a very nice article about Judy in their April 18 issue - see below. It was a bit later than optimal, however it's great that it happened.

From now on we will be posting about each Featured Artist in a more timely fashion (i.e., during the time that their work is on display), as well as publicizing them in the Rossmoor News. Watch this space for information about the current one - coming soon! (Scroll down below the article for more information.)

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FYI, The Ceramic Studio window displays are changed on the second Monday of the month throughout the year (except November & December). The window displays generally include 2 to 3 pieces each from various members who want to exhibit them; those pieces may be offered for sale or not, as the artist prefers. The windows also hold some of the ceramic pieces that have been donated by our members to sell to raise funds for the club - and of course the display of the work of the current Featured Artist.

NOTE: Any CAC member who wishes to be a Featured Artist in the future should contact Nancy Meaden. You may also suggest another member who you think should be a CAC Featured Artist.

On April 18 we had our third annual Empty Bowls fundraiser, with over 200 hand-crafted ceramic bowls on sale, to be filled with any of 20 kinds of delicious (& free) soup, all made by our multi-talented members. The exact total we raised for the local Food Bank is $1184 (we raised $670 in 2016 and $900 in 2017). And although it was a lot of work, it was also a lot of fun!

Below is a photo of some of us that was taken by Mike DiCarlo of the Rossmoor News just before the sale opened. It shows only a fraction of the CAC members who contributed to the sale. By the way, there was a also second table full of bowls - they didn't all fit onto just one table! And of course a third table held 20 steaming pots of soup. No one went away hungry, there was something for everyone!

It's been a busy winter & spring! We've recently had another Orientation Class and welcomed 14 new members. Several local clay artists from outside of Rossmoor have demonstrated interesting techniques at our club meetings. There have been two Beginning Wheel classes of 4 sessions each (today is the last day).

In addition, many of our members have made beautiful bowls to donate for the upcoming Empty Bowls fundraiser coming next month (April 18). Also lots of pottery and a number of beautiful and/or quirky sculptures have been created in our studio. Last but not least, some of our folks have brought their pieces to share at our monthly Show & Tell sessions. See below for just a taste of it!

The old year is gone and the new one's well begun - time flies! The gallery of photos below illustrate some of our activities from late December (2017) through early February, including a Show and Tell session, a visit to the studio by grandchildren, a demonstration (by ceramic artist Daniel Oliver), a class on painting with underglaze and a presentation about raku and sagger fire techniques.

Now we are about to welcome a new crop of members, with an Orientation Class that will be starting in two days. Never a dull moment!