Fired Up: A Celebration of Wood-Fired Ceramics and Friendship

We are so excited to show you our ceramic work from the wood-kiln!!!! Three years in the making, this show celebrates our collaboration. creativity, and craftsmanship, as well as the friendship we developed through the process. We have been very fortunate to fire with Kevin Lehman and Salvatore Annunziato at the Lancaster Creative Factory and they are joining us with their amazing work as well. The show will be up from December 6th through January 2025. Put December 6th (from 5-8PM) on the calendar and join us for opening night! Hope to see you!

Margaret Seidenberg-Ellis, Joanne Cassaro, Lois Wilkins and Sue Baldwin-Way

Lebanon Picture Frame & Fine Art Gallery 847 Cumberland Street, Lebanon, PA 17042

P.S. On opening night all cups with be 15% off

Fired Up: A Celebration of Wood-Fired Ceramics and Friendship

We are so excited to show you our ceramic work from the wood-kiln!!!! Three years in the making, this show celebrates our collaboration. creativity, and craftsmanship, as well as the friendship we developed through the process. We have been very fortunate to fire with Kevin Lehman and Salvatore Annunziato at the Lancaster Creative Factory and they are joining us with their amazing work as well. The show will be up from December 6th through January 2025. Put December 6th (from 5-8PM) on the calendar and join us for opening night! Hope to see you!

Margaret Seidenberg-Ellis, Joanne Cassaro, Lois Wilkins and Sue Baldwin-Way

Lebanon Picture Frame & Fine Art Gallery 847 Cumberland Street, Lebanon, PA 17042

P.S. On opening night all cups with be 15% off

Cups of Contemplation

I am so happy to have these cups accepted into the show: Cups of Contemplation juried by Tom and Elaine Coleman at the University of Southern Mississippi Museum of Art: It is described as: An exhibition celebrating the rich variety of well-crafted contemporary ceramic cup forms being made by artists and potters from across the US. If you can’t go to Mississippi to see the show check out USM on facebook (Southern Miss Art and Design). That is what I will be doing!

The show opens on October 14 and is up until November 7.

Strictly Functional Pottery National

I am so happy and excited to have this piece accepted into the Strictly Functional Pottery National (SFPN). This is the 32nd year of this wonderful show juried by David MacDonald. Although this show is local -at the Lancaster Museum of Art it is a national show attracting ceramic artists from all over the country and for the last couple of years, beyond. I am so honored to get in!

Because this show takes place near me I have had the opportunity to help with various aspects over the years, from unpacking and packing up the pots to helping with editing the catalog and in the past sitting the show and even dusting. Being involved, for me, has been a wonderful way to get to know the work a little better. I am grateful for this opportunity provided by Jean Lehman who directed the show for 17 years, and to the present co directors Kevin Lehman and Amy Burk.

I can’t wait to see all the work in person! I hope you can make it too. The opening night is September 27 from 5-8 PM and the show is up until November 9. The website for the SFPN is www.strictlyfunctionalpottery.net

Looking for a hand made gift for someone special?

I am really happy with my newest work that just came out of the wood kiln. Firing with wood often adds a beautiful dimension to the work, telling a story of how the flame and ash move through the kiln and interact with the clay and glazes. I hope you enjoy it too and are able to find that special gift.

Visit www.msepots.com , find Layla, and when you order something get a little something just for you, from me.

If you are interested in learning more about the wood-fire process take a look at this cool video made at the Lancaster Creative Factory (where I fire my work) by Natural Light Films:

https://vimeo.com/866851258

Wood/Soda Fired Cup. Slab built with slip design and hollow extruded foot.

Cups available for sale at Charlie Cummings Gallery through February 2024!

I am excited to have five cups available for sale at Cup:The Intimate Object XIX at Charlie Cummings Gallery. I love being a part of this show. Check out my cups below and go to the web site link to see the amazing collection of really creative cups and see which are your favorite (I would love to hear which are your favs!). :

https://charliecummingsgallery.com/cup-the-intimate-object-xix.html

I'm so excited to have my work in two wonderful Galleries this May

The show Small Favors at the Philadelphia Clay Studio is up until July 3rd. It is a really interesting show! I was inspired by all the creative work that artists made to fit into a 4”x4” cube. The possibilities are endless aren’t they! See my work and some of my favorites in the slide show and be sure to check out the whole show at:

Click here

These two wood/soda fired pieces will be in the show Fired On juried by Jessica Putnam Phillips at the Saratoga Clay Arts Center. The show opens May 6th (at 5PM with a reception) and is up until June 10.

Ditch lilies in wood/soda fired basket

I have always called the lilies that I brought from my mother’s garden in Vermont just Day lilies. They are the same ones that grow by the side of the road, on the edges of fields on the way into Hershey. They grow in such abundance and have such great color they have the ability to brighten your day when you see them. A neighbor of mine called them ditch lilies and at first I bristled at the name but since then it grew on me and I kind of like it!

What inspires you?

It inspires me to look at the work of other ceramic artists and try out some of their techniques - adding my own ideas as well. I watched a video of Birdie Boone make her awesome plates ( Ceramic Arts Daily presents: Simple Elegance Slab Building and Glaze Color Exploration with Birdie Boone) which inspired me to give it a try too. I am really happy with how they turned out.

I am excited to have my cups included in the ICAN Holiday Cup Show!

Check out all the cups here:

https://ceramicartsnetwork.org/Contests/ICANOnlineExhibition/ICAN-Online-Juried-Show-Exhibition-Archives-198456/2nd-annual-ican-cup-show-gallery

I am excited to have these cups included in the ICAN (International Ceramic Artists Network) Holiday Cup Show. These three cups were made from slabs of clay that were first textured on a template that I carved at this time last year when I was inspired by the beautiful leaves falling from the trees. They were fired in a wood kiln in the soda chamber giving them a nice sheen on their surface.

Wood-fired Bowl with Will's Flowers

My morning walk takes me by my neighbors beautiful hill side covered with native flowers that he grows from seed. He told me a funny story when I asked if I could pick some. He said someone asked his mother if they could pick some of her flowers and when she said it was okay they came by with a bucket and took them all. I told him I would be by with my bucket shortly.

WillsFlowersInBowlSpRes150.jpg

Wood/Soda Fired Cup with Bike Ride Flowers

The beautiful purplish pink thistles tall against the worn fence by the barn caught my eye as I rode by on my bike. I knew they would be prickly but I returned to fetch some. That started the collection I wanted to arrange in my newest cup from the wood kiln with its defining black lines and soft yellow drips.

YellowCupWithBikeRideFlowersSPRes150.jpg

Playing With Fire: Altered Atmospheres, Saratoga Clay Arts Center #2

I am excited that this piece will be joining my Moon Jar at the Saratoga Clay Arts Center national juried show Playing with Fire: Altered Atmospheres juried by Mark Shapiro. The show will be up from March 13 - April 24, 2021.

Tambourine Platter 9.5”W x 9.5”D x 2.5”H, Penland Clay with slip design, wood-fired

Tambourine Platter 9.5”W x 9.5”D x 2.5”H, Penland Clay with slip design, wood-fired

My Penland Experience Summer 2019

Reflecting back, last summer felt like a personal journey, starting with a visit to Roanoke to see my friend (who lives in France) Diana Quinby’s exhibit with fellow artist Katy Martin, Inscribing the Skin. Sharing their experience was very inspiring. After a short stay at home I traveled to Penland North Carolina to take a workshop with Catherine White, Wood Firing and the Expressive Hand. On the way there I visited Kristy Davis and her family. We studied organic chemistry together at Earlham College many years ago memorizing equations and creating a bond which has stood the test of time.

The Penland experience is hard to describe in words. On the first evening we were told that we would find ourselves outside of our comfort zone and that we should see this as a positive thing. There were many challenges but when I think back to the experiences I’ve learned the most from I realize that they were also the hardest. Not all of them required getting up at 2AM to stoke the kiln two nights in a row but in all fairness, I signed up for that!

Catherine White is an amazing artist. I admire her spontaneous way of working and response to the natural world. She is also very thoughtful and this combination of qualities makes her work rich and her teaching style generous. I have some new ideas to work with. I tried Catherine’s technique of using a carpenter’s saw to create texture and am excited to do more with that. I was inspired by Catherine’s work that has both textural and smooth qualities in the same piece. I have been looking for a way to go back to creating more sculptural work and I think I found it. More than anything, I think the workshop taught me that I should follow my ideas which sometimes, takes courage.

Heading to the KC Clay Guild Tea Bowl National!

I am honored to be sending two of my cups to the KC Clay Guild Tea Bowl National juried by Sam Chung. The show opens on October 2, 2020. These two round bottom cups were fired at Kevin Lehman’s Pottery in Lancaster in the salt chamber of the wood kiln. They are made from slabs of clay (Penland body) and decorated with slip.

Art to Go

It was exciting to see the pinch pots and other unique things you made out of the clay I gave you in this Art to Go project!

The first round of work has been bisque fired (to around 1700 degrees F) which makes it strong but not completely vitrified (when it is completely vitrified it should hold water). Just as I was getting ready to do the bisque firing my kiln malfunctioned so I asked the very generous potter Bob Chaundy if he could fire the work for me. I also had some work of my own to fire for a wood firing a couple of days later. Bob saved the day!

Your work is ready for the next step! I can offer you two options. 1) you can take it home and paint it with regular paints 2) I can give you some color options, apply the glaze, and fire it for you again in my electric kiln. If these were not unusual times I would have you glaze your own work (since you are the artist!) but given the way things are I think it would be best if I did this. You might know already that glazing is a bit unpredictable - it does not always match the idea you have in your head but sometimes it does, and there are some nice surprises too! It will take me a while to have enough work to fill my kiln and fire it. Send me an email at msepots@gmail.com and let me know what you would like to do with your work. Thanks!