more plates

Here are some more plates I made. Tom drew the fox and the cat, I drew the planes. These are small, sandwich size, but I'd like to make bigger ones.

As far as using pots as canvas goes, plates are ideal since they are flat, but then the question of usability comes into play- would you want to eat off a plate with a cat on it? Where do you place the food? How do the colors correlate with most food colors? Should they just be decoration? These are all things I need to experiment with.


And, for the technical details: Cone 10 Stoneware, clear and white glaze, black stain, and orange underglazes.

one down, three to go.

The first Uptown Market was last Sunday, and I think a successful first event. The weather could have been better, all the people that signed up could have shown up, but nevertheless I was happy with the turnout. There were some great vendors and a steady flow of traffic despite the drizzle and competing Stone Arch Festival. Check out the photostream here.

Highlights were the MagicBus Cafe, a blue grass band, Andy Schmidt's ability to make it rain, artwork falling to the ground on Carissa's watch, and my tent almost flying over the fence and onto the Greenway. Next Market is July 19th. We hope to have more produce vendors and will make other general improvements.

Thanks to all those who helped make the Uptown Market happen. I like blog writer Carrie Obry's grasp of what we want the market to become, and how amazing it is that we have come this far being completely volunteer based. It's a learning experience, to be sure. Baby steps, Bob. Baby steps.

Somewhere in the Middle of America

My college roommate Margee (pronounced with a hard ‘G’) hails from Griswold, Iowa, population of roughly 1,000. Actually, that’s not quite right. Her family doesn’t live in town, but a few miles outside of it in a beautiful farmhouse, set among acres of corn and a matrix of gravel roads. This is where I spent my Fourth of July. As I sat on their deck drinking a delicious cocktail of gin and freshly picked-and-smashed cherries, I couldn’t really imagine a more fitting setting to honor America’s grandeur.

After just a few hours of this peaceful, slower-than-city pace, Jess and I were contemplating if we could ever live in a rural environment. I was thrilled to ride in the back of a pickup, to be constantly surrounded by kittens and to be as loud as we wanted without worrying about fun-hating neighbors. And to be able to grow your own food? How marvelous! But these thoughts went as fast as they came. Twice during my short stay someone had to drive 20 miles each way to a mid-size town for various errands. I never even make it to St. Paul. And what would I do if I ran out of ice cream in the middle of the night? Or what if I had the desire to have a pizza delivered and someone dressed as a superhero driving a three-wheeled moped to deliver it?! Nope, I’d never make it. Despite the theme of “Green Acres” running through my head every five minutes, farm livin’ is not the life for me; I’ll stick to visits.

On Saturday we ventured into Omaha to celebrate Margee and Katie’s (another college friend) birthdays. There are people that love birthdays, and then there are people that love birthdays enough that they start planning the event 364 days in advance. Luckily they keep the requirements simple enough: matching outfits and lots of booze. Though there tends to be a trend in their outfit choice (heavy on neon pink), this year they decided to don shiny black wigs of the Pulp Fiction bob variety. As we walked through the Old Market area downtown people didn’t even attempt to hide their open-mouth stares. Even the equestrian cops showed a great deal of interest, perhaps wondering if the birthday girls were in fact working girls. There was maybe less dancing than Margee and Katie had hoped for, but maybe the setting off fireworks inside a bar and having “Happy Birthday” sung to them (or their false names, anyway) by an Irish band was enough to make up for it. I’m not sure how they’re going to top those wigs next year, but I’m looking forward to finding out.

Margee, drinking wine on her deck with the sunset behind her.

Delicious Fourth of July feast including chicken kebabs, crab cakes, pesto pasta salad, ham and cheese torte, and Three Buck Chuck.

Group shot in Omaha featuring birthday girls in matching wigs.