The World Beyond My Studio

As we begin to prepare for the 2015 season at Lost RiverArtisans’ Co-op and I continue to haul Kahoka pots to OASIS in Harrisonburg, I think it is time to say a bit about other galleries in which my pots are available. In each place there is someone special who values and sells them, for which I am very appreciative! 

My handbuilt stoneware has been available for many years at Riverview Gallery in historic Havre de Grace, Maryland. There Tam Sticker, an incredibly talented artist herself, runs a gallery in the lobby of an old building that houses numerous other businesses. True to the area, the gallery comes complete with wallpaper borders of duck decoys, which are a staple in Havre de Grace. Riverview is at 224 North Washington Street. You can learn all about it at www.riverviewgallerymd.net. In the amazing visuals on that website, you will see Kahoka pots in every image! It is an intriguing town and well worth a visit where the Susquehanna River meets the Chesapeake Bay. Spring IS coming! Give it some thought!

Another fascinating Mid-Atlantic setting for my pottery is the Michael B. Tusing Gallery in Staunton, Virginia. The Frame Shop is in the lower floor of the old mansion; the gallery is on the second floor. Michael is described as a “dealer of refined and eclectic sensibility,” which is perfect! When he first proposed some years ago that I sell Kahoka pots at his gallery and I laid eyes on that delightful Victorian dwelling, I had my doubts! Kahoka pots are rustic, if anything ever was, and the Tusing Gallery would thrill my grandmother’s dazzling Victorian sense of style. But Michael loves eclectic and he surely knows how to make it work! The gallery is at 21 North Market Street, just below Mary Baldwin College.  Check it out at www.tusinggallery.com and give yourself a day exploring another wonderful historic setting.

I feel privileged that the artists at Riverview Gallery and the Michael B. Tusing Gallery welcome my pottery from way back in a hollow deep in the West Virginia hills. I love being in each of these galleries, and I know you would too!

The Leaf Thief Accidently Reformed

I just cancelled my plan to launch a new career of somewhat dubious merit. January triggered my need for green but no matter how many pages I turn down in the plant catalogs, it is all hopelessly vicarious. I need REAL leaves, so I planned to steal some from places with too many to miss them.

I am writing this under swaying palms on a balmy evening. The greens are both ubiquitous and beautifully real. And there are leaves of every ilk!

My mother was infamous for stealing cuttings from plants she liked. I suspected this nefarious tendency might be genetic until we arrived in Florida and I fell in love with sea grape leaves. Coccoloba uvifera is a common seashore tree or shrub with nearly-round leaves. 

It is conspicuously absent from cultivated gardens-- leave it to me to love the weed! Sea grape leaves are on the ground just waiting to be collected, so their availability avoids those spousal lectures I get when I lust over some botanical snippet that refuses to fall into my hand. Look for sea grape shapes in future Kahoka pots, maybe with some soft tangles of Spanish moss! I know you’ll love them!