As of right now I have just under two weeks to go before the Spring Backyard Sale. Hopefully the kilns fire off ok and hopefully we have decent weather that is all I can wish for. There is a ton work to do still but its so exciting. Currently I am juggling all facets of the pot making process from making one more batch of clay so I can make so more cups and bowls to glazing and firing in between. So here are the important details. The sale will take place in our back yard on May 19th-20th. Saturday the 19th it will go from 9-5, and Sunday the 20th is will go from 10-4.

Our address is 1635 Burns Ave, St. Paul, MN 55106, its a green house.

When you arrive please park in the driveway or park on the eastbound side of the street. Parking is not allowed on the westbound side so please be aware. Also, Burns Ave can be a busy residential road so please take your time.

The entrance gate to the backyard is around the leftside of the house.

If your interested in seeing the many activities of the next two weeks check out my “Just making pots” blog to catch up on the latest news.

Its official I will be peddling my wares at the Midtown Farmers Market this year. The Midtown Farmers Market is located in Minneapolis at the intersection of Lake Street E. and 22nd Ave. S.  The market is open from May-October. Its operating days are Tuesday and Saturday. I will only be there on Saturdays and on Saturdays the operating hours are 8am to 1pm.

As I type this I am listening to “Going up the country” by Canned Heat, great song….!

Anyways, so far the market has only scheduled us through July, dates through October will be released later.

Here are the scheduled dates I will be there so far:

P.S. every week I will post a password for the given weekend, if you come to the market and use the password you will get 50% off any purchase. The pass word will be clearly found on this page.

May, 12th

June, 2nd, 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th

July, 7th, 21st

Have you been to the Art n Bloom? When if you said no, then you have not fully experienced life. Ok well maybe its not that big of a deal, but its still pretty cool. The Minneapolis Institute of Arts puts on a art floral extravaganza matched by no other museum in the country. Hundreds of floral arrangements descend upon the museum and the arrangements honor certain works of art. I have participated for the past seven years with master horticulturist Sue Bagge. I make the vase, and she does the arrangement. This year Jason Trebs and I are sharing the same Budhha Stele to honor with a vase. Art in Bloom takes place in the end of April got to this link to get the details.

St. Paul Art Crawl, last weekend of April. I will be in the 262 building in the basement at the “Back Alley Gallery” This is always a great weekend to see a lot artwork. The entire lowertown district explodes with energy and excitement.

Peter Jadoonath Spring Backyard Sale: I have had some inquiries about the details of this event. Usually I wait to post the info along with the postcard image, but I figure what is the point in waiting. The spring backyard sale will take place at our home at 1635 Burns Ave, St. Paul, 55106. The sale will begin on May 19th from 9-5 and May 20th from 10-4. This years guests will be Brenna Klassen-Glanzer who is a silversmith and Tom Abel who is a potter. I should have a PDF of the postcard soon. If you are not on the mailing list and would like to receive a postcard or a formal email invite please contact me with you information.

My schedule for 2012 is ever developing, there are invitations, hopeful acceptance, slides still to be taken for applications. The one thing for sure is that I will be juried into my own home sale in the spring and fall. Here is a list of events that are for sure:

Grand Hand Gallery, March 10th – April 22nd, 2012

Peter Jadoonath Spring Backyard Sale,  May 19-20, 2012

Northern Clay Center, June 28th-July 29th, 2012

Art at St. Kates, July 14th, 2012

Rustic Road Barn Sale, September 15-16, 2012

Crossing Borders, September 28- October 7, 2012

Peter Jadoonath Fall Backyard Sale, October 12-13, 2012

Well Jason and I had a show together at Saint Paul Academy this past fall at the Drake Gallery which is an amazing gallery. The show coincided with Jason and I doing a two workshop with the students. Talk about sharp, usually I am as dull as a butter knife until noon once the coffee has penetrated my skull, these kids kept me sharp or sharpened me, one of the two.

It seems as though everyone I speak to lately says the same thing, summer went by so fast. I have to agree, last winter was a brutal one. Everything you want to do outside gets crammed into  six months and then its back to  winter wonderland.  Well, that means the annual  Backyard Fall Pottery sale is just around the corner, on Saturday October 15th the sale will go from 9-5 and Sunday the 16th it will be open from 10-4. This years guests will be Jason Trebs, Joe Singewald, Mike Helke, and Ross Nordquist. Lots of pots and furniture.

Our address is 1635 Burns Avenue, St. Paul, MN 55106

Directions

As far as getting here, I have noticed that map quest and GPS devices always give the round about way how to arrive. For that reason alone getting here this year will be a little more difficult because the exit to White Bear Avenue from interstate 94 has been tore up for the last month and I don’t know when it will be restored. I suggest whether you are coming from the east or the west  on 94 exiting onto Highway 61 south, from there you will go to the first light which is Burns Avenue, take a left going up the hill. When you arrive at the top of the hill  our house is the green one on the left side. On street parking is only allowed on the east bound side of the street or park in the driveway. Rain or shine, preferably shine. Hope to see you in the Backyard.

Well the trials and tribulations of an online sale were more than I figured. Which is usually the case for me, especially when it comes to technology. In the end I battled rainy skies,  a dying camera, figuring out how to use my phone camera, figuring out how to focus it, I’m not used to typing this much, now my left elbow hurts. But, Its been fun. Today was a good day for shooting photos outside, overcast light is good for photos. There are two caviats: since my photo taking was a gradual learning curve there may be some photos that are a little blurry when you zoom in. Let me know if you need a better view. Its 1206 am  and I have been tied to this machine since 10 am. The other thing I am still having a few technical difficulties so there is still one bowl, a covered jar, and a set of four bowls that I need to post. I will try to post them tomorrow morning or afternoon. I gotta teach at 9, we’ll see how focused I am in 7 hours. Click the orange “Find me on Etsy” button on the right of the page to view the pots.

Well 2011 is shaping into a whirl wind pottery tour for me. This coming Friday is the opening of the “Clay Comrades ” exhibition. The next major event will be a reception at the Bell Street Gallery on Madeline Island in Northern Wisconsin for the summer solstice.  The weekend of June 17th and 18th I will be up there showing pots and doing demonstrations. If you have never been to that area it is quite beautiful. Lake Superior is stunningly clear and crisp up there.

For the most of the summer I will be making pots, bike riding, and fishing, hopefully. My next big event will be the American Pottery Festival at the Northern Clay Center. I am really excited about this opportunity.  This will  take place September 9th – 11th. It is quite a major pottery happening involving pottery sales, demonstrations, discussion, and ideas, which involve potters from all over the country.

The following weekend, September 17th and 18th I will be in Hudson, Wisconsin for the Rustic Road Pottery Sale or other wise know as the Barn Sale. Cuz it literally takes place in a barn and outside the barn. It is a great setting of pots, flowers, raku firings, pottery demostrations, and a big dog name Bridget who is half Irish Wolfhound and Standard Poodle.

The weekends of September 23 – 25 and  Sept 30 – Oct 2, I will part of the Crossing Borders Tour on the North Shore. I will be at the home of Dick and Debbie Cooter. Dick makes gnarley woodfired pots while listening to the Ramones, and Debbie makes charming textiles while listening to…….well I don’t what she likes to listen to. Its a whole tour of art studios that coincides with the explosion of the fall colors.

Do you think I’m done, not even close. October 7th – 9th I will be at the Back Alley Gallery in St. Paul. The St. Paul Art Crawl is a studio crawl which takes place in historic Lowertown. The Back Alley Gallery is a Co – op which is wild eclectic mix of artists which always leads to  a bunch of good laughs.

Well the next week end I will be hosting my second annual back yard sale. This year Joe Singewald, Ross Nordquist, and Jason Trebs will be returning as guests as well as Mike Helke who is returning to Minnesota. Last year we had a great time. We had such great weather and such an awesome turn out. Pottery, a campfire, and some home made cookies equal a good time.

The last thing will be the 60 on 50th art sale which takes place at the Burroughs School in South Minneapolis. It is a one day event on November 5th. Well thats it for now,  I imagine this will lead to some many great stories through out the summer while cranking in the studio.