A professional designer for 35 years, Len has earned national and international recognition for his logo and publication designs. Len began serious painting in 1997 working in oils and acrylics. His emphasis is on exploring and interpreting the vibrancy and life discovered in the common sites and objects throughout our Western surroundings. Simple, strong compositions in bold colors typify his work.“I explore ways of interpreting my surroundings. It is a process of discovery. I strip away detail and visual clutter, seeking the simple forms and powerful compositions that inspired these works. I use vibrant colors and contrasts to intensify the energy I unearth in each of these discoveries.”
I am a self-taught artist and I am delighted to be in a constant process of learning. As a metalsmith, I feel lucky to be surrounded by the influences of nature and history. I make jewelry to remind us of who we are; endless, timeless, magificent as a mountain range – sweet and simple as a robin’s nest. I want my jewelry to be a talisman of pure joy, an amulet of sacred beauty – an affirmation of the romance we have with life.
“let the beauty you love be what you do” -Rumi
I love jewelry and my next piece is going to be my best!
Many years ago I discovered that to find satisfaction in my designs, I must have a working relationship with the images. In some manner, a living experience with the subject matter. This occurred on a profound level over the 25 years I lived in Avon, MT on a sprawling mostly wild place, several miles from town. The remoteness gave way to a daily study of water birds and other fauna. I developed an intimacy with groves of aspens, pussy willow, pine, rocky outcroppings; a life study of one high mountain valley. My art is an expression of the love that deepens from relationship with place.
I wish to evoke a knowing of this potent connection, to amplify awareness of our relationship to all living things. This is what I experience in the appreciation of indigenous art.
I consider myself the accidental potter. I took my first ceramics course in 1985 to fulfill a general education requirement while pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education from the University of Great Falls. I went on to earn my degree and teach third grade for a few years. During that time I continued making pots and learning as much as I could about the process.
In 1990 I decided that I wanted to give up teaching to study pottery. In 1992 I graduated with my Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Montana in Missoula. I have been making pottery full time in Great Falls since then. First as a potter sharing a space with 2 other potters and then opening my own studio, Eve Pottery, in 1999.
I work primarily in porcelain and fire in an electric kiln. I love making one of a kind decorative work as well as every day functional ware. My hope is that the pots I make bring joy to those that use them.
Narrative sculpture is my true passion in clay; however, functional pots are my first love and I always find time to make them. My pots help me unwind and have a little fun in the studio. They come together faster than my sculptures do and provide a canvas for playful, animated drawings of the wild and domestic animals living in our neighborhood. As I go to my cupboard for a cup each morning, I know that someone out there is finding one of my cups, filling it with coffee or tea, and enjoying a gift from my home and my hands.
Palouse Creek Pottery is located near North Bend, on the beautiful Oregon Coast. We live and work in our hand built home and studio which is solar powered and off the grid. My husband and I fire our Fred Olsen inspired fast-fire wood kiln with scrap wood from our neighbors portable mill, drift wood off the local beaches and myrtle wood branches from our seven acres.
Each piece is thrown on the wheel, dried thoroughly, glazed and painted with designs using a fine slip, or liquid clay, called terra sigillata. The designs reflect my love of nature and care for the environment. Waves, spirals, fish and fish bones, insects, rain, swirling water, seed pods, and circles find their way onto the pots. Doors, ladders and paths do too. The designs are also inspired by the clay forms and used to compliment and accentuate curves and angles. Variations of color on the clay bodies and glazes are effects of the flames, ash, salt and minerals from the drift wood, moving through the kiln.
We begin the firings with small sticks and fire very slowly until the temperature is above the boiling point of water, then slowly work up to larger wood. The firings last sixteen to twenty hours. During that time two people are constantly feeding the fire boxes until the temperature reaches Cone 10 which is 2345 degrees F.
Every piece is food, microwave, oven and dishwasher safe. I hope you enjoy using my pottery as much as I enjoy making it. Come in and check out my new “Global Dreams” line of pottery!
Silversmith and jewelry designer Andrea Silverman meticulously crafts her beautiful pieces one at a time in her Ballard, WA studio.
“To me, the hallmark of good craftsmanship is finishing in places that aren’t immediately obvious.”
For nearly thirty years Cathy Weber has been making art in her downtown Dillon studio. She works primarily in watercolor, but also explores a variety of media. Lately, feeling increased urgency to make things of beauty in response to war, injustice, greed and violence, Weber makes images of common simple objects, giving her comfort and hope for weathering the human condition.
Birds, birds and more birds!
“It all started with a hair-brained project of making tiles for my bathroom. Well, the tiles were square and the kiln is round so I started filling up the empty spaces with ceramic birds. I think of the birds as “narrative”. Some are elaborately painted and often address a specific story or relationship. Other, simpler birds are mounted on sticks that I have collected on local rivers.”
Originally from Roseburg, Oregon, Emily earned her BFA in ceramics from the University of Wisconsin in 2001. The summer of 2002 took her to the Archie Bray Foundation where she is currently working as the Gallery Director. The past five years Emily has explored different forms while challenging herself to constantly find new patterns and colors within the theme of dots that dance across her wares. Emily creates her ceramic art at her home studio in Helena, Montana.
