From Studio Potter magazine 12/2001 issue, in an article about Garth Clark.

OPA GENERAL MEETING: Friday, July 12, at Multnomah Art Center, 7688 SW Capitol Hwy in Portland (The next meetings will be the Sept 15 picnic, and a general meeting on Nov 9)

6:45pm: General Meeting. Call Ginger Steele  to put something on the agenda. Bring Empty Bowl donations, snacks for the hospitality area, items for the swap table, or announcements to hang on the room divider.

7:30pm: Program: The First Place Award Winner from Showcase, Hsin-Yi Huang, will give a hands-on demonstration of her techniques.

NEXT OPA BOARD MEETING: Aug. 5, at Mary Hindman’s house in Eugene, call for directions, 6:30pm. The next two board meetings are currently scheduled for Oct 7 and Dec 2 at Julie Asbury’s home in Wilsonville.

NEXT NEWSLETTER DEADLINE: Aug 10, please write information down and mail or email to Janet Buskirk, 

It will be at George Wright's house in Manning (about 25 miles west of Portland on Hwy 26)

Please RSVP so I can order the appropriate amount of chicken. I'd also like to know if anyone would like to have salmon instead because I think I can get a good deal. So call me and let me know. Have a good summer! Kristin 

EMPTY BOWLS will be at the Blues Festival in Portland’s Waterfront Park, July 3-7. We still are looking for donations (remember, you can donate any type of work, it does not have to be bowls), and we are looking for people to work at the booth during the show. You can listen to great music, while selling bowls to feed the hungry! It’s really fun. Contact Jeanne Charles (503-233-2317) or Tony Hackenbruck (503-235-4417) if you would like to work at the show. If you have donations, you can drop them off at their homes (3624 SE Yamhill St or 3626 SE Taylor St, Portland) or call them to make arrangements for other drop off locations.

In other Empty Bowls news, the Lane County Empty Bowlswas held in March, and they sold $16,000 worth of bowls! If you would like to be a part of this, contact Mary Hindman, 541-484-5930

There was a nice article about the OPA Empty Bowls Project in the summer 2002 issue of American Style magazine

OPA NON-PROFIT STATUS: The OPA Board and President Ginger Steele are considering seeking non-profit status for our organization.  Designation as a non-profit organization would improve or tax status and facilitate grant and sponsorship applications in the future.  Please direct your input on this matter to Ginger at petunia@smartwire.net

OPA BOOTH AT SALEM ART FESTIVAL: OPA has a booth for demonstrations and exhibition at the Salem Art Festival. There is still space available in this booth. Would you like to join them? Dates are July 19-21, set up July 18. Call Mary Hindman  by July 1. Fees are about $20 plus 20% commission, everyone involved needs to do demonstrations and help man the booth.

LOCAL CLAY (the Eugene clay group) will have their next meeting Sept 12 at 6:30pm at Georgies in Eugene.

CERAMIC SHOWCASE

A BRIEF NOTE FROM THE 2002 SHOWCASE CHAIR, MARK HEIMANN:  "Thanks one and all for another successful Showcase. As you know, total sales were up, best ever, a testimony to your great work and fine presentation. The dedication and competence of all Chairs and participants makes being the "go to" guy job relatively seamless. Please give your full support to your 2003 Co-Chairs Margie and Natalie Warrens. 

Again, thanks for your cooperative spirit – it’s the heart of the show. " -Mark Heimann

NEXT STEERING COMMITTEE MEETING: July 8, 6:30pm at Margie Adams house.

AWARD WINNERS: The award winners from Showcase 2002 were as follows: For the "Best of Show" Award:

1. Hsin-Yi Huang (first place)

2. Cynthia Spencer

3. Amy Swanson

4 & 5 (tie). Victoria Shaw & Dennis Meiners

6 & 7 (tie). Kathleen Stephenson & Thanhbinh Duong

8. Lorene Senesac

9. Joe Davis

10. Brad Menninga

The top votes for the "Bennett Wesh" most-decorated pot award were:

1. Jan Edwards (first place)

2. Jim Stephens

3. Renee O’Connor

The "Best Booth" award were:

1. David Fitzpatrick (first place)

2. Patrick Horsley

3. Shirl Lipkin

A note from Deborah Shapiro, Awards Chair: "From looking at this list of pieces and booths that got noticed by OPA members: If you want to win votes, you have to stretch yourself to do something new and fresh and exciting. That is what gets recognition."

SOME NUMBERS FROM SHOWCASE 2002: Attendance was lower than usual at 16,196 perky customers (down from 18,000 last yr). Total sales are listed below.

A LOOK AT THOSE SALES TOTALS: The total sales for Showcase 2002 were a record $496,123. Of this, $633 were "commission only" sales. A total of $410,232 was paid to potters. 44 of the 108 gallery-only participants sold work, with their gross sales totaling $10,836. The lobby display generated $3600. Below are the sales totals for each day, with comparisons from the last few years.

YEAR FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY TOTAL

1997 $162,875 $119,437 $63,779 $346,091

1998 $178,649 $148,095 $78,987 $405,731

1999 $199,765 $157,288 $92,200 $449,253

2000 $222,065 $146,593 $79,448 $448,107

2001 $235,803 $185,308 $74,540 $495,651

2002 $256,990 $158,881 $80,252 $496,123

the committee read them all. They tried to reach a solution that was as palatable as possible to everyone. Unfortunately, fees will have to be raised to meet the increased show expenses.

A few things that the committee discussed were that if the booth fee had been raised enough to equal inflation, the fee would currently be about $120. The committee also felt that the booth fee should be raised each year by a percentage equal to the amount that the Convention Center raises our fees to them, and that the overall show budget should be raised each year to reflect the actual expense increase from the previous year.

The committee, after much thought, has recommended to the Steering Committee that the Showcase fees should be as follows:

$125 full booth fee

$75 ½ booth fee

$40 group booth fee

$15 gallery-only fee

19% commission for booth participants

30% commission for gallery-only

The Steering Committee will be examining all of the above recommendations from the Fair Fees Committee, and they will decide what to do in time for the October newsletter. The Fair Fees Committee will make a presentation and open the floor for brief discussion at the July OPA General Meeting.

WORKSHOPS

The following workshops will be held at the Visual Arts Center in Salem, 1220 12^th St, 503-581-7275, www.salemart.org:

MARY LOU ZEEK: TAR PAPER CONSTRUCTION: Friday evening slide show, lecture & demonstration. Saturday will be handbuilding techniques using tar paper & instruction

on how to support complex structures and make one-of-a-kind pieces or re-use tar paper patterns for production work. All levels welcome. Fri & Sat, July 26 & 27 (the dates in the Salem Art Assoc summer list are incorrect!), Fri 6-9pm, Sat 9am-3pm, $83

DEBRA NORBY: CERAMIC DINNERWARE: 1^st session includes slide show, handbuilding, demos on pinch, coil and roll-out slab methods. She will also show you how to make hump molds, dropout molds and incorporate wood & other forms to design and produce your pieces. 2^nd session she will guide the instruct you on the use of low-fire clay, underglazes, glazes, rolling pins, sgraffito and making your own stamps. 3^rd session focuses on bisqueware and low-fire glazes. All levels welcome. Sat, Aug 10, 10am-4pm. Sun, Aug 11 and Sat, Aug 24, 9am-noon. $104

JOE DAVIS: For intermediate and advanced potters who want to learn new techniques and build upon their wheelthrowing foundation. Demonstrations on throwing, trimming and altering, and slip application. Discussion on glazing and firing as well as hands-on instruction. Bisque firing & 1-week Open Studio pass included. Sept 21 & 22, Sat 10am-5pm, Sun 9am-3pm, $137

The following workshops will be held at ClaySpace, PO BOX 1339, Suquamish, WA 98392-1339 (360) 598-3688, mtimes@telebyte.net:

EUGENE DAUB: PORTRAITURE & FIGURE SULPTURE: June 25-28, $375 + materials.

CHRIS RICCARDO: PORTRAITURE & FIGURE SCULPTURE: July 15-19 & July 22-26. Week 1: clay and/or plastilene sculpture modeling. Week 2: finishing sculptures from first week plus moving towards bronze casting: Plaster & rubber mold-making & wax casting. $300 per week + materials.

ARTHUR GONZALEZ: CLAY MONOPRINTING & IDEAS IN FIGURATION: Aug 17-18, figurative sculpture demonstration & slide lecture, $130

OPEN STUDIO WEEK: Aug 19-23, enjoy the beautiful Puget Sound while sculpting or hand-building. Open studio 9-6pm. $50 per day plus materials. No instruction provided.

LANA WILSON: INNOVATIVE HANDBUILDING TECHNIQUES: Sept 15-16, demonstration of hand-building, soft-slab techniques and use of unusual glazes, $150.

The following workshops will be at Lost Dog Farm, 4701 Holland Loop Rd, Cave Junction OR 97523, 541-592-6976, coneten@internetcds.com:

STEPHANIE FRIEDMAN: CLAY BASICS: Pinch, coil & slab techniques, surface decoration & glazing. June 28-July 1, $395.

MARGARET KUHN: HANDCARVED MOLDED TILES: Making relief tiles, carve master tile then make press molded tile. July 8-14, $685

PENELOPE DEWS: WORKING BIG, MAKING SCULPTURES WITHOUT AN ARMATURE: make 25 to 50 lb sculpture, learn about tools, sculpture clay bodies, glazes. July 18-21, $395.

JIM ROMBERG: RAKU, GLAZE COLOR & FIRE: Explore color, glaze effects, reduction. July 27-28, $215

STEPHANIE FRIEDMAN & BILL FRANCIS: SLAB, SURFACE & GLAZE: Learn about molds, texture, surface techniques, feet & handles, local materials for glazes. Aug 8-13, $585

KIRK MANGUS: Aug 10-11 at Mt Hood Community College in Gresham. Focus on throwing, carving & decorating. Known for his relaxed style, he has worked with Jun Kaneko, Toshiko Takuezu, and Tony Hepburn. 10-4 Sat & Sun, $40, limited to 35 participants. Send checks (payable to MHCC Ceramic Club) to Stephen Mickey, MHCC, 26000 SE Stark St, Gresham Or. 97030.

MEMBER NEWS

MARK HEIMANN, JANET BUSKIRK, & LESLIE GREEN have had photos of their work accepted for the upcoming book (from Lark Books) 500 Bowls. Leslie also had photos accepted for 500 Teapots.

MARK HEIMANN will be the subject of OPB’s "Art Beat" television program, date of airing "sometime in the Fall of 2002".

PATRICK HORSLEY, WALLY SCHWAB, DON SPRAGUE, TOM & ELAINE COLEMAN have a show at Contemporary Crafts Gallery, "150 Divided by Five: New Work by Older Artists", through July 21.

LYNN LINDGREN is showing sculptural pieces in a 2 person show at Guardino Gallery, 2939 NE Alberta, Portland, July 25 to August 27.

KIM MURTON is having show at Mary Lou Zeek Gallery, 335 State St in Salem, June 4-29

MICHELLE CLARY GALLAGHER’s piece, "Bird Watchers" was selected for the Critic's Choice/Professional Award in Georgie's annual clay and glaze contest.  The prize was a $200 gift certificate to Georgie's.  The piece was on display through April 21st.

JIM KOUDELKA won the Best of Show award in the 10^th annual "Strictly Functional" show. He also won a merit award in the 14^th annual "San Angelo National Ceramic Competition". He will have a one-man show titled "More and Less" at the Hoffman Gallery at Oregon College of Art and Craft, 8245 SW Barnes Rd in Portland, opening the evening of July 3^rd (through July 28).

RICHARD ROWLAND curated an exhibition of teapots by ceramics students, June 10-16 at Clatsop Community College Gallery in Astoria (there is a concurrent show of work by Cathy Nist). Richard is also in the "National Teapot Show V" at Cedar Creek Gallery in Creedmoor, NC, see the show at www.cedarcreekgallery.com

VICTORIA McOMIE has a ceramic installation called "One Hundred Chalices" at the Schneider Museum of Art at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, June 28-Oct 5, opening June 27, 5-7pm

REBECCA URLACHER is featured in the "Up Front" section of the May 2002 Ceramics Monthly for her show at Jacobs Gallery in Eugene

CRAIG MARTELL had a great article in the May issue of Ceramics Monthly.

MARK HEIMANN was featured in a nice article in the April 2002 Fine Art Ceramics

MEMBERSHIP IN THE OPA is open to any serious studio potter living in Oregon or southwest Washington. There is no jurying for membership, which costs $40 per calendar year. Membership is not pro-rated, it is Jan-Dec, although you may join at any time. Membership includes 6 newsletters per year, 6 meetings per year, and the opportunity to apply for Ceramic Showcase. If you live over 100 miles from Portland and do not plan to use other membership benefits, you may subscribe to the newsletter only for $10/year. Please send a check, name, address, email and phone number(s) to Mary Orcutt.

OPPORTUNITIES

PLANTERS WANTED: A landscape architect is looking for someone who can produce large, exterior, frost-proof pots, 30" wide by 25"-30" tall, to be used as planters. If you're interested give her a call (Kellr ivleague@easystreet.com

LARGE CERAMIC PIECES WANTED: An art consultant in New York is looking for artists who can produce large scale ceramic pieces (no other info, sorry!), Danette Koke, 2

FOUNTAIN WANTED: Fountain/waterfall for garden wanted, maybe next to or on a short rock wall, Lucille Smith Lake Oswego

CALL FOR ENTRIES: The 53^rd International Competition for Contemporary Ceramic Art, in Faenza, Italy. Juried from slides, deadline July 13, show May-Dec, 2003. www.micfaeza.org, Museo Internazionale delle Ceramiche, Via Campidori 2, 48018 Faenza, Italy

CALL FOR ENTRIES: 2^nd World Ceramic Biennale 2003 Korea, deadline Jan/Feb 2003, show Sept/Oct 2003. 2 categories: ceramics for use; and ceramics as expression. Preliminary selections juried from slides, final selections from actual works. www.ceramicbiennale.org or www.worldceramic.org.kr, Office for International Competition, Exhibition Dept, WOCEF, Icheon World Ceramic Center, Gwangodong San 69-1, Icheon, Gyeonggi-do, South Korea 467-020

CALL FOR ENTRIES: Craft USA 2002, July 1 deadline, show Nov-Dec 2002, $25 jury fee, send SASE for prospectus to Silvermine Guild Art Center, 1037 Silvermine Rd, New Canaan CT 06840,203-966-9700 x26

CALL FOR ENTRIES: George E Ohr National Arts Challenge, Aug 10 deadline, show Nov 2002-Jan 2003, $30 jury fee, www.georgeohr.org, Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art, 136 G E Ohr St, Biloxi MI 39530

CALL FOR ENTRIES: Red Heat: Contemporary Work in Clay, deadline Aug 25, show Oct-Dec, email whitney-

School of Art (Red Heat), 600 S College Ave, Tulsa OK 74104

CALL FOR ENTRIES: Dinner is Served, open to dinner plates & serving pieces, Sept 16 deadline, show March 2003, $15 jury fee, send SASE to Worcester Center for Crafts, atn Gallery Gift Shop, 25 Sagamore Rd, Worcester MA 01605

CALL FOR ENTRIES: National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts 2003 Clay National Exhibition, Sept 25 deadline, show March 2003, $20 jury fee, www.nceca.net, send SASE to NCECA, PO Box 777, Erie CO 80516-0777

CALL FOR ENTRIES: Wall Works, Sept 27 deadline, show Jan-Feb 2003, $15 jury fee, www.baltimoreclayworks.org, send SASE to Leigh Taylor Mickelson, Baltimore Clayworks, 5707 Smith Ave, Baltimore MD 21209

CALL FOR ENTRIES: National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts Regional Student Juried Exhibition, open to undergraduates or graduates studying in AK, AZ, CA, HI, NV, OR & WA. No entry fee, Oct 28 deadline, show March 2003, www.nceca.net, send SASE to NCECA, PO Box 777, Erie CO 80516-0777

PHOTOS SOUGHT for the cover of the December 2002 Ceramics Monthly. This is a contest for their end-of-the-50^th-anniverary year cover photo. They need 2 ¼ or 4x5 transparencies (originals, not duplicates), complete caption info, artists’ statement & resume. Deadline Sept 16, send to Cover Contest, 735 Ceramic Pl, Westerville OH 43081, include padded envelope w/ return postage.

CALL FOR ARTISTS: Exploding Head Gallery, Contemporary Art & Ceramics, is looking for artists. They want functional work on consignment. Send visuals to them at 924 12^th St, Sacramento CA 95814, explodinghead1@aol.com, 916-442-8424

CALL FOR ENTRIES: 2002 Geijutsu Sai (Japanese Garden Society of Portland’s annual holiday show), jury date June 25, juried from actual work, show is Nov 30-Dec 9, 2002, 40% commission, no fees, work must be related to Japanese culture. Contact Kathi Pieretti 503-223-9233, Sandra Catlett 503-241-4139.

POTTERY NEWS

NEW PROGRAM FOR MERCHANT CREDIT CARD PROCESSING: Discover/Novus has a new program aimed at small businesses. Many OPA members already use them to process Discover, VISA and Mastercard. Their new program uses no terminal, you just use your touch tone phone to process sales. There is no charge for months when you do no business, nor annual or monthly minimum fees. There is a $5 monthly statement fee if they mail you a statement, if you access it online it is free. The costs are: Discover Card processing at 2.29% of sale plus 8¢ per transaction, VISA/Mastercard processing at 2.41% of sale plus 40¢ per transaction. Funds are deposited directly into your bank account. The local representative for this is Kopper

Slavens (she came to an OPA meeting last winter and gave a brief presentation), Sales Executive, Discover Business Services, 503-521-1908 (office), 503-590-1818 (fax), kopperslavens@discoverfinancial.com

NEWS FROM GEORGIES: The "Basic Fire" clay studio & gallery is nearing completion! The planned move-in date is late June for the apartments & studios. In addition to the Olsen 72 cubic foot kiln, they are also installing a 24 cubic foot Olsen and a 10 cubic foot oval. Anne Goodrich has been selected as Studio Manager and is still accepting applications for the studio & apartments. Contact her on Saturdays at Georgies, at her parents' home at 503.524.0357 or email 'annebadpoor@hotmail.com'.

There will be a Grand Opening celebration and Open House on Saturday, Aug 10th, from 3pm to 9pm. Enjoy a great outdoor barbeque (roast pig in a kiln?) and a fun live band. More details to follow.

New Products In at Georgies:

- Southern Ice, the translucent porcelain from Australia, has arrived via Laguna. They brought in a small amount and will stock more as demand dictates.

- The full line of Tim Coleman glazes from Aardvark! Vegas Red... Lipstick Purple... fun glazes, give them a try.

- They continue to test new clay blends and materials. There is a new and throwable lowfire white body, similar to Minnesota White earthenware. There are 2 versions, an A and a B, only differing in the type of talc. If you would like to test these please give them a call. All they ask is that you give them some feedback.

- Materials testing is ongoing. They recently brought in test samples from Plainsmen and Imco of several distinctly different materials that Jim Robinson promises everyone will love. Jim has promised to do a week-long "Test & Discover" workshop. They plan to hold this in the new Basic Fire studio next year (2003). Because Jim is the most incredible source of information -- and tests everything -- he will bring to you a whirlwind of understanding. This workshop will be formatted on the workshop he does at Arrowmont. They are waiting to schedule this to coordinate all this material testing and have electric kilns, gas kilns, and the soon-to-be-built soda kiln all operating.

CLAY ART CENTER CLAYS are now available through Doug Hively. He is working with Clay Art to supply their clay bodies to the area. If you are using or would like to try any of their clays call him at 503-838-3989. Other clay bodies are also available

HELP NEEDED FOR CHILDREN’S TILE COMMEMORATING SEPT 11: Mercy Corps, the international humanitarian organization that is based in Portland, is working on a tile project with children. The project involves 9500 children in Oregon and Washington. Each child decorates two tiles, one depicting the world as it is now, another depicting the world as the child wants it to be. The tiles will be made into a mosaic and installed at the Portland Zoo.

They need some help with this. The tiles have been donated, but they need donations or reduced price items: tile setters for 6" tile (do you have some they could borrow?); kiln time; under- or over- glaze; assistance with the logistics and actual building of the mosaic. They especially need help firing the tiles to cone 06. Do you have any space at all in your kiln? The tiles can probably be picked up and delivered. All donations would be tax-deductible (they are non-profit). For more information on Mercy Corps, see their website www.mercycorps.org, Martina Jones, martina@orgz.org

COMMENTS ON BAD SLIDES: A recent article by Bob Keefer in the Eugene Register Guard (Sunday, May 5, Arts Section) related his experiences sitting on a jury to decide one the year’s exhibitions at the Hult Center Gallery in Eugene. We have all heard this before, but it never hurts to hear it again… First, he said "take better slides." He

saw too many terrible slides. He also felt that many artists sent in too many slides; if they only had three good pieces, but they were allowed to send nine slides, they sent nine slides. The six bad slides reflected poorly on their work, and resulted in them being rejected, when a few good slides might have resulted in acceptance. He advised that, if you make more than one style of work, "do not under any circumstances send both…Decide on one thing…" He objected to too much "talking" from the artists: offering interpretations of the work, advice on how to hang it, excuses and pleas. The work should be able to speak for itself. Throughout the article, though, he came back to the poor quality of many artists’ slides. Poor slides begged to be rejected, and were.

TRADITIONAL CRAFTS TOURS OF JAPAN: Escorted by photographer Jack Sanders, these tours emphasize contact with artists, craftspeople, and the traditional life in Japan. Visit Takayama, Hira-yu, Kanazawa, and more. Travel within the country will be Japanese-style, staying in traditional inns and bed and breakfasts (no 4-star hotels), eating set Japanese menus with toilets down the hall. The cost is about $2500 (includes roundtrip airfare from Portland), 6 to 8 participants, Oct 25-Nov 3, 2002. For more information contact Jack at 503-293-6195, tcrafttours@hotmail.com. There will also be a potter-only trip to Kyushu, Japan in June 2004. An informational slide show (with information on how you might be able to obtain grants for going on this trip) will be held on Sept 26, 7-10pm

CLAY TOOLS AVAILABLE: OPA member Gordon Ward is making and selling a line of tools for clay. He passed around a flier at Showcase that had intriguing things like "wiggle wires" and "glaze geysers", as well as ware carts, tile cutters, and other things. You can check the website, www.tools4clay.com.

SMALL BUSINESS CONSULTING AVAILABLE: SCORE (Service Corps of Retired Executives) offers counseling to people who are starting a business or have existing business problems. They hold workshops and will provide speakers to organizations. Their services are inexpensive, sometimes free. For more information, contact them at 503-326-3441, www.score.org.

CRYSTALLINE GLAZES are featured in an article in the May/June 2002 Ceramic Review. There are a few formulas as well as some pointers for glaze formulation, clay bodies, etc.

HEALTH INSURANCE RESOURCES: The July 2002 issue of CraftReport has an article about small businesses obtaining health insurance. It contains a list of insurers who deal with different types of individuals and small groups.

ARTICLES FROM VARIOUS CERAMICS MAGAZINES: Your newsletter editor receives, thanks to the generosity of OPA, a whole lot of different magazines about clay. I have been keeping files about different techniques or glazes or firings. If OPA members would like to look at these files, they are welcome to. Call Janet Buskirk for more info.

Empty Bowls in Portland: July 3-7

OPA General Meeting: July 12

Showcase Steering Committee Meeting: July 8

OPA Board Meeting: August 5

Newsletter Deadline: August 10

OPA Picnic: September 15