Kreeger Pottery

New AOTP Website!

I finally got the AOTP Website up and running. Please check it out here and let me know what you think. I have a few more pages to build but we were ready to get something new up there.

I used WordPress to build it and even though I’m still figuring out some of it’s quirks, I like it and am thinking of switching this blog and my site over to WP.

Other than the website build, I’ve been busy getting ready for Art City Austin. I’ll be firing Ryan’s kiln in about a week and a half. I’m pretty excited about my new work. It’s all porcelain, lots of fluting, some squaring and in the end it will have lots of decals.

I wish I was at NCECA…never thought I’d say that again but for some reason it seems full of energy this year. Maybe it’s because of Michael Connelly’s pre-conference got things rolling.

Posted in art of the pot, austin, studio on 04/02/2010 04:57 pm | 2 Comments

I Won!

Who said that Twitter is a waste of time?

Well, while I was wasting time on said website I noticed that DO512.com had some free tickets to Gilberto Gil’s show over at UT. I was the 2nd person to reply so I won I pair of tickets. In addition to this lucky moment of the day, we were also able to find a babysitter for the evening so Evangelina got to see a pretty great show.

We parked on Campus and I had no clue where the Hogg Auditorium was. Luckily, there was a group of not college age looking folks leaving the parking garage at the same time. I decided to follow the guy in his mid-60’s wearing a blazer, a mock turtleneck and a pair of vans. It was definitely my lucky day. Will-Call had our tickets and we enjoyed our great seats and our show.

Posted in austin, music on 03/24/2010 02:16 pm | 1 Comment

Art City Austin

We’re back from an amazing trip to El Salvador. We went all over the country and had a blast doing so. We went from city to beach, from city to lake, from city to beach and back. The kids had a blast and this will probably be the first trip to El Salvador that they truly remember. Javi and Ale had been before but it had been almost 3 years so their memories were hazy. With all the fun they had this trip, it should be crystal clear for a long time.

Now that we’re back it’s time to focus on getting ready for Art City Austin. I don’t know much about the show other than it’s right here in town, put on by a wonderful local organization that works really hard to promote Art in Austin and that it’s going to be in a wonderful location. The show stretches along the Lake on Cesar Chavez from Colorado Street to Lamar. I’ve only done one other outdoor show before so I’m hoping for good weather. I’ll let you all know my exact location when I find out.

I’m also hoping that my good friends Abigail and Steven win the TOGS Competition so I can use their exhibition space rather than set up under a sorry EZ-UP Tent.

Posted in austin, craftshows, friends on 03/22/2010 02:32 pm | 2 Comments

My Favorite Place in the World

el lago de coatepeque

We’ve been visiting my wife’s family in El Salvador during spring break. Haven’t been in about 3 years and I’m wondering what took us so long to get back here. A trip wouldn’t be complete without a visit to my absolute favorite place in the world. El Lago de Coatepeque. Actually, we were on an island in the middle of the lake…does it get any better than that?

Back to Austin, my studio and reality shortly. Pero, para mientras, vamos a tomar un poquito mas.

Posted in el salvador, family on 03/20/2010 01:12 am | Comments Off

Art of the Pot

I keep forgetting to tell everyone the good news. For those that don’t know, there’s a great group of potters here in Austin who work together and host a big tour Mother’s Day Weekend called Art of the Pot. I’ve been invited into the group and will be a host potter beginning in 2011.

There is a great tour planned for this year. AOTP Founders Chris Campbell, Ryan McKerley, Lisa Orr & Claudia Reese will be hosting Ted Adler, Jennifer Allen, Ben Bates, Joe Bova, Charity Davis-Woodard, Sanam Emami, Nancy Gardner, Amy Halko, Brenda Lichman, Mark Shapiro, Jane Shellenbarger and Ryan Takaba.

I’m excited to be working with such a great group and I’m looking forward to being here for this year’s tour in a few months. In the meantime, I’m working on re-working their website…and learning about WordPress in the process.

Art of the Pot has a new Facebook page and I hope you’ll check it out and “become a fan”

Posted in austin on 02/25/2010 04:57 am | 1 Comment

What’s Going On?

I just got my formal introduction to Texas weather. No, not the searing heat that we were welcomed with in August when we first moved. On Sunday it was 76º and absolutely beautiful. Tuesday, it snowed…or as my brother likes to say, it snew. It kind of makes sense as the past tense to me now. And today, it was 55º and gorgeous again by the afternoon.

We’ve had a great couple of weeks here. This past weekend we celebrated my son’s 7th birthday. It was actually more like the entire week and he had a blast the entire time. I guess we’re Texan now because this was one of his presents:

Although, if we were really Texans, I guess it would be a real one.

Posted in austin on 02/24/2010 04:55 am | 1 Comment

Modus Operandi

As with any assigment, I’m running a little behind schedule…perhaps I can get a note from my mother so Michael will still let me turn it in. (do you still get to do that as an adult?)

I made cups yesterday. I made lots of cups, not all of them before Noon but most of them. Most likely they will all get decals on them after they’re fired. Some are squared, some are cylindrical and others will get fluted tomorrow.

Tomorrow I’ll be making a few more cups and finish up everything for the weekend.

Posted in cups on 02/05/2010 12:13 am | 2 Comments

A Month Late…

Update, 12:50pm:

Sorry for the image quality on the NYC postcards. I guess I used the halftoned jpegs that I used for the actual decals rather than the original image. More on that later when I get a how to together about the decal.

Original Post:

I’m ready to attack 2010. I may be a month late but procrastinating has always been my downfall.

I had planned a 2009 review but it’s a bit late so we’ll go with the Cliff’s Notes version for everybody…We moved to Texas.

The rest is a blur. It’s been a good move and we’re definitely beginning to feel a little more settled in. It was awfully strange returning back to Austin after the Holiday Road Trip. Well, a month has gone by and I’m ready to start working again in my new city.

I haven’t actually made pots yet but the (extended) time off has given me some ideas of where I want to go next. The year in Austin began with CityScape line drawings and then I moved onto laser toner decals. I don’t think I ever posted any pics of the decalcomania wares on the blog so I will put some up shortly. I did post them on the Kreeger Pottery Facebook page though.

I used photos I took of the current Austin skyline as well as used some postcards from my grandfather’s extensive collection. The postcard ones turned out to be my favorites. Here’s a couple of sample postcards I used:

And here’s a couple of the Austin photos I used:

I’m really enjoying using the cards with the handwriting on the front. Most of the ones I used were postmarked in the 1920’s and 1930’s. There was something very cool about using these artifacts on my pots. I also really enjoyed the method of photoshopping the cards, cutting the decals and applying them to the pots. Yes…one more step to the process. And, we moved here at a really interesting point for Austin’s downtown as the City is trying to figure out it’s next move in development. The skyline has changed dramatically since we first came here a few years back and decided to move. I guess I’ll develop my work as the city develops itself.

My plan for the next month is to make series of cups and tumblers, fire them in Ryan’s soda kiln and then apply the different decals. I’m planning on 2 main series, Old York Postcards as well as finding some Old Austin ones around here too. I have 2 CDs with about 1500 scanned postcards so I have some work to do finding the ones to put on. It’s awfully cool research though.

I’ll take another look after this next firing about what to do next but I’m thinking I have to split my studio mind into 2 distinct groups…decal wares and line drawings. I’m hoping it makes sense to my customers and galleries. I also hope it makes sense to me as I’m working.

I’m glad to be in the studio writing this post. I was ready to put a big old on hiatus post up and wasn’t sure when I’d be back. Brandon kind of forced the issue the other day. So..hopefully more soon.

Posted in austin, family, studio on 02/01/2010 05:49 pm | 6 Comments

Holiday Road

Until I searched on iTunes, I had no clue Lindsay Buckingham wrote this song.

We’re just about done with our holiday road trip. I can’t believe how fun it was. The whole trip will be a little over 2400 miles when it’s all said and done. Austin to Orlando and back! I had looked at flights home for the rest of the family thinking it was going to be a disaster but our kids were fantastic. They even pushed us to go all the way to Orlando from Houston on day 2 of the trip…16 hours! We had planned a stop in either Pensacola or Tallahassee but they weren’t having any of that…no stopping until Orlando!

Details of the trip to follow….hopefully. I also have a year end blog post in my head…I hope it makes it to the interwebs soon…it will probably have to turn into a beginning of the year blog post since I’m getting ready to prep our seafood feast for tonight.

We’re driving the final leg of the trip tomorrow. It’s been a great trip but it will be good to be home.

Posted in family, fun, holiday on 12/31/2009 09:05 pm | 1 Comment

We’re Open

Luckily the child labor laws are a little different down here in Texas. As usual, we’re busy pricing work at the last second. I’m lucky to have a few helpers today and here’s one of them pricing some of the new decal mugs. He was also kind enough to make a sign pointing the way to the “free” candy that we put out for our guests.

We’re here 10-5 and hope to see some of you all today.

Posted in austin, family, Open House on 12/13/2009 04:01 pm | 1 Comment

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