It’s that time of year again. I’m having my annual studio sale the first weekend in December, the 1st and 2nd from 10 am to 5 pm. Rupa Palasamudram’s pottery and Stephanie Benson’s jewelry will be here again as well.

Last year as part of the online course I’m teaching, Antoinette Badenhorst interviewed me about my career and my life.  She’s just put it up on her web site at https://porcelainbyantoinette.com/antoinette-interviews-artists.html

It’s about 17 minutes long.  Check it out.

I was honored to receive a 2018 University of Montana Distinguished Alumni of the Year Award this year. We went to Missoula last weekend to get that, and here are some pictures. I spoke to two classes of art students, had a small luncheon with the other winners and the U President and a few others, spoke at a reception for me in the School of Art, and was interviewed and given a plaque at the awards ceremony. Then we go to ride in the Homecoming Parade, and watch the Homecoming Game from the President’s box, with an introduction on the field at halftime. I also got a brick with my name on it inset in the Oval on campus. It was pretty special.

These tiles just went home today. They will go on the end wall of a shower. There’s a window in the wall, and the irises will be below the window, with the maple leaves above and to the side of it. The rest of the wall will be filled in with the same white matte tile.

The tile piece that was in my blog post from July 2 got installed and the clients just sent me a picture of it.  This is one of my catalogue images but in the catalogue, it's on 4 1/4" tiles, whereas here it's on 6" tiles.  And in this case, it has a 1/2" blue border painted on the tiles.

This is an interesting tile I just did.  Sort of like a family tree.

This is the 2018 Central Valley High School senior tile.  Every year they have a contest among the seniors to design an 8" x 8" tile that will go in the lobby of the high school.  They send me the design and I reproduce it on a tile.  I've done this every year since 2006.  It's always a treat to see what they'll come up with.

This is a small (30" x 36") backsplash that I just finished.  You can see a line at the top where it will be trimmed off to fit under the hood, leaving a 1/2" blue border all around.  This is one of my catalogue images, but on made much larger than is pictures there.

I just got back from teaching a workshop at a fabulous place, Anderson Ranch Arts Center in Snowmass Village, Colorado.  It was originally supposed to be a two-person workshop with Kurt Weiser, but he got sick.  Luckily, Julia Galloway, a very well respected potter (and professor at my alma mater, the University of Montana) was enrolled in the class as a student.  She stepped in as a second teacher and did a fantastic job.  I'm in awe of her as a teacher.  As part of the class, I painted this 10" x 8" tile portrait of Paul Soldner, the very famous clay artist who was instrumental in starting Anderson Ranch.  The students were an amazing group and all in all, it was a fantastic experience.  I hope I get to go back some day.  And Ruth came and joined me after the workshop for about 5 days of hiking, sight-seeing and relaxing to celebrate our 47th anniversary.

This two-panel kitchen backsplash just went home today.  It's based on the woodblock prints of Ando Hiroshige.