Extending a heartfelt thanks to you as members for using your remarkable talents and skills these past few months. Your positivity in supporting the Club is greatly appreciated. 
 
Hat tips to several who work or have worked behind the scenes where we all benefit, but may not see the work they do:
 
Pat Conlen for her research, review, and guidance in restating our policies and procedures and for her work on the Studio Expansion team. 
 
Walt Fuller, Pam Davidson, and Pat Conlen for updating our capital reserve plan. 
 
Pam Davidson for compiling the quarterly data to CAM. 
 
Terry Cullen for her excellence in organizing the hidden side of our gallery structure these past years.
 
Cliff Ellis for cataloging our equipment in anticipation of our move. 
 
Karen LeMar for her diligence in the efforts to improve our website platform. 
 
Theresa Fritz for the endless research I ask her to do. 
 
Leslie Frieman for reorganizing the newsletter process for ease of contributing and editing.
 
Cathy Rick and Bob Piper for organizing our storage unit and schlepping no longer needed items to recycle. And for representing Clay on Artisan Fusion. 
 
Beckie Alexander for backing up Theresa as we are gearing up for summer supply needs and for researching ideas that are brought forward. 
 
Renee Silberman for running with the silent auction of our donated art and helping to create a raffle. 
 
Debbie Meyer for her efforts in keeping our books and for her patience (and humor) in training in a new board.
 
Jim Jensen and Diane Niehof for catching the vision in the creation of the Bob Mohr video. 
 
Jean Ziegler for (to the point of near exhaustion) supporting our wheel wonder, Brian Marx (we tip our hat to him too). 
 
Sandi Schultzetenberg and Cindi Swintek for quickly taking the baton and running with it, creating, and staffing a great exhibit at the Everything Grand open house. 
 
Jim Donaldson for his tireless efforts in the expansion project. 
 
Claudia Jorrisen, who responds to our eBlast communication needs and stands ready to help, often on short notice. 

Kathy and Curt Furness for loyally cashiering our sales. 
 
Grand Clay Arts members, you are quite a team out front and behind the scenes!
 
 

A Great BIG Thank You to our Market Set-Up Team.

Your heavy lifting and organizational skills have made our Market Sales go smoothly.

You’ve made a huge difference!!!

Dave Dick, crew lead

Judy Climan

Kathy Furness

Curt Furness

Bob Piper

Brian Marx
 

A very successful Market Sale season is winding down.  May 4, 2024 will be our last sale.  We’ll start up again in October 2024.  Thanks to all of the Artists who work hard at getting ready for sales and then step up to the plate to make each sale a success. And Thanks to members who tolerate the interruptions in the studio when we’re staging and putting things away for each Market sale. 

Reminder:  signing up to request to sell is very easy; just go to our home page and click on Sign Up to Sell at The Grand Market.  Sign up is open from the 1st to the 15th of the month prior to each sale.

First, thanks to all that took the time to leave the glaze room looking better than when you arrived or used the Glaze Room Request to help us identify and fix a problem.  This does make a difference.  

1) GCA (infrequent) Glaze Sale.  You should have seen the e-blast announcing the sale of our discontinued glazes. The reason that Deep Firebrick and Blue Rutile are being dropped is because they are no longer available in dry form.  Spring Green is being dropped because of low usage based on review of high fire sheets.

2) We added Ochre, Amethyst and Mandarin to our brush on color palette this season. With the building renovation, the expectation is that we will have more dipping glaze choices. If you have suggestions, please let us know and we will consider.

3) During the summer, if you have something to share or have a Glaze Room Request, please send an email to: GlazeLead@GrandClayArts.com

4) Trivia question:  What do you get when you sieve our glazes? Answer: Sponge dust and pottery chips. So, wipe your bottoms over the sink, not over the bucket and rinse the sink after bisque. Chips tend to sink; sponge dust can leave voids as it burns off. Ragged sponges belong somewhere other than the Glaze room.

5) We are always looking for new glaze team members. If you're interested in learning something new, let's talk. Training can happen year-round.

6) What to do with your unwanted clay? Place it in the glaze room with a note. We will use it to make test tiles. Thanks..

7) If you have a favorite glaze combination to share; send a picture and your recipe.

This month we have a few examples:

From Elizabeth Folk, her combination of Ochre over Gloss Black on Speckled Buff. Glaze sequence:  Full dip of Gloss Black. Brush Ochre on the textured surface.

Second, Jacqueline Shelly used Amethyst (one of our newest glazes) on Speckled Buff.The inside was glazed with Italian Straw. While Amethyst is rated Cone 6, it looks great at Cone 5.

YAY!  It was another great day for our Plates of Plenty event!  Valley View Community Food Bank will be receiving a check for $1,055.00.  POP sales totaled $955.00.  Another $100.00 came from our recent Ask the Artist event. 

 

Thanks to all who helped with our POP fundraiser  - especially our fun and energetic sales team: Sandra Bizak, Karin Brambilla, Judy Climan, Georgene Davis, Lisa Minton, Barbara Rosen and Nancy White.  Additional helpers included:  Bob Piper, Cathy Rick, Brian Marx and Jean Zeidler!  THANK YOU ALL!!

 

PLATES WANTED!!  Because of our recent sale, our inventory is low.  We are ready to accept more plates (and bowls, trays, mugs, etc.).  The autumn POP sale will take place in November and the next six months will go fast!

Where to begin: 

• Start at the POP Shelves - located on the wire shelving in the southeast corner of the workroom.  There you will find materials and instructions.
• Feel free to make more than one piece.
• Before you turn it in, check your piece to make sure there are no sharp edges or cracks.  Then ask yourself, “Is this a piece I would be proud to give a friend or family member?”  If the answer is YES, Plates of Plenty wants it!  Thank you!

Grand Clay Arts Supply

Hello everyone,

Things are definitely winding down at the studio these past few days. A large number of our snowbirds have left and over the next few weeks more (including me) will be leaving. Thank you all for yet another wonderful season.

Just a quick reminder that if you are planning to take clay "home"  with you , there is a 50# limit that you may purchase directly from our "stock" at the club. If you would like more than the #50 limit. Please contact Beckie Alexander or Theresa Fritz.  One of us will then order the clay for you from our supplier (Marjon) and you can then pick up the clay at Marjon before your departure date.  This way you can purchase the clay directly from our studio at our lower rate and it helps us keep our clay "stock" in good shape for those members who will be staying here throughout the summer season.

Beckie Alexander will be your "Go to" supply person throughout the summer months. The Member Special order form is hanging on the pegboard in front of the glaze room. 

One other small item.  I will be placing the Lost & Found box out on the table in the center of the studio this week. If you are missing anything, have a quick look through the items.

Please remember that should you find any "lost or forgotten"  items in or around the studio, turn them in to the monitor with the date and your name on them.  These items will remain in the "Lost and Found" for two weeks and should they remain unclaimed after that time, then and only then does it become "yours" for the keeping.

I wish you all safe journeys "home" and for those of you who call Grand your summer home, stay cool above all and enjoy the peacefulness at the studio while it lasts, we will see you all this fall.

Creativity galore! The classes offered have generated some very wonderful pottery creations. Maybe you’ve seen some ombré painted roadrunners, or some interesting things made from extruder output. The hanging totem, mask making and pickled pigs feet classes all had fantastic final projects. And of course we’ve seen very successful wheel pieces! 

 

And to be sure we are meeting member needs, a feedback survey process has been automated. Following each class, participants are sent a survey. That feedback helps us improve our classes.

 

Moving into the summer months there are still a few classes being offered. Please continue to check the calendar for classes that might be of interest. 

 

Our class offerings not only help you make a project, but help build skills for working with clay. A big shout out to all the instructors who have shared their knowledge, talent and time to help our members create!