October 2024
November 2 and 3 - Holiday Fine Art & Craft Festival hosted by the Reading-Berks Guild of Craftsmen and held at Kutztown University's Micheal O'Pake Field House, at the corner of Trexler Avenue and Baldy Street, Kutztown, PA 19530 website
November 7 - Redware Sgraffito Heart Ornaments - 5:30pm - 8:30pm. The heart ornaments are ready to sgraffito and will be shipped back to the students! Location - Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen, 335 N. Queen Street, Lancaster, PA 17603. Parking available at the rear of the building. the details
November 16 (new date for this year only) - North Penn Holiday Craft Market at the North Penn High School, 1340 S. Valley Forge Rd, Lansdale, PA
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Welcome to my vision of Pennsylvania Redware.
I hand make this pottery using the tools and techniques of the Pennsylvania German potters.
Pottery is meant to be touched and you can feel the design scratched into the surface of my sgraffito pieces. My tulips, birds and hearts are inspired by Pennsylvania German folk art of all kinds. I use a rolling pin, molds for shaping the clay into plates and bowls, a coggle wheel to decorate the edges and handcrafted tin cookie cutters for the ornaments. The pieces are fired in an electric kiln rather than the traditional wood-fired kiln.
I am a Master Artisan with the Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen and listed in the Directory of Traditional American Crafts presented by Early American Life magazine.
I teach the art of Redware in my Sgraffito workshops held at various locations. My students always amaze me - many are first-timers designing and then using the sgraffito technique to create their own work of art.
My favorite Pennsylvania German saying is "Lieben und Geliebt zu werden Ist die Gröst Freud auf Erden” Translation is "To love and be loved is the greatest joy on earth"
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* Pottery Classes / Workshops *
Learn about and make your own Pennsylvania German Redware
Learn the art of scratching on clay to create your special plate - a centuries-old technique the Pennsylvania German potters' used to decorate their fancy pieces of pottery. I teach workshops at various locations in eastern Pennsylvania.
October 19 - Class is full - Sgraffito plate workshop at Landis Valley Village & Farm Museum, 2451 Kissel Hill Rd, Lancaster, PA 17601
November 7 - Redware Sgraffito Heart Ornaments - 5:30pm - 8:30pm. Location - Pennsylvania Guild of Craftsmen, 335 N. Queen Street, Lancaster, PA 17603. the details
* Early American Life Magazine *
I'm thrilled that my work was chosen for the photo shoot at Historic Trappe for the 2024 Directory of Traditional American Crafts. My sgraffito and slipware plates stand on the kitchen mantel of the Muhlenberg House on page 61. And I was given the opportunity to participate as a "helper" during the shoot too!
* The Studio *
The studio is located on the outskirts of Macungie, Pennsylvania
The original portion of this barely two-story house was built in the mid-1700's; before the American Revolution began and the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights were written.
