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Click the photo to see what piece Laura is sculpting.
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| Greetings! |
Welcome to the the first issue of News & Notes for the new year. We hope that your holidays were happy and that 2014 is treating you well.
As we begin a new year, we look back on 2013 with an analytical eye. What new things did we try and how did they work? Did we achieve what we had hoped? What should we carry forward and what new ideas do we want to try? One item on our agenda for 2014 is an update to our web site. When we upgraded the site and added the online store in June 2011, it was a big leap forward. Now that the site has been in place for two and a half years, we feel that a redesign and improvements to our online store are needed. We will be emailing you a link to a survey about our web site in the next week or so. We would greatly appreciate it if you would take a few minutes to give us your feedback. Hearing from those of you who use the web site and online store will help us determine how to make your experience with them better. Whether you fill out the survey or not, we appreciate receiving your feedback and suggestions. Thank you for your support of our work. Our goal is to make 2014 our best year yet!
Creatively yours,
Kristin Cramer
Ephraim Faience Pottery
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Pieces to be retired at the end of the month
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It's time for another retirement! The 12 pieces shown here will be retired at 4:00 p.m. CST on Friday, January 31. We will fill the orders received before the deadline; after that, no more of these pieces will be made.
You can place your order in our online store or by phone (M-F 9-5 CST). If you would like to pick up your order at our Lake Mills gallery, please call our office to place your order. You can reach us by calling toll free 1-888-704-POTS or by emailing Laura Taylor. Thank you! |
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Experimental Newcomb-style pieces online
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The artists at Ephraim Pottery experiment with new forms, designs, and glazes on a regular basis. In addition to nature and the world around them, the work of historic Arts-and-Crafts era potteries inspires them. Experimenting with different styles gives them the opportunity to stretch and grow artistically. "It's challenging and fun to try to figure out how they got the effects they did," says Ephraim owner and potter Kevin Hicks.
The pottery of Newcomb College has been an ongoing and challenging source of inspiration. While we are not planning to include Newcomb-style pieces in our next Studio Collection, it's still a style that our artists enjoy working with from time to time. They recently created several pieces in the Newcomb style that we are making available for sale in our online store. Each is unique and there is only one piece available of each design. Click here to view or to purchase. The images no longer appear online after the items are sold, so here they are in case you miss them.
Newcomb College was founded as a women's college of Tulane University in New Orleans in 1886. You can learn more about Newcomb College pottery here. T he Smithsonian's traveling exhibition, Women, Art, and Social Change: The Newcomb College Enterprise, is currently on display at the Newcomb College Gallery of Tulane University through March 9. It will then travel to the Georgia Museum of Art in Athens, opening on May 17. Click here to learn more about the exhibition, including future dates and locations.
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| Coming Events |
February 8-9
Pasadena Convention Center
300 E. Green St., Pasadena
Sat. 10-6, Sun. 10-4
Admission: $12
February 21-23
Grove Park Inn
Asheville, North Carolina
Contemporary Craftsfirms
Show Hours*
Fri. 1-6 p.m.
Sat. 12-6 p.m.
Sun. 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Admission: $10
* Look for our booth IN THE HALL outside the Hoover Room this year!
May 17-18
Arts & Crafts Chicago
Concordia University
River Forest, Illinois
Sat. 10-5, Sun. 10-4
Admission: $7
Online events calendar
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| Antique Green is back |
You may have noticed that most of our pieces offered in the Antique Green glaze disappeared from our web site in late October. Some unexpected changes in our raw materials caused the glaze to begin reacting differently, which in turn caused the appearance of the fired glaze to change. Paul has working hard to get this figured out. Most of our Antique Green pieces are now back online and available for order. This includes the Bee & Blackberry and Oak Street Bridge vases which are retiring on January 31 (see article at left). If you wanted to order either or these last fall, you will want to get your order in now. Thank you for your patience as we worked to get this unique and special glaze back in our lineup.
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| Contact us | |
Ephraim Pottery Office & Studio
203 W. Lake St., Lake Mills, WI
Website & Online Store
Orders & Customer Service
Mon-Fri 9:00-5:00 CDT
Toll free 1-888-704-POTS (7687)
920-648-5269
Ephraim Pottery Gallery
130 East Lake St., Lake Mills, WI
Tel. 920-648-3534
Winter Hours: Wed-Sat 10-5,
Sun 11-4
Ephraim Pottery West
728 Main Street, Cambria, CA 93428
Tel. 805-924-1275
Hours: Mon-Sat 10-5, Sun 11-4
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Employee Spotlight: Becky Hansen
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 Becky Hansen joined Ephraim Pottery in October 2006 as a decorator in the glazing department. After graduating from college with a degree in marketing, Becky sought out placeswhere she could throw and work with clay on the side while working in her family's business. She eventually moved to Colorado, where she found a job demonstrating wheel throwing at Van Briggle Pottery in Colorado Springs.
The collaborative and friendly work environment, along with EFP's reputation for quality work, drew Becky to EFP. She enjoys the variety she has in her job and the expanded possibilities to work with clay. She has been surprised at just how much the artists at EFP are allowed to experiment. "Everyone is always creating something new," she notes.
Q & A with Becky
How did you get started in ceramics?
While working on my business marketing degree in college, I took a pottery class to fulfill an art requirement. I actually intended to register for a photography class, but when I discovered that the class was full, I chose ceramics instead. And today, I am VERY HAPPY that things DIDN'T work out like I had planned.
Why did you choose a career in pottery?
I could not even dream of an occupation that is more fulfilling to me than working with clay. What began 13 years ago as a summer job in Colorado demonstrating how pots are made using a 100 year old treadle wheel turned into learning many aspects of working with clay, including making clay and glazes, pressing, finishing and glazing tile, slip casting, etching molded pieces. And then finally moving to Wisconsin, learning even more about glazing and sculpting and being a part of a great group of artists who are equally as passionate about ceramics.
If you could travel anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?
Someday I plan to go to Norway. It would be exciting to see where my ancestors were from and to find one of my distant relatives and ask them if they really like lutefisk. Then, I would soak up all the beauty of the mountains and sample all of the delicious bakery goods that I have enjoyed every Christmas since my earliest days, such as kringle and lefse.
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Marks for 2014
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As many of you are aware, Ephraim Pottery changes its studio marks at the beginning of each year. This allows collectors to identify the year a piece was made. We have a larger mark that we use for pieces that have more space on the foot, and a smaller mark for pieces with less space. This year's marks have a tick mark at the 4 o'clock positions, signifying the year 2014.
Our work is collaborative. In most cases, more than one artist works on each piece. Last year, we introduced separate marks for potters, sculptors, and glazers. This allowed us to identify all of the artists involved in each piece's creation. These marks are in addition to the studio mark. If you're not familiar with this marking system, you can view examples on the Marks page of our website.
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