Showing at Southdown Marketplace 2011

Southdown Marketplace is on Saturday November 5th and I'll be selling pottery in booth #1. It's a fine arts and crafts festival with a variety of work. A booth became available last minute and I decided to go ahead and take it. I don't know how much I'll be able to setup this fast but I'll try and show as much as possible. It should be a beautiful day with a good turnout.

The show is at the Southdown Plantation grounds at the corner of Hwy 311 and St Charles in Houma, Louisiana.

Mixed Stoneware Oil Bottles or Bud Vases

        To purchase these bottles click here.

Here are some new stoneware bottles made using satin glazes. The tall bottles I call "cylinder bottles" since they are tall and straight sided. They are versitile and can be fitted with a spout to be used as an oil bottle. (I include the spout upon request.) They can also be used as a vase and look great holding either a single flower or a few.


The bottle on the far right is an oil bottle that is made with several thrown parts. The cylinder bottles are hand built and made from several parts which are extruded, slabbed and thrown. After I complete each part they are carefully joined together to form the bottle that you see.

I also have a wide assortment of Sgraffito and Botanical Imprinted bottles available on the "Bottles" page of my website that can be fitted with a spout. Included is a swamp scene with egret and two abstract florals. See the link below.

To Purchase Sgraffito & Botanical imprinted bottles click here.
http://www.cnbpottery.com/

White Sgraffito Design on Dark Clay - Example of side view.

I started making sgraffito pottery using white over dark clay. I only show one frontal view on my website of each piece to save time and space but each piece really has a diminsion that can't be reveiled in one photo. Therefore I am showcasing one of my pots and giving two side views to give an idea of the artwork that can wrap around the side of the piece. I do offer to send more photos of any pottery to whoever is interested in purchasing a certain piece from my website. You only need to email a request with the item number.

After testing several glazes I came upon this one and I'm very pleased with the results. I have several new pieces listed on my website now. This glaze gives a nice toasty appearance across the whole piece and really brings out the darker clay with sort of a reddish tint. I also have listed some that have a clear glossy glaze and those are more of a pure white.

To Purchase click here.

Latest Platters from the Kiln.

SOLD Alligator Platter

These are probably the last of the sgraffito platters that I'll fire before Christmas and the holidays. One shrimp design and one alligator design. These are listed for purchase along with previus platters on my website. My platters have scenes made using my own drawings and photos. I always use a basic design for the outline of an element or two and then carve the rest free hand. It's a slow and laborious process but I love the results.

Go to: http://www.cnbpottery.com/

Two Sgraffito Pots - Bayou Scenes

SOLD

To purchase this container click here.

With these two pieces of pottery I made each using a similar design. One has white coating over dark clay and the other has a black coating over an ivory white clay. Both are glazed with a clear glaze. Although the design is similar they are all different in some way. I use a basic design but carve by hand as I go on most of it.

Platters and Two Colander/Berry Bowls

This is a deeper platter with four nice handmade feet. For additional views please send email request.

Textured platter with handles

Here is two colander/berry bowls. The last one is the largest.
To purchase my work go to http://www.cnbpottery.com/

Stoneware Sgraffito Platters with Shrimp Design & Egret in Swamp Design

       SOLD Egret in Swamp Scene

 
Here are some new Sgraffito platters. I only have two left to fire and that will probably be it for the platters till the end of the year. One is my Alligator Design and the other will be another Shrimp Design. Soon I will be firing some work that I’ve made with white on dark clay background.

Stoneware Platters Available with Egret and Pelican Designs

To purchase click here.

SOLD Egret in Swamp Scene

Here are three 12" Sgraffito stoneware platters that I just finished. This is my favorite kind of work and I get such a satisfaction when I am finally able to pull them out of the kiln completed. I've already added these to my website so refer to it for purchases and to see more pottery and paintings available.

CNBpottery.com

 

My Pottery Website is Up and Running

I'm finally finished my pottery website so take it for a test run. Now I will be able to concentrate on pottery making and painting. I will soon be glazing my latest platters which are sgraffito designs of local pelicans, egrets and alligators in swamp scenes. I also have a cool image of a Gulf Shrimp done before he hit the pot. I also have a couple platters that will be glazed with multicolored glazes.

I plan on having at least a couple angels available for Christmas so I will be getting started on those soon too. I'm hoping to have those ready sometime in October.

As I take everything out of the kiln, images will be posted on my blog, so subscribe to it if you would like to get email updates on kiln openings. You can then refer back to my website for purchases at http://www.cnbpottery.com/.  You also have option to subscribe to RSS feed. Personally I find the email updates are more convienent but it's your choice.

Hope you enjoy my new website and my up and coming art works.

Crystal Nolfo~Brown
http://www.cnbpottery.com/

Riding through the Reeds in the Marsh

Beautiful scene fishing
Top of the reeds seem to point the heavens.


Riding through the marsh reminds me of walking trails in the woods. We kayaked twisting and turning through marsh that is like tiny islands everywhere.

Birds feed off this seed.

Entrance to the marsh. You can't tell very well from this photo

but you can turn left or right towards the middle.

These are the last photos I'll post from our day in Cocodrie, La. Riding through the reeds was beautiful and exciting. I feel lucky to be able to have the opportunity to do it whenever I want. Hopefully that pleasure isn't taken away due to the negligence and inablity to act quickly to keep BP's oil from our coastal wetlands.

The first photo is of the marina we launched our kayak from. Second is a shot of one of the many bugs. And the last shot is actually of two birds feeding on the grass seeds. See how easily they are camouflaged?

Photography First

Photography was one of the first art forms I was interested in and is a great resource for my works in clay and paint. I've been interested in photography since I was a teenager and refer to the multitudes of photographs I take locally.

My need to expose the beauty of South Louisiana's culture, wildlife and wetlands to the world is what inspires many of my designs. The people, food and culture here is interesting and unlike anything in the U.S. All this is what makes this place home. It's my life. It's what I'm about. It's a part of me.

Now I feel hurried. Documentation is needed more than ever to prove that it all was once here, because in the near future, it may no longer be. At the rate we are loosing wetland, this could happen in my children's lifetime. This is nothing new. The world should know.

My first posts will be of some local photographs. The beginnings of my designs.