“Setting the Holiday Table: Fine Pottery for Decorating and Giving" at Red Tulip Gallery

As we start to think about upcoming holidays, decorating and serving food are always on the top of the list.  On Saturday, November 16, the Red Tulip Gallery, 2 S. State Street, Newtown, an artists’ cooperative of local artists, will host “Setting the Holiday Table: Fine Pottery for Decorating and Giving.” The event will feature the work of the gallery’s talented potters Connie Bracci-McIndoe, Joyce Inderbitzin, Fran Leyenberger, and Merle Slyhoff.

Whether you’re serving a rustic soup or a gourmet 5-course meal your choice of plates, bowls, mugs, and accessories can make a difference.  A warm mug perfectly cradled in your hands, a well-placed vase showcasing a bouquet of seasonal flowers, a plate holding holiday goodies, a raku lamp casting soft shadows set the scene for a warm and homey feeling.   Creating pottery is a personal experience.  Merle Slyhoff talks about the “inherent joy and relaxation in taking a lump of clay and transforming it into a final piece of art.”  This transformation takes many shapes with the vision starting in the artist’s mind and the hands translating the vision to art.

Although all of the potters on exhibit at the Red Tulip Gallery start out with the same raw materials, their final products vary greatly.  Joyce Inderbitzin works in stoneware and raku to create a broad range of work.  Her raku pieces are “smoked or flamed, giving each final product a different look…with stunning colors.” Joyce’s stoneware pierced pieces include dinnerware, vases and bowls, and create images of ginko leaves, waves and flowers. Her delicate colors “are acheived by layering of my glazes. I choose this to give the pot depth of color and a greater variety within the work.”

Fran Leyenberger designs clay pieces that merge “contemporary raku and stoneware with reclaimed vintage metals and a touch of nostalgia,” creating one-of-a-kind lamps, cremation urns, and boxes. Fran’s inspiration comes from the Art Nouveau and Art Deco periods, and her work invokes images of those era.  Although Fran has been working in raku for 30 years she continues to “discover new techniques and options with every firing.”

Connie Bracci-McIndoe creates bowls, vases, vessels and sculpted pieces which are “well known for their warm and subtle earth tones.” While some of her work is purely decorative other pieces are highly functional.  Whether a large leaf-formed sculpture or a delicate leaf-shaped plate, Connie’s whimsical nature comes out in her art.

Merle Slyhoff creates wheel-thrown stoneware pieces that are “simplistic and minimalist” in design, allowing the clay and the glaze to speak for the work. “A simple form, done well, that shows the simplistic functionality of a piece, and glaze that complements and highlights the shape are the focus of my work.”  Her platters, bowls and mugs bring thoughts of hot chocolate and comfort food.  

“Setting the holiday Table” will feature table vignettes showcasing the potters’ work, along with other pieces from Red Tulip Gallery artists. The event will be held 10-5, with demos from 11-4, and light refreshments. Stop by, see an artist at work, see a fine selection of work from the hands of these skilled potters.

The Red Tulip Gallery is an initiative if the Bucks County Guild of Craftsmen.