Joanna Kramer Launches WARE Ceramics Studio in West Evanston (and takes over the Ceramics World)

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Joanna Kramer is a bit of a legend in the ceramics arena and has several exciting projects on the horizon. She's a legend because Chelsea Clinton was recently gifted one of Joanna's "Never the less She Persisted" mugs at an ETHS event (not the F word mug), which her 7 yo daughter helped make happen, so the legendary status doesn't fall far from the tree. And this month she's opening up WARE, her very own ceramics studio in West Evanston where she'll collaborate and share space with artists like Julia Finlayson and Ben Blount.

Listen to a candid conversation with Joanna in her new space on Wesley Ave. as we discuss how each organic step of leveling up has led Joanna to where she is today.

R-Rated warning....Below is one of her best selling mugs, the F word mug, which you can purchase May 5 & 6 at 1100 Florence Ave. in Evanston.

About Joanna Kramer, joannakramer.com

Joanna Kramer makes functional ceramics...pieces to be integrated into everyday life...a bowl for your cereal, a vase for your favorite flowers...She  encourages people to interact with her work and not let them sit on a shelf.  Get to know the intricacies of something handmade  by finding fingerprints, brushstrokes, and other markings. Joanna has developed some deep relationships with a couple of mugs.

Joanna's background is in Social Work and Art Therapy, but is currently focusing on ceramics. She teaches ceramics at an elementary school, sells work locally, and spends as much time as she can in the studio.  Joanna also teacher clay workshops called Wine, Women, and Mud.  To sign up, go to winewomenandmud.com.

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The Lisa D Show is a podcast celebrating creatives, featuring 20-minute,  unedited conversations that mimic the live-radio vibe, low tech on  purpose. Reach out to host Lisa Degliantoni at thelisadshow[at]gmail.com 

Lindy Stockton, Founder of The Collage Cafe

Lindy Stockton is the founder of The Collage Cafe in Evanston, a creative studio space focused on inspiring and motivating people. In this interview we follow Lindy’s journey from corporate change manager to artist and change manager for her community.

The Collage Cafe used to be on Sherman Ave. with a retail storefront and has recently moved to West Evanston on Florence Ave. Ditching the retail component and focusing 100% on art and supporting people into a more creative life, Lindy’s new space allows for people to enjoy creative self expression from classes, to open studio time to girl’s night. Images below feature a look inside the studio and Baxter!

In 2018 The Collage Cafe is adopting a new business model, quarterly membership, where people can choose from a menu of creative activities to engage with the studio. Like most of the endeavors Lindy has chosen in the last several years, she will try this one on for size, see how it goes and if it leads to the creative freedom both herself and her customers need, it will be a success!

Learn more online at thecollagecafe.com or visit Lindy in person at 1129 Florence Ave. in Evanston.

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The Lisa D Show is a podcast celebrating creatives, featuring 20-minute, unedited conversations that mimic the live-radio vibe, very low tech on purpose. Reach out to host Lisa Degliantoni at thelisadshow[at]gmail.com

Alice George on Making a Creative Life

Alice George is a poet, visual artist, teacher, entrepreneur and more. Today we talk about her upcoming art show at the Evanston Art Center, her new interest in animation and the Monday is for Making workshops she is hosting in her West Evanston artist studio. 

9/8: Exhibit Opening, 6-8 p.m.: Amy Chan, Alice George and Amy O. Woodbury at the Evanston Art Center. Alice George shows 16 small prints, featuring last words spoken by celebrities, authors, heroes. Visit alicegeorge.org

9/28 Artist talk and public screening of Alice George animations. 7-8:30 p.m. at the Evanston Art Center. Ranging from poetic to bleak to surreal, short-shorts mix hand-drawn animation with photography. George’s husband Shawn Decker is creating scores for some of the pieces. There’ll be some Sketchbook beer on hand too. Click here for vimeo channel 

9/11: Monday is for Making Workshop Sessions 9/11, 9/18 and 9/25, 7-9 p.m.: These small sessions are held in Alice George’s 1125 Florence Ave. Evanston studio and gather a small cadre of interdiscipinary folks interested in discussion, hands-on exercises and critique. George’s expertise lies in creative writing, visual art, text/image explorations and entrepreneurship. The September sessions will ask “What can we learn from transformation?” by looking at Ovid’s Metamorphosis, Chinese artist and activist Ai Wei Wei, and Picasso’s sculptures. Click here for Info and online registration here.

 "The Lisa D Show" is a podcast celebrating creatives, featuring 20-minute, unedited conversations that mimic the live-radio vibe, very low tech on purpose. Reach out to host Lisa Degliantoni at thelisadshow[at]gmail.com

The Lisa D Show with Ben Blount, unedited

Lisa Degliantoni and Ben Blount talk about his upcoming art exhibit Recollection which deals with race, memory and perception. 

Recollection examines the notions of race and culture we encounter growing up in the United States. Shared through reimagined learning tools and remembered narratives, this work explores how we collect these formative ideas about identity and commit them to memory. This collection of work from artist Ben Blount includes letterpress prints, handmade books, and various interactive elements.

Ben Blount is a printer who uses books, posters and installations to explore notions of race and identity in America. Shaped by two decades of experience in design and advertising, his work draws on a common cultural language of objects, stories and experiences to draw attention to the differences between what we see, and how we are seen. With a range of contemporary influences from Dave Chappelle and Kara Walker to Mos Def and Amos Kennedy, Blount’s work is often provocative and topical. He has taught book arts courses at The Cleveland Institute of Art and Lillstreet Art Center in Chicago. A native Detroiter, he earned an MFA in Interdisciplinary Book and Paper Arts from Columbia College Chicago and currently lives in Evanston, IL. 

Image above: Spread from ABC: An Abecedarium of Black Culture

See more of Ben's work at benblount.com

The public is invited for the Opening Reception Saturday, Feb. 4, 6-9 p.m. 

The public is invited back Sunday, Feb. 12, 3-5 p.m. We'll host an artist talk and hear from Ben and his wife Melissa Blount on their work in social justice. Ben is a founding board member of OPAL (Organization for Positive Action and Leadership). He is interested in equity issues in Evanston and how we as a community can affect change through political participation. Seats are limited, please click here to RSVP on EventBrite. 

1100 Florence is a new art event space in West Evanston, IL, owned and operated by Lisa Degliantoni and Dave Ford.

The Lisa D Show is recorded in a former Polish Grocery Store in West Evanston, IL, this podcast celebrates creatives. Listen to 20 minute, unedited conversations with host Lisa D. and the creatives who make our world a more connected, interesting and beautiful place to live. Podcasts will be posted on this blog and on Soundcloud.com, https://soundcloud.com/lisa-degliantoni