Art at the Pond

Art at Willow Pond:
Willow Pond features local artist work at the inn. One of the terrific things about being an innkeeper is all the wonderful and creative people you get to meet.

Peg Oswald, pastels and ceramics

Vera Mulder, Batik
http://www.artyme.org/

Piera Kllanxjha, crystal glaze ceramics, printmaker and photographer
www.artistsregister.com/artists/CO199

http://www.newartcollectors.com/

Dave Lester, photography
http://www.willowpondphoto.com/

Betsy McLoughlin, watercolors

Dawn Sudmeier- Fused glass jewelry

Pat Feinberg- Ceramics

Caroline McDaniel- Mixed Media

Grand Junction Art Community:

The art community is so busy here, sometimes it's hard to schedule an art even because there's so much competition!

Grand Junction recently won a National Arts Council Award for it's support of the arts.

There is a walking tour downtown called "Art on the Corner" that features over one hundred sculptures by Colorado artists.

Grand Junction is also home to The Art Center http://www.gjartcenter.org/

1803 N. 7th Street Grand Junction, CO 81501 970-243-7337

The Art Center features local artists, exhibits, permanent collections, gift shop, summer art camp, year round classes, art fairs and a "collection of nearly 300 historic and contemporary works representing a thorough visual documentary of the art and artists of Western Colorado. Historic Native American artifacts comprise a significant portion of the collection, including numerous exceptional Navajo weavings..."

Planet Earth and the 4 Directions Gallery

524 Colorado Avenue Grand Junction, CO, 81501 970.256.9630

This is a funky vintage clothing, antique store and Art Gallery. Local art, traveling exhibits and seasonal community events are hosted by this very cool gallery.

The Blue Pig Gallery in Palisade http://www.thebluepiggallery.com/

This is a working gallery/coop featuring over 30 local artists. A number of the Willow Pond Artists are featured at the Blue Pig.

There are also a number of galleries downtown on Main St. and many artists are feature at the Thursday Night Farmer's Market on Main St in Downtown Grand Junction:

Working Artists Gallery

520 Main St 970-256-9952

Local seasonal art shows include Palisade Peach Blossom Art Show in April, Art and Jazz Festival in May, Spring Open Studio Tours. See the events page of the Grand Junction Visitor's Center website for details: http://www.visitgrandjunction.com/ .

Support the arts and consider making a purchase during your visit!

Leah Lyon

Willow Pond is proud to present
our newest Artist Inn Residence,
Leah Lyon!

A perennial artist, I recently went to college to create my first professional career. I graduated with a B.A. in Public Relations from Mesa State College, CO. It’s creative side assists me in my pottery business.

What happened is while going through school I discovered a love for clay. (Those darn electives!) It started with hand building and transition into throwing on a wheel. I often use both techniques in my pieces. I have finally accepted that clay is now a passion.



Clay is addictive. Don’t let anyone tell you anything different. Whether you collect the finished vessels or indulge in the creation process you’ll get hooked. My husband tells me the reason I love clay is because of my love of rocks. Clay is simply very, very small rocks. He may be right. Scientifically it’s true!

My love of creating ceramic vessels uses my natural abilities and learned skills. It is the happy
accidents that amaze me. Like my “Peach Pitchers”



The story goes - I had thrown my first tall (for me) vase. When I went to flip it over to dry more, one side collapsed. I was in shock. I couldn’t waste the vessel so...I altered it more and “voila!” My own style of pitcher.
I create functional pieces that are a joy to look at. I seek to create vessels with texture and functional aesthetic forms. So that when they’re not in use you would think, “Why would you want to put this away in a cupboard?!


Leah's beautiful tea pots are now available at Willow Pond!

Peg Oswald

From early childhood on, drawing has always been a love of mine. I was fortunate to have an excellent art teacher at the public school
I attended in upstate New York from whom I received art instruction from kindergarten through high school. Even though I had a career
as an elementary classroom teacher, I continued to take art classes to be able to give instruction to my pupils and always took
a sketch book with me on my travels.



It wasn’t until retirement that I discovered the joy of working in clay and the fun of creating paintings with pastels. I continue to take
pottery classes with Terry Shepherd at the Art Center in Grand Junction throwing on the potter’s wheel and hand building. I love the
whole process of creating a piece then adding slips, stains or glazes to achieve a certain look. Watching that piece come out of a firing
(whether from a gas, raku or salt kiln) is like Christmas morning. There is almost always a surprise. I find it quite addictive!

Working with pastels has allowed me to add wonderful color to my drawing. I love the brilliance of the colors and textures
you can achieve with them. Now a small box of pastels goes with me on my travels. Sara Oakley got me started on pastels and
now I am teaching a pastel class for beginners.

I have shown my art work at the Art Center, Crystal Café, Planet Earth Gallery and downtown where I have participated in Friday Art Hop
and the Thursday night Farmer’s market. I reside in Grand Junction , Colorado with my husband and 4 cats.-Peg

Greg Luff

For as long as I can remember I have been an artist. I have always been fascinate with light, color and shape. I am a senior at Palisade High School.
For the last seven years I have worked in clay and two years ago I began working in glass. This year I have combined the two,
creating mixed media pieces of functional art in addition to pendants, vortex and floral marbles, and beads.
In addition to glass, I use only naturally found gems, shells, pearls and silver findings in my jewelry pieces.

I have named my business Elements of Earth. It reflects my deep respect and appreciation for nature.
Our surrounding canyons, mesas, orchards, farmland and desert are the inspiration for much of my work.

It was not until I took a trip to Great Britian as a student ambassador for People to People that I became focused on glass as an artform.
The visit to Waterford Crystal Factory literally changed my life. I came back determined to learn and create in this medium.

After acquiring the proper equipment, I had about six months of experimentation on my own.
After school was out, I was able to attend classes at Glasscraft in Denver and the Eugene School of Glass in Oregon.
I was also fortunate to be accepted into Snow Farm in Massachusetts.
Snow Farm is part of the New England Arts and Crafts Program and run specifically for high school students.

I appreciate your interest in my art and hope you enjoy your purchases!

Piera Kllanxjha

www.artistsregister.com/artists/CO199
www.newartcollectors.com




Having spent the first four years of her life in Aspen, Colorado, when it was just another small mountain town,
Western Colorado has continuously drawn Piera back to her roots. As a young girl she was enthralled with the adventures in beauty,
exploring the Rocky Mountains on foot and on horseback. Piera has worked with clay since childhood:
along with drawing, it is the clearest way for her to express the particular joy she finds in Southwest nature.
The line of the cave drawings and the ancient Anasazi pottery, evokes a chorus of melodic forms.
Nature's dance, captured in Anasazi line, is expressed in Piera's pottery and painting.

Piera has spent time in France, Spain, England, Scotland, and Italy, has a B.A. in Fine Arts, an A.A. in Commercial Art,
and was an Art Director in Denver. She began perfecting her pottery designs in Santa Fe, New Mexico in the 1970's.
She discovered crystalline glazing in Abiquiu, N.M. in 1991. Although the exploding atoms can be seen in the crystal glazes as modern,
Piera sees them as most truly reflecting the magic of clay and heat that has always invested Southwest pottery with its strength and mystery.

Piera's Crystal Glaze Process



Crystal glazes are unique. The crystals in the glaze are formed by exploding
atoms in the glaze, that means that during the firing process, the glaze is
in the process of becoming a glass that is covering the pot of clay.

How this occurs has a few different factors. One is the chemical
composition of the glaze ( i.e. glass). Another is the temperature that the
firing is at the various times of the process, allowing this chemical reaction to occur.

For all pottery is usually covered with a glaze then fired, so it is with crystals, but certain details are varied.
The pot has to be placed on top of a catcher basin to absorb the run-off of the glaze in firing.
These details involve the make up of the glaze (that becomes glass), what chemicals go into the glaze,
the rate the temperature rises, and finally the holding temperature (that creates the exploding atoms in the glass).
And, as important, is the cooling rate.

Crystalline Glazes are a wonderful combination of art & science, where one
never can plan or guess the actual result. This adds to the mystery of art and life!