–Village Venture, October 26, 2013
Greetings October! 
The nights are cooling. Our walnut tree is sprinkling leaves underfoot. Hints of Halloween are all around the neighborhood.
To celebrate October, we will be participating in a huge Arts and Crafts Festival in Claremont on Saturday, October 26. This large venue covers several blocks in and around the Claremont Village area and will feature a wonderful array of artisans and crafts people, along with a children’s costume parade…so festive!
Look for us under a white tent in booth #583, at the southeast corner of Yale & First Streets (First is a divided street, we’ll be at First-Easbound), close to the Food Court, Entertainment & Metro Link.
For further details, please see http://www.thevillageclaremont.com/venture.html
If the idea of driving and parking seems daunting, please consider adding the adventure of riding the train in. You can pick up a Gold Line Metro train in Pasadena to Union Station, then head to Claremont via Metro Link–how relaxing.
http://www.metro.net/riding/maps/gold-line/
http://www.metrolinktrains.com/stations/detail/station_id/90.html
The Claremont Chamber of Commerce also offers the following:
Shuttle Service & Parking — Parking is available on streets surrounding the closed streets of Village Venture, however, you can eliminate the parking hassles by taking advantage of the free shuttle service offered by the Pomona Valley Transit Authority (PVTA).
Shuttle service is available from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Parking for the shuttle pick up will be located at:
• Claremont University Facilities on First and Mills
• Taylor Hall at Cahuilla Park on Scripps and Indian Hill
• St. Ambrose Episcopal Church on Bonita and Mountain
The Village drop off point will be the Metrolink Parking lot. Buses run every 10 -15 minutes from all three parking points.
Here’s a quick peek at our Autumn schedule:
November 8 – 10, Fri 7-9pm, Sat 10-5pm, Sun 11-4pm. Creative Arts Group Annual Art Festival, 108 N. Baldwin Ave, Sierra Madre
December 8, Sunday, 11am – 4pm. Enchanted Handmade at The Center for the Arts, 2225 Eagle Rock Blvd., Los Angeles
On display through the season, Tues – Sat, 10am – 5pm. Belle’s Nest, a lovely shop featuring the Art of Handmade, 55 N. Baldwin, Sierra Madre, CA
— to see our story at http://www.RamonaPaloma.com
— to have a peek at our online shop at http://www.Etsy.com/shop/RamonaPalomaTile
–namesakes
Soozee here…I wanted to share a quick story…
My mom’s house is a foster home for kittens via the Suffolk Humane Society in Virginia. She regularly has kitten-guests for 2-6 weeks, depending on their situation. She socializes them, nurtures them through their spay/neuter recovery and gets to name them. Once these three things are accomplished, they get adopted out to families.
Because she has been doing this for several years, sometimes her kitten-name ideas run dry. She generally tries not to use the same name twice, and likes to offer a name that suits the cat.
So she called me up yesterday to tell me that 2 females had just arrived–black and white kittens from the same feral litter. As soon as she saw their faces it immediately occurred to her to name them after us.
“So, Mom”, I said on the phone…”Did you name them Ramona and Paloma?”
“No silly. They are Soozee and Tracy. Don’t you think that’s just right for these two, dear?”
What do you think? Are they us?
Which one is Tracy and which one is Soozee?
–community project is complete!
We are celebrating this summer!
A community tile project that we began in the Spring of 2011 now springs to life!
Our story began when the vivacious cooperative effort to re-landscape the front of Sierra Madre Elementary School with all California Native plants was completed. Suddenly, eyes were drawn to the cracked concrete entry at the front of the school.
Light bulb! Idea! Ceramic tile!
So Tracy and I introduced handmade ceramic tile to a group of sixth, seventh and eighth grade students at Sierra Madre Middle School. Their task…to beautify that aged entry leading up to their Alma Mater elementary school.
With the help of some great friends (Cathy, Barbara and Allison), we hand-cut 300 clay tiles. We provided wood blocks and adhesive foam sheets for about 70 students to create their own stamps. Once the stamps were made, the students pressed their newly-created designs into a wet clay tile, making a beautiful impression, ready to glaze.
Then, because of funding challenges, the tile project was delayed–the area planned for the installation was in great need of repair. Time and water had cracked the surrounding walls. Finally in June, after much campaigning, we were able to acquire the needed funding for the repair and installation.
As of August 1st, the Middle School student-made tile is forever gifted to the entry steps of Sierra Madre Elementary School. We are so delighted. Please drop by 141 West Highland Avenue in Sierra Madre and have a look.
As per usual, the unpaid interns (Vinnie and Lucy) contribute their approval…
–it had to happen eventually.
We have been loading the kiln and firing our own work for almost 3 years now.
We’ve had remarkably great luck for a coupla kiln beginners. Yes, we’ve had a few cracked tiles, but that’s mostly been from clay imperfections or unseen weak areas. Even though it’s very disappointing to discover any cracks in a completed glazed piece, it’s not worrisome for the other tile and doesn’t put the kiln furniture in jeopardy. And it occurs very rarely.
Then it happened. Kabloom! Kapow!
Yes, we flew too close to the sun, as they say…when we had a recent cloudy week. We were scheduled to run a bisque load (going from clay to hard ceramic) when we noticed that some tile were not perfectly dry. Since this kiln-load was full of tile sizes that we really needed, we decided to fire the load using a carefully calculated, slow preheat-mode to completely dry out the tile prior to the actual firing.
I think not!
Not only did several tile on several shelves explode but there was collateral damage to neighboring pieces. Opening the kiln to see ceramic shards everywhere was rather horrifying.
Luckily this bark was worse than the bite. About 7 or 8 tile were damaged out of an estimated 80 or so tile.
I believe we have learned our lesson. We’ll keep our little mascot here with the big hole… to remind us.
–homework
The summer homework assignment for Ramona Paloma is:
1. take a field trip
2. try something new.
So, we took a nice little train ride to Little Tokyo yesterday. Sure it was a bit warm, but it’s July in Los Angeles…to be expected. We took in the textures, the architecture, the fragrance of many cafes and bakeries, along with a bit of browsing at the bookstore, and the beauty of a colorful wishing tree.
We delighted in a brief mochilato before heading back on the train.
–What’d you get Tracy?
–toasted almond. What’d you get Soozee?
–guava. It was yummy.
–new adventures in garden art
To gnome him is to love him…
We are often inspired by a good adventure! That’s why we squeeze in field trips whenever possible. And sometimes, the journey happens right in our own studio–when we venture out of the known.
We have been experimenting with garden totems–something slightly different than our usual tile fare, but greatly influenced by the themes on our tiles. These garden art pieces are made up of several mini-sculptures stacked and held in place with re-bar. They can be placed in a pot or amongst the plants.
Could this be Gerome, the fishing gnome? He sits atop a tree stub, that sits on a rock and all on top of a mushroom. I believe he’s caught a wee blue fish.
Stay tuned for Tracy’s dog totem–in the works…
–tile installed.
Our friend Jenny purchased some tile from us, trusting that she had an ultimate plan on how she wanted to display them…but that plan had not quite made itself known to her…yet.
Then the idea struck!
She met a woodworker named Michael who opened his studio next door to where she works. (She happens to work for one of the best leaded glass artisans in the area.) Soon the story unfolded as Jenny put her woodworker friend together with the 4 tile . Michael perfectly placed the tile into a gorgeous hunk of mahogany, accented with craftsman style wood plugs.
This piece is now ready to be installed into a little nook in the stone fireplace of her craftsman’s style bungalow in the Sierra Madre canyon. And yes, they plan to live happily ever after…together.
Art on Palm, Spring 2013
We’re off to Palm Street in Altadena, California!
You’re invited to Art On Palm–a lovely art show to be held in Wildwood Park on May 25 in a tranquil setting of meandering pathways and shady oak trees. Saturday, 9:30 am – 5:00pm, 1419 E. Palm Street.
We are listed as Tracy Chamberlin. You will find us under a white canopy with our usual rustic “stadium” display of colorful handmade ceramic tile. (…and look for Tracy’s ‘yellow dog with a leash’ tile on the postcard above!)
We are so pleased to be a part of this group of artists–we’ll be accompanied by some beautiful and unique handmade artwork in this garden of delights. Please stop by to say hello.
–O. H. I. O….here we come
What do you do when the kids (tile) get invited to a huge party in Ohio? Well, you pack them up with a snack and a good book to read, then off they go to Cincinnati via USPS.
Yes, we are quite delighted to be sending our work to Indigenous Handcrafted Galleryin O’Bryonville–a beautiful gallery in an artsy & historic shopping district in Cincinnati,Ohio. Their ArtTILE event will feature 35 ceramic tile artists from across the country beginning April 27th.
Can you believe it?…about 1000 tile will be shown at his exhibit!
You can call us sentimental…we know we are…as we wished our boxes ‘safe travel’ when they were loaded into the postal cart. Funny thing is…while we waited in line at the post office, the guy behind us mentioned that writing “fragile” on the boxes was secret code for “throw me”…so there’s that…
–Spring Fair on April 27
Greetings friends of Ramona Paloma!
We are pleased to invite you to attend a festive Spring Fair on April 27th, to be held at Norma Coombs School located at 2600 Paloma Street in Pasadena. The school is right across the street from Victory Park so there will be loads of parking. Plus the farmers market will be happening at PHS.
So, pick up your fresh produce for the week, and come by the fair for a grilled cheese, some cookies, good music and unique handcrafted goodies from local artists.
Happy Spring! See you there.
Yelp – http://www.yelp.com/events/pasadena-spring-fair-norma-coombs-alternative-school
p.s…next show is on May 25 at Wildwood Park, Altadena…Art On Palm.
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