Maruca Bags Spring Fabric Video
Ever wonder what inspires gorgeous textile designs? Well, our favorite American purse and bag designer, Maruca Studio from Boulder, CO, shares their inspiration in a wonderful little video. You can shop many of the new Maruca 2013 purses and bags at Brooke Pottery.
Nov. 30 – Don Nedobeck at Brooke Pottery
Enjoy Don Nedobeck’s art every day of the year with the 2013 Fanciful Feline Calendar, now at Brooke Pottery. Call us to reserve a copy, shop online or better yet, drop by the shop on Friday, November 30, to meet Don Nedobeck in person. Mr. Nedobeck will be here 6-9 pm on Friday, entertaining us with stories and signing autographs. Don’t miss an evening with this charming artist!
If there is one word to describe artist, storyteller, musician, husband and father Don Nedobeck, it would be expressionist. To listen to his name is to hear the sounds of basic keys on a clarinet, Ne-do-beck, and with practice it becomes more fluid. Talking with Nedobeck is like sitting in your most comfortable old worn out chair with a fat, furry feline nestled upon your chest. Besides his greatest talent of putting people at ease, he’s a man capable of anything. You see, ever since Nedobeck was a boy, he was encouraged by his parents, a Russian father, also a fine artist, and a Polish mother whose landscaped garden surpassed Boerner’s Botanical’s gardens, to use two very important gifts: his imagination and his creativity. It was his creativity that allowed him to draw life from a whimsical point of view during his “occupational development” period as Good Humor man, stock boy, grain inspector and meter reader for the gas company.
In addition to his painting, Nedobeck has authored numerous books from his personal observations under “New Wrinkle Press,” his publishing company. To date, there are over 800,000 Nedobeck books in print, including “No Known English Translation” and “Nedobeck’s Alphabet Book”. New Wrinkle Press also produces Nedobeck’s note cards, calendars and prints. His signed prints have been collected by nearly 30,000 people world wide, and have universal appeal — they conjure up laughter and smiles at first glance. When Nedobeck’s not using his hands to create art or music, he has his hands in the soil — his real form of meditation. Perhaps that’s where Don Nedobeck’s imagination is planted, tilled, shaped and continues to grow, producing art for the child in all of us. -Carmen Alicia Marguia
Somewhere Over the Rainbow is a self-described collection of “old favorites by your favorite old guys” performed by the jazzy musicians of The Nedobeck Trio. Absolutely lovable from start to finish. Buy Here
Nedobeck’s Alphabet Book is a fantastical voyage through the ABCs. Where else but from the imagination of Don Nedobeck would you find “Herrietta Hen and her horrendous hairdo” or “Terri the tall tan thin tiger talking with three tiny toads by their toy truck”? All three Nedobeck books are currently in stock.
Pewter Storyland Night Lights by Leandra Drumm
Pewter storybook night lights by Leandra Drumm are a wondrous combination of whimsy and fine craftsmanship. Leandra Drumm is the daughter of American sculptor Don Drumm and textile artist Lisa Drum. The influence of her father’s work is evident, but Leandra has developed her own signature style of cheerful, imaginative characters.
Drumm’s pewter night lights will charm you with playful scenes of tea parties inside snail shells and elephant caravans searching for dreamland wonders. Let the playful designs inspire your own tales of adventure. These heirloom-quality pewter night lights are sure to be admired and cherished by kids and grandkids alike – just like those favorite bedtime stories!
New Fragrant Wax Bowls for Spring
Spring is in the air, particularly in our shop since the arrival of new fragrant wax bowls from the Habersham Candle Company. The colors and aromas are irresistable! Shop fragrant wax bowls
White Tea and Citrus – refresh and engergize your home with the aroma of Kaffir lime leaves, citrus blossom and clean white tea.
Pink Grapefruit Patchouli – Rejuvenate and remember with this effervescent blend of grapefruit zest, lemon verbena and a touch of sweet citrus orange gently grounded with notes of earthy patchouli and cardamom.
White Copper – refreshing eucalyptus and orange melded with lily, rose and ylang, this fragrance travels far with a warm infusion of patchouli, musk, sandalwood and amber. Decorated with mums, star anise and metallic copper ribbon and glitter.
Forest Fig – the essence of sweet, sun-ripened figs blended to perfection with a touch of ceader wood and a hint of lavender. A very pretty combination of purple flowers on golden wax.
Seascape – Take a sensory journey to the Beach! Ozone, sea salt and water musk mingle with a touch of sea lavender and orange flower. Decorated with real shells and ocean grasses.
Mahogany Apple – a fruity mix of ripe crisp apples, tart pears and a hint of citrus grounded with an earthy blend of vetiver grass, cedar wood, oak moss and patchouli.
Starlightz Are Shining Bright in Our Gallery
Great gift under $50! Easy to pack or ship!
Handmade paper Starlightz by Artecnica are shining bright once again in our garden gallery. Starlightz fold flat in an envelope and come with a 15 ft. white light kit. All you need is a light bulb to create an instant atmosphere of warmth and wonder by illuminating the colorful and intricately patterned Starlightz.
Green Fact: Artecnica is committed to considering issues of environmental sustainability and responsible manufacturing. Their products are made with recycled materials and transported in easy-ship flat packages to help reduce their carbon footprint.
Basd in Los Angeles, Artecnica collaborates with the most established and emerging international designers to create inspiring decorative objects for the living environment. Artecnica’s Design with Conscience® program works with artisan communities in developing countries to produce unique handcrafted objects that reflect indigenous skills. This humanitarian approach supports shared work and profit across borders, cultures, races, and religions. Starlightz are made in India. Designs vary. $40-$53 each.
Dec. 9: Visiting Artist Don Nedobeck
Nedobeck’s 2012 Fanciful Feline Calendar is here! Call us to reserve a copy, or better yet, drop by the shop on Friday, Dec. 9, to meet Don Nedobeck in person 6-9pm. Brooke Pottery carries Nedobeck’s notecards, matted art prints, calendars, and soft-cover books.
Nedobeck’s Alphabet Book is a fantastical voyage through the ABCs. Where else but from the imagination of Don Nedobeck would you find “Herrietta Hen and her horrendous hairdo” or “Terri the tall tan thin tiger talking with three tiny toads by their toy truck”? All 3 books are currently in stock.
If there is one word to describe artist, storyteller, musician, husband and father Don Nedobeck, it would be expressionist. To listen to his name is to hear the sounds of basic keys on a clarinet, Ne-do-beck, and with practice it becomes more fluid. Talking with Nedobeck is like sitting in your most comfortable old worn out chair with a fat, furry feline nestled upon your chest. Besides his greatest talent of putting people at ease, he’s a man capable of anything. You see, ever since Nedobeck was a boy, he was encouraged by his parents, a Russian father, also a fine artist, and a Polish mother whose landscaped garden surpassed Boerner’s Botanical’s gardens, to use two very important gifts: his imagination and his creativity. It was his creativity that allowed him to draw life from a whimsical point of view during his “occupational development” period as Good Humor man, stock boy, grain inspector and meter reader for the gas company.
In addition to his painting, Nedobeck has authored numerous books from his personal observations under “New Wrinkle Press,” his publishing company. To date, there are over 800,000 Nedobeck books in print, including “No Known English Translation” and “Nedobeck’s Alphabet Book”. New Wrinkle Press also produces Nedobeck’s note cards, calendars and prints. His signed prints have been collected by nearly 30,000 people world wide, and have universal appeal — they conjure up laughter and smiles at first glance.
When Nedobeck’s not using his hands to create art or music, he has his hands in the soil — his real form of meditation. Perhaps that’s where Don Nedobeck’s imagination is planted, tilled, shaped and continues to grow, producing art for the child in all of us. -Carmen Alicia Marguia
New Fragrant Wax Bowls by Habersham
The Holiday Collection by Habersham Candle Company arrived this week and the shop smells WONDERFUL! New fragrances include Chocolate Orange, Cinnamon Bark, Cranberry Spice, Winter Garden, Eco Aire and Christmas Gift. Designed to release fragrance without burning, the wax bowls and spheres are handcrafted in Georgia and feature dried and silk floral decorations.
Warm your home this holiday season with rich and exotic fragrant wax centerpieces by Habersham Candle Company.
Christmas Gift, as you might guess, features the fragrance of the original gifts from the Three Wise Men. The rich and exotic scents of Frankincense and Myrrh are melded sweetly with gold foliage in Christmas Gift wax bowls and spheres. Another special design is Eco Aire. This product combines Habersham’s gorgeous botanics with DeoEssence® Fragrance Technology. Developed to bond with unpleasant odors and leave behind a powerful message of fresh outdoor air. Enticing scents of crisp frosted ozone infused with wild herbs and cool transparent musk. A powerful, yet pretty, weapon against strong household odors. Visit the shop or shop online to see our new arrivals from Habersham Candle Company.
Raku Cats Have Arrived!
Once again the shop is full of delightful Raku cat sculptures. If there’s anyone who captures feline grace and mischeviousness to a T, it’s Mary Gates Dewey. Here’s a sneek peak of the newly arrived cats. Don’t you just love the cat in the box?! We plan to add this new work to the Brooke Pottery online shop in the next week or two, but if you want the pick of the litter, call us or come in soon. These cuties go fast! To read more about Mary Gates Dewey, see this post.
Warm Fall Botanical Candles by Rosy Rings
Spiced Cranberry
Honey Tobacco
Lavender Tangerine
Introducing new Vanilla Golden Leaf
Return of the Raku Fish – Hooray!
We are so happy to once again offer the fabulous hanging raku fish! As some of you may know, the artist responsible for the fish, Risk Ellsworth, has retired (boo!). But Mr. Ellsworth has trained a new artist in his technique for making the fish (hooray!). The new artist is Madd Mud Pottery. Isn’t that a perfect name for the maker of these kooky fish?
We’ve been quite sad while these fish have been missing from the store, as they have such personality and quirkiness. Each fish has a different expression on its face, and it’s always a joy to uncover each one as we pull it out of its shipping box. We usually try to match each fish with one of our relatives. (“Oh, this one looks just like so-and-so!” Um, please don’t tell so-and-so I said that.)
If you’ve missed out on getting a fish that looks just like one of your relatives, or if you just want to put a smile on your face, please come on down to the store. I’m sure we have a fish for you!
Artful Time Pieces by David Scherer
New arrivals in the shop this week include six new sculptural clocks by Michigan artist David Scherer. Explosive in color (and sometimes even form) these new artful time pieces are truly wonderful!
Well known for his 3-D paintings, David Scherer works in a variety of mediums and brings an intriguing, distinctive style and vibrancy to all of his art. Scherer attributes his unique direction to the expansion of his cumulative experience of more than 30 years as an artist. His sculptural wall clocks are energetic and complex, yet David modestly states “I am what I am, I do what I do”. And we love it! Shop online for David Scherer clocks at brookepottery.com.
The Cats are Back! New arrivals from Dewey Studios
Raku cats by Mary Gates Dewey are back in the shop and they are as rascally and humorous as ever! When a shipment from Dewey Studios arrives, we rush to open the box. What will the cats be up to this time?! Mary’s highly collectible raku cat sculptures capture the grace and impishness witnessed in the daily feats and follies of her feline friends. Click here to browse or shop for Dewey cats.
Mary Gates Dewey’s stylized cat sculptures are handmade of clay. The color and patterns are produced by an ancient method of firing called raku sawdust or “pit” firing. Once the piece has been bisque fired in a kiln, it is buried in sawdust and the sawdust is burned. The smoke from the sawdust produces permanent colors in the clay at random.
About the artist:
Mary Gates Dewey was born in South Florida, attended the Cleveland Institute of Art, and studied ceramics at the University of Alabama. She moved to the Appalachian foothills in the 1970′s, building a house and studio in the midst of the woods. Mary Gates Dewey created her first raku cat in 1982, and today only cats are produced in her studio.
It is tradition among potters that a new kiln have a kiln god made of clay to ensure successful firings. On the day of the firing of Mary’s new kiln, a cat came marching through the woods. Kaygee, short for “kiln god”, presided over that first firing and dedicated his life thereafter to inspiring Mary’s cat designs. Mary now lives and works in southeastern Ohio, continuing to find peace and inspiration in the woodlands. For decades, her Raku Cats have delighted and enchanted animal lovers around the world.
New Arrivals: Still Life Clay Wall Art
We are happy to have clay art wall hangings by Florida artists C.C. and Shiu Ping Lee back in stock! The clay tiles are enchanting still life depictions of orchids, bamboo, birds, dragonflies and koi, employing reflective pastel glazes to accentuate the fluid lines of hand-carved imagery. We love the textural nature of each clay tile – the embossed background produced by rolling the clay out on burlap, the way the clay flattens into rough edges- gorgeous! Each unique piece embodies grace and beauty. Use a single wall tile to softly color a small space; arrange a series of tiles to create a graceful focal point for a room. Since the organic nature of the clayworks adds to their charm, it may surprise you that the clayworks also look great framed in a more formal setting. If you are searching for custom framing, Fast Frame in Downtown Lakeland can help. Unframed clay art tiles are available at Brooke Pottery. Small tiles, $43, measure approximately 7″x9″ and large tiles, $88, are roughly 9″x18″.
Self-taught artists, C.C. and Shiu Ping Lee have perfected their fine art clayworks with over twenty years of practice. They’ve turned this shared love of art into a family business, selling at fine art shows and to galleries across the country. Still, each one-of-a-kind piece is hand sculpted, glazed, and fired to preserve the natural and unique beauty of the artwork. Catch a glimpse of the artistic process in these photos of the Lee family at work in their South Florida studio.
July Savings – 50% Off Selected Items
American Tin Art, orig. $275
In the month of July, enjoy 50% savings on selected items at Brooke Pottery. New markdowns include:
- Textured pillar candles in scents like creme brule, dusk, and green tea lemongrass (orig. $35-$130)
- Striking platters and serving bowls by Robert Hasselle in hues of green, purple, red and black (orig. $35-$160)
- Geometric collages by Lori Daniels made with repurposed antique tin ceiling tiles (orig. $50- $290).
Stop by soon to take advantage of summer savings!
New Markdowns for July
American Tin Tiles
Creme Brule Candles
Pewter and Glass Wall Sculptures by Leandra Drumm
