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6939766_origWe were thrilled to have Simon Leach at La Mano to lead an informative and entertaining workshop and demonstration. We are also be hosting a month-long show of his work in our gallery. This is Simon's first workshop and show in NYC.

Exhibit: March 8–29
Artist’s reception: March 8, 5:30pm
Workshop: March 9, 10am–4pm

I Can't Sleep Waiting for Simon Leach to Teach

Diane Waller, clay enthusiast and co-owner of La Mano Pottery, shares her view on Simon Leach's upcoming visit to our studio...

Simon Leach is coming to New York City, hurray!

I don't have to tell you fellow potters how messy we get when we throw, at least I do. I get clay in my hair as well as on my apron, two towels, all my clothes, the floor and my shoes. Don't you? With that in mind, you might get excited about Simon Leach. If you haven't, then you must, watch some if not all of his 118 YouTube videos so you can be as amazed, amused and entertained as I was. I couldn't help myself; I clicked from one YouTube to the next charmed by his personality, captivated by watching his hands and listening to his tunes. I didn't get through all of them but in all of the ones I did watch, he always throws with a big hat on and it stays clean. Here's a little know fact, his grandfather, Bernard Leach, while touring in the USA in the 50's, insisted on doing demos in his tweed jacket and never got a speck of clay on his clothes. It must run in the family. Neatness that is. Not something we associate with clay which is really clean mud.

At Christmas one year while Simon was still in Cornwall with his family, Grandpa Bernard said the now immortal words, "Look for the beauty but also for usefulness in a pot." It seems when Simon was young, he had little or no interest in pottery. It wasn't until he found himself in a far away country from England, that would be Greece, with no dishes that he discovered he had learned to make pottery whether he wanted to or not.

Bernard's words are still omnipresent in Simon's work. He makes functional pottery and sells it in his studio in Pennsylvania where he moved a couple of years ago. And while he throws he makes theseinstructional videos. In them, he talks about his philosophy, plays his music and shows you the techniques he teaches. Just seeing the pots rise into shape on the rotating wheel and listening to him talk about making pottery, my hands twitched to play in the clay myself. He ends every video, "Keep Practicing." Yeah, right.

You get to his YouTube videos by going to his website www.simonleachpottery.com or just Google him. He also has a book coming in May, Simon Leach's Pottery Handbook. I'll order it as soon as they will let me.

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Party: Friday December 14th from 6-9pm.

Holiday Sale: November 23rd to December 24th.

Named one of the "best holiday-decor stores in NYC" in Time Out New York, and featured on What We Like NYC.

 

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Architectural Pottery and Paintings of Architecture
Robert Pesce, ceramicist | Diane Waller, painter
July 15–August 31
Artists' Reception: July 20, 2012,  5–8 pm

The exhibit is an exciting juxtaposition of two art techniques by two dedicated artists. Robert Pesce makes pottery thrown on a wheel at La Mano Pottery. Diane Hardy Waller paints on the sidewalks and in the parks of New York. Both have a unique style and spirit to their art.

La Mano Pottery, est. 1998, the sponsoring organization, has recently moved to this location in the heart of the new Chelsea. La Mano offers classes and artist residencies to potters of all ages and craft techniques. The gallery has been host to many respected and loved potters in the NYC area. This is a first show of combination of mediums.

Robert, known as Bob to his friends, says about his art of pottery, "Art is the right making of that which has to be made. The artist is compelled to create work by his/her inner self trying to express emotion. I feel that the best art draws you into the work on a very personal level. It is inner self talking to inner self. That dialogue between you and the work is what counts whether it is one word or volumes."

Diane says about painting New York, "When I am painting, I know I am a citizen of the universe. I co-create with something much larger than the local person who eats and sleeps in a coop and paints on the streets of Manhattan. Painting outdoors on the streets and in the parks, looking at the awesome skyscrapers and imagining what is going on behind those windows too high to peek in gives me a feeling of belonging to the world and the comfort of having a personal place in it. The buildings with the colors, shapes, varying sizes and changing light inspire me to explore my inner architecture.

Diane thinks Robert's pottery is beautiful beyond description and says, "Bob's architectural pottery pieces are as structured as New York City's sky scrapers; however the undulating shapes are reminiscent of feminine form as in Botticelli's Venus or Georgia O'Keefe's flower paintings. The dignity and craftsmanship of these fluid and statuesque pieces bring to mind and heart, classic beauty made contemporary, in a fine blend of curves and lines."

Bob thinks of Diane's paintings "Diane's paintings draw you into the scene and you become part of it, a tourist in the city of her vision. When I see her cafe and umbrellas, I hear accordion music as I stroll down the Champs Elysees. Her city towers make me feel like a young boy in the forties in NYC, growing up as the city grows up around me. Her work is evocative, her style impressive as well as Impressionistic."

About Bob:
Born in Brooklyn, NY in the early 50's, R.A. Pesce, known to his friends as Bob, has been fascinated with ceramics since the age of four. Learning to throw pottery on a kick wheel at age 15, his interest led him to ceramic/sculpture majors at both Pratt Institute and Brooklyn College. At Pratt, he was the only sophomore to have his work shown in the annual senior ceramic show and the one man show of his wood sculpture at Brooklyn College showed him to be both talented and skilled at his craft.

He has designed dinnerware and flatware for the Farberware Company. Working as an antique dealer, he specialized in pottery and textiles of the Arts and Crafts period. The influence of this period is seen in much of his ceramic work today. Take a look at his website: www.rapesce.com

About Diane:
Diane Waller has been an artist her whole life. However, she started exhibiting publicly in 1996 as a photographer. Drawing and painting resurfaced after years of being pushed aside for professional careers.  After arguing with her inner artist, Diane left the commercial world to be a full time artist and took her business experience on to co-ownership in La Mano Pottery studio in Chelsea.  Since then, all three aspects of her art have been exhibited in galleries and exhibition spaces in New York City, Florida, the Tri-state area and Europe. Diane's photographs appear in the award winning children's books, "Where Does God Live?", "Does God Hear My Prayer?" and "Does God Forgive Me?" The Bronx Zoo uses her nature photography in signage and various Wildlife Conservation publications.

The other side of Diane is that she was educated as an engineer, worked in the aerospace industry which she left to get her MBA.  With that, she was successful in the not for profit sector. After finding that business less than satisfactory to her creative nature and financial desires, she sold real estate in several states, landing in NYC in 1980. Looking deep within her nature, in 1993, she was ordained as a minister. All in all, it came back to making art fulltime in 2002. Today, Diane is happily painting, taking photographs and making non functional art clay.  Please visit her website to see the latest. www.dianewaller.com

This exhibit was featured on MadParkNews.com

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Artists-in-(New!)Residence

Group Show: March 8–April 30
Reception: Friday, March 23, 6–8pm

Annabelle Bascou-Fonte
Kate Burns
Brady Candell
Melissa Chow
Peggy Clarke
Ali Epstein
Nicole Donnelly
Rivkah Feldman
Joahua Fraoili
Melissa Green
Julie Hadley
Nonna Hall
Bonnie Hanna
Martin Hanna
Danica Holoviak
Deborah Hunter
Bri Johnson
Sacha Jones
Stuart Kabakoff
Jessie Lazar
Daniella Lekach
Pei-yu Lin
Marge Lurie
Robert A. Pesce
Doug Rochelle
Joanna Shaw
Richard Stauffacher
Barbara Stone
Diane Waller
Jacob Cannon Wilson
Mimi Young
Joseph Zwechkenbaum