Favorite Etsy Sweater Shop

I'm feeling a chill in the air and can't help but shop for fuzzy knits! I've got a thing for sweaters (and bags, but that will have to wait for another day). The perfect sweater makes my day. Every couple of years I hit on a sweater that I just can't stop wearing and it makes the whole season worthwhile. This year, I'm coveting a sweater from DesignByNihan from Istanbul.


Her Etsy shop is filled with my favorite colors, gray of every shade and black. I'm completely sold on gray or black, but she also makes sweaters to order and can knit them in a variety of colors.


Besides sweaters, DesignByNihan also makes accessories like bags, hats, and scarves, all knitted with the same care and attention to detail you'll find in her sweaters.

Inspired by Teapots

I've been attempting to give up my hot-chocolate habit. Yes, I know, there's nothing wrong with drinking a cup of hot cocoa on a cool winter's night, but really, hot cocoa everyday and twice on Sundays is a bit much even for a sweet tooth like me. So a couple of years ago I started to drink hot tea. Now, I'm hooked. There is nothing like the comfort a hot cup of tea held in chilled hands on a cool winter's evening. And, it's a great excuse to use a handmade mug (of which I've accumulated many over the years).

But what to do when a friend drops by? Tea for two requires a teapot and I haven't got one. So I headed over to Baltimore Clayworks last week in search of ideas. Their current exhibition, Teapots IV, is an eclectic collection of teapots ranging from the fully functional to the purely sculptural, from serious form studies to whimsical objects. I was inspired––both to drink more tea and to build teapots. They look like so much fun!

"The teapot is the quintessential ceramic enterprise. It is an aspiration to the novice, and a source of inspiration and consternation to the experienced clayworker," ––David McDonald, juror

Included Artists: David Austin (MI), Hadi Abbas (FL), Lorna Awalt (MD), Marc Barr (TN), Abigail Deneau (MI), Jim Dugan (MD), Jessica Dubin (NY), Delores Fortuna (IL), Yoshi Fujii(MD), Susan Greenleaf (DC), Jim Geletka (MD), Robert Garron (FL), Hsin-Yi Huang (OR), Matt Hyleck (MD) , Steve Hilton (TX), Judi Tavill (NJ), Elizabeth Keller (SC), Judith King (FL), Susan Kent (PA), Jon McMillian (IL), Joyce Nagata (PA), Crystal Pillsbury (FL), Roberta Polfus (IL), Collette Smith (MD), Gary Slavinsky (MD), Lauren Sandler (PA), Rebekah Strickland(GA) , Joy Tanner (NC) , Katherine Taylor (TX), Delanie Wise (MA), Sherry Wells (MT), Gwendolyn Yoppolo(NJ)

Teapots IV is on display through February 28 at Baltimore Clayworks in Mount Washington. For further information visit baltimoreclayworks.org.

The Craft of Politics Exhibition Opens Friday

Curated by Elizabeth Crisman, this exhibition features artists who work with traditional craft materials to create works of social commentary. Artists include Xiang Yang, Jennifer Drinkwater, Jennifer Marsh, Hillary Doyle and B.E.S.T.'s own Megan Van Wagoner.


Stolen Wealth cast bronze, tea bags, cotton fabric

Opening reception and artists talks are this Friday night, November 7, from 7–9 pm. The exhibition is on view at the Montpelier Art Center in Laurel, MD through November 30. For more information and directions visit the Montpelier Arts Center website.

Post written by VWStudios

Sculpture Exhibition Reception

Keep Saturday, September 6, open for art openings. First stop, the Marlboro Gallery at Prince George's Community College.

This mixed-media sculpture exhibition was juried by Kristen Hileman, Associate Curator at the Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. She included BEST member Megan Van Wagoner of vwstudios, as well as 20 other artists from around the country.


Barely Touched Pair, cast iron and clay, by Megan Van Wagoner

The show is already open and runs through October 9. The reception and awards ceremony will be held Saturday, September 6, 4–7 p.m. For details and directions visit http://academic.pgcc.edu/artandmusic/.

Featured Seller: Silhouettes cut in paper and plants

The work of Jenny Lee Fowler brings back memories of childhood. As a child I would sit mesmerized by the small black paper silhouettes of my sister and I in deep black oval frames. That is, I imagined it was us. I don't remember them being made and for all I know they were two random girls with pony tails.


Custom Silhouette Portrait

Fowler offers these traditional silhouettes custom cut using your photo of a loved one. They are delicate, detailed, and absolutely lovely. For a ephemeral twist, Fowler will cut your silhouette from a green leaf. Fowler says, "Leaves will change color with age, and some splitting may occur as the leaf dries;" not unlike what happens to us.


Custom Leaf Silhouette Portrait

Cutting silhouettes isn't Fowler's only scissors skill. She also makes cut paper pictures done in the same way kids make snowflakes, but so much more sophisticated.


Blue Horses Silhouette Papercutting

Post written by VWStudios

Megan of Van Wagoner Studios

Born in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, I grew up in a community filled with artists, musicians and lots of mid-west practicality. I knew from a very young age that I wanted to create things––bridges, buildings––I wasn't sure what, but I wanted it to be useful. It wasn't until I started my studies in engineering that I realized art was my calling.

After a year at Northwestern University, I returned home to study at the Cleveland Institute of Art. The ceramics department was a natural fit. I learned both the science and sociology of making pots and was inspired by the variety of expression I saw around me. As I became more interested in communicating, I added sculpture to my repertoire and began to branch out into other materials. By the time I completed my BFA I was working on two concurrent bodies of work––sculpture for the gallery, pots for the home.

In few years later I began graduate studies at the Maryland Institute College of Art in the Mount Royal School. Open-ended and encouraging of mixed-media exploration, the Mount Royal School is where I began actively using the computer to document my mixed media installations. After two years of study I graduated and began working as a graphic designer. Passionate about the value of aesthetics in our everyday lives, it was easy to become completely engulfed in the world of design. It took me a couple of years to get out from under my desk and back to a gritty hands-on studio.

In 2002 I started teaching––design workshops at Johns Hopkins University, then graphic design courses at the University of Maryland, and now ceramics at Montgomery College. For me teaching has become an integral part of making stuff and provides inspiration for actively experimenting in the studio. While themes run through my work for years at a time, I am always looking for a new way to express them and leave it to students to get you thinking in new and exciting ways.

Post written by VWStudios

New Work––Sneak Peek

I am not a production potter. As much as I might dream of having a studio pottery where I sit mesmerized by my spinning potters wheel, I’ve come to know my own studio persona well enough to know I don’t have the patience to work at the same form long enough to perfect my efficiency. I am easily distracted. As soon as I have a group of pots that I am happy with, I’m ready to move on and find a new challenge. And so I start sketching.


Next come the prototypes. I make the same form over and over until I find the proportions I like. In this case, I started with cups and am now adding bowls, vases, and other cylindrical forms to the line. In time, these forms will sport printed images, subtle washes of color, and soft undulating glazes—connecting them visually to the last group of pots made. Keep you eye out for the finished pieces coming soon.

Post By VWStudios