Gina Freuen’s Blog

Sour Cream Apple Pie

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 14:33:29 -0800

Makes 1 yummy apple pie for the holidays. Preparation time about 50 minutes. Cooking time 1 hour 45 minutes. Cool 3 - 4 hours.

Place your favorite pie crust into a pie dish and refrigerate.
Crumble Topping:
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
pinch of salt
2 sticks of unsalted butter, cut into small pieces. If using salted butter leave out the pinch of salt.
1 cup of chopped walnuts
Combine sugars, flour, cinnamon and salt. Add butter and combine with a fork or pastry cutter. I used my food processor on pulse. Stir in walnuts, and refrigerate until ready to use.
Filling:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
16 ounces sour cream
2 eggs at room temperature, lightly beaten
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
6 - 8 tart apples, peeled, cored, and sliced into 1/4 inch wedges
Preheat oven to 450. Whisk together granulated sugar, flour, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl. Stir in eggs, sour cream and vanilla until thoroughly combined. Add apples tossing to coat. Place apple mixture into crust.
Place prepared pie into oven with sheet protector on bottom rack, pie on middle rack. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes, then reduce oven to 350 and bake for about 45 minutes more. Remove topping from refrigerator and crumble over hot filling, press in slightly to keep it on pie. Bake until topping is browned and set, apples are tender, about 50 minutes more.
Let cook completely on a wire rack, 3 - 4 hours. Because the filling is so dense, it really needs to cool the full time.

Spaghetti and Turkey Meatballs

Wed, 21 Nov 2012 11:56:22 -0800

Just in time for Thanksgiving, my favorite recipe for Spaghetti and Meatballs. Healthy Turkey recipe.

Ingredients for sauce
Drizzle of Olive Oil
4 - 6 cloves of garlic chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 28 oz. cans of stewed or crushed tomatoes _ I substitute my “Roasted Tomatoes”, recipe is in earlier blog.
2 15 oz. cans of tomato sauce
1 big fat tblsp. of basil pesto.
Drizzle of Olive oil
Salt and Pepper
In a large saucepan, over medium heat, add the chopped garlic and onion to the drizzled olive oil and saute until soft. Stir in tomatoes, tomato sauce, pesto, salt and pepper to taste. Simmer for 8 - 10 min. If I am using commercial canned tomatoes I leave out the salt.

Ingredients for Turkey Meatballs
1 pkg. of ground turkey
1/2 pkg. of sweet italian ground turkey
1/2 pkg. of hot italian ground turkey, usually found in links.
Generous handful of parsley, fresh is best but dry is fine.
1 large egg
2 generous handfuls of seasoned bread crumbs
1 generous handful of grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
salt and pepper to taste
Combine meatball ingredients well, using your hands, then roll into balls about the size of a small egg and drop them into the simmering sauce. Resist the temptation to stir the sauce with the meatballs in it until it has simmered for about 10 minutes which lets the meatballs set up and not break apart.
While the meatballs are simmering, bring a large pot of water to boil with a bay leaf and 2 beef bouillon cubes. Add the spaghetti and cook according to directions. I like to use Quinoa Spaghetti but cook it a bit longer than the box tells you to so it has a softer texture. Drain the pasta but reserve about a cup of the pasta water for the sauce if in fact the sauce needs to be thinned. For added flavor to the sauce you can add a tblsp of butter. I prefer a generous drizzle of good olive oil. Place the spaghetti in a serving bowl and ladle the sauce over it, dress with grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.

Leftovers are wonderful if my kids haven’t taken it all home with them.

The Art Spirit Gallery of Fine Art ~ Small Works Invitational

Mon, 19 Nov 2012 07:42:03 -0800

14th Annual Small Artworks Invitational  December 7 - 31, 2012 -Opening Reception on Friday, December 7 from 5-8. -ArtWalk on Friday, December 14 from 5-8. -This show is sponsored by Duane and Lola Hagadone.

34 Artists: -Jared Anderson -Harold Balazs -Victoria Brace -George Carlson -Peter Cox - Allen Dodge -Mary Dee Dodge -Catherine Earle -Jen Erickson -Gina Freuen -Kathy Gale - Rhea Giffin -Catherine Gill -Del Gish -Robert Grimes -Nancy Halter -Liz Haseley -Georgie Hylton -Robert Krogel -Jerri Lisk -Marilyn Lysohir -Mel McCuddin -Paddy McNeely -Barbara Pleason Mueller -Kay O’Rourke -Kyle Paliotto -Tyree Riggs -Christina Rothe -Reid Schoonover -Adam Shanley -Austin Stiegemeier -John Thamm -Frank Werner -Gordon Wilson

Don’t miss this exhibit. A wonderful array of artworks that are in that great gift giving size of around 12”.

Before & After

Fri, 12 Oct 2012 15:11:30 -0700

As a potter, the transformation that my pieces make from wet clay, to leather hard, to bisque, to glazed and then fired is a magical journey. I become attached to certain pieces and pray they will turn out wonderful. Many of those pieces I felt so strongly about turn out average, I think because I think them out too much. There are always pieces I struggle with throughout the building process. When I finish building them, sometimes I look at them and think, this turned out pretty well after all, or I might look at them and feel good that I at least finished them. What is always amazing to me is that sometimes a piece that was a huge struggle, goes into the kiln with very little expectations, and comes out of the kiln as one of my best ever. The piece on the left is one of those. (There are 4 images above but to see all 4 you have to click on the photo) I worked on this form for over 2 weeks and when done decided it looked overworked, too busy, poorly structured. Then it came out of the kiln and by golly all those parts I kept carving or pressing in, came together. They say that being a potter has one of the longest learning curves of the arts. I can honestly say that even after 35 years, I am still learning, still being challenged, never bored, and still being pulled back into my studio. I hope I am still in there playing with clay well into my 70’s maybe 80’s, who knows.

Results from September Soda Wood Fire ~ Home Kiln

Wed, 10 Oct 2012 08:56:33 -0700

I posted new work on a new page I have added to this website ~ Latest Firing Results. All of these pieces will head over to the Art Spirit Gallery in Couer d’Alene, Idaho. There is a Small Works Invitational the month of December, so grab them then.

Little Spokane River Artist Studio Tour

Sun, 26 Aug 2012 12:50:49 -0700

Maiolica Presentation

Mon, 13 Aug 2012 13:10:34 -0700

While teaching in Florence, Italy for Gonzaga University’s Study Abroad program, I presented a Faculty / Staff Pro Seminar on Maiolica. To find the images for this presentation, I went to the Bargello Museum in Florence because of its amazing collection of Medici Renaissance pieces, I traveled to Montelupo near Florence to visit it’s 3 musuems that feature Archaic maiolica and the maiolica processes. I tried to stay out of the Florence shops selling Maiolica because I find it hard to not buy the pottery but go back to 3 that I think sell original good quality Maiolica pottery. If you click on this presentation, the last slide shows where I purchased most of the maiolica that I was drawn to.

This is a large file and meant for a seminar presentation so may lack information that I introduced orally.

Maiolica presentation.ppt

Corey & Melissa’s Wedding

Sat, 4 Aug 2012 17:00:39 -0700

Summer has flown by. This is being posted way after the fact but wanted to make sure that this wonderful life event for me was posted on my blog. My son Corey and his new wife Melissa on their wedding day. Don’t know if the link works but I linked to my facebook page to the album of their wedding.

Big Fish, Small Teapot V

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 10:22:29 -0700

Just had two teapots accepted into a juried show. Haven’t applied to many of them in the last couple of years so feels good to have a positive response. They had over 300 entries from 110 artists from 10 countries. Woooo Hooooo!

Fifth International Juried Small Teapot Competition. Big Fish, Small Teapot V
American Museum of Ceramic Art, Pomona, CA, April 14 - June 30, 2012
http://www.ceramicmuseum.org/

Why Teapots?

Wed, 7 Mar 2012 09:22:17 -0800

Excerpt from:
bcgalleryspace
The blog for the Bellevue College Gallery Space

Why teapots? For one thing, the exhibit is running in conjunction with the 46th annual NCECA – the Conference of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts — which for the first time is being held this year in the Puget Sound area. The theme for this year’s NCECA is “On the Edge”. Tea as a beverage, crop, commodity and currency is richly woven into culture, binding us to Asian, European, and Middle Eastern societies. And teapots are some of the most difficult forms to create successfully in ceramics, as well as some of the most beautiful, balanced and emotive.
Why create in clay? How sexy are dirt particles held together with water molecules? We have become so enthralled with the artistry of glass blowing that we forget how seductive is the process of clay. If glass blowers are the Aries or Leos in astrology, ceramic artists must be the Virgo — as they knead the earth’s dirt surface and then fuse the particles in an inferno reminiscent of the planet’s core. In a gas kiln (firing at about 2380 degrees fahrenheit), pieces are transformed chemically, as well as in size, shape, and color. Rolling open the kiln several days after it is loaded is a process leaden with anticipation — of both expected and unexpected consequences.
Working with clay is the wealthy aunt to making sand castles. Wet clay gives the best pliability and adhesion, but unlike sand it has limited structural integrity. But like sand, as a clay piece dries, it becomes increasingly fragile; an accident waiting to happen — like the dry sandcastles that become fodder to exuberant kids and dogs running along the beach.
Building in clay is not as simple as forming a lump of material into the shape desired. Like I said, clay dries, and in doing so the size of the material is reduced. This can cause problems when attaching pieces together — for example, when attaching a spout or handle to the body of a teapot. The two pieces want to separate as moisture leaves the two facing surfaces. Potters plan their approach to building a piece as the amount of moisture in the clay at any given point will decide what kind of procedure can be done next.
Scale is a limiting factor. A thrower working with very wet clay cannot throw a very tall piece. Pull the walls beyond a certain height and they just fall back to a point that can be supported by the clay beneath. On the other hand, dry clay is fragile and neither transports well nor accepts attachments (with the exception of porcelains which can sometimes be healed with a dollop of vinegar on a brush.) An artist will determine what best tool or technique gets them to their goal — be it hair dryer, heat gun, sand-blast gun, pressure sprayer, squirt bottle, time under a plastic tent, the addition of synthetic fibers or paper, paddling with a tool, rubbing with a stone, using clay in a water state (called “slip”), flipping clay like a pastry, the use of spatulas, knives, brushes, needles, credit cards, molds, supports, gravity (for example, hanging a piece upside down), or even the sun.
Firing a piece is not like baking cookies. The fusion occurring in the kiln can also cause a catastrophic event. If pockets of air are left in the clay the air molecules will expand and, finding resistance, cause an explosion. If that happens, all the potters whose work is in the kiln are likely to be unhappy. Artists will use multiple firings, primarily at different temperatures, to effect changes in material (either clay body or clay, glass and metal surface adornment) working from the core of the piece outwards through the surface. So many opportunities to screw up.
Pottery has an ancient and rich history. We need pots. Pots have improved our lives since early humans figured out how to bake clay in fire pits.
Ceramic artists might not appear as exciting as the choreographed glass artists in high-top boots, threadbare jeans, tie-dyed T shirts, and Ray-Bans. Potters tend to eschew sunglasses, and they get a lot dirtier. The medium is also fairly heterogeneous — some processes requiring quiet, intense precision and very careful chemical hygiene so as not to contaminate work with other materials, and pieces can take days, months or years to complete. Watch a ceramic artist building a piece — on the wheel, with coils, casting, as sectioned pieces, creating life-sized or miniature slab constructions, or via a process of their own – and you marvel at the ability these artists have of looking into raw, amorphous clay and envisioning a work of entirely different color, form, and expression. The vocabulary of these artists is very rich.
Have I spoiled the mystery of clay for you? I don’t think so! I’ve found people on the whole tend only to look at a work of art for a few seconds, but if there’s an explanation of some of the challenges in creating the work, that opens up a willingness to be engaged. And the whole point of the artwork is to engage the viewer.

Washington Clay Arts Annual Juried Exhibition

Sun, 4 Mar 2012 12:49:07 -0800

The ArtStop Gallery,
940 Broadway, Tacoma, WA 98402
253-272-3377

Exhibition Dates: March 3 - April 13, 2012
Reception Dates: March 15, 5 - 8 pm & March 27th 5 - 8 pm

Workshop / Gina Freuen, Moshier Community Art Center

Sun, 4 Mar 2012 12:45:30 -0800

Saturday, March 24
10:00 am-4:00 pm
Fee: $80.00

Whimsical and wonderful! In this one-day workshop, Gina will demonstrate how she creates her functional forms using handbuilt and wheel-thrown pieces. Students will have the opportunity to see Gina build her teapots and large vessels as she discusses the importance of positive form to negative space and how the figure influences her work. Gina will also discuss her technique for finishing pieces using her participation in regional wood firings. Please bring a lunch. NCECA members receive a 10% discount on this workshop, mention you’re a member at registration.*
*call in registration only ~ 206-988-3700

Here and There: Contemporary Nordic-American Ceramics

Sun, 4 Mar 2012 12:30:23 -0800

March 9 - May 6, 2012
Nordic Heritage Museum,
3014 NW 67th Street, Seattle, WA 98117
206-789-5707
Reception: March 8, 6 - 8 pm

Eleven celebrated local and national ceramics artists explore themes of place, heritage, Nordic design, craft,technique, and traditions in this exhibition.

2012 NCECA, Seattle, WA, “The Clay Edge”

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 16:07:11 -0800

2012 NCECA, Seattle, WA, “Teapots on the Edge”

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:57:29 -0800

MARCH 25–31, 2012
The National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts is a dynamic organization that fosters global education and appreciation for the ceramic arts. NCECA’s programs, exhibitions, publications, opportunities and resources inspire advancement of the field. In 2012 the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts annual conference will be held in Seattle. Thousands of visitors will come to the Pacific Northwest to see the best and brightest of contemporary ceramic work.

Teapots fire up the Bellevue College Gallery Space from March 5 - April 5, 2012, with the exhibit: "Extreme, Extraordinary, Exquisite - Teapots on the Edge!"

We've invited 40 local "extreme" ceramic artists to Bellevue College to participate in this exhibit, which is being held in conjunction with the 46th Annual Conference of the National Council on Education for the Ceramic Arts (NCECA).

This is the first time NCECA has been held in the Pacific Northwest, and the bar is set very high for ceramic art! According to NCECA: "Through creative stretching, we also visit the EDGE of our imagination and appreciate the artistic use of clay in dynamic new ways. Even EDGY ways…often on the EDGE…sometimes with rough EDGES. "

We're hosting two receptions for this special event. Please mark your calendars so you can meet these talented artists who come from so many different backgrounds and who approach clay in entirely different ways. Both of these receptions are free and open to the public.

Opening Reception: Wednesday, March 7, 3 - 8 p.m.

NCECA Reception: Wednesday, March 28, 1 - 5 p.m

Also, on March 28 in Carlson Theater we have invited Sonny and Gloria Kamm -- owners of the world's largest teapot collection (over 17,000 items) to Bellevue College to talk about their collection and its upcoming home in the Fuller Craft Museum. On that day the college will host artists, educators and collectors from around the nation. We hopeyou'll join us for this free event!

For more information, including maps and directions, visit the Gallery
Space Web site at http://bellevuecollege.edu/artshum/galleryspace.