Above: Sara Pilchman lays on the floor of her ceramics studio and warehouse in Signal Hill on Feb. 8, 2022, among a variety of her finished tiny pots while talking to her studio mate candle-maker, Keri Palustre. After sitting on a stool for hours to shape the pots, she prefers to lay on the ground to relax. (Richard H. Grant | Signal Tribune)
By Karla M. Enriquez | February 10, 2022 | Signal Tribute
Racks upon wooden racks of about 1,000 tiny ceramic pots sit in a brick kiln at Angels Gate Cultural Center in San Pedro waiting to be fired at 2,380 degrees.
Ceramic artist Sara Pilchman and her team work out of her Signal Hill and San Pedro workspaces (the latter, a set of old army barracks turned into studios) to fulfill the weekly process.
At the Signal Hill studio, it takes minutes for Pilchman to mold softened clay into a vessel using her potter’s wheel, but the finishing process—polishing, glazing and firing—takes the rest of the week.
The tiny pots—usually in nine different styles—can be found at over 125 shops around the nation. Eight of those shops are in Long Beach including Plantiitas, Blue Windows and Made by Millworks.
[Read the article here]