Recently finished pieces – The ceramic misfits of tom michelson

Did I tell you? …I’m having a show at the Oakland Museum of Ceramics.

Hi de ho Art lovers. I’m getting real excited about my upcoming show at the Oakland Museum of Ceramics. I thought that I would share some images of smaller work that will be included to pique your interest in the show.

This is my non-cubist version of Picasso’s painting Woman in Chair

A bud, a beer, a bath, and a blunt. What could be better?

I hope that you can make the opening on Sunday, October 15th from 5pm-8pm.

The museum is located at 4401 San Leandro Street, Oakland, CA 94601. (Please call, text or email if you plan to visit before or after the opening reception.) My email address is my first name @ my first name last name dot com. (e.g. john@johnsmith.com)

Show in Smaart Gallery

I am pleased to say that I currently have a show at the Smaart Gallery, located at 1045 Sutter Street, San Francisco. The show is from July 4-August 31, 2017.

I will be at the gallery during the First Thursday Lower Polk and Tenderloin Artwalk, on Thursday August 3rd, 2017, if you want to meet up or talk with me about any of the art.

The Smaart Gallery and Studio has been around since 2012. Steve Allen, the driving force behind the studio and the gallery, has been a huge boon to the ceramic art community in San Francisco. Be sure to check out his other shows and if you have the inclination to get your hands dirty and want to learn more about clay, his studio and classes are great place to learn and grow.

Name that totem contest entries:

I received over 50 entries in my Name That Totem contest. It’s been a couple of weeks, and I still cannot decide on my favorite entry. I certainly have learned a lot of things (Otolaryngoloists are specialists in in ear, nose and throat and shy guys are timid troublemakers in various video games are among other useful facts that I acquired from this contest.) But I am torn because there are so many good names to choose from.

If you entered, you should be getting an email from me in the next week or so announcing the winner of the contest. If you didn’t win the grand prize, don’t worry. Everyone who entered is a winner. I will offer anyone who entered, a discounted price on my bottles.

All of the entries are listed below. (If a title appears more than once, it was submitted by more than one person.)

Eyes on the Prize?
Trickle Down
Hear no see no speak no totem
sense stick
forward facing
user experience
5th sense
Eye Bite Jeans
Goofin’ bottom
Blue Jean Yellow Submarine
Not so shy guy
Big Mouth!
I was looking for you
Misogynistic Pig (oink)
Nosetem
Blorg the Omnipotent
Dreams of Otolaryngoloists
Coagulon
Phil-lippy Mc Blue Shirt
Body Eclectic
the other side of the unnamed totem
Senses
Sensational
Discombulation
Five Senses
Picasso on Acid
Make Some Sense
My Stomach Won’t Shut Up!
Blah, Blah, Blah
I nose Front to Back
Facetastic
Picasso on acid
See (no) evil, Hear (no) Evil, Speak (no) evil
5 senses
2 Faced Totem with Converse All Stars
American Teen Unplugged
Convoluted Converse
See No Evil, Speak No Evil, Hear No Evil
Interocular
Deconstructed Me
I won’t hear you
Old Age Bart
Say What?
Big Mouth Chuck
Social Anxiety
Confused Chameleon
Senses for the Insensate
before my coffee
discombobulated Bob
Eye See a Q tip
Jagger
Plastic surgery Mistake
Government!!!
From Your Lips to God’s Ear
Trickle Down
F-you
Making sense
St. Tracheo
Senses Overload
Decomposed Bean
Portal to Picasso
Ass over teacups
Unlaced Side-Eye Totemic Descent

Name the Totem and win free art!

I have posted my latest totem below, with the very unsexy title of, “Totem #5”

If you can come up with a better title and I choose it, I will happily give you a smaller piece of my work. Please submit any title suggestions in the comments below, in an email directly to me or better yet, come see the totem in person and drop off your title suggestion at my studio.

Totem #5

I guess I should get a little more creative in naming my totems…but here is the latest one I have finished.

I am happy to introduce you to “Totem #5.”

Solo Show opening Friday, June 3rd

If you are in the City and wanting to see a few of my misfits in person, you’re in luck. I am having a solo show at the Clay by the Bay Gallery, located at 1248 Mason St. on Nob Hill. (Across the street from the cable car museum).

The opening reception is Friday, June 3rd from 6pm-9pm

The show should be up for the rest of the month (June), if you can’t make the reception.

Here’s a little teaser, from my series on the Alien Underwear War series.

This one is called Naked Aggression, the invasion begins

Unfortunately, this brings up a whole rash of questions:

Do the alien rays make earthlings clothes disappear? (Except for the underwear, of course.)
Or do the earthlings strip down to their underwear as some sort of protective layer or camouflage?
Or are the aliens a bunch of 10 year old boys, just wanting everyone to run around in their underwear?

It would be foolish not to speculate.

Come and see the whole series and draw your own conclusion.

Pablo’s Pony

I think that Picasso’s Guernica is incredible, both politically and artistically. When I saw the it and the studies that lead up to it at the Prado in Spain, it literally made me cry. (I see that Guernica has since been moved out of the Prado into Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía. But it remains in Madrid.)

Other pieces I have done have referenced parts of that masterwork. This is my interpretation of one small aspect of that amazing painting.

Fractured classics

I did a few bas-relief wall pieces based on classic paintings. Here are three from the series:

Two Angels

I also did a large wall piece based on the Last Supper, called the Penultimate Supper, but that one sold before I got a decent shot of it. (Either a photo will be posted or I will figure out how to add the movie I took of the piece. Stay tuned.)

Muscleman

Here is a smallish, wall-piece that shows a muscleman with a much more developed right arm, than left.

Category: Recently finished pieces