altered esthetics

Sue Christensen

on display January 4-25, 2007

Medallions

ceramic (cone 5 stoneware)

9" diameter

$35

A flowerlike plaster medallion, all rough and gray and crumbly, appeared on my back steps one day. It turns out it had fallen off of Eli’s Bar & Grill at 1225 North Hennepin in Minneapolis and came to me courtesy of my friend who tended bar there. The building is about 100 years old and used to be the Belleview Hotel. I rebuilt the broken edge of the medallion (on which it landed, I presume) with clay and made a bisqueware mold of it, which makes it possible to slab-build lots of these, then hand paint and fire them to 2100 degrees Fahrenheit. They are suitable for indoor or outdoor use.

After I had been making medallions for a while, a friend hooked me up with a New Orleans water meter cap and I made a mold of it and started making "medallions" of that too. These ornate lids, with a crescent moon and stars, are set into sidewalks all over the city. I’m told that the design has been the same since 1921, save the addition of a keyhole to keep tourists from stealing the cool things in huge numbers.

My proceeds from your purchase of this piece will be sent to Mission From Minnesota, a non-profit organization which, according to its website, is "a group of average Minnesotans who, like you, want to ‘just do something’ to provide relief for the victims of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita." Please check out their website, http://www.missionfromminnesota.org, to learn about their trips to New Orleans, their accomplishments so far, and how you can help.

past works by Sue Christensen shown at Altered Esthetics include:

10” patchwork bowl with oak leaf and ivy

$75