The kiln opens and the first piece retrieved is a very big flair (thrown by Michael and wax resist glazed by Peggy).

We want to give a big shout out to Andrew Snyder of Bootleg Pottery. Andrew is teaching ceramics at West Chester University in Pennsylvania, where our son attends. The work we’re hearing about in Andrew’s class inspired us to experiment in some fun new directions.

A great and full kiln load today! Lots and lots of Peggy’s wax resist on our mugs. Also Michael’s latest large platters and medium vases. Waiting until we could safely hold the pots was sooo hard!

It’s our first firing of the new year! Welcome to a new and productive 2011… We have a lot of pots. Let us know what you think of the latest work.

Also on May 22 is the Paso Robles Wine Festival in the park, directly across from our gallery in Studios on the Park. This is a huge tasting event for fantastic local wineries. Michael will be watching the gallery, so will miss Tai Chi open house for the first time in 13 years (we’re sad about this – but we’re very happy about both events). Family from San Francisco are coming down to see Peggy at open house for the first time, so that will be fun for her.

On Saturday, May 29th, of Memorial Day weekend is the Paso Robles Festival of Art in the down town park. This event is put on by Studios on the Park in conjunction with the City of Paso Robles. It will feature top notch artists from the area, in many different mediums. The city closes off Pine St. between us and the park and Studios on the Park becomes an integral part of the show.

On Father’s day weekend in June (the 18th, 19th, and 20th) Michael will be going to the KCBX Live Oak Music Festival. It’s near Lake Cachuma on the way to Santa Barbara (see their site for maps and details) and Michael will be selling our work while soaking up great music, fun and sun. Peggy will be in the gallery in anticipation of family arriving for our annual Miller/Vrana big family reunion (a huge hug and hello to our family!)

As always, join us at Studios in the Park, where we have our gorgeous gallery space amongst a plethora of great artists.

Peggy has practiced Tai Chi for more than 13 years and has recently taught some classes at Liu Yu’s Wushu Tai Chi Center. In the photo Peggy demonstrates the fan form – and will be demonstrating at the Wushu Tai Chi Center annual open house this May 22nd.

Liu Yu, Peggy’s teacher and an inspiration, will be demonstrating her incredible techniques. Here are images of Liu Yu… We find her absolutely amazing.

Peggy will be doing 2 sword forms, a fan form, a spear form, and several open hand forms.

It’s always an exciting event and open to anyone who’s interested: San Luis Obispo, CA at the Veterans Hall, 10:00am-12:00pm… with a feast to follow!

For more information please call the Wushu Tai Chi Center at 805-547-9643.

click any image to enlarge

After a lot of refining and studious work, I finished several unique new glazes this month. With them, I have been throwing porcelain instead of the brown stoneware clay. I’m loving the way the new glazes are reacting with it! The colors are more vibrant than ever.

We’re at a high point in experimentation success and expression.

As I write, Peggy is in her studio filling color in on pieces she wax decorated over the past few days. I’ve been making a lot of new pieces in preparation for our expansion in Studios on the Park.

The photo above is of two slab vessels I carved with geometric intertwinning imagery, along with new wheel thrown porcelin teapots, and a large porcelain covered jar.

The photo below is a group of bisque fired porcelain bottles and vessels waiting to be glazed. Tomorrow is glaze day and I plan to finish some of them. I am developing more new glazes for the porcelain and revisiting some of the combinations I loved in my past porcelain work.

It was really a day in the sun – about 80 degrees with a light wind – absolutely perfect weather. It was a great crowd and we had very good sales. Again this week, as at Saratoga, patrons bought some very nice pieces of both our collaborative work and my individual work. There was a great funk/R&B band playing, wine tasting, BBQ, and art. What more could you ask for?

Our daughter Emily, with her daughter Zoë, and our son Josh, with his daughter Heidi and son Carter all stopped by for visits. It was a wonderfully fun day in Templeton.

We had our first weekend of expansion at our gallery at Studios on the Park, too. We are both thrilled with the new displays and more cohesive space. We’ve been working so hard in preparation that the space is already full! We’re very excited and looking forward to showing off the space… Here are our first photos.

Peggy and Michael each paired with local Paso Robles area wineries to collaborate on inspired pieces, mixing the feel of their respective winery in art. Later, offerings from the wineries and the pieces were sold at silent auction.

Clayhouse Wines and Michael Miller paired to create “Clay House” – with David Frick, winemaker, getting his hands nice and covered in clay in the process.

D’Ambino Vineyards and Cellars and Peggy Vrana paired to create “D’Ambino Family At Play”, a piece highlighting five musical members of the D’Ambino family run business, each wearing tuxedos and playing in a ceramic jazz concert.

Both of these wineries have absolutely amazing wines, created by truly wonderful people. It was a lot of fun and good times working on these pieces. We’re looking forward to getting out to the tasting rooms again!