Home and Garden Television’s That’s Clever!
In the fall of 2006, Mea was featured on HGTV’s That’s
Clever!,
a daily half-hour program that
profiles craft artists across the country.
In Mea’s segment, she makes her
popular Crab Fossil Plates (pictured). The demonstration starts
with an actual crab shell. She molds a set of ceramic stamps
from the crab shell, then uses the stamps to create a crab
image on an 8-inch square plate. Finally, she shows how she
applies glazes to make the crab image resemble a rock fossil.
The segment was filmed in January 2006, and
takes place in her basement “cave” pottery studio.
“I hope it shows how interesting and fun it is to work
with clay. I also hope I didn’t make an idiot of myself
on TV,” says Mea.
The episode first aired on Monday, October
16, 2006, at 12 noon (east coast time) and repeated
occasionally throughout the following calendar year.
More information about Mea’s segment,
including a materials list and a complete step-by-step recap
the demonstration, can by found on HGTV’s website: www.hgtv.com
Ceramics Monthly
Mea’s wood-fired pottery was featured
In the May 2007 issue of Ceramics
Monthly. The photographs are part of
a feature article written by wood-firing potter John Thies. The
article is about a small wood-kiln built by John named the
“manabigama,” which translates to “kiln for
teaching.” The kiln was built in the summer of 2006, and
Mea was the first to fire it to stoneware temperatures.
Also in Ceramics
Monthly, though not as impressive,
was Mea’s published “Suggestion of the Month”
in the December 2005 issue. Mea wrote instructions for making a
hydrometer out of an inexpensive plastic bottle, and was
awarded a one-year free subscription.
Thanked by Tony Kornheiser on the Radio
In March 2006, when Mea’s favorite
celebrity, Tony Kornheiser, was leaving his daily radio show
for his new job as an ESPN Monday
Night Football analyst, he asked his
listeners to send him beaded necklaces as farewell presents.
The necklaces poured in, including many that were, let’s
just say, less-than-satisfactory to Mr. Tony. Mea sent him a
necklace made of handmade pottery beads. Mr. Tony called it
“absolutely lovely” and “a keeper” and
thanked her on the air. She didn’t stop smiling for days.
Baltimore Examiner
The Thursday, July 20, 2006 issue of the Baltimore Examiner contained
lots of coverage of that weekend’s 25th Anniversary
Artscape Baltimore festival, including a column in the Business
Section by Dan Gainor about “artists as
businesspeople.” The column contained several quotes from
Mea, who participates in the Artscape festival every year,
about the importance of understanding business concepts for
those who wish to pursue art as a career.
Awards
June 2006 / Award of Excellence from the
Frederick Festival of the Arts
December 2005 / Judge’s Award from
the Audubon Naturalist Society’s Holiday Fair
September 2005 / Merit Award from Artsfest
at Annmarie Garden
