Our main camp was made at a quiet little hotel in Windham, the race Friday (a 2.3m uphill TT) was in Tannersville just a bit South of there. Then Saturday the 51.3m road race called Stage 1: The Catskill Epic started out in Windham. Then Sunday the final stage was another road race ~58m called Stage 2: The Mountaintop Classic ‘Featuring the Assault on Devil’s Kitchen’ which was a beast of a hill around 3miles long and boasting grades of mid-20%’s…

Between races taking in the view and exploring the peculiar off season ski towns and the meandering side roads that dribbled off into the wilderness there came a sign. Sarah and I are fans of pottery and off in one of the mountains was this sight I share with you here:

Notice the awesome little potteries hanging out on top of the sign no doubt secured in some clever manner.

So, off and completed the race, hurried to scope out results and then went back to scoop up the Sarah to scope out the potential place of the potter.

As we made the turn off of the road of the initial sign it seemed very promising in a super off the beaten path way.

Pottery, in the woods!

Here are a couple snapshots I took with my telephone, pardon the grainyness, there was some excellent stuff in there. Particularly of interest were the mugs, very nice bowls (which we ended up purchasing 2 good ones), as well as a lemonade/orange juice making device, interesting things called garlic dishes – which I thought would be nice for safely harboring cookies, berry bowls were the water could drain, and a need flower/bamboo watering contraption.

The proprietress had put in her time for 17 years in Manhattan living the busy life, and curiously got into pottery instantly enamored and driven to create. She’s been working the wheel thrown pottery out of the little studio called ‘Herbs and Pots‘ since 2006 creating functional and interesting pieces.

This place was an excellent unexpected find. The Catskills are filled with artists, hanging out in the mountains, taking naps under trees with good old local legend Rip Van Winkle. It just goes to show you never know what may be down that meandering road.

*Photo by Josephine Kenney

A few months ago I received a message from Matt saying a friend of his was looking to have a website created for her upcoming clothing/accessory store. We went through a couple of  layouts an kept things moving forward on the build. I got an email with the first few images for the site and knew right then it was going to be a pretty fun project to work on. It ended up being fairly tough with all the coding and tweaking needed to get it right, but fun none the less and I’m happy with the results!

Let us know what you think and go and buy some sweat stuff from Absolute Blackout!!!

Congratulations Maddy, very nice work! and to the rest of the Absolute Blackout crew, awesome stuff!

After the Tour de Syracuse, we invited people over and were introduced to Bike Polo. They meet at Berry Park (corner of Westcott and Broad Street) Syracuse, New York on the tennis courts every Sunday and Monday, 4:30, 5:30 respectively. There’s a great turn out of riders each week and they are always looking for new people to join in on the fun. Bring a beater bike and good attitude and great balance!

Each game is pretty intense when you first start, but after you get used to it, it’s incredible fun, so if you’re ever in the area stop by Sunday or Monday and have a good time. You can meet the Syracuse Bike Polo group on Facebook and don’t be shy to leave a little something if you’re interested.

Take a look at some photos of what you missed this past Monday.

A warm Sunday morning, May 30th, racers rolled to an easy eight-thirty start. Geared up to race through the rolling hills of the Borodino countryside for the 4th annual Race for Hope.

The Race for Hope is in honor of local cyclist and triathlete Dick Shaffer, a Borodino resident and triathlete, who died of cancer in 2006. Race for Hope seeks to find a cure for cancer, all race proceeds go to support research at the Center for Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders at Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital.

The race was a ~25 mile citizens race, so all categories of cyclists were welcome to ride and compete in one combined field. More information about the race can be found at the Skan Races website.

Variety Studios would like to congratulate all the competitors for putting out an excellent effort on Sunday. Big thanks to all the volunteers involved.

I decided to get another good effort in this past weekend, telling myself that depending on how my legs feel after the Fly by Night duathlon on Sat. evening I may go down and check out the race in Borodino on Sunday. It’s just around the corner and Mello Velo / Middle Ages teammate Brian Nilsson was racin’. I felt good so I signed in and raced it, ended up finishing first, after working with a little break away pack that went off after some of the more decent of the hills catching up to one dude with sweet glasses who made a very solid break with about 8 miles to go. A good time was had by all, I continue to learn bits and pieces of cycling tid bits, this time around was sprint etiquette.

To check out the photos of Race 4 Hope Click Here!

Good job all!

Have a great Memorial Day!

“Formual 1 format duathlon (run-bike-run-bike-run) on the race track at historic Watkins Glen International. Part of Porsche Clash Weekend, the event allows individuals or teams of 2 and includes long sleeve technical jersey, post-race BBQ, and awards 3-deep for each age group.” -Active.com

Randy and his dad, Bob Hadzor took it to Watkins Glen, successfully showing off some athletic talent finishing 1st and 3rd respectively in their age groups this past Saturday. Randy took 2nd place overall behind Travis Kuhl (above image) a 3 time, now 4 time winner at this Fly by Night race.

Think you missed the action? Click here to get up close and personal.

Click here to check out results from the Race

Tour de Syracuse took place this past weekend 5/22 – 5/23/10 with a very impressive showing by our own Mello Velo Racers, Randy Hadzor, Dan Fitzgibbons, Brian Nilson, Wesley Hadzor and Kate Stewart.

Variety Studios would like to congratulate all the competitors and thank all the volunteers involved in this weekend’s Tour de Syracuse.

Congratulations to Dan Fitzgibbons for winning King Of The Mountain in the road race.

A huge congratulations goes out to Variety Studios’ Randy Hadzor for placing 3rd in the Criterium, 2nd in the time trial and 1st in the road race, finishing 1st place in the Omnium Cat 5 (competing in all 3 races) overall standings.

Click Here for photos of the races and Here for results and more…

Seattles Best Coffee Stirs Up Heated Opinions

The article refers to the redesign of the Seattles Best coffee companies recent logo redesign, and here is my quick response:

“There has been a ridiculous trend toward ‘clean’ sans serif type styles especially in branding lately… I think a lot of it has to do with how a mark is implemented.. I think the best big company redesigns are those that take into consideration the history of a mark and seek to improve them rather than completely disregard them…

The Seattle’s Best was a very recognizable mark that wasn’t great but wasn’t bad either, it had a more traditional look and was probably a little clunky for modern usage such as web, small sized implementation, mass simplified production, (gradients and gold color 2 difficult things for printing, especially when simplified down to one color processes or just consistency of colors)

I think the new logo jumped too far from the recognition that the company has created with their mark already, and it jumped into a pretty much trendy/clean aesthetic which makes it look super generic, which is not in the best interest if they are looking to remain familiar feeling with the coffee market.. The new mark is very sterile and not something I would be excited to see in the morning when I’m a little groggy.”

We’ve been working with the CNY Triathlon Club of Central New York to create a comprehensive triathlon resource site for the Syracuse area. The site provides all the neccesary information about the club and their events as well as information about coaching and local area training opportunities etc… Feel free to check it out.

We have implemented a few interesting things on the site; a detailed Calendar, a little hi-slide Photo Gallery, areas of client editable content, and some other fun stuff, let us know whatchya think!

This is a quick video about some street artists getting stuff done.

Don’t be afraid to make a difference, a little effort can do some cool stuff.

found this on a blog called the urban prankster

wild.

7pm – 10ish pm
Tuesday, March 30th, 2010.
317 Montgomery St 4B
Syracuse, NY 13202

Featuring some sick artists…

Showing in an exclusive space for just one evening! be sure to check it out!

call 315.439.7375 for more information.

the gorillaz have a new album out eh?

These are some screenshots from the music video for ‘stylo’.

Bruce Willis? … Bobby Womack & Mos Def ?
Car chases!

Awesome.

Check out the full video for Stylo and more at the Gorillaz youtube place on the internet

The Gorillaz always have ridiculous beats, and smooth lyrical sounds. The mystery that surrounds them as they are known to the world merely as their animated incarnations.. check out their home too!

Also on the album are musical artists such as Snoop Dogg, Bobby Womack, Lou Reed, Mos Def, Super Furry Animals’ Gruff Rhys, Little Dragon, The Lebanese National Orchestra for Oriental Arabic Music, etc…

Check it out!!

I helped some artists set up today and it was pretty much like walking into Spring. They were setting up full fledged gardens, with fountains, there was some art getting set up, there will be demos going on and art on display by the Skaneateles Artisans.

There will be a painting dog portrait and a stained glass demo for sure!

See the CNY BLOOMS website, to get more information.

It’s right around the corner from Variety Studios headquarters. Check it out at the Oncenter Complex, 800 South State Street, Syracuse, NY 13202.

Enjoy!

11 days until Pittsbirds as I’ve been calling it. I will be showing my ever expanding series entitled ‘birds’ in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Saturday the 20th.

The shindig starts at 7pm at Mr. Smalls Theatre (map).

There will be work from 15 different artists on display, work in all sorts of media & available for purchase. Five bucks to get in which includes a free beverage.

The name of the event is ‘Art Bash’, in addition to the artists, there will be music and a pretty solid representation of variety studios and friends heading down. It’s going to be pretty awesome, check it out if you’re in the Pittsburgh area or feel like a destination for a road trip!

I will also have prints available in addition to the canvases and wood paintings!