Mark Your Calendar: Weekend Roundup

* Saturday, May 9, from 10 to 3: Feria Urbana at Pizzaiolo in Oakland

* Saturday and Sunday from 10 to 4: Open Studios and Factory Store Sale at Heath Ceramics in Sausalito

* Opening Saturday at noon at Johansson Projects in Uptown Oakland: Val Britton and Michael Meyers's Echo Fields (the artists' reception for the show is next Saturday, May 16, from 5 to 8 p.m.)

* Saturday from 2 to 4: The First Annual Cupcake Bake-Off at Oakland's Rock Paper Scissors Collective (across the street from Johansson Projects); $4 at the door

* Saturday from 7 to 11 p.m.: The opening reception for Isabel Samaras's Into the Woodz at San Francisco's Shooting Gallery

* And at the same time next door at White Walls Gallery: The opening reception for New Work from Ian Johnson

* Finally, if you're still on the hunt for a Mother's Day gift, don't forget the exclusive discount for More Ways to Waste Time Readers at Atomic Garden in Rockridge.

Deal of the Day: 15% Off Place Settings at Heath Ceramics

How drool-worthy are these new place settings from Heath Ceramics? I'll take service for twelve ...

To celebrate the launch of this new dinnerware collection, Heath is offering 15 percent off the regular price ($78 to $164 per set) until the end of February. Simply type in SETS at checkout to take advantage of the discount.

And if you're in the Bay Area, stop by the Heath Factory Store in Sausalito this weekend (Friday, February 6 through Sunday, February 8) for tours, open studios, giveaways, and 10 percent off everything.

Mark Your Calendar: Open Studios at Heath Ceramics

I'm a huge fan of Heath Ceramics, the 60-year-old pottery that Catherine Bailey and Robin Petravic stumbled upon near their home in Sausalito, California five years ago and rescued from decline. (I'm also completely in awe of Catherine and Robin's amazing house.)

Believe it or not, though, I've never been to the Heath factory, despite the fact that it's only a few miles from where I live. (How lame is that? I'm embarrassed.) But that's going to change this weekend, when Heath holds its annual open studio and sale. Heath artisans will be manning their wheels and kilns during hourly factory tours, and everything in the Heath Factory Store will be 20 percent off -- including not just Heath's wonderful tableware and tile, but also gorgeous textiles and housewares from a small group of talented independent designers that Bailey and Petravic admire. There will be food from San Francisco's Green Chile Kitchen, and a hands-on tile glazing activity, too.

Below is a sneak peek of Heath's skilled craftsmen and -women at work (you can see the entire online tour here). I can't wait to watch them in action and to learn more about the process used to create this beautiful, timeless pottery

Heath's open studio and factory tours happen Saturday, November 22, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., and Sunday, November 23, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The annual sale starts Friday, November 21 in the Factory Store, and ends Sunday, November 30.

If you're not in the area, you can visit Heath online right here.

Cool Stuff: Heath Ceramics Winter Collection

Currently drooling over: Heath Ceramics' new Winter Collection in rich shades of red, burgundy, and plum.

The handmade pieces in the limited-edition collection range from $25 to $101, and are available right here.

Mark Your Calendar: Diana Fayt at Heath Ceramics

Sausalito's Heath Ceramics kicks off its summer workshop series, "Etchings in Clay," later this month with Printmaker’s Clay Tiles, led by San Francisco ceramic artist Diana Fayt.

The hands-on class will "explore various printmaking techniques used on leather, hard, and bisqued tiles -- using underglazes, old letterpress type, etching, image transfer, and drawing to create one-of-a-kind tiles with multi-dimensional surfaces." The two-day workshop takes place on Saturday, June 21, and Saturday, June 28. The cost is $110 plus a $20 materials fee, and reservations are required.

Click here to for more info, and for details on Heath's other four summer workshops, which cover mold making, surface color and text, Italian Maiolica, and image transfer -- each led by noteworthy Bay Area clay artists.

And click here to peruse Fayt's lovely pottery for sale.

Mark Your Calendar: Your Thursday-Sunday of Art, Crafts, Pottery, Orchids, De-Panting, and Naked Gardening

There is so much fun stuff going on in the Bay Area over the next few days. (And where will I be? Driving my kids to baseball and softball, taking my turn in our monthly Friday-night childcare swap with friends, passing out Popsicles at my kids' school walkathon, and then hosting a gaggle of squealing 10-year-olds at my daughter's birthday party. You all better go out and do something fabulous, since I can't.)

In San Francisco Thursday evening: The opening of Portland artist Betsy Walton's Sacred Spring at Rare Device. The artist's reception runs from 7 to 9 p.m. Thursday, May 1, and the show will be up until June 1 at 1845 Market St. at Guerrero. (Not in the area? You can purchase the original pieces Walton painted for the show here, see more of Walton's gorgeous paintings here, and browse her prints for sale on Etsy.)

On Friday, May 2, the Heath Ceramics Factory Store in Sausalito kicks off a weekend of festivities by marking everything off 15 percent. So go and snap up some of the sublime Heath tile, tableware, and home goods you've been coveting. The sale continues Saturday and Sunday, May 3 and 4, when Heath will also hold one of its semi-regular Open Studio events. Heath owners Catherine and Robin (whose awesome home can be seen here) and their crew of talented artisans will be barbecuing, giving factory tours, offering hands-on tile glazing activities, and hosting a vintage sale and silent auction of Edith Heath originals. Heath Ceramics is located at 400 Gate Five Road in Sausalito. The hours are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 10 to 5 Sunday. (Can't make it? Heath is offering free shipping on online orders from May 1 to 8.)

Photo: Jan Stürmann for the East Bay Express

Friday night is, of course, the monthly Oakland Art Murmur at the galleries centered around 23rd St. and Telegraph Ave. in the burgeoning Uptown area. Opening: Dress Form Dialogues and Reading History at Mercury20 and Ready to Pop at Blankspace. The event starts at 6 and goes until about 10 p.m. (More on the Murmur later today.)

Emeryville ceramist Sara Paloma is having a studio sale on Saturday and Sunday, May 3 and 4, from noon to 4 p.m. Paloma will be selling new designs, old favorites, seconds, and one-of-a-kind items. Her studio is located at 4333 Holden St. #54 in Emeryville. (If you're not in the area, check out Paloma's Etsy shop, where she also sells seconds and other assorted -- but still totally drool-worthy -- items.)

In nearby Berkeley, stop in at the Fourth & Clay Seconds Sale. The west Berkeley ceramics studio will host a liquidation of slightly imperfect pieces by studio denizens Rae Dunn and Josie Jurczenia and pals Whitney Smith and Diana Fayt -- as well as handmade bags from Susannah Schnick and Nancy La Rose. The studio is located at 2390 Fourth St. at Channing, and the sale runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday, May 3, and from noon to 5 Sunday, May 4.

For her part, Fayt is earmarking proceeds from the sale of her seconds this weekend -- as well as from this amazing yellow pottery set in her Etsy shop -- to help her sister, who recently lost her home in a terrible fire. (By the way, out-of-towners: Smith and Dunn have Etsy storefronts as well.)

Also Saturday and Sunday, May 3 and 4, the Maker Faire will celebrate DIY in all of its incarnations at the San Mateo Fairgrounds. There will be live music, craft and MAKE magazine demos, a Bazaar Bizarre marketplace featuring hip, handcrafted items from dozens of vendors, and lots more. Tickets are $10 to $25. Download the Faire program right here.

Starting Saturday, May 3, and running through Saturday, May 10, longtime Oakland orchid grower Fiori D'Amore hosts its annual Orchid Sale featuring dozens of rare and beautiful varieties. Trust me, these make incredible Mother's Day presents. (Nick and the kids, are you reading?) The sale takes place at the Fiori D'Amore owners' home at 4526 Fair Ave. at Carson in the Oakland hills, and is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day until May 10.

Finally, don't forget: Friday, May 2, is No Pants Day, which I just learned about from my buds over at Design Boner. There's a No Pants Day Dance Party on Friday night at 9:50 p.m. at 1817 Woolsey St. in Berkeley (pants, obviously, are optional). And Saturday, May 3, is World Naked Gardening Day!

Now these two, I might actually be able to do ...

eBay Find of the Day: Heath Ceramics Tea Set

The organic tableware created by Edith Heath beginning in the 1940s is a modern American classic. Each piece is handcrafted by skilled artisans in Heath Ceramics' small pottery in Sausalito, California, and has an elegant earthiness and a streamlined simplicity that's all about material and form. Many Heath pieces are in the permanent collection of New York City's Museum of Modern Art.

Heath items are relatively scarce on eBay -- I suspect because people tend to hang onto theirs forever and pass them down to family members. This vintage stoneware tea set, purchased from the Heath Ceramics Factory Store, includes a teapot with a cord-wrapped copper handle, six teacups, a creamer, and a lidded sugar bowl -- all made from Heath's signature brown clay finished with a creamy ivory glaze.

Current bid: $10

(P.S. Click here to see the absolutely breathtaking Sausalito home of current Heath owners Catherine Bailey and Robin Petravic, who were kind enough to let me feature it in an Apartment Therapy writeup awhile back.)

Shameless Plug: Heath Ceramics House Tour

My "House Tour" of Heath Ceramics owners Catherine Bailey and Robin Petravic's jaw-droppingly gorgeous Sausalito home is up over at Apartment Therapy: San Francisco.

Click on over to see it.

Want to share your own home -- or simply show off a room or a project you're proud of? Please let me know!

Mark Your Calendar: Heath Ceramics Open Studio

Though it's been in operation since 1948, Heath Ceramics has enjoyed major buzz lately as new owners Robin Petravic and Catherine Bailey work to bring founder Edith Heath's elegantly earthy midcentury tableware and tile designs to a whole new audience.

Handcraftsmanship is a hallmark of the Heath aesthetic, and this weekend you can see it up close when the historic Heath factory in Sausalito opens its doors for tours, tile glazing, and BBQing. During the open studio, everything in the factory store is 15% off. The hours are Saturday, May 5, from 10-6 or Sunday, May 6, from 10-5. The factory is located at 400 Gate Five Rd. in Sausalito.