Dateline: 12/15/97
Not Only is Christmas 
rapidly approaching, but believe it or not, also the first anniversary of Ceramics Today Ceramics! Yes, yours truly has been serving you in the capacity as Ceramics Today ceramics guide for a whole year. To celebrate, kick off your shoes, get out the bubbly, sit back and check out the best of '97.
Outstanding contributions in the field of personal homepages have been made by Jeroen Bechtold, particluarly with his ideas in the field of virtual ceramics. 
Elegant shino platters, porcelain sake sets and sculptural work are complimented by a simple but very elegant site, namely that of Francesc Burgos, a Spaniard living in the US. And who could forget the whackiest ceramic artist on the net, Charles Spillar? Hey, if you haven't seen this guy's stuff, you don't know what you're missing!
The Canberra School of Arts and the University of Art & Design Helsinki, Ceramic & Glass Design Department stand out as two institutions with excellent sites and good art to compliment them. Of equal interest, but of a more technical nature is the Fraunhofer Institute of Ceramic Technologies and Sintered Materials, an English language site from an Institute of Technology in Germany. And of course, how could we not mention that pioneer of ceramics on the web, that started out as the 'SDSU Ceramics Gopher' and then transformed into the Ceramics Web?
In the arena of ceramics magazines, there is by unanimous opinion one that stands out, namely Ceramics Art and Perception magazine, that offers online articles - but the real thing is absolutely worth it too (hey, they should be paying me for this!). If it's museums were talking about, check out the Mint Museum of Art in North Carolina. What, haven't seen their site yet? Where have you been? While you're at it, don't forget to take a peek at Michael Lucero's stuff - this guy's really far out.
Well that's la crème de la crème for 1997. But don't take my word for it - it's only my personal view. You might think 'this guy is full of ...' That's OK, I understand. What I mean is, hey those other sites I've listed in the last 12 months aren't there for nothin' either! Check 'em out!
So, now that we've done with the niceties, I wish you all a great festive season, and will see you back here at this space for my next ebullition on the 29th of December!
So raise that glass, cheers, and Merry Christmas,
from Steve,
your Ceramics Today Ceramics Guide.