Things are always changing. Little changes everyday–the weather, the plants and trees around us, daylight, how we’re feeling, what’s happening in our relationships, the work we’re doing, what we dream about, what we long for and what we aspire to be. Paying attention to change helps us adjust what we’re doing and shift our actions to better match our aspirations. I’m often so adaptable to circumstances that I’m really slow to enact changes. But recently, there have been a few pointers that have made me realize it’s time to stop adapting and start changing. A few[…]
What Color is This? Do These Go Together?
Lately I’ve been feeling like my work is getting a little boring.I’ve been concentrating on making functional pieces and because of that, throwing more of my work and doing it in batches. This leads to more repetition. I don’t have time to hand build enough functional pieces and the work thrown in batches looks very similar to each other. How to solve this boredom problem? Well, I love texture so I thought–a new batch of mugs all with different textures on them. Those have been fun to make and hopefully not too strange in their outcome.[…]
Value and Significance
I’ve always thought that hard work has value, and making things by hand has significance. Even though this is obviously romantic and foolish and not in line with our modern culture, I still feel like it’s true. There is excitement and novelty about new things and we’re always told the more current they are-the more exciting. There is affordability (and sometimes cheapness) is mass produced objects that makes them widely available.But there is a uniqueness, an expression of personal vision and energy, and evidence of accumulated skill and care in objects made by hand. I’m pretty[…]
Why Crumpled Brown Paper?
If you’ve ever bought any work from me, you probably got it wrapped in crumpled, brown paper. I hadn’t thought of this from the presentation side of things until two weeks ago. A very nice man was buying one of my big bowls at the Farmers’ Market for his wife’s birthday. He asked what kind of wrapping I had and I responded that I didn’t have any gift wrap just brown paper. It turned out he was only asking to make sure the bowl was safely wrapped for transportation. I started swaddling it in several pieces[…]
It Took Nine Sinks
Commissions are quite the process.In February this year, I got a commission to make three, custom bathroom sinks. I was so excited with this prospect–I thought it might be a new direction for me to explore. Well, I just completed it and got the final sign off yesterday. It took 2 1/2 months and me hand-building nine sinks! Ceramics has elements of uncertainty throughout the process and I wanted to cover any unforeseen eventualities. So even though I needed three sinks, I made four. As they are drying and I’m moving them around, I end up[…]
Ceramics is a Practical Philosophy
Working with ceramics has taught me a lot of useful lessons that can be applied directly to life–it has become a kind of practical philosophy for me. Clay requires focus and constant attention to what you are doing. It is incredibly fragile at some points in the process and a single casual action can end in shattered lumps of dirt on the floor.On the other hand, it can also be incredibly durable and last for thousands of years. So, it’s worth taking the care and making an effort because the results will be around for the[…]
Going smaller is getting BIGGER!
It’s been almost a year since we began this roller coaster ride of starting and stopping our activities because of Covid. We’ve had to adapt in so many ways as things changed or went away. As stores shut, shows were postponed and fairs quit being available, I realized I could let go of the pressure to do more, and to get bigger and better all the time. I could just enjoy exploring ideas and materials that interested me. It was play time! But, after awhile the need for some income brought me back to reality and[…]
We Can Do Hard Things
So, 2020 ends and 2021 begins. It’s been very different than any other year we’ve experienced. There have been plenty of tragedies and disasters before but they always had an end and a chance to rebuild. This year has been unclear and we’ve wavered with uncertainty and fear. And although the new year is still unclear, there is hope. Vaccines are coming and with more immunity, this virus should gradually become more like a variation of the flu. We’re all looking forward to that and more ‘normal’ activities. This pandemic has changed a lot of things[…]