Vacation
I’m on vacation! Well, sort of – I still have to work at my day job; but, my pottery partner is gone for a week and I am on hiatus from the art center; so it feels like a vacation. With all this vacationing, things have been slow in the studio (although, I did trim a bowl tonight). However, things in the kitchen are heating up. I have been cooking and experimenting. This morning I made a shrimp-stuffed omelet and tonight I am working on a version of cajun sausage and rice (for Jeff). I’ve noticed that when I am working on a lot of ideas and pots in the studio, I often...
Read MoreEva Zeisel
This week is the last week of classes in the Winter Session at the art center where I teach. The focus of our session was “Production Pottery” in which we made dinnerware pieces. As I was preparing for our last class, I began to think about Eva Zeisel, a renowned potter whose dinnerware was made available through industrial reproduction. Eva Zeisel died on December 30, 2011; and the ceramics world collectively grieved. I read several articles about her shortly after she passed away. She is known in for her beautiful dinnerware – clean, modern, organic, and elegant. It was cast and...
Read MoreWinter Luxuries for a Potter
Winters in eastern NC are usually mild and 2012 has been exceptionally mild. But, we had a cold snap, and although I have a small space heater in my studio that manages to take most of the chill out, it never gets really warm. So even though I love making pots, it is still hard to motivate myself to go to the cold studio when the house is warm and bright. The recent below-freezing nights made me think of the small indulgences that make working in the winter a little easier for me. Warm water – a bucket of warm throwing water makes all the difference. I heard of a potter who uses an aquarium...
Read MoreThe Potter and the Baker
I love to cook; but baking was never a passion. It had to do with 2 things: calories and messiness. No matter what you bake, there are a lot of calories. And, sous-potter, Jeff, doesn’t like breads or sweets, which means the bulk of the calories are mine to consume unless I can find some other sacrificial soul. The other reason I didn’t care for baking was the mess – flour everywhere and sticky hands. But, working in clay has made me much more comfortable with sticky hands. Whereas I used to stop every few minutes and wipe them clean, I’m more comfortable with messy hands and only stop...
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