The Dance

I'm getting ready for my Ceramic Artist presentation this week in class.  My ceramic assignments are all done.  I'm just waiting for the last two to come out of the kiln.  So this presentation will be my final grade.  And yes, we've discussed that I'm hoping to get an A (I tried not to care too much about grades, but it turns out I do! LOL), but there is something I hope I leave the kids with this presentation.  This is the quote that made me decide that Rob Barnard would be "my" artist...
“In an effort to explain to me what separated pedantic and indifferent ceramic art from the kind of ceramic art that makes us reflect on the very nature of our existence, Yagi held up his index finger and pointed it straight up. This represented, he said, the predictably beautiful; then he turned his finger 90°, parallel to the floor, saying that this position represented what we all commonly think of as ugly. The two positions have a tendency to be fixed in culture, but—and he moved his finger to a position 45° between those two points—it is here, he said, where real Art takes place, vibrating between the beautiful and the ugly.”  (Between Points in Clay, by Rob Barnard, Ceramic Monthly June 1995)    
I loved that description of art.  But there's more.  When I write a book, or an artist creates their art, it belongs to us.  We bring our intent and vision to the book/piece.  And then we're done.  At that point we turn it over to our readers/observers.  They own it at that point.  They bring their own vision to it.  They like it, they don't.  They hate it, they love it.  They see something totally different in it than the writer/artist intended.


Even if the readers/viewer feel they're completely alone in experiencing the book/art, they're not.  The person who created it is a part of their experience.  Even if what they are taking from it is totally different than intended.

That interaction between the creator and the observer is a dance and it takes place somewhere between Yagi's beauty and ugliness in art.

That's what I'm hoping to leave the kids with at the end of my talk.

Literature and art are important.  They have a function.  They make us all look for ourselves in someone else's vision.  And when we find that piece of ourselves in someone else's work, maybe we realize that we are not alone.  That we're all connected.  We are all part of that dance.

Thanks to all my new followers here at Hollyworld, and as always a special thanks to all of you who've supported me and hung out with me all these years!

Happy Holidays!

Holly

Pushing my Limits...My Novel Freshman Experience, Part 20

   Wow, twenty posts on going back to school.  I'll do one more wrap up blog on it this term.  (I'm taking Ceramics 2 next term, so there will be more!  The Hobbit Hole is still in the kiln so I'll showcase that one on the last post.)             


We're glazing now.  And my pieces are coming out of the kiln. 

I'll confess, it's like Christmas.  I know how I wanted them to look, but I've never done it before so it's a surprise!  The uncertainty of glazing is pushing my comfort zone.  You see, I like to know what's coming up.  I like having a plan.  I can plan all I want with glazing, but it's still a crap shoot.  I can look at chips of how a glaze reacts to our clay body, but there are variables and even experienced potters can be surprised by a glazing result.   

I'm doing my report on Rob Barnard, I've talked about him before.  (You can read the post here.)  His career is built around controlled chaos.  He can plan and bring to a project his years of experience, but things still just happen.   “A key dimension of Barnard's aesthetic has been a tolerance for the slight irregularities and imperfections engendered by the wood-firing, and this new work goes a step further. The shows inclusion of a number of cracked and dented works indicates a Zen-like acceptance of all of nature's workings, not merely those that suit the preset needs of man. The results are highly poetic." (Rob Barnard by Alice Thorson, City Paper, Washington, April 26, 1991)   


So, I glazed my cups trying to be free and not worry.  I experimented.  And even though my Kiln Goddess's arms fell off, I'm confident I can glue them back in place.  And maybe I love her just a little more because she's damaged.   
           

        I tried for a bit more control with my teapot and Hobbit Hole, realizing that glazing effects can surprise even the most experienced potter, like Barnard and Professor H.  I'm hoping for the best. The  professor was very patient answering my repeated questions.    

And my teapot (the quote on the back is from Carry Her Heart...the heroine's garden was the inspiration) I really wanted the matte, rough tree look for the body, but the glossy, color for the flowers, butterfly and leaf on the lid.  I'm so pleased with how it turned out.  


So here's what I'm walking out of class with...a renewed effort to push my own limitations; to push my personal status quo; to experiment.  To find glee in even my failures.  So this class not only gave me an entry into earth art, but it also pushed me to try to relax my expectations.  I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving! And thanks for being so sweet and following me on this new journey! I'm already so excited about next term!  

Holly   

PS If you missed any of my Novel Freshman Experience posts, here are links:
Part 19, Part 18,  Part 17, Part 16,  Part 15, Part 14, Part 13, Part 12, Part 11, Part 10, Part 9, Part 8, Part 7 Part Six, Part 5, Part 4, Part 3, Part 2, Part 1

Holly Jacobs' HOLLYday Books

Can you believe Thanksgiving is next week?

Me either.

It's HOLLYday time!

Visit my website for more information!

Reinvent Yourself...My Novel Freshman Experience, Part 19

I did my last speech of the year yesterday...Finding Your Sequel.  It was a talk about finding what comes next in your life.  It seemed apropos since Once Upon a Christmas was released yesterday...it's the sequel of Once Upon a Thanksgiving (the third book Once Upon a Valentine's is out in January!).

More than just Once Upon a Christmas, the entire PTA Mom trilogy is about sequels...about three single mothers finding out what comes next in their lives.

So that ideas of sequels has been on my mind. I realize that my life has been a series of sequels...I think everyone's is really.
I was a daughter and sister, then wife and mother, then a writer...those are the biggest things, but more than that, I've been a reader, a cook, a cleaner, a waitress, a lactation consultant, a basket weaver...  So many more.  This year, I've added student back to my list.  

Some of you have been following My Novel Freshman Experience (and thank you for that!) as I talk about going back to school and my glee with my ceramics class.  And even there, I'm focusing on sequels.  Our last project was a narrative piece or teapot.  I chose to use my book, Carry Her Heart as my inspiration.  The quote is all about reinventing yourself.  And I made both a narrative piece AND a teapot.  

LOL I'm an overachiever.  

I love the quote I used.  I think we all reinvent ourselves over and over. And again, that really fits into my recent talks/thoughts on sequels.

Holly

PS So many of my books, over time, turned into series because I keep thinking about characters and want to know what came next. (There will be a 5th Maid in LA book next year!).  People keep asking about the order of my books...I've put a list of series in order for all of you.

PSS If you missed any of my Novel Freshman Experience posts, here are links:
Part 18,  Part 17, Part 16,  Part 15, Part 14, Part 13, Part 12, Part 11, Part 10, Part 9, Part 8, Part 7 Part Six, Part 5, Part 4, Part 3, Part 2, Part 1

You Might be a PTA Mom....

In celebration of my new PTA Mom trilogy, let's play a Jeff Foxworthy-esque game:

You Might Be A PTA Mom if...

Here are a few to get you started.  Add your own as a reply and I'll add them to the list.  And to make things more interesting, I'm drawing names from the participants for  some lovely Weary Creek Gift Boxes!

10. ...when you appear in the teacher's workroom all the teachers rush over to see what you brought them to eat. ~Ellen Too

9. ...you know the location of every public washroom in town—field trips help that along. ~Kaelee

8. ...you've dressed up in a grass skirt, aloha shirt, and carried around a pink, plastic, blowup dolphin as volunteer reader for the annual Scholastic book fair . . . in a snowstorm. ~Shelley

7. ... your kids' friends call you "Mom." ~Patti

6. You might be a PTA mom if you can sing "Found a Peanut" in your sleep. ~Jody

5. ...you take every school fundraiser to work and then end up having to carry in 100 tubs of frozen cookie dough ~Tammy

4. ...you've popped so much popcorn to sell on Fridays that when you go to the grocery store later that day, you notice people around you sniffing the air and saying, "Do you smell popcorn?" ~JV

3. ...the students wave in the hall and say, "HI Laminating Lady!" rather than "Mrs. ____" ~Donna

2. ...you're so busy with PTA stuff that your husband has to dress out of the dryer in the mornings. ~JV

1. ... if you've ever forged another mom's name on a volunteer sheet. ~Ellen 

So add your own You Might Be a PTA Mom if, or share a story about your time as a PTA Mom!  I'll draw names from the entries in December for the awesome Weary Creek Gifts!

And Check Out the PTA Mom Trilogy...they're available for Kindle and as a paperback!

Holly