So there's a chance I'm a geek.

So there's a chance I'm a geek.

Burlon Craig Swirl Teapot

Now, my kids would assure you that there's more than just a chance, but I've long held out hope they were wrong. Until after reading four books for an upcoming 10 minute presentation, reading a bunch of articles and an hour-long  video, I realized I had another book on my shelf and picked it up and gleefully started reading it.

Do you think there's a chance that five book's might be overkill for a ten minute presentation? LOL (If my kids are reading this they're nodding.)

But here's the thing, the subject is fascinating.

My teapots.

I talked about my report in my last post. Burlon Craig. He had a long career and shaped an entire region's worth of potters.  All this reading about Catawba potters led me to experimenting with alkaline glazes in class this term.  And I'm planning to try swirling clay someday soon.

My Barn (well and Himself's)

My presentation is coming up and I swear I'm going to try to keep it at that ten minutes, but it's going to be tough. (To Any Fellow Student...I do promise to try! LOL) And after that, my term is over. I have one more term of ceramics. I'm only the second person in my professor's career to have a third independent study in his class.  And I feel a bit panicked because there's so much more to learn and I'm not going to fit enough in just one more term.

But there's also a sense of excitement. When this term's over, I should have my own studio up and running in the back of the barn.

Speaking of excitement, I unloaded three kilns this weekend for the class. It was fun watching the kids' pieces come out and it was like Christmas whenever I pulled out one of mine!

Yes, I'm afraid my kids are right...I'm a geek. But hey, I'm okay with that! I find such glee in all the little things in life. And maybe I go overboard on a ten minute presentation, but I learned a lot with all this reading.

I'll let you in on a secret...finding things that inspire you to go into overdrive mode might be a ticket to never getting old!

Holly

PS My Hometown Hearts series is starts in January! The first book, Crib Notes, is available for preorder now! I hope you'll pick up your copy! (The first chapter is available as a sample at iBooks.) I'd really appreciate your support with a preorder! Each one gives my book a bit more visibility!

Amazon          Nook          iBooks          Kobo

PPS Today's Trippin' with Holly and Susan video really ties into this blog post. If you've missed it, check it out! And if you follow me at YouTube, you'll get alerts whenever a new episode is uploaded!

Creating—My Novel Freshman Experience

I opened up the kiln today. It always feels like Christmas!! I know what I hope for, but I never know quite what I'll get. 
As I emptied it all out, I was thinking about the act of creating and about the art show I went to last night.  I am a creative person. It's more than writing. It's all the little crafts I've played with over the years. Quilting, cross stitch, crocheting, painting, basket weaving...  I've tried so many things. And I'm sure I'll do some of them again, but I've found my true home with pottery. I love making things. I love trying something new. I love...I just love it.

At an art show last night, I talked to someone who told me they weren't artistic. They weren't creative. I mulled over that comment ever since and wish I could go back and heartedly disagree with them.  Everyone is artistic in some way. I look at people who dress to the nines. Who always look put together while I sluff around in jeans and t-shirts. My everyday wardrobe easily functions as my studio clothes and my camp clothes. LOL That ability to be put together is creative. Arranging flowers. Setting a table. Gardening. Interior decorating. It's all creative.


Parenting. Wow, that isn't just creative, it requires a lot of creativity to survive it!

I think humans, by nature, are very creative.

I wish I'd said something like that last night. Maybe I'd given her food for thought.

So, anyway, the kiln's unloaded. There are a few successes, a few disappointments and some pieces that are in the middle and will be great canvases to experiment with glazing.

I am itching to get up to the studio for more than unloading a kiln. I'm still supposed to be resting, so until all the stitches come out, I settled for just unloading the kiln. I remind myself that I'll be up there soon.  I'm taking a wheel-throwing class this year. Yes, I'm technically still a freshman and I'm still loving every second of my time at the University!  I've done some throwing, but I'm anxious to improve. I'm anxious to be up to my elbows in clay. I'm anxious...to create. I still have so much to learn, but I'm learning. I'm improving. I'm experimenting and having a blast!

I hope you all know you're creative, and if you don't know it, I hope you think about and realize that you are.


Holly

PS Check out my summer of Rom Com:

The Makeover

How to Catch a Groom

How to Hunt a Husband

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