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!

Another Term Winds Down—My Novel Freshman Experience

Burlon Craig Face Jug

I signed up for a spring class last week. Another pottery class. If you're counting...my sixth. It's my third independent study (officially individualized studio) class. I'll confess, the flexibility works well with balancing the minions and the rest of the family. And I like spending a term going in my own direction. Professor H. makes a great advisor. He offers opinions and some direction, but let's me be in the driver's seat. I'm already feeling sad about spring being my last ceramic's class. Of course, by the time the class is over, I should have my own studio up and running! Yep. I've got studio glee!

But here's what being a class of one is missing...reports. Yeah, I know, some people might think that's a plus, but over the out-of-school decades I forgot how much I love doing a deep dive on a topic.  We have to do a report on a ceramic artist in a week. I did a presentation on Rob Bernard my first term. It was supposed to be five to ten minutes, but I had pages and pages of notes. Interesting facts I was sure everyone should know. (My daughter assured me that not only did the kids in class not want to know, but there was a chance my glee over reports annoyed them! If it did, they were kind enough to feign interest. LOL) I did manage to keep it to ten minutes, but would have loved to have gone longer. I left so much unsaid. This time, I'm doing a presentation on Burlon Craig. I'm trying to keep it short...but it's still hard! He's equally interesting and exciting. He is known

Holly Face Jugs

 for his face jugs in the Catawba Valley in NC (my southern roots are firmly planted just north of there).  I bought a great book, The Final Kiln Opening, about his last sale which was so cool. And I bought a book on that folk tradition, based more in Georgia called Brothers in Clay. Equally engrossing reading...alright engrossing in a totally geeky way. LOL I've got pages and pages of notes.

Ten minutes?  I have to fit all this in ten minutes? The trouble is real. LOL

To add to my condensing everything into a less than ten minute presentation, I found YouTube videos from a PBS show called Folkways. They showed Burlon in his studio and firing his kiln. You can find them at Burlon on Folkways. They were fantastic! The second video talked to other local ceramic artists who were related to, or knew, Craig. They watched him work. I wish I'd discovered him sooner and could have visited his studio as well!

I fell in love with face jugs my second term. I wrote a bit about them here.

Holly's Game of Thrones inspired Face Vase

Holly's Jug

 I've done a bunch since then. For me they're a connection to my southern roots and to be honest, I just think they're ugly cute! LOL And art inspires art. School inspires study. I've been trying my hand at some folk art painting and one of my favorites is Burlon's kiln firing. It's obviously rough, but I've done a few versions of it. I love the flames!

Holly's Burlon's kiln painting.

I've been wanting to buy a Burlon Craig face jug but they're a little rich for my blood. But I did find one of his swirl teapots. It should get here soon. I'm soooo excited! I'll post a picture when it arrives.

I don't know what I'm going to take up at school next fall. Maybe some more art classes. I'm working toward a degree...maybe. I plan to just continue taking classes that interest me, and if I get close to a degree, I'll take some of the must-take classes. At this rate, it'll be a decade from now. But hey, for me, it's not really the destination (a degree) that matters. It's the journey. And so far, I've enjoyed every step of My Novel Freshman Experience journey!

Holly

PS Just in time for Thanksgiving, another school story...this one from a PTA mom's point-of-view. Once Upon a Thanksgiving is on sale!

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

My Novel Freshman Experience: Reboot

My Novel Freshman Experience Reboot

I've been going over some of my first year at school blogs for kicks and giggles. It was fun going back and remembering that first class. Finding time to take two years of classes has been a challenge. Time. Frankly, I don't have much time at all. One of those early posts I talked about making time stretch. I'm still stretching my time to its well-frayed limits on a daily basis. 

But I wouldn't have it any other way.

I've now had four freshman classes and I'm about to start my fifth. Yes, they've all be ceramics.

We're building a barn at our camp and I'll have my own ceramic studio before I finish my spring term ceramic class. That'll be six classes. And there's still so much to learn and experiment with.  I'm thrilled that I'll have the opportunity to keep studying ceramics in my own studio. But the question is, what will I study next at school?

Hmm. I have a year to decide. Yes, I'll have a fall and spring ceramic class, but then I'm done. I'm sure I'll be blogging about the decision! LOL

If you want to read more of my adventures, you can see more Novel Freshman posts here.

School starts in a few weeks...and I can't wait for this next adventure!

The barn starts to go up next week! Can't wait for that, too!

Yep, my life is beyond exciting!! Stay tuned for more My Novel Freshman Experience (Someday there might be some My Novel Sophomore Experience blogs LOL), more Days of Beauty, more Family Treeing and more...well just me chatting!

Holly

PS Check out my summer of Rom Com:

The Makeover

How to Catch a Groom

How to Hunt a Husband

Down the Rabbit Hole—My Novel Freshman Experience

So there's a chance that NOT writing historical fiction was a good choice on my part. It seems whenever I start researching something (well, interesting somethings) I fall down the rabbit hole.  If you've followed my Novel Freshman Experience posts, you might be aware that I've been bitten by the pottery bug. I've taken one class a term for two years, and they've all been ceramics.  LOL I've also been working on my family tree and found that I have very deep southern roots. My people come from the mountains in Virginia and North Carolina.  Those two interests came together and led me to trying my hand at face jugs.  There have been examples of face jugs throughout history.  Most of my interest is in that Appalachian tradition.

I've read a bit online, looking at examples of face jugs.

Which led me to book shopping.

Which led to my tumbling down that rabbit hole.

I've done some shopping and fallen into the stories of potters who kept this tradition alive.

I found Burlon (BB) Craig. He came from the Catawaba Valley in North Carolina and made face jugs. I curled up last night with Philip E. Burrow Sr's The Final Kiln Opening, about well, the final sales of BB's pottery after his death. Which led to me ordering Catawba Clay: Contemporary Southern Face Jug Makers by Barry Gurley Huffman. It's on its way and I'm anxiously awaiting it.

I've also been reading Brothers in Clay by John Burrison. It's more about Georgia Potters, but they mention BB Craig, so I bought it and have been captivated by the stories in it.

Yes, I've fallen down the face jug rabbit hole.  I'm itching to make a few more. Yes, I know, some people think they're ugly. They are. But I really have fallen in love with them.

Now, I realize most of you won't find face jugs as intriguing as I do.  That's okay. The point of these posts isn't to turn you all into potters, but rather it's my way of reminding you to find your passions.  Find NEW passions. Find things that have you following down your own rabbit holes.

That first ceramics class led me to a second, then a third, then this fourth one. It's led me to exploring the craft. I'm hoping to have my own studio by this time next year. (Here's my future spring view. That's the edge of the pond to the left, the creek's straight ahead.)

I hope you all find your own rabbit hole. Something new that intrigues you and makes you smile!  I truly think that if you never lose that sense of wonder and excitement, you'll never grow old...no matter what the mirror says! LOL

Holly

The Makeover

PS. Check out my books!

Briar Hill Road

Between the Words

Able to Love Again

PTA Moms: the Collection

The Moments

Find more of my books at:

Amazon

Kobo

iBooks

B&N

Google Play

BAM

A Day of Beauty—Pottery

 Another day...another day of beauty. This time the pottery edition.

By now, I think most of you know I went back to school last year (my brother assures me that no one can miss my pottery posts and pics on social media). I take one class a term. I'm started my 4th class this week—they've all be ceramics. Since I started taking classes, I've started looking at the world through new eyes. I think I see more. I notice texture and shape. I notice beauty. I really don't have to proclaim a day of beauty. I think most days have some bit of it, if you only stop to look. But when I looked, today was especially beautiful.

I've been talking to a lovely lady about Rob Bernard. I did a report on him and blogged about him last year. I find his art fascinating. As we spoke, I realized what a gift these ceramic classes have been.  The classes have impacted my writing and my day-to-day life.

On the heels of that conversation, I ran up the studio and stopped in at The Cumming's Gallery. There's a great exhibit right now by Thomas Hubert.  I love how he combines wood and ceramics. I love how he plays with unusual forms and some very large forms.

His large teapots are so much fun to study. Teapots were first made in ancient China and while most people just microwave a cup of tea, they're still a classic ceramic form. (I don't microwave cups...I brew pots.) And sometimes, like Hubert's, they're not classic, instead they're unique, bold, big and narrative. my one teapot was definitely more narrative than functional. though I'm planning to make a functional one soon.

Beauty. It's everywhere. It's in an art gallery, but I also find it when I'm walking in the morning, or sitting by the fireplace on a winter evening.  It's in a good book, or...  Well, you get the point!

I hope as you go about your day, you find it's filled with beauty!

Holly

(You can read some of my other Days of Beauty here.)

My Carry Her Heart teapot—Front

My Carry Her Heart teapot—Back.

PS. Check out 2018's releases!!
(And keep an eye out for 2019's! There are a bunch!):

Polished Off

PTA Moms: the Collection

Between the Words

Briar Hill Road

Find my books at:

Amazon

Kobo

Radish Fiction

iBooks

B&N

Google Play

BAM

PPS.
Have you missed our most recent Trippin' with Holly and Susan? You can catch up with them all on YouTube.