Getting back into the Clay Community
This year I made a promise to myself that I would get back to Clay Con West in St George Utah and that I would go to the Alabama Clay Conference. Working from my home studio has forced me to learn deeply about all aspects of my process from managing all the clay scraps, drying and firing work, making and using glazes, and finding my rhythm in the work. Working from home does not feed my need for community and people. I am happy to report that both conferences filled me with ideas, connections with some really wonderful people in the clay community and they have pushed me to try some new techniques and have made me think much more deeply about why I make.

Clay Con West
In January I traveled to St George Utah with two friends for my third trip to Clay Con. It was rainy and cold- strange for the desert- but full of old and new friends. The sessions were really varied and I learned so much about slowing down my work process from Carol Long. Carol has inspired me to try slip trailing again and to use squeeze bottles of glaze to get some detailed color work in my pieces. Carol made one of the longest handles I have ever seen and then proceeded to take her time to place this enormous handle on a large sculptural piece. I am inspired to slow down my handle making and to attach handles that are freshly pulled. Aaron Ashcroft works with cone 10 stoneware and seeing his work has me so excited to work with the new propane fired kiln that arrived on my doorstep this past week. I am looking forward to making sculptures for outdoors. Juliann Roush demonstrated making clay hinges and I have to tell you that watching her work really blew my mind. It was such an incredible demonstration and I have so many ideas springing up from the doors she opened.

Clay Con West 2019 was the first clay conference I had ever attended and I have been so happy I did. I have grown so much as an artist and I have friends all over North America that I cherish. Clay Con West 2020 was the last conference I went to before the pandemic shut things down and it felt completely perfect to start heading back into the world again by picking up again at Clay Con West 2023. There were a lot of old friends there and since clay people are generally the most warm and welcoming people on the planet, I made a pile of new friends as well. I love the family and I love working at my home studio and I also really relished sleeping in my own hotel room and being surrounded by clay people and clay talk all weekend.

Alabama Clay Conference
The Alabama Clay Conference felt like a real adventure. I had never been to Alabama before and getting to Auburn was not straightforward. I had a really early morning flight and then a shuttle ride from Atlanta to Auburn and then a 5 block walk in the rain with my suitcase to the AirBnB. I connected with some old friends on the first day. I find that people in the South are so outwardly friendly and I made other friends instantly as well. The conference was set up so we had 4 major presenters who worked and talked as sets of 2 in the main auditorium. There weren't smaller sessions running in another room so we all had the same experience and I really loved not having to decide where to put my body for each session. I learned so much from Soouyeon Kim, Malcolm Mobutu Smith, Beth Cavener, and Gwendolyn Yopollo. I took plenty of notes about the processes shown by the presenters but I spent a lot of time thinking about the why behind my work, the connections I make between what is in my head and what comes out of my hands. I was just blown away by the beauty and contrast in how all 4 artists work.

Even more important was the absolute joy and community we shared that weekend. I have never laughed quite so hard over dinner and I deepened friendships and I have a side hustle with Fritz to run the hotel LIFT service using the luggage trolley to haul people around the conference.

I bought some handmade wood paddles/stamps from Mecca and immediately they started calling me "Colorado". I have to tell you, it just made me smile every time I saw these guys and felt like a minor celebrity. I bought work from Steve Loucks, Mark Rigsby, and Becky Zee. There was a Steve Loucks mug exchange (where you take a mug and get a mug, but you don't get to pick) and I had the great fortune to meet the recipient of my mug- Rick Adams. The best part, after Rick said he loved the mug and that it found a good home, was that Rick was sitting by my buddy Stan Hurst from Mecca tools. We had a great conversation and I learned that Rick was from Muscle Shoals Alabama and that he had worked at the best music studio in the universe (my totally unbiased opinion). He had made posters for the artists there when he was in high school and had been fired no less than 3 times in about as many weeks. If you are not familiar with the music that has come out of Muscle Shoals just think of Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Clarence Carter, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Paul Simon, the Staple Sisters. I could go on. If you are interested, I have created a playlist of some of my favorites from the founding of the FAME studios to present day and it is on Amazon Music.

Next year the Alabama Clay Conference is at the beach. I have never been to a pretty beach on the Gulf. We lived in Houston for so long I always think of the muddy water at Galveston area beaches. I can't wait to see a beautiful white sand beach on the gulf in February (when it is so cold and frozen here) and to catch up with my Alabama clay family.

Plans for Folding Craft Fair Display Shelves
This post will detail how to build a set of craft fair display shelves that are economical, easy to transport, quick to set up, stable, and easy to tear down. Plans can also be adjusted to larger or smaller tables.

A good friend gifted me her father's antique wine crates and they made up most of my display shelving for the last 7 years. They worked great inside the studio for sales but when my show went on the road they were bulky and unstable in wind. I had been looking at folding shelves for a couple of years but they were either really expensive or didn’t seem sturdy. I found some folding ladder type shelves but they were about 5 feet tall and didn’t offer much flexibility in booth set up.

Inspiration hit when I saw a new video by Neil Estrick about packing pots for shows. Neil had a super-efficient system and it fit in the back of an SUV similar in size to the family-mobile that carts CBerry Pottery out to shows. If you are carrying goods to art fairs please do yourself a favor and get Neil Estrick's video! I started sketching plans and roped my chief builder in for the ride.

We measured pots, looked at my folding tables and started sketching a plan onto paper. I try to avoid lifting really heavy things and I love my 4ft folding tables so we built to fit. I like a 28” tall unit with 4 shelf supports that can hold multiple boards on top of each table.

Supplies for project:

12: 1x2” primed pine- 12 ft long ($4.80 ea)

12: 1x10” and 4ft long unfinished pine boards ($13.49 ea)

16 hinges: we used a 2” brass hinge (2/pack and $2.68 ea)

Black spray paint (I used 5 cans @ $6.98 ea – but if you are at all competent at spray paint your mileage will be much better)

3” wood screws 9D size and too many to count ($9.98 plus some)

Wood glue

Cut wood to length 

To speed up the build process, we cut all the 1 x 2” lumber for the side supports to length with a miter saw.

For 8 units:

cut 32 pieces 28” long
cut 64 pieces 10” long
Make Jig

Then use scrap wood for a jig: cut 2 pieces to 1” long and 3 pieces to 6 ¾” long.

This video shows how we used a scrap piece of plywood on sawhorses, clamps, and our jig to quickly build the supports.

Finishing touches

Paint the supports. I chose a matte black spray paint and used 2-3 coats on each side of the shelf supports. Once the paint had dried, two supports were placed side by side and 2 brass hinges were attached using short finish screws. Be careful to line up the bottom of the supports and ensure that the hinges are lined up. If you have done things correctly, the supports should fold flat and when they are opened to 90 degrees they should stand level on all 4 points.

I stained my shelves with a stain to bring out the grain of the wood but there are many ways you could finish your shelves or you could even just have raw wood.

Booth Set Up
The supports and shelves should transport easily to shows and mine fit perfectly in the back of a Honda Pilot (official car of CBerry Pottery and also official kid-mover). I bought fitted spandex table cloths to fit my 4 ft tables. They come 2/package for $19 and there are lots of options. Pop the tent, add weights (lots of weights and then a little more weight). Set up tables, add table cloths- trust me you want to do this before you put anything on the tables. Set 2 supports per table (more if a longer table) stand up with legs at 90 degrees and ensure the supports are standing straight. You'll want one side of the support along the back of the table 2-3 inches from the edge. Set up the same way on the other side and the place shelves through the gaps so they are level. I like to use 2-3 shelves per table. Make sure the display shelf is sturdy.

Place pots on shelves and pat yourself on the back because it looks so awesome!

World Championship Burro Races 2022
We're just coming back from a weekend spent celebrating everything burro. I needed that. Sadly, I was not able to make any livestock purchases this weekend but I did give loves to every burro that wanted them and I cheered on the teams with such enthusiasm that I may have embarrassed the kids and my aunt.

If you are looking for a great read, try Running with Sherman by Christopher McDougall. It really gives you a glimpse into the work that happens for the donkey and human athletes before this race and it is just a great story. Let me know how you like it!

I just have to let you know that one very sweet and petite burro, Buttercup, did get some pets and adoration before the race and I'm not saying that our encouragement was entirely responsible but Buttercup and her human, Marvin Sandoval, placed first in the long course. If you aren't familiar with pack burro racing, this course is 29+ miles and takes the burro/human teams from Fairplay at at 9,953 ft elevation to the half-way point at the top of mosquito pass at 13,185 ft elevation and back to town. I think it is just incredible. What a sport.

Pack Burro Racing

Pack Burro Racing had my heart the first time I saw a pack burro race. All I could see was a lone runner with her burro loping down a county road in a drenching rain and I could tell they were having fun. Spend any time at all in Fairplay Colorado and you will notice that a love of burros permeates the town starting with a memorial to Prunes (an exceptional burro who died in 1930). I am totally in love with burros and am plotting to rescue a couple once I figure out how to get some more acreage here in Denver. I have neighbors who will call to let me know when our neighbor is walking her burros through the neighborhood so I can go out to see them. Recently on a trip to Paonia we spent an afternoon meeting some burros and my family happily indulges me. Burros = complete joy.

What is a pack burro race? The world championship pack burro race happens in Fairplay, CO every July and there are also races in Leadville, Buena Vista, and in other towns and even outside of Colorado. The Triple Crown of pack burro races starts with Burro days in Fairplay, then heads to Buena Vista and Leadville in successive weeks.

The Rules
The rules are pretty simple:

you need a burro (a horse, mule, or llama won't do)
your burro needs to be under control at all times and if you lose hold of your burro you need to return to the spot where you lost control before returning to the race
you need to carry a pack saddle including a pick, shovel, and gold pan and if you lose these you are disqualified
your lead strap can't be longer than 15 feet and must be attached to the halter ring
you cannot be cruel to your burro- no whips, prods, etc. If your burro is mistreated you are disqualified
a team = 1 human + 1 burro
and finally my favorite- the runner can push, pull, drag or carry the burro but the runner may not ride the burro.
So why on earth would I think this looks like fun? It's all in the relationship the runners have with their burros. You have to be a team because if your burro doesn't trust you and you don't put in the work... you'll never get there. Reminds me of parenting but you don't have to pay for braces or college. Burros are smart and they won't do things that could hurt them, so you have to trust them too. Did you know that they have long whiskers on their chins and they can feel if a plant is poisonous and they won't eat it?

Ready to see a race? If you live in Colorado and can get to Fairplay you are in luck! The 73rd Burro days and world championship is July 31, 2022 from 10 am (long course start is 10:15 and short course start is 10:30) until 7:30 pm and is the culmination of a celebration of mountain life and burros at Burro days. The weekend also includes pack llama races, llama rama, outhouse races, a kids pack-dog race, and more. Other races can be found at the Western Pack Burro Ass-ociation website. If you can't make it to the mountains of Colorado, I offer this video taste of all the fun.

While I wait to get my band of burros I am entertaining my self by loving on every burro I meet and making burro themed mugs. I've been taking photos of burros and picks and barb wire and more and making silk screens. With the silk screens I can print right on to my pots and I am having a blast doing it. The burro mugs went really fast at the last farmers market but I'm making loads more and will have them at my in-person events this summer if I can pull myself away from all the burros I will see at the races this month.

Exploring our Colorado Meadow

When we started spending weekends in Fairplay, Colorado I didn't think much about the meadow out front because I was transfixed by the fluttering aspen leaves, the moose that ambled past, and the smell of that alpine wonderland. Once winter hit it was hard to tell what was under the mounds of snow.

In 2021 the wet spring lead to an absolute explosion of wildflowers and gorgeous grasses with fat seed heads in the meadow and I started to pay attention. Every week there were new colors and textures.

In the fall once things had died back I started to collect. Grass stems, seed pods, gnarled twigs, dried flowers. I knew that I couldn't let this ephemeral summer bounty slip under the snow before I caught bits and bobs as a reminder. The kids thought I might be losing my mind. Then the big vase full of this dried and fragile bounty sat on the work table in my studio for months, it almost disappeared into the background.

I had been painting lemon plates and platters like a fiend, but I held back 3 platters to play with. I made my slip and had to wait until I had a free morning in the studio to play with the process. It took a bit of newsprint to practice printing and I made a royal mess... but it was so fun. Printing with the dried stems, seeds, and twigs is so satisfying, just like playing in the mud.

I have learned so much with these early experiments and this summer and fall my collecting will be more deliberate as I plan to identify each plant before I harvest. Let's hope for abundant rain!

My current plant roster:

Golden Banner (Thermoses Montana) the seed pods are especially delightful to print with

Shrubby Cinquefoil (Dasiphora fruticosa) the shaggy stems leave beautiful marks

Western Wheat Grass (Pascopyrum smithii) The seed heads print so well and the stems and attached dried leaves are sturdy

Prairie June Grass (Koeleria macrantha) Delicate seed heads that soak up the slip

Western Blue Flag Iris (Iris missouriensis) Seed pods print exceptionally well

Cut Leaf Daisy (Erigeron pinnatisectus) The dried flowers print really well, but just once

You can be more than your job title
This month I am sharing a few thoughts on raising kids and finding happiness and at the end you'll be rewarded with a great breakfast recipe to bring the family together. Rachel Feintzeig’s article in the Wall Street Journal (Yes, you can be more than your job title) stopped me mid-breakfast and I’m still thinking about it 2 days later. Some of my hardest days came when my kids were little and I was trying to hold everything together and all I heard from helpful people at the grocery store was how profoundly wonderful it was to have small kids. Nobody really mentioned how hard it was.

We were newly in Denver I didn’t have much of a community. The days were full of kids and when naps miraculously happened simultaneously I banged out a study guide for a text book. For the first time in my life since high school I had no co-workers. I had a contract job and spent most waking hours chasing two kids. I worked from home when truly no one was around. I was marginalized because I didn’t really “do” anything that anyone else saw other than raising two little kids. My old job titles didn't fit- PhD student, Nurse, adult person.

This article redefined this period in my life with two words I hadn’t put together- boredom and overwhelm. I love my kids, my husband, my book job, our life. It was all just a blur and I was exhausted.

I realized at a work holiday party for my husband that I was simply invisible. Erased. I was reduced to my role as a mom and I had nothing that was mine that filled the well that I was drawing down every day to keep all those parts moving.

Finding myself in clay
I needed time to myself. I needed something that was mine. I first signed up for a jewelry class but on my way downstairs at the art center I had to first pass the ceramic studio. The clay siren called and I answered.

I took my first formal pottery class since high school. I was able to carve 3 hours for myself every Saturday. Without knowing it I had found this essential space for myself and it changed everything. Those 3 precious hours brought me so much contentment. Happiness. Energy. It was my thing that I did for me and it saved me.

It would probably have been cheaper to find an outlet in running or nearly anything other than pottery but I wouldn’t trade it for anything. I found my source of energy in clay. In my weekly class with my new clay-friends (arguably some of the best people I know) I found drive to forge ahead with my other roles.

It hasn’t made me rich, but it has given me a calm I didn’t know before. It helped me heal after the sudden loss of my younger brother and he rests in a ceramic urn I created for him. Clay has given me a reason to leap into so many other skills – hello QuickBooks and WordPress! It has given me much more than some custom mugs in the cupboard and I have found that I can create community through art. Titles don't mean much to me, but the words that give me joy and fully describe me are mother, wife, potter, artist, and community builder, also unabashed lover of burros and pack burro racing.

Does this mean things are easy now? Nope. I still over commit. I still have kids to chase and drive all over town. I still have deadlines. I still have doubts. I do have an inner energy and drive that I was missing before- so bring on the farmer's markets, art festivals, and organizing events. Bring on the muddy hands and happy heart.

The joy of closing a lid on the kiln and opening it the next day to find things transformed will never get old. I feel so fortunate that I found my thing and I absolutely see that we all need something that gives us energy in our lives. What is yours?

Seasonal Recipe
Below I am sharing the recipe I most closely associate with my own childhood weekends. As much as a kiln can transform clay an oven transforms simple ingredients into memories. My mom called them German Pancakes. We called them Silly Pancakes. I've heard they can be called Hootenannies or Dutch babies. Putting dibs on the tallest corner was a point of pride in my youth and as the middle child it didn't happen very often. I have since developed a food sensitivity to gluten so I have adapted the recipe and my own kids get to fight over the corners but since there are only two of them (not three like my siblings) it is a bit more civilized.

Silly Pancakes  (Doris version)
Preheat oven to 400ºF

6T Butter

1 C milk

1 C flour

6 eggs

Melt butter in 9X13 pan in the oven. Beat eggs, milk, and flour until smooth and pour into pan with melted butter. Bake 20 minutes. Serve with syrup and don't expect leftovers.

Silly Pancakes (Gluten Free- Carey's version)
Preheat oven to 425ºF

1/3 C butter (or ghee)

8 eggs

1 C milk (almond works well if you're non-dairy)

1/3 C arrowroot starch

¼ C coconut flour

½ tsp salt

Melt butter in 9x13 pan. Blend eggs in blender for 15 seconds. Add rest of ingredients and blend 30- seconds. Pour batter into hot pan with butter. Bake 20-24 minutes.

Variations-

The OG is amazing but top it with sliced strawberries and maple for a spring treat.

If you have raspberries or blueberries, sprinkle them in the batter as it heads into the oven. You may need to bake for a few extra minutes but you’ll be rewarded with jammy berries studded in the pancake. Serve with syrup.

Go savory, top the slightly cooled pancake with spring greens lightly dressed with vinaigrette for a nice lunch.

Eat Your Greens

Filling the shelves with collard bowls is a great reminder of these delicious crisps. The weather is teasing with warmer days and I get serious cravings for lighter food. What could be more delicious than a crispy salty snack that doesn't leave you feeling heavy? Need a snack for cocktail hour? How about something to fill that gorgeous collard bowl you just found in the store?

Collard Chips

Treat yourself and feel good. These collard chips disappear instantly around here. I promise this one won't last long. Bonus points for growing your own collards.

1 bunch collards

2 T olive oil

1 T fresh lemon juice

1/4 C grated parmesan

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp cayenne (optional but highly recommended) or more to taste

Place 2 racks in oven in middle and bottom. Preheat oven to 300°F. Place parchment on 2 baking trays.

Rinse and dry collards. Use a knife or rip with your hands and remove thick stems from collards. Cut or tear to about 2 1/2in pieces.

Get a big bowl and mix the olive oil, lemon juice, parmesan, salt, and cayenne. Toss in collards and work to coat each piece. Arrange collards into a single layer on the trays - some leaves may overlap slightly.

Bake about 18 minutes, but start to hover around the oven at 13 minutes checking every couple of minutes. Chips are done when crisp and should be removed from tray as remaining chips bake. Cool and snarf these up.

I've heard you can store these in a container for a few days... We've never made it that long.

Lemon Love
As the studio fills with lemon plates, platters, tumblers, and bakers it is hard not to think of my favorite lemon recipes. What could be more fun than filling a cake with lemon curd and serving it on a sunny lemon plate? Need to take a side to dinner? How about a lemon platter filled with potato salad sprinkled with fresh herbs and preserved lemons.

Lemon Curd
Treat yourself. This lemon curd works so many ways: as filling in birthday cakes (vanilla cake, lemon curd, fresh raspberries), smear on banana bread, swirl in plain yogurt, and my personal favorite... a bite heaped on a spoon right out of the fridge. I promise this one won't last long after you make it. This recipe comes from a dear friend of my aunt, and it is the best I've had, hands down. It's even better if the lemons are fresh off the tree but that is a difficult proposition in Colorado.

Polly's Lemon Curd

1 stick of butter

2 C granulated sugar

1/2 C lemon juice (fresh squeezed)

4 tsp lemon zest

2 large eggs

Melt the butter in a heavy pan over medium/low heat - add the remaining ingredients and stir constantly until smooth and thick. It takes about 12 minutes to cook. Let cool. Store in a covered container in the fridge and have a spoon on the ready for sneaking a bite of sunshine while you make breakfast- I won't judge. Makes about 3 1/2 cups.

Preserved Lemons
These are the gift your future self needs- a jar of sunshine. These lemons develop a more lemony-salty-sour flavor that will add depth and brightness to any dish. You can use regular or meyer lemons- or make a batch with both kinds. The pickling only takes a few minutes to start but requires at least a month to develop the  flavor and soften the flesh. Preserved lemons will keep a year in the fridge.

Lemons- washed
Kosher salt

Sterilized wide mouth container with screw or wire bale lid- any size.

Cut down the sides of the lemons  cutting almost all the way through into quarters, keep the stem and flower ends attached. Pro-tip-- wear gloves, salt and lemon juice will find every cut and crack in your hands. Work over a bowl and gently squeeze the lemon open and pack salt into the cuts in each lemon. Tightly pack the salted lemons into a jar and pour more salt over the lemons as you fill the container. Cover the packed lemons with more lemon juice.

Store lemons in the refrigerator. Turn the container for the first few weeks to help the lemons on top get into the brine. The lemons will eventually be submerged in the brine and any lemons that don't get covered in the first month can be pressed under the surface with a clean metal spoon.

To use: preserved lemons are usually rinsed before use and only the rind is typically used. If you are impatient, as I can be when there is something tasty to eat, you can use these (fruit, and rind) after about a month and you may not even need to rinse them. As they age, the lemons become translucent and the flesh just falls off the rind with little work.



Recipe ideas:
Potato Salad- the lazy way -- boiled potatoes cooked in salted water until tender, mayonnaise, olive oil to drizzle, 1 diced preserved lemon rind, chopped herbs (parsley, chives, or a blend) and pepper. Slice potatoes and arrange on a platter (perhaps a lemon platter?) Smear the tops with some of the mayonnaise as you place the potatoes on the platter. Sprinkle with the preserved lemons and herbs. Give a good grind of pepper over top and drizzle with good olive oil. Serve!

Potato salad- the fancy way -- Follow the recipe above for preparing potatoes and smearing with mayonnaise. Make topping:   1 bunch of parsley, chopped; 4 anchovy fillets chopped (optional but very good); rind of 1/2 preserved lemon, diced; 1-2 T capers; juice of 1/2 lemon. Combine toppings in a small bowl and spoon a little of this mixture over the potatoes on the platter. Season with pepper, taste for salt (the lemon rind and capers add quite a bit of salt). Serve!

Other uses- The lemons and/or the brine can be used in vinaigrettes. Add lemons to lentil or bean salads. Add  to stews and soups. Add lemon rind and herbs to goat cheese. Once you taste these flavor bombs I would love to hear what you add them to!

Building an Onggi Style Kick Wheel

Grand Ideas and a Plan

Loay is a great friend and pottery mentor and she had a dream to build a kick wheel. I had taken a class with Loay to learn how to hand build bigger pots and her excitement was infectious. Though she be little, she dreams of making big pots! Soon Loay had shared blueprints for the build, an inspirational video, and a shopping list for the lumber store. I roped in my favorite accomplice (Adrian), the kids, and my father-in-law. While Loay found fly wheels at the junk yard I found a friend who welds and we were on our way.

Woodworking and Pottery

When I was working at a community art center everything was provided and I had little understanding of how fortunate I was.  When I built out my own studio I learned quickly how self sufficient potters must be and what a gift it is to have a partner as capable and generous as mine. We built shelves, a wedging table, ware boards, and now the most complex bit of woodworking - a kick wheel.

Our first task was to stack and center the weight of the pine table tops. I was thankful for a Shimpo banding wheel for this process. I was shocked at the differences in shapes of the round table tops we bought. Once they were stacked and the weight was as equal as we could get them, they were glued and weighted. This project did double duty as a weight lifting workout. Once things were dry, we hauled the very heavy tops and bottoms to my father-in-law's work shed. We used his drill press to create the holes to support and connect the tops and bottoms. The ball bearings, wood supports, wheel head, and kick plates miraculously connected. Finally, the wheels were ready to finish. Coats of varnish brought out the grain of the wood. Rope covered the working bits to add a measure of safety.

I'll never forget the joy of delivering a piece of a dream to Loay.

The onggi wheel sits proudly in my studio and has the most satisfying spin; long and even, slow and steady. It is the perfect way to build big pieces and is most often put to work when I make lamps.

Studio build 3.0

After working in the pottery studio space for about 5 years it was time to upgrade the studio to match the sunroom. Working longer hours in the studio made ergonomics and efficiency paramount. The wedging table was too high and strained my wrists. The old gray/beige paint could suck the joy out of a sunny day and was top of my list to change. Cupboards were lacking and so were different workspaces for wet work, glazing, photos, etc.  I started reading about studio layout and dreaming of what my space could become.

I read up on work surfaces for clay and settled on baltic birch plywood for functionality, durability, and beauty. I dreamed of Monet's studio and the bright yellow walls with red, green, and blue accents and I set about testing wall paints. I settled on the sunniest yellow. It's not great for taking photos against, but it energizes me and makes me happy to be in the room. I found a red stain for the cupboards that reminded me of Monet's space. I found a green stain for the legs of a wedging table sized just for me. I spent too much time looking at utility sinks and found a stainless steel drop in sink. I reused my Gleeco sink trap from my old utility sink. I drew out my idea for adding counter space next to the sink that would allow rolling glaze buckets under the shelf. I made paper mockups of the studio and moved everything around trying to think of efficiency and flow. I presented my drawings to my husband and we started work.

Every item in the studio was evaluated before it went into the new space. It's amazing how quickly you pick up random bits and bobs. I sold an old kick wheel that took up too much floor space. I gave my old wedging table to a friend. We moved the shelves built in studio 1.0 to the garage. Things moved to the middle of the room and we started painting. Everyone helped. The kids painted around the outlets and filled spots left by the roller. Adrian and I rolled the walls and wondered if the yellow was too...yellow. The room was so sunny it was a shock, but in a good way. We bought wall cabinets and stained the fronts bright red. Then the pandemic turned the world upside down. The next day my brother died suddenly and I had to head home to be with my parents. I couldn't even think about the studio but my husband kept working away and hung all the cabinets before I returned.

The birch plywood arrived and we turned the garage into a wood shop. Counter frames were built, sanded and stained. Counter tops were cut and sanded. The dream took shape through our grief. I can still hear my brother talking to me about what to put on the counters and I just wish he could see how great it all turned out.

Spring break came and with travel plans on hold the studio build could happen while we "vacationed". It all came together quickly. We added shelves above the work table. Equipment went into place. The extruder was mounted on the wall. It suddenly looked like a dream and everything functioned better.

I don't think I say it enough, but my husband Adrian makes all of this possible. He is my rock, my bourbon cup tester, my mug man, my clay hauler, and the best contractor-framer-sander-painter-electrician-plumber I could ask for. Without his support I would still have a wheel in the corner of a carpeted storage room. I couldn't ask for more. I probably should make him some more mugs....  

Studio build 2.0

When we were looking for houses the online pictures of our current house captivated us. The midcentury style was not what we had initially looked for, but the layout and light were amazing and we fell hard for the house. Part of what I loved so much was a funky sunroom off the garage.  The door to the sunroom became our "front door" and was where good friends knew to let themselves in. The sunroom had acres of glass, exposed brick, and awesome lines. It also leaked. Like a sieve. Over the years the water had created some terrible rot and despite an attempt to replace the rotten wood the room leaked every time a drop of rain hit it. Yellow jackets loved to find their way in through the holes. It was time to replace it and in 2019 we found a company to do the work.

The changes to the sunroom required some changes in the interior of the studio since two windows in the studio were only single pane glass and were not framed correctly. They couldn't stay. I was sad to lose the light and we settled on putting in a big sliding glass door into the studio from the sunroom to increase the light in the studio.

The demolition of the sunroom was a shock, but we could close doors and block out the work. The demolition of the studio wall required building a temporary room in the studio that could be walled off with plastic. The guys tried their best but with saw dust, concrete cutting, electrical work, and loads of contractors my studio work had to take a break and hide under plastic sheets. During construction we found a wall made of 6x6 cedar logs, electrical outlets, and some imaginative carpentry. The crew handled each new discovery and within a couple of weeks their work was complete.

The studio changed dramatically with a new sunroom entrance, sliding door, and crazy amounts of natural light.

The light-filled studio sunroom acts as a small gallery space.  The new sliding door changed the layout to the studio and with those changes a new vision of the studio layout emerged.

Pottery Studio 1.0

In early 2014 I had two kids under 3 years old. It was both wonderful and completely overwhelming. I had too much time at home and not enough time for me. I found a local art center and for 3 blissful hours on Saturday afternoons I finally put my hands back in clay. It was just what I needed. I started clearing out the studio space and looking for a used wheel.

The studio space I call home has a long history as an art space and began as a pottery studio built in the 1960s. When we bought the house this room had a ping pong table inside, carpet on the floor and a large abandoned chimney from a gas kiln. There was so much paint in the drains that we had to get the pipes blown out so we added painting studio to the list of previous lives. It was time to bring back the pottery studio but reimagined for life with young kids at home.

The initial work hours to transform the studio were crammed in to nap time and after bed. The chimney came down over Thanksgiving as my Uncles-in-law (is that a thing?) worked like mad to tear out the old chimney. When the chimney was down we could see concrete on the floor but had no idea if it was only under the chimney structure. We took a leap of faith and pulled the carpet, carpet pad, OSB flooring, and studs. All of our years building houses and cabins with my dad and remodeling our own house paid off as we dismantled the flooring and used the wood to build shelves and a wedging table.

The studio 1.0 changed my life. I had a utility sink, a wheel, shelves, and a big work table rescued from a neighbor's garage. I found a kiln and started my slow appropriation of the garage. It was heaven.

The kids grew, stopped trying to eat the clay, and began making their own work in the studio. I hosted my first open studio and art sale.  The pottery studio became my reality.