MMXI

Happy 2011!

Christmas Eve

Nothing says Christmas Eve like watching Rashomon and eating chocolate ice cream!

Tonight

The Anderson Valley Artists' Guild is having an opening tonight, with work from about half of our members: paintings, pottery, jewelry, glass, turned wood, plaster engravings. The opening of The Winter Show is from 5:30 to 7:30 tonight, Dec. 23, at Scharffenberger Cellars Tasting Room Gallery in downtown Philo, CA. and the show runs until March 17.

Champagne and hors'd'ouevres.

Today

Chris and I sat in front of the woodstove with our coffee cups this morning and looked at a wholesale catalog of handmade (some wasn't) craft. A few things made us laugh so hard I nearly spilled my coffee.
There is a tendency lately to put words on everything and call it art. On t-shirts, on bedsheets, even on pottery..."imagine" "believe" "hope" "love"...you know what I mean. We started making up our own..."fart" "usuk" "puke" "shoplifted" etc. We laughed. (you had to be there). I have just gotten an email from a friend who has discovered that she has to go back into the hospital for a week soon to have another tumor removed. Not funny at all - ("Cancer") But she is a very witty lady with a beautiful spirit. (Hope) My love for her is deeply engraved on my brain and my heart ("forever") - even if it isn't on my pottery.

Welcoming

We've had the open sign out at the pottery over the weekend, and some old and new friends stopped in. Sold a plate yesterday to a charming couple who are attending U.C. Berkeley. Since that is my graduate school alma mater, we had lots to talk about. They are from Australia, and my knowledge of that country is inadequate, to say the least! But we still had lots to talk about. It was very pleasurable.
One of the things I like about being a potter is meeting people I wouldn't otherwise know. And, of course, getting compliments!

I've taken some photos of the studio set up for visitors, and I'll post some here.

Chris will be home tonight after going down to help with his mother's care all weekend while the rest of the family travels down south to a memorial for his uncle. Looking forward to having him home.

We've had lots of rain in California this week. I took this picture of the little driveway road that runs through our property yesterday, between showers.

Pause

Chris is mixing up the glazes so we can finish this last batch of pots...fire them today and cool tomorrow and put them out for sale on Friday. We're having a Very Short Sale - one day, from noon to 7 p.m.,on Friday, with lots of bargains. All the prices have been lowered, with a nod to the economy. It will be great to be done - for a few weeks, at least. I waxed all the bottoms of the bisqued pots this a.m. - we should be able to finish glazing by late afternoon today. The firing takes about 10 hours. Turn it off by midnight? Probably closer to 2 a.m.


We always love it when our friends come out to our studio sales. Reminds me - I should think about what to serve. Coffee, wine? I'll think about that later.

The Winter Show, featuring some of the Guild members, will happen at Scharffenberger Winery Tasting Room Gallery, in a week and a half. On Dec. 23. 5:30 to 7:30. Downtown Philo . You're invited!

Pollyanna

You know how put-downs are always remembered, but the praise is often forgotten? Years ago, someone said something like "Oh Jan's o.k - but she's such a Pollyanna" Meaning, I guess that I'm a lightweight in the angst department. I don't like to complain and I usually have an optimistic view of life. That's been tested lately. WHAT'S HAPPENING TO THIS COUNTRY? Why hasn't Obama been more forceful with the Republicans? What happened to single-payer health insurance? How can he justify
tax breaks for billionaires? Why are we lied to by those in power. Why does it take WikiLeaks to reveal some of the truth?
There. I got that out of my system.
Oh, and my old dog is dying. How are you doing?

Forward !

...but still digesting all the interactions on Thanksgiving. Wanting everyone to just love each other.

A bit nervous about doing the Celebration of Craftswomen show with just my work...not Chris's. (No men's work.) But also excited to be part of it. This weekend, December 4 & 5 at Herbst Pavilion in Fort Mason, S.F.

Getting ready!

Turkey Day's a'comin', kids are all going to be here. I'm cooking in several styles, regular and vegan. Cleaning, (Chris is doing most of that while I finish making ware for the next three shows! Latest firing has new designs.) It's exciting!! Can't wait till they're all here.
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone !

Nice to get birthday greetings today.
We're working in the studio today. What else? :) With three shows coming up soon, we must get
these last kilnloads glazed and fired. Chris is going to make dinner tonight - which he often does, the good fellow. I'm grateful for him.

On the 12th

Another birthday coming up for this triple Scorpio. 74 trips around the sun!

Onward

Happiness and joy with the Giants' win last night...now if only the Democrats come through today!

The World Series

When youngest son was just a tyke, he developed a love for the San Francisco Giants. He played some baseball when he was growing up, but mainly he and his late father, Dan, were fans. Of the Giants.
Eventually, and through a circuitous route, he ended up in Hollywood, working in television. There's a connection here. He has a lot of friends down south and through them, he got himself and his stepdad, Chris, some great seats at today's first World Series game of 2010 - between the S.F. Giants and the Texas Rangers. I'll be perusing the crowd during the game...their seats are above the Giants' dugout. Go Giants!!

...Oh, and we unloaded the kiln this morning, before he left for the nearly 3 hour drive to S.F. It was a good firing.


EDIT: And they won this first game 11-7! 3 to go!

Chico

He's a little dog. No more than 11 or 12 pounds. But he has the proverbial heart of a lion. His self-appointed job is to keep the wildlife in the bushes and on the hill away from us and his voice resounds throughout the canyon. Today, while hiking with Chris, he annoyed a coyote and set him to running.Chris got a good look at the coyote as he traversed the deer trails - an animal as big as a German Shepherd. Chico kept his distance.
When I express my fears that the coyotes could grab him, Chris states his belief that our little fearless dog is smart enough and fast enough to stay out of coyote range, and that not curtailing his or the coyote's freedom is important. There's room enough here for all of us.

10/10/10

Another Sunday. We're working in the studio today, getting ready for the holidays.
Yesterday we went to a memorial for a much-respected man who recently died. He had
a big family, children, grandchildren, friends, even someone he'd known since grade school, and their spoken remembrances of him were heart-warming. What more can we wish for than to be remembered with love.

Hemp

Now that it looks like California may legalize growing of marijuana, or hemp, it occurred to me during my morning ablutions that when the nation's economic sh.t hits the fan, we could be in deep do-do.
There's a lot of "trash" that goes along with growing of the medicinal weed. Couldn't that debris be turned into toilet paper?? Just asking.

Focus

So much is going on. Will the Giants win the pennant? Distractions.
I think I may have mentioned that I'm going to be participating in an all-women art/craft show at Fort Mason in San Francisco in December. However, Chris will be able to help me get my booth set up, luckily. Since we'll be in the Bay Area, he'll visit his folks during the show.
Our line of pottery has focussed on his wonderful animal sculptures for the past 25 years or so. I do make functional ware, but this upcoming show is inspiring me to stretch out. I've been experimenting with some new shapes and glazes. As always, I'm taken by the Japanese aesthetic. Yesterday I was in an art trance looking at old Asian textiles. Woven silks and woolens. There were so many references to nature...the way water flows, the beauty of falling leaves, sunlight on fields.
I like their focus on lovely items of every day use.

My concern is that today's hard-working artisans who make beautiful handmade wares survive.

Blooming

One of our cacti is blooming...a beautiful flower, in fact 5 on one plant...but they have short lives.Tomorrow they'll be gone. I say, bloom where you're planted!

'atta boy...

Bill Clinton is a wise man ( o.k., o.k.....not always! but usually ). Yesterday, in an interview on CNN,
he was asked how he lost 24 lbs. His answer was that he has changed his diet. After his
heart attack and by-pass, stents were installed in his arteries. Then it was found that cholesterol was even plugging up the stents! After some research, he decided to go to a plant-based diet - no meat, no dairy, no animal products. No more cholesterol, and he lost 24 lbs. He looks good too!

Knowing the Clay

I've taken some time to look at other potters' websites this past week. It's always surprising to see the many different ways that clay can be used as an expressive medium. I've always loved John Glick's work, and I saw a piece of his that has gone to the top of my list of drool-overs - A basket with beautiful green glazing and impressed designs, shown at the right.

Sometimes I regret not having had an art school education. I got a Master's degree in English Lit, which has given me immeasurable pleasure in reading, but isn't terribly helpful with mixing glazes!
On the other hand, making pottery is often a learning -through- doing enterprise. Someone once said that the best pottery education was to work your way through a ton of clay! I've done that many times over! Knowing the clay, seeing how far you can take it before it protests, is what's needed.

To see more of John Glick's work: http://www.johnglick.com/
Another good website is Emily Murphy's. She has a list of favorite potters' blogs and websites, as well as examples of her own fine work: http://potteryblog.com/category/blogging/tour-of-ceramics-blogs/

My mother

The phone just rang. It was my mother.
“ Hello, Jan – I need your help, sweetie .”
“Oh no” I thought. Something’s happened, and we live on opposite sides of the country. But I should have known better than to worry. Her voice was cheerful as always, and I relaxed. “Do you remember the lyrics to “Early Autumn?” she asked. ” I’m having trouble remembering how the bridge section goes, and I’ve had a request for it.”

My mother is a piano player, and she plays professionally, meaning that she is usually paid, unless she’s volunteering at the Senior Center or playing at the Wednesday lunch for the Rotary Club. She knows hundreds of songs, both words and music, and she can play by ear or from sheet music. Her usual style has echoes of old-time stride piano, but she can summon up some classical vibes, or, living in the south, a gospel sound. The joy she feels in playing music is evident in her smile and body language. There’s a steady demand for her talents at celebrations of all kinds, and at assisted living facilities in her town of Tallahassee..She has regular “gigs” 4 or 5 times a week, and drives to them herself. On her next birthday, she’ll be 95.

Vera is tall, slender, and wears clothes beautifully. I’ve never known her to look any way other than neat and elegant. She’s also gifted with a warm, welcoming personality. How did she get this way? It isn’t because she’s had an easy life. She hasn’t. My father died when I was 15 and my brother was 10, leaving her with very little money. She went to work right away using a diploma she’d earned years earlier, working as a physical therapist to support us.

After seven years went by, she re-married. My stepfather preferred that she not work outside the home, so she didn’t. He was a heavy smoker, and after many years of married life with him, he died of emphysema. Music, she will tell you, was her salvation. In her eighties, she began to play professionally, now that she had all the time in the world to practice, without worrying that she was drowning out anyone’s tv show. Word got out that she knew a wide range of songs. She volunteered her talents at various events, and ,when she was hired at rest homes, residents looked forward to their hour of music with her. She’s been grateful for the extra money she earns, particularly in the current economy, but best of all is the knowledge that she makes people happy.
“ Hello Harry! ” she’ll beam at an elderly man of Irish descent being wheeled into the music room. ” Here’s a song for you.” and she’ll launch into “When Irish Eyes are Smiling” or “Danny Boy”. It’s heartwarming to see residents’ feet begin to tap in time with the rhythms and start to sing along, remembering songs from the past. Most of the residents aren’t even aware that she is older than they are.

She rarely has to take a prescription drug and Vera credits her longevity to a healthy diet of fresh fruits and vegetables and moderate amounts of protein for her good health. She likes to make fresh juices in her juicer, and she gets rhapsodic over figs and dates. Her parents she says, gave her a good start. Born to an English seaman with captain’s papers and a Swedish woman who cooked and cleaned and was a nurse-midwife, both of whom loved this country and became American citizens, she grew up in a happy, but modest home. What she got was a lot of love from both her parents, but especially from her father. My mother was the only girl in a rough and tumble household with four brothers – tall muscular fellows who loved sports. She did her best to keep up with them. Athletics was her way of getting out of the house, and out from under the ever-watchful eyes of her mother, if only for a little while. She wasn’t allowed to date.
Growing up in Braintree , and later Quincy, Massachusetts, she made her mark playing basketball, ( her nickname was Flash!) and she won medals at shotput competitions and freestyle swimming events. Massachusetts public schools also gave her an excellent education. Her high school diploma had value, even if she never went to a 4-year college.

Her father brought back a piano for her on one of his sea voyages, when she was a youngster, and she’s blessed him for it ever since. I hardly knew my grandfather, but I, too, thank him for the happy times sitting next to my mother on the piano bench, both of us energetically singing while she played. Tragically, he was killed in WWII when, the merchant marine vessel , the Sumner I. Kimball, which was carrying supplies to the Allies,and on which he served, was torpedoed by a German U-boat in northern waters. He was then only in his 50’s. Years later, when my mother saw an article about the incident, she discovered the name of the German U-boat captain, then found his address in Germany, and began writing to him. They corresponded often over many years and he graciously apologized for his part in the loss of her beloved father.
“It was war”, he said,” and it was my first assignment as a U-boat captain.” He’d been 23 years old. My mother forgave him.

I live in California. She lives in Florida. We talk often on the phone, and I have assured her that whenever she’d like to come out here, with her cat, we’d welcome her to live with us with open arms, but for now, she has her own house, her many friends, her music, and a busy life. I hopefully keep our piano tuned and I try to fly out to see her at least once a year on her May 4th birthday, so close to Mother’s Day. I feel very fortunate to have this strong, talented woman for my mother. She pooh-poohs my suggestion that she’ll easily make it to 100, but I know she will!
Now I must go online and look up the rest of the lyrics to “Early Autumn”!

Capitola

Chris is off to another art fair, for the third weekend in a row, this time a show in Capitola. It's a beach community near Santa Cruz. Its will be the last of the outdoor juried shows as winter approaches. Oct.1,2,3 he'll be at the Sacramento Convention Center, and in November, the Mendocino Art Center will be having its
Thanksgiving show. I'll be at the Celebration of Craftswomen, an all women's juried art fair, at Fort Mason, the first weekend in December. This has gotten my creative juices going, since the booth will be all my work - no Chris animals to tempt buyers. But I have some ideas about new glazes. We'll see how that goes.
We have our pottery at a two-month exhibit at Handley Cellars and also at Scharffenberger Winery Tasting room. And Rookie-To Gallery in Boonville.

I have 5 dogs to care for this weekend, since Donna has left Yogi and Penelope with me. She's off on a backpacking trip. Chico is very happy to have his little buddies here for a week. Lots of tail-wagging and butt-sniffing. Jon came back from France with a cold - he and Soraya had a fabulous time. I'll call the other kids today - we have to start thinking about the annual family meet-up here at Thanksgiving. Since several in the family are now vegetarians or vegans, I just don't see how a turkey will work out. A big dead bird in the middle of the table? Also, Paul and Luciana have a new house in San Jose. Maybe they'll want to have Thanksgiving there. Whoever hosts it, and it's been Chris and me
for years, has the problem of how to lodge everyone. And there's the travel involved. 9 hours from L.A. for Jon - and , who knows, maybe Soraya wants to spend a Thanksgiving with her family near L.A. I'd like to just stay home -and we've got that Art Center show for the two days following T'giving. Chris's parents always want us to come to Livermore during the holidays. My 94 yrs. old Mom is in Florida. I've just written an article about this amazing woman. More about her here in the future.
Things slow way down in the pottery biz in January and February. I'm looking forward to some quiet time. I do want to see everyone during the holidays, however. Particularly 6 yr. old Troy! As Scarlett always said, I'll think about it tomorrow!
In the meantime, it's time to get my hands in clay!

Sunday, Sept. 5

Donna took me to lunch in Mendocino, after visiting her foster sheep on Mike's farm. It was a happy ending to the sheep saga.They'll live out their natural lives there, and not be killed. I've asked her to stay away from farm animal auctions! She's too soft-hearted!

Chris called - he's having a good show at Kings Mountain, with one more day to go- as usual, he's laboring on labor day. What a good guy!

Philosophy

I'm not a religious person. That is, I don't subscribe to any religion in particular. There is always some
belief or rule that makes me shake my head, with organized religion. Also, religion seems to separate people, rather than bring them together, in the larger sense. But, there are philosophies, thoughts, that sometimes resonate with me.

For instance, I've been asked " How do you know right from wrong if you don't have a creed?"
I've always felt that we know through our own senses. I know that being lied to, stolen from, attacked,etc. is wrong - because I can feel it, and it hurts. I'm like others, so, in most cases, they too must experience what I feel. To cause that hurt is wrong.

This morning I was moved when I read the following quotation from the Dalai Lama, online:

"To the extent that our experience of suffering reminds us of what everyone else also endures, it serves as a powerful inspiration to practice compassion and avoid causing others pain. And to the extent that suffering awakens our empathy and causes us to connect with others, it serves as the basis of compassion and love."

Right on, my friend.

Monday morning

The weekend was a mixed bag - with the balance tipping toward the positive.
It was windy in Palo Alto over the weekend, and Chris said that the windiness affected crowd attendance at the art show. So he won't be bringing home as many coins as usual..but that's the way it goes in this business . The good news is that a friend saw pics of the latest firing on Flickr, and inquired about one of the pieces...and voila'...she bought it! And we had some visitors to our area stop by the studio yesterday, and they loved what they saw and went home with two pieces of our pottery. So all is well. I'll be making more ware today for a show two weeks from now in Capitola. Hoping for good weather. Coming up this coming weekend is the Kings Mountain Art Fair, an annual event in Woodside over the Labor Day Weekend. Chris will be there.

There was an interesting outcome to Donna's sheep adventure. She had accidentally come across an auction of animals a few weeks ago and had promised to pay the owner of a family of sheep- a mother and her son and daughter - $100. if he'd hold them until she found homes for them. Saturday was the zero hour for her claiming the sheep family of 3. The two weeks was up. The owner said that if she didn't come to pick them up, they would be butchered.
She'd called everyone she knew who might be interested, but no takers. She didn't want them killed. It was a dilemma.
So, then came a knock on her door. It was her friend, Mike, and his son, who'd decided to drop in to say hi and to see how she was. He lives about 50 miles from her. Mike was a stranger who had to come to Ukiah, in the spring, for chemotherapy, and since she has a big house, she'd told the Cancer Society that she could accommodate a chemo patient who had to travel to undergo treatment - someone who needed a place to stay. She wouldn't charge anything for the room. So he stayed with her for a couple of months. She's a nurse-practitioner who practices a Buddhist philosophy.
When she told Mike about her sheep problem, he immediately said that he'd take them to his 15 acre farmette on the coast! He helped her load them up in his truck, took them to the coast, and the sheep will live out their lives there, happily, keeping the brush down.
Mike has people and animals on his land that he's helped. This was such a heart-warming ending to the sheep saga. Do I hear a "what goes around, comes around?" !
Donna is now running a wellness clinic in Ukiah.
I haven't yet mentioned my other children very much, I realize. Lynn is a drug abuse counselor, Paul is a Senior trainer for a computer software company, and Jon works in television. I have a grandson who is an actor and Jiu-Jitsu teacher, and a grandson who is a first-grader. I love my family.

August 28,2010

Chris left for the Palo Alto University Avenue art fair at 3:30 this morning with the van full of boxes of pottery, our canopy, shelving and pedestals. The Bay Area show is nearly 4 hours away, and his scheduled time to set up the booth is 7:30 a.m. I'm waiting to hear he's all set up and ready to exhibit our work. He's been working so hard to get ready for the next three weekends of shows! The last firing was unloaded just before he left! The firing was a big success, fortunately. Some lovely pieces. I'm staying home to be with all the fur persons in our family - we'd rather not leave Flora with a house sitter in her weak condition, The old girl is getting lots of special attention. I'll work in the studio making ware for the next firing in about two weeks.

I'm distracted temporarily by the sound of that buffoon, Glenn Beck, on the tube, speaking on the steps of the Washington Monument - noting that we've gone from the sublime thoughts of Dr. King, and the memory of the great President Lincoln, to the ridiculous, I Have a Scheme, Beck. Poor America that someone like him and Sarah Palin can rise to the top! The presumptuous co-optation of the 47th anniversary of King's I Have a Dream speech just galls me.

But - I'm happy that we had a good firing!!

Beginnings and Endings

I'm learning a lot from my daughter, Donna, a nurse-practitioner who has worked, for several years, in hospice.
Death is such a mystery to me. I've avoided thinking about it whenever possible. She, on the other hand, deals with it on a frequent basis, visiting the terminally ill in their homes, making sure they are comfortable and pain-free, and confirming their passing when the patient's relatives call to tell her the end has come. Some weeks several may die. Her calmness is remarkable, and she says that meditation has been a help. When we sat on the deck recently, next to Flora, our elderly Aussie dog, who has shown signs of coming to the end of her life, but who is improving, still weak, but getting some of her strength back, Donna softly chanted a Kuan Yin Compassion prayer, and it was like breathing in and out, so lovely and affecting.

Sometimes our teachers come to us - even in the form of our own children.

Jon's birthday

Youngest son is 37 today. He's been working in the television industry for about 15 years, down in Los Angeles. Life in the fast lane. Country boy in the Big City. So proud of him.

There are big distances between some towns in Mendocino County. Chris is off to Point Arena, an hour and a half away, where he is helping a friend get to a hospital appointment in Fort Bragg. Blood tests this morning, MRI this afternoon. Meanwhile, I've been working in the studio, sanding any rough edges from the bisqued pottery we'll be firing in the next couple of days. Waxing too.

And the Flora dog update is that she is showing signs of improvement! Eating, getting out of bed - all that good stuff. Trying my best to not get too optimistic, but I'm proud of her too.

August 21, 2010

Today I'll be working on a line of porcelains that are just mine. Chris is making his miniatures for the case at upcoming fairs. The jury accepted me into The Celebration of Craftswomen show at Fort Mason in San Francisco on the first weekend in December. It's a bit of a challenge doing a women-only fair at my age - Chris does most of the heavy lifting these days. I actually did the first of the Celebration of Craftswomen shows over 30 years ago - when it was a small exhibit in the Old Wives Tales Bookstore storefront. Now the show has grown in national recognition. I do like the idea of participating again and making new work of my own. (They'll let men help with the set-up and tear-down, thankfully.) I've got offers of help from daughters and women friends as well - an adventure!

Flora lives on! Every morning I'm prepared to find that she passed away in her sleep, but she endures, with a wag of her tail. The vet didn't have much hope for her. She's the equivalent of a 95 year old human. We offer her breakfast in bed, and she takes a few nibbles from her loving admirers. Blessings on Chris, who keeps her bedding clean.

Today, life is good.

Changes

I've changed my url here to janwaxclayblog.blogspot.com The Google search engine never could find A Clay Journal.

We worked in the studio today. Lots of shows coming up.

This is a picture of our dog Flora, an Australian Shepherd. Born here at the house nearly 14 years ago, she's been the sweetest dog in the world. We love you, Flora.

Last night

The world comes to AV. A beautiful evening in Yvonne and Bill's garden with their friends. Food from the loving hands of our hosts, art, wine, and a lingering image of gathering darkness, with a dozen candles around the table, the lighting like a Caravaggio, and listening to the ancient tones of Yuval's oud.

Like sheep

Eldest daughter called today with her latest adventure. She bought three sheep - One Freisian and two Freisian/Jacob mixes. Two females and a young male. First I have to say that I love her and all my offspring immoderately, and I accept as possible her Buddhist views that include reincarnation - so when she asked for my help in finding homes for the sheep, I was once again drawn in. Donna lives in a city house with an average-sized yard. She bought the trio to save them from the auction, which she accidentally saw from the road...all three for $100. Something about the little family made her want to save them. She doesn't care about the money...she's willing to give them to anyone who will promise not to kill them. Who will not eat them, to be precise. We have room for sheep, and Freisians are the best milking sheep in the world, I'm told, but I'm afraid my husband's head would explode if I asked him to include sheep in our menage. Even if I point out to him that it's a beautiful momma sheep and her offspring.

A successful firing!

We figured out why the previous kilnload oxidized. This recent firing was near-perfect, with brilliant reds, beautiful celadons.Whew! So glad.
We're getting ready for three juried art shows: Palo Alto University Ave show on Aug.28 & 29;
Kings Mt. in Woodside, CA Sept. 4-6; Capitola art show, Sept. 11 & 12. Need lots of stock.
Back to work!

Historic Clay Art

Shown here: Jomon period, Japan, vessel - Circa 2000 B.C.
Venus of Willendorf, Europe, Stone Age sculpture, circa 20,000 - 30,00 years ago

The Past

The kiln is almost loaded. Taking a break and walking through the garden with my camera. It's been a cool summer so far, but the fruits and vegetables are flourishing. I think the wet spring made them happy.
The kiln is firing now. Hoping for a good one. It's always a bit nerve-wracking.

Pottery has been around for thousands and thousands of years and I see what has survived as messages from the past. Museums can show us these remnants of antique civilizations simply because clay tends to last. Fired clay is durable and doesn't naturally disintegrate easily, and neither rusts, burns, nor melts, generally, and it doesn't tear, like paper or canvas, or cloth - so we can tell a lot about a civilization by looking at its pottery. We see the Greeks cavorting on their gorgeous amphorae as if they were living still. Little clay Venus statues of pregnant women from the European continent tell us something about their belief systems. Were they fertility figures? Were women thought to be goddesses in the Stone Age because they magically gave birth? Hundreds and hundreds of these little clay statues of women have been found. Natives of the Americas created clay pots of consummate beauty without a wheel and fired them in pits filled with dried manure, and some of these elegant pots have lasted until today....Of course, permanence is just an illusion, you may say, but, in spite of that, I feel a real connection between the potters from ancient cultures and myself. There is a line from them to me. I wonder what we might have had in common. They too felt the cool clay in their hands. They knew the moist smell of this malleable material. They could make a mark that had meaning on the surface of a pot. Creating sufficient heat to vitrify the clay was one of the problems these makers had to deal with. Just as today.
Shards containing the ancient finger marks of the long-dead humans who made them can make me shiver. What were they thinking about as they were creating? Could they too have asked themselves, why do humans make war?

work

Taking a break from glazing...about halfway done. We have to turn the kiln on tomorrow morning, early, so it will be
done firing by tomorrow night, and after cooling for 24 hours we can unload it late Wednesday or Thursday morning...just in time for the group of visitors scheduled to arrive around 10 a.m. - maybe they can see the unloading!

This is my tenth day of blogging and I'm liking the experience so far. Thanks to those who've visited. I welcome your comments. More later.


On my way back out to the studio, I decided to stop and water the potted lemon tree on the deck. I'm always surprised when one or another of the treefrogs that live in the watering can pop out to say howdy!

Sunday

Two peaches for breakfast, with some peach jam, made yesterday, on my toast. Jars full of peach jam on the shelf. This winter, we'll remember August and the fragrant peach bounty. The tree that produced them is a loved, little old skinny thing we planted when we first got here. It tells me you don't have to be beautiful or young to be productive!

A potter's life - an anachronism?

Yesterday I mixed glazes - not my favorite job. It requires complete concentration. If a recipe calls for 3000 grams of feldspar, and my gram scale can only handle a thousand grams at a time, it behooves me not to lose count of how many containersful I've dumped into the glaze bucket! All of the glaze components work together to create color, flux, and texture. But yesterday I did that job, and today I'll wax the bottoms of the pots and any lid rims to resist the glaze when they are dipped into the buckets.
People ask me if making pottery is a viable occupation in this modern world.
We ask ourselves that same thing from time to time! What I love most about making art for a living is staying home. All aspects of our life are integrated, whether it's growing a fair amount of our own food in the garden, or interacting with our animals, or cooking, or cutting firewood or just noticing what is happening on the land. And, of course, making ware, throwing pots and sculpting additions to the pots, doing it all from scratch and no molds,no short cuts, and then traveling to sell it at juried art fairs. Meeting customers who appreciate our work is a big plus. There was a time, more than 30 years ago, when I commuted every day from Livermore to Oakland for a teaching job. I'm glad I don't have to go off every day now and drive in traffic. However, someone looking at our business costs once said, partly in jest, "Jan, you and Chris could take minimum wage jobs and clear more than you're making now !"- but then, we'd miss the real pleasure of creating art. We sell everything we make. So, what do I tell young people who ask if making pottery is a viable occupation? I say, child, you've gotta love it.

Peachy

There's an old peach tree by the stairs to the pottery studio. We've been testing the peaches for ripeness every day. So have the jays! Yesterday Chris got on the ladder and picked them all.

Anderson Valley

When we first moved to the land - about 25 years ago - it was the quietest place you could imagine.
Just the wind in the trees, the watery sound of the creek, birds, frogs. Natural sounds. Chris and I and my daughter managed to scrape together enough money to buy some land on the Holmes Ranch, and with the help of local carpenters, built our house and pottery workshop. We've always loved this place, - the redwoods, the peacefulness. But it's changing.
Early this morning, like many other mornings lately, I woke to the industrial sounds of machinery. Some years ago, a winery from Napa bought 20 acres about a quarter to a half a mile from here, smack in the middle of the Holmes Ranch subdivision. They scraped the land clean of buildings and vegetation and then they planted grapes. Sound carries. They frost-protect in winter in the early morning hours, sometimes starting around 2 a.m. with a machine that sounds like a helicopter in the bedroom that ruins everyone's sleep.
They spray god knows what in the summer to kill anything that might threaten their investment. The sprayer is loud, disturbing the peace when most people are still in bed. I wonder and worry about how much toxic spray is getting into the creek. I've called the Ag Department about this, but never got very far.
Apples and pears used to be grown here in the valley, but the Grape is now King of Agriculture in this county - if you don't count the illegal crop. Everyone knows someone whose livelihood is connected to the wine industry, so it's a touchy subject. A few wineries, like Handley Cellars, are growing organically, bless'em. I hope more of the wineries do the same, giving some consideration to their neighbors. Find a way to protect the grapes from frost that is quiet. I'd appreciate less noise, please, and no poisons. Some of us get cranky when we haven't had enough sleep, but don't get me wrong. I like wine. Doesn't everyone?

Rest

Awoke this morning early, the light coming through these trees. I can see them from my open bedroom window.
This may sound a little morbid, but it's really a happy thought. When I move on to my eternal reward, I'd like my ashes dug in around the base of one of these redwoods, like compost. I like to think that my spirit would be carried up to the top of these magnificent beings that I love, to feel the wind, to be among the bird-life.


Started to throw vases a little after 9. Our local public radio station is such a godsend! I can listen while I work. Joy LeClaire
was interviewing the author of a new book about the importance of rest and sleep. I think one of my children would benefit from this book. I missed the title and the author's name! I think I'll find it online - yes. The Power of Rest: Why Sleep Alone Is Not Enough. A 30-Day Plan to Reset Your Body
By: Matthew Edlund

Then the early music programmer played Renaissance Sephardic songs, among others. A great start to my day. You can listen online at http://www.kzyx.org

The oldest written language?

Clay tablets, cuneiform, words in clay.

I usually work alone,  the pottery wheel humming and turning, - with my husband sculpting in the next room.  Except for the dogs, and the  occasional sound of a cumbia or a guajira gliding under the door between our separate studios, it's  usually quiet here and I  do love it. But after three days at the Writers Conference,(writing is my second love), my brain's been prodded and re-activated. So much creativity!  On the last day there were readings by visiting writers. Poet, Bob Stanley, read from his book, "Walt Whitman Orders a Cheeseburger", reading with a touch of sly humor and accompanied by a bass-playing friend. It worked.  Then I had to buy Alison Luterman's  "See How We Almost Fly" when I heard her read her poems. This morning, with my coffee, I enjoyed her  "A woman carries the world on her head." and copied it here for  friends to read.

   A woman carries the world on her head

                                                

in the form of a bag of rice,

a bucket of water,

a great load of thatch to roof a house,

Her spine is a sturdy deliverance

from evil, her arms are loose and purposeful,

her baby wrapped in bright cloth on her back,  
She can stop by the side of the road and talk                                        

for as long as it takes you to take her picture,

to fold a two hundred-kwatcha note

into her rough palms

which have never gripped a steering wheel

or a credit card, which have never held a latte in a paper cup

or maneuvered a dirt-sucking vacuum through all the rooms

of a carpeted house. You know her and you do not

know. You see her

walking, with a log the size of a man

laid lengthwise on top of her head,

a log which would crush

the small bones of your neck

to powder, and though it is not

in your power to change much 

if anything, here, you long to know more

watching her walk, without fanfare,

into the world,

goats, chickens, trees, sky -

her burden perfectly balanced,

the world on top of her head,

the world inside.

                                      Alison Luterman

I loved the novelist, Malin Alegria's, workshop.

Jan

Chris and I work together, collaborating on pottery with sculptural details. Sometimes he sculpts free-standing pieces, and sometimes I make functional ware without sculptures.We, (mostly he) travel to juried art fairs - about a dozen or more each year - to market our wares. You can see our show calendar at http://www.waxbing.com  We live in beautiful Anderson Valley in the county of Mendocino , in northern California, with our dogs and cats and assorted other living beings.  This land has tall redwoods, a creek, and vegetable gardens. Good people here too. We feel lucky that this is where we landed 30 years ago.

I'm just finishing up a three-day workshop at the Mendocino Coast Writers Conference, and I'm a-buzz with 

ideas for stories - but  most will have to wait until this winter, when the art show schedule cools down.  In the meantime, I'll grab the passing thought, roll it around like a ball of clay, and  leave it here. 

"My thoughts are whirled like a potter's wheel; I know not where I am nor what I do.” Wm. Shakespeare

On the other hand, Will,  in my experience, throwing clay on the turning wheel often helps to clear my mind.

I've been making pottery for many, many years now, ever since my then teenaged daughter and I signed up for lessons with a Berkeley potter. It was going to be something fun that we could do together, a mother-daughter thing, you might say. As it turned out, it was a turning point for me,  - becoming a maker of useful objects out of the earth's most abundant substance - clay. It thrilled me. And my daughter?  She thought it was kind of messy, and she pursued medicine as a career.  I earn my living with my hands in clay.