The World Beyond My Studio

As we begin to prepare for the 2015 season at Lost RiverArtisans’ Co-op and I continue to haul Kahoka pots to OASIS in Harrisonburg, I think it is time to say a bit about other galleries in which my pots are available. In each place there is someone special who values and sells them, for which I am very appreciative! 

My handbuilt stoneware has been available for many years at Riverview Gallery in historic Havre de Grace, Maryland. There Tam Sticker, an incredibly talented artist herself, runs a gallery in the lobby of an old building that houses numerous other businesses. True to the area, the gallery comes complete with wallpaper borders of duck decoys, which are a staple in Havre de Grace. Riverview is at 224 North Washington Street. You can learn all about it at www.riverviewgallerymd.net. In the amazing visuals on that website, you will see Kahoka pots in every image! It is an intriguing town and well worth a visit where the Susquehanna River meets the Chesapeake Bay. Spring IS coming! Give it some thought!

Another fascinating Mid-Atlantic setting for my pottery is the Michael B. Tusing Gallery in Staunton, Virginia. The Frame Shop is in the lower floor of the old mansion; the gallery is on the second floor. Michael is described as a “dealer of refined and eclectic sensibility,” which is perfect! When he first proposed some years ago that I sell Kahoka pots at his gallery and I laid eyes on that delightful Victorian dwelling, I had my doubts! Kahoka pots are rustic, if anything ever was, and the Tusing Gallery would thrill my grandmother’s dazzling Victorian sense of style. But Michael loves eclectic and he surely knows how to make it work! The gallery is at 21 North Market Street, just below Mary Baldwin College.  Check it out at www.tusinggallery.com and give yourself a day exploring another wonderful historic setting.

I feel privileged that the artists at Riverview Gallery and the Michael B. Tusing Gallery welcome my pottery from way back in a hollow deep in the West Virginia hills. I love being in each of these galleries, and I know you would too!

The Leaf Thief Accidently Reformed

I just cancelled my plan to launch a new career of somewhat dubious merit. January triggered my need for green but no matter how many pages I turn down in the plant catalogs, it is all hopelessly vicarious. I need REAL leaves, so I planned to steal some from places with too many to miss them.

I am writing this under swaying palms on a balmy evening. The greens are both ubiquitous and beautifully real. And there are leaves of every ilk!

My mother was infamous for stealing cuttings from plants she liked. I suspected this nefarious tendency might be genetic until we arrived in Florida and I fell in love with sea grape leaves. Coccoloba uvifera is a common seashore tree or shrub with nearly-round leaves. 

It is conspicuously absent from cultivated gardens-- leave it to me to love the weed! Sea grape leaves are on the ground just waiting to be collected, so their availability avoids those spousal lectures I get when I lust over some botanical snippet that refuses to fall into my hand. Look for sea grape shapes in future Kahoka pots, maybe with some soft tangles of Spanish moss! I know you’ll love them!

Beads, beads, beads

When does a little ball of clay become a bead? My answer is when someone uses a straw to make a hole through which to thread it. I make a lot of them. I find making beads salves the too busy mind, lets me be productive when I don’t feel particularly creative, and lets me play in the clay when we are on the road. Beads are small, round (thus durable), repetitive, yet fruitful. They use up clay that may be getting dry. With my long history of rolling cookie balls for our favorite molasses treats, clay balls also avoid a lot of calories. 

What does one do with clay beads? About an inch across, they might qualify as weapons of mass destruction if one were to wear them, although it has been done and smaller ones work well for necklaces and as weights for crocheted shawls. I put them in my windchimes, but the clever manager at Lost River Artisans’ Co-op, Doug Gronholm, uses eight of them to make sets of weights for picnic table cloths. I’ve used Doug’s weights many times and they are great. Like making windchimes, Kahoka beads are well worth rolling! 

Gathering a flock

I have a request for a windchime with sheep on it. Others have asked how I make the mobiles, so here’s the process behind their creation. They are challenging to wrap, but there are several hundred Kahoka windchimes scattered across a couple of continents.

I start with a theme and cut out clay figures with cookie cutters or free-hand. The wee forms are cleaned, dried, and bisque fired. Then they are glazed and fired to Cone 6 and the real fun begins. 

My friend Susie collects drift wood for me from the Chesapeake Bay. I clean the wood and drill it, and then thread my strings, using beads for spacers. I usually incorporate smaller figures into the upper parts of the mobiles and larger ones on the ends. Sheep are great, being rounded and without vulnerable projections. I epoxy the knots to keep the wind from untying them if people hang their mobiles outside. Then I spray everything—the rope to keep out moisture and the wood in case of invisible in-dwellers. Indoors, the mobiles last indefinitely. Outside, they will last several years in a protected spot such as a screened porch. They don’t baa, but they sound wonderful!

Simple Pleasures

This is the time of year to notice and appreciate the simple things that can get lost in the glitz and glitter. What are your simple pleasures? I have too many to list but I cherish the time to think about them-- to put aside the busyness and dwell with the moment. There are the birds that stay around and accompany us through the winter, the impressions that pine needles and cedar twigs make on the clay, and the clever and thoughtful homemade gifts that people give each other this time of year-- not the big fancy gifts but the creative ones. There is the warmth of the wood stove and the pleasure the cats cozying up to it. There are the dog’s circles of sheer joy in the snow. There is the music so special to the holidays, and those memories from the past. I love small gatherings, the catching up, the quiet times, the lights and goodies, and chances to learn something new. I love the opportunity to reach out to someone I can assist in some way, and the time to hope all over again for peace.  I wish you the warmest season’s greetings, wherever you are. May you have safe travels and quiet moments. And may your pleasures be simple and profound.