I started my clay career making custom tile, and took a wheel throwing class on a dare by, you guessed it, a wheel thrower! I fell in love. I have always been creative, but never found anything as soul-satisfying as pottery. I considered it a hobby until one day a fellow potter asked to buy a casserole I had made. Honestly, it took me weeks to be able to part with that casserole, in spite of several similar ones on my dining room table. Then another request came and I realized that unless I could send my "babies" out into the world, there would be no room in my house for new creations.
I have a very supportive husband, Patrick, who hauls boxes to the post office, packs the car when necessary, cleans up after me (not my best attribute), listens to me when things haven't gone well at the studio, handles art shows when I have another commitment, and honestly critiques my work. There are many dark moments in an artist's life. Firings that don't go well, glazes that didn't work, pots that collapse, tools that break, creative dry spells, and periods of obsessed productivity. Without Pat, my family, the thrilled faces of our grandchildren the first time they "play with clay," our kids who shamelessly promote my pottery, and the wonderful art community and the friends I have made there, I would not be as happy as I am watching my wheel go 'round and 'round.
The more I know, the more I know what I don't know. Pottery is a never-ending learning experience.
If you would like to keep up with the happenings in the studio, "like" my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/northwindpottery