Getting My Head on Straight

As sometimes happens when I have a big job ahead of me, I sort of went dark there for awhile, and posts got scarcer. Not because I haven't been busy - believe me, I have - but because I was feeling a bit overwhelmed, and then, every time I felt like blogging again, awful things happened in the larger world that made writing about clay seem utterly meaningless. Like the whole country I was horrified by the bombings at the Boston Marathon, and by the explosion in West, Texas.  My heart goes out to the victims and their families in both tragedies. 

I have friends who are doing CraftBoston this weekend; on Friday they were under the Shelter in Place zone which Mayor Menino requested of the city, so of course the show was closed for the first day. Sheltering in place is pretty sucky even if you are at home, with your loved ones and your books, not to mention your refrigerator; I imagine it's just that much suckier if you are stuck in an exhibit hall, eating from vending machines and kicking your heels without even a comfortable chair to sit in. Here's hoping the rest of the show is spectacular. Boston Strong!

Anyway, I'm back at the keyboard again. Today I created an updated map of the Maine Pottery Tour using ZeeMaps. I created an online interactive map of the Tour, and also purchased a png version to use for the posters and flyers. Unfortunately the png is read-only; I needed to add numbers to the markers in order that the map be useful in its hard form. A very handy website for many forms of file conversion can e found here: online-convert.com. I've also used it to convert video to a format that my weird-ass movie-maker software knows what to do with, and then into something that youtube can recognize. All around very handy! Here's the new map:

List of Studios

1. Fine Mess Pottery, 131 Cony St, Augusta with guest artist Karen Dyer Discenso
2. Malley Weber, 6 Orchard Lane, Hallowell
3. Loken Pottery, 26 Bowman St, Farmingdale with guest artists Becca Cross and Pasang Tsering
4. Maple Lane Pottery, 36 Greeley Rd, Windsor
5. Diane Harwood 846 Memorial Drive, Winthrop
6. A Lakeside Studio Pottery, 12 Cedar Point Rd, Wayne with guest artist Shell Moore
7. The Potter's House 82 Stevenstown Rd, Litchfield Saturday only
8. Liz Profetty 118 Old County Rd, Newcastle - Saturday Only
9. Mud of the Ages, Clark's Cove Rd, Walpole 
10. Salt Box Pottery, 4 Shaw Rd, Woolwich
11. Portland Pottery, 118 Washington Avenue, Portland, Maine 207-772-4334