Car trouble made me miss the first class of the new session tonight. The owner of the teaching studio was none too pleased about it, but what could I do? My superpower is cat herding, not flight. I was already moody with winter, and this tipped me right into downright pissy. But I know the cure for that: pasta bowls!
These are each six pounds of clay, and will eventually be part of a larger order for a gourmet kitchen goods store in Portsmouth. Big (well, biggish) bowls are good for dispellling the crankies because they demand enough physical effort to use up the adrenaline that's just hanging around turning sour, but they are simple to throw and provide me with a few easy successes. The worst things to make to throw off a bad mood are fiddly little stuff with a bunch of parts, like soy bottles or teapots. Anyway, they worked. I feeel much better. Cars, meh. They break, that's life. My beginning students will manage without me this one night. And tomorrow is another day.
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Lori Keenan Watts (aka me) is a potter, gardener, and avid reader from Augusta, Maine. Though I started my university education in surface design for fabric, clay quickly grabbed me by the heart and redirected my creative impulses. I have been a potter for over 25 years -- hard to believe. The most valuable years of my ceramic education were spent in graduate study at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville, under the tutalage of Dan Anderson and Paul Dresang.
My aesthetic is guided by my love of the material itself. What fascinates me and makes a pot compelling for me is the clay-ness of clay: the squooshiness that becomes the adamantine solidity. I also like patterns, unexpected proportions, and when the flame comes along and dissolves part of my careful decorating efforts! I am obstinate about this aesthetic, to a point which might be called pig-headed, but hey, if you don't like what you make, why bother?
My happy little family also includes my husband, musician and photographer (and author of the book Alewife) Doug Watts; five cats; and a turtle, all foundlings and rescues of one stripe or another.
3 comments:
Hey, if they wanted you bad enough, they could have sent a driver to get you.
I'll tell them that. Should go over well, I think.
beautiful bowls, interesting blog!
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