It's good to have finally updated this website. I will probably be editing the content a bit over the next week or so as I take some new images and work out the text. It's so easy to put this sort of thing off for a long time. For some reason though I got online last night and started messing around and here I am.
I am looking forward to getting back into the workshop this week. I have to buy some clay as I only have about 50 lbs on hand. It would be great to fire the kiln at the end of January. I'm pretty sure I can manage that. The last firing was a very good one so I'm itching to have some new pots.
I had a very good Holiday Sale here at the pottery in early December. I am so thankful for those folks who make their way out here to buy pots. When I first started making pots I dreamed of selling most of my work to locals who'd come here and buy for their homes and kitchens. I heavily promoted my Home Sales for many, many years. Sometime around 2008 things changed. As time had passed and my pottery style changed it meant that the price of the pots went up and many of my regular customers stopped coming. My Home Sales fell from four times a year to only one or two as I was mainly focused on shows and sending pots out to galleries. This seemed okay for a while but in late 2013 I felt the desire to return to making pots that were more utilitarian and that would be more affordable. I began thinking of myself as the 'village potter' again. The new soda kiln came into being and the pots felt true to my inner nature. It was so good to return to my roots.
Seeing some old faces at this last Sale was up lifting. Many folks have stuck with me though the years as I have changed but I got the feeling that for the most part everyone was glad to see the soda fired pots on the shelves. I am proud of the work I am doing. As I approach my mid 40's I am more and more dedicated to doing just what I want. The influence of potters such as Warren Mackenzie, Clary Illian, Joe Bennion and Tom Gray have made me who I am. I won't let that go. If anything I hope to move deeper into this work as I sit down to make the next kiln load of pots.