After a very fulfilling experience at the St Croix pottery tour, I am back in my studio and began my three week residency today. Before I elaborate, I would like to share these words by the celebrated clay artist Dick Lehman written at the completion of fifty years of working in clay.
“Being disciplined to set aside
time (that you’ve already paid
for) is essential for development,
experiment, and growth. Only
you can do this. You don’t work
for some other employer who
makes the difficult fiscal
decisions to fund these times.
Take on a “sabbatical mentality and value yourself enough to
make these times an essential
part of your yearly planning.
This is exactly why I make time every year to do what I call a residency, in my own studio. This is my time to experiment, explore new ideas, play, fail, learn and grow. Today was all about building layers of different colors of terrasigillata to see if I can create a hot spot that would serve as a focal point for the eye on an otherwise plain piece to like a plate or interior of a big bowl.
