I'm Home, It's cold after Hawaii!

I made it and I am back in Tulsa.
First Aloha went out of biz then continental thought I was standby (NOT!) and reassigned me a seat and I found a man sitting in that seat with the same seat assignment. I could not see sitting on his lap or visa versa (he was a small man) and they gave me another seat next to a female Walmart executive buyer. The good news after all the hassle, I made it safe and sound after many hours on the plane.
It has taken me more time to adjust to coming home that I expected. It is my second day home and I don't quite feel here yet and I am tired.
I had a great trip and feel inspired to get back to work.
I attended the OVAC studio tour open house tonight at the circle theatre. That happens soon. More about that on this blog soon. Saw lots of friends.
I hear my block is selling at the end of the month and then reality will set in with what happens next. They say they want us here. At what price?
More soon. Glad to be back home.

Aloha Airlines, My plane declares bankruptcy

Queen of "Too much Stuff" should mend her ways

APRIL FOOL NOT
It is not an April fools trick. I found out late this morning my connecting flight to Continental is out of business. Today was there last day! I also found out my flight insurance does not cover that airline! They did not mention that before while I was paying.

PROBLEM SOLVING
Creative problem solving in action. After much run around on all their parts, insurance, 3 airlines and more it was suggested I try a smaller airline used in the islands to get to Honolulu.
Score. So now I can still make my connection. I have been very isolated from news and newspapers so I am lucky Steve knew and I did not show up at the airport tomorrow afternoon with an empty airline counter! The airlines did not notify me even though I had reservations. So, travelers beware!

TOO MUCH STUFF
I spent the whole morning and early afternoon figuring out how to make airline connections and not be on stand by and the rest of the day packing. As usual, I , Ms Pack Rat, brings to much stuff makes too much and has to pack like a maniac. I have three large boxes of pots to Fed Ex and three priority mail and 3 suitcases! Let this be a reminder to you all, don't do this to yourselves and remind me not too again.

SIX WEEKS IS A LONG TIME
And let me tell you 6 weeks is too long to stay with others and not be working. (Actually I stayed 4 weeks with others, traveled 2 weeks, and worked most of the time.)
If things had gone as planned I would have needed that long to create a show but we ended up with a new plan for sanity reasons. My show pots are staying here and will be in a show probably in June or July. Then we may show in Tulsa if we can pull it off or at least my pots will if not sold. Jamie's pots may be to fragile. She is sending me some of her bottles to put in my shop and sell at the herb fairs. It will be fun for you all to see them.

LIVING WITH OTHERS
Jamie is a sweetheart. It has been so great to be with her and work with her after so many years. I feel very close to her and admire her personal strength both physical and emotional. She works hard and fast. Youth is on her side and she strives to do her best. She is cute as a button and reminds me of Ian in many ways. It has given me a lot of insight about her generation by spending so much time together. She is like another daughter and dear friend at the same time. Steve has been very patient having me it seems "always here" and I have enjoyed getting to know him. He is very generous with his pottery information and we have had many interesting art discussions. His daughter Bella is fun to be around and has taught me to sit down and play board games. I played scrabble for the first time the other night. I was probably the only person in the world who had never played it.
I think we all did very well and all learned a lot about each other and how the world works.

BUGS!
I have never seen so many bugs. They are everywhere in Hawaii. If you think the insect world dominates the tropics, you are correct. I am constantly being bitten by something. The mosquitoes are obnoxious and hard to trick. I took vitamin B 12 100 grams and that was no help. We burned a ton of incense, not much help. I put dryer sheets in my pockets, helped a little. Sometimes even Off did not help. Perfumes, oils, different soaps, arnica, different shampoos and more.
I was eaten alive by either something in the rental car or in the hotel Manago. I looked up bed bugs on line and did a thorough search in my mattress with no results. Everyday I had a few welts. First on the bra line, then the sock line, then the waist line. It seemed like it was after riding in the car. Who knows how long it takes welts to happen. There are roaches everywhere. You just slap them and keep moving. Fleas are on my socks every now and then. Gnats, mosquitoes, fleas, roaches, moths, centipedes, and more. Phew! And I am great bait and allergic to almost every one.
The other problem for everyone here is rats. They are everywhere. They need more cats around.

FAR FROM HOME, LOOKING FOR A PADDLE
The big island is a long way from Tulsa. It scared me to think coming home could be difficult. I even imagined paddling the canoe at one point but found it a bit impractical. My left arm is still sore and that could slow me down.
I really want to get home and hope the journey home is not to difficult and is another interesting adventure.

BE HOME SOON I HOPE
If all goes well, I will be home April 2nd late in the morning. I don't know how quickly I will adjust to the time frame. If I am lucky I will just sleep and rest on the plane and then hit the ground running.

CONTINUE THE BLOGGING
I plan to continue my blog with art and pottery ideas and more of my book info. And of course, I will post any info about my block selling. Nothing has happened yet, thank goodness. I will be cleaning and sorting and selling all kinds of cool stuff I have collected over the years. It is time to share the cool stuff and let someone else have it for a while.
Thanks for all the emails while I have been here. It is fun to see who is reading this thing. If you have enjoyed it, drop me a line and let me know at Claylady00@aol.com. Remember the 00's are numbers not letters. I'll use this blog like a web site soon until I can figure out how to make a web page.

Thank you all!

Another kiln load

sI just unloaded my second kiln load. Cone 10 gas fired. It looks good. I got several show pieces from this kiln. Of course, there were surprises. I will post pictures tomorrow. My ladies in flight look really good, tall vases in celadon are looking good, nice cups and more. It was unloaded a bit late so I could not pack it tonight. Ill make selections in the a.m. and decide what to leave for the show. A few more pieces come out tomorrow morning from the bronze cone 1 firing. Pack pack pack. Then pay pay pay. I just hope the freight does not out cost the price of the pots. My friends tell me I severely under price and this may prove it.
More tomorrow with photos.

What I See When I Walk in Steve's Garden

Fresh bananas growing in the yard wait to ripen

My favorite found object the yard-I am basing several pieces from this shape

Potential platter like shape

Can I glaze like this?

Along the path

small yard pond reflextion

It is about time to come home. It is Sunday night and that means there is only one more night for me here.
Time and space are a very strange thing. I feel so here. I have been here so long it is hard to imagine not being here in three days and being back in my own environment where the season has changed since I left. The metal flying time machine does strange things. Because you don't walk outside and go up the steps to get on the plane, it feels like a strange time and space machine to me. You get in, breathe recycled air snap on the seat belt and wait. When you get out you walk down a metal hall and zap...you are in a new space.
There are daily familiar things to me in Hawaii now. Waking up to the roosters crowing. The chirping coqui frogs all night. Sleeping alone on a futon. Waking in someone's house or a little hotel room. Green green green. Rain. Fresh eggs and avocados, $6.78 milk, cheese and other basic foods at ridiculous prices, riding around in Jamie's $800 pickup truck, going outside to an incredible garden, feeling a bit homeless, talking to my family and trying to solve problems for them from a distance. The exotic fruits and plants are becoming familiar. Steve brought Jamie and me a fresh star apple when we were working in the clay studio. So many tropical fruits are now recognizable.
I guess I am getting that Hawaiian look on my face because a lot of people think I am local. I guess I fit in as I look around and see a lot of aging hippies. I have seen so many black men with heads full of dreadlocks. Too many over tanned aging women wearing flip flops walk down the street. Lots of tall tan lean young people drag there sandals and jump in there vehicles with surf boards on the top. Lots of alternative souls live here on the big island.
I have hardly seen the tourist areas. I have not seen a luau or many boat drinks or even sarongs. The art paintings here are awful. So many bad palm trees and dolphins. The wood work is great. There is not a lot of pottery. There is a lot of seed and glass jewelry.
Whenever I am somewhere foreign I think I will always come back some day. The world is so large and there is so much to see. I wish it was more affordable to see the world. There are so many places I have not seen yet. Will I come back here? I don't know. It feels so familiar now and like it has become part of me. It is so far and it is so close.

Firing and Packing

Homemade biscuits on a zoo plate. I made biscuits looked down and was amazed to see two jelly eyes looking back at me!

I leave Tuesday for Tulsa and I am firing and packing like crazy.
My first load of pots came out last night and I got a few show pots and a lot of little bright pots to bring home. I used the colors of Hawaii around me and it made for a lot of bright green and red pots. Overwhelming for an earthy lady. Then I look around me and I see the colors. I am a bit shocked and surprised. Surprises never end in clay.
I am packing. It costs so much it is crazy. $56 for a big roll of bubble wrap. Probably around $60 a box to mail a 20x20x12 around 25 pounds. And, I will need to pay for clay and firing. Was this a crazy idea? I learned a lot and have had terrific experiences but it has really cost financially.
Even milk is $6 a half gallon! I was in an art store and those painting supplies were looking real good. Should I change media? I remember the thrill of art supplies when I was a college student and had not decided to do clay for sure.
A load of cone 10 with I think my best pots is cooling now and a bronze cone 1 has just started. I guess I'll be packing up to the last minute. I re glazed some pots in a cone 1 luster. I have a lot of good ideas for when I get home.
My show will happen later, after I leave the island and I cannot afford to come back for it so I guess it will turn into a virtual kind of experience. I will probably mail a few pieces back after some ideas and techniques have jelled at home, assuming the studio can survive the new landlords. I have to deal when I get home. Oh please, give me a little work time and don't make me find the new cheap spot too soon.
I took more garden pictures today and wish I new how to make it into a slide show on this thing.
I made homemade biscuits this morning, french bread yesterday and chocolate brownies with chocolate coconut icing for supper. If you can't make pots, make food. The brownies were decedent.
I miss my family. I miss my friends. I'll be glad to come home.

Thoughts on Craft and Art

Ok so I am now down to the nitty gritty. Glazing all these pots I have made here with new clays and new glazes. Flexibility, that is the key. You would think after 30-35 years or however long I have been doing this that I would know exactly what I am doing. Does any one ever know in clay what "on earth" is going on?
I am doing two kinds of firing. One cone 6 and one cone 10 reduction. I will leave the best pieces here for a show after I am gone and try and figure out how to safely and cheaply get the others home fast enough. I will mail some clothes home and hope the airline does not crash through my bags like they did on the way over here and they broke 2 pots. Airline security strikes again. Can't they just do it more carefully?
I using some bright Amoco glazes reflecting all the greens and reds I see here. I was supposed to be sent a flat Spectrum black matt, did not come, mixed on from Lana Wilson's book I have never tried before. I have my fingers crossed that I like these pieces and they don't become beach shards.

Next question:
How do I make art not craft? What is the difference, really?

Ok, it is easy to tell crappy craft stuff like concrete ducks dressed in doll clothes. But what about my southeast pottery heritage where craft is not a bad word and is part of art? For example, the incredible schools I attended, Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts. no blue ducks there! Penland School of Arts and Crafts, an incredible community of craft people at the school and living in the community. Craft is not a bad word there and can hold its own to any arty farty statements.

I love art. I love craft. I always thought the simple explanation was the crafts people actually liked each other, enjoyed life as they did their work and were less negatively competitive and might have some fine quality work that someone actually wanted to buy and might be able to make a living selling it. It is kind of the anti snob approach but a bit unfair.

Shall I elaborate and get myself in trouble? Why not? Or, have a fun time stereotyping us all.

Artists may not be craftspeople but craftspeople may be artists? Not exactly.
I don't usually think of the painter as a craftsman.
The artist and the craftsperson both use the same elements of design and need to communicate a message.
The craftsman must constantly bow to the artist and explain they are a quality craftsperson not the potholder maker or the cement duck lady and of course the rick rack in their booth was somebody else's idea of a good display.
Crafts people get and give more hugs than the pure artist and may wear funkier clothing with less spikes.
Artists get into galleries more often and the better fairs as well, once again putting the chunkier craftsperson in their place.
Craftspeople attend more potlucks with brown rice, tofu egg salad and large bottles of cheaper wine. Artists are found at smaller gatherings wishing more people had come to the opening but drinking a more expensive wine and probably finding a craftspersons handmade plate with brie on it.
Artist get more headaches and stomach aches as they look for complex problems to worry about and can't seem to get the big picture that life is sweet if you make it that way.
Craftspeople are relatively happy settled in, don't need adderal but should definitely exercise more and move a little faster.
Artists studios smell worse with irritating chemical smells but craftspeople are messier and have more dust of various sorts on everything to the point of being a health risk.
Artists have nice shoes and expensive boutique clothing.
Craftspeople buy expensive shoes but stand more and have sore feet. There clothing is more likely to natural materials like cotton and flax but they usually find it in a thrift store.
Artists are smartellicks craftspeople are smart asses.

Whoops got off the subject. What is art and what is craft? Who are artists and who are craftspeople?

Shall I stop avoiding the question?

I looked at my pots and thought, how can I make art and not craft. I can only begin to understand how I might try to make this happen.
First, don't just whip them out to get a lot complete without thinking about how they work as a unit. When I make little bowls I want them to look like I had an idea. I want them to be small work of art in the cabinet you want to pick up and use every chance you can.
Some will suggest a nature object, some simple bright spots of Hawaiian color. They won't be some ordinary rushed piece of clay to only fill a need. I divided them into areas of like minded forms, wanting to be part of a group and may be purchased together if the customer can afford to buy more so they have more impact. I wanted this group to feel more special so I put a symbol on the bottom kind of like a palm tree top scribbled and I put a gold rim on nearly every one. I want them to glow with color.
Some of my tea bowls have sentences on them saying how I felt that day I made them.
My favorite piece is my seven series of the lady flying to Hawaii with land and ocean. It is a little heavy and I am thankful I could take it out of the bisqued kiln with no explosions today. I have some other favorites based on the seed pods and they will come out of the glaze firing tomorrow.
I tried to make all my work here a work of art. Some are less complex in their message and thought but each was carefully "crafted" and some were thrown back in the slip bucket. A couple of the figures I made were too tormented looking and I tossed them. Yes, the quality control squad of my mind walked through and said, "No, stop it. That figure is just butt ugly. Dump it back in the bucket."

Now the problem is shipping. My bank account is still on low fuel and I need to have all the non-Hawaiian show pots back in Tulsa for the herb festivals They have to cost more because it has cost so much to produce them and get them home. If I bring them in my suitcase and mail my clothes the airline will not insure them. They broke 2 things rummaging through my suitcase on the way over here.
I will get some home that way in boxes and bubble wrap in my suit case. I may send some FedEx and pay big bucks unless the freight out costs the pots value.
Steve F said he would build me a giant box with a pallet box lift on it and we can ship it by sea and that would cost about $250 or so.
"Yes Houston we have a problem."
OVAC has grants to help with shipping but I still have not written an artists statement and all the other stuff you have to send in to get it and that seems very difficult right now. We may have the show in Tulsa as well for the pieces I leave here. Maybe OVAC would help with that if I have time to write a grant and if my block has not sold and is still in tack.
It all feels overwhelming but I will figure it out.
It is just "Bird by Bird." First, tomorrow I will see my new pots finished for the first time. Next, I will finish glazing. Third i will wonder why I made so much.
I just hope I made some impressive art.

Wonderful Art Quotes from Tom in Costa Rica

These quotes, and I love quotes, were sent to me by my friend Tom in Costa Rica. Visit his website and see his Bed and Breakfast in progress. Looks great. Thanks Tom!


The one important thing I have learned over the years is the difference between taking one's work seriously and taking one's self seriously. The first is imperative and the second is disastrous.
- Margot Fonteyn, 1919 - 1991

Deliver me from writers who say the way they live doesn't matter. I'm not sure a bad person can write a good book, If art doesn't make us better, then what on earth is it for?
- Alice Walker

So much has been said and sung of beautiful young girls, why don't somebody wake up to the beauty of old women?
- Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1811 - 1896

You have to admit that most women who have done something with their lives have been disliked by almost everyone.
- Francoise Gilot

In 1980, a well-meaning fundraiser came to see me and said, "Miss Graham, the most powerful thing you have going for you to raise money is your respectability." I wanted to spit! Respectable! Show me any artist who wants to be respectable.
- Martha Graham

Literature is strewn with the wreckage of those who have minded beyond reason the opinion of others.
- Virginia Woolf, 1882 - 1941


Tom Ackley
Vista Valverde Bed & Breakfast
Opening in 2008
www.vistavalverde.com