Penland Summer 09

This is my 10th summer at Penland. Once again it was home and challenging and crazy serious fun. Ron Meyers and Chuck Hindes were delightful clay rock stars. (Look close at the photo, They are both cracking up. It was fun to watch! :o))
I feel privileged to have been a participant of this class. We looked at a lot and I enjoyed all of the variety. It felt a bit nuts to be thinking about "Loosening up", hand building, treadle wheel, throwing off the hump, low fire, high fire, and the wood, soda and salt kilns. There sure was some bang for the buck going on. As one would expect, all got crunchy at the end but everything worked out. My pots were hard for me to look at still warm, as is usually the case. I have the sense to know to NOT make a judgment. I hastily boxed them and drove off the mountain in tears. With some wine, and Josh Floyd's comment, "get the pots out of the studio to truly be able to see them", I found a few winners. Thanks Josh. I learned a little bit more about who I am and who I am not as a "clay artist", really I'm a potter and the tears flow again.