We turned the nursery into our pottery studio
We moved the baby into our bedroom and covered the walls of the nursery in plastic and borrowed 2 pottery wheels from my classroom. We threw over 400 mugs in a few short weeks. Each batch was stacked haphazardly in laundry baskets and loaded onto our white pick up truck to be fired at the empty school.
We lived in a narrow 2 bedroom condo when Covid-19 started. Our first born was about 10 months old and I was a bit worn from balancing the ceramics teaching job I loved and my new role as a mother. When our spring break was extended, I was not unhappy.
It was an interuption to a routine similar to the snow days I was used to growing up in the midwest. Except the "snow" did not want to melt and the break kept getting extended.
During those uncertain and unprecedented times, Asa and I turned our son's bedroom into a makeshift studio. We were restless and in our restlessness we dreamt up the idea of making tumblers for each of the seniors at the high school where I worked. I thought it would be a good way to make them feel special after losing their last semester as high school students to Covid.
We pitched the idea to my principal and he vehemently approved. So we moved the baby into our bedroom and covered the walls of the nursery in plastic and borrowed 2 pottery wheels from my classroom. We threw over 400 mugs in a few short weeks. Each batch was stacked haphazardly in laundry baskets and loaded onto our white pick up truck to be fired at the empty school. We finished unloading the last glazed batch from the kiln when we officially heard that graduation had been cancelled.
But the experience was exhilerating. We had never dreamt of doing anything like this before. And in the circumstances that we were working, we had done the impossible. I mean, we only lost a couple dozen pots in transit and our floors were smeared with clay. And due to covid restrictions, we never got to deliver the cups to the 2020 seniors. But we had succeeded in nurturing a vision and bringing it to life. We began to dream of ways in which we could make this our full time gig.
Today, we are closer than ever to fulfilling this dream. In just a few weeks, I'll be handing a tumbler out to each of my students as the semester comes to a close. The pots made with the intent of celebrating the 2020 seniors will serve to celebrate the end of this season as I finish my time as a high school teacher and transition into our pottery venture.
Cultivating a Creative Community
As life changed, we stopped frequenting the studio where we met. But we were eager for the community we once had. We started dreaming of building a place where we could encourage others to grow their craft just as others did for us.
When I first arrived in Phoenix, nearly a decade ago, I often felt alone. I was recently gradated from college and starting a teaching career in a city far from the place where I grew up. It was in this season that I found a home in a dusty desert studio, a 45 minute drive away. I quickly integrated myself into an ecclectic community of passionate ceramic artists. Each person pursuing their own style and technique. Everyone willing to share as they went about their pottery journey. About a year later, I met my husband in this special place.
We moved to another city in the valley and started a family. As life changed, we stopped frequenting the studio where we met. But we were eager for the community we once had. We started dreaming of building a place where we could encourage others to grow their craft just as others did for us.
This is where you find us. In the midst of cultivating a creative space, where people can gather to make and to grow as potters and as people. We hope that some of you will find a home away from home in our creative community.