Mudgoddess's Lizard Tile

Look at the beautiful tile I found! Mudgoddess has more of them, too. I admire other people's beautiful work, and can't wait to get back to the studio...

Moving the Kiln next week!

Just got word that the work crew will move the kiln from old building to new building next Tuesday...Exciting and scary at the same time! I'll go over there and take some pictures of the new space. In other news, we have a fairly intense storm going on here. This is the view out my front door. Like I say, we live in the woods. The driveway goes off to the east and finds the road about a third of a mile away....

Creating a new studio

The ceramics studio where I will teach my classes next semester is being moved from one building to another over the break. This is a huge undertaking - the building we are moving to needs extensive remodeling (ventilation, electrical service, plumbing, floor finishes) to be suitable for the hard use it will get as a pottery studio. There are better ways and less efficient ways to set up the work flow in a pottery work area. I found this nice diagram of a workable layout at Ceramic Arts Daily. The construction team is plowing ahead with little input from the people who will use the space, but it is fun to think about where I will put stuff when I actually get to start furnishing the space...

End of the Semester, Continues...

My students made their self-actualization presentations in Introductory Psychology today. Creative products, reconnecting with family, introspection and self-evaluation - these were the main themes. Heart felt songs, quilts and blankies for loved ones, chocolate cookies for the class,scrapbooks of pictures new and old, posters about quitting smoking, working out, and teaching puppies to roll over - all just wonderful. One woman read a poem she had written. Mp3s of drumming practice, mashups of hip hop samples, doodles and sketches turned into tattoos - so many hidden talents tucked away behind the sleepy faces... They seemed happy to do it, even the ones who were nervous. People don't get much of a chance to show themselves.

Sold a Pot!

The local Potter's Guild held a Christmas sale in a couple venues in the downtown area, and someone actually bought one of my pots - a nicely balanced 9 inch tall vase with a very dark shiny brown glaze. I'm so happy! Sorry I don't have a pic of it....

End of the Semester Some More

I have spent the morning entering grades for my two big Psychology classes. The students have done well, worked hard and most of them have learned something. Hopefully they will feel satisfied with the grades they have earned. This is part of why I like teaching the ceramics classes so much more than the psychology. In the pottery classes, the students get immediate feedback from the clay about how they are doing - how closely their skills and their ability to conceptualize coordinate with one another. In psychology it is much less clear to the students that having a firm opinion about an idea or a theory is not the same thing as understanding the theory clearly. Plus, in the psychology classes this semester I had much more of a problem with cheating than I usually do, so I am just not giving grades on some of the materials that they handed in. So, we will have to see how that goes....

The End of the Semester

The best laid plans, etc etc! The semester is almost over - my ceramics students learned a lot and made some wonderful objects. I interacted with a lot of psychology students and definitely over-committed myself with those doubled up classes. The students learned a lot and so did I, so will do better organizing my time next semester. :-) Now, trying to wrap up this semester, and think about the break - focus on the farm, family and dharma for a while....(not necessarily in that order!) I have also discovered Twitter! I'm there as meredifay...