!!! Now the Work really Begins.

After two and a half months of online searches, bike adventures, trips around town in the car, negotiating, feeling high, and feeling low I have finally found a studio!

Now the Work really Begins. 

The space Mortimer and I decided upon is in the Ravenswood Corridor!
We will be nestled in a community full of artists, green space, and tasty restaurants. Not to mention the neighborhood is bike friendly, easy access to the Brown El Line, plenty of parking (if I need to drive) and just..awwe..just great!

For the last two months I have not allowed myself to think about ceramic form and function, color schemes, and pattern on pattern schemes, because I just didn't know when or where and how and when..when..when..when..I would be able to work.

Now the Work really Begins.

Back to the pages to sketch out studio lay outs and pottery. !

Now the Work really Begins.

.Most Valuable Lesson.

"Embrace and engage each stage of life as it comes; each offers opportunities for artistic as well as personal growth. I loved the time I spent as an obsessive, nomadic young potter, yearning to work hard and learn and see and do everything, where the focus was on discovery rather than sales. It was exhilarating and exhausting". -Elizabeth Robinson, Ceramics Monthly, December 2010.

For the past nine years I have been working in ceramic studios where I have had the pleasure and pressure to make my own glazes, load my own kilns, fire, unload, and re-make glaze recipes.

I loved the freedom. I loved the process.

While in the process of moving to this here city called Chicago, my fiance and I would have lovely biking expeditions inspecting ceramic studios.
Lincoln Square Pottery Studio (www.comeplaywithclay.com) was perfect for this lil'Alley Cat. The space is filled with natural light, the floors and corners are clean from particles, and the gal who manages the non-profit is AMAZING.
Her name is Meg. She is intelligent, calm, organized, and naturally sweet. No saccharin sweet-N-low near.

I AM PROCESS DRIVEN.
Learning how to use premixed glazes, allowing someone else to load my items, and ladida..I didn't like it. Not one bit. I was in like..a clay river bed..stuck.
I dug myself up.
In the new year, Meg asked me if I would be her Intern.

YES. YES. YES. !!!

I have been a happy maker ever since. Glaze makin', testin', loadin'.

I hope I can mop the floors tomorrow.

My goal is to make a solid stock of items for local craft fairs, an etsy site, and..um..see what happens.

oh. ya. and. get a job.