.A New Year.

2013 rocked my life upside down...shook me...hugged me...kissed me...and placed me down on a wonderful big bed with down pillows...

I've been in a cloud. 

I get to work in the studio everyday.
I have two commissions:
Acchaa
http://www.acchaa.com/#ourstory
Kangaroo Cups
http://www.imagiroo.com/ 
Both series are well on their way and looking mighty fine. I should be done in three or so weeks!

I have a wonderful boutique in Lake Tahoe selling my wares. Thank you, Village Interiors. ! http://villageinteriors.com/

This year Mortimer and I traveled a great deal.
Vancouver, BC
Nova Scotia
Alabama
Bahamas
and
....
France!
Paris, Montpellier, Avignon, and all over the Luberon. 
Two weeks of fantastic food, wine, and site seeing.

I can't wait to see what happens in 2014.
I have a feeling...It's going to be exciting.

.The Day it Felt Like Spring.

I have been busy. Busier than usual.
More Stressed than usual.

Oh.Pity.Me
Ladida and Diddies, indeed.

I live in a beautiful city called Chicago. My loving husband pulled out a "Flip Video" from his drawer Friday and said "Hey, look at this"! So, I did and decided to video a lil'segment of "happy Lin time".
My hope is to do this once a week, and to place one of my husband's piano pieces as the audio.

.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.

Shoji Hamada bowl

Clay is primal. Functional objects have a tactile way of connecting us to each other and with the past. From the beginning of civilization people have been using clay to create the necessary containers for holding liquid or storing goods. The functional vessel evokes interaction; an individual intuitively knows how to use the item for their task. Pottery is a part of each person's daily ritual. A piece of pottery is a sculpture, a sculpture that has an intimate relationship with the viewer. There are not many sculptures that you are encouraged to hold in your hands, press upon your lips, or handle like you will the vessel. The use of handmade pottery completes the work and is itself, a Performance Art piece.