4 posts tagged “clayways”
The pottery studio that has become such a big part of my life is having a gallery show and sale this Saturday to help stimulate the economy. Specifically, stimulate the economy enough to keep the gallery and studio doors open past the fall.
While it's not dire, we're taking it seriously. So...there's this event that will feature over 60 local potters and their incredible works. I'll be there too, doing some demos. Please do not pet the potter. (I kid. But at least tell me about my eyes first.
If you're local, please come out. Say hi. Buy a pot or two. If you're not local, send us some good thoughts. This place means way too much to me and many others to see it disappear. To learn more about the studio and the event, visit us online. Clayways Studio and Gallery
The Empty Bowls Project is a national series of charitable events designed to address the issue of hunger (so bizarre that that would be an issue, especially in a country as able as ours) by supporting local food banks in the participating cities. It's a great way from those who love art, pottery or...bowls...to come together and buy some amazing pieces from some really awesome local potters AND demonstrate a commitment to support your local food bank.
The concept is simple, you attend your local Empty Bowls event, make a charitable donation by purchasing a bowl, and have that bowl filled with yummy soup. Proceed to the yummy soup feasting area, and enjoy some music. When you're done? We'll wrap that bowl up for you and send you on your way.
I'm sure it's done with a different twist depending on your area, but if you happen to be in Austin on Sunday, November 18th, be sure to visit us at Clayways. If you're not in Austin, keep your eyes out for your local Empty Bowl event. This will be my first year, but I'm looking forward to it becoming a habit. Let me know if you're dropping by, so that I may hug you and direct you to some soup.
That is, of course...if you don't mind being hugged. If you mind the hugs, I'll just point and grin.
Where is your favourite place to be on a sunny Sunday afternoon?
Submitted by Rev Stan.
Well this is an easy one to answer. My favorite place to be on Sunday afternoons...Sunday mornings...Sunday anytime is ClayWays Pottery Studio and Gallery. Although it's getting to the point where just one day, Sunday, is not enough. It started as a nagging curiosity that haunted me since childhood and it's evolved into the best sort of addiction.
But it's about more than just the clay, more than the wheel. It's the people. I used to love the Cheers theme song, but I never felt like I had my place. Where I could walk in and immediately know I was among friends. Granted, everyone may not know my name...but the feeling and the sincerity is there. Behind a wheel, you hear stories that make you laugh, some that make you cry...some that hit you over the head well after you've showered and collapsed in total clay euphoria. Most importantly, you learn. The clay and the instructors who have mastered it, have a way of teaching you not just about shaping and molding incredible things but about shaping yourself, if you can carry over the guidance.
Impatient? Not if you want to be a good potter. Self-Absorbed? Not if you want to really learn anything. Creative? Open your minds eye and you'll be overwhelmed with possibilities. Arrogant? That clay will work it right out of you.
Yeah...I wouldn't want to be anywhere else on a sunny Sunday afternoon. Or a rainy/snowy one, either.
1. No matter how your heart aches, with time and your willingness it will heal and you will find your smile.
The worst pain passes with time. It doesn't matter. You can try and outrun it if you'd like, but it will be there waiting for you to run out of gas. It will wait for you to hand yourself over to it. And I'm a huge advocate of doing that. Give yourself over to it. Bawl your eyes out. Play every sad song you can get your hands on. Sob, and then look at the damage in the mirror. Curl up in your ugliest robe and watch television until your eyes glaze. Hide from the world. Spiffy up your stamp collection and practice your Ebay skills. And for God sake...be patient with yourself. Don't let anyone rush you out of the house and into some ridiculous "activity designed to force new people down your throat" until you know you're ready for it. Allow yourself to be ugly for a moment. Get it all out of your system so you don't preserve any nonsense for the next go around. Swear you'll never feel sunshine on your face again. Go ahead. Because eventually, (only when you're ready)...
You will. And it will feel delicious, even though you're flying solo.
2. There is absolutely nothing sweeter then meeting your true self, and really liking that person.
For me, trying to figure out who I was seemed fairly simple. Sure, I am RPM the ____________ and the _____________ and the _______________. I could add a host of other titles like sister, daughter, friend, employee and whatever. But titles don't truly explain who you are. What you really believe. What really, really makes you happy, content and peaceful. It's so easy to get caught up in "achievements" as definitions of who you are. More importantly, it is so easy to think you're a little "less" of a something...because there are things you've yet to do.
I think the sweetness of life is existing within a specific moment, knowing yourself, knowing what you believe and being totally at ease and even...jubilant about it. Allowing yourself to acknowledge that you are wonderfully perfect, today. As you are. A beautiful work in progress that requires no validation from the external world to believe it.
3. The best moments, are the ones that don't come with bells and whistles attached.
I find myself grinning for no obvious reason. Perhaps it's the sunshine, perhaps it just because I find it hard to restrain a grin after too long. Some of the best joys for me have been things that might not seem like much to anyone else...and that's alright.
My baby roses are blooming.
My 13 year old neighbor loves to go for walks with me, and I remember children have a way of making you see the wonder of yourself. All the things you take for granted. She and I can go for a walk and talk about life, and just watching her giggle about the first boy she's crushing on, brings back such memories and makes me excited for her at such an interesting turn in her life. She picks my brain, which reminds me that I have one.
Making new friends. Receiving the most amazing mixtapes from an incredibly awesome new friend. Gifts and random act of of kindness from beautiful souls. Listening to new music and nodding your head in total disbelief. A stranger smiles at you, and you smile back...because what's the point of frowning? Looking up at a blue sky...and knowing for absolutely no reason at all, that you are alright. No...actually, you're stellar. For no reason at all.
4. If you know everything is going to be alright, eventually...it will be.
Even if you aren't inclined to believe it. If you say it aloud...something weird happens. You find yourself able to laugh at some of the things that make you angry. You can remember pain, without tears. You can forgive. You can let go. You can be okay with not having the answers to some things. You begin to trust in something you can't fold up and put in your pocket. And...you send up a message to the universe that says not only do you trust yourself, but you trust it. Everything that is bad...isn't always bad, and as the saying goes, "sometimes when you win, you lose, and when you lose, you win."
Don't ask me who said it. I think I stole it from a movie. In fact...I'm almost sure I did.
I started pottery classes this weekend at Clayways. I've always wanted to learn wheel throwing, since I was a kid. I put it off, and put it off. Finally, I signed up for the classes and the first one rolled around this weekend. I was grumpy the morning of. Mostly fearful. What if I walked in and my new classmates hated me? What if I walked in to find out I hated this self-proclaimed "secret interest" I harbored for so long? What if it was nothing at all like what I hoped it would be?
My friend Wes told me once, you dread your best moments until they materialize. So true. I walked in and as soon as I tip toed into that quiet studio on Sunday morning, I felt right at home. With my instructor, my classmates...and with the clay. I'm the only beginner in the class, so my instructor told me we'd probably just do a tour, an overview of the wheel, the tools and the basic rules of the studio and premise for pottery making. By the end of the first half of the three hour class, she decided I was ready to throw. By the end of the class, I made three bowls. I impressed my mates, my instructor...and myself. Nothing goes to the kiln until the mid point of the 11 week course.
My instructor watched over my shoulder as I centered my third lump of Siegel clay on the wheel. "I'd say you feel right at home here."
Truer words have never been spoken. In Austin. In life. And in my own skin.
