new series: Arabesque

Here’s the good thing about listing stuff on Etsy: lots of people see it. Here’s the bad thing: lots of potters floundering in their own development copy it. Or try to. My flower bowls, with altered rims in a ‘flower’ shape, have more look-alikes than Cher at a drag queen show, so it’s time for something new. The Arabesque series has been in development for a year, and I finally have prototypes to test market. They will be sold on OneClayBead (Etsy store) until I decide on a full line, which will then be for sale exclusively on Lee Wolfe Pottery. Meanwhile, the prototypes are value priced, so if you like them, take advantage of that. I like the arrow points, the negative spaces between pieces, and the strong visual geometry.

 

 

 

Zen and the art of pottery making

For the first few months of learning to throw on a potter’s wheel, you struggle to center the clay. After that, the clay begins to center you.

This is one of the smartest things I’ve learned in my life: no matter what life throws at you, fair or unfair, deserved or underserved, welcome or unwelcome, your happiness is not determined by it. Getting the good stuff doesn’t make you happy, and it isn’t necessary to get all the bad stuff to go away in order to be happy.

In fact happiness is a kind of emptiness, no doubts, worries, longings. It comes like an exhilarating wave whenever you are at peace with the present moment, not wanting to change anything, just 100% grateful and appreciative of the gifts and opportunities each moment holds. So yeah, there are brief spaces like that when you are at the perfect place with the perfect people and you can just bask in the glow. But for the most part life has annoying waiters at he perfect restaurant, bugs on the idyllic hike, etc. Your parents failed to give you perfect unconditional love and the Prince has halitosis and an allergy to your cats.

It is much more reliable to enter that silent inner core of our being, which can be found with meditation, which can be found with deep prayer, which can be found with mastery of an art or sport that demands your complete surrender of attention to the present moment. Through the myriad ups and downs of my life, my studio has been a sanctuary. I come here to still my mind, release my stress, sooth my soul, let go my anger.

This is my new serving set, the White Lotus nesting tray set. When aligned symmetrically, the petals form arrows pointing inward and circles radiating outward. It was made after I centered the clay… and after the clay centered me.

Have you found the lotus, that pure flower of peace, love, and joy that rises through the muddy waters? Have you learned to wage peace?

staging obsessions

The most basic goal of staging is to tell a story about the object such as scale, function, style. Since I am one of those curious people who must push the boundaries, the staging of my pottery requires many props that get moved around and regrouped until something intuitive inside me says its right. This nesting bowl set is in  my Valentine collection. The heart formed in the negative space of  bits of winter garden finds and pieces pinched from a bouquet alludes to VD. I like to use bits from my own life. My husband surprised me with flowers. It was an exceptionally warm day so I enjoyed scavenging the garden. I've been scouring Pinterest for a dessert treat to bake and send to my college girl. So the story of my bowls is richer than size and color. It is about the love transmitted in cookies and gardening and getting something delightful that was unexpected.

Each staged picture is a small collage of the everyday magic in m life.