Flexible multi-tasking was the name of the game this winter. I was offered a temp job as a technical assistant at the community college where I teach on occasion, and I used the opportunity to complete a tune-up on their cone 6 glaze palette. What do you do with a fifty or so gallons of trash glaze? We blended it 40% to the clay slop slated for recycling into clay that the students never seem to want, and made stepping stones for a muddy path outside... Or at least that was the plan. I avoided promotion to the Head of the Department of Fiasco, no kiln furniture was damaged in the creation of some safely underfired stones, and two gardens are now more easily navigable. As with anything ceramic, one must test ad nauseum and I had no time to dabble in such details.
Without in any way meaning to knock the hard-working and well-intentioned people at the school, the department of fiasco doesn’t need another head. Public funding for education in the arts is pathetic in Oregon. Apparently we’re second to one in attendance of performing arts events, but 33 in the nation for per capita funding (of couse we’re working hard to change that). I was reminded once again to simply have gratitude for my mother’s generous monthly patronage that helps me to live as sweetly as I do without the desperate feeling of absolutely needing to sell pots to earn a living. Taking a job like this puts a little cash in the bank and is a form of contributing to the overall quality of the classroom. Most importantly, it helps keep my foot in the door for future part-time teaching opportunities, from which my financial self-sufficiency will likely arise in the end. Ps- there’s a tenure position open at another c college in the area- great spot, interesting kilns, and lively students- look at Mt Hood College for info. No, I don’t want a full-time teaching job, myself. Kind of like I don’t want kids, but that’s another story….
So with that job, teaching, a social life, and PR work for Portland Open Studios, I really haven’t been in the studio. I gave up in frustration about a month ago, as I realized that I just can’t catch a random half-day of studio and make anything good. I did have a really wonderful supper potluck with my suddenly substantial and enthusiastic firing crew in which we all committed to dates for three firings this year. June will be the first. August, the second, in preparation for Art in the Pearl, and another in November, in which we will throw caution to the wind and experiment with hydrogen reduction.
The next big project is arriving sooner than I expected. When I was in London, I found myself becoming fast friends with Chris, an early art star on the scene who became disillusioned and dropped out to eventually work with young people designing and executing public art murals. For various reasons, he quit, and will travel for a year, starting with a month crashed out at my place. He’ll be here really soon, and offered his assistance in exchange for room. I had to laugh: if he could only see the list… He’ll help me with the very awkward task of construction in my attic. The photo is where the futon used to be, up on orange crates and boxes, with a super-quick delivery to the ground-level to keep me and anyone else in my bed on their best cat-reflexes. We’ll build a half-wall, cupboards, bookshelves, and a bed frame that hinges upwards to allow access to storage below… I’m spending my evenings with graph paper and an eraser.
So that’s the news! Expect an “after” picture in the next edition. And if Chris is cool with it, a link to some piece of film he’s likely to make when he’s here. I hope that this continues a kind of informal artist exchange that happens every year. I was imagining it with potters doing their own work, not mine, but hey! If we can live with each other in this small space, anybody is welcome …
Hope your life is sweet too—
Careen