Friends, colleagues, guests to my studio, art-lovers far and near, hello and happy holidays! This newsletter initiates a quarterly message that will relay stories of my studio and life in Portland, tell travel tales, and help you find my pots. Feel free to share this with anyone who you think would enjoy it, and if you are a potter, please put me on your mailing list.
What a year it’s been! Having spent the past few of them getting situated as a person and potter, I shook it up this year by assisting a small arts organization in the PR department. I can hear you chuckle- Careen? Helping someone else with public relations? Well, you know how I tend to jump head-first into the unknown- I figured that if I forced myself to advocate for a hundred artists, I might learn how to do it for myself. Plus, they really needed the help. I’m referring to Portland Open Studios, an annual studio tour in the metro area that brings the public to the studios for a bit of education about the real work of our processes.
At year’s end, we retreat and evaluate, holding a strategic planning session (I keep calling it a vision quest). The board composition changes but remains passionate and wildly overworked while the organization as a whole is quickly shifting from one founded on personalities to one with institutional memory, coherent and transparent systems, a marketing plan (!), and nonprofit status. It is an exciting time for me to be involved.
The sheer amount of time that I spent doing this work cut deeply into my studio and personal time. But last year (and this as well) we enjoyed three successful firings of the Tin Man, and I had pots to get out into the world. I was accepted at a high-end art fair, busted my butt, and was proud of what I had to show for it. Some money was made but it is clear that the fair will not be my big annual paycheck. A friend and I also created my new website CathouseClay.com, complete with a store, so we’ll see how that goes. There you will also find a wealth of information about my Tin Man kiln, firing very efficiently with wood and waste vegetable oil.
What Portland lacks in financial resources, we make up with ingenuity. It is well known that we are a hub of innovation in sustainability. We also love to eat well! I have met quite a few wonderful people in the service industry who are excited about my carbon-neutral firing methods and I have set my sights on working with a chef who could present my work in the perfect setting: at her table, offering up lovingly prepared local foods.
new kitchen! view from the loft
There is so much more that I could write: about my trip to Europe with the founders of Research Club and Grand Detour to meet other people re-imagining arts and educational institutions, about long visits from dear friends or the great people who have been firing the Tin Man with me, or about the fact that I just built a proper kitchen and can host dinner parties again, but, some other day, as I’m sure yours are as full as mine…
I hope this message finds you well and happy! May your holidays be full of decadence and laughter.
If this has been shared with you, and you would like to subscribe to future letters, do so here.
Lots of Love-
Careen