Stoneware

When I was a kid, I won scholarships to Memphis College of Art’s Saturday and Summer programs with hand-built clay sculptures, but I always wanted to be able to throw— that seemed to magical and grown up, and I just wasn’t patient enough (or strong enough) at 13. In college, I was part of a group my senior year that organized and fund-raised for an on-campus shared clay studio. But it didn’t open until after graduation. I figured my pottery life would need to begin once I had settled down. Fast forward to age 2019, me at 40— some neighbors decided to create a shared studio in the old concession stand of the defunct elementary school, now our community center. They pulled me in, and I finally learned how to throw, the beneficiary of my neighbors’ many years of experience. In 2020 I had a lot of quiet time to improve and experiment, and by 2022 I needed my own pottery space and kiln, and I carved a space out on our farm. All this to say, deferred dreams don’t always dry up— Some projects require fermentation.