Blogs I Love

I wanted to share some blogs with you that have had a particular impact on me in one way or another. Either a singular blog post, or the blog as a whole (or sometimes both). Just as a little thank you to some of the blogs that have really inspired me. Thank you guys for sharing your lives and your art!

Sofia's Dad's Pots
If you're a potter, maybe I don't have to tell you about this blog. He's been featured in Ceramic Arts Daily, and his blog is probably on everyone's blog roll. It's for good reason. Not only are the wax resist decorated pots he makes absolutely stunning, but his blog is such a pleasure to read. In case the title of the blog didn't tip you off, he writes a lot about his daughter, who he calls "The Bug", and his daily experiences with her as well. I don't know how long I've been following him, but when I first found him I was delighted to read about his awesome little girl, her Christmas super hero outfit, her own forays into clay, and her pink ukelele. It was encouraging to me to see a parent that was still an amazing artist. I guess I had this irrational fear that I'd have kids and completely lose myself to motherhood, becoming this Stepford Wife that drives a minivan and goes to PTA meetings. I continue to read his blog both for inspiration in ceramics and to see what I have to look forward to with Maddy.

Gary Jackson: Fire When Ready Pottery
Gary's thrown forms are just beautiful, and oh, all that lovely texture! His blog has given me inspiration for class lessons again and again. I especially appreciated this post about throwing "bowls on purpose". Anyone who's ever jumped on a potter's wheel knows how everything tends to turn into a bowl when you're starting out. I really love all those different bowls!

Jenny Mendes
Oh, her work is so lovely! The colors she uses! I love all the faces and decorative patterns on her stuff, and I like that she moves so easily between functional pottery and sculpture, something I really struggle with. I really have a soft spot for illustrative surfaces on pots:)

Peter's Pottery
I've just recently started following this blog, but I've already saved three of his blog posts to my favorites list. Considering my struggles with glaze testing recently, I found this blog post particularly helpful. Those are some lovely glaze colors!

We Swim with the Fishes
Linda Fahey is another ceramic artist I've followed for a while now. Her surfaces are gorgeous, and I love the seams and lines of those thin slabs she works with. One day, I'm going to own one of her beautiful tumblers. It's not often that you see such precision and skill in both the building and the surface, but her drawings look painstakingly precise and labor intensive, and her pieces are so well formed. Love love love her work! And I love all her whales!

A Plate a Day
I look forward to Mignon Khargie's daily plate posts with relish. She has such a great eye. Many many many of her posts end up on my Pinterest boards! It's because of this post  that I've discovered and fallen head over heels for the work of Natalie Choux and Lili Scratchy.

Pink Cheeks Studios
Finally, this last blog is not a ceramic artist, but a fabric artist. She lives here in Indiana, and I've been lucky enough to see her work in person at several craft shows, though I've always been too shy to actually introduce myself. Nichol Brinkman recently curated a plushy/stuffie artist show and gave a talk about her own work, and she published her talk in installments on her blog. It's a very personal and inspiring series of essays that I'd recommend to anyone. I especially enjoyed her post here about her time in Prague learning about puppet making, and her realization that "art doesn't have to be heavy, you can and should make things just because you can.  Joy and whimsy are important." That was something I've really needed to hear of late. You are sure to enjoy reading these essays, and you will certainly fall in love with Nichols awesome dolls. They have so much personality!


I really hope you'll check out all of these blogs. They are some of my favorites, and I think everyone should see and enjoy them. I enjoyed sharing them with you!

To all you clay bloggers: Thank you.

I hadn't really realized it, but I've had this blog for quite a while now. 3 years, more or less. I haven't looked at the exact date, but I was kind of surprised it's been that long. This blog has gotten me through a lot, both professionally and personally. When I graduated from college, I went from being surrounded by a community of artists every day, to being alone in an apartment, jobless, with no studio space. Those first few months were deeply depressing, and I spend a lot of time sitting in my bathrobe, listlessly surfing the internet. Slowly, I started looking at posts on Ceramic Arts Daily, then other pottery blogs. I got inspired. I set up a wheel and a workspace in my living room, and I started making pots. And I started blogging about it.

When I felt lonely and disconnected from everyone, I found a wonderful community of ceramic artists and their blogs. I've been lurking around many of them for longer than I've had this blog, but I never had the nerve to comment. I felt a little star struck, in awe of all the beautiful work I saw that seemed so far out of my reach. I never thought I could be as good as the potters whose work I drooled over, but I kept looking and reading. I got a twitter account, and found many of them there. Some of them were even kind enough to talk to me. Now potters seem to be on every social media platform, and it's just wonderful. I have access to a studio now, and I get to spend time with other potters in real life, but I always come back to the internet, and the artists I so admire and look up to. I think I've learned more from bloggers and youtube videos than I did in all my undergraduate classes combined. I've certainly grown a lot, and learned some amazing things! And I learn new techniques every day. It's like a dream come true for a girl who lived at the library as a child, endlessly reading. I have a lifetime of learning right here at my fingertips. And for a girl who is shy in real life, I have a community of people I can talk to, and ask questions of, who share this passion with me.

With this new year starting, I made a resolve to blog more regularly, and to keep up with my blog reader list. It takes some effort, and I don't always post every day, but it's been really great so far. Now that I know how much I appreciate that people out there occasionally read this thing, I've been going out of my way to leave comments on blogs that particularly stood out to me. I want to be sure that you guys know how much you inspire me every day. I want to be better about letting you know I appreciate you, your work, and what you choose to share on the internet with people like me who are starting out. You keep us going. Some of you have even stopped by and given me words of encouragement. That means a lot to me, you just have no idea!

So, for all you muddy bloggers out there, thank you for sharing your lives with me! Keep up the good work, and maybe one day we'll get to meet face to face.

I'm out of time for today, but tomorrow I'd like to share some of my favorite blogs and blog post with you. I hope you'll all appreciate them as much as I have.