Pottery - the geekiest art!

My backers and friends have been sending me a lot of exciting projects on Kickstarter and elsewhere that are in line with what I'm about. Most of them are girl and women empowering, and quite a few of them have a nerdy flavor to them. One of the things I get really excited about is seeing all the projects out there aimed at getting girls into science and math. I'm glad that the idea that boys are better at these fields is being broken down, and people are working to change the stereotypes.

I was never interested in math until college pre-calc, the very first time I saw it having any practical application. I was going to be a writer or an artist; what did I need algebra for? I often wonder whether I would have taken more of an interest if someone could have shown me women using math in the real world to do things like engineering or astrophysics. Science was always wonderfully interesting to me, but somewhere between junior high and high school, I was convinced that I was bad at math, and therefore would be limited in the sciences, so I focused on my strengths in art and literature. However, I always had a fascination with finding out how things worked, and I think that's why I ended up majoring in ceramics, rather than painting. I feel like it's about the nerdiest art technique you can do; it involves creative problem solving, mechanical engineering, ergonomics, and chemistry just for a start. I was surprised to find that quite a number of professional engineers take up pottery as a hobby, because it seems to fit their skill set and the way their brains work.

When I sit my students down at the wheel, I like to tell them to treat throwing like an experiment. How much force does it take to center the clay on the wheel? What body position gives you the most leverage on the clay with the least amount of effort? What happens when you try to manipulate the clay in different ways? If I want to make a specific form, what is the best way to go about that? If this technique doesn't work, what else can I try? There are no mistakes, just experiments. It's fun to approach a creative activity with curiosity, rather than a desire to make something pretty and perfect. I've been pretty inspired by having a baby, actually. Everything kids do to learn about the world is basically the scientific method; I approach teaching and making the same way.

Here are a few awesome things that I love that are making the world better for girls and women in one way or another, and that are geeky, or math and science minded. I thought I'd share them with you.

"Wollstonecraft - A Snicketesque girl-power adventure featuring Ada Lovelace and Mary Shelley at 11 and 14 in 1826 London, for ages 8-12"
This project has already been fully funded (and wow, was it ever successful!), but it's so cool, I have to share it. The bit that gets me pumped is this:

"This is a pro-math, pro-science, pro-history and pro-literature adventure novel for and about girls, who use their education to solve problems and catch a jewel thief."

I cannot wait to see these books come out, read them myself, and share them with Maddy as soon as she's old enough to enjoy them!


"MOLLY DANGER - The world's most powerful 10 year old superhero is comic book superstar Jamal Igle's new creator owned graphic album series."

I know I shouldn't be promoting other Kickstarters when mine is still going, but I really love this, and I want it to succeed! Jamal is a successful and talented comic book artist who has worked on some major books for Marvel and DC. He is also the father of a little girl, and he's working on this book with a young girl protagonist who is, in his words "the most powerful girl in the world, but also the loneliest". I love that a professional in this male dominated industry is making an effort to change the industry for the better, and tell a new kind of story that the major comic companies probably wouldn't touch. I wish you the best, Jamal!

Finally, one of my backers is a programmer, and is planning to teach his daughter programming as she grows, so she can make awesome games too! He sent me a link to a programming language called Scratch, which is a visually based programming language that is easy enough for kids to learn and use. When Maddy gets a bit older, I'm looking forward to sitting down with her and trying to learn it together.

Do you have a geeky or girl power project to share? Post it in the comments! The more people out there doing inspiring things for girls, the better, and I want to know about them! What projects are inspiring 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.

A Spoon with a View

You may remember a while back (though probably not - who reads this thing, anyway) that I posted a link to Jeanette Zeis's spoon tutorial, and that I tried making some spoons of my own. Those spoons did not turn out well, but I made some more, and I just got them out of the kiln this past weekend. I must say, I'm pretty pleased with them.

 I did a little bowl, too. I did a couple, actually, but the other one cracked, unfortunately. Maybe I'll take a pic of it later, as the drawing is pretty awesome. At least I get to keep it now:)

Has anyone else tried making ceramic spoons? I'm dying to see more of them! I think this could become an obsession...

My purpose as a blog.

I've been giving this some thought, and I've decided what the focus of this blog will be (rather than aimless rambling, which is my usual tendency). I'm going to use this to document my process, both as an artist and as a small business owner. That might sound kind of stuffy, but hear me out.

I started going to school for art 8 years ago. I was first a painter, and then a ceramicist. At some point, I knew I wanted to make a living as an artist - I couldn't see myself holding a normal 9 to 5, and I'd always loved creating things, whether it was made out of paint or popsicle sticks. Towards the end of last year, I opened an Etsy store and began selling simple recycled ceramics online. I was just kind of tickled that I could take drawings of creepy bugs and octopus tentacles and whatever else I wanted, and pop them onto fancy teacups and thrift store coffee mugs. It also gave me an opportunity to draw, something I love but don't always do when I'm making stuff out of clay.

I really enjoyed being able to make some extra money with the Etsy shop, but I couldn't give it my full attention because I was focusing on my final year of art school. After graduating, I finally told myself "This is it. If you're gonna do this for a living, do it now, while you have the time. You have no classes, no job, and no kids. If you don't do it now, you never will." So, I set up my studio in the kitchen, put new stuff up on Etsy, and applied for a juried show (Oranje Indy 2009). I started researching how to make my online store better, and tips for art and craft fair displays. I started trawling thrift stores for ceramics, wheel throwing some pieces myself, and finding used objects I could fix up for my table displays at the next fair. And some of my serious art (not the thrift store stuff) actually started selling on Etsy (Woohoo! People like my work!)

I get really excited whenever I'm researching anything I'm into, so I've been a little obsessive with this whole starting a business thing. But I'm learning a lot as I go. I read up on microloans for new small business owners, and researched ways to make signs, banners, and the best place to get business cards made (my vote so far is moo.com, by the way - those mini cards are just too sweet!)

I'm looking forward to the day when I can look back on this blog's beginning and say to my husband, "Hey Nich! Remember back when you were screenprinting old t-shirts in a leaky basement, and I was wheelthrowing cups in the kitchen next to the litterbox?" (don't ask). I'll be able to see where I've been, both as an artist and as an entrepreneur. Hopefully I can find a balance between business and pleasure, and not lose my soul in the process. And hopefully I can share the things I make, what inspires me, and whatever new processes I'm playing around with as well.

And maybe someone else will come across this blog and learn from my mistakes, get inspired, and do something they love too.

So wish me luck! This is just the beginning.