Anxiety

My buddy Dan Finnegan had cajones big enough to announce on The Red Clay Rambler interview that he would not accept academics into his show in Washington, DC.  He did this in a room full of academics since the Rochester Invitational is loaded to the brim with them and many of them are friends of his and mine.  Dan said he was trying to give the working stiffs a leg up. After tear down Peter Beeseker (Syracuse U), Liz Quackenbush( U of Pennslyvania) , Richard Aerni and Ryan Greenheck and I went for a beer at the local pub. Peter jumped up 6 rungs on the ladder in my high esteem of him when he explained to us all “anxiety”.

He must have walked the walk as he understands it completely. Those are lucky students to have him as a teacher. He explained how potters live so close to the line that going into a show can create so much anxiety that it creates stress you can’t understand until you have been there. He talked of potters tearing their cheques along the magnetic strip so that it would be delayed a few days and give them some more breathing room till some money came in.

I came home with some money. Money enough to allow me to finish the vases I made before I left in a way I wanted to. I was encouraged to make these vases by a friend who I value her opinion and by an old customer that said he missed my nasty work. I decided I didn’t belong at my local guild sale and this is a celebration of that freedom to make work that I enjoy making.

The two big jars in the background show I am capable of tidy work. They are made for an old customer that stores large amounts of rice in the kitchen.