Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.

Leo Tolstoy

I remember copying the illustrations from a coffee table book about Walt Disney when I was little – maybe 5 or 6 years old. Inspired by a Sunday episode of The Wonderful World of Disney, I would lay prone on my grandmother’s living room floor, concentrating to reproduce the shapes and colors of Disney characters onto the back of still viable scratch paper while The Lawrence Welk Show pumped out big band tunes.

I exceled with art projects throughout elementary and junior high school. Though, high school art teachers didn’t know what to do with me. So, I opted to fill my electives with English classes.

When I started at the University of Texas at El Paso, my focus was drawing and painting with a minor in ceramics. About half way through my degree program I began to struggle with blank canvas syndrome – so many overlapping drawing and painting classes. I never had that problem with clay. There was always another idea, approach, and form ::rinse.repeat:: Clay does have a way of capturing your imagination. And so, I shuffled my focus.

I began at Arizona State University as an unclassified graduate, taking a couple classes in clay and drawing. I’d begun to move past the paralyzing blank canvas. With encouragement to apply to graduate school from both departments, I chose ceramics. Despite my early training as a studio potter, my approach to clay throughout and after graduate school was surface, drawing, and story.

How it’s going

After 40 years in clay – thirty of those in the classroom, I never changed the world ::certainly not the ceramics world:: And now, I’m shifting my creative intentions to paper. I’ve taken the past couple months to reorient the studio and my head. I’m sure my heart will follow.

There are a few (maybe 4 or 5) drawings on clay still available. One is on exhibition at Art Intersection included in the All Art Arizona show through September 25, 2021. Some are on exhibit with On The Edge Contemporary Gallery in Tubac, Arizona. This post accompanies my last shop update of ceramic pieces on this site. You can still find my functional work at Practical Art. However, when its gone.

So then, I want to invite you to join me in celebrating the end of my ceramic endeavors at The 4th Occasional Cup & Mug Sale, October 22 & 23, 2021. There are more than 40 local ceramic artists participating in this event. It is gonna be FUN!

More importantly, the Cup & Mug sale is a way to lend a hand to a community in need. We’re collecting gift cards* for Fry’s grocery stores to benefit Casa de Amor – a Resource Center hub that responds compassionately to the needs of the less fortunate in Phoenix’s East Valley. For every $10 in gift cards* donated for Fry’s grocery stores, donors are entered into a drawing to receive a mixed set of cups/mugs. 

I’m looking forward to this event. My last hurrah! Watch social media for more specifics as we approach the event. I sure hope to see you there.

*activation receipts MUST accompany gift cards.