With every new year on the calendar, there are resolutions created, word of the year picked and routines adjusted to make it the best year ever. I started before January 1st this year cleaning and sorting my studio to make it the dream studio in the area I have and the materials I have already. As I worked around my studio, I reorganized the pictures on the walls, decided where tools should be stored better and eyed up my pottery wheel. Now if you know me you know that as a teacher around report card time my classroom and house was always the cleanest it could be. So was the studio clean a way to escape the wheel last week or was it a studio reset so that I could create in a beautiful space?
I did catch myself in that spiral of clean, sort, organize and not throw on the wheel this past weekend. So I leaned into my creative soul and decided it was time to practice a shape that I don't throw a lot of unless for an order....plates. Half of my studio is clean and organized and half still needs some love and attention, but if I picked a shape that takes longer to "set" then I could throw and while the pieces are drying I could clean and organize. Unlike report cards, throwing vessels on the pottery wheel I love.
Now on my blog I have been focused so much on my RETREAT and TEACH pillar that I realized that if someone was looking at my blog, social media they may not know that I am a functional wheel throwing artist. So my focus for January is to showcase the art I create. Elemental Claycation for January 19-21 is booked and I'm hoping to get a few more participants for the January 26-28 Male only Claycation. That being said, I know I have laid the foundation for the claycation and at the right time they will all book up and I will look back on the RETREAT pillar will excitement. I choose to not to apply for a big Artist in Schools grant this year, because I know I need to commit to the CREATE side a bit more.
SO CREATE...I have 10-12 studio days set aside for creating functional pottery for the highway store, online store and custom orders. For this week I am focusing on throwing plates and it might continue or I switch to a new shape for practice. I have the Marea Mug Monday Boxes, and the Mystery Pottery Boxes on my website that I am working on fulfilling.
What is Marea Mug Monday Boxes? There are two options of six of box: 2 mugs or 4 mugs. you decide the shape and colour and over the week I create them and ship them out on the following Monday.
What is the Mystery Pottery Box? On February 1st I will ship out a pottery box with 3-4 pieces of pottery in the colour you choose in a theme that I have picked. It is a great option for those that want to get into collecting pottery, but don't know where to start. In 2023 I was way to busy with the renovation of the attic to offer this option, but for 2024 am working on sending out a box every two months.
I do have aspirations on having more items on my website, but it will take time to get stock built up in highway store and for the online store. So with a studio reset, a focus on my CREATE pillar I am excited for January and the new calendar year while I lean into my creative soul!
Marea Olafson