Newton St. Studios News letter October 26, 2020
Hello everybody,

Where is your special place, the place that makes you feel here and now?

I often feel that way about an ocean beach – particularly on the Washington coast where it’s rugged, but the ocean is pretty far from here. But I can get to this place overlooking the Yakima River, near Thorp, in a bit over an hour. I’ve visited it many times in many seasons and it never ceases to evoke a sense of wonder and amazement in me. I am there and being here is good enough, and the time is enough and I am enough and the place is everything.

It helps to have learned something about the geology of the region. I will give a shout out to Nick Zentner (add a dot com and look him up) Because over time he’s taught me via his videos and live field trips (pre-covid) a lot about the story of the region and the immense amount of time it took for the immense movements of rock to shape the landscape: the earth opening to flood the bedrock with layer after layer of basalt blanketing the ground thousands of feet thick, the folding of ridges, the rivers carrying rocks and so much more. Also I will give a shout out, as he also does, to the Roadside Geology Books – there is a whole series but the on Washington is full of cool stuff.

So, standing on this overlook, and knowing something of the eons of time it took to bend the oxbow in the Yakima, I feel small, but strangely not insignificant.

I hope you also have a very beautiful place and I hope that your place, like mine travels with you once you’ve been part of it long enough – less than a wink in geological time, but enough in human time that’s embedded itself into your essential being. I hope you write back and tell me where it is.

We need context in life and these places give us context. We overlap with the space – and - in the overlapping we find we have edges.  We find a definition of the self that is different than the one we get from internal thought and the space our internal thought takes up. We find in such places some external reference points that allow us to crawl out of the confines of the self for long enough, just long enough, that we can gain some perspective.

And so we transition to painting - making images - creating Art. Capital A.

I’ve long been fascinated with pattern, and how disruptions in our learned expectations of a pattern, even if it’s a chaotic or dynamic pattern, allows us to see form.  It’s like how you notice a bird in a tree by finding the outlier that breaks the dynamic pattern of branches; it’s something that looks out of place. We find fish that way as well when we stalk the river fly rod in hand.

Nothing exists in isolation and in the very beautiful place that is grand beyond the expectation of the self I find an outline of my existence that’s not so difficult to live with – for now. I am not so important I have to take myself seriously, but as part of the planet I certainly don’t seem out of place.

I made a painting of this place from winter, it’s small. I’ve done a whole series of landscape paintings of large vistas on small canvases – because the weird thing about vision is when you see something large, you’re pretty far away so the big thing looks small. Looking at say, Mt. Rainer from Seattle we are impressed with the size of the volcano but holding up a thumb we can blot it from our view.

Happy to say I sold the painting on the left to a fellow person who dares to fly-fish-while-while-female.

Still some fun sized stuff on Etsy, you can use the coupon October until the end of the month. Next promotion will be 30% off and not 40% due to the increase in postage.

I went to send some etsy packages out I noticed the cost of sending had gone up to $8.39 for a package weighing 1lb 1oz! See the Huff Post article here – the blame lies on they who must be voted out now. This increase is an actual plot. We are not paranoid. The enemy is not us this time. VOTE.

Hello Everybody,

To be honest, last week was very stressfull. Frankly, the entire month has found me struggling to find any studio time. As if the news cycle, or cyclone, wasn’t bad enough - there have been major time sucking complications – maybe you can relate to the feeling of treading water just trying to stay afloat when what you’d really like to do is swim to shore.

Anyway I decided I could just spend an hour in my studio. And that’s been a sanity saver! (Hint – put on your own oxygen mask first.)

I decided that it would be nice to make a bunch of little porcelain bowls to give as gifts.  Stay tuned on this one – hope to create a way to get them to you. Yup, a real gift for the virtual studio members!

Anyway, I got in an hour here and an hour there – and before you know it I have two dozen little bowls that are identical.

But, I noticed that even though I thought I needed to just make the exact same movements each time to make the exact same bowl, and they are very much the same, the more I tried to be consistent with my movements, the more I noticed I was doing something slightly different each time. I noticed that each ball of porcelain was unique – even though they all had the same weight and came from the same bag of clay.

The balls of clay are never quite the same, they never center exactly the same nor do they open exactly the same, nor does the wall pull the same. And these differences call for slightly different sequences of movements - thus it’s important to have a wide range of skills, back up plans, redundant pathways, that are just  different enough to compensate for the small differences in each ball of clay.

Throwing on the wheel is a mediation – it is centering – no joke. You must use your body, mind, memory, and all your senses in concert to focus on controlling a spinning ball of malleable clay. Porcelain is more challenging, because it is very soft. Regular clay has soft clay particles that are shaped like microscope slides or platelets that overlap and allow for stretching and give clay its plasticity. However mixed in with the platelets are gritty particles that act sort of like cell walls to hold up the structure once the clay is stretched. Porcelain does not have these structural particles so it is very soft and slippery and more difficult to work – particularly in larger sizes.

The softness of the porcelain magnifies the small differences between the way each ball of clay balances and calls on me to use a slightly different skill set each time even though in the end I get the same little bowl each time.

No doubt it’s the same way for stage performer – each time you run through the routine there is a new wrinkle, a chance maybe for something with a deeper understanding.

It's all about evolving a variety of techniques for the small deviations of each time space event, and making adjustments in the instant. But strangely, these little changes give pretty consistent results. The bowls are very much the same. And that’s what struck me. I needed to act slightly differently each time to get a consistent result.

Every day is different even as it is the same – it is the crookedness, the derivative, the subtle differences that we look for to find meaning. Seeing the variations, we are always engaged. I suppose the sages would take us back to focus on the consistency and variation in our breath as an example.

I uploaded a You Tube video four little bowls being thrown and two being footed so you can see the small differences of technique. I believe there is a You Tube link in the footer. The channel is Aheidemanart, and its left over from my teaching days. You can in fact, time travel back to room 205 – a place that’s now demolished.

None the less, I suppose the upshot of the observation is that it applies to a lot of routine activities in our lives. And perhaps will motivate me, now in this time that is filled with tasks, to notice and appreciate the differences in each repetition of a routine duty. The subtitles of the shifting skill sets I am using to deal with each and every event that seems both catastrophic and mundane – like passing the time in anticipation, like waiting before this freaking election. It’s hard to stay focused on the now.

I think I’ll make some more bowls soon.

I am now as always grateful for your joining me in the virtual studios!

Ann

see the photos and notes below.

I did not get the fun sized ceramics on Etsy this week – but I am aiming towards next Friday. Your coupon – October – is still good for 40% off.
 
I will figure out how to get these new little porcelain bowls done and a scheme to get one to you. It will involve you paying postage, sorry, there is really no free shipping, that’s a made up thing. Look for them in late November.

Also, I did make green tomato chutney - yum - and some of the green tomatoes turned red on the counter so I put them on some pizza. Always handy to have a sourdough starter around for dough.

The Dahlias are still booming, although each day is a gift – a memory of summer. I am excited to plant more next year! They always make me think of one of my auxiliary moms from Newton Street. I was lucky to have mine and two more to help raise the lot of us.

Please forward this so we can have more virtual studio members.

 Hello Everyone,

I have spent a lot of time in the last two weeks trying to create ‘my story’ for the website and Etsy shop.* And in doing so I've entertained a few thoughts that loosely hang together ...

I understand that telling' my story' is important because it lends more meaning to the art work - It lets people enjoy the pieces on a more personal level, both emotionally and intellectually.  We notice, for instance, that many products have a story these days –  on the back of a carton of milk from Safeway we find a story about how this Lucerne product is from a dairy farm with a storied rustic past. Of course that's b.s.- still, you get the idea.

So, I have been wondering, not just how to tell my story - the story of the work - in a way that’s authentic, real, and invites involvement but also, I start wondering just what that story actually is. Why and how did I do what I did?

This is actually pretty difficult. Still, I remember when thinking about teaching - you have to get down to the kernel of the lesson and find just what matters. So, it’s probably important if I both tell it in a way that feels true to me - but cuts through the self indulgent crap.

Also, it's kind of culturally uncomfortable to celebrate yourself.

So I wondered, what would happen if I was writing about me as if I was someone else? What would happen if I could get some distance on the self and just look at the work? That might be kind of a Zen thing, right?

What do we remove by looking at self as other? Does it begin to remove a lot of the negative messages that have been programed into us about the sins of self-admiration? Things like  - What makes your think you’re so special?

And my favorite – which was said to me in college when I dared to speak up for my due  – “When you come on like a flint, you have to expect to make sparks!” I was, of course a girl, at a traditionally men’s’ university…. I was in danger of stepping out of my place! See, this is part of our education as to what 'should' frame our story...

But -

What would happen if one could get rid of these submerged programed constraining beliefs?

I’ll ask you – What would you do differently if you didn’t feel the pressure of expectations and restraints that were learned in childhood? (This is not just a rhetorical question - I'd love to have you respond!)

I get lots of advertisements on my social media feeds from folks trying to sell self-help stuff, or teach me how to grow my art business – I guess  the algorithms put these things on my feed – the dang A.I. is watching our every move.

I do know there are grains of truths in most of what is being hawked by these guys because they all have teasers so it's not hard to figure out the just of their content – the most consistent message is that the way you frame your perception defines your reality.

Which is, in fact, the core idea that drives the content of my art work – I am very interested in how we see and use patterns. What is the quality of ‘likeness'’ and how do like things create associations and meaning when we compare and contrast things, places, and events. How does the pattern of brush strokes create an image?

Now, I realize that it's best when talking about the art work to get away from the issue of self-worth entirely, and to look at the work as not-self – I am not my art work – My art work isn’t me. But it is something I do; it’s not somebody else in my studio, it is me - Still, it’s outside of me.

And I believe that's a fine thing. And it makes the 'story' easier to tell.

Right now, like some people I know, I am trying to focus on being thankful and grateful for what is created by my efforts. I can aspire without ambition... and let the bowls hold that gratitude and joy - and the wonderful conundrums of the universe.

Below are some pictures and the follow up to the asterisk.

*okay, I’ve actually done other stuff – some of which I won’t go into it, but you know the kind of stuff that takes up hella time. Also, I picked all the tomatoes before the rain and now I have to figure out what to do with thirteen pounds of green tomatoes.
 
But on the wonderful side, I had a couple of studio members pay a socially distanced visit and tidy up the yard around the studios.  In return I will be firing some of their ceramic work as they get back to throwing clay.
 
A shout out to Megan Ellis and Jacob Engle. Yay you rock.

I am planning some videos in the next week of both painting and throwing - should be fun to share on my You Tube channel - it's Ahiedemanart and still has lots of teaching videos on it.
 
The new work should hit Etsy on Friday  - I will send you advanced notice and a special coupon code for the fun sized ceramics! You can, of course, share the coupon code - and please share the newsletter so more people can join in
 
Hint - handmade ceramics make nice gifts and the Holidays are coming! Although celebrations might be virtual, gifts can be tangible.
The coupon for this month's 40% discount for what's currently in the Etsy Store is October.

Thank you. I am so grateful for your involvement in the Newton St. Studios. Again, feel free to forward to future members.
now as always,
Ann

P.S. I also redid my website ... which I suppose has to continue to change over time. I am open to suggestions. Link is bellow  - it's the little chain symbol.

Has this last week been stressful for you? Insert crazy face here.#2 October 5, 2020Hello everybody

I keep trying to remember to take the time to breathe – in and out, in and out… I’ve heard somewhere that the actual reason people find smoking relaxing is the breath pattern. Basically just hold your breath a sec, then a long slow exhale. That out-breath really empties the lungs, and that's what is relaxing. Now is probably a good time to test it out.

Besides all the national news – which I can’t even begin to digest much less cope with – my life has been filled with so many and diverse demands that I haven’t been in the studio for a week!

Of course one can step back and wonder about how time is actually consumed – kind of a weird idea - time getting eaten up. I get an image of a giant space cornucopia from an early Star Trek episode that cruises though the galaxy sucking up all the matter and energy in its path. Well, that’s what it's felt like lately ...

How has the week been for you?

I was trying to focus on my intentions and make choices so that events would lead neatly towards making and sharing art but then actual life barges in and other stuff happens.Things break down and need to be fixed, there are appointments to be made and then met, and I find just taking care of the process of living is a lot of work! Suddenly my time-space-experience seems to be cluttered with debris both real and physic and then standing in the kitchen making tea, I look down and I wonder - how did l let my cabinets get so dirty?

Hang on - I'm gonna take a knight's move though diversion here.

I had a student in tears one day some years ago – I asked her friend what happened.

“Her rat died”

I kind of did a double take, thinking “A rat?” – Then I realized a pet is a pet and death is death. I got it.

Today, amid all the undone tasks that seem to consume my life, and feeling the weight of my years, it occurred to me that the corollary of certain death is current life. And, instead of it being a bummer I was struck by the miracle of being alive! Wow.

By definition this moment, right now, is the best moment of my life. Now is the best time to make art, I thought. But, wait, then I had to wonder, is it also the best time to clean those icky drips off the surface of the cabinet. Does it make a difference which task I perform?

I dunno.

Right now I think I’ll just take some cleansing breaths.

Right now I am aware that the dahlias are blooming by the studios. Spiders are spinning webs all over the place and there is a baby fish in the pond.

----
Update - I got the Etsy listings ready to drop - I'll let everyone know so you can have first access to the 'fun-sized' collection. Look for a discount coupon code as well. ;)

Pictures below - Dahlias in front of 20 & 49 Newton st Studios and some of the fun sized work about to appear on Etsy.

Right now, I want to share an idea.

At this time we have a unique ability to embrace a world of hand-made objects because so many people are taking the time to make them, and peoples' habits of consumption have changed.

As a result of the pandemic, for instance, I stopped shopping for entertainment.

That and always being at home with my stuff made me reconsider what I needed, what I wanted, and how I use things. I had to reconsider the value of objects.

All of the manufactured items we have in our home were, in the past, fashioned by ourselves or other people. My father used to tell me that when he was very young, ninety years ago, peoples’ clothes were generally made one garment at a time, tailored to that specific person. Now, of course, almost all clothes, and many other things we live with are ready made. And, yeah, this is over simplified.

But, with the pandemic, where we’ve had some time on our hands, many people have turned to making things they needed themselves. We’ve been growing some vegetables, getting out the sewing machines to make masks, and even cutting up plastic bags to knit with ‘plarn’.

Not only that, but a lot of people have turned to crafting and there now is an abundance of on-line artisan shops filled with unique hand made goods. That's a lot of art! And, the really neat thing is these crafted objects connect us to the makers. When we use these crafted items we invite others into our daily lives in a subtle but meaningful way. Holding a handmade object is, well, holding an other person's hand.

In thinking about making art and trying to spread it around I recognize that anything that is crafted communicates - it holds not only the maker's intentions, but also the time-space-actions of the person who make it. And when we pick up that thing we hold, not only the history of that persons space-time-actions, but also something of their thoughts, their consciousness. Is this like dharma – or spooky action at a distance?

I think more handmade things might be helpful in our lives at this time where it is difficult to be with other people. Probably also a good antidote to stress. One has to be a bit more mindful using something handmade.

That’s it for now. Just a train of thought. What do you think?