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Qotw: What Other Things Beside Clay Have You Mastered?


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Good day to you all

 

I am in my Italian studio, with a very bad behaving Internet connection, but with otherwise beautiful weather and sunshine from morning to evening :)

 

My guest for the coming week is Mark C. He reflected on the past. We all are, in the present, potters, but we maybe had other occupations or passions in the past. Or still? Maybe we have skills that have nothing to do with pottery?

 

Mark asks us: Many potters are jacks of all trades - how about you? What other things beside clay have you mastered?

 

Have a great week everybody!

 

Evelyne and Mark

 

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I find that the most interesting thing about mastering something is that when you think you know it all, someone or something comes along to teach you something new. My journey on the road of life has had many twists and turns and each time I think I'm on the straight and narrow another side road appears!

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I'm not sure I've mastered anything, I've spent 50 years earning a living nailing bits of wood together, (mostly roofs for the last ten years, cos I like doing roofs, I'm reasonably competent at that.

 

I take photos of Butterflies and Dragonflies in the warmer weather, I'm not bad at that, most of my pics are opportunistic, I don't have the patience to wait or just go out looking for that one perfect shot.

 

I'm a reasonable cook, proper food, not just heating packet stuff, I do all of the cooking at home for myself and the wife.

 

I can drink beer, (but not if it's fizzy).

 

I could procrastinate for England if it was ever necessary.

 

It's not much is it? 

 

I may just be getting depressed now if I don't think of anything more worthwhile. ;) 

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well I have by no means mastered clay nor any other art form.  I am a pretty good cook and rival benzine in sarcasm. Also a pro at being lazy and figuring out the way to do things with minimal effort. I plan my grocery and costco trips like a stealth ninja getting in and out fast. Thats about it.   Rakuku

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Being an Art teacher, I had quite a bit of background in the fine arts & crafts including printmaking(especially etchings and collographs), Jewelry and Metalcraft(made my wife's engagement ring), Watercolor(taught grades and adults), Drawing(can do a very reasonable portrait of figure, landscape or still life rendering), Acrylic paintings(several undergrad and grad classes). Master at none. Later when working with computers in the mid 80's, I started working with digital photos, and then the editing software, learning The Gimp, Photoshop, and Corel Painter. I also worked repaired and kept running the Amigas in my studio at school, and learned the animation and 3D software in order to teach it. Master-not! I take a reasonable photograph, can edit and print it out using digital equipment, been years since I have worked in a darkroom. Lastly, I have probably become pretty good with a sea kayak, even though hardly ever get it to sea, only lakes.  All in all, I get by, just as with Ceramics, but never a Master.

 

 

best I can say,

Pres

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I have been a carpenter for 42 years, having built over 500 houses in that time period ( with help). Designed and built several subdivisions, two senior living complexes, and worked on a few high rises over the years. Still have a CDL license; even though I have not driven a big rig in over 20 years. Have/can operate a Cat 977, backhoes, track hoes, or skid steers. Own/draw on a professional CAD system; result of 4 years or architectural drafting in my young days. Did alot of custom marble/granite inlay, elevator panels, and plinth work: got too old for it! Where my love of geometric tile came from: boring to make, boring to cut and shape: the art does not appear until assembled and installed. Worked on a farm growing up- planting, plowing, milking, baling hay. By the way- the milk you buy in store is not milk- it is a milk by product. Use to skim back the butter fat and drink it right out of the holding tank- now that is milk!! Decided to flip houses this year for a hobby.

So to keep my mind stimulated in my golden years, I decided to tackle crystalline glaze..... nuff said!! One of these days- 10-12 years from now I might actually earn the title of potter. Will probably attempt a few more things I have never tried before I take a dirt nap.

Nerd

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What an array of interests and talents we have, yet we seem to be very humble in terms of claiming we have "mastered" anything. I join the chorus--I have more "overcome" than mastered anything, mostly cultivating the fine art of "letting go", as What says.  

 

My journey has included the following, which I do at least pretty well: drawing and painting (most of my life); editing/proof reading; writing successful (i.e.funded) proposals for grants for the public behavioral health care systems of two states; designing/establishing early programs for HIV/AIDS disease management for adults with substance use disorders (instead of making a career of art/ceramics); reasonable computer skills (the computer and my online life sustain me), and; most important, currently "mastering" a really good relationship with my daughter, from whom I was estranged.   

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Eons ago I had a manual SLR and got pretty good at basic photography. It was replaced by a digital SLR. Just recently decided to dig out the old camera & use it for landscape photos again as the film seems to be able to capture different tones of green & yellow better. 

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My interests as follows:

 

Crochet, embroidery, jewelry making, watercolors, drawing, gardening, quilting - Level: very basic

Wheel throwing, slab building, baking, writing - Level: intermediate

Cooking, photography, sewing, making clay stamps - Level: advanced

Procrastination, self-doubt, imagination and laughter - Level: mastered

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Things I have mastered:  eating right-handedly;   teaching;   falling off or flying over a bicycle;   gardening;  reading;  centering;  touch-typing;  knitting;   sewing;  the ability to say no;  

 

Things I have not (yet) mastered:  using a spoon in my left-hand;   slugs/snails;  lifting the sides when throwing;   

 

Things I never intend to master: housework;  chemistry;  electronics   

 

Things I am learning to master:   tact and diplomacy;   

 

 

Could go on, but that's enough one finger typing for now.

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forgot to mention the past 20 years of being a tour organizer for groups to Europe. I have been to Europe often and know my way around ceramic themed interests. Favorite book for this is by Alexandra Copeland from Australia who traveled across Asia to Europe collecting goods to sell when she got there. Really interesting book..A Guide to Ceramics Collections of Europe. I met her in Toronto at the Seduced by Color; Majolica conference at the Gardner Museum.. Bird watching especially here in the tropics. Downhill skiing, softball,  fly fishing and hot potting in most natural (undeveloped) hot springs n the West and a few in Europe..Shooting pool, was captain of my team in the Huntley Project. Shoot eight ball, cutthroat, and rotation. Fossil hunting.

 

 

Marcia

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I feel like clay has mastered me, I hope someday to master it.  I was a decorator for 20 years, manage contractor crews on new construction and a dam good tiler.  I designed and built my own home and studio from scratch,  I focus all of my energy on mastering clay now I have  finished proving myself to others now I just have convince myself.     Denice

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