One Thing and Another...

That was a favourite phrase of my beloved Grandma H. - she would say that to preface or conclude any sort of anecdote or observation.  As I observe 2017, I think of one thing...and another...and many others:  the opportunities presented to me, and the rewards granted in return.  Things worth having require work, ergo the work is worth doing; whether or not the outcome is a sure thing often remains to be seen.  I could not have foreseen all the outcomes, as they were not all the result of me and/or my doing, and for that I am truly grateful:  from being part of the first ever Dusk Dances Barrie with Simcoe Contemporary Dances, to making new connections for the branching out of "studio wendy", to being an Ontario Arts Council grant recipient to attend a mentored residency in Italy. 
Much like this couple strolling in San Gimignano, may your 2018 be full of health, happiness, and love - una cosa e di un'altra.

Arriving and leaving...and arriving

It was seven weeks ago today that I arrived in Italy in anticipation of an eight-week mentored residency at La Meridiana International School of Ceramics (with funding support of the Ontario Arts Council, which is gratefully acknowledged).  It has been time spent working and learning, such as you lose some...and you win some! One teapot - one of the visually best I've made - completely jettisoned off its handle and into the glaze bucket. Evidence of poor making; ergo, lesson learned.  This teapot is also one of the visually best teapots I've made.  By no means is it "perfect" (to one's own standard), yet it perfectly encompasses so many of the things that I've learned in the last seven weeks.  Both the making and the finishing are not at all my usual style:  a pulled handle, hot wax resist, a seated lid, scratched-through glazing, and not to mention a cracked rim deftly repaired-at-the-drying stage (by mentor John Colbeck).  It took an inordinate amount of time to get on track with my time and purpose here, to make "Purposeful Porcelain", but I shall leave next week having just arrived at where I next need to be.