Well, it’s been nearly fifteen years since college (wait, what?) and I have found myself obsessed with mud again. Of course, as a full-time horse farm manager and trainer, I tend to play in mud on a regular basis, but not the fun mud.

The year 2020 was obviously hard for us all, but it did provide opportunities for introspection, growth and development. Just a couple of months before COVID-19 came to the states, I decided to inch my way back into working in ceramics. I was planning to take things slowly, starting with hand-building my way through a 25lb block of clay at my kitchen table. Of course, with the increase in uncertainty and general pandemic-stress naturally I found myself with a strong desire for an escapist hobby, so I blame that on my quickly rekindled obsession with clay. 

When I was in college one of my two focuses for my BFA was ceramics, but after graduating I focused more on fiber art, and then before I knew it more than a decade had passed. Luckily my mother has been a ceramic artist for nearly ten years, now, and she was very supportive – she even returned some of the tools I had given her!

I spent every spare minute of 2020 working to redevelop skills that had gotten a bit rusty, starting first in hand building, and then eventually buying my own wheel. I’m very lucky, as my mother has a small kiln that she has offered to fire my pots in until I get my kiln wired in the spring. Toward the middle of last year I began to realize that this hobby was developing into something more, and so I began to work on branding, product development and glaze testing with the plans to open my own pottery in 2021. 

And so, here we are! I am currently in early stages of converting our little milk shed to a full studio space including kiln, wheel and workbench (more on that soon!) and I have recently purchased my very own kiln, though unfortunately we have to wait until the thaw this coming spring so that we can have the appropriate electrical lines run to the shed via a trench. 

Watch this space, and please stay tuned!

Sincerely, 
Emily