Does it really matter in the end? When I was a kid, I learned to sew from my mother, then from a friend’s mother who was a professional tailor. My home economics teacher taught me how to knit, then years later I relearned how to knit in a different style. One year I took up watercolors, another I learned origami. Photography has been a thru-line for all my hobbies.

Bookbinding became a passion when I couldn’t find a quality travel sketchbook in the size I needed with the paper I wanted.

I visted tea shops, I went to museums. The Shoji show at the Japanese Garden has been a perennial favorite.

On a whim, a friend and I signed up for pottery workshop, just because I’d always wanted to try it. It felt like coming home. It looked like a flower pot.

I took another class, this time wheel throwing. It was hard. I cried. I loved it even more.

All of those handmade teapots I’ve collected over many years suddenly had new lessons to teach me. I hope you like what you see, and every cup of tea takes you where you want to go.

I feel that pottery inserts us into the timeline of humanity. As long as there have been people, people have been making pots, and we’ve used those pots for everything from food storage, to sharing meals, for decor or worship, to beautifying our spaces or making a statement, stashing our trinkets, or holding our most treasured memories. As long as humans are here on this planet, we will still be making pots. 

I believe art is for everyone, art is political, and knowledge begs to be shared. Maslow was wrong — human needs are a circle not a pyramid, and community, dignity, self-expression, and creativity are not something we must earn, but are innate. 

Have fun, make art!