Being wood fire potters the work cycle is seasonal. After the last winter sales of the year we start to make for the next. All winter we throw and store pots until spring when we head outside, squinting in the sun, sniffing the air like some underground moles we poke about the kiln, tidy it up and prep wood for the spring firings. Then summer rolls around and the garden and markets and summer shows take over and there never seems to be enough time even when we work from sun up to sun down in those long glorious summer days. Fall we finish up firing whats left over or if we have run out of certain things, head off to the river to collect shells, stones and diamond willow for next years work. Then there is the never ending task of preparing firewood for the long winter days and nights ahead. Of course we also need to get ready for the Christmas sales and shows after which we do it all over again and again. It has been a delightful rhythm to our lives for quite sometime now though it does not leave much time to get very much else done.
Even though we live out here in our 5 acre forest paradise the world has a tendency to come crashing in from time to time and this year is shaping up to be very different and challenging for everyone! December was normal, January the warnings came on and once we looked at the numbers coming from China we got a bit worried but continued to make pots as usual. February and the writing was on the wall yet we kept making, March came and is almost gone and we have quite the stock of pots made. There really is not much else for us to do and we love doing it so it just seemed the right thing to do. You see we often ask our selves what would you do if you won the lottery........Make pots of course, maybe spend more time making them better, hire people to do the rest.....but of course that is not going to happen so we do what we must.
Unfortunately all our spring sales have been canceled, our galleries are closed (we may be doing by appointment sales soon) and it looks as if the rest of the year will be a wash though we hope it is not the case. Now all seems dire but we have lived most of our lives in isolation (although now that we have been directed to isolate we now want to go out and do stuff :-)), being mostly food self sufficient (everyone is doing a victory garden, we call it our regular garden), and having had many years of not making very much money in the past (poverty is a great way to teach one what is truly important) we seem to be in a better position than many others out there. We have each other and the knowledge that we have the skill set and persistence to weather this storm as long as we stay healthy. This of course does not mean we are not going to try to have sales and put a little bit of beauty into everyones daily lives. So with that in mind we have decided to address our much neglected website and will attempt to try some online sales. Now this will take time and there will be mix ups and errors to be sure. All we ask is for your kindness and patience in getting the selling site set up and running, after all we just figured out how to set the clock on our VCR.....Just kidding......it was the microwave......
We are also contemplating doing a virtual sale and setting up an instagram account but in time.... baby steps. You can only push a luddite so fast and hey...... we just got electricity only a year and a half ago so we are still getting used to having a fridge and lights on demand......its amazing.
If there is anything that you are interested in let us know and we could arrange something the next time we are in the City.
We know a lot of you are stuck at home and are not used to it, so we have added a ton of photos of past work to the work page for you to peruse through and hopefully help brighten you day. Now if it would just stop snowing.......
