I hope to see all of you on Dec. 3 for the Festival of Lights in Greensboro. I will have pottery and fused glass at Elm Street Center that evening. It is free to the public. It will be warm inside. So if you feel a chill outdoors come in for a chance to purchase some great art for holiday gifts and to get out of the cold. You can also check out Elements Gallery just down the street where I will also have pottery for sale.
Thanks for supporting local artists during this holiday season.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Dirty Jobs: Thanks For Your Hard Work
This is out of sequence with my blog but I am finally getting caught up.
Janet Brindle Reddick wrote an article in the News & Record about Dirty Jobs for Labor Day Weekend. This is her article.
Sunday, September 5, 2010 (Updated 3:01 am)
By Janet Brindle Reddick
Staff Writer
"Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer, but it’s also a federal holiday in honor of us: the working folks.
Not all of our jobs are glamorous. Some of them are downright dangerous. Or messy.
Most of us have at least one good story from a tough day at the salt mines.
We asked to you share your stories with us. Here are some of the interesting, dirty and odd jobs that we heard about."
Mine was one of the jobs that Reddick chose:
"There's almost always a creative way to get dirty. Susan O'Leary of Jamestown figured that out.'Teaching pottery for the Art alliance of Greensboro allows me to play in mud each day. It's a cretive dirty job!As a studio potter I have the luxury of getting dirty in the name of work. My work wardrobe consists of old clothes and an apron.'Lots of artists shared their stories."
Janet Brindle Reddick wrote an article in the News & Record about Dirty Jobs for Labor Day Weekend. This is her article.
Sunday, September 5, 2010 (Updated 3:01 am)
By Janet Brindle Reddick
Staff Writer
"Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer, but it’s also a federal holiday in honor of us: the working folks.
Not all of our jobs are glamorous. Some of them are downright dangerous. Or messy.
Most of us have at least one good story from a tough day at the salt mines.
We asked to you share your stories with us. Here are some of the interesting, dirty and odd jobs that we heard about."
Mine was one of the jobs that Reddick chose:
"There's almost always a creative way to get dirty. Susan O'Leary of Jamestown figured that out.'Teaching pottery for the Art alliance of Greensboro allows me to play in mud each day. It's a cretive dirty job!As a studio potter I have the luxury of getting dirty in the name of work. My work wardrobe consists of old clothes and an apron.'Lots of artists shared their stories."
Teacher Feature by Patty Jennings
Susan O’Leary teaches adult wheel, adult hand building and youth
pottery for Art Alliance. She took her first clay class with Cindy Maddox
through City Arts in ‘95. She knew the moment she touched clay she had
found her life’s passion. She studied with LT Hoisington for several sessions.
The class she attended was small and she feels lucky in having almost private
instruction from LT. She has studied pottery at Penland School of Craft,
Sawtooth Center for Visual Art and Guilford College.
In 2001, Stacey Carson, the former program director, asked if she would
teach a youth class. At the same time, she decided to design and build her
own studio after being a ‘garage potter.’ The result is a beautiful and functional
studio and small gallery.
Susan noticed adults who hand built pots struggling with mechanics and
form. Believing the need existed for a specific class, she offered to teach it. The
class is thriving with lots of creative and well crafted pots making their way through the kilns.
Growing up in Detroit with her parents, sisters and both sets of grandparents close by, Susan grew to love gardening,
cooking and family gatherings. She attended Western Michigan University and earned a BA in Education. Susan and her husband
of 37 years, Joe, moved from Michigan soon after they married and have made seven moves since with Joe’s employer.
Susan held a number of jobs through all the moves but none she would characterize as a career until clay. She believes
the positions she held, her upbringing and all the moves prepared her for becoming a studio potter and teacher.
In her classes the youth show up full of enthusiasm and creativity; their struggle may be with the importance of the mechanics
like slipping and scoring the clay. Adults come with expectations of being successful quickly.
Those who fall in love with clay continue and learn the craft. Susan wants to offer a balance of structured
class time and freedom so all learn the mechanics and the importance of form which results in
a pleasing pot. If a student considers a pot a failure, she offers encouragement, explaining in the
Japanese tradition what we might consider a mistake becomes a beautiful pot because of the magic
of the fire. Susan takes time preparing for each class. She offers a demo each week and additionally
shares information about a form, technique, glaze, local art festivals, openings, and workshops.
She finds that clay is very spiritual and hopes it is reflected in her pots. A quote she has shared
with lots of students is from The Spirit of Ceramic Design by Robert Pipenburg who quotes Larry
Brullo: “First, one seeks to become an artist by training the hand. Then one finds it is the eye that
needs improving. Later one learns it is the mind that wants developing, only to find that the ultimate
quest of the artist is in the spirit.” She continues to work with clay for the feelings it evokes in her,
both of calmness and challenge. She believes it is important as an artist to make an ‘artist date’ with yourself—visit a new
exhibit, explore a museum, or walk in a park or down a city street and notice what is around you. She continually learns
through attending workshops, reading books and art publications.
Susan says of her style that it is functional with a bit of whimsy. Her hands are her favorite tools in creating her pots. “I
would like each of my pots to reveal an element of quiet surprise. This means discovering something different each time
that one uses or looks at my pots. It might be a nuance of the glaze or a small finger mark in the clay. It could be the relationship
between the rim of the pot and the foot. It might be the feel of the pot changing each time the pot is used. These,
for me, are the uncontrived elements of quiet surprise.”
Susan measures her success by “making a pot that pleases me, by a student’s success, and by someone having a private
collection of my work.” Her biggest accomplishment she believes is teaching clay classes and having students return, inspiring
them to continue. With teaching, it can be challenging to find the time for your own art. Even if not creating, Susan will
read in her studio or clean the space. If given a free day she would spend it in her studio throwing pots.
Her favorite artist is Picasso and her favorite workshop was one offered at UNCG with the late Byron Temple. Prior to
the workshop, she spent time at the Weatherspoon Art Museum looking at every single Temple pot on display, lifting each
one including lids. A guard noticed and told her she was not permitted to handle the pots; with only three untouched and
following the guard’s exit, she touched them, too. At the workshop she shared what she had done with Bryon and he loved
it. If given an opportunity to study with anyone it would be the late Peter Voulkos, a potter she and others, too, found to be
avant-garde. She expects that spending time working with him would have been challenging, crazy and probably exhausting,
and worth every minute.
If you’d like to see Susan’s work, please visit her website www.clayinthtecity.com or contact her through the website to
arrange an appointment at her studio.
Susan (right) helping her student, Carol McPeeters
TEACHER FEATURE — This quarter, we share the story of Susan O’Leary, pottery instructor.
pottery for Art Alliance. She took her first clay class with Cindy Maddox
through City Arts in ‘95. She knew the moment she touched clay she had
found her life’s passion. She studied with LT Hoisington for several sessions.
The class she attended was small and she feels lucky in having almost private
instruction from LT. She has studied pottery at Penland School of Craft,
Sawtooth Center for Visual Art and Guilford College.
In 2001, Stacey Carson, the former program director, asked if she would
teach a youth class. At the same time, she decided to design and build her
own studio after being a ‘garage potter.’ The result is a beautiful and functional
studio and small gallery.
Susan noticed adults who hand built pots struggling with mechanics and
form. Believing the need existed for a specific class, she offered to teach it. The
class is thriving with lots of creative and well crafted pots making their way through the kilns.
Growing up in Detroit with her parents, sisters and both sets of grandparents close by, Susan grew to love gardening,
cooking and family gatherings. She attended Western Michigan University and earned a BA in Education. Susan and her husband
of 37 years, Joe, moved from Michigan soon after they married and have made seven moves since with Joe’s employer.
Susan held a number of jobs through all the moves but none she would characterize as a career until clay. She believes
the positions she held, her upbringing and all the moves prepared her for becoming a studio potter and teacher.
In her classes the youth show up full of enthusiasm and creativity; their struggle may be with the importance of the mechanics
like slipping and scoring the clay. Adults come with expectations of being successful quickly.
Those who fall in love with clay continue and learn the craft. Susan wants to offer a balance of structured
class time and freedom so all learn the mechanics and the importance of form which results in
a pleasing pot. If a student considers a pot a failure, she offers encouragement, explaining in the
Japanese tradition what we might consider a mistake becomes a beautiful pot because of the magic
of the fire. Susan takes time preparing for each class. She offers a demo each week and additionally
shares information about a form, technique, glaze, local art festivals, openings, and workshops.
She finds that clay is very spiritual and hopes it is reflected in her pots. A quote she has shared
with lots of students is from The Spirit of Ceramic Design by Robert Pipenburg who quotes Larry
Brullo: “First, one seeks to become an artist by training the hand. Then one finds it is the eye that
needs improving. Later one learns it is the mind that wants developing, only to find that the ultimate
quest of the artist is in the spirit.” She continues to work with clay for the feelings it evokes in her,
both of calmness and challenge. She believes it is important as an artist to make an ‘artist date’ with yourself—visit a new
exhibit, explore a museum, or walk in a park or down a city street and notice what is around you. She continually learns
through attending workshops, reading books and art publications.
Susan says of her style that it is functional with a bit of whimsy. Her hands are her favorite tools in creating her pots. “I
would like each of my pots to reveal an element of quiet surprise. This means discovering something different each time
that one uses or looks at my pots. It might be a nuance of the glaze or a small finger mark in the clay. It could be the relationship
between the rim of the pot and the foot. It might be the feel of the pot changing each time the pot is used. These,
for me, are the uncontrived elements of quiet surprise.”
Susan measures her success by “making a pot that pleases me, by a student’s success, and by someone having a private
collection of my work.” Her biggest accomplishment she believes is teaching clay classes and having students return, inspiring
them to continue. With teaching, it can be challenging to find the time for your own art. Even if not creating, Susan will
read in her studio or clean the space. If given a free day she would spend it in her studio throwing pots.
Her favorite artist is Picasso and her favorite workshop was one offered at UNCG with the late Byron Temple. Prior to
the workshop, she spent time at the Weatherspoon Art Museum looking at every single Temple pot on display, lifting each
one including lids. A guard noticed and told her she was not permitted to handle the pots; with only three untouched and
following the guard’s exit, she touched them, too. At the workshop she shared what she had done with Bryon and he loved
it. If given an opportunity to study with anyone it would be the late Peter Voulkos, a potter she and others, too, found to be
avant-garde. She expects that spending time working with him would have been challenging, crazy and probably exhausting,
and worth every minute.
If you’d like to see Susan’s work, please visit her website www.clayinthtecity.com or contact her through the website to
arrange an appointment at her studio.
Susan (right) helping her student, Carol McPeeters
TEACHER FEATURE — This quarter, we share the story of Susan O’Leary, pottery instructor.
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