Pottery Studio Almost Within Reach!!
My husband, a talented porcelain potter, and I just recently found out we must close our pottery studio — the home we rent is being sold, and we must move out by the middle of April. So little time for a big move!!
A search for an alternate studio and home led to the American Museum for Ceramic Arts in Pomona, CA, where Joe will become an "Artist in Residence", with his own private studio located in the Artist Gallery with four other talented ceramic artists, where he can create works of art and continue to teach the students he has. If you would like to see his work, just go to his FaceBook page called Facebook.com/ShawPots!
All Joe and I have to do is move — from Santa Maria, CA to Pomona. And with a home filled with porcelain pottery, art we have collected over the decades, and the many framed photographs we have both collected, plus the required equipment for his new studio, our budget has been stretched well past the breaking point. Since lifting is beyond our abilities as disabled seniors, we must hire movers to do the job, and somehow raise money. And we only have weeks left to accomplish a huge task!
We even found an older moble home in a lovely senior park filled with flowers, one we will never have to leave again. With a small down payment, we will be able to live without fear of having to leave the studio, and he will be able to contribute to the Museum and the many galleries that surround our new community.
Joe's life has taken a circuitous route— he was only 20 and just 2 weeks from enlisting in the Navy when a steel I-beam collided with his head and left him a paraplegic.
Some months later, he entered college instead, with crutches and braces, and a book bag instead of a rolling deck. After graduating with an AA in Fine Art, and a BA with a Major in Ceramics and Sculpture and Minors in Industrial Arts and Philosphy, he went on to teach at a local high school and a junior college in Colorado (that's where we met, when I was his student. But I still didn't get an A until I deserved it for my work — in my final quarter!)
When his legs graduated from braces and crutches to a decided limp, he even ran heavy equipment for the county where he lived. Unfortunately, the progress with his legs has disappeared as he grew older, perhaps as a result of the polio he had as a child.
Today Joe specializes in porcelain pottery, having fallen in love with the translucency and depth of the colors he can achieve. The fine grain, textural quality quality of porcelain clay is necessary to create the detail he requires in his ceramics.
His ongoing studies have led Joe to explore new avenues, creating wet slip designs and air brushing with multiple new glaze combinations. These fluid and organic styles he calls "Strata" and the layers resemble semi-precious stones with gold trailings embellizhing the designs.
His new studio and our small home await us down in the Inland Empire. All we need is enough to pay the movers and the small down payment on the home. He will also be able to continue to teach the students who have found their way to his doorstep.
Having spent many years showing at the Santa Barbara Arts and Craft Show on the beach, his creations have traveled to every part of the world, but his mind is filled with new ideas and designs.
Please help my hubby, who is such a talented porcelain potter (and an amazing human being, I might add) to share his gift with others, both with his work and his teaching!
