These are crazy times. Crazy, inevitable times. The whole world is experiencing this time of pandemic, yet because we are isolated, I feel like I’m alone in this. Adding to this surreal feeling is the fact that we have no confirmed cases of Covid-19 in our county. We want to keep it that way.

The Arts Festival and Fisherman’s Picnic have been cancelled. It’s going to be a unique summer in Grand Marais.

I don’t see my house as a prison. I see it as an incubator.

I’m busy all day long. Fortunately, I am a nurse. An essential worker. So I get out several days a week. The rest of the time, I paint. I cook. I read. I write. I dream… of getting the boat out, and physically distancing with my son on a lake.

My friend Mike generously loaned me his extra potters wheel, and I am making a long held dream into a reality.

My pots are not light and refined, but I think they are getting better all the time. More have been broken and recycled than not, but each one is an experience. It teaches me more about how clay feels. How clay acts. How much my clumsy hands can ask of it, and how much it can teach my fingers.

I always like the less refined pots anyway. The ones that look like they have been buried for a thousand years, or have sat in a shipwreck off Sardinia since ancient times.

added1/2021: This pot came out of the kiln today, and I just thought it would fit here

Still, I want to learn how to throw proper vessels and be able to control that effect.

I think of lichen on rock, or gravel on a road and imagine ways to capture something that reminds me of that… textures to catch glaze without appearing contrived or overdone. Forms that reflect something of me and reinterpret my artistic language in a new medium.

At any moment, I may step away from the wheel and open my paints, or sit down to express my thoughts in words.

These months are filled with grief and uncertainty. We are pelleted with mixed messages and opinion. While I do what I can to protect my family and respect my community, there is so much I can’t control. I look for the gifts. The time to reflect and express. The time to learn a new skill. The time to dream of better days to come.