See this landscape jar at www.themasterartists.com
As I have gotten older, I have come to realize the important role that ritual plays in the creative process. The ritual in your own creativity may be so subtle that you don’t even notice it, but I am certain that it is there. It may be that morning cup of tea, a walk with the dog, listening to your favorite radio station, or some complex amalgam of all of these and much more. I believe that all of us are fundamentally creative. It is our nature. It is who we are. As creative beings, we must nurture and cultivate those fleeting inspirations. Sometimes all we need is a moment to sit quietly and gaze into the distance and say “Hummmm……..what if”.
Have a productive and creative day.
Terance
Art is addictive. No one talks much about it but we all know it’s true. Once someone experiences the feel, the joy, of having a fine work of original art grace their home, they are never the same. I recently had a customer drive 300 miles out of their way to replace a pottery bowl that had been broken. This bowl occupied an important place in her home and life was somehow out of kilter in its absence. The only path to normalcy was to drive to my studio and acquire a suitable replacement. I was both humbled by and grateful for my role in providing the object that would fill this void in her home. However, this begs the question, “Why ?”.
I think it is simply THE HUMAN TOUCH, that most fundamental form of expression. It seems as if when something is truly handmade, be it of clay, wood, metal or paint, it is imbued with some subliminal essence that is invisibly passed from one person to another. The trace of the hand leaves in its wake a mysterious aura, the thinnest vapor trail that communicates to our innermost selves. It is the antithesis of digitized, compressed, number crunched, computer machined perfection. Rather, it is a deep conversation between people, it is a profound expression of the human experience, it is, after all, ART.
Terance
www.differentdrummerpottery.com
www.themasterartists.com
Forest Vase with candle by Terance
The days are getting shorter and the nights are getting cooler and it won’t be long till we have our first frost. I really need to be laying up a little more fire wood, but instead, I am making a fresh kiln load of pots for October. The fall is our busiest time of year as people come to the mountains to see one of the most beautiful spectacles that nature has to offer – the transformation of the mountains from green to riotous shades of red, yellow, and gold.
I love the fall. Although I have lived here all of my life, I never tire of seeing the daily changing character of the mountains as the colors sweep down the slopes, beginning at the highest peaks in early October and ending down in the valleys in November.
Come to WNC and join us. You can see more pieces like this “Forest Vase” at the Church Street Art and Craft Show in Waynesville, NC on October 8th. The views are clear, the air is crisp, the mountains are gorgeous, and the art is fantastic. Fall is here.
Well I have finally recovered from an exhausting Mountain Heritage Day. The weather on Saturday was simply amazing, the crowd was huge and we had an incredible show. If you missed this year be sure and mark the last Saturday in September to be in Cullowhee for a wonderful experience.
Look for us next at the Church Street Festival in downtown Waynesville on Saturday, Oct. 8. I will be demonstrating at the Main Street Artist Co-op and will have plenty of pottery. Come by and say hello.
Terance
It is crafts fair season again and I will be heading to Cullowhee this Saturday, September 22 for Mountain Heritage Day. I have done this show for over 30 years and it remains my favorite. It takes place in a large grassy field at WCU and has a lot of the character of an old time county fair. Each year as I approach this site and see all the vendors’ tents erected in rows and hear the music spilling across the valley as sweet aromas from the food come wafting by on the breeze, I am put in mind of some strange sort of gypsy gathering. It is a time when artists of all types leave the confines of their studios to load up their creations, travel across the mountains, and come together in a colorful celebration of the creative spirit in all of us. It is a time to reconnect with old friends, swap stories of the past year, and perhaps sell some of the fruits of our labor to eager collectors.
As much fun as it is, it lasts for only a day and like a loosely connected band of gypsies we pack up our belongings, say our goodbyes, and head back to our studios with renewed commitment to our art.
Come and join our celebration. I hope to see you there.
Terance
Different Drummer Pottery
I am currently glazing in preparation for a crafts fair this Saturday, Sept 24, 2011. (Mountain Heritage Day at WCU) As glazing progresses, my studio always seems to descend, day by day, towards chaos. I can’t seem to help this condition.
I once had a professor who told me that I could not produce neat work unless my studio was neat and tidy. However, I believe that an overly neat studio is simply a studio in which no meaningful work is being produced. [I always found the strict order of things to be somehow unnatural and constricting to the flow of ideas.]
They say that art is the act of bringing order out of chaos.
Wow – that’s a heady thought.
Or maybe I’m just a hopeless slob. The jury is still out.
Terance
The Different Drummer Pottery
Peoples’ lives are filled with small events that can hold great significance. For some, their lives are punctuated by birthdays and anniversaries – seasons of the year, holidays, and phases of the moon – sunrises and sunsets. My life is punctuated by kiln openings. I fire my kiln about once a month and at the end, after the heat of the fire, after the cooling, I get to pry open the door to see …what I have been given. Some openings are like Christmas, as if someone came and left me a trove of sparkling treasure. Once in a while it is more like Halloween when all you got was one sour apple. Most of the time it’s somewhere in between. The kiln I opened this week was more like Christmas. Everyone loves a holiday.
Terance Painter
