Holy crap. Do I still remember how to do this? The last time I wrote a blog post, I was a junior in high school and now…I am a junior in college. Time truly flies.
I didn’t think that I would pick this website back up in all honesty. I kind of forgot I had it until I really started to do Etsy for the first time. (Shameless Etsy plug https://www.etsy.com/shop/LeilasCeramics?ref=seller-platform-mcnav) I also truly don’t think anyone reads blogs. It’s pretty funny, but when I told my roommate I might give blogging another try, she laughed at me and told me no one likes to read anymore. I think that’s true to a certain extent, but my mom pointed out to me that pottery has kind of interweaved itself into every part of my life and I kind of want a written record of what I am doing, so I guess I am back to blogging.
I think part of the reason why I quit blogging was it was so time consuming. Also that I would find myself literally trying to make every post perfect and I don’t think that was the point of blogging. Although, I think I can give myself a pass, I was 17 and had no clue what blog was since I had grown up way past the age of myspace and tumblr. But I have heard of enough myths and seen enough movies get an idea of what a blog is now.
I really want to write about my pottery and the processes that get me there. I think previously, I tried to only write about ceramics and that was it, but for me, its so intertwined into my life that if I only write about purely pottery, it gets just a little boring.
So what have a been up to? I’m in college now. I graduated from Allen, if by a miracle and a half you are reading from the last post. I left Texas and moved to Georgia and I go to Georgia Tech (Go Jackets). I study Materials Science and Engineering and just geek about ceramics. I research… not ceramics, but I think I might propose a research topic about ceramics…probably not good to get into it now.
I taught pottery for beginners at Georgia Tech for two years. I had a moderate amount of fun at the pottery center there until they closed down for renovations. I was moderately devastated, but if I was honest with myself, I was ready for a break. Not to say the pottery center at Tech wasn’t great, but I found myself being entertained by life and friends and the next think I knew, it got harder and harder to go and create and it felt like such a chore. That was new to me because I taught and all my energy and motivation to create something for myself just go zapped and I found myself miserable when I taught, miserable when I created and the work that I was producing to be extremely subpar.
Then corona happened and the studio shut down about 3 months early. I found myself at home with nothing to do and no one to teach. I reached out to the place where it all began and the next thing I know I’m throwing, having fun and pushing myself in a way I had not in a long time. Sona Knox is an amazing woman who knows me better than I know myself and she told me that I should keep creating and that was all the encouragement I needed. Here are some mugs I made for her. I miss her dogs so much. Here are a pictures of the art puppies I grew up with.
It’s a new style right? I kind of took it and ran with it. Oh yeah, so then I moved back to Atlanta because subleasing is a pain in the ass and school and whatnot and I was studio-less. That break that I felt ready for before corona suddenly felt like something I was no longer ready for. I think part of me is truly scared if I don’t keep creating, I will one day just never find the time or energy or money to go back to creating. So I found mudfire.
This studio is everything I have wanted and a little bit more. Without saying too much about it, I think it was the next step. I felt pushed and motivated to step up my pottery game and do something more. (I just read that last sentence outloud and boy do I sound like a nerd).
So here we are now. It is 1 am (sorry mom), Niki is playing softly in my ear (Spotify wrapped did a number on my soul) and I am writing. And thinking about how I want to revamp my website. Oh I also accumulated a lot of new stuff so I have an Etsy page now. But, I freaking promise there are so many things I can say about Etsy because I probably spend too much time pondering hypothetical Etsy questions.
What am I going to do with this website? I think I am going to talk about my process and pots. And also the process of developing my style, because I am still kind of developing my style and I can’t wait to just ramble about pots. And I hope none of my friends find this page because they have this knee jerk reaction to read stuff I’ve written out loud to me and I hate it. So much. But, I am so excited to hopefully maintain this website.
Here’s a video of me throwing at Mudfire.
Leila's Ceramics 