Ramblings of a Mud Girl

By Kelley Wilks

It is always extremely sad when someone dies in their 40's, or 50's (or even younger). It is that life is just getting going since the first 20 years don't really count. We lost a great spirit last week. Wilba Reeves died of breast cancer at Circle of Life Hospice. She was an aspiring potter who studied at CatoSprings Pottery and then VanHollow Pottery.

For me, she was my rainy day customer. Even when we just opened downtown and very few knew of us yet, Wilba would come in and bring light to rainy days. We would talk about clay and dreams. She brings a smile to my face just thinking of her. The day she came in with no hair and told me why she hadn't been in in a while seemed harder for me than for her. She called it an inconvenience and began listing goals of things she didn't want to put off any longer. She wanted to live more and make sure she appreciated every moment. I think she already did, but she wanted to do it conciously.

The memorial to celebrate Willba's life will be held Tuesday, December 5th at 6pm in the Chapel at the Jones Center for Families in Springdale. In lieu of flowers, the family would encourage memorials to either the Susan G. Komen foundation , or to Circle of Life Hospice in Springdale (where I have been making handprint tiles for their patio).

OK, so every once in a great while, a project comes along that really speaks to us. While I was living in DFW, I became aware of a project called Empty Bowls where potters and other artists make bowls and then hold a simple soup dinner to raise money for feeding the hungry. Each person who buys a soup dinner gets to pick out a bowl and take it home as a reminder of all the empty bowls in the world.

This is something I have wanted to get together since I moved back but could not find the right partners. I have been donating things to Seven Hills (we moved my grandmother out of her apartment) and just met Dianna Carpenter . It has all come together along with Suzie Stephens ,chef extraordinare and Brian Crowne of George's Majestic Lounge.

We will be having our first Bowl-a-Thon at the Fay Fine Arts , Sat and Sun Sept 2-3. We need volunteers in the booth helping the public make and decorate their bowls for free. We will be having a few other bowl-a-thons here at Flat Rock during Sept and Oct. And, I am asking every one of you to try to make one bowl a week from now until Nov 1 to donate. We have a goal of 500 bowls this year. Our gourmet $20 Soup Dinner will be at George's Majestic Lounge, Tuesday November 14 and we will have musical accompaniment with the LR group "Recovery".

First of all, I would like to thank those of you that have been with us since the beginning and those that have supported us along the way. Thanks for your support and patronage. We are now 3 years old and we would like to repay you with some fantastic specials this month. Most are listed on the website. We also have in-store only specials along with door prizes that change each week in May. Come Celebrate our Three Years Serving You.

It seems that most potters have one version or another of the dream of having a studio in the woods or other environment with a fantastic view and making pots all day that sell themselves so that they can keep supporting themselves and working making pots (or sculptures…). Mine has recently actually slipped into my nightly dreams. Maybe it is because my dream of being able to have a home on my land with the inspiring flat rock and view may only be a few years away. Or, maybe it is that I’ve heard so many of your dreams that are there or near, that it feels as if, we are a part of it with you.

I don’t know, but it is part of my dream that Flat Rock will help to build community for this region among the craft artists with clay and other mediums. I started with clay and the Mud Club. At NCECA I was fortunate enough to get together with 4 of the Oregon Potters Council Members (a few original members) and they gave me much advice on how to help the Mud Club grow and foster community for the local clay artists. We started the discussion at the April meeting and it will continue at the May and beyond. I sincerely hope that you can come to the next meeting and voice your ideas and suggestions as to how you would like our community to grow. This is for and about you . Happy Mud Fingers.

There is this program on NPR and it is called “This I Believe” well, I opened a fortune cookie last week and it read:

No one is happy who does not
think himself so.

This I believe! It got me thinking about how true this statement is and how other things we believe about ourselves, we can and do make true in our lives. I believe that for the most part people are good, that you get back what you put out in the world, that a smile can start a conversation, that it is much easier to be true to yourself than to try to be what you think others expect, that I should allow my soul to dance, laugh, drink wine and eat ice cream (not necessarily at the same time), that a puppy warms the heart, that walking barefooted is very grounding, that catching a big fish on my 42nd birthday is hard to beat, that life doesn’t always go the way we plan but going with the flow and being open to a different future can be very rewarding, that I like green, that playing with clay can wash most of my stresses away, that most days I like myself, that if a person can touch one other’s soul than it is a miracle but if you can touch many it is a gift and a blessing. But, most of all I believe that I am happy. I truly hope you are. Happy mud fingers.

There was some confusion about what an intimate object is due to our lack of entries for the competition a couple months ago. My definition is “something that is personal to you and that you come in contact with from daily life to ritual”. For me one of the most intimate objects is my cup(s) that I drink my tea in.

I like my herbal teas and having a special handmade object to hold it in as I bring it up to my mouth to first smell then taste the flavors from the mint to the cardamom and at bedtime the chamomile is one of the true treasures in life. Holding the cup is a special thing for me and I rarely use the handle on mugs because I like to feel the warmth come through the cup and warm my hands. I like feeling the textures left by the maker of the vessel and know that hopefully they know somewhere in their soul that I am enjoying this moment with their creation.

Many of you who frequent the studio know that I eat far too often on paper, but I still try to drink from one of my many handmade mugs, cups or wine goblets that some of you and other friends have made. I also try to keep a current selection at the coffee/tea bar so that you don’t have to make your cup of tea in the foam ones.

So go to your kitchen; put on a pot of water. Tear open a teabag or scoop some loose into the basket and wait for the whistle. Next gently pour the water over the tea in the finely crafted cup, and as you wait for the tea to strengthen, send a happy thought to the wonderful person who crafted this work of art for you (even if it is you) to enjoy today. Happy Mud Fingers!

Some days I don't feel like rambling and maybe… No that is not why this newsletter is late but it sounded good when I started typing. I have many commitments lately along with Flat Rock. I am working on workshops, teaching classes, doing the books, ordering, helping you when you call, and I sometimes think I was silly to get on the Fine Arts committee for the Fayetteville Downtown Partners. But, it has been wonderful getting to know the others in the group and learning that I am not the only one of us that has taken on so much. I think they are doing even more than I.

It's that I want to have a say in how our community thinks about the arts and it is very important to me that we all fully commit to supporting arts. I am not talking about public funding but things like turning out for events and supporting that way; about purchasing local artworks for yourself or for gifts and supporting that way; about volunteering at events and going into schools and offer to demonstrate for the future of our country the importance of the arts in a rounded education and supporting that way; about helping another artist get a show together by putting them in touch with someone that might be suited for their medium and supporting that way. The list goes on & on & on.

There are so many things many of you do to help support the arts. I hope to keep spreading the word that we artists are here and we love our lives since we get to make beautiful things that make us and others smile. Keep Spreading the Word and Happy Mud Fingers!

It's nice how life has rhythms. It gives you a lot when you can handle it and slows down when you need it. Being a woman, my body has similar rhythms but when I slow down mentally I see how much the rest of my life has these same rhythms also. I've had so much on my plate the last couple years, I haven't given myself much time for my yoga (clay came first). Now I'm able to get the meditation and yoga back. I also have this great list of things to do for yourself that I got in a past life. Enjoy ! ! !

“9 Secrets to Abundant Living”

by Michele Burris, R.D., L.D., Heath Texas, 972-771-1901

•  Find your passion; make it happen. When you are doing what you love, the energy just seems to bubble up as if out of nowhere.

•  Discover your purpose. Making a difference in the world is a fantastic energy boost.

•  Dare to be yourself. Your uniqueness is a gift; use it to create energy and joy in yourself and others.

•  Trust your intuition. Your intuition is nature's roadmap to help you avoid life's more treacherous potholes. Learning to “go with the flow” will save you stress, strain and help prevent fatigue.

•  Fuel your body's energy engine with premium food and exercise. What, when and how you eat and move every day can wake you up or wipe you out. Since we have a choice, why not choose to learn the difference.

•  Give yourself permission to play. Recapturing the playfulness of childhood will recharge and revive you. You're never to old for recess.

•  Strive for a healthy balance. Live, love, laugh, cry, work, play, rest,… a little every day. Balancing your energy keeps you from toppling over.

•  Firmly establish your priorities and focus. Nothing will wear you out faster than unfocused energy. You then have nothing left for the truly important things.

•  Protect your environment. Surround yourself with positive, energetic, loving and supportive people. Indulge in nature, music, color, quiet, good books, good friends… all of the elements that calm the soul and energize the spirit.

     Thank you Michele for your insite.

Happy Mother’s Day. May 7th would have been my grandmother’s 100th birthday. She was the one who introduced me to clay. And, many of you have heard my stories of how I spent almost every Saturday night with her until I was 16 (and could legally drive). She was one of the first 6 women to get a pilot license, was decreed a law degree by the state senate, went to college to earn it in her 60’s and practiced law until a year before she died at 84, ran a candy store, was a house mother for a sorority, and did not have her first child until she was 39, all quite remarkable for the time.

I often wonder if it is possible in these times for any woman but Oprah to be that honestly outstanding, but then maybe we don’t have to be. But, to have an impact is better to focus on one thing and have integrity with what one does. What does having integrity really mean. Well, my little dictionary says it is “ uprightness of character, honesty, condition quality or state of being complete”, but I guess we each have to have our own personal definition of what it means in our life.

It is also important for our work to have integrity, to be sound and stand on its own. As I am bringing in work into the gallery of local clay artists I am becoming more aware of the great level of talent in our area that has not been acknowledged. Help me spread the word and thanks for your help in the past.

I am getting ready to be on a panel at the annual NCECA conference in March and it is about the Entrepreneurial spirit—three other ways to making a living with clay. I would like to say that in preparing for this I have learned a few things about myself that I need to work on. Playing catch-up is far worse than spending a few extra minutes to back-up my data. As some of you have heard, I lost my hard drive in Nov 1. was able to retrieve most of my business data and financials but lost some and all my email addresses that were not in the guest book (although those in the book have to be re-typed into my new computer). Like in College, the 2 semesters that I did not have an art class, I did poorly in all my other classes. I need to work with my clay regularly and am trying to set a date weekly to play with clay. Life must have balance. I also have learned that if something is not working, don’t stress but just let go of it. Done. Life’s too short.
Enjoy & Happy mud fingers ! ! !

There are the things that make us who we are. They mold and form us as we do a lump of clay. Although, unlike the clay, we often do not get to one point and stay that way for long; something new comes along to further us on the path of growth. Sometimes these things are tragedies. More often they are the simple things like going to visit Mom and realizing how much you miss the trees of your youth or taking a walk and finding the perfect Flat Rock to sit on and meditate, then realizing the property is for sale.

Most of the time they aren't so life-altering as to have us instantly uproot and move from one state to another and get a divorce. But sometimes they are. They usually are the hands that gently shape us and mold us one moment at a time through time, and we hardly notice: something a friend or stranger says, even a decision not to go to the grocery store until the next day. We take these little shapings and slightly change direction regularly. We must always be ready for the big ones. Not to expect them as a pessimist but rather being open to them when life is ready for us to move on in a different direction.

There is a Taoist saying to be like water. Water is ever-changing. It's both hard and soft. It will, given time, even erode the rock away, but it always flows wherever the best path is. May we always be ready and open to change, while having the extreme patience to get what we need in this path of life. Enjoy and happy mud fingers.

Please contact Flat Rock Clay Supplies at info@flatrockclay.com or 479.521.3181 to sign up for workshops, submit inquiries or send feedback.