Meet Rebecca
Rebecca has been practicing pottery for 10 years since retiring from teaching, initially coerced by a friend, Thelma. She enjoys the 24/7 access to the studio and the camaraderie among potters. Rebecca's favorite items to make include mugs, teapots, nativities, berry bowls, vases, flower pots, birdhouses, and bird feeders, often blending throwing and hand-building techniques. Her main challenge is balancing her passion with other life commitments and maintaining flexibility. Pottery is her therapy and a way to meet new people, with the studio offering various opportunities like painting and hand-building.
My Story
When did you start pottery and what was your motivation to start?
I've been doing pottery since I retired from teaching. 10 years ago, Thelma had found out that I had retired from teaching, and every time she saw me somewhere, I call it stalking, but she would come up and say, we've got a class coming up. You got to start. You got to start. So I kind of got tired of her bugging me. I thought, fine, I'll just take a class and be done with it. And that was 10 years ago.
What is a benefit to being a community potter?
Couple of them are that I can come in anytime I want. 24/7 we have access to both the building and the rooms, so I can come in anytime I wish to throw or to hand build or do whatever. The other big benefit is you can you do it with other potters. You have the camaraderie of other community potters. This morning, there were three of us in there throwing, and it was just so fun, because you're, you know, you're chit chatting and all that, but you're like, Okay, what do you think about this? Or they're going, oh my gosh, have you thought about doing this? So you kind of feed off of each other, which is kind of cool.
What is your favorite thing to make?
Oh, the list has grown over the years. I love to make mugs one because they're just kind of quick, and that's what a lot of people kind of like, so that's probably the main thing. But or one of them, I guess I love to make tea pots, a couple of my favorite things. And what I've kind of been known for are making nativities, mangers and the holy families a lot around Christmas time, and then berry bowls. So a little bit of everything. I like to make vases, flower pots, birdhouses, bird feeders. So kind of the variety and I like to to mix the two techniques of throwing and then adapting it with some hand build stuff that's kind of like my and just being creative, and sometimes I don't know what it's going to be when I start, and then something just kind of develops. So that's kind of fun right now.
What is a challenge for you?
I guess my biggest challenge is finding time, or taking time to come in, even though I am allowed to come in any time. I've got other things in my life that are really important to me and I like to do and what to do. So it's finding a balance of all the stuff I want to do and getting in here and working on it. And then also you find time you get in here, and then you have these expectations of, okay, I want to, want to work on this, and it's not a wheel day, or you want to do a hand build, and, boy, this isn't working. So just, I guess, allowing yourself to, I guess just knowing that there's going to be times where your your expectations and the end product may not mesh, but you can't beat yourself up about it either. You got to kind of give yourself some leeway and keep it fun, because the more I come in with a plan or whatever, and I get so rigid, that's when things go awry. So just keeping it fun and making it I've always told people that this is my therapy and this is my quiet time in my prayer time. So if I keep all that together and I come in and just relax and have fun and keep all that going, then I'm in pretty good shape.
Why would you recommend Cracked Pot Studios to others?
I think it's a wonderful opportunity to meet people, new people. It's a wonderful way to challenge yourself to try something new. I've always loved art, but I never did pottery before, so I kind of jumped in and and just, I guess, allowed myself just to try different things. We have so many opportunities here. So you don't want to get real muddy and everything, but you kind of want to do what we have. We have the painting room where you can come in, the piece is already formed and ready. All you have to do is brush on the glaze and it works well. Or we have the hand build. It's not the wheel and not as precise, but you got the hand building guys. So much can be made there. So it's just, there's just there's just a great opportunity to meet people and then just to kind of explore different avenues of the pottery scene. But, it doesn't have to be the muddy mess on the wheel or, I mean, there's so many opportunities, I guess is the bottom line.