Time warp Tuesday! last chapter for me, my teaching. You saw a few Tuesdays ago I started teaching pre-school, then blind children then high school and finally, up until a year and a half ago, non-credit pottery classes at Cornell. My buddy Stev0 took these pics 3.5 years ago and some of you saw them blogged then.
Cornell had open ceramic studios and classes for anyone for 60+ years....then got rid of it. A really stupid and jerky thing to do, although obviously I had and still have a home studio, zillions of students and members of the community lose big time.
People would email me about grad school or looking for grants and advice, and I always wondered WHY. They thought I was a big deal professor, whereas actually we had contracts that paid us per hour....with less respect and pay than the aerobics teachers also under contract. NON CREDIT instructor means doodley squat at a place like Cornell, but we had a blast in that studio and it is a shame it is closed. I mean, working alone is fine, but hanging out with your pottery friends was awesome. (I used to wear glasses some of the time but my vision has changed a LOT in recent years...therefore the specs all the time now...funny to see myself without)
I was at the senior living facility where Penny volunteers every Monday....and they had made her their poster child! Well, bottom left here on the holiday card with her name on back!
Speaking of Stev0, he came over on Sunday which was a really warm day, we ran six miles and earn the brewski, a weekend habit of ours....Penny loves her uncle Stev0....
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16 comments:
Spike looks good on his pedestal, which of course, is where all cats belong. If he's anything like my cats he is utterly disdainful of Penny's being a poster girl.
WELL DONE, PENNY!!!
I know whereof you speak re: the classes. We tell our children to 'think outside the box', yet educators happily cut all the programs that encourage creative thinking.
Uhhhh.....do you think this is a rather large hobby horse of mine? I need a tall ladder to dismount!
Obviously I missed something, somehow I had not registered that you weren't still teaching at Cornell.
I agree with you. It's a very short-sighted thing to do, shutting down that facility. Unfortunately, ceramics classes seem to be disappearing all over the place. They're seen as too expensive, perhaps?
But wonderful therapy for all manner of people.
You have equipment, insurance, liability, supplies, facilities, all are very expensive to start BUT CORNELL ALREADY had them in place, and chose to dismantle it. It sucked.
What strikes me the most, looking at these is that you are relatively clay- free! When I would leave, after trying to make the perfect pot, I would have clay on my clothes, on my face, in my hair. Perhaps I was doing something wrong?! :)
Do you know who was the artist of the Love sculpture in NY? Or is it just part of the pop culture of the 70s? You all look so great in front of it.
Robert Indiana, it's made of cor-ten steel. I think the original is in the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Many reproductions world wide in other languages. As I recall Indiana never copyrighted the design so he did not make any profit from the multiple uses the design has enjoyed. (Pulled from the depths of art history knowledge; I may be wrong!)
So sad when schools dump their ceramics programs. Too bad you didn't have some extra space and wheels to teach a small group at your home studio. I am sure many of those students are missing the class experience they had with you.
I taught there because it was a good overall opportunity, but I do not enjoy teaching ANYMORE, I enjoy MAKING! I am amazed I used to teach....I have absolutely NO desire to teach anybody NOW, and if somebody asks me these days I say "it would cost you 30 dollars for a half hour PLUS expenses for materials". But I think I am gonna up that to 50 dollars an hour +
:)
There have been no takers.....
Wow, beer on the deck in T-shirts! That is warm weather indeed!
Congratulations to Penny (and of course to YOU!) and Spike looks mighty good there with a lovely portrait behind him.
I'm still sad they closed that ceramic studio... it seems like such a waste (esp. since it was all set up!) and a huge loss to the community.
Loved seeing these photos of you, and of course Spike deserves a pedestal to perch on.
I have retired from teaching and selling pottery in a business capacity. I have several students who I have become great friends with that come to our studio just to have fun. Also family and friends are always invited to come anytime to have fun in the studio.
we know just make stuff for fun and share the fun with others. The business part just got too stressful for me Gary. All that continually paper work, reading all the IRS and State materials with all their constant changes. I got so tired of the tremendous amounts of bookkeeping. When I used to have to talk to the tax people you would think I was EXXON....bwhahahha really. I barely squeaked by, I didn't do this to become rich in a monetary sense, I did it to share with others and have a great time doing it. All the tax forms, registrations, permits, annual fees, yuck, enough already. Just too much for me. Just because I can do bookkeeping doesn't mean I like it....UGH AND DOUBLE UGH! Sucko boring to me.
I hear ya on the schools, we used to teach an Adult/Children night school at the local High School, all the f.......g politics....boo boring. Couldn't stand it. Gosh I just wanted to make pots for crying out loud.
So glad Penny made it to the big time, she deserves it for being so sweet. Wow, on a annual XMas card, congrats to that sweet little Beagle Girl....GO PENNY!
Too bad universities have have gone the way of corporations and don't fill a place in the collective good of the community anymore.
Hooray for Penny! And for Spike! And for you too Gary! I too have wondered how you throw pots and stay so clean. Not like that scene in Ghost at all. Ha ha. :)
it's a shame Cornell did that...you'd think they were hurting financially...*rolls eyes*
That's a lovely painting in the picture with Spike!
Spike is a natural!
I believe I DO remember some of these pics from the first time around. I think that's very interesting that you no longer like teaching. Hmmm.
The trunk totes works.
Sigh, I am sad they closed the studio too, that was my favorite thing about my first summer there! Funny to think I didn't know you much (i.e. read your blog) then!
So the demise of ceramics studios is a world wide trend! I have just convinced my TAFE college to start night classes again after many years in remission, all the equipment sitting there collecting dust was frustrating me. On the first night I was reminded that night classes are not necessarily about learning the craft, that is an aside from a good reason to get out of the house and meet people. Its really about creative fullfillment of the community. A mental health fitnes class if you will. Fingers crossed it keeps going for a while, if not the pottery club will have to do for those who are interested.
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