Patience

“Patience is a virtue, Possess it if you can, Seldom found in woman, Never found in man”

A quote (possibly controversial) by a philosopher named John Dewey. I think honestly he had it right. It's hard to posses such a fine quality as patience especially in todays fast paced world. It's often hard even at my old, wise age of 22 years old to look back, and remember when we only HAD dial-up connections, and do you even remember a time before texting? How liberating it was to not be glued to a mini LCD screen, but none the less, I am quite thankful technology.

This mentality almost got the better of me today. After working a long day at work, I ran over to the Houston House to check on some new pieces I had fired the night previous. I was so anxious to see them that I lifted the lid this evening forgetting that lifting the kiln lid even a few HOURS after firing can cause stress fractures in pieces from the vast temperature difference.

Luckily, I heard no cracking, but my pieces were still too toasty warm to pick up out of the kiln, so they'll hang out in there till tomorrow.

I am not the only one who suffers from a lack of patience. My very own husband who has been slip casting with some 1960's Holland molds is like an anxious child on Christmas morning. Sadly he can't contain himself and often I find him within a couple of hours he's clawing to see if his mold turns out. We've been having a hell of a time with a very big leaf mold. We've casted two times with no success, but practice makes perfect, but buying more ceramic slip makes my pocket book awfully sore.

Another practice of patience is that the kiln we use is still a manual kiln. With many models today you simply set and go. With a manual you have to stay and slowly ramp up the temperatures to make sure your pieces don't heat too quickly. This often takes up our Sunday afternoons. I don't mind it, but boy does Paul get antsy.

Okay, so I can't blame everything on Paul's lack of patience. I've always been in a hurry to finish projects. I've never simply sat down and paid attention to detail. I hate it, I always want to see that finished product and quick. It feels as if I don't finish my project quickly then my creativity in my brain will implode killing all around. This is not only in my ceramics, but in art as well. I'm sure I could be utterly brilliant, but Bob Ross has taught me that you can create a masterpieces within minutes.

Perhaps everyone is in need of a little practice with patience.

Allo!

Ah... another blog, another set of introductions and explanations.

My name is Tiffany Christopher.
A few years ago I was required to take a ceramics class for a college course in order to maintain full time hours, so I could remain on my parents insurance. I absolutely, dreaded the thought of taking a ceramics course.

Flash back to around 1998, or possibly even 2000. My Grandma in West Virginia bought me one of those cheap craft pottery wheel kits they sell in the children's crafts section. They make it seem so easy that almost ANYONE at ANY age can too become a master potter. Well, all we ended up with was a giant clump of brown clay and a mess in the kitchen. I wasn't mortified, but my experience left a bad taste in my mouth about ever bothering with clay again.

Anyways, back to the future, around 2008!

I went into the ceramics class un-enthused and expecting to lag behind and struggle, but instead, I had a wonderful instructor who spent numerous years working for pottery studios and mass production pottery companies. As sad as it is, I don't recall his name, but I remember him driving an hour away from W.V. just to come and teach class. I relished every tip, theory, and lesson he taught, while everyone else in the class whined about what they were making, I was racking my brain for creative ideas, because one thing he taught was that you can make almost ANYTHING you can possibly imagine out of clay.

I passed every art class I had taken with straight 'A's. I'm proud to boast, and most of my teachers applauded my work done in drawing, and creative vision, but the critiques I was given by my ceramics teacher really stuck with me. He really enjoyed my work, and I remember him coming up to me and saying, "You know, I have worked many years with potters my age who make the same items you do, but never are they as creative with their pieces, and they still charge hundreds of dollars for them."

That thought always stayed with me.

A few years passed, I moved, got married, and forgot about ceramics, and fine arts and focused most of my attention to programming and digital arts to finish off my degree. (Though I never did finish it.)

After a short period in North Carolina for a corporate job, I moved back home to Marysville Ohio to take ANOTHER corporate job, which would offer me as much as I would have made as a graphic designer, so I am happy financially, but the job can be mentally draining, and I needed an outlet once more.

The Marysville Art League and Houston house was so very kind to let me come and use their facilities to do what I have a rekindled passion to do. I am so very grateful to them for all they have let me do, the facilities and materials they've let me use and I want to try my hardest to help them help the community as much as they possibly can. It's so sad to see the art world disappearing, but that's a WHOLE other blog post.

THE POINT OF ALL OF THIS: I started Little Black Dog Pottery ( the name is based after my very own little black dog named Abby) to give me a creative outlet to surround myself in after long days of work and mind draining numbness. It is SOO important to never lose your creativity. Without your creative nature, you are nothing, but an empty shell, who functions as programmed to do so. This is my outlet, but this time, I'm going to try and make a little money from it all, and perhaps someday I can repay those financially, and through teaching, and help those who want pursue arts and find their artistic passions that they never knew existed.

I will start posting pieces from start to finish, and I am definitely, going to be posting the details to my entire experience in all this.