2022......ok lets see if we can find a happy place in this challenging world!

Welcome to a new year...everything is upside down and we just don't know what to expect....do we???!!!

I know that I will be hunkering down this year until I can see a clear path through this pandemic. As an ageing person I feel vulnerable, I have people who depend on me and I have lots that I want to do in my life. So, I have decided to spend this a year focusing on the things that are important to me. I will prioritise my health (which needs attention) and my family. I will continue to work on my garden and plant more and more indigenous plants. I will aim to finish building my wood kiln by the Autumn and work out how to fire it through the Winter. I will also be developing my studio practice, entering exhibitions and competitions (this is something I have held back on until now).

NB: I am excited to say that I have been selected as a finalist in The Tom Bass Art Prize which will open in March this year. Stay tuned for more info in future news posts.

Sadly I have to say I will not be teaching for the moment. I love ALL my students so much! However, I find it so hard to navigate through the do's and don'ts of Covid19 in regard to the practicalities of teaching in a private studio. Working out how to negotiate the different (and sometimes conflicting) needs of my students as they share the small studio space is complex. Understandably, different people have strong  ideas about  vaccination, social distancing, masks and air flow and then there is the potential of anyone getting sick at short notice and having to cancel classes. It all seems too difficult to keep everyone happy in such small classes and in such a small teaching space during a pandemic. Last year we had one term of classes at the start of the year and then lockdown meant that classes were cancelled for the rest of the year and all the students work sat in the studio until they could return for a day /week of glazing in November which I set up as a covid safe arrangement outside the studio and thankfully the weather was good to us.They completed their work with great results and then the studio was empty again. If classes were started and then stopped this year due to illness it would not be a good situation for me. I would not only lose my teaching work ( I would have to restock supplies) but I would also be restricted in how much work I could make and store for sale and exhibition if the studio shelves were full of unfinished students pottery again.

When life finds its feet again and we have learnt how to live with this silly Covid monster I will return to teaching.

So I will roll with the situation and spend 2022 on my art.

Our next family exhibition is planned for October 2023 so there is plenty to keep me busy. My brain is bursting with ideas and I feel fortunate to be an artist in these difficult times.

Stay well my friends and live creatively.