Ho-Ho Holter

A couple of nights ago I went to my first opening, as a participating artist, at the Holter Museum of Art here in Helena. It's the annual Ho Ho Holter Christmas pottery show where they invite something like 100 different ceramic potters from the region to show. I felt grateful to be asked earlier this summer. The woman who runs the gallery and set up there had seen my website and emailed me. That website actually worked! All I needed was about 11-20 pieces. Easy I thought... sure that'd be awesome. As the summer went by, pots for Free Ceramics were flying out of the door and our wood kiln was going up...quickly I realized I was running out of time. For about a week I spent hours and hours trying to make some decent work while still doing my day job. It was super crunch time and with a bit of finagling with some residents I secured the salt kiln at the Bray to fire and be unloaded the day the pots were due. Everything went smoothly...and with a serious lack of sleep I cranked out some pots, fired, and unloaded the pots. The pots went from the kiln to a shelf, where I had some sand paper...then to a box and directly to the Holter just 5 minutes before the deadline. At the opening I actually got to look at what I made. I'm ok with the outcome..but, I don't know.. I never feel as if my work is good enough...it can always get better. And plus some of my favorites were selling work too, like my all time fav, Josh DeWeese and the super skilled super-potter-woman, Sarah Jaeger. Knowing that I was showing with them made me more nervous. But to say the least I noticed a few hands with my cups or plates walking around and was glad to hear the positive feed back from fellow ceramic artists or people whom I knew, that didn't know I made pots. It was a fun evening and the martini's had way too much vodka... but I'm not complaining...