I have been a Potter for over thirty years. When my children were all in school, I began classes at Southwest Texas State in San Marcos, Texas. I fully intended on getting a Teachers Certificate and teaching English. I immediately fell in love with clay. All it took was one class and I was hooked. I graduated from SWTS in 1981 and after a short delay I set up a studio in my home at Canyon Lake.
My biggest supporter was my husband Bill. Three kilns, a potters wheel, slab roller, extruder and a garage full of tools and glazes I began approaching galleries. My dream was to have my own gallery someday. I became a member of the New Braunfels Art League and exhibited my work in our Gallery. Had my work in the River Art Gallery at La Villita in San Antonio, Texas. With Visitors and Tourists my work is now located in Homes and Businesses all over the World. I was in several other small galleries and began giving a few small workshops. In 2002 I went in with five other Artists and we opened Gallerie at Gruene, in Gruene Texas. I continued working there until 2012. During this time I took multiple workshops and classes to learn as much as I could about my craft. Things change, I grew older and have had to slow down just a bit. I moved from Canyon Lake to Seguin. My studio is set up at my home. I just invested in another kiln, so I now have four. I still can say I love working with clay just as much today as I did when I started. To take a ball of clay and watch it turn into something beautiful, still amazes me. To load a kiln, watching it fire throughout the day, then having to let it cool down before I open it is extremely hard. I guess that is why I like to Raku so very much. I can see the results in a short time. I don’t have to wait hours for the kiln to cool. The pieces are pulled from the kiln hot. I use different techniques, and they fire to different temperatures. Horse Hair is fired to around 1700 degrees. The pieces pulled and hair from the tail of the horse is placed on the piece. The hair burns and carbonizes, making black squiggly lines on the ware. My metallic Raku pieces are fired to over 2000 degrees and then pulled. Quickly placed in another container with a combustible and then let cool, usually about 30 minutes. My husband created the glaze I use, and the results is always different. We always fought over the temperature to fire, he liked the solid copper colors and I like the copper with flashes of blue, gold, silver, purples. I can say I will continue to do pottery as long as I am able. My mentor, Bertie Smith, was doing pottery until she turned 99. I always told her I wanted to be just like her when I grow up.
Today my work can be found at Linda Calvert Jacobson”s Wildflower Art Gallery in Wimberley, Texas and at the New Braunfels Art League Gallery in New Braunfels, Texas.