bodner045

We are getting ready to have a good time making pottery again with new classes at Brookside Pottery. These are the most recently scheduled classes and of course I will do spontaneous get togethers, scout troops, birthday parties, ladies night out, parent/child classes and most recently Bunko groups as well. The next beginning class starts Tuesday, Sept 1st from 6-9:30 pm. The cost is $150 for 6 weeks plus materials about $38. You will learn the basic hand building techniques, glazing and more. Dress comfortably, trim those nails and bring something to drink. I have the tools and clay you need. I demonstrate a new technique every night and you can monkey see monkey do or if you have I particular project in mind using the basic technique of the evening we will make it happen. The class is full of a lot of information and is a lot of fun. You can work and socialize as much as your heart desires. You won't be bored and you will learn a lot. I think there is one space available as o...

Brookside Pottery is here to help you learn the art & earn your pottery badge in an artist's studio. I have been helping scouts earn their pottery badges for years and I can help you too. See the details below and spread the word. If you have any questions about earning the badge and how we can do it, just give me a call. The studio is also available for helping scouts make great Christmas presents or have really fun get togethers and birthday parties. Who? All scouts and other interested persons who need help learning the basics of pottery making. I have the knowledge, equipment and space to make this fun. Over the past 35 years many local scouts have come to Brookside Pottery to make pottery and complete the pottery badge requirements. What? Any kind of scout or organization badge you need. Just bring me a copy of your requirements and I can make it happen. Where? Brookside Pottery is now located at 1138D East 37th Street, down the alley off 37th Street. It is a sm...

Crone? Is that something I ever want to be? Am I really that old? Is it time to start thinking "Old?" Lisa Wilson presented her one-woman play at the Nightingale Theatre last night and sure enough, she is four years younger than I am and there were the issues. Madness? Mid-life crisis? Menopause? Family? It was a personal journal that hit home for me and for my husband as well. We left the theatre with insight and insecurity. Were all these problems just around the corner for us as well and truly unavoidable? Yes. I continue to think through these issues today after seeing the play and confess I have actually been thinking about this all these heavy issues all this week anyway, waiting for my cortisone shot in my arm to save me. Lisa deals with her drug-ridden, bi-polar sister, her needy and independent Mother who gets remarried at 71 and has a terrific 17-year marriage. Her Mother dies from congestive heart failure, brought on by the stress of Lisa's younger sis...

A special order complete for Karen Keith barely fits in the kiln. Based on an original concrete idea from below Mexico, this piece serves as a birdbath outside. It was a challenge in clay because of the original thickness and size of the design. It had to be fired sitting on a half shelf and hanging over. This photo shows the original broken figure and a mock up which stimulates the ideas for my new angels. Oops, so I never blow up anything, or had not blown up anything in about 25 years. The new figure was sitting there when I closed the lid of the kiln. I looked in the kiln after several weeks of work and 2 months drying and pow- nothing but clay shards, Was it damp or was there a secret air pocket I forgot about. I feared opening the kiln but it survived with no harm done. Another reason to have a top of the line L&L kiln. And of course, I happen to sell them as well. Months of work, gone. Luckily hardly anything in the kiln was damaged. I heard it pop while firing and ...

There we were all summer long teaching in the camp in the Poconos and every now and then we got a little break and had some fun. I was only there for four plus weeks but they were there for 8 weeks most of them from Israel, escaping the summer heat, wonderful professional artists and scientists and we had a great time getting to know each other. Some were from Israel, some NYC and Canada. We had a wonderful time and the kids learned from out professional experiences as well. The quality of the staff was terrific and sometimes we got to play a little. Yaell cools her feet in the Deleware River waterfall. She has done a wonderful painted series about women's feet and taught jewelry at the camp. up up the steps in the Highpoint State Park Pennacle we all had sore legs for 3 days 40cent wing night at a local restaurant was a good relief from camp food sharing ideas and stories We escaped to the waterfall one morning with bagels for breakfast, getting inspired by the environment ...

Just got an email from my good friend Tom Ackley and he has completed his ever so wonderful B&B in San Ramon, Costa Rica. It is really looking good and he is ready for business and the word is getting out about their beautiful new cabins and what terrific cooks they are as well. I highly recommend staying with them if you are heading to Costa Rica. They are wonderful company, great cooks and grow a lot of the food they are serving as well. There are the latest photos and go back to January 2009 and you can see what a great time we had while I was there as well as many more photos of their B&B and all the incredible food and music too. It is really looking good Tom! I am still hoping to bring a pottery class down as well! Go to www.vistavalverde.com for more info.

Roxy Paine's stainless steel trees on top of the Met in NYC, just like in the yard of the contemporary museum in Fort Worth. The view overlooks Manhattan. Wow. Trees in Central Park in NYC Waterfall on the Deleware River in the Poconos where we slipped out for breakfast one morning. Well, well, well. So I go to the arm doctor and my super woman strengths have worked against me. I am not wimping out but, I gotta rest my arm for 5 days. The doctor was a real sweetheart of a knowledgeable man so I really ought to do what he says. It is just not easy to STOP. After 35 years and many pots and lifting clay on a daily basis there may be a rotary cuff problem, maybe. Maybe I should not have unloaded 5,000 pounds of clay in one week but it was fun while it lasted. There is a bone spur and arthritis and maybe an aggravated rotary tear or something. But first there is the cortisone shot and 5 days of not making stuff to see if that will suffice. So I agreed to not throw and begged to...

We walked through central park finding our way to galleries and museums from the subway. Looking off the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art shows a lovely NYC skyline. Times Square has a special area with room for lawn chairs for people watching and making it more neighborly than it used to be. I think it was part of the parks dept making it happen. The pottery building where I spent most of my time teaching at camp. The throwing room has a beautiful panoramic view overlooking the trees and lake at the camp. There were 12 brent wheels for the students and my wheel to teach from. Take note of the 100's of little pots we made in the background. It was a great place to teach and learn. Sometimes I wonder how most of America lives. Sometimes it seems like Tulsa OK is a "normal" place to live, and then I visit somewhere else. After teaching in a camp in the Poconos for over a month and having easy access to NYC I began to feel a bit deprived, not to be confused ...