bodner045

A few mugs I made while in Hawaii My desk at the City of Refuge looking toward Japan. After my religious dose, I headed south and stopped at a coffee farm and museum.   The place was packed with people from a tour bus.   They looked like your typical American tourist, lots of people with money burning a whole in their pocket as they searched for interesting things to buy for gifts for others.   The shop tempted them all with samples of fresh baked rum cake, coffees and teas. There were tee shirts, colognes, 99 cents shell necklaces that I was tempted by until I saw they were made in the Philippines.   I found mass produced coffee cups with decals for $12-$22 dollars.   They were nothing special, just old fashioned looking coffee cups like restaurants used to use. So much money and how would they spend it?   Money was burning holes in there hands.   I walked around noticing only one person came into the museum that explained how the history of the ...

Reflections in the ocean at the City of Refuge on the Big Island of Hawaii You know we don’t have to reinvent the wheel.   Funny thing for a potter to say. We learn when we listen and you usually don’t learn a thing when you are talking unless you are evaluating recent knowledge.     I was visiting Pu’Uhonua o Honaunau, a historical park today, commonly called the City of Refuge, and heard some interesting words from a demonstrating wood carver and park ranger named Tom De Aguiar.   A young man walked by with his golden retrievers unleashed and the ranger said,   “Hey, you gotta get the dogs on a leash.”   The young man ignored him and instead of going after him or yelling, he mumbled a little under his breath and did not look angry or at all irritated.   He said, “There is a time to listen and there is a time to not listen.   The not listening person is the one not interested.   The one who is listening is learning their peace. ...

coffee beans growing on the Big Island of Hawaii, Kona Today I drove the island looking for potteries and coffee farms.   I want to know how others stay inspired and I will also tell you what works for me. The first potter I saw had a great set up.   Originally from Oregon he moved to Hawaii 18 years ago and started a pottery, gift shop, coffee and macadamia nut farm and also sells shaved ice.   The man’s shop was immaculate.   Never have I seen a coffee-roasting machine right next to a potter’s wheel and not a spot of dirt next to either one.   The shop was immaculate.   The sign read, pottery and coffee welcome and enter.   I pulled my rental car down the hill into his small private driveway and parking area.   An English bulldog who was simply doing his job announcing my arrival greeted me.   I stepped into the gallery and saw several crystal fired pots, jewelry, soaps, teas, canvas bags and a bar with a big shaved ice sign next to a ...

Forward I sit in a hotel room in Hawaii where I have finally isolated myself from the outside   world to write this book.   I have wanted to write this for several years, have started it a few times panicked thinking maybe I did not know enough after all.   Now I have regained   my confidence and I want to share what I   know from my years as a potter, a sculptor,   a wife and mother and a half way decent business person/artist/teacher.   I want to tell you how I have survived over 35 years in a fairly conservative community and stayed inspired and produced thousands of pots. I found a way to do it and enjoy it and not   ever give up.   Everyday I still wake with   more ideas and creative energy. I hope this book finds it way into the hands   of others like me who just wanted to make art and lots of it.   Communicating through   art is one of the most rewarding parts of my life. So follow me on this journey about surv...