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georgia_the_potter

Georgia Donnelly


Artist
donnellypottery.etsy.com
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Photo by Georgia Donnelly on April 04, 2021.
Photo shared by Georgia Donnelly on April 03, 2021 tagging @kentuckymudworks, and @japan_crafts. May be an image of coffee cup and indoor.
Photo shared by Georgia Donnelly on April 02, 2021 tagging @skuttkilns, @kentuckymudworks, and @japan_crafts. May be an image of coffee cup.
Photo by Georgia Donnelly on April 01, 2021. May be an image of coffee cup.
Photo by Georgia Donnelly on March 31, 2021. May be an image of indoor.
Photo by Georgia Donnelly on March 30, 2021.
Photo by Georgia Donnelly on March 29, 2021. May be an image of jewelry.
Photo shared by Georgia Donnelly on March 28, 2021 tagging @kentuckymudworks, and @japan_crafts. May be an image of indoor.
Photo by Georgia Donnelly on March 27, 2021. May be an image of coffee cup.
Today’s March meet the maker is #favorite and that’s tricky, do I show you my favorite pot? My favorite person? Well I decided to show you one of my favorite parts of my process. Generally to be honest, there isn’t much about making that I don’t like. But dipping a pot into glaze and watching my wax resist do it’s thing....ohhhh it’s just so satisfying. Watch with sound on for the full experience.
Photo by Georgia Donnelly on March 25, 2021. May be an image of coffee cup and indoor.
Photo by Georgia Donnelly on March 24, 2021.
March meet the maker day 23 #jobs I wear a lot of hats. Not only inside my studio, but outside too. I’m a mom to two crazy kids, a wife, and a dreadful housekeeper. I have a day job too that keeps me on my toes.
March meet the maker day 22 #handson Hands on. I think for a potter that one is pretty obvious. But there’s a lot more to it when you’re a one person business. Hands on just for the actual pottery part of it, means I’m handling each pot at least on 12 or more separate occasions between making each piece to pulling it out of the kiln for the last time. Beyond that, there’s photography and marketing, packing and shipping, kiln maintenance, glaze making, admin and bookkeeping and general studio maintenance and upkeep. (Im really good at some of those tasks and really bad at some of them too) but I still do them all myself. I’m hands on because i love what I do. And maybe I’m a control freak too. Possibly.
Photo by Georgia Donnelly on March 21, 2021.
March meet the maker day 21 #freespace so today I thought I’d formally introduce a new thing I’ve been making. I’ve made a bunch of these and given some away to research and critique, and I think I’ve gotten the hang of it. You know it’s funny I’ve spent so much time teaching pottery in schools, community centers and camp settings and college campuses, that you can imagine how many times I’ve had to discourage and veto pipes going into the kilns that I was in charge of. Like many many times. And I’ve thought about making these in the past but never did. But here they are! I’m pretty excited about them, ya know because new things are exciting and fun to make.
March meet the maker day 19. The prompt is #silverlinings and to talk about silver linings there has to be a cloud. Right? Well because of the pandemic, I lost my full time job way back last March I lost my part time job too and I lost a dear friend. But I also was able to rebuild my studio, spend the summer with my kids, and get my own pottery back up and running. And spring is coming! New England winters are rough. But they make the warmer weather days that much nicer.
March meet the maker day 18. Today’s prompt is #colour and honestly I don’t use that much color in my work. With a few exceptions most of my pots are white with some blue accents or exposed unglazed brown clay. But I have been adding a little sparkle to things lately. Not too much I don’t think. But enough to make you look twice or just stop and stare (hopefully both 😉). Adding gold accents to my pots is a big extra step, I paint the gold onto an otherwise finished pot while wearing a respirator mask and then fire it all for a third time. All in all, I think it’s worth it though.
March Meet the Maker day 15! Today I get to talk about my #focusandpriorities I have been focusing on some new designs lately, some of which are pictured here while trying to stay streamlined with my work. And trying to prioritize getting a little greener by working on my packaging a lot. From moving away from plastic tape to substituting some of my bubble wrap with a perforated paper. A lot of times I need to take a step back and “reign it in” because I do tend to stretch myself really thin between my responsibilities and creative ideas and projects. But then again, I wouldn’t be me otherwise!
March meet the Maker #freespace I was hoping to show off some new pots out of my kiln this morning, but I accidentally bisque fired everything instead of glaze fired. Not to worry though I’m re-firing and all should be well! So instead I thought I’d re introduce our pandemic dog. This is Maxx. He’s a bit wild still, but he’s starting to get the hang of domesticated life. Sleeping on our bed, and taking over the couch has come quite naturally to him. 😉 and I think he likes it here. 💕
March meet the maker day 12 #inuse I absolutely love seeing my work “out in the wild.” This is what I make these pots for. I want them to be used, and loved. When I’m tagged on Facebook or Instagram or when someone posts a photo in their Etsy review, I couldn’t be happier! Not only does is tell me that my customer is happy, but it shows my work to an audience I might not reach myself and helps me continue to make and sell my work.
March Meet The Maker #portrait . This one was a bit difficult. I’m much more comfortable taking portraits of my work or my kids, but here I am! My kiln is cooling down behind me from a successful bisque firing, and I’ll be pretty busy glazing and reloading this weekend to try to have a new batch of pieces by Sunday hopefully.
March meet the maker. #smalldetails When someone orders my pottery, I try to package up their order like a really thoughtful gift. I wrap it up in tissue paper, I write a note, I try to throw in some extra goodies, and I decorate the shipping box too. In a time where we order so much online, and packages in the mail may not be as unusual as they used to be, I want my pottery to stand out.
March meet the Maker day 9: Learning Curve. My first pottery class was in high school, he was actually the metal shop instructor, so the only thing I learned in that class was that I really enjoyed playing with clay. I stayed away from the wheel completely back then. Then after high school and while I went to college, I apprenticed with the man in the first picture. Don Thieberger was an incredibly gifted potter and artist, and completely silly through and through. I learned all the basics of throwing and a few parlor tricks from him. Like how to teach others what I knew, how to center on two wheels at the same time, and a lot about being a professional potter. The next slide, Is some mugs that I was really proud around this time (circa 1999). After a while I found this opportunity to travel to France and make some pots there. And that’s me taking pots out of a Raku kiln in the beautiful southern French country side. When I came back home, I decided was ready to graduate from my apprenticeship in my home state of NJ and applied to be a production potter in Vermont. And to my surprise I got the job! Thats a photo of my “office.” I refer to that job as my “pottery boot camp” and when I started there another potter told me, this is where you’ll really find out how much you love making pottery or you’ll decide you hate it. Obviously I don’t hate it! Being a production potter really honed my skills to the point that i could really control and manipulate the clay to exactly what I set out to do. That last photo is an outtake from a photo shoot that ended up in a magazine in 2004ish, and the photographer was kind enough to give me a few of those photos. Since then I’ve jad my own studio, run art centers, taught in community studios and universities, and was even a production potter a second round. But I’m still learning. I soak up everything I can, from other potters on social media, to the literal stack of pottery books and magazines on my nightstand. My learning curve hasn’t plateaued yet!
March Meet the Maker day 6 so the prompt for today is “Free space” and that’s actually pretty ironic considering how little free space I have in my studio. Everything is just about within arms reach, it’s cramped and I admittedly have more things than I need or use regularly in there. But just about everyone in my house, (except James who’s got his own “man cave” space in the house) tends to find a spot in my studio while I’m in there to hand out with me. In the first picture is Hank, who is my art director/model when I do my photo shoots, then Abigail who usually prefers texturizing slabs and hand building, Maxx who goes between snuggling up to my space heater, to barking and any leaf, squirrel, or pedestrian who comes within 50ft of the studio windows, Dean quality control cat, and Danny my apprentice and budding potter. Fortunately they are not all in there at once, but sometimes they’d like to be.
Here’s my “March meet the maker” day 5. #newestmake I made a really big bowl the other day. Like really big. But it was kinda boring. So I altered it into this! I’m kinda loving it 💕 and wishing I had a dining table big enough to do it justice.
#marchmeetthemaker day 4. (yes I skipped a few to catch up!)Today’s prompt is “your desk” and really this is where I get most of my work done. I have my wheel set up on cinder blocks so that I stand while I’m throwing. My studio is about 200sq ft so my kiln is in arms reach behind me to my left, and I look out to the yard which is great so that I can multitask and watch the kids play outside while I throw. I have deep window sills that are filled with pots and also a radio and my ring dish that almost always has my rings in it because I never remember to put them back on. What’s on my wheel right here is what I made this afternoon. I decided that I needed some taller lamps so I made some. This is 16” tall right now, but it will end up being closer to 13”-14” when it’s all finished. Also my studio is always a mess. Always. And I’m always trying to organize and clean up, sometimes I see photos of other potters studios and I think, “but where do they work?” Ha ha ha.
It’s March! And that means #marchmeetthemaker time! So naturally I’m a few days late, day one is Brand introduction. If I had to describe my work I would call it rustic and feminine, modern farmhouse-y, cozy and comfortable, and not boring to look at or to feel. I like to put visual and tactile textures on my work, I like making functional pieces and I hope that they become someone’s everyday favorite to use.
Hank is very interested in all the glaze books I’ve been reading.
Cheers! L’Chaim! Slánte! Cin cin! Salud! Kanpai! Za zdarovye! to health and happiness in any language is what I wish for us all. 💕
How do you tell someone you’re a potter without actually telling them?? 😂😂😂
“Do you have that in blue?” Well actually yes I do!