40 years ago I packed up my Connestoga wagon with all of my worldly possessions and sailed down the Interstate 95 corridor from Poughkeepsie, NY to Fredericksburg, Virginia. I thought that I was accepting a job managing the Fredericksburg Pottery, turns out I was starting a life! I will share some of the stories of… Read more »
I always enjoy the start of a new cycle in the studio…it’s always a time of great anticipation as I reinvent myself yet again. I have plenty of ideas for new work, but I also need to build up some of my standard inventory. Juggling those two is always a challenge, but I have a… Read more »
I have always been drawn to this medieval bottle form with it’s robust form and often over the top sprig decoration. I have had a beard all my adult life and it’s hard not to find some connection to the bearded men depicted on them. When I first learned of them they were referred to… Read more »
I received a bulky package in the mail today from my one and only Uncle Mike! He was going through papers from his father, my grandfather, John Jerome Murray. The package contained dozens of letters that I wrote to him and my grandmother in the mid-1970’s…when I left home at 18 I didn’t really ever… Read more »
The firing that I first thought might happen last Wednesday eventually happened on Monday. Now the kiln is cooling and I’ll unload tomorrow. The firing of the first chamber lasts about 16 hours and I start early in the morning so we’re not here too late into the evening. I hate getting up early, but… Read more »
I was able to spend a day and a half in Buffalo, New York on my return from Pinecroft. I was born in the 2nd ward in South Buffalo and grew up amidst the working class families, mainly Irish and Catholic, who supplied the labor for the steel mills and chemical plants that stood like… Read more »
I am choosing pots for my upcoming exhibition at the Cooley Gallery in Leesburg, Va. The opening is this Friday night, April 4th, from 6 – 9pm. I have participated in very few exhibitions over the years and when I have, they have tended to be as part of a larger group show. This, for… Read more »
I’ve been making pots now for 40 years and I’ve attended the NCECA conference just once (in Loiusville, Ky.) Each year as it approaches I have an ongoing internal struggle…it is a thrilling idea to be surrounded by like-minded folks and to see all of the exhibitions and sit in on some of the panel… Read more »
