dianekenney.net

Candle for Diane, Maastricht

My friends, Annette & Andrew Roberts-Gray lit a candle for me on their trip to Amsterdam. I like that it is – appropriately -the candle on the far left!

I am happy to be alive that’s all. I finally managed to update my Terra Cotta Gallery page – see what you think. I am definitely entering  a new zone since my first chemo treatment…I am curious and excited to see how my work will change from this life-changing adventure. Don’t worry, I promise not to start making busts of women with mangled bosoms! I do, however,  anticipate greater joy, color, and imagery creeping into my art work..in fact, it already has, in the Wall Tiles & pots.

On another note, I have decided to offer studio space at a reasonable price since I am not able to keep up with myself anymore in the studio, and I have such a wonderful, state-of-the art studio with a great wood kiln and soda kiln. Carbondale – in my humble opinion – has become the ceramic capital of the Western Slope of the Rockies. So many great young artists working in this area.  Send me an email: potter@sopris.net  if you want more info about this opportunity.

Okay. This website is supposed to be about my work in clay; it is  a professional website after all.  However, right now my main work seems to be about learning all I can from this experience of breast cancer.  It is changing my life in good ways and filling me with gratitude for the many, many kind acts and thoughts from so many people.    I am in awe of the quiet  heroism and resilience of so many people who have been through this experience. I am learning now to welcome this “event” as a life changing process that will make me a better artist and a more compassionate  and passionate  human being.

I start chemo tomorrow for every three weeks for 18 weeks.

PS The photo above is of me and John at the Carbondale Clay Center’s recent fundraiser. My cup is made by Lauren Mabry and John’s is a Ginny Beesley cup.

Studio work is somewhat on hold, rudely interrupted by breast cancer. I am still me, still feeling good, even after surgery 10 days ago. Climbed up two very steep trails in the last few days.  I feel calm and centered and strong. Years of working in my sanctuary of a studio in the company of the artist’s voice  and the miracle we call music and the gift of being outdoors daily,  in such  a beautiful place, have helped me deal with this. Not to mention my huge, big-hearted, extended family and much cherished friends.

Making art is still my focus – not disease.   Every fellow artist that I am privileged to know, also is committed to making their own lives a work of art…and this includes everything we open our hearts to or that finds us. This cancer thing is not a wake-up call…how can anyone function as an artist and not be awake and paying attention. At NCECA last month, my friend, Vicky Hansen quoted these lines to me: Everything is connected. Everything Changes. Pay attention. (Jane Hirschfield)

I am paying attention.

More to follow.

NCECA…A gathering of the clay tribe. Potters, sculptors, ceramic artists all..many of us are also conceptual artists, exploring ideas and pushing boundaries, no matter what the media, using clay – ceramic – fired earth as a primary material, not only the wheel as tool, but computers and imagination. We are, many of us, also teachers, writers, public speakers,  photographers,  carpenters, kiln firers, builders, philosophers, thinkers and makers of objects and created spaces.  We need chemistry, math and digital skills. We also  need physical strength and deep spiritual resources. Most of all, we need and use our hands and our hearts and ideas and intellects to make things in clay…some beautiful, some disturbing, some simply amazing.   Does it matter that we do what we do? Some days I question this, but seeing the depth and breadth of the work and its makers in Phoenix last week -well, I am convinced that it matters that we do what we do.

This is the tile I donated for the Potters for Peace Auction in honor of Ron Rivera. He used his skills and talents and precious life to teach people in underdeveloped countries around the world, how to make low tech, ceramic water filters so they could have clean water. A pretty great thing to do!

A lifetime isn't enough for the beauty of this world. (Mary Oliver, poet)

This week I have been working non-stop to meet a deadline for a show opening Friday. It’s been a solitary retreat, sometimes  late at night listening to a mix of jazz and Tibetan music, chanting monks and  soulful horns,  seasoned with words of the Dalai Lama, like, “the artist’s job is to serve..to give hope..give them hope”.

Work has become a prayer and an act of love.

A poem by Mary Oliver is on my mind…No matter who you are, no matter how lonely, the world offers itself to your imagination, Over and over, announcing your place in the family of things. [Wild Geese]

I will post images soon.

Akar Gallery’s wonderful  show of teabowls  (Yunomis) -  the “You Know Me”  sale and exhibit is now online!

Check it out!

I think that my teabowls pictured here may still be  for sale.

Leafy Green Teabowl

Leafy Yunomi

These two face cups of mine are in the Akar show on sale now!

I have a show opening in a week…here are a few images of some of the work I have yet to do!  Wish me luck!

Terra Cotta Animal Plates - I decided that since humans are animals, too, I can put humans on the salad plates, why not?

Ready for Action! Fun!

Springtime in the Rockies, the path to my studio on March 26th!

Rainbow

The luck of the Irish was with me last night in my studio. Here’s what happened…I was mixing a glaze recipe using my gram scale and I accidentally added 500 extra grams to the first of three ingredients. My first instinct was to throw it all out and start over but then my math kicked in and I wanted to make Sister Virginia Marie Cashion proud of me. She was my strict Irish math teacher at Marywood HS, in Evanston, Il,  many years ago. I did simple algabra, figured out percentages for the new amounts and ended up mixing 6666 grams of my glaze instead of 5000, but I kept the proportions right. That felt really good to me, in fact, it was fun to figure, and I said a prayer of thanks to Sr. Virginia Marie! Here’s a quote I like from Nuala O’Faolain: The Irish people are gifted in living. They risk themselves all the time. They drink like fish and dance and stay up late. They live intensely. It’s a way of life a I’m very attracted to and admire.

I want this spirit to be in my work. It may not seem very exciting to be mixing a glaze in my studio alone on St. Patrick’s Day night-but you know what, it is! Well, if not totally  exciting, at least it is simply a satisfying thing to be doing.

And, I want to risk myself all the time in my work. Otherwise, what’s the point?

The other bright spot of my St Paddy’s Day was rediscovering another “Marywood girl” from my very class who has written yet another book, called Galway Bay. Her name is Mary Pat Kelly [how could it be anything else?] and I couldn’t be more excited to re-connect with her and read this book! Check it out!

I just updated my  LINKS page and my CONTACT page and my BIO page. Whew! See what you think…