Anderson Ranch: Day Three

So, I just got home from Paul Soldner's house. That's right, THE Paul Soldner, father of American Raku, first student of Peter Voulkos, and creator of numerous hilarious pottery equipment print ads. Soldner founded Anderson Ranch in 1968 and has a home in nearby Aspen. He and his daughter Stephanie host open houses in the summer about every other week, and all of the students at Anderson Ranch are invited. I got to sit at the dining room table with Soldner for a few moments, and when I left I felt like I'd just met Madonna. It's electrifying just to be in the physical presence of a man so important to American ceramics. By the way, this image is of a poster that was hanging in his studio. I'm sorry it's a bit blurry. The tagline reads, "Entertainment for Potters." Don't you just love it?

Today was a busy day in the studio. With the open house tonight, we all buckled down and worked, worked, worked. I didn't even have any time to take any photos of the new work created today. Our only bisque kilns get loaded early tomorrow morning, so everything had to get transferred to the drying room, which is a wood shed of sorts loaded with heat lamps and fans. It's kept at about 95 degrees and a night in that room will sure dry out any pot! It's like a little pottery sauna.

I feel like I've made some tremendous progress in these three short days. Aside from the fact that I miss my husband, pets, and my own bed, I really don't want to go home! This is such a truly fabulous opportunity to drop out of daily life for a short period of time and really surround yourself with great teachers and fellow artists. I may just come here every summer!