Cleaning, Purging, Writing and Glazing

This week I finally got a chance to get back to cleaning my work office. I didn't make much progress on the floor (though I did give some hanging files a new home in the adjunct office), but I did clear some work surfaces. In fact, the desk and the table haven't been this clear in the entire time that I have had ownership of the office. Several of the jars of pens, pencils and Xacto knives came with the office, as did an old scanner. I felt pretty good about actually wiping down the surfaces of the desks for the first time in my experience.

clean office desk (I gave away the folder on the desk the next day)

When I came to the office, I brought my computer and printer, but inherited the scanner. I didn't know how to hook it up and Tech. Services didn't do it for me. After six months of stacking papers on it, I realized that I can't be bothered to figure out how to install it, so I finally moved it to a shelf. Since I can easily scan documents and images in other ways, and since I've only ever scanned about three things at work in my entire career, I don't think I will regret the move.

massive stack of books I don't need and, apparently neither does anyone else

I also tried to clear some shelf space in the office. A book buyer came by to buy old textbooks. I was optimistic that he would help me purge my office shelves in preparation for the move to the new building--and, let's be honest, in preparation for putting the things on my floor onto the shelves. Unfortunately, the buyer bought 4 books. The remaining stack is roughly the same height as the desk itself. Maybe I can use the books as seating for guests to my newly cleaned office.

editing process for my essay

I don't have much to show for my other accomplishment of the week. I finished writing about a friend's photographs for his upcoming show catalog. I don't remember all the details for the show and I can't really publish my essay here, but my part is now complete. I'll talk up the book and the show when the time gets closer.

oh, that's the second layer? looks a lot like the first

I did spend a bit of time in the studio this weekend (after the Pirate Plunder) applying underglaze. Almost all the work I built over the summer now has one layer of fired underglaze and another brushed on. The next step is to wash away the top layer to reveal the fired layer underneath. Both steps are tedious so I prefer to run in muddy races, read strange books about Danish cartoonists and do almost anything else before I start to glaze. I managed to force myself to spend an hour in the studio this weekend (with the help of a good audiobook about the history of education in the US) before I was called away. Somehow I will have to get myself in there for a couple hours a week if I think I'm going to finish anything this year.

they will all be yellow soon

Final Audiobook Reviews of my Sabbatical

Earlier in the fall, during the boring process of applying underglaze to my pieces, I wrote about the audiobooks that kept me company in the studio for the past six months of my sabbatical. Later, while I was putting the work together and installing my show, I had more interesting things to write about (and more pictures to share), but I still have quite a few audiobooks I never got to review. Since some of the later books were some of the best (and one of the worst), I thought I'd get around to reviewing them today.

"Biomorph" from the stairway at the end of the reception

The Magicians by Lev Grossman
This was a terrible book. Horrible. Basically, Holden Caulfield is a teenage wizard. He goes to a nihilistic school for wizards. The listener's depression sets in. I am supposed to compare this book to Harry Potter, but I don't feel like insulting J. K. Rowling. The audiobook was due before I finished the last CD. I returned it anyway.

Longbourn by Jo Baker
I liked this book but the reviews I've read have been mixed. The story follows the original story of Pride and Prejudice without changes in events. We hear little of the goings on of the Bennett family, instead Baker's focus is on the servants. Unsurprisingly the servants have interesting lives apart from the family and their concerns are not directly the concerns of the family. I appreciated Baker's description of the more mundane aspects of work performed by the servants. Some readers were offended by a past relationship that involved a member of the Bennett family. I thought it seemed possible, even plausible, and didn't contradict anything written by Austen, though I don't suspect Austen intended it to be.

Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple
This book was lots of fun. It is set, at least most of the time, in Seattle. I thought the characters were likable (even if you might not want to actually try to work or live with them) and the way the story was put together from e-mails, notes, articles and other written documents was surprisingly fun to read. Especially if you're a bit familiar with Seattle, you should read this. However, if you've never been to Seattle, I still think you should read this.

Into the Beautiful North by Jose Alberto Urrea
This was the Big Read for Yakima this year. I am glad I read it, though I'm not sure I entirely enjoyed listening to the story. I sometimes have trouble with books that start out realistic then veer into highly improbable situations. That said, I didn't dislike it. I might even recommend it, but warn people to "willfully suspend their disbelief" when the characters seem to have an incredible run of lucky coincidences.

Her Royal Spyness by Rhys Bowen
This was a book. It was a daily deal on Audible. I read it and it didn't make me mad.

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
This one was excellent, but I feel like to tell too much would be to take away from future readers' enjoyment. I went into it knowing it was about two British women in WW2, one of them a pilot. I might have known the other was a spy. I expected great sadness and pain, but I didn't expect the excellent storytelling and wonderful characters. My favorite aspect of the book was the puzzle of how everything fit together. Oh, go read it before I spoil it!

Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi
Another great book with interesting characters who develop and react to events like real people (flaws and all), a complex situation with a range of possible interpretations, some science fiction, some political/social commentary (subtle, but still), and excellent storytelling and surprises. Put this on your list. Also, the audiobook is read by Will Wheaton. This was the second book I listened to in 2013 read by him; I'll look for more.

Sacre Bleu by Christopher Moore
The requisite art book for November, this book was sorta about painters and color but more about monsters. Ok, monsters might be a little excessive, but weird stuff happens. As a weird supernatural Christopher Moore book, it was decent. The art references were a nice addition. As an art book, it was lame. I guess I like my art books steeped in realistic history and complete accurate--that is to say, non-fiction.

Blackout by Connie Willis
Connie Willis is my new favorite author. I loved this book--not quite as hard as I loved The Doomsday Book, but it was pretty great. Fortunately or unfortunately, the book is only really half the story, so I had to read All Clear, the sequel, immediately. Both start with time traveling historians in 2060 but spend most of their time in London during the blitz. Lots of characters, lots of action, misunderstandings, history... Love it.

All Clear by Connie Willis
My main problem with Connie Willis' Oxford historians books is that there aren't enough of them. Willis has written other stuff, but I want to spend more time with these characters. Immediately.

Unnatural Selection by Mara Hvistendahl
The book is subtitled "choosing boys over girls and the consequences of a world full of men." The focus is not just on China's one child policy, but also on other countries (many of them is Asia, but not all) where sex selective abortion is allowing families with few children to choose boys and abort female fetuses. This trend stems from the traditionally higher value placed on men and boys. Contrary to what one might expect, fewer women in a society can actually put women in danger of sex slavery, violence and abduction. This book was fascinating. I thought I knew what to expect when I began to read but I was surprised over and over again. I highly recommend this book.

Bellwether by Connie Willis
After a brief Connie Willis hiatus, I needed to find more. This story does not involve time travel but it does involve science, sheep, fads and undercover administrative assistants. What's not to love?

Shakespeare's Local by Pete Brown
This sounded cooler than it was. If you're going to be in London, or if you are more familiar with London than I am, it is a neat, narrowly focused history. I would have enjoyed it at half the length, or on vacation in London.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
Eugenides is the author of The Virgin Suicides which I watched, but I don't really remember. I wanted the book to be Middlemarch and in some ways the sprawling epic story of three generations of a family had something in common with the George Eliot tome. The focus, as the author reminded us frequently, was on the youngest of the protagonists, a hermaphrodite raises as female Callie, later telling us the story as adult male Cal. The topic was interesting, the history too, but the whole didn't quite come together for me as an enjoyable read. It's one of those books with nothing wrong, exactly, but nothing quite good enough to make me like it. The one exception was descriptions of Detroit, which I enjoyed.

The Blind Watchmaker by Richard Dawkins
The book is well written but dated. It was published in 1986 and the author frequently compares his evolutionary data to computer technology that seems laughably limited by today's standards. I still liked the book a lot, but I found myself wanting an updated version--and not just to provide more appropriate analogies. I was especially curious to know what Dawkins would say to more recent articles and studies that seem to support a version of inherited acquired characteristics or Lamarckism. Dawkins completely refutes the concept with examples of how people used to believe that blacksmith's children inherited their fathers' upper body strength. I remember, however, reading about the possibility of inheriting acquired characteristics on a small scale in Discover or Smithsonian. The magazine's study came much later than Dawkin's book and I can only find minimal discussion of the idea in his contemporary writing. I'd love to hear him strongly refute the idea or adjust his explanations to account for the possibility of inheriting acquired characteristics.

view of the Esvelt Gallery from the third floor

You can still see my show, "Biomorph" at Esvelt Gallery on the Columbia Basic College campus in Pasco, WA through February 6, 2014. Gallery hours are M-Th 8am - 8:30pm and Friday 8am - noon. Admission is free. 

Glazing and more audiobooks

It's cold out there, folks. Unfortunately, my indoor home spray booth and ventilation system haven't been installed yet (maybe I should ask Santa...), so I am glazing outside during a windchill warning. On the plus side, noise canceling headphones (so I can hear my audiobook over the sound of the air compressor) and a face mask keep the top of me pretty warm.

bags on my feet because I don't want glaze on my insulated boots

I am writing just after coming in from 20 minutes of glazing. I have microwavable hand warmers in my slippers and I'm drinking hot tea to thaw the rest of me. I have, again, been glazing all week so I have a batch of pieces in the kiln and half a load glazed this morning and ready to go in this weekend. If all goes well, I should be able to start epoxying next week. The rest of today I will continue the unrelenting slog that is applying underglaze, but I will break the monotony with frigid glaze spraying sessions, followed up by hand warmers and tea.

 

The base of a bike part piece before and after spraying on glaze.

While we wait for more interesting things to happen, I have a few more audiobook reviews. I finished three books and started two more since my first audiobook post.

Zoo Story by Thomas French
This was more informational about zoos than a story about a particular zoo. It was alright.

14 by Peter Clines
Strange things happen in this apartment building. This sci-fi story was alright.

The Doomsday Book by Connie Willis
Wow, so that's why people are excited about Connie Willis. Last summer I listened to To Say Nothing of the Dog and just thought it was weird. The Doomsday Book, on the other hand, was amazing. A gripping story with a dose of sadness, comedy, interesting people, mystery, a bit of action and one of my favorite ingredients: people making understandable mistakes that lead to big trouble. More please. I simply loved the descriptions of the the kid and his candy.

The Reason I Jump by Naoki Higashida
John Stewart raved about this book, so I thought I'd give it a try. It is written by a Japanese boy who has Autism. He explains why autistic kids behave the way they do. It was somewhat interesting, but I didn't really find much new information in it.

Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg
I was hesitant to read this because I was afraid I'd get annoyed at the author telling me what I should or shouldn't do. There's been some controversy over the book and the author, but in my opinion that's just folks overreacting. She points out some legitimate gender issues, she also talks about stuff I simply can't relate to. (I would never have considered hiding my academic success from my classmates to get a date to prom--but, then I didn't go, so maybe I'm not a good judge.) If you wanted to be hard on Sandberg, you'd interpret her book as telling women that the only way to be successful is to follow her footsteps, but I think her book allows for a broader interpretation. My take-away was to think about what you really want to do and then do it. How can you argue with that?

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling
Dolores, you are so bad.

The Mote in God's Eye by Larry Niven
This is the second time I've tried to read a Larry Niven book. I just don't get it. Aliens, spaceships, boredom...

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by JK Rowling
Sniff. I need a break before the last one.

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
A friend un-recommended this. She said it wasn't great. But it was in the library, so I tried it. My friend was right. It wasn't great. Though, to be fair it wasn't terrible. If you like mysterious monsters and magical young women, go for it. There are more. I won't be reading them.

The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Hoover Bartlett
So this guy steals old books. He's a bit like all the people who collect old books. I thought I could relate to the people in this true story, but some of these people don't read the books. Why bother?

Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
This took me forever to finish. I actually read some and listened some, because I had the books linked between Audible and Kindle. The book started slow, maybe because I had already tried to start it years ago, but by the end I just loved the characters. An example of a classic living up to the hype.

The Stars Like Dust by Isaac Asimov
Years ago I used to read a lot of Asimov. I read all the Foundation books and must have liked them because I read more. I listened to all of this book, but I have no idea what it was about.

Panic and More Audiobooks in the Studio

Sometime this week it occurred to me that my sabbatical is almost over. It came as something of a surprise how little time is left. Somehow I hadn't been entirely aware of all the holidays and days off from school that happen in November and December. Since my moment of awareness, I have been spending my nights panicking about how I am going to get all my work done this year. I start my evening panic after an hour or two of glazing in the studio after my daughter's bedtime. Then I wake up in the morning to glaze before I wake her up.

Realistically I have been working as many hours a day as I would teaching. I have made a lot of work and done tests and built pieces and planned and written about my process. Unfortunately I am still worried about getting all the work done in time to be ready for my show in January. Ironically, I originally wrote my sabbatical proposal for two quarters and I would certainly be ahead of schedule if I had another three months to work.

As my brother points out, I always panic near the end of a project or work time, so it may all work out. On this Thanksgiving weekend, I am thankful for my mother-in-law cooking the turkey and her and the rest of the family playing with my daughter so that I can glaze during the day.

And, because I started this with my last post, I bring you some more short audiobook reviews:

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
The fourth book is not my favorite of the set, but the screwts are pretty cute.

Rabid by Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy
Yes, I listened to a book about rabies. What of it? It was actually an interesting book about the history of rabies in science and its cultural influences. After reading it, though, I was abnormally afraid that bats would fly into the house. I wanted to make sure my family would tell the doctors about the Milwaukee Protocol for treating rabies.

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
I chose this because its a classic, but I wasn't overawed by it. Classics seem to be like that, sometimes I'm amazed everyone isn't reading it (Middlemarch was great) and sometimes I don't see the appeal. Of course I'm not a big fan of monster movies and stories in general.

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
A fellow artist recommended this and he was right. The book is dense and long and very well done. It actually made me feel better about modern politics. These old guys were jerks.

The Long War by Terry Pratchett
I read everything I can of Terry Pratchett's. The Discworld books are my favorites, but his other stuff has been quite good. The Long War is actually the second book in a series, but I preferred it to the first, The Long Earth. The Long War seemed to have more action. Or maybe I listened in a better mood.

Visiting Tom by Michael Perry
I also read everything I can by Michael Perry. He's from small-town Wisconsin and his writing is detailed, funny, sad and always interesting. I was roaring out loud at his description of trying to not get a change made in the end of his street. He perfectly captures stupid bureaucracy.

The Convenient Marriage by Georgette Heyer
Heyer books aren't exactly memorable. Probably something silly happened and some people got married at the end. It was nice to listen to, but hardly sticky.

Machine Man by Max Barry
I think I read this because I enjoyed the first Max Barry I read, Lexicon. This one started out kinda funny and would have made a good short story, but by the end I was annoyed because the main character wasn't appealing. The plot revolved around a man designing and incorporating more and more prosthetic parts into his own body. I picked it because of the connection with the mechanical parts in my sculptures.

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
I just didn't enjoy this. There was nothing wrong with the story, I guess, but I found the main character whiny and weak. Terrible things happened to her but she just kinda let them. I guess it was important to the story or something. I didn't care by the end.

The Warmth of Other Suns by Isabel Wilkerson
This was amazing. Wow. The book examines the migration of African Americans from the south, plantations, and Jim Crow laws to the north and west. (One of the locations mentioned a few times is Beloit, Wisconsin where my family lived when I was little.) The book is so well written. The history is compelling on its own, but the writing is particularly good. The author focuses on three people's stories. She interweaves the three main stories and fills them in with quotes, anecdotes and statistics from a whole range of other interviews, published works and studies. This was perhaps the best book I read all summer.

The Murder of the Century by Paul Collins
This was supposed to be about this murder and how it was covered by and influenced journalism at the turn of the last century. It did this in the most boring and gruesome way possible. Don't read it.

Redshirts by John Scalzi
I stumbled upon this book with no expectations. I just loved the idea of the story. It's not too hard to anticipate what is going on in their spaceship, but I enjoyed listening to the characters figure it out and then deal with it. Unfortunately, Scalzi can't write dialogue. Every quote is followed by "said _______". It gets very repetitive.

The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht
The story was kinda interesting and the setting was completely new to me. Overall it was ok.

Sylvester by Georgette Heyer
See The Convenient Marriage above.

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
I didn't want to read this because it sounded sad, but reviews all seem to love it. And once you read it you will also understand why this book is so good and why it is not a "cancer book." Also, you should really read it.

Audiobooks in the Studio

During the summer and my sabbatical the soundtrack of my studio time is audiobooks. I subscribe to Audible and I check them out from the library. I also own a few books on tape and CD, though I only really re-listen to the Harry Potter series. I keep track of the books I listen to so that I can go back and see what I liked and find authors I want to listen to again.

This summer and fall I have (so far) listened to about 43 and a half books. During the first part of my sabbatical, I was building work and thinking about forms while I listened so I had other things to write about (and to think about). During the last few weeks, I have been applying coat after coat, layer after layer of underglaze. If it weren't for the audiobooks, the mind-numbing repetition of glaze application would have already driven me mad. I don't want to discuss the tedious under glazing process again (or even thing about it), but I can write about the books that have been my primary companions in the studio for the past five months.


So here they are, the first ten audiobooks of my sabbatical:

Winter of the World by Ken Follett
This is the second book in the Century Trilogy. I really enjoy Follett's historical trilogies. This one isn't quite as good as the first trilogy, but it's still pretty decent. And its better, in my opinion than the suspense/action books that make up the rest of Follett's oeuvre.

1984 by George Orwell
Ok, maybe it's weird that I never read this before, but I was only four in 1984 so it would always have been outdated. I thought the book was mostly forgettable. All I really remember is that the author was so obviously male; I don't believe a woman living in the conditions described would have this unexplained need to put on make-up and a dress and prance around for the author's enjoyment. Gag.

Lexicon by Max Barry
I stumbled across this story by accident. It's a fast paced, action sci-fi story about folks with extraordinary powers. I enjoyed it.

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
This book was highly recommended by a college classmate on Facebook. She owns a bookstore and the recommendation was sound. The book is for kids, but thoroughly enjoyable for adults. I have since shared it with my daughter.

An Object of Beauty by Steve Martin
Not my favorite Steve Martin book of the summer (that was "Born Standing Up") but not terrible. It's only sorta about art. It's mostly about relationships, if you like that sort of thing.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
The only audiobooks I generally listen to multiple times are all written by J.K. Rowling or Jane Austen. The first Harry Potter book isn't my favorite, but sometimes you gotta listen to the whole series in order. Anyway, my least favorite Harry Potter is still better than most of the books out there.

The Mismeasure of Man by Stephen Jay Gould
This is an older book, published in 1996, but still full of interesting information about historical and even relatively recent methods of "testing" for intellectual abilities. Listening, I was repeatedly appalled by the assumptions and policies made by uneducated or biased people made back in the day. And then I'd realize these things are still happening. This book made me think differently. I highly recommend it.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
See Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
Ok, we can argue about whether Prisoner of Azkaban or Order of the Phoenix is better, but everyone must agree that PoA is at least one of the two best Harry Potter books, right? My daughter and I are reading it now. I'm so exited to share it with her.

One Man's Initiation by John Dos Passos
This must have been free or a very low price on Audible. It wasn't the worst thing I've ever read, it was just depressing and pointless. It rambled. I did not like it.


And now I must go glaze and glaze again.

This Week: Allergies

The only thing I can remember doing in the studio this week was sneezing, but I have pictures to prove that I made some stuff, too. 

base with gear overload

This week I was working on two main pieces. The largest single piece is a base onto which I will attach a larger bicycle fork (and some other bike parts). I haven't decided whether there will be an extension below the base gear. I started building it, but haven't gotten far. 

end caps inside the start of a base piece

The top of the bicycle fork will have several pitcher plants with more varied attachments than the last batch. Somehow I didn't take pictures.

pitcher plant with an organic attachment

Besides the pitcher plants for the top, I have also built some end caps to add onto some of the bike parts that adorn the exterior of the base. (It's funny how a memory of a sound can attach itself to a physical object. In the studio I was listening to an audiobook of The Tiger's Wife while I worked. These end caps remind me of one particular part of the story.)

end cap in progress

I finished the large base and the pitcher plants and the end caps this week. I also made some bulbs for my wall installation. I did not finish the last larger piece on which I was sneezing working. This piece reminds me of Peter Clines' "14" though nothing links the two conceptually. It's just another memory of an audiobook randomly attached to a physical object that was being made while the audiobook was playing.

broken keyboard "sprigs"

Familiarity

A few weeks ago we sent my sister-in-law a gift for her birthday that included one of my sculptures. The sculpture is one of my favorites, but hadn't gotten a lot of love at galleries or shows. It is a simple form, a distillation of my typical work. The form is bulbous with applied and sprigged textures covering the surface. 

My brother mentioned that the work looked like me. I can't remember exactly what he said, but the sentiment dovetailed with something I had been thinking about for a few weeks: the idea that an object can be so familiar that it triggers that feeling of recognition when you see it.

A recent example of this strange feeling of recognizing an object was something we've all probably experienced. I was at a conference and I noticed "my" purse across the room and realized I had left it by mistake. Then I remembered it wan't mine, I had left mine at home, but the purse was identical, made by the same artist, and I had the immediate reaction of familiarity (and forgetfulness). It is a handmade purse, different enough from store-bought purses that I felt this strange feeling of it being unique to me (even though I know someone locally who has the same purse in a different color).

The more interesting example of this feeling of familiarity came the last week and the weekend before and related directly to my work. The background is a little odd, but basically I need a database for keeping track of the work I have in my studio or in shows and I haven't gotten one so I made one using index cards. 

I'm not sure the index card system is ideal, but I was able to do it quickly and it was relatively cheap. Index cards have the advantage of being tactile, in that I can sort them on the ground in front of me and add to them when away from the computer (say, in my studio). 

I printed pictures of various works I have in the studio (not all of them--yet) and I glued them onto cards with the vital stats (size, title, price, year) and listed the shows the works were in along the right side of the card (with room to add more shows). I also marked if the work was sold or needed repairs.

What I found interesting was that as I flipped through the cards, certain pieces seemed familiar, like old friends, while other pieces seemed just like objects. Some pieces seemed like "me" or like my family, in a strange way, while others just didn't. 

And its not like I haven't seen all the works many many times. Most of them are sitting on shelves in the studio and few of them were made this year, but still, some pieces seemed familiar and some did not. 

I have discovered in the past that some pieces trigger bits of stories for me, since I listen to books on tape while I make the work, some fragments of Harry Potter or a linguistics book seem connected to a particular work because I was listening to that book while making the work. This isn't the same feeling, but it is an infusion of another idea into or onto the work itself.

New-born Brain Cells Make Us Happy

Most of the time while I work in my studio, I listen to audiobooks. Good stories help keep me motivated and, especially when my hands are busy on a tedious or repetitive part of the process like smoothing surfaces, applying sprigs, impressing textures or underglazing, my mind can focus on the ideas or action of the book.

Certain books and stories keep me better motivated than others. This summer, in particular, my listening seems to be divided between books that keep me in the studio hour after hour and books that encourage me to take long, distracted breaks. I can generally tell that a book isn't right for me when I find myself happily folding laundry instead of finishing projects started earlier in the week.

This summer's major dud was "David Copperfield" though I've also struggled with "Water for Elephants" and "The Constant Princess."  The latter two I've only recently traded for something else and I might still get back to them. They weren't exhilarating but, unlike David, they didn't drive me from the studio.  I made it halfway through the Dickens "masterpiece" before I gave it up.  I wasn't just bored, I was angry at the characters for failing to grow, change or move the story forward.

My favorite audiobooks for the studio are the Harry Potter series. I devoured the books in print (and waited in Border's lines at midnight for the last few) but Jim Dale's reading makes them a joy to hear over and over again. Any Harry Potter book, but especially the third or fifth can get me out of a rut in the studio. I feel happier when I listen to them and, apparently the fact that I know what will happen (I have whole sections memorized) doesn't hinder their functionality as studio soundtrack. The Harry Potter books have action and adventure but one of my favorite things about the series is seeing the characters change and grow. Rowling illustrates distinct change and growth in the skill, feelings and maturity of her characters. I find it especially pleasing to see a secondary character like Neville become more confident and develop into a leader.

I listen to at least 3 or 4 of the Harry Potter audiobooks every summer. My studio spirits can usually be buoyed by "Pride and Prejudice" or "Emma" as well. Even after many readings, I like to follow the characters as their point of view changes and misunderstandings are rectified.

For the rest of my working hours, I am usually try new things. I have an Audible subscription to supplement the Yakima library's relatively sparse offerings. I usually have the best luck with non-fiction, particularly books pertaining to biology or history.  This summer I enjoyed "Remarkable Creatures" (thanks Yakima Valley library!), "Empire of Liberty," "The Big Burn" and "Devil in the White City."  I also enjoyed reading "1491," "1421," (I like numbers, I guess) and "Monkeys are Made of Chocolate." Not surprisingly several other favorites this year were historical fiction--novels that dealt with real places and real times ("Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" and "Fall of Giants").

I round out my listening list with an assortment of Terry Pratchett (excellent books but the audio versions are of uneven quality), Christoper Moore (the vampire books are excellent, the rest, so-so), Jasper Fforde and whatever happens to be on the shelf or recently recommended to me.

This summer, as I look for more audiobooks (I go through them pretty quickly; so far this summer I've finished 23 and not-finished 4 more), I have been trying to categorize what it is that makes for a good studio audiobook. Last fall I won a book from the local independent bookstore. They asked what I liked so they could pick for me based on that. I told them I liked Harry Potter, Jane Austen and Terry Pratchett. They gave me "In the Skin of a Lion" by Michael Ondaatje (who also wrote "The English Patient").  Let me tell you, I loathed that book. But it left me wondering, why would they recommend that book for me? (Maybe they just ignored what I said)

A few days ago I was listening to "Proust was a Neuroscientist" (which is excellent, by the way), and I got thinking about change. I started wondering if change was a thread running through most, if not all, of the stories I liked to hear while working. Of course I mentioned the change and evolution of Harry Potter characters and Pride and Prejudice is all about the characters changing both their behavior and their opinions. With histories, I think it is natural to focus on a time of great change: wars or the lead-up to wars, Columbus' discovery of America, the development of the forest service or a new way of thinking about a nation. But this summer some of my favorite histories have also focused on a changing way of viewing a time of great change. "1491" and "1421" both put forth a "new" or different way of thinking about the Americas at the time of Columbus.

Another category of books that I usually enjoy is books focused loosely on evolution. "Remarkable Creatures" deals specifically with evolution but other books, like "Monkeys are Made of Chocolate," talk about evolutionary adaptations of animals and plants in a specific ecosystem (i.e. the rainforest of Costa Rica).

Of course, the stories I listen to in the studio are separate from the work. I am not sculpting animals or installations that address themes of war or magic. But I have been wondering if change is a more constant (hee hee) element of my work nonetheless. In at least one previous show, I illustrated evolution in form by showing step-by-step changes in similar objects. And there is always an evolution (or should be) in a body of work from earlier ideas and processes to later ones.

My daughter and husband brought a slug into the house the other day to...well, I guess to have a mini-science class on the kitchen floor. My daughter brought it in (in a box) and put it in my lap. My husband took it out and let it crawl on his (gloved) hand while she squealed. Though perhaps not the prettiest creature, I thought it was fascinating how the slug stretched and squeezed from a fat blob to a long skinny line.

I have always been interested in natural forms that change from one extreme to another, slugs (or sea slugs) not the least of these. Flowers bloom and petals seem to come from no space at all then are suddenly huge and wide and curving outward. Seed pods grow from small blips on a stem or a branch into large swellings and stretchings that contain bits inside that look nothing like the exterior of the pod. Rough, dark milkweed pods split sending bright white bits of fluff sailing across a field. These natural changes and contrasts influence the forms and surfaces of my studio work.

Clay itself is one of these changeable phenomena. Everything about the medium must go through changes, from wet to dry, or recycled clay to fired ceramic. To form something with clay we stretch it on the wheel or squish coils together or squeeze it through an extruder. Paintings tend to be flat and rectangular but clay can be any shape. Wood can only be cut or carved so many times, but clay can be formed one way and then completely reshaped without leaving a visible record of the change.

One of my favorite chapters in "Proust was a Neuroscientist" had to do with changing brains. I believe it was the second chapter which focused on George Eliot and on the scientific discovery that our brain makes new cells. "For some reason new-born brain cells make us happy," explains the author. I just love this idea of the new, of the potential and real change that is happening everyday in our minds. I like the idea of starting each day with thoughts and ideas and bits that were there yesterday but also with new bits full of potential, like clay that was molded yesterday but can be changed into something completely (or only a little) different today.