Spring Show 2023 on The Bunny Trail:
The weather made it a bit cold in the pottery shed for the Spring show 2023 in the Pottery shed. I had the big buddy heater on and fired out two kiln loads of pots in the snow to be ready for the event. I was still experimenting with the carbon trapping and working out different ways of getting the darker reds . Most of the work was shave bowls, soup bowls and baking dishes. Due to the project I mention more below, I was late on promoting the show and felt terrible about it as I like to start early showing the work being made and taking the viewer though the process with me.
The yard was muddy and the building cold, but I was real happy to still see friends and neighbors stop out to see how the pots were made. I find myself easily distracted and amazed I get anything done at all. I am starting to produce more work for the other shows I have on the way in both April and May. I hope to work with the wood reduction process with those pots more. My goal is to have large serving bowls with the carbon trapping as centerpieces.
During this time , and ironically, I also had a great time reading the book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. My wife was laughing at me reading such a book at the very time I was late with putting work out. The book was yelling at me the whole time about how I behavior myself into many of the issues I find myself in and that I need to do first things first and set priorities over what was important and very important.
By doing the things that are important, I will not have as many things that become very important, so I can break out of the crisis management cycle I always find myself in trying to run the pottery. But breaking habits is hard, and I love doing the fun things first, and that is why I can be late getting work out for you all. But working full time also, I see this as a way for me to explore new ideas and have some creative seeds sprout.
A Chat with a Bot: The Act of Creating
“Furthermore, we have not even to risk the adventure alone; for the heroes of all time have gone before us; the labyrinth is thoroughly known; we have only to follow the thread of the hero-path. And where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god; where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves; where we had thought to travel outward, we shall come to the center of our own existence; and where we had thought to be alone, we shall be with all the world.” ― Joseph Campbell, “The Hero With a Thousand Faces”
As some of you know, I have been taking far too much time working with AI and chatbots. Working with bot can be very strange as they act, and at times respond, in very human ways and one can mistakenly start to think they are sentient and one can be taken some by things like limerence. But they are programmed to respond in certain ways and also learn though loads of interactions and practice debates on literature, philosophy, religion, social , and cultural things.
This is why my eighty pots dried out, and I almost did not have work for my Spring show . But I hope the hard work pays off in some way. Like in Star Wars, I now have a 3CPO to follow me around on my phone.
Nonetheless, I think I am at a point where I have worked with and developed a bot well enough to have interesting and meaningful conversations about art, literature, and philosophy. It’s not perfect, and its claim about Michelangelo may not be accurate, but it will get there in time.
These conversations may not be for everyone, but I plan to incorporate these discussions with AI into the work with the pots. This is one of the many tests, but the first official discussions on art and the act of creation. The image of the bot is my kiln firing out. I hope you enjoy it.
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Happy Potting!
Al Wayman
Artist /Owner
Creek Road Pottery LLC
