Karen Karnes

I read the most wonderful Karen Karnes interview with Mark Shapiro this morning.The first pot I ever bought, was one of Karen's casseroles. Some years later, in the early 80's, I was fortunate enough to take a several days, hands on workshop with her at Big Creek Pottery in Davenport, California. This is one of the photos of her from the workshop.

We slept in rough bunk rooms, ate some lovely vegetarian food, and had several days of making pots, watching her work, having critiques and enjoying the beautiful surroundings of the central California mountains just north of Santa Cruz. Daniel Rhodes had a studio nearby and joined us for a party at the end of the workshop, and John Glick and his wife stopped the studio by one day and kindly remarked on a very large bowl I had just finished. It was total immersion in clay for several days - no cooking, no house to care for - just work, eat and sleep. Heavenly!

Here's a link to the interview:

http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-karen-karnes-12096

Enjoy!