Judy Elsley

Virginia Woolf says that a woman needs a room of her own and an independent income if she is to become a writer, or for that matter, a creator of any kind. My room is a large spare bedroom in the basement of the house I share with my husband, Alan, and our noisy Siamese cat. Some women are fortunate enough to work in custom made studios, but most of us carve out whatever space we can, from a closet under the stairs to a kitchen table that's been cleared off temporarily. What

Every now and again, we do an overnighter at Lava Hot Springs, Idaho. We soak in the thermal pools, eat the best pizza in the world at The Royal Hotel, and play bingo at the local community center. It's about as satisfactory a week-end as one could hope to have. We stay at a lovely bed and breakfast in town; it used to be an LDS chapel. The rooms are "themed," and we usually choose the "French Country" room, with its blue and white floral bed coverings and wall decorations. I

Yesterday, with Alan's help, I brought home all the pottery I've made this semester. There's a lot: Here are some of the boxes, piled up on my kitchen island. And yes, the big yellow bowl in front is one of the 5 pounders I wrote about a few weeks ago. Now what? Well, first I took photos of everything at the studio. Stephen, my teacher, had set up a backdrop which made the job easy. Then I created a new page on my website, titled "New Work," and I loaded pictures of some of t

These words were attached to the parking area wall at the San Antonio Art Museum. The piece itself is a work of art, using different signage to communicate the message. It sounds good, but is it true? Is art the stored honey of the human soul? I'm not sure. Continuing with the bee metaphor, we could say that, like honey, art nurtures and sustains us. But is art the main purpose of human beings as honey is for bees? What about science or religious belief or the natural world?

I turn 66 tomorrow, Earth Day, and three of my friends gathered for a birthday brunch. Our hostess always puts together a beautiful and delicious table of food; I feel special when I eat at her home. We had a combination of Indian and vegan food, fresh fruit, and the best home made guacamole I've ever tasted. We had our choice of teas and sparkling blood orange water for the toasts. The hostess set the scene for a warm and nurturing gathering. I felt especially blessed becaus

My creative life is composed of a number of different elements: Writer, textile worker and ceramicist. How do I bring those disparate activities into a cohesive whole? I have long combined writing with fabric into text(ile)s, often writing on my quilts. But pottery seemed resistant to writing or textiles. Or maybe I just wasn't thinking creatively enough about how I can bring them together. So this semester, I made a series of bowls punctuated with holes. They look like sieve

I spent last week in San Antonio taking a five day class titled, "The Best of Both Worlds: A New Approach to Botanical Direct Printing." Yer what? We were learning to use leaves from local trees to print directly onto cotton, silk and paper. Here's what a print on cotton looks like: This is a leaf from the coral vine, a plant Texan's consider a weed. But look how beautifully it prints. A good number of my prints were duds, like this one: Well, that's ugly, but it doesn't matt

I think it was Joyce Carol Oates who talked about having to act as a secretary to her own life when she returned from a trip. That's what I've been doing today. Last week, I took an intensive five day work shop with Jane Dunnewold, a rock star in my textile world. We were learning to make eco prints of various leaves on silk, paper and cotton. But more about that in another posting. Today's blog is about the return home after a trip: doing the laundry, sorting through a big p

Today I went to a local second hand bookstore to buy children's books. Why? Because they disappear from our Little Free Library almost as quickly as the dog biscuits. It was so much fun to spend time selecting books for little kids and big kids. I ended up with a box of 40 books: When I got home, I browsed through them, in awe of the authors' creativity. A good children's book is a work of art with its economy of words and inviting illustrations. Here are just two of the book

That's a very good question. I display some of the best pieces, use bowls and mugs every day, sell some, and the rest I give away. My pots make great birthday and Christmas gifts, and people seem glad to receive them. (Maybe they're just making polite noises?) I also give pottery to charity raffles and auctions for organizations I like or support. Today, I packed up six mugs for the annual Petzl Ogden Climbing Festival raffle. I'm not a climber, but I admire those who do. I a