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Meet the Maker
Hello World!
I’m Shonalee, the woman behind Crazy Mad Potter! Why Crazy Mad Potter??? I am crazy and madly in love with pottery. I love every aspect of pottery. I’m mesmerized by throwing or hand-building pottery and becoming one with the clay! I love trimming pottery and making pieces come to life. I focus on creating light-weight and visually appealing pieces. I strive for perfection! I especially love the designing phase. I can and do spend hours dreaming of designs and then translating these designs into the clay. I use different techniques such as carving and sgraffito with attention to color and aesthetics to breathe life and character into each and every piece. I’m always excited to discover new techniques too! And glazing… I simply adore glazing. It’s fascinating how the chemical composition of the materials can translate onto pottery when fired at high temperatures. I absolutely love experimenting, and I am always excited to try new combinations that manifest into magical creations! It’s true that sometimes my experiments don’t have the desired effect, but I suppose it is part of the process. 🙂 My pieces typically focus on subjects that I have an affinity for and may feature nature and animals. I am also drawn to geometric shapes, symmetrical balance, color, and texture. I discovered pottery later in life. I began my education and career in Electrical Engineering and had primarily been focused on technical/analytical tasks throughout my daily life (outside of managing a family!).
After retiring early, I took my very first pottery class in my mid 40s at a local community college. Pottery sounded interesting! The very first day of class, the instructor had said that in order to finish the assignments, you may need to come in outside of class time. At the time, I wondered if I should drop out of the class. Why would anyone spend extra time in the studio outside of class? Before I knew it, though, I was coming into open studio hours whenever my schedule allowed it. I absolutely, totally, completely loved the whole process of making pottery!
I certainly was not a natural at throwing on the pottery wheel, though. It took many hours of practice and patience! I have improved over time and continue to strive to hone in on perfecting my craft. I’ve found that some days are good days, and some days are bad days. I remind myself to go with the flow!