Harmony, California, population 24, was worth the stop we made several years ago. The first window is in the post office and the second photo is of the Harmony Pottery Shop. Several potters sell their ceramic work there and the shop is one of the few remaining businesses left in the town. I like how the inside pots are visable and the outside scenery is reflected in the window at the same time.
The town of Harmony is south of Cambria where one of my blogging buddies Patricia Griffin's ceramic studio is located. There is a new state park nearby called Harmony Headlands which contains the native Indian thistle, Circium brevistylum. I wonder if Patricia has this thistle illustrated on her new indigenous and endangered series of pottery? I'll bet she does; I need to take a trip to the coast to see her new work after we close on our house end of this week.
One of the reasons I take photos of windows in old buildings is because the buildings are often torn down or remodeled and the windows are destroyed. As progress often goes the third and fourth windows have gone the way of remodeling and are no longer in Harmony. I entered the third photo in the Sierra Foothill Artists show two years ago and received honorable mention for that photograph which I have mounted on canvas.
Perhaps you recall this next ceramic window I made in the Spring with white stoneware and black mountain clay. This window is the first of a series of windows I have plans to make and I already have hundreds of drawings and sketches for them. My intention is to show windows from two different perspectives, with the viewer looking in the window and the viewer looking out the window. For me windows are a look into the past, the present, and the future. Windows can be mysterious and thought provoking and seem to have the power of drawing out the imagination of a viewer.
Do you ever have an almost uncontrollable desire to make things in clay? I do. It's almost as if I am somehow driven to make certain pieces. That's how I feel about the windows I want to make. I can hardly contain myself and posting these photos of windows has brought that feeling to the forefront again. It's almost as if the windows are in my arms straining to get out. I can't wait to get moved so I can start on all the clay projects I have thought of over the last few months, especially this one.
I was inspired to do this post on windows after reading a post by a new blogging friend Barbara's blog, The Inquisitive Magpie. Stop on over there and see why I was reminded of these last two photos I took years ago, both of which are also inspiration for ceramic windows I want to make.
Enough about windows for now; as you can see I could go on and on with my ideas. One more day and we'll be in our RV full time, so stay tuned for more adventures with the soon-to-be traveling potter.
