Finding One’s Way with Clay and Colorado Potters Guild Website
Finding One's Way with Clay by Paulus Berensohn
One of the perks of being a member of the Colorado Potters Guild is being able to check books out of the library. Finding One’s Way with Clay by Paulus Berensohn happened to catch my eye the other day and I have enjoyed reading and looking at all the photos in the book. It’s an older book, but still available new and used. I was just a lass of 6 years in 1972 when this book was first published!
I was looking for some project ideas I could make with the kids in my after school clay class and found a couple of interesting ideas in The Spirit of Clay by Piepenburg that involved pinching pots – so when I saw the cover of Berensohn’s book, I was captivated. I have a fairly primitive studio & mobile studio, so his projects really appeal to me since hands and a few small tools are all that are required – no expensive, heavy or complicated equipment needed. I want to do make some humble pinch pots now.
One of the interesting things about the book is that it actually feels very current, which is why I keep double checking the publication date. Additionally, the photography by True Kelly is fantastic (especially her artistic shots of Paulus) and lends a sort of timeless quality. I did get a hippie vibe from the author and photos which is further confirmed after reading this 2007 interview published in The Harvard Crimson Magazine.
Meanwhile, I attended the semi-annual Colorado Potters Guild Potluck yesterday afternoon and enjoyed getting together with the other members socially. Following lunch, we had our formal meeting and it was announced that I will be taking over the Guild’s website duties – yes, call me webmistress from now on. 
I plan to vamp it up a tad and will be moving the site to a WordPress Platform. The project will be done slowly over the course of the winter – so no urgency.
On another note, ever want to know how your writing style stacks up with the Meyer’s Brigg Personality test? Type your blog url into Typealyzer to find out. I am apparently a ESFP – performer:
The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead – they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.
They enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation – qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions.
With that, I bid you adieu for today,
~Cynthia
Undaunted
November 24, 2008 at 1:47 am //
Hmmm… I’m supposed to be a doer! I’m obviously pretending to be something that I am not on my blog!!
pauline purdum
November 24, 2008 at 3:54 am //
Hi Cynthia, well I checked and got same exact results as you ESFP, although when tested on this site
http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp
, and years ago in a management class, my personality tested as ENTP. Writing style apparently got two out of three right. I believe that ENTP is spot on for my personality. Myers Briggs is a wonderful tool to enable us to understand ourselves and others better.
Jerry
November 24, 2008 at 7:08 am //
I love the Berensohn book! That is how I was taught and learned to do pinch pots, something that I now love. It definitely has a hippie vibe.
ESPF here, too!
AnneWebb
November 24, 2008 at 8:30 am //
heheh.. i tried that typealyizer. ,,aren’t all people who blog entertainers in some capacity? why else would they blog?
)
Cheers!
Mary T.
November 24, 2008 at 8:32 am //
I’m glad you had a good time and I love learning from books. Even when it is a reprimand I still like the learning.
Erin
November 24, 2008 at 8:51 am //
Hi Cynthia, the more I hear about the Colorado Potters Guild the more I’m interested in it. I’ll be moving to Aurora this month… do you know if there will be any openings in the guild soon?
Cynthia
November 24, 2008 at 9:29 am //
My father gave me the Meyers Briggs test when I was in about 6th grade in an attempt (I think) to help steer me towards an educational path and career. It can back that I was a ENFP which is fairly close to my apparent blog writing style. So – I wonder if I’ve changed a bit?
Linda U – Maybe your true personality is coming through in your blog???
Pauline – Interesting, I just took the test on the link you provided and I scored as a ENFP, just like I did in 6th grade! Best careers choices for my type are apparently, journalism, psychology, social work, teaching, acting, music, recreation specialist, writing, film production, PR & marketing.
Jerry – I love this book and might have to buy it for my library.
Anne – I wonder if the typealyzer gives out any other type of score???
Mary – Did I reprimand you??? Elaborate, please…
Erin – I’m not sure about openings at the guild at the moment, but we take applications all the time. I will be posting info on how to apply to the guild on the website as soon as I start revamping it. There might be an application there currently and since it’s a new fiscal year for us, we have new board members and a new membership contact person. We do have a large number of seniors and recently 2 left the guild – I’m not sure when the board will decide to fill those spots. Stay tuned though – maybe book mark the guild website – http://coloradopotters.org.
Linda Starr
November 24, 2008 at 10:46 am //
I’ve been thinking about pinch pots lately too – want to put some in my barrel firing this winter. Wish I had a ceramics library near me – I am kind of an addict for books and this one sounds really good. I took the meyers briggs years ago and about two years ago on the internet and was INTJ but when I put my blog in it came up ESTP – maybe I’ve changed – I am definitely a doer, not sure my writing reflects my true personality though.
Linda Starr
November 24, 2008 at 11:52 am //
Oh, I also meant to say congratulations on being webmistress for the guild, you are such a computer whizz, I know you’ll do a great job, looking forward to seeing what you come up with.
W. J. St. Christopher
November 24, 2008 at 7:13 pm //
Congratulations, Oh Great Webmistress!
Thanks for the Myers-Briggs link — I’ve taken that test, so my blog may as well, too. Just what I needed for this evenings blog post.
I’m wondering, have you ever blogged about how you initially became interested in clay? I’d like to read/hear that story.
Lynette
November 24, 2008 at 9:41 pm //
Cyn, congratulations on the new job of webmistress! Your website/blog is A-1 great so I’m sure you’ll do a great job at it! Ha, I also got the result of ESFP – The Performers and I’m wondering if all bloggers get that score?
Undaunted
November 25, 2008 at 6:24 pm //
I’ve done these test things before, and I always seem to come out as E(extrovert)SFP – The Performers. Over the past year or so though I haven’t been… as sociable shall we say, as I am usually, and it’s shown in my test results – I started coming out as I(introvert)SFP – The Artists (which is also a funny coincidence since it’s this year that I have started to pursue art) so it was only the sociable aspect of my personality that changed – the SFP part stayed the same. I was really shocked to be described as a Doer though! Maybe it’s because I come across as more determined in my blog, as I have had to overcome various obstacles to pursue the path I want to?
I suppose there is a bit of each personality type in all of us really, just most of the time we are more predominantly a particular one.
Undaunted
November 25, 2008 at 6:29 pm //
more predominantly? Shouldn’t that be just “predominantly”? Tut. One day I’ll learn to speak my own language more proper!
Cynthia
November 26, 2008 at 9:17 am //
Linda S. – Good idea! I’d love to put some pots in my BBQ coals next time we fire it up. I had always meant to put some in my fireplace when we lived in Maine. We don’t have a working fireplace here in our current home.
W.J. – I’m pretty sure I have blogged about that, but I’m not sure I could find archived links fast because I’ve only started trying to get a handle on better blog organization via tags and categories. I have 148 posts that I imported from blogger than are uncategorized right now and hundreds of tags. I’m trying to be more methodical about writing now. Maybe that would make a good future post if I can do some research.
Lynette – I’m in good company!
Nope – met several others with different scores now…
Linda U – Your true personality is shining through…you can run but not hide.