Monday, October 13

[gottawonder]

Today I am grateful for:

That our friend got his stent today, and seems to be doing okay. Probably he will be back home later this week, possibly even tomorrow.

In my own lifetime, if he'd had that heart attack thirty years ago, he might not have survived, or it would have been a major surgery.

He might not have survived if he'd decided last night that he "was fine" and just gone to bed.

Today my Sweetie spent most of the day taking our friend's wife in to the city hospital to visit with him.

I tried to go to pottery, but had almost no time to work by the time I got to town. My internal clock is just going to get me to pottery by about 4 pm, which USED to be JUST FINE, only now I am supposed to be in an "afternoon class" which is finished by 5:30. So, I have pretty much zero time to work.

I TRIED to throw something, but the clay needed conditioning. Half of my clay was too soft, and the other half was rock hard, so NONE OF IT could be thrown as is, so nothing happened.

If I had TIME, I could have spent an hour working on that clay, as often that is the first part of every session at pottery. Now, that would eat up pretty much my whole time.

I decided to bring that clay home and see if I could do something with it at home, so that the next time I went to pottery it would at least be ready to throw.

I once again talked to my Sweetie about making a space in our garage so that I could at least throw at home, and take the dry piece to town for firing, but not be limited any more by their stupid time limitations.

This is just getting more ridiculous by the year, and less worth bothering with. I REALLY want to be independent of that whole circus, with that ridiculous woman's bullshit need to control everyone and everything, and be able to do my own thing without everyone telling me when and how to do everything.

I got groceries, and felt grateful for being able to do so.

I came home, and my Sweetie said he did spend a bit of time in the garage trying to clean it, but even that is beginning to feel like a broken record, because he is ALWAYS SAYING THAT HE'S TRYING TO CLEAN THE GARAGE, and it never actually seems to be CLEAN ENOUGH TO SET UP A WHEEL IN THERE.

He did let everyone out into their pastures for a while.

He also may have finally been able to download some software for editing music, which I need for my Liberty videos. I really hope I can figure out how to use them, because having the right music makes a big difference.

We had supper and watched some "Justified", so that was nice.

Comments

[cf2princessawnw]

Sorry your day seemed like such a mix of frustrations but so grateful on your behalf that your friend is okay. I think it's a great idea about wanting to throw at home and I hope that it does work out sooner than later. That's awesome if he got some of the editing software for you figured out.

[gottawonder]

Pottery itself is usually a source of great pleasure for me, even when it doesn't go well.

That's why this change in class times is such a huge frustration for me, as Monday evenings were pretty much the only time I could really drive to town and have a big block of time to throw.

Making pottery just takes TIME. Lots of time for getting the clay ready, lots of time to think about what you're going to do, a fair amount of time for actual execution, and generally about forty minutes for clean up.

In a four hour block of time, maybe half of that would be actual time on the wheel making it happen, and the rest is getting ready or cleaning up.

So, having often only two hours to work...isn't going to work.

[cf2princessawnw]

Sorry I can't remember and you don't have to explain if it's too long or difficult. There isn't a second class later you can go to? They switched everything around so you can only go during that time? It's impossible to go later? Obviously I'm sure you thought this through. I'm sorry I just can't remember.

Either way, I really do like your idea of having it at your house. You might even be able to make some friends that way and invite people over.

[gottawonder]

Right now it seems like most of the evening classes are for the "beginners", and the reason for that is because "beginners" need to be supervised by the instructor (this woman, S is the self proclaimed instructor). Since S works during the day...voila, all her beginner classes have to be in the evening.

Monday was the best night for me, because on other nights I have scheduled riding times with River in the evenings, because R herself rides/trains in the morning and afternoons, and my evening ride times fit between her lessons with other riders.

If I really wanted to, I could maybe change a riding time with River so that I could go to the one other evening class that isn't for beginners, but that would mean inconveniencing R, likely.

The only other possibility is to go work on Saturdays, but that is usually the best day for my husband and I to go to the city, or to work on the house.

So, it's just super frustrating that the one day of the week in the evening that worked for me was taken away to make room for yet another "beginner" class.

I might add that that day was added to make room for the ever increasing number of new members, and we really don't even have the space for them in terms of shelf space/tool storage and capacity for the kiln (more people mean we have that many people all trying to get pieces fired, and we can only really fire a load once a week).

[cf2princessawnw]

It's so frustrating when you have a system that works and someone throws a wrench in one thing that in order to fix you'd have to change everything else. I really hope you can find the solution that best works for YOU. That's one I guess good thing in this is that it's not about everyone else, it's about what's going to work for you. And while it's not fair that things change that we're already working! Maybe because it's up to you to finally have the say, maybe that's a freedom from this mess that can help you figure out what you need. Hope that made some sense.

And yeah that's pretty frustrating that someone's a self-proclaimed instructor and feels they have the power to change the schedule for that reason. I really don't like people like that. There should be a vote or something.

[gottawonder]

Well, that's the discussion some of us are starting to have. What exactly should be the role of the "instructor", and how much power do they have to make decisions without more input or a vote?

My biggest feeling about all of this, is that an instructor is not a dictator. An instructor should actually be a role more than an individual. A role that can be filled by more than one person, maybe, and be there to serve the pottery group, not to lord over it.

If the group wants change, then we all work towards a change.

It may have been necessary to have another beginner's class, BUT, we have to figure out how many people our studio can really accommodate.

Yes, it's really annoying that her unilateral addition of that class ruined my weekly schedule, as you say, it was working just fine for me the way it was.

[cf2princessawnw]

I don't remember you said, but who owns the studio? Is it something where you all Co-op the cost? Or is it a space that's rented? Is there some kind of leader for all of this? Otherwise it sounds like you definitely need a structure of how that's all going to work otherwise little self-made dictators appear.

[gottawonder]

The Craft Center is a community space, partly funded by the town we live in, partly funded by membership fees, and partly funded by fund raisers.

We do not own the space we use, and nor does the town. It is a rented space in a big old senior person's home. It's a kind of otherwise unused part of their third floor, and the space we rented after COVID used to be offices or conference rooms that never got used.

There are three different crafts, with slightly separated spaces (three separate rooms all on one floor and all open into a common hallway, it's a nice setup).

Traditionally each different craft (there's a weaving group, a wood working group, and a pottery group) is "led" by an instructor that does tend to emerge as a person with the necessary skill and time, and it's fairly informal and not guided by policy. This works JUST FINE when the instructor is the kind of person who is just there to help people learn what they need to do their projects. Generally those instructors don't try to make a lot of decisions about how things are run.

In the past, the groups have been small enough that they didn't need to worry about over crowding or space issues or having enough time available for classes.

It was also run...quietly...and new members were almost not allowed, as it became kind of more like a private club for people who were already members, and all of them planned to keep coming until they were no longer able to do the craft and didn't care about teaching new people.

That meant that they didn't even really let the outside world know that they existed. Back when I was TRYING to become a member, for about three years in a row they told me that they "weren't taking new members, so piss off" basically.

That wasn't fair either. It meant that people were being very selfish and cliquey about the use of a valuable community resource, and not allowing new people the opportunity to enjoy them.

For many years there was ONE WOMAN who led the pottery group like a queen, and her word was law without her needing to consult anyone about her decisions, and no one could speak up or change anything. It was she who declined any new members, and in fact kept the whole studio in the dark ages as far as modern glazes and even electric pottery wheels (she thought they should always stay with the old kick wheels).

So here's the thing, the woman I now feel is trying to be in charge of everything is the very same woman who fought the "old queen" to allow changes and modernization and new members.

I actually have her to thank for me being allowed to be in pottery, as I was one of the first gate crashers to get in after the long period of no new members.

So it's so strange to me that she would now be the new dictator who doesn't allow any dissent, and it's ironic that I am now the person who is speaking up to say that we need to have policy regarding new members instead of trying to accommodate every single person who wants to join until we are literally bursting at the seams.

I don't want to make it so that no new members are allowed, but I do want some understanding of what our capacity for members is, and to figure out how many new people we really have room for each year.

I would LOVE IT if we could have a huge space with fifty wheels and fifty tables for people to work at, and just racks and racks of shelves to store tools and drying pieces, but we don't.

We have space for about ten people to comfortably work at one time, fifteen if people are okay with being uncomfortable, and while we could theoretically have two classes every day of the week, there is no way we could give each person space for their tools and drying items if we did that, and we could never fire all of the work made by that many people in a reasonable time frame. Kilns are very expensive, and even more difficult is to have a properly ventilated room with the right wiring. We cannot add more kilns, so that is one of our limits, is how much we can fire.

So it does need some kind of structure for how we bring in new people, and how we decide who those people will be, and how those people will be trained to correctly use the studio and what basic skills they should have before sending them to work on their own.

Yes, otherwise self-appointed dictators arise, if only from the absence of a framework that does all the work of guiding a group of people. It should be a framework that everyone helps create that leads the group, with group discussion and voting for changes or issues as the arise several times a year, not a single person.

[cf2princessawnw]

That is all very interesting. I know that it would be more than just a matter of extra space, but I do wonder if that person's house possibly has any other rooms or options for your expanding hobbies? I don't know if the other crafts are having the same issue, but it seems a shame that if so many people are interested in this that they not all be allowed to be a part of it. It's not something very Normal, and I think it's very cool if that many people are actually interested. But like you said it needs to be able to be managed in a way that allows people to actually learn and be comfortable. I hope that decisions are found That work for the needs of your community, and that the group as a whole can work to find them so it's not just someone rising to the top trying to find a solution on their own that doesn't end up working for everyone.

[gottawonder]

It's not easy to find a space to rent for something like our craft center.

The challenge for pottery is the kilns. They require a separate, ventilated space with the right heavy duty wiring. The building we are in had to renovate a room that used to be a big bathroom of sorts, and it had to have the heavy duty wiring and ventilation added. This is all because our studio is kind of a "community service" thing, and this building is in a senior's residence that is run by a church in part, so the whole mandate of trying to serve really helped us.

Our studio is also relatively inexpensive as far as fees, because it is a community group and not a business. I've looked at other studios and it is RIDICULOUS how much money it costs, and they break it down into "eight week memberships" with separate costs to just use the studio space to throw, and added costs for firing, and you have to buy your own glaze.

Right now we are very fortunate to have found a place at all. Our old studio was in another community owned building that housed many community things, like a day care, some social workers, that kind of thing, where they paid little or no rent. They all had to move because that building was condemned and torn down right before Covid.

I do NOT take the opportunity to be part of this group for granted at all. I appreciate very much having this space and the kilns, and a place to meet people.

The other side of that is the truth that there is always some kind of drama going on. I will fully admit that some of this is due to my own nature, where I feel that I do have strong reactions to things where maybe a lot of people just shrug and deal with it. The others CARE, but not enough to speak up.

Right now, I know I'm not the only one who decided to speak up about the enormous amount of new members. Apparently a few other people chose to say something at a recent meeting. So there's that.

It doesn't fix the fact that I pretty much can't work in my designated "afternoon class schedule" because what I NEED is my old evening time slot.

[cf2princessawnw]

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