Once upon a time, I learned hand-built and slab-work pottery from a fun and talented woman named Janet MacGregor Dunn in the cutest free-standing studio that her son built for her in her backyard. Every Monday morning would find us meeting there, closing the door, and slinging and shaping mud (both literally and figuratively). Though I never really got the hang of it, Janet works with the grace and near-nonchalance of a woman who is at one with the clay, a woman who mastered the basics long ago and shoved them aside to go beyond, way beyond. Be sure to poke around her online gallery, see where she’s going next, maybe snag a beauty or two for yourself or others. (Tis the season to be shopping, you know.)
I met Janet eons ago when we worked together on a fundraising event for the American Heart Association. Janet continues to be active in local fundraising events and art shows. She took her Nancy cloth with her to several art shows and asked fellow artists to hold it. They obliged, and I get goosebumps thinking about Nancy’s drawings being in the presence of professional artists (shown here in alphabetical order by first name because that’s the way my computer prefers it) like Janet and . . .
Allen Quandee
Bob McGill
Charles Pickney
Don McWhorter
Gary Curtis
Jesse Duke and Friend
John Martin
June Shellnut
Larry and Pamela Smith
Lynn Mersinger Reader
Marc Villanueva
Mary Lynne Robbins
Matt Bolton
One Ring at a Time
Patrick Henrickson
Paula Lansford
Randy Ayers
Sally Austin
Santoria Monica
The Living Sculpture
A heart Thank you to all you creative people and to you, Janet, for making this happen.
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She is my developmentally disabled sister-in-law, Nancy,
and I am Jeanne, the woman who flat-out loves her.
Go here to start at the beginning.
Pull up a chair why don't you, and let's talk . . .