Category: Inspiration

Susan Hanft: The Five Question Interview

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The artist in her Bastrop studio

Susan Hanft is creator/owner of Gone To Pot. She studied both ceramic sculpture and printmaking and uses drawings, pattern and typography in her pieces, giving them a distinct graphic quality. In addition to her ceramics, she also shares her enthusiasm for sewing and stitching on her Instagram feed.

She lives in Bastrop with her dog Pearl.

1. Why did you move to the Bastrop area? 

After a bad breakup, I decided to leave Houston, where I’d been living for the previous 30 years. I’d loved being in the crowded, vibrant city during that time, but was ready to experience a slower, calmer lifestyle in the country.

I chose Bastrop, in particular, because I wanted to spend as much time as possible with my aging mother. My father and sister were already residing in the county, too.

2. What compels you to spend time creating?

I don’t know, but think most people have the creative urge. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t involved in some artistic endeavor. Since childhood, I’ve drawn and sculpted. As a kid, I also studied violin (my playing was awful) and taught myself guitar (equally bad), but dance was my primary interest. When chronic injuries ended that career, visual arts became more of an outlet. I’ve always enjoyed writing, too. 

Spending time in the studio now helps me quiet my mind during the ongoing pandemic.

3. Tell me three things you’ve learned in the past five years.

I’ve learned how to colorize black and white photos and gained a few rudimentary computer animation skills. 

The big lesson has been patience. A while back, I adopted a little feral dog. Pearl was terrified of everything human, so fearful she tried to jump through a closed glass-paned window the day I brought her home. 

It’s been impossible to hurry Pearl’s trust in humanity. (It was nearly a year before she wagged her tail at me.) She’s taught me to better accept the fact that sometimes things must unfold in their own time.

4. What are you currently making, reading, watching, or listening to?

Making stoneware teapots while listening to the Global Psychedelia channel on Mixcloud

Pearl

5. Cake or Pie?

Pie, fruit or pecan, but vegan, please. 

Etsy Shop
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Patience Blythe: The Five Question Interview

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Patience Blythe is a metalworker, teacher, gardener, and writer. She lives in Elgin in a funky older home with her husband Cody, pup Oscar, and their cats Nakano and Tomoe.

She is an avid gardener and has recently become a beekeeper. Be sure to check out her gardening videos on her IGTV channel.

1. Why did you move to Elgin? 

We moved from Dripping Springs. It is a funny story. We had planned to take over a friend’s farm in Garfield while she went to France, but the deal didn’t work just at the last moment. We had made a lot of plans and concocted a lot of ideas, and were sorta ‘what now?’ about everything. We couldn’t find a place we liked in Dripping and so Cody said to me; “why don’t we buy a house?”. I laughed at him and said, “sure…let’s do that!”. A few days later, I said, “what about that house in Elgin?” as I had seen our house pop up for the last year. He said Elgin was too far and I said “why don’t we just go and look?”. Neither of us had ever been to Elgin, except for to pass through on 290. So we came to drive by the house and get some bbq at Southside. The rest is history; we loved the town, loved the house, somehow qualified to buy it, and three months later, moved here. That was February 2018. Soon I transferred to Elgin Middle School and Cody was hired by the district as well. And here we are! 

2. What compels you to spend time creating?

I feel compelled to create each day. Otherwise, I get antsy and, frankly, sad. I find that creativity keeps the Big Sad away. I am quite a nervous person and find that when my hands are busy, I am happier and more relaxed. I also love seeing, with the passage of time and attention to creativity, that hand-eye coordination grows and the work is better, more alive, more fun, more me. I am also compelled by the way we “write” our lives down in the work we make. 

3. Tell me three things you’ve learned in the past five years.

1) That time passes by very quickly and you would do well to find a way to remember things a bit more concretely, so that memories can be called up with the feelings attached

2) My friends are the most important piece of my life 

3) We humans have far more in common, regardless of where we are on the physical planet, than we could ever be different 

4. What are you currently making, reading, watching, or listening to?

1) Making – 2 rings, a bracelet, a dress and a quilt 

2) Reading – Carl Sagan’s The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark (it’s AMAZING and so relevant, being that it was written in 1995) 

3) Watching – Twin Peaks and the West Wing and also Beginners (tonight)

4) Listening to – various Spotify playlists but a lot of Pink Floyd and Kurt Vile

5. Cake or Pie?

BOTH!!! But I really love making pies the most. I like eating chocolate cakes and lemon ones, too. 

www.pacienciapaciencia.com
Instagram @blythestudio