Today we are continuing our interview with LDS suspense novelist Carole Thayne. Click here if you missed parts one or two.
Carole, I understand that in addition to writing, you are a potter. How did you get interested in pottery and when did you start doing it?
I started doing pottery in high school at Orem High. My good friend was a potter and I would watch him and think it looked fascinating. He taught me during Mr. Bird’s art class. Mr. Bird was a wonderful man, who saw that I had potential and interest in clay, so let me create my own assignments. During my senior year, I had three hours of art, where I had total freedom. From there, I started out a BYU, but after our Ceramics class attended a workshop at USU, I knew where I wanted to go and transferred. I fell in love with Cache Valley. It was a great move because I also found the man I would marry here. We moved around for the first thirteen years of marriage, but were happy to finally come home.
You’ve created a whole line of products, my favorite of which is the moose jar. Where can people go to see them on display?
Unfortunately right now, my pottery is only on display at a small shop in Almo, Idaho (thirty-five miles from Grouse Creek) at a natural hot springs there–and at my own studio, now in Avon, Utah. I also attend a few art festivals in the summer where I sell my work. But I do have a website where some of my work can be seen and purchased by contacting me. You can also purchase a few remaining copies of my novels, which are out of print and no longer available in stores.
Do you offer pottery classes?
I do offer classes and teach some private lessons. I also am a visiting artist with the Utah Arts Council. Teachers and schools can apply for grants and hire me to come into classes to create pottery with students. We do all kinds of pottery from pinch pots, to larger slab animal banks, where we wrap the clay around a balloon. Children are very creative and they absolutely love working with clay.
Sometimes scout groups or church groups come into my studio for a one-time clay experience.
What is the hardest thing about pottery?
The hardest thing about throwing(that’s what it’s called when you make pots on the wheel) is to learn how to center. Centering requires a lot of practice. Everything about wheel-throwing requires a lot of practice. You can make a beautiful form, only to have it turn out hideous in the glaze fire, so everything from start to finish is a challenge and you can never think you don’t have anything to learn. I doubt few people who see a handmade pot have any idea how much work is involved. They may have seen someone throwing and think it looks easy, and so assume it is easy to do. In reality it takes a lot of time and patience to learn to throw, but even after an experienced potter is done making the pot, there’s still a lot of work to do. The pot has to be trimmed, bisque-fired, then decorated and glazed, and then fired again.
Wow – that’s really fascinating. Thanks for joining us today, Carole. We’ll see you again tomorrow as we wrap up our interview.
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