Mark, this was wonderful and so your mother! I remember when she first started the classes and her always saying it was just for fun! A great read and fun trip down memory lane.
She can’t be a potter. My mug is round at the bottom and square at the top. How’d she get the wheel to do that? 😉 Great writing and an awesome subject in Mom. Happy Mother’s Day to you both.
Great read, of course. And after getting to know your mom for the last 5 years, this story is all I expected and more...my only complaint...I never saw any tooth pick holder for sale because I would have wanted a few of those!! Looking forward to the next story Mark. Great job.
Hey!!!! Mark that was such a great story! Your Mom made a big impact on our little city too! It’s really beautiful how you two got to bond over creative work! I am so happy that I got to play a part! Also for the record, we no longer have to tempt folks in with libations! 😂 Great job! Thanks so much!
What an incredible and astute tribute to your mother. My son is a musician...a drummer. He is in his heart a metal and rock drummer, and other bands of various genres, but he also regularly dons a tuxedo and plays in the Santa Monica Symphony, . He has played with Jimmie Fallon and Malcolm Jamal Warner, two time Grammy Award winning Jazz artist and former Cosby Show Kid and he toured Europe with Graham Bonnet . I am a fine artist, and he has always acknowledged that, but more recently and sweetly, he has accepted me as a peer into his world of music, and that’s when our relationship began to soar. With our troubled history, it is such a gift and profound blessing.
Beautiful written, dear Mark! And so much wisdom in it! And so much love! And understanding! And lot of feelings! True feelings! As an artist, too - remember we composed & played music together long long time ago - I understand every word, you wrote. As an artist, who struggles with selfdoubts und makes his living with other things than the art, with marketing and television promotion, I feel every word you wrote. Deeply! And I think: gotdamn, do it again! Write again, compose again, don`t forget, what your heart wants you to do. It´s not about the money, it´s not just about the everydaylife you have to cope - it´s about what`s deep in your soul! Please send my truly greetings to your mom, too! From an old friend from Germany ...
So good to hear from you Klaus, and I know you understand the artist soul more than most. I would love to hear new compositions from you! Thanks for the kind words. - Mark
Now I MUST see your mom for big hugs!!! We had a gathering of yogis “up on the hill” many moons ago, and I brought shrimp. Shrimp in a seashell shaped plastic dish with a smaller built in bowl for cocktail sauce... packing up, Phyllis says,”Can I borrow that bowl, please? I would like to make one out of pottery.” It was my grandmother’s shrimp bowl and a hit at many gatherings but I let her “borrow” it ... I know where she lives! Some time passed, and one morning she shows up at the yoga studio bearing gifts!!! I don’t know what # blue and green she used,but MY new shrimp bowl comes from the sea and is always a hit at gatherings and always filled with a little of your Mom and my Grandmom ! Happy Mother’s Day Phyllis-I miss you❤️
Beautiful and spot on tribute to your mom. I am one of the many Mud Puddle ladies who had the joy to be in classes and workshops with your mom. We laughed together and cried together through good times and hard times. Though we don't see each other often, I still call her my friend.
My ancestors were potters. They worked in the pottery mills along the Ohio River, Homer Laughlin and Hall China. My Grandma Sarah had knuckles like cats eye marbles from pulling mug-sized fistfuls of clay from a spit and sending them along an assembly line. My Grandad Stoffel shaped handles for Fiestaware mugs. Back in East Liverpool, Ohio and Chester, West Virginia where my family is from most people worked in the steel mills or the pottery mills. My family were potters. They always had mixed Fiestaware because that’s all they could afford. Whoever was working in the factory would bring home seconds at a discount. We were amused when it became trendy years ago to have different colored Fiestaware plates, bowls, and mugs. That’s how we all grew up. Potters will always be part of my history. 🥰
How eloquently written and you have captured the essence of your Mom and her passion for clay and her wine drinking Mud Chiks at Mud Puddle!!! Phyllis is a very special part of our lives here at Mud Puddle Pottery Studio, and she is one of the people that I have met through this 17 year journey at the studio that has touched my heart. I remember the day that you and your Dad walked in the the old Mud Puddle location, and you were checking us out for a place and supply resource when she would fly home every few weeks from working in Maine. That day is still so clear to me, and then later I got to meet her when you brought her by and eventually she had the opportunity to begin taking classes, where she met many ladies that she became very close friends with. Now she's a fully fledged potter and producing some lovely work! We love Phyllis and she is one in a million!!
Sharon - thanks for playing such an important role in my mom's pottery journey, and for creating such a wonderful space for artists. Thanks for the kind words. - Mark
Thanks for the kind words Amy - and I loved that you heard the conversation in the piece. Thanks so much for your continued support of independent artists - means the world. . - Mark
Oh my goodness. Tears. I get this to my core. I got up early (shut up Mark...I really did. And I even slept a little first) and before the sun came up I read this. My cheeks were wet and my soul was blessed by the end and my only regret is I have yet to join Phyllis for mud and wine, though we have threatened for years. I knew this piece was special because I love your poetic soul and...I love the subject matter. But I didn’t realize God would speak to my heart through it and this would be my morning devotional. Oh look...the sun is up. Your mom would know just what glaze color is peeking over the horizon. I just know that the greatest Artist of all is calling us all to create today. Thank you for never letting me forget that. Wow! Just wow! And thank you. Tears again.
Mark, this was wonderful and so your mother! I remember when she first started the classes and her always saying it was just for fun! A great read and fun trip down memory lane.
Thanks so much, Karin - she LOVES Hallowell and so do I!
Wow!
That was the coolest Mother’s Day message ever!
Great writing, Mark!
Thanks so much, Bill - great to hear from you and I appreciate the support! - M
She can’t be a potter. My mug is round at the bottom and square at the top. How’d she get the wheel to do that? 😉 Great writing and an awesome subject in Mom. Happy Mother’s Day to you both.
Hah ha - thanks Chip
What a lovely story about your Mom. She is so talented! Great writing, great story.
Thanks for the help getting set up on Substack Michelle.
From this story, I know I would love to sit with your mom a while. She would understand so much.
Ah, thanks, Judy. And Happy Mother's Day
Great read, of course. And after getting to know your mom for the last 5 years, this story is all I expected and more...my only complaint...I never saw any tooth pick holder for sale because I would have wanted a few of those!! Looking forward to the next story Mark. Great job.
Thanks, Gail. Hi to E.
Hey!!!! Mark that was such a great story! Your Mom made a big impact on our little city too! It’s really beautiful how you two got to bond over creative work! I am so happy that I got to play a part! Also for the record, we no longer have to tempt folks in with libations! 😂 Great job! Thanks so much!
Thanks so much, Malley.
What an incredible and astute tribute to your mother. My son is a musician...a drummer. He is in his heart a metal and rock drummer, and other bands of various genres, but he also regularly dons a tuxedo and plays in the Santa Monica Symphony, . He has played with Jimmie Fallon and Malcolm Jamal Warner, two time Grammy Award winning Jazz artist and former Cosby Show Kid and he toured Europe with Graham Bonnet . I am a fine artist, and he has always acknowledged that, but more recently and sweetly, he has accepted me as a peer into his world of music, and that’s when our relationship began to soar. With our troubled history, it is such a gift and profound blessing.
Pam, wow, your son is a talented guy and it's so great you guys can finally connect artist to artist . Thanks for the kind words. - Mark
Beautiful written, dear Mark! And so much wisdom in it! And so much love! And understanding! And lot of feelings! True feelings! As an artist, too - remember we composed & played music together long long time ago - I understand every word, you wrote. As an artist, who struggles with selfdoubts und makes his living with other things than the art, with marketing and television promotion, I feel every word you wrote. Deeply! And I think: gotdamn, do it again! Write again, compose again, don`t forget, what your heart wants you to do. It´s not about the money, it´s not just about the everydaylife you have to cope - it´s about what`s deep in your soul! Please send my truly greetings to your mom, too! From an old friend from Germany ...
So good to hear from you Klaus, and I know you understand the artist soul more than most. I would love to hear new compositions from you! Thanks for the kind words. - Mark
Now I MUST see your mom for big hugs!!! We had a gathering of yogis “up on the hill” many moons ago, and I brought shrimp. Shrimp in a seashell shaped plastic dish with a smaller built in bowl for cocktail sauce... packing up, Phyllis says,”Can I borrow that bowl, please? I would like to make one out of pottery.” It was my grandmother’s shrimp bowl and a hit at many gatherings but I let her “borrow” it ... I know where she lives! Some time passed, and one morning she shows up at the yoga studio bearing gifts!!! I don’t know what # blue and green she used,but MY new shrimp bowl comes from the sea and is always a hit at gatherings and always filled with a little of your Mom and my Grandmom ! Happy Mother’s Day Phyllis-I miss you❤️
Ah, that's a great story Lindy - thanks for sharing and thanks for the kind words. - Mark
Beautiful and spot on tribute to your mom. I am one of the many Mud Puddle ladies who had the joy to be in classes and workshops with your mom. We laughed together and cried together through good times and hard times. Though we don't see each other often, I still call her my friend.
Oh, so nice to hear Tracey - nothing better than a community of artists. -- Thanks for the kind words. - Mark
My ancestors were potters. They worked in the pottery mills along the Ohio River, Homer Laughlin and Hall China. My Grandma Sarah had knuckles like cats eye marbles from pulling mug-sized fistfuls of clay from a spit and sending them along an assembly line. My Grandad Stoffel shaped handles for Fiestaware mugs. Back in East Liverpool, Ohio and Chester, West Virginia where my family is from most people worked in the steel mills or the pottery mills. My family were potters. They always had mixed Fiestaware because that’s all they could afford. Whoever was working in the factory would bring home seconds at a discount. We were amused when it became trendy years ago to have different colored Fiestaware plates, bowls, and mugs. That’s how we all grew up. Potters will always be part of my history. 🥰
Brenda - thanks for sharing your family's history of pottery - that's a long clay-DNA strand :) Thanks for the kind words. - Mark
How eloquently written and you have captured the essence of your Mom and her passion for clay and her wine drinking Mud Chiks at Mud Puddle!!! Phyllis is a very special part of our lives here at Mud Puddle Pottery Studio, and she is one of the people that I have met through this 17 year journey at the studio that has touched my heart. I remember the day that you and your Dad walked in the the old Mud Puddle location, and you were checking us out for a place and supply resource when she would fly home every few weeks from working in Maine. That day is still so clear to me, and then later I got to meet her when you brought her by and eventually she had the opportunity to begin taking classes, where she met many ladies that she became very close friends with. Now she's a fully fledged potter and producing some lovely work! We love Phyllis and she is one in a million!!
Sharon - thanks for playing such an important role in my mom's pottery journey, and for creating such a wonderful space for artists. Thanks for the kind words. - Mark
I love this essay, Mark, and I love your mom. You’ve embodied her craft and her spirit beautifully! ❤️Please give her a hug from me.
Thanks for the kind words Claudia - hop all of our Hallowell friends are well.. - Mark
Mark,
What a great Mother’s Day tribute to your mom.
Felt like I was listening in on a conversation between the two of you.
You always have a way of writing, both is song and in a story, that makes people feel they are right there with you experiencing everything you do.
Thanks for sharing your talent with us.
Thanks for the kind words Amy - and I loved that you heard the conversation in the piece. Thanks so much for your continued support of independent artists - means the world. . - Mark
Oh my goodness. Tears. I get this to my core. I got up early (shut up Mark...I really did. And I even slept a little first) and before the sun came up I read this. My cheeks were wet and my soul was blessed by the end and my only regret is I have yet to join Phyllis for mud and wine, though we have threatened for years. I knew this piece was special because I love your poetic soul and...I love the subject matter. But I didn’t realize God would speak to my heart through it and this would be my morning devotional. Oh look...the sun is up. Your mom would know just what glaze color is peeking over the horizon. I just know that the greatest Artist of all is calling us all to create today. Thank you for never letting me forget that. Wow! Just wow! And thank you. Tears again.
Devon - wow - you are up early - so happy you found your morning this piece. Thanks so such for all you support over the years. - Mark