Elsie Standing Kuhn

I began doing hand-building and wheel-thrown ceramics during the sixties with my children, Rufus and Jennifer. We had a pottery wheel in our basement at that time, so I made a dinnerware set: plates, cups, bowls, a teapot and pitchers for our home and to give as gifts.

I continued my interest in ceramics while taking courses at the University of Iowa. The UI courses also included art history, oil painting, drawing in various media, photography, metal smithing, and design. Favorite subjects include endangered and non-endangered species of plants and animals, still life, landscapes, silhouettes, the aurora borealis.

In recent years, I have been doing ink, pencil, charcoal, oil pencil, water color, and combinations of these in drawings. These have subsequently been used as framed gifts, calendars and cards. I have done several oil paintings, most of which I have given to my children.

I have also written a poem included here:

To A Lump Of Clay On A Potter's Wheel

Slimy glob within my palms,

I push you toward center

where you must be before

I press you

gently, firmly

between my fingertips,

causing you

to rise up

taking on the shape I choose.

I am like you, lump of clay,

needing a push

toward center

where motion and balance are one

before I proceed

steadily, firmly

along a road, sometimes uneven

causing me

to question

which turn, what shape to take.

Piece of earth, speak to me.

What do you

want to become?

Must you be always useful

like a cup

to hold tea?

Or, should you become a lovely form

with no function

other than

to be displayed upon a shelf?

Finding our center is the secret of becoming,

you and I.

Then, we can rise up tall,

be great

or humble,

be pleasing to the eye,

or simply

become useful

to serve or to contain.