• Pamela

    Skipping Middle School Taught Us…

    It’s been six years since our family made the bold decision to “skip middle school” and home school Natalie during her 7th and 8th grade years. At the time, some people questioned our judgement. One mother asked, “What about high school? If you do this, won’t Natalie have a hard time getting into a good school?” Yet others expressed their envy and support. One man confided, “I’m still recovering from middle school. If only I could have skipped it.” Natalie and I took notes during our two years and then we wrote our story about the fears we faced and overcame, the trust (and schoolhouse) we built together, the “Professor-Daddy”…

  • Natalie

    Ceramics Is Not All Fun and Clay

    It’s been lovely to devote the past two weeks to being creative. My project is going swimmingly, and I have also had a most enjoyable time helping Patty with some of her work—I painted earrings and buttons she made with black glaze so that she could etch them, glazed some of her workshop students’ work, and made clay slabs. Ceramics, however, is not all fun and play. After my medallions emerged from their first round in the kiln, Patty introduced me to glazing. Glaze looks like watery plaster, and is applied to a piece before it is replaced in the kiln, where the glaze turns into a transparent glassy layer.…

  • Pamela

    Something Like a Sabbatical (the film enters the world)

    This weekend we will screen our newly completed documentary film SOMETHING LIKE A SABBATICAL to an audience for the first time. We’re so excited! The documentary film is the wise, funny, and inspiring story of Sue Mitchell’s 52-week sabbatical, when she decides it’s time to find out if she can be the artist she’s wanted to be for 35 years. Little does she know that 52 giant Montezuma Bald Cypress trees will become her teachers. Little does Riverside Art Museum realize how popular the four-month exhibit of Sue’s work will be a year later. In November 2013, we went to see Sue Mitchell’s “52” exhibit. A month later, we returned…