I would not be where I am today without the help of ceramic artists with more experience who like to help out younger people. One of those people is nationally known clay artist and ACGA member Nancy Yturriaga Adams. The first time I met Nancy was at the Palo Alto Festival about 10 years ago. She came marching into my booth and bought a piece. I had no idea who she was until my neighbor said, "Do you know who just bought a piece from you? That was Nancy Adams!" I was suitably impressed and flattered.
Nancy was kind enough to take me under her wing. When some of my images were rejected from a website because of the poor quality, I was furious. How dare they say my images were poor! I paid good money for those slides! This was back when everything had to be shot as slides, and they did cost a pretty penny. Nancy looked at my slides and said calmly that they were, indeed, poor. Her opinion finally penetrated my fury and made me realize I needed to step it up a notch. Nancy sent me to Hap Sakwa, and I never was rejected on the basis if poor slide quality again.
Nancy and I spent more time drinking tea and talking about life than pottery, but to know I had such a heavy contender in my corner gave me a boost early in my career. Nancy now has her dream ranch in Applegate, Oregon, so our tea drinking and chatting is a rare and special occasion. Nancy was recently featured in her local paper, the Daily Courier, and there is a short video on her at their website. Check her out there!
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