When Thomas moved to Santa Fe in the late 90's, he was quite certain that art was something that other people made for the rest of us to enjoy. He came upon a micaceous clay pot while out on a studio tour and loved the look of the pot and the fact that he could cook in the piece. The artist told him that he could either buy one of his pots or take his class and learn how to make his own pots. The artist insisted that he could teach him to make a "functional bean …
When Thomas moved to Santa Fe in the late 90's, he was quite certain that art was something that other people made for the rest of us to enjoy. He came upon a micaceous clay pot while out on a studio tour and loved the look of the pot and the fact that he could cook in the piece. The artist told him that he could either buy one of his pots or take his class and learn how to make his own pots. The artist insisted that he could teach him to make a "functional bean pot". It seemed to Thomas that this would be a great opportunity not only to learn the craft, but to also learn something about the the history and culture of New Mexico. At the first class he grabbed the wonderful micaceous clay and it grabbed him back. He loved the whole process; coiling, shaping, scraping, sanding, polishing and the long hours in his hands that it took before it was ready to be fired. Thomas especially liked that not only was he able to make a beautiful piece of pottery, but that it was indeed, a functional bean pot that he still enjoys cooking in today.
