"Roll-up-your-sleeves advice on throwing pottery, growing dahlias,
cooking her tried-and-true recipes, and everything in between."
--Martha Stewart Living
"Suited to any type of creative, offering up lessons on inspiration
and creativity that are sure to bring out your inner talent."
--House Beautiful, Best New Design Books
What makes a creative life? For an artist like Frances Palmer, it's
knitting all of one's passions--all of one's creativity--into the whole
of life. And what an inspiration it is.
A renowned potter, an entrepreneur, a gardener, a photographer, a cook,
a beekeeper, Palmer has over the course of three decades caught the
attention not only of the countless people who collect and use her
ceramics but also of designers and design lovers, writers, and fellow
artists who marvel at her example. Now, in her first book, she finally
tells her story, in her own words and images, distilling from her
experiences lessons that will inspire a new generation of makers and
entrepreneurs.
Life in the Studio is as beautiful and unexpected as Palmer's pottery,
as breathtakingly colorful as her celebrated dahlias, as intimate as the
dinners she hosts in her studio for friends and family. There are
insights into making pots--the importance of centering, the discovery
that clay has a memory. Strategies for how to turn a passion into a
business--the value to be found in collaboration, what it means to
persevere, how to develop and stick to a routine that will sustain both
enthusiasm and productivity. There are also step-by-step instructions
(for throwing her beloved Sabine pot, growing dahlias, building an
opulent flower arrangement). Even some of her most tried-and-true
recipes.
The result is a portrait of a unique artist and a singularly generous
manual on how to live a creative life.
