Happy Holidays and Here's to a New Year!

I have finally been able to face it. Dealing with the amazing (and kind of overwhelming) amount of information and support that the ceramic community showed me in August was a bit more than I could emotionally or mentally handle. I haven't been in the studio, I can't figure out what to do or where to go from here. I just know that it doesn't feel like "mine" anymore. And in the spirit of starting fresh in the New Year, I knew that I needed to see this out, complete the promises that I'd made to this incredible community.

This is not a pity-party. After I realized that I was disconnected from my art, I decided that I could positively use my time, and I began working on my second degree, this time a BS in Information Technology. I am currently concentrated on a Web Development and Design program, with which I hope to give back to the community and help other artists with web hosting, web site building, and any other IT needs, knowing that there are challenges for creative folks with regard to some technologies.

So I am here to share with you the results of the fundraiser, what I did with the donations, and all of the incredible information everyone sent me.

Today, I collated all of the comments from the blog posts in August and put them into a Word document, I've collected and screenshot the Facebook posts and messages, saved emails. I put all of this information in an email to the American Ceramic Society.

There were 61(!!!) donations to my "Make my Decals Legal" fundraiser. The disbursement took a bit longer than expected, however, this is how that finished up.

After legal fees, I donated the balance of the funds to CERF+ to help other artists.

I stand in awe of this community, you, and will forever be grateful for the support that you all showed me in one of the more difficult chapters of my life. Thank you.

And Happy New Year!!