Self-Introduction
So that’s me 👆🏽, Rhonda Kampling. I’m the momma in the middle. Okay, so I’m the only momma in the picture (thank God!). God has blessed me with a beautiful life: a wonderful husband of 23 years, and six amazing, healthy children who range in age from 5-17. Okay, so if I’m being honest, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows: my amazing kids can be difficult buttheads, and my wonderful husband gets on my nerves every once in a while, but overall they’re pretty awesome humans, and life is pretty fabulous!
Sadly, making pottery is not my full time gig. For many years, I stayed home with my kiddos and ran an in-home daycare. Before and in-between kids, my big girl job was teaching. I’m one of those crazy people who loves middle school kids. I’m also a word nerd, so I taught them literature and writing. Now that all my kiddos are in school full time, I’ve gone back to the the schools, but this time as a substitute teacher, in hopes of making a little income while pursuing my passion… you guessed it, making pottery!
I have no formal education in art. I first tried my hand at pottery in 2018, while visiting my sister, Angela Kirkman of Paseo Pottery (https://paseopottery.com/) in Santa Fe, New Mexico. (She rocks. Some day I want to be as cool as her. Her pottery is stunning. If you are ever near Santa Fe, go visit her studio in the Meow Wolf Neighborhood, and her unprecedented new location, Tumbleroot Pottery Pub near the downtown plaza!) Anywho… I digress… back to my pottery journey. I was awful. The first little bowl I threw on the wheel was an embarrassing blob of blue clay about 1 inch tall, 2 inches wide and it weighed about seventy-eleven pounds. Did I let a little thing like lack of talent stop me? Oh no! Apparently, I’m a glutton for punishment. Really though, I found the feel of the clay gliding under my hands therapeutic, and all the responsibilities and worries of raising kids trickled away with the water that was helping me “form” the clay. I was hooked!
Because he know how much I enjoyed the experience, my sweet husband gifted me a month of wheel throwing classes at Wichita Pottery (https://wichitapottery.com/, also a studio I highly recommend that you check out if you’re in/around Wichita, Kansas). I learned so much and loved every minute of it! I mean, it took me the whole month and a million attempts on the wheel before I was finally able to throw one little pot I was proud of and wanted to take home with me, but I LOVED it all!
I continued taking classes for about four months, when a friend shared a post with me about a used pottery wheel for sale. Again, my indulgent husband bought it and brought it home for me. My sister had an extra kiln laying around in Santa Fe and brought it to Kansas for me. We got all set up to do the whole process from my home (and when I say we, I mostly mean my husband, he did all the heavy work)! The pottery gurus at Evans Ceramics (https://evansceramics.com/) were invaluable in helping me get set up, making sure I had all the supplies I needed, spending countless hours answering my questions and teaching me the ropes of glazing and firing. It’s amazing how many friendly, helpful and selfless people who have helped me, and are still helping me, in this journey. The world is full of magnificent people. If you haven’t met them yet, go find them! They’re everywhere!
P.S. I am a newbie to making websites and writing blogs, and I’m doing this all by myself! I have no idea why it says I wrote this in August of 2018. I wrote it on October 26, 2023.