Centered Pottery

My daughter pointed out the website Centered Pottery to me the other day. I was simply blown away by the things I saw there. The reason she told me about it is because the artist is the younger brother of someone she went to high school with.












According to his website Danny is living the dream of many artists. By that I mean the ability to make a living from something you are passionate about. Not only does he make a living he shares his passion with others by teaching classes.






From his site Centered Pottery in his own words-

Few of us get to pursue our truest and deepest passion as an everyday career, and even fewer of us know what that passion is early in life. Danny Dastrup is among one these lucky few, who knew a life of clay was for him at the tender age of seventeen. It was love at first touch in a high school ceramics class. Danny had a bond with clay that was unexplainable even to himself. However, realizing how powerful this bond was, and the importance clay would have on his life, Danny knew he had to find an instructor who shared the same bond and passion with clay. This crucial bond was missing in his high school classroom and he would soon seek outside influences that would change his life.
In 1996 Danny began an apprenticeship at the Red Kiln Studios in his home town of Salt Lake City with two successful clay artists, Aaron Ashcroft and Richard Barker. The two of them, along with Ken Marvel, taught Danny skills, techniques and philosophies that would later merge with his own gifts and talents, to allow him to pursue clay as a full time venture. Photos of these early teachers still hang above Danny’s potter’s wheel. While Danny has a style of his own, and has developed many of his own techniques, the influences of these masters still breathe life into the clay that spins on Danny’s potter’s wheel.
Now, a decade later, Danny has exhibited and continues to exhibit around the country and has work in private collections in Japan, Russia, Spain, Jamaica, New Zealand and South Africa.
Most recently Danny was a recipient of the Career Grant from the Marin Arts Council. This grant has allowed Danny to reach an even broader audience with his work, making Danny’s goal of bringing art into people’s everyday experiences even easier.
Danny currently teaches adult classes at "The Potters' Studio" in Berkeley, CA.

I almost wish he was closer. I'd be tempted to take a class. Even more tempting is the thought of maybe collecting some of his work. I need a new hobby right? What about you?