About

I don’t remember exactly when I caught the pottery bug. I was originally an art major in college and was taking classes in different types of art to try to figure out what, specifically, I wanted to concentrate on. Shortly after wandering into the pottery studio, I knew what kind of art I wanted to do. I still love painting, but luckily, you can paint on your pots.

Almost since the day I entered college, I was facing intense pressure from my family to change my major to something that would not leave me starving and homeless. I changed my major to advertising in my senior year. I had enough credits to graduate with a minor in art and figured I could fulfill my creative side through advertising. To make a long story short, picture the television series Mad Men. It’s based in the 1950s but in 1993 it was still a male dominated, chauvinistic field and I hated it. I graduated, worked in the field for roughly three years before I just couldn’t do it anymore. I came home from work and cried nearly every day.

I drifted through the next 12 or 13 years of marriage and children, trying to find a way to fulfill my creative side and never quite succeeding. Then I decided to take a pottery class at the local community college. The first time I put my hands on spinning wet clay again, my whole body breathed a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, pottery still had to take a back seat to marriage and children. Then, this past April I decided I was finally going to right a wrong and do something about my biggest regret in life. I am committing to being the artist that I never allowed myself or had the opportunity to be. This is my journey. I am trying to find myself as an artist. I invite you to watch me become who I should have allowed myself to be 23 years ago. Welcome to my life as a starving artist.

-Helen Teixeira