{"id":25485,"date":"2016-09-22T00:01:53","date_gmt":"2016-09-22T07:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/barbarafalconernewhall.com\/?p=25485"},"modified":"2016-09-22T00:01:53","modified_gmt":"2016-09-22T07:01:53","slug":"birthday","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/birthday\/","title":{"rendered":"What I Really Wanted for My Birthday"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Large<\/a>
A birthday visit to Nancy Selvin’s studio and her large terra cotta pots. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By Barbara Falconer Newhall<\/em><\/p>\n

“What do you want for your birthday,” Jon wanted to know.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0biggish birthday was\u00a0coming up, one that ended with a five. I figured Jon was good for an equally biggish\u00a0birthday present.<\/p>\n

“Well, I need a new computer,” I ventured. \u00a0“And a new cell phone.”<\/p>\n

\"Ceramicist<\/a>
Ceramic artist Nancy Selvin in her Berkeley, California, studio. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

My pokey old computer still runs\u00a0Windows \u00a07, and I’m probably the last person on earth still carrying around\u00a0an iPhone 3GS, vintage 2009.<\/p>\n

“Sure,” Jon said.”We’ll get you a computer and a cell phone.”\u00a0Jon’s voice had\u00a0that telltale\u00a0lilt in it. The one\u00a0I hear\u00a0whenever I tell my husband that my computer’s gone buggy. Jon loves all things digital. He loves figuring out why my computer crashes. Even more\u00a0he loves an excuse go out and buy a new one.<\/p>\n

Later that day I did a double take.<\/p>\n

Two No-Fun Birthday Gifts<\/h5>\n

What the heck? A computer and a cell phone for my biggest, fattest birthday yet? No way! Getting\u00a0a new computer on\u00a0your 75th is like getting new clothes on\u00a0your eighth.<\/p>\n

What I wanted — really and truly — was one of my friend Nancy Selvin’s pots. A nice one. A big one. I wanted nothing more than\u00a0to pay a visit to Nancy’s studio<\/a>, get a guided tour, and talk about clay and glazes and beautiful stuff.<\/p>\n

And pick out a pot. Hang the expense.<\/p>\n

A Surfeit of Pots<\/h5>\n

Jon didn’t get it. Our house is full of pots and plates and platters, hand painted and gathered from the ends of the earth. There isn’t enough wall space in our entire house to display all of them at once. They sit in patient stacks under the TV and atop the<\/p>\n

\"Nancy<\/a>
Large pot in honor of artist Helen Frankenthaler and part of a new series inspired by women painters. “Helen” is stenciled across the belly.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Terra<\/a>
Terra cotta jug with pigment and\u00a0text. Following ancient pottery tradition, Nancy often applies text to\u00a0her work.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Ceramicist<\/a>
Nancy’s notes for the Helen Frankenthaler pot. Photos by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

coffee table and squirreled away in my mother’s old china cabinet, awaiting their turn at\u00a0one of the earthquake-proof picture hooks nailed to our walls.<\/p>\n

Did we need<\/em> another pot? No. Did I want<\/em> a pot by Nancy Selvin? Yes.<\/p>\n

This was a big birthday coming up. Jon had had one just like it a few months earlier. He felt my pain. I had him where I wanted him.<\/p>\n

“OK,” he said at last. “I don’t get\u00a0it. But go ahead. Get what you want.”<\/p>\n

And that’s what I did. On the day after my big Seven-Five, Nancy welcomed me into her studio on Page Street\u00a0in Berkeley. And I got what I wanted.<\/p>\n

More about adding yet another year to my already massive collection at “The Shame of Aging: The Big Seven-Five Has Finally Arrived.”<\/a>\u00a0 More about Jon at “Would My Husband Like to Add My Name to His?”<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\""Notebook,"<\/a>
One of Nancy’s “Notebooks,” terra cotta. Nancy favors terra cotta because it is an ancient material and it fires at low heat, saving energy. Photo by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Teapot<\/a>
After scrutinizing every pot, bowl and plate in Nancy’s studio I made off with\u00a0one of her famous teapots . . .<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"Terra
. . . and a platter — a big one — with a row of small shards from well known pottery studios, including “Selvin” and “Fiestaware.” The feet are mine. Photos by Barbara Newhall<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\"Terra<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"Nancy<\/a><\/p>\n

What did I want for my biggest, fattest birthday yet? I wanted to visit to Nancy Selvin’s pottery studio — and go home a beautiful pot. Read more.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":25609,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[103,1792,653,1214,1030,1123,29,793,1793],"class_list":["post-25485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-a-case-of-the-human-condition","tag-aging","tag-art-studios","tag-arts-and-crafts","tag-berkeley","tag-birthdays","tag-ceramics","tag-jon","tag-nancy-selvin","tag-pottery"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25485"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25485\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/server.stagingweb3.net\/barbarafalconernewhall\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}