Welcome to my studio blog!

March 14 (Pie day!) 2026

My studio most recently fired the wood kiln just after Thanksgiving in late autumn of 2025.  It was more like the dead of winter with the morning temperature being 28 degrees Fahrenheit at the first lighting at 5 a.m.  At 4 hours in, it began to snow.  We knew from the weather report that this was going to happen, but had to push forward as I needed to fire, cool and unload the kiln prior to 8 a.m. the following Wednesday when I was rolled in for a total knee replacement, yay!  While I was nothing spectacular as a collegiate distance runner...in NASCAR I would have been called a "field filler". all those years of 60-100 miles of running per week took a toll on my knees.  Or maybe it was merely simple genetics.

Anyway, my potter friends from Fire Arts South Bend all brought work and helped stoke the kiln.  I synthesize my passion/obsession with art and racing by adding our Sprint Car wing atop the kiln roof, just in case the kiln needs downforce above 2000 degrees.

Now that it is early March, I am able to walk both up and downstairs and, sort of, resume work in the studio.  Within the last week, over 100 pots were tidied up, and photographed post-firing.  This work is now on both this website as well as my Etsy site, lencockmanpotteryUS.

Enjoy the weekend and forthcoming St. Patrick's Day.