The Funky Chicken
The annual Newsletter for Ben Behunin
and Wild Rooster Artworks
Volume 14
and Wild Rooster Artworks
Volume 14
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| The Behunins in Cinque Terre, Italy--July 2014 |
Open House announcement at the bottom
of this blog post!
Happy Holidays! If you are reading this, it is likely that you have purchased one of my pots or read one of my books over the years and signed up to receive the annual newsletter. Thank you!
As you may have noticed on the top corner, this is the 14th volume of The Funky Chicken, and it is historical in at least one way—it is the first time it has been available only online or through email.
After thirteen years of busting my butt (and my bank account) to get this newsletter out in time for Thanksgiving, I have decided to try something new. Change is sometimes hard, but it is often good. I hope this will be a change we all can live with as I try to find an economical way to communicate with my continually growing numbers of friends and supporters. I always appreciate feedback, and would be happy to hear from you. You can email me at benbehunin@comcast.net if you want to get my attention or to be added to the email notification list.
If you are reading this for the first time, this newsletter has given me a chance for the past fourteen years to let my friends, readers, and supporters know about life here at Wild Rooster Artworks and the Behunin House, as well as news about upcoming shows, projects and books. I try to make it fun and worth reading. If it puts you to sleep instead, feel free to email me and tell me to put a cork in it.
It has been an exciting year for me and my family, full of adventure and far flung activities.
After the Christmas Open House last year, I began working with my agent on slimming down and editing Remembering Isaac. It has been her experience that publishers like shorter books, and she wanted to cut 80 pages from that book. It was difficult, going through this again and again, slowly pulling out the nonessentials.
April marked five years since I released Remembering Isaac, and as I read through it again for the millionth time, I realized I have come a long way. I think I must have rewritten that first book close to twenty times over the course of twelve years, and still I realized I missed a lot of stuff. It’s hard to continually polish something when what you really want is to move on with the next story. I suppose the writing and rewriting of a book could continue on indefinitely, never producing a printed book. It felt a little bit like a perpetual ride on a hamster wheel. I became so consumed with the rewrite that I forgot to the apply to the Utah Arts Festival, a show I have participated in for the past twelve years. I missed the deadline by 12 hours. It was a bummer, but it turned out to be a blessing in the end.
Because of that, I decided to hold my annual Mother’s Day Sale on two consecutive weekends instead of just one as we have done in the past. This, along with an article in the Deseret News, http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865600412/The-potters-hands-Utah-artist, drew the largest crowd we’ve ever seen for our Mother’s Day show. It was great to see so many old friends and meet so many new ones. We are already planning on doing the same next year, May 1, 2, 7,8,9, 2015, but I do plan on applying for the Arts Festival next year too.
Over Memorial Day Weekend, we traveled with several friends to St. George to spend some much
needed R&R time with our family. I was also anxious to really try out the new longboard I got for Christmas last year. I grew up skateboarding, but it has been a few years, okay, maybe a couple of decades, since I had last been on one. On our first day away, I ended up in the ER with a broken collar bone after the wheels of my board were sucked into a large crack in the pavement, sending me airborne. Flying is fun. Landing is not. I ended up with some pretty heavy abrasions and bruises which actually hurt worse than the collar bone. The damage to my pride was even more severe, being forced to recognize I am not 18 anymore. The bones have healed, but I am still reeling from that reality of my mortality.
I came home from that trip, feeling grateful for the first time to not have the Utah Arts Festival ahead of me. This became even more true when I lost two dear friends within a week of each other at the beginning of June. I was fortunate to have had some time to visit with each of them before they passed away. These men were friends and mentors to me and my life was blessed by knowing them. It would have killed me to miss those last visits out of the stress of getting ready for the show.
Not having the festival to worry about also freed us up for a family trip. Ten years ago, Lynnette and I began making plans to spend the summer between our 40th birthdays in Europe. As we made these plans, we realized that after getting there, day to day living is not much more expensive than living at home. Our trip which was originally going to be just a few weeks turned into six weeks.
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| Outside the Duomo in Florence
I served an LDS mission in Switzerland, Germany, and Austria twenty years ago, and returned to Germany shortly thereafter to do a pottery apprenticeship with a potter I had met while I was a missionary. That apprenticeship would lay the foundation for my Niederbipp Trilogy a couple of years later, and I’ve been anxious to introduce my kids to that corner of the world for years. The woman I studied under, Irene Meier, still runs a quaint pottery shop in Tiengen, Germany, not far from Niederbipp, Switzerland. The town of Tiengen is actually the setting I imagined as I wrote the book, and is quite similar in nearly every way that matters. We spent a few days in Tiengen before moving on to Paris, France for a couple of days, and then moving south to a pottery village I visited many years ago, La Bourne, a remote village with nearly 100 potters in a 20 mile radius. Much of the work in La Bourne is woodfired, and is probably more attractive to potters than it is to the general public—lots of rich earth tones and unique surface treatments,
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| Florence, Italy |
but not incredibly exciting for most people. Still, it was a fun place to visit again and see what the potters of the French countryside were making.
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| Cinque Terre, Italy |
From there we continued south, visiting Genoa, Italy before heading for the Cinque Terre, an amazingly beautiful string of five colorful towns built onto the cliffs overlooking the azure sea. This has been on our bucket list for nearly as long as we’ve been married, and one we would go back to any day. The hiking trail between several of the towns had been washed out the year before, so we hiked only one leg of the journey, visiting the rest of the towns by way of the train that cut its way through the scenic cliffs. It was fabulous—a must see if you find yourself in northern Italy.
We also visited Pisa before moving into a rented circa 1850 farm house on the slopes of the the medieval town of San Gimignano in the heart of Tuscany. San G. is centrally located between Florence and Sienna, and used to be off the beaten path until Rick Steves featured it on his show and turned the quaint town, built between 900-1100 AD, into a bit of a tourist destination. The town is built on a hilltop and once boasted 70 towers—symbols of the wealth of the families who once lived there. Most of the towers have fallen, but several remain, along with the tall wall that surrounds the town.
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| San Gimignano, Italy |
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We rented the farmhouse for 2 1/2 weeks, which was probably about the best idea I had all year. It was so nice to be be able to see so much of Tuscany on day trips without feeling like the typical American tourist who tries to see 47 cities and 16 countries in 11 days. We had a chance to slow down, to cook, to try all the pastries, to make our nightly pilgrimage to our favorite gelateria, and ride bikes. My mother and her husband joined us for a few days. Irene and her husband, Sven, joined us for a week, my childhood friend, Jonas Anderson, and his his wife, Rachel, stayed with us for a few days also. The days were enchanting and relaxing. I wrote poetry and worked on a few books. We had use of a pool. We taught Isaac how to play pingpong. We explored churches, museums, galleries, and graveyards. And we were fascinated by the nightly show that the fireflies put on for our benefit.
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| Niki De St Phalle's House |
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| Inside Niki's house |
We also visited the former home of Niki De St Phalle, the French mixed media artist whose work is found throughout the world. Her home makes my colorful home look boring. Her home itself is shaped like a woman, the inside walls and ceiling covered with mirror. She passed away in 2002, but the buildings and incredible sculpture the cover her estate have been turned into a museum. I took nearly 500 pictures while we were there and still did not capture this incredible place.
Photography played a big role in our day to day activities. All together, we took seven cameras (including our phones) and took over 6500 pictures. Some of the photos are featured in my newest book, The Lost Art of Wooing Rabbits and Other Wild Hares.
After a glorious time in Italy, we made our way north to Switzerland. There is something magical about Switzerland, the way people care for the land and the natural beauty of this incredible country. It makes every other country in Europe look like a third world ghetto. We crossed into Switzerland over the San Bernadino Pass, a rugged mountain highway marked by glaciers and indescribable beauty that I am still dreaming about.
The kids and I built a huge rock tower at one stop before continuing on.
Lynnette’s brother and his wife live just outside of Bern and we stayed with them for a week, spending as much time as the Swiss weather would allow us in the Berner Oberland, the Alps above Bern. As it so often does in Switzerland, we got our share of rain, but we spent one magnificent day in Lauterbruennen, the valley of 75 waterfalls. I challenge anyone to show me a more beautiful place in the world!
While I would highly recommend a six week family tour of Europe to anyone, I would not recommend coming home. After spending ten years planning and anticipating this trip, the let down of the return was truly shocking. I came home to mostly empty shelves in the studio after the Mother’s Day show and 6 weeks of shoulder recovery. I dove back in, building up my stock, but felt less than motivated, experiencing the pangs of wanderlust as never before. I knew I needed to do something different and struggled to find balance in my life, fearing I might have started a mid-crisis, which I’ve heard is quite common with those who are about my age. 
And so from this, a new hobby was born. I have become a stacker of rocks. I know, I know, I hear you saying, “Why couldn’t you do something normal for a change?”
I don’t know the answer to that question, but it has been amazing to me how many other answers have come as I have just slowed down long enough to think. At one point early on in this whole mid-life crisis, I wondered if I might need some medication to help me think straight, but after spending a few hours in the wilderness, stacking rocks, I always feel better. I have been taking a lot of notes about balance and my musings in nature. These musings may find their way into a book about balance at some future time, but for the time being, I am really enjoying the therapy a few rocks can offer me. Some of these stacks are over eight feet tall. Others are only a dozen inches, but each of them has given me a chance to slow down and look at the world around me in a different way. I post these to my Facebook page if any of you would like to see more of them.
In the past three months since we returned, I have seen more sunsets and sunrises than I have in the rest of my life combined—due in large part to this new hobby. It has been fun hearing from people, wondering what I am up to, wondering if I am totally off my rocker, wondering why I would spend my time doing something that is potentially so temporary. As I have thought about it, I suppose it makes as least as much sense as most everything else I do in my life. It’s all temporary! But finding ways to discover beauty in simple things and leave them for the wind to blow down, or for kids to topple over, or for others to be inspired if only for a fleeting moment—I don’t know why, but it feels right, and so I plan to keep doing it as often as I can. I have begun gathering rocks here and there and bringing them home so on the days I can’t run to the hills, I can still build stacks in my own yard. I suppose we all need a hobby, and as far as hobbies go, I can’t think of a cheaper one. And the therapy can’t be beat. I have built most of my stacks so far on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail, from Mt. Olympus to City Creek Canyon. It has given me a new appreciation for the beautiful valley we live in. I am sad to know that most of the rocks will soon be buried under a layer of snow, but I am already looking forward to next spring, and hope to get to some warmer, rocky places this winter.
Searching for balance has also led me in another direction this year—poetry!
For the majority of my life, poetry has been an enigmatic art form that I stumbled upon from time to time, but never could sink my teeth into. But early last fall, I heard a radio interview with two-time poet laureate, Billy Collins. Billy read several poems from his new anthology and I fell in love with his style, his words, his ideas and playful way of threading words together to tell a story. I never considered that poetry could be like that, having only seen the poetry that strains to rhyme or is so abstract that I fell into a coma trying to follow along and understand.
But Billy is different, and that interview inspired me to start writing my own poems. I found quickly that writing poetry put me in a physical and spiritual place to stop, slow down, and listen to the rhythms of the world all around me—rhythms that I have been neglecting most of my life in my haste to get things done.
Novel writing continues to occupy much of my free time and I have worked extensively on three different novels this year, but poetry has offered me a chance to write in a different way—usually with a pen and paper—slowly, deliberately, taking it all in. Where it often takes me several days to write one chapter of a novel, I have found that I can jot down the meat of decent poem in less than fifteen minutes. It has become a meditation for me—a rather productive, edifying meditation.
Many of you know that I try to produce at least one book each year. With my next three novels still in the works, I was worried that I might not have a book this year. But while in Italy this summer, I began considering doing a book of my poems. Looking through my notebooks, I quickly noticed that I had far more poems than could reasonably be fit into one book. I started editing, playing around with the ideas of creating a book that incorporates both my new love of poetry and my long-term love of photography.
With this in mind, my photography took on new meaning. I took over 6500 pictures while in Europe. While Lynnette and the kids were sleeping in, I got up to photograph the sunrise, or the quiet, abandoned streets of medieval towns before the tourists arrived. Both the poetry and the photography have renewed my appreciation for silence and stillness.
My book will be out on December 1. I have titled it, The Lost Art of Wooing Rabbits and Other Wild Hares.
Yeah, I know, crazy title, right? But if you’ve liked my writing so far, I think you’ll like this one. Rabbits, by the way, are a metaphor for the important things in life that get chased away by the louder, but often much less significant distractions. There are poems about family, love, time, and balance, just to name a few, and some really fun photography too. The book will retail for $14.95, but with the Christmas Open House discount, the book will be only $10.00.
I have heard from many readers in the last year about the difficulty in finding my other books. Amazon continues to sell all of my books, but they are less expensive from me than from anywhere else. I keep a stock of my books here at the studio at all times. Most of these books, I sell for 40% off the suggested retail price.
This year has been fun with my last book, Put a Cherry on Top. I have received pictures from readers all over the world, showing off my book. Shortly after its release, I noticed that the book also makes a great mask...
These are a few of my favorites. Send me yours if you would like to benbehunin@comcast.net. I will try to post more of them here too.
I put together a powerpoint presentation for this book about making everything that we do in life into art. I have presented this at all sorts of events over the last year, from quilting retreats to library events. If you’re interested in me speaking to your group, give me a call. 801-883-0146.
On another note, I continue to speak to book groups regularly. Since the first book came out five years ago, I have spoken to over 220 book clubs, some of them twice. I have also hosted many book clubs here at my house and studio. Book Club visits are still free if I can bring my books and pots with me and make them available for purchase. Or, if you want to schedule your book club to come here, just let me know—no charge for that either!
Looking Forward
As I mentioned before, I am currently somewhere in the middle of three different novels, but have several more outlined, waiting for time to open up. I am constantly frustrated that I have to sleep at least five hours a night. It seems like such a waste. I have cut way back on my pottery over the years to make time for the writing, but I still make my living primarily with my pottery. To date, we have sold over 37,000 books, mostly out of my studio. The commercial book business is a strange one, and unfortunately is controlled by a small handful of people. I don’t understand many of their decisions, but those decisions determine what gets printed and distributed, what gets talked about on TV and radio, what gets made into movies, etc, etc. I don’t get it, and I am tired of second guessing myself when I would rather be writing. So, for the time being, I am planning on continuing to self- publish my books, distributing them by whatever means open up, and plowing on with my dreams. I hope that I will eventually get picked up by a major publisher who can help with the marketing, but I decided five years ago that I didn’t want to wait for that to happen, and I still don’t. Life is simply too short.
So, next year, I am hoping to finish at least one of those three novels I am currently working on. One of them will take us back to Niederbipp with a parallel story of the Matchmaker of Niederbipp who runs a farm on the outskirts of town and in order to receive of her services, applicant must commit to a summer worth of work on the farm.
Another is one I have been working on for nearly eight years, set in Watts, California, about a young man who has the unusual gift of being able to understand the voice of the wind...the gentle voices we all should be listening too, but instead ignore or neglect in our daily pressures and busy lives.
So, if any of you are wondering what to get me for Christmas, I would love a year’s worth of time to write my heart out. I have no doubt that one year will be woefully inadequate, but it would be a good start. We will see what the coming year will bring and I will try to keep smiling, knowing that life is far too short, and that there ain’t nothin’ I can do about it.
On October 11th, Lynnette’s Mom, Kaye Webb Scott passed away from Alzheimer’s disease. She was only 74 years old. For the past twenty years, we have watched her sad, slow mental decline as her dementia progressed. For the past two years, she has been bedridden, cared for in her home by my father-in-law, Rex Scott, and regular visits from hospice nurses. It has been tragic to watch the decline of this kind, gentle woman, and so the end was a merciful release. She passed away surrounded by all ten of her children, in-laws, outlaws, and grandchildren. We are grateful for her life, and comforted by the mercy and grace of her passing. We have had more than two years to grieve her passing, but still the ending seems so definite and abrupt. Lynnette is doing well and we all look forward to one day being reunited with Grandma Kaye.
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| Grandma Kaye, Mother's Day 2014 |
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| A new clock that seems more meaningful this year than it ever has before. |
This has been a big year for our kids, Isaac and Eve. Isaac is 13, and hit a major growth spurt this year, passing his mother sometime in February and continuing on like a weed on steroids. We have struggled to keep him clothed, shoed and fed. Today, he is 5’9”. I keep telling him he’s probably done in a lame attempt to keep him humble, but we both know I’m probably wrong. Against our better judgement, we allowed him to play football for the first time this year for a feeder team for East High. They went undefeated in the regular season play, and took third at a tournament last weekend in Mesquite, Nevada. He is a good kid, is making good friends and we’re proud of him. He just found out he got one of the lead roles in the school musical, Oklahoma, which will play sometime in March.
Eve will turn 11 two days before Christmas. She is also doing well in school and has been learning to play the piano, as well as rekindling an interest in dance after a hiatus. She is beautiful, fun and creative. Eve has been my companion on several hiking and fly fishing excursions this summer and I am so grateful for her friendship. She has her mother’s beauty and my goofiness, which we hope will continue to blossom into at least a mildly intimidating aura as she gets older. She’s a girl who knows who she is and is really comfortable in her own skin, not getting caught up in the petty things so many girls her age fall into—something that gives her parents much reason to be happy. She has a great talent with color and I have been teaching her the basics of watercolor painting. I hope that someday soon I will be able to sell some of her paintings along side my pottery in the studio. The kids have been busy this season, making ornaments and other items for sell at the open house. Come and see!
With Lynnette’s mom’s passing, Lynnette has more time to quilt and do needlework. She is a voracious reader and is a fabulous mom. In September we celebrated 17 years of marriage. I feel lucky everyday that I found a wife like her who encourages me and still thinks I’m funny. Not everyone could be married to an artist, and I am forever grateful for her support
By popular demand, Lynnette is busy this time of year making her famous toffee and caramels for purchase at the open house. Half pound boxes of chocolate will be available for $10, Cinnamon, Licorice and Regular Caramels are $9.00. They come wrapped for gifting, or for hoarding. They also make wonderful gifts for corporate clients, friends or neighbors. She tries to keep these in stock, but if you would like larger quantities, please give us a call. 801-883-0146.
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| Some of my latest creations!
It’s hard to believe that it’s been eighteen years since I decided to become a full-time potter. That decision has allowed me to interface with you, making pottery and books that adorn your homes. It’s never been easy, but looking back, I feel blessed to have been able to follow my bliss and somehow have been able to continue to make a life out of it. I thank you for reading my books and buying my pots. When I first started making pottery, I wanted to make pots with soul, pots that make people smile, pots that people want to hang onto and allow them to become part of their lives. Twenty-six years later, my desires remain much the same. I love making people smile and I hope to continue to do that for the rest of my life. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be your village potter and encouraging me in innumerable ways. I could not do what I do without your support and friendship.
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I hope our paths will cross again in the coming months. Happy Holidays!
Cheers, Ben
www.potterboy.com
PS, If you would like a printable copy of this newsletter, please email me, benbehunin@comcast.net
www.potterboy.com
PS, If you would like a printable copy of this newsletter, please email me, benbehunin@comcast.net
