Almost every day, a package arrives in our mailbox or Post Office Box (P.O.Box 205, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816) with some letters for me, and some vintage hankies or old fabric for Maria, these are treasures and she has her own community of people who fuel her art and her imagination. I didn’t even see the elephant hankies she got, this morning, she brought this pattern in to show me, I told her it looked like a work of stained glass, a potholder stained glass. I am mesmerized at the way in which Maria has transformed the humble potholder into a work of art, and she resists everyone’s efforts to get her to raise her prices. I understand this, she loves the humility of the potholder, and the idea that almost everyone can afford to buy them.

This one was very different, so striking and colorful and inventive, I did have this feeling, “oh, it shouldn’t just be a potholder,” but that is the point  really, that Maria is turning the everyday potholder into a work of art, one that can hold pots and pizza pans. She hasn’t put it up on her blog  yet, I’ve scooped her again. I can’t really  help myself, I admire her work so much.