"To Spring From the Hand" is a new film on DVD about the life and work of Paulus Berensohn. I just viewed the trailer. The little bit I saw brought tears to my eyes... Paulus has always felt like a kindred spirit ever since my friend Jo Jeffers introduced me to his book "Finding One's Way In Clay" in the late 60's after I had finished my masters in painting at the University of Michigan. This book, in the words of Paulus, "bit me in the ass!". It was so fresh and so full of meaning, process, and poetry that "Finding One's Way in Clay" became my "guiding star" led me right down the path to "clay". It also became my "bible" for teaching. Paulus was my mentor some 20 plus years before I met him. While living in Anchorage, Alaska, I decided to attend a concentration in clay at Penland. Paulus talked to my group about his time in Australia with the Aborigines. I was so awestruck and shy, I said very little but just observed and listened... It was many years later before I got to know him a bit while having lunch with our mutual friend Kitty Couch. Finally, when Jenny Mendes and I taught "Cross Pollination" at Penland, Paulus joined us. It seemed like we got to know one another as if by osmosis because the 3 of us shared a corner of downstairs clay for 2 glorious weeks. The whole room abounded with Paulus energy that lit the studio up with a quiet and soft glow....How very fortunate we all were to share that experience... I will always have a vision of Paulus greeting the sun each morning with head and hands raised.

Thank you Paulus for all that you have given us.....

I just ordered my copy of "Spring From the Hand" and can hardly wait for it to arrive. I cannot recommend it highly enough so check it out! wwwspringfromthehand.

"It's not a way of making a living, it's a way of making a life." Paulus Berensohn