No, it doesn’t run.

Yes, it’s supposed to be there.

It was actually the first thing put into the studio... Before shelves, before wheels, before the first bag of clay hit the floor.

It took four absolute legends to get the bus inside the studio on a very busy street in downtown Muskogee... then it was just me and very dirty shuttle bus.

She was rusty, dusty, paint chipping... She needed a lot of love but she had a lot of charactor. I defiently had a couple of late nights wondering "What the heck was I thinking???" But I kept, scrapping, washing, sanding, priming and finally painting!

Then around 2 in the morning I decided the back hatch needed the seats removed, a table top installed and tiles laid in the back and along the wall.

Was it practical? No.

Was it necessary? Also no.

Did it feel exactly right? Absolutely.

Those tiles were a labor of love themselves. I spent months making thousands of them for a home... each tile slabbed, cut, fired, glazed and fired again by my tiny munchkin paws.

It felt special bringing life to something differnt in the studio. I mean we bring life to clay daily but it turns out you can bring life to a bus too!

Now she lives right in the middle of Loam.

She’s my office.

She’s a display shelf.

She's a record of everyone who showed up.

My favorite part of bringing her to the studio is every student gets to leave their handprint on her.

Tiny hands, big hands, some perfect, some smudged. All of them permanent.
If you’ve left your handprint on it, you’re part of her story.

If you haven’t yet, don’t worry. There’s still room.