Village Squire, 1975-11, Page 5KAAREN BATTEN
Liberated young artist is a wife and mother too
Working with the clay takes a special touch. Kaaren says and she
has to work steadily to keep that touch.
Can a woman live a happy, fulfilled life and
still put her husband and four sons first?
Germain Greer or Betty Frieden may not
agree, but Kaaren Batten thinks she is
Few women probably have a more
demanding family life. Kaaren's husband Bill
is a newspaper publisher and former
long-time editor of the Exeter Times -
Advocate Four active sons keep her on the go
to hockey games and other activities Yet
despite all this, Kaaren has found time to
pursue her own interests, particularly her
work with ceramics which has won her a
growing reputation for excellence.
The housewife can be one of the most
liberated people, she says. A housewife can
make time for the things she really wants to
do. Unlike most jobs, she says, the housewife
has few deadlines The furniture can go
another day without dusting, if you really
want to do something. The housewife is free
of having to worry about making money at
what she does. She doesn't have to worry
about big production and has the advantage
of being able to work because she wants to,
not because she has to.
It's a matter of priorities, Kaaren says.
Some people wonder how she makes time for
her pottery she says, but you can make time
for what you want to. She calls herself a bit of
a women's libber and feels her children are
quite capable of helping out around the
house.
Still, she says, she puts her family first and
because of this she no longer sells her work in
as many shops as she once did. Now, she
says, she works spasmodically keeping quite
busy for long periods of time then Not
touching the clay for another long while. She
says she finds she must work steadily when
she is working or she loses her touch with the
clay. There are times, however, when
because of family pressures she just can't
work, and others when the spirit just doesn't
move her.
Kaaren first learned the art six years ago
when with some others from the community
she took a 10 -week course from Exeter potter
Flora Doerr who she owes a great deal to
"She has a fine appreciation of life", Kaaren
says.
She took to pottery at once "I'd never done
anything I enjoyed so much," she recalls She
was so hooked on the subject that she was
"almost sick" when she couldn't be involved.
But there was so much involved in setting up
her own operation such as being able to buy a
VILLAGE SQUIRE/NOVEMBER 1975, 3