It’s a joy, teaching someone to center clay on a potter’s wheel. Witnessing the waves of emotion as they crest and tide with the attempt of something new - something that’s much more difficult than it appears. The tiny improvements, the flashes of understanding, all slowly illuminating like string lights on a backyard patio, eventually glimmering together with magic and beauty.
I often wonder about my students outside of my classroom - how does their relationship to learning the pottery process play out in their day to day lives?
I encourage them to allow celebration in the tiny successes, the little glimmers, even if they feel like a drop in the ocean of progress. To feel okay with taking little breaks when they need, a walk around the studio can bring a centering in themselves they need to center the clay. To practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, even when it feels mundane. To unattach themselves to the outcome, and revel in the process. To welcome feelings of pride in a piece with all its imperfections. It’s always going to be imperfect, I tell them, that’s the point!
My hope is that, in my work with them, they’ll learn that they will most certainly fail, and they will also be okay! That staying open and curious and welcoming the imperfection of the process and the product may not be the answer they want to hear, but it is my answer. That unattaching themselves to the outcome will bring a beautiful freedom.
When they leave my classroom and are out in their worlds, I hope they remember that failure is an integral part of the process and striving for a perfect outcome isn’t what will bring them to wholeness or freedom. I hope they remember that practice makes beautiful imperfection and to appreciate things as they are, for what they are. I hope they remember to cherish the process, even the frustrating moments - we’re all here for the journey.
I’m finally settling into some routine after a whirlwind beginning of summer. Workshops are being planned and shows are being watched and exhibits are being visited and a drink of the summer has been selected. I’m practicing Spanish every day and not spending enough time on my own work at the studio. I’m slowly preparing for upcoming travels and taking walks in the rain and building a new venture that I can’t wait to share more about soon soon soon.
Thank you for being here.
Learning how to throw on the wheel a few years ago totally changed my life. I feel like it's such a significant shift in perspective working with clay. I finally understood that mistakes really are how we learn-if you pull a pot too thin, leave it to dry too long, trim just a bit too much off the bottom...ruined. But you know for next time what to do better! And there's always another pot. The wheel keeps turning, literally and metaphorically hah.