Pottery: week 6

This week of pottery was great! I have been a lot more tired lately so I have not thrown as many pieces. But the encouraging thing is that the pieces I am throwing are much better. On Tuesday I practiced trimming and learned an important lesson. It is okay to destroy some of your work! Up until now I have been very meticulous with my throwing and trimming. On Tuesday I destroyed three of my five pieces while trimming. I learned another important lesson: Stop when you are tired! All in all it was a great day. My trimming has improved a lot and I feel very pleased with the results.

On Friday Patti had me read from Bernard Leach's A Potter's Portfolio. Leach writes about the pottery movement he saw in his lifetime. The section I read talked about the philosophy behind creating pottery. Leach compares and contrasts the styles of East and West. It was fascinating to read this influential potter's ponderings at the beginning of a movement in pottery that is still very alive today. One of the concepts he talks about is how the craft/art of pottery is about shaping the potter. I have found this to be very true in my experience with pottery.

I threw my best piece so far on Friday. It is a small tea mug that attempts to imitate some classic pieces by Warren Mackenzie. I was so pleased with it that I took a break and only threw two more pieces. I had my intro lesson on glazing and got to apply some white slip to two pieces from last week. I am really excited to experiment with design and glaze next week. Patti is going to take us on a field trip to the Minneapolis Institute of Art next Friday so we can look at their ceramic section. It will be fun to see other potters' work, be inspired and have some more experience with potters. I can hardly believe I have been learning pottery for six weeks already. I am getting really excited about what I can create with my hands.