Teaching Again...

Day; 60. Overcast but warm and windy. Temperature on outside kiln, 55 degrees

Yesterday a  new  private student arrived at the studio door for the first time in several years. After teaching in graduate school and for many years after that,   I had put it aside for a life on the show circuit. However, after 10 years of  lugging pots, tables, e-z-ups, 40 pound weights, and heavy bin after heavy bin of ceramics, I decided recently that teaching others about clay looked very attractive again.

In walks Kristin from Traverse City, Michigan, coincidentally the same area of Michigan my husband is from. And suddenly I was back in my teaching mode; very comfortable and excited about helping someone else return to their creativity. I had forgotten how satisfying it can be to nurture this in someone else and to see a spark in their eyes that may have not been there when they walked through the door.

I began by asking many questions; handbuilding or wheel-throwing? Soft slabs or hard? Tight or loose?  Low-fire or high? Functional or sculptural? Colorful or more muted? Abstract or representational? As the answers tumbled out I began to get a ceramic profile of the person sitting before me. I learned about her painting background, her love of nature, color, and poetry. As well as what she thought of as her strengths and what were the areas of concern that she wanted to work on. We spent almost half the lesson getting aquainted artistically so that I could design our 6 weeks together in a meaningful way. I had forgotten how good at this I was and how much I enjoyed it. After two hours I was just as excited about the possibilities of working together as she was.

The last hour we got our hands dirty and started with just a basic lesson on the slab roller and the use of plaster molds. I showed her a quick and easy way to make feet for her drape-molded bowl and suddenly our time together was up.
 I think it will be wonderful for all concerned to document her journey and her progress here on these pages so I will try to remember to do so! I am really excited to return to teaching and am really looking forward to the next 6 weeks together. Stay tuned for in-progress photos!