I had a wonderful teaching experience today; in the process of making parts of pots (circles, rectangles, spouts, stoppers, collars, shoulders...) my student Kris and I rediscovered how over-rated perfection is and how fun it is to just "play" around with shapes and see what happens naturally. .
This is what happened as we poked, prodded, cut, diced, pushed, and squeezed this poor unassuming pot. What you can't really see is how soft the slabs are and how challenging it is to make something out of clay when it keeps moving around on you.... this is what potters would call, "loose", as opposed to "tight", ie, stiff slabs, strong angles, strong control. This pot in contrast we let move as it would; slouch, lean, have attitude, whatever.
And we both loved it! How charming it is, how anthropomorphic, how much we wanted to grab it around the middle! After throwing so much in the last couple of years, I really forgot how much fun it is to work with soft wet clay and allow it to be itself, to allow for it's spontaneousness, it's wetness , it's lusciousness. Hmm, makes me want to forgo the wheel and just cut and dart slabs.
There of course is also the application to everyday life; if only we could let life be itself, to allow for it's messiness, it's spontaneity, it's unpredictability... I swear everything I need to know I learned in the clay studio......
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