Like most 18-year-old dumbasses, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life when I started college. I had this teenage fantasy about becoming a working artist one day, so I began my college career as an "art major." I took painting and drawing and art history courses along with the basic required academics I needed to graduate, but found I truly *enjoyed* the pottery classes. A couple years passed and I got married (really, really young, but to the fabulously handsome and brilliant and good-natured Len, so it was a good long-term decision!) and we moved to Michigan, where I finished college. My first day on campus, I joined the newspaper staff on a whim, and the rest is history. I finished college with a journalism degree and experience as the editor of my college paper and as a stringer for the local papers. I have enjoyed a long and fulfilling career as a magazine editor.
Many summers, I took pottery classes offered through local continuing education services, but found those classes weren't giving me what I really needed: Time. Two hours a week for six or so weeks never got me anywhere. I don't think I actually finished a single project. I even looked into buying a kiln and all the ingredients, but couldn't justify the expense, when the fact was I had no real working experience.
Once we settled here in Decatur, I started looking around for pottery classes and found Mudfire Pottery. It is a potter's co-op, where you join and pay a monthly fee and they supply the rest. There are several people on staff, "rangers" they call them, who are there to assist when you need assistance, guide when you need guidance, and leave you alone when you need to be left alone. Pretty cool. I go there three or four times a week and work for a few hours and already I have improved my skills beyond where those summer classes ever took me.
Since Len and I no longer have dishes (we got rid of the Fiestaware just prior to our move from Seattle back to Atlanta) my first big project will be a set of dinnerware for us. Mugs, bowls and plates. I figure once I successfully complete a set of simple dinnerware, my skills will allow me to work on more ambitious projects like large pieces, and then move on to slab work. It's very exciting for me, like I'm fulfilling a life-long dream or something. It feels pretty good.
Now, has all this work with clay caused me to drop my knitting needles? Not at all. Currently, I have a cardigan, socks, a lace shawl, and a soon-to-be-felted bag on the needles -- and I work on these projects every day. Wow. Just call me Ms. Producer!
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3 comments:
Clay is good. I was never very skilled at throwing, I am more of a slab kind of girl. But I always liked my time at the kick wheel. And hey, I think a kick wheel would qualify for activity points!
If you need a copy of Hands in Clay, let me know.
I've never really had an opportunity to throw, so I thought I'd master that first. But, alas, no kick wheels at Mudfire, so no real activity points. I must say my body aches though in places it never has before. Clearly, I'm using some atrophied muscles!
You forgot "elite athlete."
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