Well, not really. In this case it was slop (or watery, grungy, throwing slip) and it went flying all over the room. You expect this at some point during a teaching session, but this time it was at the end of the first evening class! And I can tell you why …
I made the huge mistake of cleaning up and washing the floors!
Clean studio … not for long!
Sure, that’s the way it started!
Not bad for a first go!
Geez, Louise! What a scramble. Just about scared the you know what out of the students when the batt went flying off the wheel into the slop bucket … and then there was the shop vac, and the floor cleaner, and so on, and so on. The other two students just kept on carrying on though. Right in the midst of the chaos –they were concentrating so hard they didn’t miss a beat! They all produced some lovely first pieces. Even sent me an email today to say they were coming back …
I always have this argument with myself when I’m starting up new classes … Do I want people in my studio? Does the world need more little pots? Why not just head down to Walmart or the dollar store and pick up some pretty thing for a buck or two?
The first question is easy. Some of my best friends have started as students in my studio (you know who you are!) and that has been a great thing. I’ve had lots of people over the years who’ve come to kind of puddle around in the mud and have stayed around for years, either in my studio or starting their own. In fact, I think I’ve helped to support Pottery Supply House myself with all of the studios that have come from my studio. Just ask Brendan (who works there)! So, in spite of the occasional flying mud episode (which happens every session to somebody), I keep at it and look forward to meeting the people who will come through my door.
The second question is a little more difficult. With the world the way it is, could the money we spend on pots and pottery lessons not be better spent? In fact, we could pose the same question about the arts in general — and that is why these things are always the first cut in any kind of budget constraints … But, study after study has shown that people who create art and craft have better skills in dealing with the vagaries of existence. We bounce better. Have tiggers in our blood stream that break through our brain barriers because we have something to think about that doesn’t tie us to the daily news. As soon as students have made a piece, they are already thinking about what they’re going to do next, and how they are going to decorate the pot. Then they start thinking about what they are going to put in the pot (this happens EVERY time), so a little pot becomes a pate dish, or a salsa dish, or a sushi dish, even before it’s dry! The thought processes are endless. …
So if your brain is bouncing with creative ideas, count yourself lucky! We are not constrained by the daily news. We just keep on rolling down the river … no matter what’s going on around us.
Hope you’re having a great day. Mine is filled with kleenex and cold FX today … but that’s a temporary glitch!
Susan McD
