some pottery for the weekend

Hola.

Thanks for visiting again.

As pottery is the second topic on the blog's title, I figured an article on pottery should follow the sailing the sunfish for the first time.

Pottery or the liking of it started way back when I was in 8th grade back home in Puerto Rico. We had "art" class one full semester and I was hooked....alas, just for that semester. But I liked it. The feeling of the soft clay squishing through wet fingers and the little items taking shape by my hands. The neural index card got filled in and stored.

Fast forward to about 4 years ago.

And, I am thinking about the need to have some "hobby" to ease my mind (see, sailing is not a hobby, it is a lifestyle). The mental rolodex spun and that old index card popped up. Pottery it said. Sensual, artsy, earth connection, creation. A quick search on the internet produced Tampa Parks and Recreation with their many parks and art studios. I called the three or four that offered pottery and put my name on all the waiting lists. Soon enough, Rosie, the angel that runs Taylor Art Studio gave me a call saying my name was up!

The format was simple enough, one class each week lasting 3 hours between 1800 and 2100. At Taylor's I met Rosie who to this day remains my friend and dear buddy. Rosie is the heart of Taylor's for sure. There is so much to write about my first lessons and the obstacles centering clay presented, etc. Those articles will come later. For today I'll just report on the epiphany moment.

After centering your clay and pulling your form up from the clump, you have to leave it alone to dry to a hardness that will be firm enough to "carve" or "turn" the piece so that you can trim the foot, attach dreaded handles (more on that later too), style the bottom, etc. One tuesday evening I sat down to turn a piece and soon after I stood up to get a hot tea like everybody else. I came back to my wheel tea mug in hand ready to trim. The first sip of the tea was scolding hot so I sat the tea mug next to me and started turning the piece to trim the bottom. My second sip of the tea mug found the contents almost cold; I had spent 40 minutes totally absorbed in the trimming process. Alienated from the world, just fixed on cutting clay away from my piece and shaping it as I better saw fit. And that folks was the moment in which I knew that pottery was going to be a life long craft for me to pursue.