Slipping and sliding through clay

I love the suppleness of clay, how it slips and dances through my hands and grows on the wheel, shapes space, is so fragile and yet so tough.  Then the glazes, - I love color, how it can blend, look so organic, not static, creates a world of texture and depth that is alive, - sometimes subtle, and at other  times loud and brash, always dripping with delight. 

Then there is also a spiritual quality to all of this work, - a conversation between the potter, me, the material and "a drawing force" seemingly from outside, that animates the whole process.  Clay, glaze, fire are dynamic, always contributing more than is anticipated, more than is known.  To begin the process with the clay is to beckon this third dimension to appear and collaborate, - to mess things up and change them around.

Another facet of this conversation - equally exciting - is with the one who visits the pots.  The vessel opens the visitor to the pots beauty and the pleasure they feel in the vessels presence.  Then the conversation continues with the potter him- or herself.  In this dialogue the world of the vessel is expanded from a thing in itself into a living spark that ignites the playful, breath-catching wonder of another.   

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