My mom says, “Pottery is wonderful because it makes no sense at all.”
True.
She goes on, “I have no talent for pottery. I am not buildng on strengths. I’ll never be an accomplished potter. The world doesn’t need any more pots. It’s purely for its own sake.”
Really? That’s the way dogs operate. We just do what we enjoy. Humans make things complicated.
My mom was so excited. “I made a cylinder!” she exclaimed. “It’s practically even!” She showed it to Megan, an accomplished potter, who pretended to be impressed.
For this we had to come up all the way to the pottery studio? I could have chased a dozen tennis balls by now…about as useful as mom’s quest for a perfect cylinder.
“I’m getting fussy,” she said. “If it’s not even, I don’t keep it.”
Well, I’m pretty fussy about who and what I play with, too. Same thing.
Listen, you never stop improving on throwing on the wheel…you improve and improve in many ways as the years roll by. At first it is a challenge, for a long long time. No really. Don’t give up. Think of those “10,000 hours” you’ll need to become a pro. (Just can’t think of the title of the book that describes that.)
Get excellent instruction and practice practice practice in this beginning.
Keep writing about your pottery experience.
Thank you! My mom seems to have great instruction and she sure is putting in those hours. See the previous posts. Well, it seems like at least 1000 each time I have to hang out in the studio.