pottery. art, craft and atomic weight
I used to do pottery.
In fact, I used to be a potter. A full year full time course in Derry, learning from the eminent renaissance man, Brian McGee, and I worked for a while as a production thrower. We build and fired electric, gas, raku and wood kilns, nearly blew up the building, made a mess of glazes; getting our heads around molecular calculations, triaxial blends and the fundamentals: the periodic table and the building-blocks of the planet. Everything under your feet.
And still getting bizarre things out of the kilns. Always a surprise, never a boring day. I made a mess of unwilling lumps of clay, and one day suddenly something clicked, and hands, heart and mind worked together. Throwing is a strange thing – some days I couldn’t even center, other days it was all a doddle. It is a sensual, earthy, deeply touchy-feely thing that seems to reflect moods, and ideally you should chose the task fitting the day. Clay is great material, and working with the elements is deeply satisfying. You create from earth.
The kiln fires the gooey, soft, sensual clay into stone; it is a non-reversible process, and the object dies a little for me – I tend to lose interest in the finished product. It is the clay part of the process, and firing kilns that attracts me. The transformation is total, the pot will never leave earth, it cannot be broken down to the original materials. Ages hence, my pottery shards will still be around. Longevity. Infinity. A mindblowing thought – and one that (should) keeps potters constantly reminded to not fire substandard pots in the first place. We won’t get rid of them.
The few pots that lives for me, have that magic all potters hunt for: that perfect, perfect balance of shape, texture and colour.
It sounds simple. It is impossible. It is chasing stars and fog. It is processes with so many uncontrollable variables you cannot do anything else but expect the unexpected. To make it really easy for myself, I fell in love with the microcrystalline glazes. The initiated will laugh at this. Microcrystallines will keep you pulling out your hair for the rest of your life. It will ruin the kiln shelves, it will stick, run, be too thin, too thick; the pot too high, thick, thin, small. The kiln fires too evenly, not evenly enough, there will be tiny variations in the core temperature, there will be a draught. When they work, they are gorgeous, though. From a full kiln, I’d be extraordinary happy to get one single pot that lives.
There is a virtue in it too, to control what you can, and then be able to leave yourself at the mercy of chance. Passing that point, imposing will is not so important anymore.
.
.
There is not a lot of photos from this period in my life. Fine electronics do not go well with clay, dust, glazes and blazing kilns.
But memories are good too.
microcrystalline green tea bowl
microcrystalline blue glaze – “purple perhaps”
newly thrown plates, before turning
the dead fish is my stamp, id and trademark
I was never big on moulding and modelling, but Gregory is always nearby
googly espresso mugs
I was never a fan of symmetry. Throwing wobbly pots is in fact incredibly difficult
8 Comments
what a beautiful asymmetry..
Great stuff!
Boblet,
I hope you’re around somewhere, so you can enjoy the fact that yes, ma’am – you are an award winner!
The story is on my current post, entitled “Helping to Weave the Web”. I was given the Arte y Pico peer blogging award, with instructions to pass it on to deserving bloggers. You are the first who crossed my mind.
Here, verbatim, is what I said in my blog:
Bits and Boblets ~ Norway If you’re looking for a daily dose of anything, boblet’s wonderful blog isn’t for you. This woman gives warning at the very top of her homepage: “If I have nothing to say, I won’t say it.” And sometimes she doesn’t say anything, for weeks at a time. But I check regularly to see if there might be something new, because the new invariably is quirky, fun, dense with meaning, and absolutely guaranteed to keep me thinking, until the next post. She has written my single favorite blog entry of the last year, and when I get around to writing my response to her post, you’ll know which one it is. In the meantime, where else can you find the adventures of Zapf Dingbats?
I hope the award gets you even more appreciative readers. I surely am one, and now that life is settling some from all the hurricane trauma, I hope to be roaming around a bit more. I’ve just learned about fractal art, so there are new avenues opening up all over!
Linda
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hello,
Thank you for the great quality of your website, each time i come here, i’m amazed.
have a nice day,
Mike
Nice content indeed! i will visit as often as i can.
cheers
That is some truly amazing work. I would love the bottom cup for my morning coffee :)
Hi Bente, maybe this photo bring you memories of that time, good to know that you are doing well…
http://i43.tinypic.com/20fdq1h.jpg
I am a primary teacher these days in Barcelona, ceramics is a hobby (serious one though), but my partner does it professionally:
http://sineceramics.com/
Have a good day!
Manu