My first foray into pottery was in high school. The teacher was renowned for being free spirited, which resonated with my teen self (and still does!). With all that teen angst and indignant maturation to do, I'd hardly been open to doing any arts and crafts... until she inspired me to get my hands in clay and let that inner child sing.

I’m inspired by my desire to get better so I can get what's in my head into what's in my hands. I have learned that just thinking about or knowing what to do doesn't make it happen. It's a real effort to channel the "what to do" that the mind contributes into the "how to do" that the hands reflect.

I'm exclusively a wheel-throwing girl. Since I'm so new, I'm still in the midst of assessing how to even have a style! For now I make peace with having functional pieces that make me happy to use on a daily basis - like bowls, plates and servingware.

Each time I sit down at the wheel, I talk to my clay and tell it my intentions - how I want it to look and feel and function. I celebrate small wins like centering without coating myself in slip as I might have in the past. I’m thrilled when what I'm trying to do actually manifests in the clay by way of my hands. It's exceedingly rewarding when the resulting piece reflects the intentions I shared with the clay at the start of the session.

Messy. All-consuming. Humbling .

Many of my pieces are happy accidents at this early point in my clay journey. I am now growing into the intentional side of this art form with the patience and inspired instruction from teachers and other members at Potters Place. I am excited to explore creatively, make mistakes humbly, celebrate meaningfully, and present these creations to others for both flair and function.

Clay is just a lump of dirt. I mean, what better metaphor is there for "pick yourself up, dust yourself off and try all over again"?

I think about the cyclical nature of clay, from wedging to throwing to leather hard to bisque to glazed. It’s so rewarding when others marvel at my work.

There’s also the fundamental and irreversible truth that pottery is fragile enough to break. When it does it can theoretically be returned to the soil and back into clay for a reincarnation of sorts.

… that I struggle mightily with choosing glaze combinations and getting my pieces dipped. Other potters may not be that surprised because many of us struggle with glazing. It's my least favorite part of the pottery process by far. I worry that as a new member, my shelves will be filled with bisque pieces waiting patiently for me to make up my damn mind.

I am a birth doula who lives life on call. This make the timing elements of pottery very challenging. To start, it’s often hard to make sufficient time to dive all the way into a throwing session and subsequent clean up. Beyond that, there's how long to wait for drying before trimming.

It is also surprising to see how much a pot shrinks that makes me wonder "when and how will I use this?” I’m learning to throw bigger than I think a pot needs to be to allow for shrinkage. Hopefully it all works out in the end.