originally published 3/20/2011
Potters share the pleasure received from seeing a shelf of finished pots waiting to be fired, or a kiln opening brimming with pots still warm from that fire. I work for weeks and can hold the tangible product of my labor in my hands. There’s no ambiguity of accomplishment. For better or worse, I have objects that describe my work.
My table full of pots drying is an exhilarating sight. At this stage of the process, I usually don’t want to stop the making- it’s a time when I have more ideas for the forms that I’ve just finished, but it’s time to glaze and fire, completing this cycle.
“It took me into my hands, to creating something real,” is a statement from an interview with Terry Tempest Williams on the NPR program, “Being.”