pottery workshop day 2

Twas a nice hot and sunny day today, so I expected all the members of this group of young people to take advantage of the opportunity they were being offered, and attend the workshop in there numbers. As it turned out by the end of the session there were nine young ladies in attendance. I went over some of the activities from yesterday with the newbies....drawing exercises, history of pottery and pinch and coil method of pottery. The girls from the previous day were already immersed and almost completed, their drawing exercises by the time the new girls arrived at around 10.15am. I gave the new girls the previous day's activities while the other girls went on to complete pieces made the previous day. By the end of the session, the new girls with the exception of one, had caught up in terms of number of pieces made because I decided to work on two pieces at a time....in that way got got to get immediate practice on creating a pinch pot then using coils of clay to grow a pot and create a shape. Some weren't as happy as others, but for those who were boastful I cautioned them, that until the pieces survives the firing don't wast time boasting about their accomplishment. Pottery making is very humbling and they are already beginning to experience that.

teaching pottery again

For a couple months now this lady had been trying to talk me into running a pottery workshop for the young people in her group. Honestly, I didn't know much about the group and I didn't ask. I only knew that she had asked me before and after I submitted a budget there was some mind change. So this time around, taking time out my schedule to prepare a budget again seemed like a chore. I was also in recovery so I didn't want to overtax myself. If I was really honest, I would realize that I just didnt want to change my routine to accommodate teaching! One day, out of the blue, I started responding to an email she sent and the budget just came to me.....it just simply flowed! It's like my spirit said, you have done this before, you know what to do so just do it!

The workshop started today, and the young ladies who showed up today, despite the rain were quite enthusiastic about learning this new skill. I felt good and it felt great, imparting my knowledge of the craft to these young people. Teaching can be exhausting and it requires patience, but because it is creative everyone benefits including me! Today I taught a brief history of pottery, techniques in drawing which allows a person to see, as an artist does....to tap into their creative side...they were amazed at the drawing they produced, but the rushed through an exercise which was really meant to show them that will happen to the mind when it properly applied. I showed clay preparation (wedging the clay), pinch pot and coil methods.....quite a challenge but we kept practicing until..... By the end of the session all the particpants had created a cylindrical or bowl-like shape utilizing both methods. They will continue work on these pieces tomorrow!