learning

A certain someone who is very close to me said I should blog about the class I am taking and so I will just to appease said person. I am taking an evening pottery class this semester since it's been a couple of years since I've gotten to play with clay. It's a throwing class which I chose over handbuilding because a) I like throwing even though it kicks my ass, b) I can use the stuff I make and give it away as presents (trust me, I've already had multiple people drop not-so-subtle hints about what they want), and c) honestly, I hope to make a little profit from the stuff I make. I know I could make functional, sellable pieces in handbuilding, but knowing my past with handbuilding I just end up making large, useless sculpture which is something I do not need in my life right now.

Now, to get to the point. Like I said, it's been a couple of years since I threw anything and additionally I was unnerved by having to adjust to a new studio (which has hardly any wheels that lefties can use, argh!!) so I felt pretty timid the first night. I'm pretty much over those initial emotional hurdles, but now I'm faced with improving my weaknesses. I am keenly aware of the areas where my throwing/general pottery skills are lacking and I usually try to avoid said areas. Good plan, eh? Not really since I honestly went into this class hoping to improve my skills, not just get some "cheap" studio time.  I swear the instructor can read my mind and is hitting every one of my weaknesses. Last week it was throwing pitchers. Throwing them isn't so much the problem as forming a nice spout. I actually tried to face that fear tonight and feel reasonably happy with the results. Tonight the instructor brought up pulling handles, another nightmare for me. I threw a half dozen pieces that I can try attaching handles to next week so we'll see how it goes then. Part of the whole handle pulling problem is coming to terms with the fact that handmade pottery is handmade and therefore will not be as perfect and uniform as some horrid machine-made piece. I am way too anal with my throwing and I hope to loosen up a bit this semester. We'll see how it goes. In conclusion, I often try to avoid situations where I may fail and have to practice a lot to get better, but I am trying to work past that so I can improve my skills.