Truly Free

Truly Free

Last week I told Andrew that Emma was coming for lunch. He being his smart mouthed self said.”What is she coming here to learn from you how to lose money at pottery?” I replied “ Hey smart ass you have been one of my best students!” For the record Emma Smith and Duncan Aird have reached their target for the kiln building fund raising campaign. Nicely done, U2!

So the topic of lineage and influence came up. He said he was trying to shake the influences of his teachers in his work. One being me, Bruce Cochrane and more recently his teachers at WVU- Boomer Moore and Shoji Satake.  You can’t escape them.  They are ever present. You can run but you cannot hide. What keeps them on your mind is their love of the materials, the process and the lifestyle that they engrained in you. I didn’t fall in love with pottery. I fell in love with my aunt and uncle who if I wanted to hang with I had to be involved with them at the pottery.

Andrew left some pots on the table. Meat trays now does that ring a bell? I like these pots a lot. One is a banged out piece of clay hollowed out with a trimming tool in a aggressive manner. The other a handled meat tray with some aggressive trimming of the interior of the dish. The mark I love the most on this pot is where he stopped short of completing the circle and left an intentional ridge. It is the very part of the dish that I stare at and feel with my fingers. Mission accomplished- attention, interest, desire and action. I want it, too!

Now for the little omelette bowl. I can see he used a very short clay but the handling of the edges looks rather free in fact it is truly free.  Comfort with the material, the process and one’s self. All you can ask for in a potter.

Potter: What’s your opinion of my pots?

Critic: They are worthless.

Potter: I know, but I like to hear it anyway.

PS: Andrew's pots are Cone 3 salt glazed. He is so smart making money at pottery they are piled in my garage and Emma Smith has some nice ones for sale at her gallery.