Claystation

My latest passion these days is pottery. Pottery has always fascinated me especially when I

saw handmade artifacts at shops and WHO refused to shop them ;)

My supervisor once showed me pics of pottery artifacts made by his supervisor, it struck a chord with me instantly. I was waiting for a chance to venture into this art. And 3 years down the lane I got it.

Claystation is a beautiful experience for people who are highly tactile, for those who rely on their hands as much as they do on their eyes. As a child I was highly tactile ( read as destructive) and mom lost a lot of her glass ware and household appliances because of this habit of mine. So my mom put me on works that could keep my hands occupied. So I picked up everything arty that came my way and the clumsiness soon disappeared only to be replaced with stained t- shirts and floors in my house :).

Clay classes but, were different. Firstly, because I let myself enrol for classes which I usually never did. I guess I am retarded when it comes to following instructions and secondly, because I never learned anything unless I felt confident enough to take it up and carry on, on my own. But here for the first time in life I wanted to learn something from someone without my mind telling me " oh you can do this". And frankly it is difficult certainly after school years :)

Everytime we don't get something right, our instructors tell us its ok, after all its handmade. Not that errors gets consoled by this but it sort of brings back the pride of having mastered an artifact. We are often reminded to close our eyes and feel our work with our hands and to mould it till we feel we have achieved the perfect shape. And it is then I realised how one could see with eyes shut this definitely is not easy for one with sight but perhaps is a skill we all need to master for life. And after all these years on earth I learnt it here.

Art of any kind is a liberating experience. The very fact that I create something with my own hands is so exhilirating to me. This however does not pamper my bruised heart when I see cracks and imperfections. But these days I realise its the remedy for my obsession with perfection.After all the labour when you fear of losing your work yet decide to go beyond the limits to explore it, thats a worthwhile journey. When you overcome your worst fears, break and tamper stuff you cherished, you are prepared for some real discoveries. For fear has left you rather liberated you to enjoy the process of creation.You also discover 100 ways of what not to do ( courtesy to Einstein ;) )

I wont tell you about wedging, merging,centring or pinching clay no I wont. I cant run a tutorial on a blog and even if i could I would not do the injustice of stealing an experience from you. So for all of you out there- Exxxxxperience!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Note-The third and last pic are not works of mine its a pic from claystation while all the others are by me.