Carl Cravens on sat 31 jul 10
On 07/30/2010 03:56 PM, Eric Hansen wrote:
> Everything a person needs to know about throwing on the wheel can be
> covered in a 20 minute demo.
Heh. You're probably right... but knowing isn't the same as doing, eh? And=
taking that 20 minute demo and turning around to do a demo for other stude=
nts a couple weeks later? If she's got enough practice time, she might man=
age to pull it off.
Wheel work always looks so easy. Isn't it amazing how new students can com=
e into their first class thinking they're going to start knocking out Chris=
tmas gifts in just a couple sessions? Then when they spend half a class se=
ssion learning to center and open without throwing it out of whack and real=
ity sinks in. :) I often wonder how much more appreciation potential custo=
mers would have for hand-thrown work if they all actually tried it. Part o=
f being a master (at anything) is that you make the difficult look *easy*..=
. I saw my favorite fingerstyle guitarist live and up-close and he made it =
look so simple. But my own attempts to play guitar convince me of just how=
difficult it is.
I went into my first wheel class assuming that, like every other artistic e=
ndeavor, it was going to be a challenge for me, and my wife would breeze ri=
ght through it. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that I took to it ve=
ry quickly and my wife struggled with it a lot. Finally, something "artist=
ic" that I was actually good at. The spinning clay under my hands felt *ri=
ght* in a way that no other medium ever has. She gave it up and went back =
to sculpting (which she's pretty good at, and I totally suck).
Of course, that was just the beginning. I may know a beautiful curve when =
I see it, but getting that curve from my head and into the pot isn't so eas=
y. Practice, practice, practice.
--
Carl D Cravens (raven@phoenyx.net)
Madness takes its toll...please have exact change.
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