What is it about clay? What's the "hook"?
I've enjoyed expression in so many mediums in the past....first pencil drawings as a child and later paints: acrylic, watercolor and oil....then pastels. For a time I made jewelry pieces on a bead loom, made purses, belts and wallets from latigo leather and used a backstrap loom to make my own fiber wall pieces. But, quite later in life for me, about 14 years ago, I returned to college to get my Master's Degree in Art Education and I took a ceramics class as an elective my first semester.....
I knew......I knew the first moment on the wheel.....that I'd come "home" so to speak....to the medium of core passion for me. So much so that I immediately included Ceramics as a double emphasis in my Master's program.
Something about clay....the sensuous touch/feel of the malliable material.....the sense of awe and wonderment as I take "mud" and create a 3-dimensional object......it seems to stretch across time/space and connect me with peoples around the globe. Present cultures, past cultures......blend together as I'm in "the zone" with my hands in clay. For me, it is a very profound experience which nearly defys a complete definition......
I've had the priviledge of teaching ceramics at both High School and College levels and have witnessed the magic moment when some of my students are swept up in this same kind of inexplicable connection.....falling in love.....and making a life-long relationship with the medium of clay........
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