When you work with clay, you have to like, or not be afraid of, getting your hands in the mud and all its messiness. You have to believe you can turn that muck into something that creates a pause in someone’s life, a moment to smile or feel comforted.
After a day at the studio, with clay in my hair, on my face and clothes, I return home and turn on the news to find out what’s been going on in the world while my mind and eyes were focused on my hands and the clay and glazes.
On TV I see perfectly coiffed and medically enhanced faces, erasing any sign of human reality.
I just spent all day intentionally making marks that will reveal my pot is imperfect, handmade, and invites someone else’s fingers or hands to touch where I touched. I wonder who trusts a person who hides the crows feet, furrowed brow, laugh lines that reveal wisdom, curiosity, and resilience.
I suspect they are the same people who think mud is messy and changing it into something beautiful is impossible.
Making something out of mud takes practice. Mistakes are made. They are the path to new ideas. So aiming to be perfect by not making mistakes is the worst mistake you could make in pottery.
Isn’t pottery making like life? Isn’t it messy with mistakes made by others in the past and how you react to it? Aren’t all those mistakes the path to learn and create something better?
If our definition of perfection is not making mistakes, hiding the marks of our wisdom, curiosity, and resilience, how will we learn and progress?
If you are still with me, I invite all, especially those who think their political “team” is perfect and the other “team” is not, to think again. Consider that if these politicians were open to admitting that mistakes were made, we could all re-focus our attention on what we’ve learned and create new ideas to make progress.
This would make conversations among friends and family more welcome and interesting, uniting the nation, and creating a path to restoring respect for United State’s leadership around the world.