Haha okay! Just passing on general comments here, because she's more of a hands-on teacher. She's an ideas/opinions person at heart, anyway. So, 5 things my mom always says about pottery:
1. "Perfection" is boring. Achieving the perfect shape just for the sake of the perfect shape is meaningless to her. Mastering the forms and techniques is important, but mainly because you'll be able to play with more things afterward. In her opinion, if it's hand-thrown, it should look like it, otherwise why put in the effort? (Usually she makes this point with a bunch of snarky comments about lack of character and mass manufacturing. xD)
2. Function! Just because it looks great doesn't mean it is. The important question is, does it do what you want it to do, how you want it to do it? You might have thrown a perfectly cylindrical and pretty-looking mug, but if you haven't thought about the function while you're making it, it will still be awkward to use. What if the bottom is too thick? What if you made the whole thing so heavy that it's hard to lift when it's full? What if that handle you think looks super pretty doesn't fit your fingers the way you generally hold a mug, or it's placed at a height that makes it unbalanced when you drink from it?
3. Beyond questions of form/function, which two should go together, what do you want it to say, if anything? Do you have an idea behind it? (Obviously, it's okay if you don't; a lot of my mom's ideas look like "just playing!! :D" Some are weirder and more hilarious than others, hence the ~3-week spate of making glasses-holders that look like noses, realistic or otherwise. It's just another thing to consider.)
4. Relatedly, if you see something you like, don't just imitate it. Be creative and do something that makes it more you. (This one's a personal opinion of hers again, though it happens to be one I agree with.)
5. Biggest one for last, I guess: there are no such things as mistakes, only consequences. The issue isn't that your pot came out wobbly when you didn't want/mean it to. Like the rest of life, the real issue is why it happened. Maybe you were unsteady or distracted when you threw, or talking to someone and not paying attention. Why did your vase crack in the kiln? Maybe because the weight of the top was uneven, or you pulled the wall in that one spot too thin, etc. The question is, what are you going to do with your "mistake"? You have the option of chucking it, or if it's not fired, smushing it down to redo. You can try to fix it. Or, you can take a look at what it is now and use it as a starting place to do something new and different (my mom's favored choice, lol). Whichever you pick, you've hopefully learned something!
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branchandroot
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Date: 2015-12-19 01:05 am (UTC)1. "Perfection" is boring. Achieving the perfect shape just for the sake of the perfect shape is meaningless to her. Mastering the forms and techniques is important, but mainly because you'll be able to play with more things afterward. In her opinion, if it's hand-thrown, it should look like it, otherwise why put in the effort? (Usually she makes this point with a bunch of snarky comments about lack of character and mass manufacturing. xD)
2. Function! Just because it looks great doesn't mean it is. The important question is, does it do what you want it to do, how you want it to do it? You might have thrown a perfectly cylindrical and pretty-looking mug, but if you haven't thought about the function while you're making it, it will still be awkward to use. What if the bottom is too thick? What if you made the whole thing so heavy that it's hard to lift when it's full? What if that handle you think looks super pretty doesn't fit your fingers the way you generally hold a mug, or it's placed at a height that makes it unbalanced when you drink from it?
3. Beyond questions of form/function, which two should go together, what do you want it to say, if anything? Do you have an idea behind it? (Obviously, it's okay if you don't; a lot of my mom's ideas look like "just playing!! :D" Some are weirder and more hilarious than others, hence the ~3-week spate of making glasses-holders that look like noses, realistic or otherwise. It's just another thing to consider.)
4. Relatedly, if you see something you like, don't just imitate it. Be creative and do something that makes it more you. (This one's a personal opinion of hers again, though it happens to be one I agree with.)
5. Biggest one for last, I guess: there are no such things as mistakes, only consequences. The issue isn't that your pot came out wobbly when you didn't want/mean it to. Like the rest of life, the real issue is why it happened. Maybe you were unsteady or distracted when you threw, or talking to someone and not paying attention. Why did your vase crack in the kiln? Maybe because the weight of the top was uneven, or you pulled the wall in that one spot too thin, etc. The question is, what are you going to do with your "mistake"? You have the option of chucking it, or if it's not fired, smushing it down to redo. You can try to fix it. Or, you can take a look at what it is now and use it as a starting place to do something new and different (my mom's favored choice, lol). Whichever you pick, you've hopefully learned something!