Back from our mini vacation and I'm back on my mini obsession to center clay. Some time last night, some time tonight, lots of attempts, lots of mess, trying to trust process while I learn technique while I patiently practice is an excellent corrective to my arrorgance with drawing. Well, maybe it isn't arrogance, but it's hard to break old habits, hard to remember how much further there is to climb up the mountain when you feel safely camped out on a hill. I've been drawing fer a lawng time. My hand naturally grabs for a pencil, normally wants to make a mark, feels right when drawing lines. With clay the whole thing is new. There are parallels of course, and a few times I've worked and watched the clay move from one thing to a new thing in moments.

Only all of those things were sloppy hunks of wet dirt. I sorta managed to get sorta centered a couple times. It all got mucked it up at the end but part of this process too, is learning to pay closer attention. Last night I held a couple of forms in a few different stages of drying and felt the clay's weight, the object's form, the balance of the whole thing. I listened carefully to everybody else's problems and solutions (all of my fellow students have plenty of experience, I'm the first grader in the 11th grade calculous AP class). I watched in horror while my teacher turned my wheel speed up several notches (I'm getting used to it).

This whole wacky process of stepping back to the beginning of the making process is thrilling, scary, frustrating, maddening and magic.

Feels good. So what are you learning?

take care,
Rachael

oh and there is art in western new york (more proof)