For the past year, coming up on a year and a half, I’ve been taking ceramics classes. I started taking them with my daughter, thinking that it would benefit her to have more hands-on time with physical art materials, and some creative time that wasn’t school-related. I think it was good for her, but she chose not to continue with the classes. After that, my husband and I have been taking them together.
We’re specifically taking classes at the Ceramic League of Miami, taught by an old friend of ours, James Herring. The work made in the class is soda fired, and results in beautiful, atmospheric surfaces.
I took about the same amount of classes in ceramics in undergrad as I did in painting, but it had been decades since I worked with clay at all when I started again last year. It was an awkward restart, but some knowledge didn’t abandon me. In undergrad, I primarily created hand-built sculptural forms, though, and now I’m working primarily on the wheel. Because it’s just a weekend class, I’m still treating it very casually, and I haven’t dived into exploration of a body of work the way I might were it a more formal course. I’ve appreciated having an outlet for my creative skills that isn’t tied to my practice and reputation as a printmaker, too.
Most of the works I’ve made aren’t really documented–perhaps I’ll spend some time doing that over this brief academic break. I’ve mostly been making small vessels, something I’ve always had an interest in.
I’ve simply been trying to get better about form, first through getting better when throwing, but then also in trimming and trying to understand what makes a lovely shape, and I’ve also been trying to get a handle on glazing–which I don’t feel that I’m particularly good at. I do have many ideas that I think I should try, but they would require me to dedicate more time to this particular practice than I have been.
Another thing that we have been doing is supporting ceramic artists–we do always try to support our fellow artists when possible, but because of our engagement with the League, we’re more aware of the various events, exhibitions and sales featuring ceramics artists.