the Tao of project 1

Seeing the first pieces out of the gloss kiln have got me thinking about perfectionism, over-striving and Tao. My hopes for the first project at college were so waivering as my focus is pulled in so many directions. An onslaught of technical information crashing down on a conceptual maker has been overwhelming to say the least.

Having been indoctrinated to the canon of slipware potters that create the fabric of Stoke-on-Trent I soon realised my pieces are so terribly made it’s like I’ve just held clay for the first time. In comparison to these generational potters, my 2 months at the wheel compared to 2 decades is noteable. But the imposter syndrome fades away and I’m reminded of my place here and then I’m quite happy with the first things I have made, and actually, they are quite bad. The possibility that everything I could possibly make at Clay College could possibly be “bad”. And that’s OK. Because I am not a production potter in the pottery industry of Stoke-on-Trent. Maybe I will learn their ways but I am on a bumpy and bountiful journey of discovering the techniques of our long history of ceramic craft with no idea of my destination to date. And that’s OK too. Perhaps in being in the “wrongness” will open the flow of the “rightness”.

To over complicate things too early on, over-intellectualise the process before it’s fully understood, adopt an out-of-reach explanation for fairly simple objectives, lead me to a place of over-whelm, impostor syndrome and ostracised from my channel of inspiration. Taoism, as much as I can, from here on in.