Pottery

A year ago I embarked on a pottery journey. It started as an experiment with friends but soon after I started attending a weekly class, then a bi-weekly class, and after a couple of months I got my wheel and set up a small home studio.

This September 2022, I had the absolute pleasure of attending a workshop in the awesome @oficinanaescola with the master @naiimpottery where we learned how to work with Terra Sigilatta glazing. This millenary technique uses a special kind of earthenware, which we then fired in a Raku kiln – a Japanese method of firing ceramics that involves extreme temperature shocks.
It was a 3-day workshop filled with truly lovely people that I had the pleasure to learn and create with. We made everything from scratch: mixed the terra sigilatta materials, created the pieces, polished them, decorated them, bisque-fired them (thank you Yishai and Sara!), and on the final day of the workshop, we glazed and fired our pieces in the Raku kiln.

It’s hard not to become emotional seeing the incandescent pots being carefully lifted out of the kiln. How they cool down to suddenly reveal incredible colors and patterns; the final scrubbing and washing of the pieces to reveal them in all their details. There’s a beautiful alchemy at play here, an extraordinary transformation of materials using fire and water.
To me, these pieces represent the beauty of life in all its imperfection and unpredictability. They were an exercise in expression and improvisation, a dance between careful planning (testing out materials, the different permutations of glazes & base colors), and unconscious expression.

There’s a beautiful stillness about the whole process that is very grounding and a great teacher. The mind doesn’t wonder when I’m working with ceramics. I’m entirely focused and present in it. It is also a humbling practice, as failure is a big part of the process.

Thank you Yishai for this incredible learning experience.