A more personal publication… When we like an activity, we cannot list all the reasons why we like it, because we can always add a « why? » to our « because ». Nevertheless, over the years, I like to identify the things that I appreciate in potter’s craft, whether it concerns the technique itself or the philosophy all around it. These thoughts are quite common among potters : I will not cite my sources here, but I obviously know that I am not the first to express them. Some sentences that have remained engraved in my memory … To what extent is pottery a school of life ?

Si vous voulez l’article en français, c’est ici !

An union between elements

> Ceramic is a union between the 4 elements : earth, water, air and fire, according to Empedocles’ theory. These elements are linked by two principles : love and hate. Stating them in this order was explained by Heraclitus, for whom fire is at the origin of everything. Indeed, earth cooperates with water to form a pottery, which dries thanks to the air and is fired at least twice. Dry but unfired earth will change state if it is put underwater. To control the kiln atmosphere is essential when firing in a reducing atmosphere. At each stage of the process, a skilful balance between the elements is necessary : ​​not enough eath, the pot breaks ; too much water, it sags ; dried too quickly, it splits ; fired too fast, it breaks. The elements come together and prepare the action of one another. I find that very beautiful, as it is a return to basics.

(It is on this reflection that I designed my logo, with the symbols and colors associated with each of the elements.)

Stay calm in a busy world

The wheel turns fast, but my hands go slow. That’s what my teacher kept telling me. This is a technical advice, but I like to see it as a metaphor. The wheel is the world, and clay is my life. The hands represent me by synecdoche. And the world, as the potter’s wheel, is in perpetual rotation : it turns without the hands controlling its movement, because we have no control over the speed of the world. Information is flowing at an incredible speed, from all sides, projects overwhelm us and time is running out, the world is trying to face the challenges of its time … There is something to feel dizzy !

The potter who looks at the wheel can also be taken with an eagerness, carried away by the speed of rotation of the wheel. The movement of his hands quickens, and the pot is born dancing. Likewise in our lives, it is a question of not being carried away by the fast movement of the world, and to move forward in life conscientiously, avoiding haste.

Find the center

One has the feeling that the wheel, like a merry-go-round, turns faster when one moves away from the center. Thus, the further we move away from the center, the greater the risk of seeing our pot dancing is, because our movements are more difficult to master. Metaphorically, I like to understand that the world turns less quickly when I get closer to my « inner center ». There is nothing selfish about it, it is not a question of focusing on ourself, but of finding the center in ourself : knowing oneself, one’s passions, desires, aspirations, in order to reach better others and the world !

You have to be centered yourself to center clay. It is also a lesson taught by the professor who taught me wheeling techniques, but I was able to read it later for example in The wisdom of the potter by Jean Girel (p.43): « I then remembered my master wheeling his hundred pots an hour. For him, clay no longer existed, quite simply, and therefore had no reason to escape from the center, which was in him and not on the axis of the wheel ». We realize it easily : we are a bad turner when our head is full of worries, things to think about, restlessness. It is difficult to center if there is not a certain inner calm, which is expressed in clay through the hands. This is where pottery has therapeutic virtues.

Let go

The unexpected of the kiln ! – It’s very exciting to spend hours crafting an item, then putting it in the kiln, closing the door, and waiting until you can take it out. I do not have a workshop of my own, and I have never witnessed a kiln unloading. But I particularly like, when I have a first look at an object that I have made, savor the few seconds after seeing it, and the surprise that this object arouses in me. The impression that it has shrunk a lot, the brilliance of the enamels, the color which is not quite what I expected. One second of surprise, a few seconds to look at it from all angles, and it is adopted !

I like to tell myself that I do not have the last word on my creation, that I entrust the final step to Nature. It is the unexpectedness of the kiln that gives the pieces of pottery all their charm : no matter how hard we try to control all the manufacturing parameters, it is a pleasure for me to have the impression of discovering, of meeting, a pot on which I spent time.

Be patient

The drying duration is quite incompressible. Pottery is an art rooted in time. It takes days for the clay slip to become solid clay again. Wanting to dry too quickly inevitably produces cracks. Putting the piece of art inside the kiln just after enameling is risky. It is sometimes frustrating to have to wait weeks to use a piece that we made the previous season, and sometimes imagined six months before … But it is necessary, imagination is only more fruitful. Unlike painting, for example, it is the technique of pottery itself that restricts our haste. I have many pots that I had imagined in a certain way, and painted completely differently, inspired by a billboard, a ray of sunshine, a pattern, or the shape of the pot itself, by having observed it better afterwards.

Reshape yourself

As long as clay is unfired, it can be reshaped endlessly, no earth is lost. Unlike a painting, where you use a canvas every time you try something, pottery offers the possibility of trying, of failing, of starting over as many times as necessary, without any waste. There too, I like to see a comparison with human kind. As long as we are not dead, we can reshape ourselves endlessly. No situation is fixed, we have all our life to become who we are. And this is valid as much for oneself as for others : one should not despair of anyone, because in the most shapeless ball perhaps hides the most beautiful pot ! You have to see the pile of mud as a possible masterpiece !

Let God work on you

It is the dry clay that water loves the most. What a pleasure to hear that little crackle produced by dry clay when water is poured over it ! You would think you hear it shudder with pleasure ! And, in a few minutes, you see it becoming slip and forgetting its initial form, forming one body with the water which absorbs it … So it is, if you are believers, with the action of God on the driest hearts. Water is necessary for the already humid clay, but its action on the dry clay produces an unexpected result, and we see there the love between these two elements, in the sense of the theory of Empedocles.

Show empathy

I am like a chipped pottery : I hurt because I am hurt myself. Nothing that I like literally, this is not about pottery. This sentence is particularly true in human relationships, where the harm we do is often the result of our own suffering. We transmit this evil to others, sometimes without doing it on purpose and without wanting it : chipped pottery does not intend to hurt the one who handles it !

I hope that these few thoughts allow you, if you are a beginner, to understand everything that is played out in the art of ceramics, and if you are more advanced, to continue your journey on this subject. If you want to share your thoughts, it will be a pleasure to read your comments !