Perfectly Imperfect!
When I began studying pottery in Japan, my teacher told me he would teach me starting with the most basic of lessons. I began by learning the correct way to hold my hands when wedging the clay to remove air bubbles. When he felt I was ready, he took me to the pottery wheel and showed me the correct way for form a “teacup.” Once I could make this simple form, we moved on to the bowl. After the bowl, I learned to make a plate. I was not allowed to learn to make a new form until I could successfully make the one I was working on. As the months went by, I learned to make a variety of pots including bottles, urns and many large pieces. I began to wonder what I would learn next. On a chilly day in November, I arrived at the studio and met my teacher. He told me that I would begin my “professional lesson.” I excitedly agreed and waited to find out the complicated form that would be the start of my professional lesson. He told me that my professional lesson was to make the “teacup” (the form I had started with.) He went on to say that I would only make teacups. Everyday I would make only teacups. I would make only teacups, until I could make 100 in a day. He would watch me and correct me, until I could form the teacup in just 5 movements of my hand.
Working in this way, I became very efficient. I began to reach a point where I could form the teacup without conscious thought. The forms were not the result of cleverness. I was freed from my Ego. They were unique to me, but not because I had sought out to create unique forms. They were unique to me, because I had simply made them. They communicated a part of me that could not be explained by words. These are the purest forms that I make today. They are the most genuine. If, when making a “teacup,” I should accidentally place a “flaw” in its surface, I simply leave it. There are no “flaws.” Each imperfection leaves the piece uniquely perfect!
