Ram Skull Garden

Monday September 19, 2016

I was lucky to get exposed to clay when I did. Going through a paramedic training program at a community college had its benefits. I was luckier still that the man who taught my two semesters of ceramics - for an art requirement I did not fully appreciate at the time - was a master potter.

He was never impressed with a single product, and told us what his teacher had told him: "Do it 200 more times [so you're sure you're good at it.]"

He also never expressed disappointment at a failure or when a piece was unexpectedly destroyed. "It's just mud. You can make another."

That was 9 years ago. I found out that I live across the street from a ceramics co-op made up of old hippies, ex-hippies, young hippies, and a couple of other weirdos who like playing with dirt and mud.

So I joined - like I had time for one more thing in my life - and found that I was doing something again that I had failed to really appreciate the first time I had it.