I owe my discovering pottery to two people. My friend Henk, who had always wanted to try pottery himself because his late mom was a potter, and Taylor McDarison, who is the most enthusiastic and encouraging pottery instructor you'll ever meet.
At the time Henk suggested I took the pottery class, I was in the middle of finishing my Ph.D. dissertation and dealing with a health issue that would cause me to get a skin rash every time I was doing something stressful. I would be fine and as soon as I would sit down to write, I would feel my skin shiver and I would know that the skin rash was back.
Needless to say, this didn't make writing my dissertation any easier.
I got into yoga, meditation, journaling ... anything that would help you with stress, I would try, sadly, to no avail. So naturally, when Henk suggested I try pottery and I read about it, I discovered that people found pottery de-stressing and therapeutic. So I agreed to doing this hour and twenty minutes drive together to Waukesha for our class.
I won't tell you that pottery came to me and I was a natural. Not at all. Centering three quarters of a pound of clay was a struggle. Walls were wonky and bottoms were heavy, but I felt something I have never felt before. I made tangible things that I walked away with and that made me very happy.
Enjoy the picture of the very wonky things I made during that class. This picture was taken the day we received our pieces on January 14th, 2022.