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enough to play an instrument. But I have strong suspicions that what I
experience standing side-by-side the musicians in my life at a concert is
somewhat different than what they're absorbing and appreciating.

Is the musician admiring their fellow performers’ finger-picking
technique in the same way a potter admires the break of a glaze over
purposeful throwing lines? Is a gifted song-writer thinking critically
about the phrasing of another artist’s lyrics and wondering why they
chose an obscure chord variation in the same way a ceramic artist
wonders about the cause of the milky opalescence on a pot being the
intentional addition of rutile or borate, or the serendipitous pooling of
ash in a wood firing?

As a potter, can you remember what pots looked like—or rather,
how you experienced them—before you learned to create in clay? Is the
mystery and fascination more (or less?) because of what you know now
about all the processes involved? Does it make a difference whether
you have the vocabulary to discuss pots critically when it comes to how
you interact with them? Once you’ve been initiated into your craft, can
you appreciate a pot as a pot, without imagining its making?

Is it possible that the magic of the ceramic process that keeps potters
enthralled for a lifetime is lost on the uninitiated? Does it matter to
a non-potter when they choose a copper red porcelain bowl because
they like the shape and the colour matches their décor that the potter
agonized over getting the atmosphere just right to create that effect? Is
it our job as potters to educate the uninitiated so they can experience
the same magic we do? Perhaps it 1s simply enough to praise a customer
on their good taste as they walk out the door having purchased the best
pot you made this season.

I don’t believe that my experience of music 1s diminished by my
inability to play an instrument. But I think there 1s another dimension
of appreciation that I am not privy to that comes with the initiation
of understanding how music is made. Explaining a chord progression
won't help me appreciate a song I like more; this makes me think that
explaining glaze chemistry to a non-potter probably won’t enhance
their appreciation of a pot, either.

But appreciation of what we produce is subjecttve and my friend’s
question underscores an outsider’s understanding that pottery 1s a
love, a skill and a devotion. His question is chalk-full of curtosity—an
attempt to build a bridge between artists. It reminds me that, no matter
what medium we choose to express our creativity, 1t 1s not necessarily
the design or precision with which we produce that connects with our
audience, but our passion. I can’t think of a more inspiring common

ground to meet on.
Amber Alyne Kennedy

7 OO ROADIE

“No matter
what medium we
choose to express

our creativity,

it is not
necessarily

the design or

precision with
which we produce
that connects with
our audience, but

our passion”

y

POTTERS

GUILD
«BRITISH