continued from page 4... 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