My ‘100 Bowl’ Journey
The first time I touched clay was 10 years ago, after having become disabled due to Multiple Sclerosis (MS).
My Beginner Ceramics teacher, Deborah Adornato, made the statement,
“If you want to learn to make a bowl…
…make 100 Bowls.”
I took this statement and interpreted it in my own way. For each bowl to make the count, it had to demonstrate both improved skill and be a more advanced version in form than the one before. Most important to the integrity of the series, was that each bowl’s outcome had to be true to the intention I had when I sat to work with that ball of clay.
“This took me 2.5 yrs, and
over 750 attempts.”
This representation contains selections from the ‘100’ as a means to represent advances in skill anexpression of form
from a complete beginner to an intermediate level.
It starts with the first earthenware I was able to center on the wheel.
Each piece then progresses through a number of skillsets;
pulling walls,
increasing the amounts of clay, consistency
creating curve,
Through the process, the goal became second chair to learning
how to communicate with clay.
and refining form inside and out, and trimming the bases.
For the last several in the series, I advanced to porcelain; the final two bowls in the representation.
Glazing was secondary.
My main focus was always on technique on the wheel and functional form.
MS certainly played a factor in this endeavor.
The cognitive and mobility frustrations of MS blended with the frustrations of learning to throw pottery. Sometimes, I could not distinguish one from the other.
With focus, concentration and patience, coupled with the supportive and educational environment that is The Armory Art Center, West Palm Beach, FL. I was able to achieve what seemed insurmountable only 2 years before.
MS is now a part of me, therefore part of my ‘artist’s struggle’.
The desire to evoke emotional response from what is created through mind, body and imagination, continues.