When I was in college, we read this essay on pottery and clay making for an Art Appreciation class. The darnedest thing, I forgot the author and the title of the essay. But I appreciated the writing and the content. "Pottery is the most natural art form. The potter's hands, the clay/mud and nothing else in between."
Needless to say, it served as my initial inspiration for wanting to try pottery. Aside from the fact that I'm a little piggy who likes to play with mud.
Just kidding.
So there, now that I've got some free time on my hands, wherein I don't have to spend my weekends studying or working on org duties. I decided to try out pottery with Mia Casal, in her pottery studio, Clay Ave.
There were other pots and clay creations (made by other Clay Ave students) around the studio, in cabinets, baskets, and tables.
We were checking out some of the creations while waiting for the other students to arrive.
The potter's wheel which I will have a chance to toy with in the succeeding sessions. (Hopefully!)
A creation inspired by shitake mushrooms which at first I thought were seashells.
Having a talk with Mia about pottery and her recent trip to Zambales. She had a mini-outreach program for some of the people in the province because according to her, she wanted to help keep them busy with what's abundant in their region: clay! So she held classes (for free) for some people there and she says they were pretty good for students who have not tried pottery before.
Mia wanted us to create mini-pots and mangoes for our first session on pinching. Also, mangoes because Zambales. Haha.
The different ways that pots look like after glazing and firing them up in the kiln.
Mia gave demos before she let us do our thing with our bags of clay.
Tools of the trade:
spray bottle (to keep hands and clay moist and to avoid hardening)
sponge (for cleaning lines and cracks)
spatula (also for cleaning out lines and cracks)
cutter and pin tool (for shaping, carving and cutting out clay)
nylon (to cut out chunks of clay)
Cool huh?! I wish I had the artistry to pull this off.
Cutting out a half-inch slab of clay.
Other students getting their mold on.
Being quite an impatient person (I'll change, I promise!), I had a bit of a hard time with pinching and molding the clay into a mini-bowl. I was putty in the power of clay when it should have been the other way around. Grr!
There were other much more experienced potters who visited and made clay creations. They were probably friends of Mia.
I love these clay wind chimes! They don't actually make sounds to the blowing of the winds but they gave the studio a nice, natural and earth-bound feel.
Time to make mangoes!
The different inadequate (haha) clay pots I made. We used two of our clay pots to make a mango by joining them together and whipping them lightly with a spatula into a smooth shape after which we would be molding them into our desired mango.
This looks kinda like a bong. This was created by one of Mia's friends.
Carving out the leaf for the mango.
My mango! :D
Carving out my signature.
The creations made by the class.
I'm planning to give the mango that I molded to lolo. Back then, after dinner, we always ate green mango with bagoong that he cooked.
Thank you for the great class, Mia!
My patience was really tested in pottery. I don't have the most graceful hands and I was very impatient in trying to mold clay right away. Pottery really does bring you back to earth. You're using natural material mainly with your hands. It makes you slow down and truly appreciate what you're creating. You can't be too fast lest you want a creation that's less than inspired.
The utility, beauty, artistry, craft and philosophy of pottery...are some things I've yet to learn and master. Until then, I'll be content playing with my bag of clay sitting on top of our kitchen counter.
All photos taken by Francis Tawagon.
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Clay Ave Pottery Studio by Mia Casal
27 Riverview Drive Blue Ridge B, Quezon City, Philippines
0917 807 1978 | 0922 834 789 | 966 5168
