The (potter’s) wheel of life

As a young child, I sat perched on a chair watching my grandmother create beautiful ceramic artworks. Having emigrated to America from her native Ukraine in 1949, she supplemented the meager family budget by decorating bisqueware supplied by a neighborhood shop. With old newspapers and cloth covering the dining table surface, she assembled jars of glazes, brushes, styluses and other useful implements and expertly applied layers of ornament to the lifeless gray clay shapes. Later, we carefully ventured together to the basement via an impossibly narrow staircase where the finished pieces were placed in her small kiln for firing. I was always impressed how the soft, powdery-white glazes would transform themselves into a bouquet of colors under the scrutiny of 2400°F heat.

While her work drew upon various traditional Ukrainian folk styles—from the bold spiral motifs of the neolithic Trypillian era to the drowsy, floral ornaments of Carpathian mountain Hutsul region—each design expression was uniquely her own. The vases, bowls, tableware and candelabras became well-known and were subsequently sold through the same neighborhood shop to close friends, fellow Ukrainian immigrants and ceramic enthusiasts alike. Many still remain in family collections to this day.

Fulfilling a long-time desire, I recently began taking classes at my neighborhood Echo Ceramics studio. To be sure, the act of transforming a hunk of clay into a finished piece is satisfying. Cutting and wedging the clay, then throwing it to coax a form. Trimming it to fine-tune the shape, then glazing to add richness of color and decoration. As a design practitioner, this act of making lies in contrast to my more cerebral daily design work. I spend my days advising clients, articulating ideas and designing communication strategies. Rediscovering ceramics has helped me find a balance; a middle place. And, it has allowed my grandmother to live on in me.

For more information about ceramics and pottery, be sure to check to out Jill Finley’s Knock Back post tomorrow on her favorite California pottery designers.