THE ZEN OF WAITING

It will come as absolutely no surprise to any potter, that making pots is as much about waiting as it is the physical act of dealing with clay. Once thrown, there is waiting on pots to set up to tool and otherwise deal with them, after this, there is waiting on pots to dry to bisque. Once bisque there is the prep work with wax, more waiting, glazing, waiting on secondary glazes and then firing the kiln where there is another wait, fraught with anxiety, waiting for the kiln to cool and be unloaded. Granted, the time spent waiting, is used for any variety of pottery tasks, or just every day normal chores, even a cup of coffee or tea, a moment with a book, a bit of television, but make no mistake, running in the background is that "waiting program" capable of creating some mental systems errors along the way. Waiting and any sense of patience has been one of the hardest parts of clay I have had to deal with and I have written about this before. As each cycle passes, the waiting becomes easier to deal with and process; there are tricks and exercises to deal, mostly keeping busy with chores, tasks, tests and the normal daily routines, but make no mistake about it, there is a Zen to waiting as almost any craftsman can attest.

Illustrated is an "ITS STILL LIFE" end table entitled; "Waiting". Partially inspired by my understanding of the act of waiting, the tiled surface is an image that allows for the viewer to creates his/her own narrative. The wood table was bought at a bare woods store and then  stained and polyurethaned and the tiles are commercially available cone 6 porcelain on which I painted the still life and later fired with clear glaze. The tiles were securely attached to the table and then grouted for years of use. The subject matter and the process to get the table completed are as much about waiting as any project I can think off.