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.
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